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Giving up the iPad-only travel dream

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Re: Giving up the iPad-only travel dream

#451

Post by SergeAx »

jll29 wrote: post #149

The key sentence here is: > This is the fundamental difference between the Mac (a platform that basically lets developers and users do anything they want) and the iPad (where if Apple doesn’t specifically allow it, it can’t be done). Apple (since Lisa/Mac, after Apple II, which had an open architecture) likes appliances and to control the user experience, so the iPad is "more Apple" than Macs are. Whenever I am waiti…

Today it is not possible to travel without a phone, so the question reduces to whenever to take laptop and/or tablet or not. I mostly prefer to travel with phone only, if I do not anticipate some working tasks to be done.

Re: Giving up the iPad-only travel dream

#452

Post by roland35 »

throwaway2037 wrote: post #435
bemusedthrow75 wrote: post #369

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Only Apple iPads as far as I could see, but by no means only the most expensive or newest. Non-Apple tablet devices really are not often seen in the UK (some convertible PCs, the occasional Samsung tablet). If you spend a lot of time on public transport, an iPad isn't really that much of a luxury item. It's a really pragmatic choice, and at least in the UK an entry-level or recent secondhand iPad is not much more exp…

So is a very cost effective way to make use of what might be 2+ hours of every working day. Here is the first mistake. Get rid of the ridiculous commute. Then, you will not need an iPad!

Have you tried buying a place in London?? Not sure if this is sarcasm or not!

Re: Giving up the iPad-only travel dream

#453

Post by diffeomorphism »

TheHappyOddish wrote: post #367
jeroenhd wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think "iPad is a big iPod" worked great, but then they brought out the iPad Pro. That thing was supposed to be for Professionals doing Professional Work Things. After that came the iPad Mini, which is an iPad but smaller (so it's an iPod but bigger but smaller?). Weirdly enough, I don't think the iPad Pro is more than just the iPad but faster and bigger. There are tons of model-based software restrictions between t…

> Meanwhile, Samsung has had Dex for a few years now, and it works great. It's included on any midrange product and up and it feels like what you would expect from "what happens when I plug my phone/tablet into a USB C dock". It is a lot more convenent to carry an iPad with a magic keyboard than to carry a USB-C dock, keyboard and mouse though.

So? Dex works without any of that.

Re: Giving up the iPad-only travel dream

#454

Post by PaulHoule »

WWLink wrote: post #266
PaulHoule wrote: post #242

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's pretty reliable except when the power goes out at home or something like that. I use Tailscale to get around the NAT on the router. My big computer is behind an ADSL connection where the uplink is pretty slow. If I am changing windows it can take a few seconds for the window to update but once the window is up it is reasonably responsive to type into PyCharm. If I spun up a machine in us-east-2 and used it over…

Have you considered getting a virtual private server from someplace like digital ocean or MS Azure or whatever? You might find that preferable for something to RDP into.

I’ve done it at times. In EC2 I’d probably want something like a M7i.8xlarge which would cost around $0.80 an hour for on demand pricing, which would be a good deal because I’d only actually spin it up when I was using it. (I use to go to hackathons with an Amazon Fire tablet back when Android has mouse support and the iPad didn’t and having a $10 cloud bill is cheap for having the sleekest bit of kit that anybody brings.)

The thing is I do most of my software dev on a “gaming PC” I built myself that has a good graphics card. My RSS reader YOShInOn runs when I am awake and as a web app it is super responsive on my tablet. I just drank a coffee at the gas station and I am tapping this out on my iPad right now. It’s really convenient to use this machine even if I do have a moment sometimes when I’m not sure if the window I picked will open and have to suppress the urge to click again (which could make the window go away!)

Re: Giving up the iPad-only travel dream

#455

Post by TheCapeGreek »

bemusedthrow75 wrote: post #369
pbhjpbhj wrote: post #341

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Only Apple iPads or are you using the term generically? I'm guessing you're in London or another major city? Similar to the parent I only ever see iPads in two places, the hands of rich kids in restaurants, and in primary schools.

Only Apple iPads as far as I could see, but by no means only the most expensive or newest. Non-Apple tablet devices really are not often seen in the UK (some convertible PCs, the occasional Samsung tablet). If you spend a lot of time on public transport, an iPad isn't really that much of a luxury item. It's a really pragmatic choice, and at least in the UK an entry-level or recent secondhand iPad is not much more exp…

>We really get crammed into trains.

Sincerely, from someone in the third world who has taken UK public transport. You don't.

I don't say this to disparage your message, but hopefully to give some gratitude for the nice things you do have over there.

I found it most amusing how people would get antsy and annoyed when a train was more than 5 minutes late in the UK. For years of me taking South African trains, if there was any delay worth being mad about, it would've been after 2 hours had passed.

Re: Giving up the iPad-only travel dream

#456

Post by kibwen »

> I want to do it all on my iPad. I hope that one day I’ll be able to.

But why, though? The author never bothers to justify this. If you acknowledge that your tablet is so anemic that you have to bring your laptop with you, why not save the weight of the tablet and just bring the laptop?

Re: Giving up the iPad-only travel dream

#457

Post by TheCapeGreek »

This post and the comments here make me think of two things:

1. Digital minimalism can be extended to hardware. Buying the most generalist machines for every possible use case is what leads to having all this clunkiness when you travel. Think deeply on your hardware scenario and optimise for that. You might save some money in the process too. E.g. I moved from a desktop + decent dev laptop to just an M1 MBP and a Steam Deck - primarily for portability and battery resilience during power cuts. I've recently also ditched my mech keyboard for a smaller wireless one I can travel with.

2. I do kind of wish we'd get more desktop devices in a tablet form factor - "Bring your own keyboard" sort of thing. I don't even care about having a touch screen.

Re: Giving up the iPad-only travel dream

#458

Post by ghaff »

ubermonkey wrote: post #420
PeterisP wrote: post #325

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I can't answer a call or text my family with my laptop while I'm on the go That's interesting, for me, any texting (usually via whatsapp or signal) is far, far more convenient on the laptop than on the phone, so far that if I expect a longer response, I'll rather find a place to sit and pull out the laptop than try to type all of it on the phone; and for calling people also videocalls on laptop are more convenient…

Apple people, and people who have shifted away from "texting" to using some other platform (e.g. whatsapp) often shift between computer and phone for this job. But in the US at least, people outside those groups typically don't. I don't think you can (easily) send SMS from a laptop as though it were your phone. (Yes, it could be argued that the two groups in the first paragraph are actually ONE group, since Apple "te…

>I don't think you can (easily) send SMS from a laptop as though it were your phone.

Sure you can--at least with Macs. I do it all the time to both Apple and non-Apple users.

Re: Giving up the iPad-only travel dream

#460

Post by nottorp »

throwaway2037 wrote: post #437
nottorp wrote: post #342

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yep. I have an iPad (cheap, not pro) on my nightstand. I take the laptop when traveling because who knows what I'll need it for.

Why a "cheap" iPad instead of a much cheaper Android tablet?

Because it's been working just fine(tm) for at least 5 years. Maybe more, i forgot how old it is.
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