Ron Schenone

Can Your Apple iPad Replace Your Laptop Computer?

Posted by on Apr 25, 2011 | 37 Comments

Six weeks ago I bought my wife an first generation Apple iPad refurbished 16GB Wi-Fi only model from the Apple Store. The unit was priced at $349.99 with free Fed-Ex shipping. My wife loves her iPad. Apple still has these units available for the same price, which includes a new case, new battery, manual, and charger unit. In addition these refurbished iPads also come with a full one year warranty.

Last year I bought my wife a new Toshiba laptop for her personal use. She basically uses a computer for checking her email, surfing the Internet, staying in contact with family and friends on Facebook, plus she enjoys playing games. Her favorite games are Mahjong and solitaire card games.

As an experiment I wanted to see if I could get my wife’s Apple iPad to replace her laptop, becming her only mobile computer. For this to work, the iPad needed to perform all of the basic functions of her laptop. I started looking for free gaming apps that would keep my wife content and happy. This was actually a very easy process. I located and installed 8 free games on her iPad.

My wife had been receiving her email from our ISP via her laptop system. I wanted her to have a Gmail account for her primary account instead of the ISP email. I personally like Gmail and have been using the free account for several years. I enjoy the fact the Google has a fairly good spam catcher and if a spam message does slip through the cracks, I can go back into my Gmail account and tag the offending message as spam. After I setup a new Gmail account for her I setup up Mail on the iPad to use the new account. She sent out an email from our ISP account to all of her contacts stating she had a new email address. I later imported all of her contacts from Outlook over to Mail on the iPad.

We had previously sent up Facebook in the iPad Safari browser and she also had bookmarked her favorite sites. I bookmarked Google Docs for her just in case she needed to create a document. We both rarely, if ever, use our Microsoft Office software any longer.

Is replacing a laptop with an iPad something anyone can do? I don’t believe the iPad is the solution for everyone. I know in my own situation this would not work very well for me. In my wife’s case, she has found this change over from a laptop computer to an iPad uneventful. It just works for her.

Comments welcome.

  • http://www.seanammirati.com Sean Ammirati

    How does she update the software on her iPad? Also, if she uses an iPhone, what does she synch that with? I feel like iTunes is really the missing link – unless I’m missing something.

    • http://chris.pirillo.com/ Chris Pirillo

      Unfortunately, Apple still requires an external tether (via iTunes). Lord knows, we’ve needed to cut this cord for ages. You could likely get away with NOT synching to iTunes, but when something goes awry with an app install on iOS, the only way to restore it is to re-synch. Until Apple sees this as a bug, it won’t be fixed.

      • http://ColtonProvias.com Colton J. Provias

        I’m thinking Apple is eventually going to break the need for an external tether because it’s one of the few items limiting the iPad. For the standard consumer, it’s much cheaper to purchase a netbook rather than purchasing a computer and an iPad. If Apple wants to get the iPad to really take off, they need to remove its dependence on other devices.

        • http://chris.pirillo.com/ Chris Pirillo

          I’m sure it’s coming with a more-than-likely comprehensive “cloud” solution. They’ve had bits and pieces in place for a while, but sewing them all together with the impending release of Lion / iOS 5 would make sense.

  • http://twitter.com/SeanAmmirati Sean Ammirati

    How does she update the software on her iPad? Also, if she uses an iPhone, what does she synch that with? I feel like iTunes is really the missing link – unless I’m missing something.

    • http://chris.pirillo.com/ Chris Pirillo

      Unfortunately, Apple still requires an external tether (via iTunes). Lord knows, we’ve needed to cut this cord for ages. You could likely get away with NOT synching to iTunes, but when something goes awry with an app install on iOS, the only way to restore it is to re-synch. Until Apple sees this as a bug, it won’t be fixed.

      • http://ColtonProvias.com Colton J. Provias

        I’m thinking Apple is eventually going to break the need for an external tether because it’s one of the few items limiting the iPad. For the standard consumer, it’s much cheaper to purchase a netbook rather than purchasing a computer and an iPad. If Apple wants to get the iPad to really take off, they need to remove its dependence on other devices.

        • http://chris.pirillo.com/ Chris Pirillo

          I’m sure it’s coming with a more-than-likely comprehensive “cloud” solution. They’ve had bits and pieces in place for a while, but sewing them all together with the impending release of Lion / iOS 5 would make sense.

  • http://twitter.com/travelfreak12 Jason Bassant

    I have pretty much replaced my laptop with my new iPad 2G, the only problem I have is playing games, I know we have the iOS games but I mean things like Portal 2 and all the steam games of course it wouldn’t be able to play it but yes my new iPad is pretty much my second on surfing the web, first being my iMac.

    • http://chris.pirillo.com/ Chris Pirillo

      At this point 90% of the games I play are on an iOS device, either the iPhone or iPad. They’re terribly affordable.

      • http://twitter.com/travelfreak12 Jason Bassant

        That is very true, I also see more and more big games coming from consoles to iOS like Dead Space, could this mean they will be coming to iOS more? even though there not as good graphics or gameplay? maybe they could make use of the keyboard for the iPad to play iOS games, we’ll see ey.

