I hope that you are sitting down.  This post is going to shock you.  It almost shocks me and I’m the one writing it.

I was fortunate to spend the end of December with THE DIVA and MY DAD in Southern California and to attend a rabbinic conference.  In an attempt to pack light and not to be too connected, I decided to leave my laptop and kindle at home and traveled with the iPad I got but never wanted.  I bought the Apple bluetooth keyboard, and figured that for any emailing and note taking I would be covered.

I must confess I was not entirely pleased.  Note that I do not have the 3G iPad.  It works with wifi and I didn’t always have wifi available to me.  I found the iPad somewhat cumbersome to tote around (which could be do to the case I have which is also a stand).  Lots of people were extremely impressed with my mobile office.  I just didn’t feel as productive.

I missed my MacBook.

The iPad seems like a fun toy.  It just didn’t do all of the things that I am accustomed to doing on my laptop in as efficient a way.  I did use ibooks and am still finishing a book.  Even for that, I prefer reading on the kindle a lot more.  The kindle is lighter and I find the e-ink easier on the eyes.

For my purposes, the iPad is seeming much more like a cool toy than a practical device for my purposes (mostly email, social media, and writing documents).

I’m not sure what I will do when I travel again.  What are other people finding they do?  IPad and laptop?