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Want to leave laptop home next biz trip

M

Mike in Mass

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jul 9, 2010
11
0
First day I had my iPad I got it to sync with my company email. Fantastic! Now I'm working on ways I can leave my laptop home on my next biz trip. Already installed LogMeIn so I can access pretty much anything on the laptop. So I'm good to go for short trips where I won't be creating any new docs and such.

But for longer trips I may need to create new docs or PPTs and this would be cumbersome via LogMeIn. What do you folks do when traveling? I was looking at Glide OS. looks like a slick alternative. I could use Pages on the iPad and Word on the laptop?

All input is appreciated. Thanks.
 
Take a look at the top business and productivity apps in the app store.

The iPad versions of the iWork apps are not near as ful featured but they can do a good job on small, simple docs.

Programs like iannotate and good reader are great for viewing and reviewing docs.

Tools like documentstogo and quick office allow viewing and some editing of many office docs.

The VGA adapter works with things like good reader and keynote for presentations.

Skype and gotomeeting webbex apps help with meetings.

As long as you dont plan on producing large or complex documents it might be possible and the 10 hour battery life is great.
 
Sounds like an awful lot of work. At some point an iPad simply isn't practical for your needs. If you need excel, word, ppt, outlook, etc, forget it. I would re-focus the energy spent on this elsewhere.
 
poe8 said:
Sounds like an awful lot of work. At some point an iPad simply isn't practical for your needs. If you need excel, word, ppt, outlook, etc, forget it. I would re-focus the energy spent on this elsewhere.
Click to expand...

Says you. You clearly sound as though you have no clue as to what you are talking about. I have been using Quickoffice Connect, as well as the other Apple office apps and I produced company docs, presentations, excel files, etc... None of the people receiving them had a clue where they were produced or on which device. My brand new MPB 17 inch sits at home most of the time. I rarely take it anywhere as the iPad has been more than enough. I even went to Italy for a week and traveled only with the camera kit and my Nikon. It was very freeing not to schlep a 6 pound laptop along with my photo gear.

To the OP, check the productivity suites and see which one is right for you. In this forum you will find some people who simply complain for the sheer joy of whining.
 
poe8 said:
Sounds like an awful lot of work. At some point an iPad simply isn't practical for your needs. If you need excel, word, ppt, outlook, etc, forget it. I would re-focus the energy spent on this elsewhere.
Click to expand...

Not sure what work you are talking about. You have to load apps on a laptop or iPad to make it useful. For heavy duty production I agree the iPad isn't as suitable but for many small routine tasks many of us spend most of our time doing it can serve quite well. As long as the documents are small and simple the iPad apps interoperate with word and excel and PowerPoint. The mail and calendar apps work well with exchange servers.

Since I got my iPad I use it much more often than my laptop but I still do need a laptop. I travel a lot and many trips I could get away with just the iPad but I never know so I bring a laptop too. But the laptop spends most of it's time in it's case or on a desk and I use the iPad whenever I'm on the go.
 
pelicanflip said:
Sigh.

For the last time: AN IPAD IS NOT A REPLACEMENT FOR A LAPTOP.
Click to expand...

For the last time: YOU EXPERIENCE IS NOT UNIVERSAL

For many, many people the iPad is IN FACT a perfectly viable laptop replace. For many, many people it is not. Experiment and make up your own mind.
 
VTMac said:
For the last time: YOU EXPERIENCE IS NOT UNIVERSAL

For many, many people the iPad is IN FACT a perfectly viable laptop replace. For many, many people it is not. Experiment and make up your own mind.
Click to expand...

In the OP's case, it isn't a replacement for what he needs to get done.

Technically, he can, but I'd imagine it'd be a bit more annoying to write up things for his company on the iPad on Pages and Keynote.
 
VTMac said:
For the last time: YOU EXPERIENCE IS NOT UNIVERSAL

For many, many people the iPad is IN FACT a perfectly viable laptop replace. For many, many people it is not. Experiment and make up your own mind.
Click to expand...

Here..Here...It certainly has been a laptop replacement for me and I've been able to circumvent some of the existing limitations in many cases by apps in the store.

I'll admit that writing a several page document in Pages or QuickOffice HD is not ideal but it works none the less. The way i look at it, it took some getting use to when I got my first compact laptop that had a smaller keyboard. I had the same adjustment going from a Blackberry keyboard to the virtual keyboard on the iPhone. Once you get use to it, it's no big deal. I can type pretty fast on the iPad now after a little adjustment. I don't have the same issue using Numbers at all. Keynote is not really affected either. I personally have QuickOffice HD though for importing existing Excel or Word documents so little is lost on import. That's the only annoying thing with Pages and Numbers at times depending on how complex your data is.
 
reckless2k2 said:
Here..Here...It certainly has been a laptop replacement for me and I've been able to circumvent some of the existing limitations in many cases by apps in the store.

I'll admit that writing a several page document in Pages or QuickOffice HD is not ideal but it works none the less. The way i look at it, it took some getting use to when I got my first compact laptop that had a smaller keyboard. I had the same adjustment going from a Blackberry keyboard to the virtual keyboard on the iPhone. Once you get use to it, it's no big deal. I can type pretty fast on the iPad now after a little adjustment. I don't have the same issue using Numbers at all. Keynote is not really affected either. I personally have QuickOffice HD though for importing existing Excel or Word documents so little is lost on import. That's the only annoying thing with Pages and Numbers at times depending on how complex your data is.
Click to expand...

I guess I jumped the gun a bit, but it's just pretty irritating when people demand the capabilities of a full fledged computer on the iPad.

