Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Going iPad/iPhone only (no desktop or laptop)

eawmp1 said:
And to what do you sync? That is the point.
Click to expand...

Well, you don't HAVE to sync to use the iPad. You can buy and download music/video/podcast/apps directly to the iPad from the iTunes/App stores. I totally don't recommend this, because unless you sync, you have no backup, and if you have no backup, if anything happens to your iPad, you lose all your media purchases, and while apps can be redownloaded for free, it's a painstaking process to redownload them one by one. Oh, and without backup, you can't restore any app data once you redownload them -- you'd have to start over from scratch. But while not something I would recommend, it certainly CAN be done.
 
eawmp1 said:
And to what do you sync? That is the point.
Click to expand...

Email, calendars, contacts, documents = google
Photos from iPhone = dropbox
Nothing else is synchronised. If necessary, one could argue about the backup I made, of both devices, on a friend's computer. But that is more for piece of mind. If I lost the back up and the data from the iPad, it wouldn't matter all that much. I could be happily operating again fairly quickly, should the event arise. Since my first generation iPod Touch, I have never lost data from one of these devices. It's not something I ever think about.
 
blakeables said:
Since my first generation iPod Touch, I have never lost data from one of these devices. It's not something I ever think about.
Click to expand...

That's all fine and dandy. Until you drop it into a pool. Or it gets stolen from you. :D

I'm glad to hear you've never had an iDevice die on you, but unfortunately I can't say the same. It gives me great peace of mind to know I can make a backup every day that I can restore to in case of need.

Also, it partly depends on the kind of apps you're using. Sounds like you are only using apps whose data can be backed up over the cloud. I've got a few that doesn't do that.

I guess what I'm saying is that yes, the iPad can be an only computer for *some* people, but you have to think long and hard about whether you are one of those people.
 
blakeables said:
Sure it can. Although, it does depend on an individual's dependance to computers. As I stated above, I've been living without a computer for two months now. I replaced my MacBook with an iPad. Don't tell people it "can not replace a primary computer." As I briskly type on my iPad screen, I'm telling you, it has.
Click to expand...

Well sure it depends on the user. If you only did Internet, email and media no problem. Unfortunately most of us need and do more.

It's just like when people say Netflix and Hulu and whatnot can replace cable and satellite. And I suppose it could if you didn't care about live sports. But most of don't want to do without live sports.

So as much as you can do without a desktop, it doesn't work for most of us.
 
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/532.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0.5 Mobile/8B117 Safari/6531.22.7)

Netbooks are just complete b/s!! Don't know why anyone would ever buy one. It's never been anything special.... It's just a portable laptop, oh wait.... Aren't laptops suppose to be portable?!?
 
mikechan1234 said:
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/532.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0.5 Mobile/8B117 Safari/6531.22.7)

Netbooks are just complete b/s!! Don't know why anyone would ever buy one. It's never been anything special.... It's just a portable laptop, oh wait.... Aren't laptops suppose to be portable?!?
Click to expand...

If you have an iPad maybe. I used my netbook as a quick, Internet browsing with good battery life device. And for 300 bucks it worked for me. Different then my laptop which could run high end apps and games. Nonetheless I don't use either now ;).
 
Night Spring said:
Well, another possible combination is desktop + iPad, skip the laptop/netbook. If enough people start going for this combination, it'll kill the netbook.

In your situation, I'd consider a Mac Mini.
Click to expand...

This.

If i could setup my whole family all over from scratch, mac mini as a "server" for itunes, printer, etc, and an iPad for each family member.
 
eawmp1 said:
Um...no. For the foreseeable future, iPads, iPod, and iPhones will be "slave devices" to a central computer. If the whole "cloud computing" thing comes to fruition (? NC server farm), perhaps in 5-10 years iPads will be independent.
Click to expand...
Why? The iPad is not a 'slave device' like the iPhone and iPod touches are, it's a completely different kind of device, and a standalone computer in its own right to many owners. Gotta ask, do you own an iPad? Because it's hard to discuss this with someone who doesn't know what it's like to use one each day.

PhoenixMac said:
I highly doubt apple will ever have the iPad as a standalone because of the ecosystem they've built around their products that they want you to buy an iPad so you have to tether to a computer and they are hoping if your not already a Mac user to switch to one.
Click to expand...

You realize Apple makes more money now from their line of iphones, iPod touches, and iPads than they do with Macs? Apple don't care about Macs anymore, they care about the future of computers: iPads. They're not going to needlessly force people to buy a $1000 computer if they don't need one.

