Laptop Replacement by Matt Gemmell
So you want to potentially not use a laptop anymore, but you also want a computer that does all the same things as a laptop, in pretty much the same way. In which case, I think the computer you’re looking for is a laptop.
This is the mindset Apple seems to be working in: that is you are looking for a laptop, then you want a laptop, and that their other devices are meant to be used for similar tasks but in different ways. Is Apple correct? Will the combination of the new iPad Pro and, especially, iOS 11 be able to move more people from laptops to iPads?
I know my parents have completely switched from laptops to iPads, and my dad continues to be iPad-only, having never been comfortable with traditional computers. He, obviously, would wonder why we want to use laptops at all.
4 replies on “Laptop Replacement”
During a recent somewhat-extended hospital stay, our first room had a nice desk area and I used a laptop as usual (at the desk, as it’s really too big to sit on my lap comfortably). We were then moved to a smaller, deskless room. At this point the laptop was put away and iPad with a good usable keyboard was good for almost everything. Spreadsheets were an issue, though, whether using Excel or Google Sheets apps. I ended up putting off all of my spreadsheet work until I was out of that room.
With another stay looming, I am trying to decide what to do. Get a smaller laptop? Continue with iPad and ignore spreadsheets for the time being? Or lug the big laptop into a space where it doesn’t easily fit? I’m not sure yet what the answer is.
What issues with spreadsheets were you running into? I tend to use Numbers, but I try to use spreadsheets as little as possible.
Mostly just navigational stuff. Having to tap in the box, and then the formula bar is at the bottom instead of the top, and I think I had trouble copying and pasting formulas, etc. I gave up pretty quickly, so maybe it wasn’t too bad to overcome, but it was tenuous enough to make it not worth my while at that time.
Were you using Google Sheets (which is terrible ) or Microsoft Excel (which is slightly better). Best advice I can give is to not think of it as using the desktop versions, but needing to learn new paradigms.