Forced to use the iPad for better or worse

What happens to most users at least once, has now happened to me too. A couple of days ago, when resuming my Macbook Pro from sleep, it woke up as usual, but the screen would not come on. I digged around a bit and found that this is a common problem with the Nvidia chipset for this particular model and build.

Apple would fix this for free, but the problem I, and probably most people face, is how to continue working without the means to do so. I luckily have a Time Machine backup of the entire computer from just a day earlier, so I at least do not have to worry about data loss.

As it happens, I have an iPad, so this would be an excellent way to use it for real. For work stuff I still need a real computer though, so an old Mac Mini at the office would suffice for development and things like that. For personal use however, the iPad will be my closest friend for the next week.

The problem with the iPad is that it is designed to consume website, movies, music and just about anything imaginable (except Flash). It is however, not made for content creation in the same way a normal computer is, so this would be a challenge.

The first thing I did was to hook up my wireless Apple keyboard, making typing more lengthier texts a non-issue. The iPad is responsive and works beautifully with the keyboard in just about any situation.

The first real issue I had is with Evernote, which I use for writing down most types of information. The draft for this post was for instance written in Evernote on the iPad using the wireless keyboard. If there were a good alternative out there for WordPress, I would gladly switch though.

Anyway, what I am trying to do is to be able to rely on the iPad for more than just casual surfing and media consuming. When tied together with a proper keyboard, it can truly be something to actually create content on. I guess the only thing missing is a proper file editor.