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One thing I notice about using the iPad as a primary device… the accumulation of cables, since it only has one port. I do like the simplicity nature of it, but it can be annoying at times.

I currently carrying around my Belkin dock to use with my iPad when away from desk.

View attachment 2524139
I guess my cable needs (on the go) are far more minimal. Beyond cables I use at my desk, pretty much the only cable I carry with me sometimes apart from a couple charging cables is a USB-C capture card and lightning to hdmi cable combo I use to screen mirror my iPhone to my iPad. I wish Apple would just add AirPlay Receiver support for iPhone on the iPad, but this does the job, and isn’t too much hassle to use. I use that cable combo though to use my iPad as a bigger display for my iPhone. This is particularly useful for video streaming and occasionally for games that require a network connection when Wifi is unavailable. But with the M4 model I’m upgrading to including cellular, I may at some point spring for a data plan. That would be ideal, and could really improve several aspects of my workflow. 👍🏻
 
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One thing I notice about using the iPad as a primary device… the accumulation of cables, since it only has one port. I do like the simplicity nature of it, but it can be annoying at times.

I currently carrying around my Belkin dock to use with my iPad when away from desk.

View attachment 2524139
I guess my cable needs (on the go) are far more minimal. Beyond cables I use at my desk, pretty much the only cable I carry with me sometimes apart from a couple charging cables is a USB-C capture card and lightning to hdmi cable combo I use to screen mirror my iPhone to my iPad. I wish Apple would just add AirPlay Receiver support for iPhone on the iPad, but this does the job, and isn’t too much hassle to use. I use that cable combo though to use my iPad as a bigger display for my iPhone. This is particularly useful for video streaming and occasionally for games that require a network connection when Wifi is unavailable. But with the M4 model I’m upgrading to including cellular, I may at some point spring for a data plan. That would be ideal, and could really improve several aspects of my workflow. 👍🏻

Yeah, it is easy to collect cables, chargers, and batteries. The only things I carry with me out of the house are...

1. A battery and Cable

2. A charger and cable

3. A two in one splitter

4. 512gb Sandisk USB Flash Drive

5. Apple Pencil 2

6. Logitech Combo Touch for M1 11" iPad Pro

7. Case or backpack to carry everything
 
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Yeah, it is easy to collect cables, chargers, and batteries. The only things I carry with me out of the house are...

1. A battery and Cable

2. A charger and cable

3. A two in one splitter

4. 512gb Sandisk USB Flash Drive

5. Apple Pencil 2

6. Logitech Combo Touch for M1 11" iPad Pro

7. Case or backpack to carry everything

I went smaller on the flash drive with a small uSD reader/writer -


Works great across all of my devices and I like the storage interchangeability with cards. I've got a 512GB in there now.
 
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I went smaller on the flash drive with a small uSD reader/writer -


Works great across all of my devices and I like the storage interchangeability with cards. I've got a 512GB in there now.
Yes, I love that adapter! It’s very well built, and you can use it like a compact thumb drive, which is very handy. I also have a 256GB Samsung USB C flash drive (link below if you’re interested) that’s about the exact same size (may be a hair longer, but probably less than a mm in my opinion). And it’s also a little thinner. But that UGreen adapter is great, I use it pretty often for loading sliced 3D files onto the SD card for my 3D printer from my iPad. It’s a great little adapter, and it’s nice because it’s easy to carry with some extra microSD cards along with it! 👍🏻

 
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I went smaller on the flash drive with a small uSD reader/writer -


Works great across all of my devices and I like the storage interchangeability with cards. I've got a 512GB in there now.
Ooh! I like that little adapter! What I like about my splitter is I can charge and use external storage at the same time if needed.

Yes, I love that adapter! It’s very well built, and you can use it like a compact thumb drive, which is very handy. I also have a 256GB Samsung USB C flash drive (link below if you’re interested) that’s about the exact same size (may be a hair longer, but probably less than a mm in my opinion). And it’s also a little thinner. But that UGreen adapter is great, I use it pretty often for loading sliced 3D files for my 3D printer from my iPad. It’s a great little adapter, and it’s nice because it’s easy to carry with some extra microSD cards along with it! 👍🏻

And I like that little Samsung USB C drive. You know, accessories are a frigging rabbit hole. Especially in a place like this with a bunch of techies...😏
 
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Ooh! I like that little adapter! What I like about my splitter is I can charge and use external storage at the same time if needed.


And I like that little Samsung USB C drive. You know, accessories are a frigging rabbit hole. Especially in a place like this with a bunch of techies...😏

I've come to like uSD cards as I can use them with my iPads, iPhone, laptop, desktop, and myriad cameras (sometimes with SD adapter) - DSLR, compact, and DJI Action 4 and Pocket 3. And a good 1TB card can be had for $100. For larger storage, I go with the Samsung T7 SSDs. And yes, it is a rabbit hole - as a retired engineer, tech is my toys.
 
I guess my cable needs (on the go) are far more minimal. Beyond cables I use at my desk, pretty much the only cable I carry with me sometimes apart from a couple charging cables is a USB-C capture card and lightning to hdmi cable combo I use to screen mirror my iPhone to my iPad.
Well, I have cable for my portable monitor, then a cable to plug in the Galaxy Fold.. as well as my Galaxy Watch if ever it needs it. Next I can plug in my AirPods Max if it needs charging and one thing that I find great… it can charge while still in use. And I’m able to plug in the Samsung SSD as well.