        • http://chris.pirillo.com/ Chris Pirillo

          I haven’t picked up Dead Space yet – even with the .99¢ special this weekend. Afraid I wouldn’t get THAT much out of it. :)

        • http://ColtonProvias.com Colton J. Provias

          The keyboard for the iPad could prove detrimental to the adoption of the device as a suitable platform for gaming. The beautiful thing about the iPad is that the entire device is pretty much self-contained. Adding on any external devices just ruins its simplicity and can turn users away.

          • http://chris.pirillo.com/ Chris Pirillo

            Exactly. I love not having a keyboard attached to a device. I wouldn’t consider typing lengthy documents without one, but… that’s what the Bluetooth option is for. ;)

  • http://twitter.com/travelfreak12 Jason Bassant

    I have pretty much replaced my laptop with my new iPad 2G, the only problem I have is playing games, I know we have the iOS games but I mean things like Portal 2 and all the steam games of course it wouldn’t be able to play it but yes my new iPad is pretty much my second on surfing the web, first being my iMac.

    • http://chris.pirillo.com/ Chris Pirillo

      At this point 90% of the games I play are on an iOS device, either the iPhone or iPad. They’re terribly affordable.

      • http://twitter.com/travelfreak12 Jason Bassant

        That is very true, I also see more and more big games coming from consoles to iOS like Dead Space, could this mean they will be coming to iOS more? even though there not as good graphics or gameplay? maybe they could make use of the keyboard for the iPad to play iOS games, we’ll see ey.

        • http://chris.pirillo.com/ Chris Pirillo

          I haven’t picked up Dead Space yet – even with the .99¢ special this weekend. Afraid I wouldn’t get THAT much out of it. :)

        • http://ColtonProvias.com Colton J. Provias

          The keyboard for the iPad could prove detrimental to the adoption of the device as a suitable platform for gaming. The beautiful thing about the iPad is that the entire device is pretty much self-contained. Adding on any external devices just ruins its simplicity and can turn users away.

          • http://chris.pirillo.com/ Chris Pirillo

            Exactly. I love not having a keyboard attached to a device. I wouldn’t consider typing lengthy documents without one, but… that’s what the Bluetooth option is for. ;)

  • http://twitter.com/Javier_Ivan JavierIvan-akaScorge

    it can replaced if the only things you do are the ones that can be done in the iPad and nothing more… simple but just what it is…

    • http://chris.pirillo.com/ Chris Pirillo

      …what?

      • http://twitter.com/Javier_Ivan JavierIvan-akaScorge

        if you use your PC to do what you can do in the iPad (and nothing more), then you can be shure you can use the iPad for doing what you do in a PC

  • http://twitter.com/Javier_Ivan JavierIvan-akaScorge

    it can replaced if the only things you do are the ones that can be done in the iPad and nothing more… simple but just what it is…

    • http://chris.pirillo.com/ Chris Pirillo

      …what?

      • http://twitter.com/Javier_Ivan JavierIvan-akaScorge

        if you use your PC to do what you can do in the iPad (and nothing more), then you can be shure you can use the iPad for doing what you do in a PC

  • Hatchinz

    My wife loves her iPad 2 so much that she has basically given up her desktop computer (apart from some features). She will sit in her comfy chair and listen to the tv in the background, while playing on the iPad. She majors in farm frenzy, call of Atlantis and a couple of others, but she mainly uses it for browsing http://www.trade me.co.nz or checking Facebook, emails etc. Personally I will be using my computer and my iPad in equal portions, it’s just too hard to play something like Crysis 2 on the iPad ;-)

    • http://chris.pirillo.com/ Chris Pirillo

      I never played Crysis on the PC, so… no love lost, there. :)

  • Hatchinz

    My wife loves her iPad 2 so much that she has basically given up her desktop computer (apart from some features). She will sit in her comfy chair and listen to the tv in the background, while playing on the iPad. She majors in farm frenzy, call of Atlantis and a couple of others, but she mainly uses it for browsing http://www.trade me.co.nz or checking Facebook, emails etc. Personally I will be using my computer and my iPad in equal portions, it’s just too hard to play something like Crysis 2 on the iPad ;-)

    • http://chris.pirillo.com/ Chris Pirillo

      I never played Crysis on the PC, so… no love lost, there. :)

  • Vivien44

    Yes mostly it can replace a laptop but for the fact that you cannot down load flash player which a lots of sites use, QVC, Create and Craft and ITV are the first ones that come to mind. Vi Ken, a re ail who does things for herself.

  • Anonymous

    of course that the ipad can ‘t replace the laptop……the laoptop is more powerful and it can help us do more things

  • Anonymous

    of course that the ipad can ‘t replace the laptop……the laoptop is more powerful and it can help us do more things

  • Anonymous

    I don’t believe the iPad is the solution for everyone.I still prefer laptop.

  • Anonymous

    I don’t believe the iPad is the solution for everyone.I still prefer laptop.

  • Anonymous

    I don’t believe the iPad is the solution for everyone.I still prefer laptop.

  • Anonymous

    I don’t believe the iPad is the solution for everyone.I still prefer laptop.