Furthermore, your argument might make slight sense if iPads only worked on Macs, but they work under Windows too, making the whole 'greedy Eco-system' idea just silly.
 
EssentialParado said:
Why? The iPad is not a 'slave device' like the iPhone and iPod touches are, it's a completely different kind of device, and a standalone computer in its own right to many owners. Gotta ask, do you own an iPad? Because it's hard to discuss this with someone who doesn't know what it's like to use one each day.
Click to expand...

I love when people make assumptions. Yes, I've owned a 64 3G since release day. I also have an iMac, a Mac Pro, and a MacBook Pro. So I think I can speak from some experience. The iPad, as I argued before its release, WILL do most of what most people will do (email, web surf, consume media). However, as envisioned in 2010 by Apple, it is NOT a standalone device. Some users are able to use it as a standalone device as mentioned in the above workarounds. However, when it crashes, needs an OS update, or you want to backup data, you're gonna need to plug it into something. That was my point. In 2015...who knows.
 
eawmp1 said:
I love when people make assumptions. Yes, I've owned a 64 3G since release day. I also have an iMac, a Mac Pro, and a MacBook Pro. So I think I can speak from some experience. The iPad, as I argued before its release, WILL do most of what most people will do (email, web surf, consume media). However, as envisioned in 2010 by Apple, it is NOT a standalone device. Some users are able to use it as a standalone device as mentioned in the above workarounds. However, when it crashes, needs an OS update, or you want to backup data, you're gonna need to plug it into something. That was my point. In 2015...who knows.
Click to expand...

Am curious why you'd need a Mac pro and a iMac....
 
eawmp1 said:
I love when people make assumptions. Yes, I've owned a 64 3G since release day. I also have an iMac, a Mac Pro, and a MacBook Pro. So I think I can speak from some experience. The iPad, as I argued before its release, WILL do most of what most people will do (email, web surf, consume media). However, as envisioned in 2010 by Apple, it is NOT a standalone device. Some users are able to use it as a standalone device as mentioned in the above workarounds. However, when it crashes, needs an OS update, or you want to backup data, you're gonna need to plug it into something. That was my point. In 2015...who knows.
Click to expand...

1) I don't know where I made any assumptions, I merely asked if you owned an iPad.
2) Yes, in 2010 the way Apple originally released the iPad, it is not a completely standalone device and it still needs tethering. I don't disagree with how the iPad currently is, I disagree with your comment that it's going to take 5-10 years for the iPad to become standalone. That's absurd, it's one of the most requested features among iPad owners. It'll be there by iPad 2 and iOS 5, iOS 6 tops.
 
I thought the most requested use among iPad owners was the ability to print?

I'm one of those non-Mac iPad owners drawn in by the uniqueness of the device. I use my iPad every day but it has not replaced my laptops (the 17" desktop replacement or netbook) but rather extended my use of computers in general.

On the road at client sites, I whip out my netbook to interface with their WinPCs while at home my 17" is the hub of a multi-monitor display with 3TB of external media drives. I'm like a spider in the web at the home office, often going between a half dozen programs and dozen or more windows.

But when I've had enough, I just unplug my iPad and go off to the bathroom, sofa or bed to curl up and read, watch or play something. I find the iPad is ideal for that sort of computing. But the keyboard is still a bit slow and clunky for long productivity sessions and the screen just can't handle multi-tasking the way a large display can.

I guess you can say my laptops are for productivity but my iPad is for pure relaxation.
 
I have an iPad and iPhone. I thought it would be fine and dandy until I realized I needed a computer to set up my iPad...:rolleyes: Thankfully I was just able to use my moms laptop. So far I do the same things I did with my MB, except word processing. I love it so far.
 
xokimwhiteox said:
I have an iPad and iPhone. I thought it would be fine and dandy until I realized I needed a computer to set up my iPad...:rolleyes: Thankfully I was just able to use my moms laptop. So far I do the same things I did with my MB, except word processing. I love it so far.
Click to expand...

You can buy Pages or other office apps to word process too :)
 
xokimwhiteox said:
Yeah I think I'm going to buy pages tomorrow. I wonder if I can save and upload documents from my iPad to my class website.
Click to expand...

That I'm not sure of, but even if you can't, you can always upload to dropbox then use a computer to download it from dropbox and upload it from there
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back