But with the M4 model I’m upgrading to including cellular, I may at some point spring for a data plan. That would be ideal, and could really improve several aspects of my workflow
Yeah, I’m a big fan of cellular models… opted for those since the 2nd generation model and haven’t wavered since. And you can always get one of those prepaid data plans from T-Mobile… got one years ago. But decided to add the iPad to my account when I moved to an unlimited plan.

Yeah, it is easy to collect cables, chargers, and batteries. The only things I carry with me out of the house are...
That’s one thing I’m missing from my setup is a battery pack… I have my eyes set on one from Sarge, just haven’t pulled the trigger yet.
 
Well, I have cable for my portable monitor, then a cable to plug in the Galaxy Fold.. as well as my Galaxy Watch if ever it needs it. Next I can plug in my AirPods Max if it needs charging and one thing that I find great… it can charge while still in use. And I’m able to plug in the Samsung SSD as well.


Yeah, I’m a big fan of cellular models… opted for those since the 2nd generation model and haven’t wavered since. And you can always get one of those prepaid data plans from T-Mobile… got one years ago. But decided to add the iPad to my account when I moved to an unlimited plan.


That’s one thing I’m missing from my setup is a battery pack… I have my eyes set on one from Sarge, just haven’t pulled the trigger yet.
That makes sense. 👍🏻. Now with more pockets in the new sleeve I ordered, I plan on carrying some more of my smaller accessories in it on a more regular basis. Currently, I have to kind of cycle through depending on what I’m doing, since the pocket on it isn’t very conducive to keeping smaller accessories secure. I’m looking forward to organizing the sleeve and setting everything up. 👍🏻

Yeah, I’m definitely thinking I may look at some data plans and consider going that route. I’ve heard T-Mobile has good pricing, but haven’t had a chance to look into it yet. Thanks for the recommendation for the prepaid data plans, I’ll have a look at those. 👍🏻

PS, also, out of curiosity, how much data per month do you think would be reasonable for moderate use for a data-only plan? Having nothing really to gauge off of, it’s kind of hard to get an idea of how much I would end up using. 👍🏻
 
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PS, also, out of curiosity, how much data per month do you think would be reasonable for moderate use for a data-only plan? Having nothing really to gauge off of, it’s kind of hard to get an idea of how much I would end up using. 👍🏻
It all depends on your usage... you can choose the $10 5GB 150 Day Prepaid T-Mobile plan once you get the iPad and see how well you do with it (for a trial run).

During the time I had the plan... I had an iPhone, so there wasn't a lot of data usage out of the iPad. I used it in a pinch, but since I have a Android phone... I split time with both.
 
It all depends on your usage... you can choose the $10 5GB 150 Day Prepaid T-Mobile plan once you get the iPad and see how well you do with it (for a trial run).

During the time I had the plan... I had an iPhone, so there wasn't a lot of data usage out of the iPad. I used it in a pinch, but since I have a Android phone... I split time with both.

I use that plan on my Mini 6 - a good deal. If I need more, I can renew or switch to hotspotting my phone for a bit.
 
It all depends on your usage... you can choose the $10 5GB 150 Day Prepaid T-Mobile plan once you get the iPad and see how well you do with it (for a trial run).

During the time I had the plan... I had an iPhone, so there wasn't a lot of data usage out of the iPad. I used it in a pinch, but since I have a Android phone... I split time with both.
Ok, that makes sense. I may consider working it into my yearly budget, $10 a month isn’t actually that bad. That price range would be appealing. I think that also could be reasonable, because I just thought about checking how much data I use on my iPhone, and comparing against that. I figured out I haven’t reset the stats since June 3rd of 2020, lol, so my current period is a huge number. But dividing the total GBs of data over the current period by the number of months, I came to about 11GBs a month. So 5GB a month for my iPad would probably be fairly good. My phone is using cellular data a lot more often than my iPad likely would. So that could make sense. I wouldn’t mind testing it out at some point, even if I just do it for a month or two at a time on and off. 👍🏻

Thanks for that recommendation, it looks like a good option! 👍🏻
 
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Ok, that makes sense. I may consider working it into my yearly budget, $10 a month isn’t actually that bad. That price range would be appealing. I think that also could be reasonable, because I just thought about checking how much data I use on my iPhone, and comparing against that. I figured out I haven’t reset the stats since June 3rd of 2020, lol, so my current period is a huge number. But dividing the total GBs of data over the current period by the number of months, I came to about 11GBs a month. So 5GB a month for my iPad would probably be fairly good. My phone is using cellular data a lot more often than my iPad likely would. So that could make sense. I wouldn’t mind testing it out at some point, even if I just do it for a month or two at a time on and off. 👍🏻

Thanks for that recommendation, it looks like a good option! 👍🏻

That plan is 5GB and $10 for 150 days (5 months). I don't recall if you can renew it monthly or if you have to wait 150 days but I believe you can if you deplete the data early. I thought I had done that in the past.

Edit: One other thing I recall - if you use up the data, before going in and getting a "refill" (really is a new plan), you need to go in and delete the depleted plan from your cellular settings. If you don't, you run into an error but you've been billed already and you have to call T-Mobile to straighten it out.
 
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