Monday, March 26, 2012

I'm heading over to Europe for a 4 week holiday. Do I take a MacBook Air or the new iPad?

A few weeks ago I bought the new iPad. As much as I love technology, this is my first iPad. Up until now I couldn't really see the point of it all. However, towards the end of last year, I decided to take a long overdue 4 week overseas holiday and I really want to be able to do the things I would normally do on my Apple MacBook Air.

Anyhow, when I heard that Apple were probably going to bring out a new iPad in February or March of this year I wondered whether I would be better off going OS with the new iPad rather than my MacBook Air. As much as I love my Mac I think it would be an interesting experiment to see if I can get by without it when I'm OS. I'm going to be out and about most of the time so I shouldn't really need it much. Unless I have to I won't be doing any work. All I'm really going to be doing is looking at maps, train timetables, weather forecasts, accommodation, etc. Suffice to say, I think an iPad should see me through.

Not only that but I think it would be much easier to travel with an iPad since it's smaller and lighter than a MacBook Air. In fact, the new iPad is half as heavy as my 13 inch MacBook Air: 652 g as opposed to 1.35 kg. The only real downside about using an iPad, as I discovered recently, is that the virtual keyboard is a little cramped. I probably need to give it more time so that I can get used to it.

Another downside for me is the fact that there's currently no Microsoft Office for the iPad. However, as per an article I recently read on AppleInsider, Microsoft are going to be releasing Microsoft Office for the iPad any day now. Although I may not need it, it would be nice to have access to Microsoft Office whilst I'm away. I won't be heading off for another 5 months so there's plenty of time for Microsoft to release Microsoft Office for the iPad.

Have I missed anything? What do you think I should do?