Ditch the Desktop and the Laptop and Switch to an iPad
By the time Dana and I packed up our stuff and headed to Las Vegas, I had two iMac desktops: a 21 inch and a 27 inch screen. Both were 2011 computers and were functional but feeling their age. Dana had a MacBook Air and I had an iPad Pro but my desktops were getting seriously creaky.
Over the course of our first year in the desert both desktops became steadily more obsolete. Internet became spotty at times. Load times for everything from spreadsheets to word processing to simply watching Netflix took much longer. I stopped updated the OS on either and went backwards to Snow Leopard because the newer OS programs took more juice than these beautiful reminders of eight years in Chicago could handle.
Increasingly, I had to rely on the iPad Pro for more and more of my computing needs. The iOS was not ideal for a lot of the heavy lifting needed but I figured workarounds and made some compromises in complexity. Use the tool you have and all that jazz.
A year ago the 21 inch iMac bit the dust. After researching and realizing to fix the thing would cost somewhere around $500.00, I decided to sell it. The 27 inch now sits in our bedroom and is used solely for watching DVDs because that’s pretty much all it’s good for. For the past twelve months my only real computer has been the killer combo of my iPhone and my iPad Pro.
With my monthly subscription to iCloud ($9.99 per month for 1TB of storage) I no longer need a hard drive. I have everything from a massive photo library to my podcast files (both raw audio files and fully edited MP3s) to thousands of archived writings stored there. Given that, at least in the meantime, Apple is going to continue to be the juggernaut it is, I feel pretty safe with this.
FIVE REASONS IPAD IS BETTER THAN THE SHIT YOU’RE USING
Streaming movies is awesome on it.
You can type, use a mouse or a track pad, and use your hands to make shit happen.
It can do everything your shit does but does it with style.
Apps for everything from word processing to tracking your sleep.
It makes you feel like you’re a character in Star Trek.
For much of the year, I used my wireless Apple keyboard Bluetoothed to the iPad for the real typing but have become adept at the glass keyboard for emails and short notes. Recently I upgraded to the Magic Keyboard with built in track pad, backlit keyboard and magnetic charging and I love it.
Keep in mind, if I needed high-powered graphic design or video making technology, this set up would not do. When I recommend you ditch your computers for the iPad Pro, I advise from the perspective of my own specific workflow. Here’s a quick list of tasks I’ve found far better rendered with my set up:
Writing
I’m a huge fan of Apple Notes. For a good long time, Notes was my go to writing app. Simple but flexible. Given that my writing comes in three forms: Literate Ape stuff, Random Ideas and Bullshit, Books I’m Writing, I can make multiple folders and archive everything all in one spot. A month ago I re-downloaded IA Writer to see if it was better than a few years ago. It is. A lot better. So now I’m using that for the Books and Ape articles and Notes for Podcast Notes, Random Shit, and Business Stuff (like bank records, scans, and passwords, etc.)
Literate Ape is on Squarespace and they provide a couple of excellent apps (the Blogging app and the Analytics app) that I use daily. IA Writer includes comprehensive Markup capabilities so I can format everything including links and just copy it straight into Squarespace.
Podcasting
iPhone 11 Pro Max + Shure MV88 Digital Stereo Condenser Mic + Shure Motiv Audio Recording app + Ferrite Audio Editing app = solid podcasting capabilities.
The condenser mic was something I latched onto a few years ago and it’s perfect. When I record Peculiar Journeys I can do it almost anywhere and it sounds clean. With the Literate Apecast David and I record in Chicago and Vegas via FaceTime with good headphones. Then he sends me his half of the conversation and I use Ferrite to mix the two and balance it out.
When the world isn’t locked down and we can do live events, Bughouse! is the same set up except I put the phone and mic on a grippy tripod attached to the mic stand in the venue. Set at a wider sound grab, the MV88 does a great job with that, too.
Ferrite is just the easiest audio editor I’ve ever worked with. Just enough add-ones to tweak sound, incredibly easy to edit. I’ve worked in software at a radio station that isn’t as effective.
Emails
I like the Apple Mail app. Simple, easy to add multiple accounts. Some people dig third party apps and of those I dig Readdle’s Sparrow but I always come back to the native app.
For work, I’m using the Boxer app connected to an encrypted server through the casino company.
It’s funny that email seems almost antiquated these days. I’m old enough to have lived a chunk of life without any of this technology at all, so even email still kind of amazes me.
News
Again I go with Apple News. I subscribe and it gives me plenty of aggregated news. I also use Feedly, Flipboard, and a subscription to the NYT. In my Doomscrolling, I have more than enough Troughs of Misery to wade through.
Photos and Video
Apple Photos and iMovie. Simple and effective.
Movies
While the iPad is a perfectly capable computer, this is where this little fucker excels. Great screen resolution, great speakers, and when I use those incredible AirPods everything from Netflix, AppleTV, Prime Video to HBO Max and Shudder just sings.
I like racing games of the Asphalt type and a few gambling games but mostly I’m consuming or creating media. I love FaceTime to chat with my mom once a week and iMessage to text my wife.
I had an Apple Pencil but gave it to my mom when I gifted her my older model iPad but I ended up buying a Logitech Crayon which works just as well and it’s flat design makes it easier to set down when doing other things.
Perhaps it is due to the fact that I didn’t have much choice in the matter but I love my rig. I like having what can feel like a laptop except when I want to use my digits to move things around and pull the monitor off and compute.
Desktops are cool if you spend more time at your desk and laptops are likewise fine but there is something almost out of science fiction carrying your entire computing rig around like a thin book. If your iMac or MacAir are in fairly good shape, stay put. But if they’re starting to get a little dusty, at least swing over to the store and play around with an iPad Pro. Perfect size, perfect computer.
I recommend it.
