About six month ago, our family laptop broke. We have a desktop, so it was no big deal. However, now I’m working a sales job (as a 1099 employee) in the afternoons and on weekends, and I’m on my HOA’s Board of Directors, and I’m starting to need a portable computer again. I’ve been looking at laptops, but my wife just suggested an iPad. I think she just likes the look of them, since we haven’t had one before. I checked out Apples “iPad for Business” site, and it looks like a workable solution. Of course, I can’t make a big purchasing decision without checking here first, so here goes:
For sales work (mileage tracking, expense tracking, client tracking) and for my BoD duties (minute taking, annotations and notes in monthly meeting packets), am I better off getting an iPad or a new laptop? If I get an iPad, should I get one with 3G access for the times I’m out on the road? If I get a laptop, what should I be looking for to make sure it’s durable enough for this type of work?
The iPad is great at displaying information. If you need to surf the web, read your email, or show people presentations, it’s hard to beat. Where it fails is data entry. The onscreen keyboard is OK for quick emails, but I’d hate to write more than a page of text with it. You can get an external keyboard, but even that is a pain because without a mouse, you’re constantly moving your hand from the keyboard to the screen to reposition the cursor.
You mention you need to take notes & minutes in meetings. The iPad, imo, would be horrible at that. And that’s from someone who absolutely loves her iPad!
I have both and use both for business. I prefer the iPad. It is just so much more convenient. Instant on, you don’t need to clear a space to set it down, stays charged forever, weighs practically nil. You should get the 3G version though, there is never a wifi spot when you need one.
I agree with this 100%. I love my iPad and it’s amazing at many things but for your requirements I would recommend a laptop or even netbook. This has the additional advantage of being cheaper.
Laptop. No question. I love my iPad but it’s for consuming content, not producing it.
(Occasionally I have a plane trip where I just need to be reading papers or practicing briefings, and then I’ll just take the iPad out of my bag. But I’d be sunk without my laptop to do actual, you know, work on.)
The iPad is great for jotting down quick things or even writing a paragraph or two of text (I’ve gotten pretty used to the keyboard) but I couldn’t imagine writing a full page of text on it. Plus, the iPad still doesn’t have the power for sharing things that I would like, mostly because it refuses to play as friendly as it could with Dropbox - the reasons for this should be obvious.
I love my iPad, but I have to agree here that a laptop is probably the better option.
However, there is a great iPad app called WritePad which allows you to take handwritten notes, which it turns into text on the fly. Very cool for notes and perhaps even minutes - depending on the quality of your handwriting.