It works to type up a full fledged document/report or make a powerpoint, but you have to admit, the work flow and productivity rate is not as high as on a full functionally laptop or PC.
 
My experience using IPad vice laptop

Most of my computer use when traveling is checking email, keeping an expense list, roughing out invoices, and taking notes. I don't need the full processing power of my laptop to do those things and hence I frequently now travel with only the IPad. It has served me very well and I love the size factor. I use dropbox to make sure I have all the documents I will need on the trip, take my notes in the IPad Notebooks program (pricey, but the best), and keep expenses and invoices in Numbers sheets. This set up has worked well for several trips and it is the one I will be using next week. I can actually type quite well on the on screen keypad, at least well enough for one page documents.

On a few trips, I can't get by without the laptop. If I am going to be preparing large documents, showing presentations, or dealing with larger spreadsheets, then I prefer to have my Macbook Air with me. I also take it if I think I may have to do printing on the road (rare for me) or if I expect clients to give me documents to load on my computer (more common).

I agree the IPad does not fully replace a laptop, but all stridency aside, it often can for many of my trips and I get the added benefit of having music and my books (Kindle app) with me along with the 3G connectivity.
 
reckless2k2 said:
Here..Here...It certainly has been a laptop replacement for me and I've been able to circumvent some of the existing limitations in many cases by apps in the store.

I'll admit that writing a several page document in Pages or QuickOffice HD is not ideal but it works none the less. The way i look at it, it took some getting use to when I got my first compact laptop that had a smaller keyboard. I had the same adjustment going from a Blackberry keyboard to the virtual keyboard on the iPhone. Once you get use to it, it's no big deal. I can type pretty fast on the iPad now after a little adjustment. I don't have the same issue using Numbers at all. Keynote is not really affected either. I personally have QuickOffice HD though for importing existing Excel or Word documents so little is lost on import. That's the only annoying thing with Pages and Numbers at times depending on how complex your data is.
Click to expand...

You know just because you CAN do a thing, doesn't mean it's GOOD. The long-term impact of the virtual keyboard ergonomics hasn't been addressed because these devices are so new.
 
I use my iPad for business trips a lot.

It does just about everything I typically need a computer for on a trip. (E-Mail, Checking web sites, Skype, making small revisions to spreadsheets and documents.)

I use Apple's Pages and Numbers iWork apps. I also use iWork.com to share the documents with clients (in Word, PDF, and iWork format).

At meetings, I've found that the iPad is much less "distracting" than being hunched behind a laptop. Plus, I can bring up screens, slides, or mock-ups and pass the iPad around. It's a bit more awkward to pass a laptop around -- and an LCD Projector isn't as personal/hands-on. (although I do have the iPad to VGA adapter)

Sometimes I'll pack the Macbook just in case, then feel like a chump when it sits unused the whole trip.
 
pelicanflip said:
I guess I jumped the gun a bit, but it's just pretty irritating when people demand the capabilities of a full fledged computer on the iPad.

It works to type up a full fledged document/report or make a powerpoint, but you have to admit, the work flow and productivity rate is not as high as on a full functionally laptop or PC.
Click to expand...

I agree that the workflow for a document is more productive with a keyboard if the document is large. As far as powerpoint/keynote, I really don't see a huge difference. An argument could be made about excel but it depends on a from scratch spreadsheet or edits to an existing one.
 
PerfSeeker said:
You know just because you CAN do a thing, doesn't mean it's GOOD. The long-term impact of the virtual keyboard ergonomics hasn't been addressed because these devices are so new.
Click to expand...

WOW....You sound like a HUGE hippie. Do you go outside with a helmet on too? Geez. Next thing you know you'll be telling me that cell phones cause brain cancer.

If you wait around long enough, I'm sure they will tie it to something. Geez.

Do some push-ups already. :cool:
 
PerfSeeker said:
You know just because you CAN do a thing, doesn't mean it's GOOD. The long-term impact of the virtual keyboard ergonomics hasn't been addressed because these devices are so new.
Click to expand...

Well, the opening poster was talking about a business trip. The purpose of most such trips are to meet humans face to face. (customers, suppliers, remote coworkers, etc.). You typically don't spend 8 hours typing on a business trip. So, consider the use-cases for what you do use a computer for on a business trip before discussing ergonomics.

That said, I think it's actually as healthy, or healthier to type on glass. On my iPad (which I'm using to type this on - since I'm on a business trip) I don't rest my wrists on the desk when typing, so my hands are in a much more natural position floating above the keys.

Try it yourself.
 
Mike in Mass said:
First day I had my iPad I got it to sync with my company email. Fantastic! Now I'm working on ways I can leave my laptop home on my next biz trip. Already installed LogMeIn so I can access pretty much anything on the laptop. So I'm good to go for short trips where I won't be creating any new docs and such.

But for longer trips I may need to create new docs or PPTs and this would be cumbersome via LogMeIn. What do you folks do when traveling? I was looking at Glide OS. looks like a slick alternative. I could use Pages on the iPad and Word on the laptop?

All input is appreciated. Thanks.
Click to expand...

If I were you, I wouldn't take it yet for business. The reason is that the iwork apps have not performed consistent for me. Far too often Pages has changed my document from one page to two when I mail them back to a colleague who is using MS Word I wouldn't trust it just yet. Soon maybe, but not yet. Not sure why this is happening but in my case, I can't afford to send a mistake to a colleague.
 
pelicanflip said:
In the OP's case, it isn't a replacement for what he needs to get done.

Technically, he can, but I'd imagine it'd be a bit more annoying to write up things for his company on the iPad on Pages and Keynote.
Click to expand...

People will still spend countless hours searching for a way to get work done in the most impractical way possible. :rolleyes:
 
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