bivalve

I’m an Earth Science student. My only computer is an iPad. For a few months my only computer was an iPhone and I managed to write an essay on that pretty well.

The iPad works very well for me because I knew exactly how I’d use it before I got it. I recommended my parents get one and it’s worked very well for them; much better than any laptop would have. However, recommending an iPad to someone who doesn’t seem to know much about it AND has to get essays written on it – when I do not know the person – isn’t so easy.

But my experiences…

Regarding documents:
I’ve had no troubles with .doc Pages compatibility. I’ve saved .doc files from emails or Safari to read and edit (including forms to be filled in) and they’ve been fine. I’ve created .doc documents on iOS and – although I have to bring them up on the university Windows computers to print them (I’ve no printer at home) – there have been no formatting errors or the like I’ve needed to fix before hitting Print..

I’ve done all my document handling through iCloud. It’s very very easy and convenient.

I’ve even – shock horror – worked exclusively with .pages documents because the lecturer/employer I was corresponding with uses Pages also. I saw another guy in the group I was in at that time uploading all his documents in .pages format also.

I see someone state that you ‘need’ Office. That’s not correct and I can’t understand where such thinking comes from. I’ve managed fine without it and – even if I had a laptop and Office – I’d still have to email a document to myself or find some cloud solution to get it onto the university computers to print it. I might as well just email a TextEdit document to myself and format it in Word on the university computers before printing if I had a laptop.

As part of a group project, my iPad was the only computer that didn’t have any problem connecting to the uni network one day. I don’t know why this was but it meant we ended up using it, instead of another guy’s laptop, to create our slideshow. At the end of that class, I sent the slideshow from Keynote as a .ppt to a girl who would finish it off at home using PowerPoint. That all seemed to go smoothly.

Finally, what’s also lovely about iOS is that any .docs can be viewed in QuickLook without having to have any sort of document app installed. Hell, I could write an essay in Notes, email it to myself (or just get it from iCloud once that update arrives), and copy it into Word on the university computers. Working with .docs can be handled without both Word AND Pages.

Regarding connectivity limitation:
I’d argue this limitation can apply to any computer today. Although a laptop may have an Ethernet port or may have some sort of adaptor, you have to also have an Ethernet cable with you. If you know you’re going to need one and can be prepared, that’s great. If you don’t know there’s no wireless Internet available where you’re going, then it doesn’t matter if you’re on a laptop or iPad; you’re without a connection either way,

Regarding music:
Rdio (£10.49 p/m for iOS access) and Deezer (£9.99 p/m for iOS access) are alternatives to Spotify. I prefer Deezer over Spotify because it has a couple of albums Spotify doesnt have and you aren’t stuck with working by playlist. My free Deezer trial just finished so I’m onto an Rdio trial next.

One limitation:
No uploading via Safari (for now, at least). This has been a bit of a nuisance to have to go to the uni library to do this, but it’s all I’ve needed an external computer for besides printing.

Lastly…
If you did go the iPad route, I’d say to skip the Bluetooth keyboard. See how they go without it. If they want it, they can get one later. Also, save more money and go refurb officially from Apple (both on the iPad itself and the keyboard if you go for one). It’s just more wasted money otherwise.

Could you be more clear art what you mean by “lose all the music”? Is this for re-downloading later you mean?

Because you can log in with your current ID, download all the music to the device, then signout and log in with another ID. Nothing will be lost. I’ve done this on my iPad and you can sure do it through iTunes on OS X and Windows.

On your next device set it up using the new Apple ID, the sign out and sign in with your old one, download anything you’d like, then sign out and back in with your current one to carry on.

For exchanging files between apps, perhaps Beam could be used for this as one of the big features of iOS 6. Not only beaming files between devices but also having the option to beam them between apps on the current device.

Not as small as I though.

A small response to a small part of your post:

You mention him becoming less efficient, using the flash drive instead of Internet to send documents as an example. Although it is less efficient, it changes one’s mindset and I believe that is a large part of Paul’s decision to do this. Changes like this slows one’s mind down and results in a calmer mind and a calmer person.

Heading out without any sort of possessions on you other than the clothes you’re wearing has the same effect. You don’t feel the lumps of a wallet or a phone on you. You don’t check for messages or play around with the phone. You don’t have that feeling or memory that you should be protecting something or may forget something or have to empty something from your pockets when you sit down; there’s nothing there to be broken or lost or stolen or uncomfortable or whatever,

Having this work its way through every part of your life for a period is lovely for anyone who isn’t used to it, no matter to what level you are ‘connected’.

You also mention the gaming:

I’m not a gamer but I can completely appreciate the difference between playing an online game and playing one contained entirely locally. There’s a calmness to that too.

For many people, a lot of online social stuff is hanging around waiting for some contact, or checking/refreshing messages or notifications to see if there’s anything new.

When you switch off that local console or device or whatever it is, that’s all you’ve switched off. You haven’t left a conversation with someone mid-point, you haven’t left a game with someone mid-point. These small things change thought processes. There’s no follow-up to them. Once they’re done they’re done. Again, it’s calming.

Much of the distracted and unfocused mind that many people feel they have as a result of a lot of time spent online flitting between things, being social but not actually being social, can be scornfully tossed aside with “Well, that’s your shitty willpower. Work on it and quit complaining”. Unfortunately, it seems human minds just aren’t much good with this stuff and the people who are aware of and sensitive to it and can pinpoint it within themselves do something about it. In Paul’s case he’s trying to break away from having it so embedded at all in all parts of his life. In my own case, this time last year, I sold my laptop and smartphone, and got a landline phone and used the university computers instead.