People Don’t Want iPads. They Want Smaller MacBooks

People Don’t Want iPads. They Want Smaller MacBooks is an interesting take on the iPad vs a MacBook Air.

"My day-to-day Mac is a 15” MacBook Pro hooked up to a 24” LED Cinema Display. It’s a fabulous setup that gives me just enough computing oomph, but also the convenience of being portable. Despite having a powerful laptop as my sole computer, I recently picked up a 13” MacBook Air."

"The iPad has proven to be a great couch device for refreshing Twitter while watching a baseball game, jotting down an item on my grocery list when it pops in my head and browsing the Web. I don’t use it for much else. I prefer reading books on my Kindle because it’s easier on my eyes and lighter weight. Despite having intentions of using the iPad as portable document editor and Keynote presentation device I uninstalled the iWork suite a few weeks after I got the device because it was just too damn slow to work with and far too limiting. I gave a single presentation using Keynote on the iPad and it was far more compromising than I ever imagined."

I currently use a 15" MacBook Pro as my only computer. It's been connected to an external monitor and keyboard for close to a year. I used to bring it when traveling but now, for short trips at least, an iPhone is a fine substitute.

I want an iPad as a living room computer and something to take with me around town. I hope to be able to take notes at lectures on it so I have soft copy and don't have to transcribe from my handwritten notes in my moleskin (which still works best for me, I can't type fast enough on an iPhone).

My MacBook Pro is 2.5 years old. I've started to think about what my next machine might be. A 27" iMac offers a bigger screen (nice for XCode) and much better graphics than a MBP (I'm also waiting for Diable III). I think an iPad would be great as the portable addition to the setup without having to sync info between two macs (iOS is good at syncing). Though I'm curious about how a new MacBook Pro or Air might fit into the mix. Anyone have experiences they'd like to share?