On Monday, my MacBook succumbed to swollen battery syndrome and became unsafe to use. While waiting for a replacement, I’ve been getting by with an iPad and I’m noticing:
- I absolutely love being prevented from multi-tasking. This benefit outweighs almost everything else.
- After less than a day, I had to boot up my MacBook to get a couple of files and found myself trying to touch the screen repeatedly in order to do things.
- An iPad can do about 85% of what I do on a daily basis. Some of the other bells and whistles (advanced MS Office features, for example) are easily expendable or can be delegated.
- I would have said less than 75% a couple of days ago, but there are many somewhat hidden features that reveal themselves as I go.
- It’s not inherently more portable than a 12” MacBook, but somehow more pleasant to move around the house. One thing I will miss with a future replacement, if any: rose gold!
- I don’t actually need a laptop. It spent much of its (my) time docked and connected to an external monitor anyway.
I know, this is sounding like some kind of endorsement, but I’m mostly sharing because I’m so surprised by it. I expected to squeak by and worried about how little I would get done. Instead, I ended up breaking through some productivity and motivation barriers I didn’t know I had. If there’s any takeaway at all, I would not jump to the conclusion that everyone needs an iPad, but I would say it’s a great argument for constraint and for dramatically changing the way you do things.
