A decade with an iPad - what a delightful computer!

This year the device I’m writing these words on, turned exactly 10. A whole decade. What launched as a bigger iPod and a consumption device as described by the tech press, turned out to be a very capable device which I’m using right now to write my #NoOffice book. Here’s my short history with an iPad:

From the iPad 1 to the iPad Pro¹

I bought my first iPad (which I still proudly own) right after the launch in 2010 as we were working on a Nozbe app for it. In the beginning it was a purely consumption device for me an I didn’t see much use for it apart from watching some movies and browsing the web. For this reason I entirely skipped iPad 2 but when the iPad went retina with the iPad 3, I bought it and my iPadOnly journey began as I started configuring this thing to be able to work on it almost exclusively.

By the end of 2012 I was already iPadOnly when I upgraded to the iPad 4. I wrote my entire iPadOnly book on it together with my friend Augusto Pinaud.

Later I went through several upgrades. I got the iPad Air and later the iPad Air 2.

When the iPad Pro was announced, I immediately went with the 12.9” version as I thought the bigger would be better. I was wrong.

Bigger is not always better

I hated the huge iPad Pro size. It was too big to be used in portrait mode. To clunky to carry around. I lasted half a year, until Apple announced the smaller iPad Pro 9,7” which I bought to test the latest iOS beta but finally fell in love with it and made it my main device.

I realized that a small iPad is big enough for me to work on and yet joy to carry around and just use anywhere I want. A smaller iPad brought me back to the happy place where I could use it for work, fun and anything in between.

New iPad Pro 10,5” and 11” just made the iPad perfect.

Later the newer iPad Pro 10,5” and iPad Pro 11 just perfected the machine. Smaller bezels, no more home button, Face ID… it all just made the iPad a perfect companion for me to use every day.

Here’s a comparison of the iPad 1, the 10,5” and the 11”:

Better accessories: Pencil and Smart/Magic keyboards sealed the deal!

The Pencil 1 was a nice accessory but I love Pencil 2 as it’s always charged and it’s always ready to be used. Especially with my favorite writing app - Linea Sketch.

In the beginning I was using Logitech keyboards, especially the Ultrathin models. In fact, I still use Logitech K760 with the iMac on my desk.

However, first the Smart Keyboard and later the Magic Keyboard which is really cool and I’m using it now to write these words for you.

Writing #NoOffice book only on the iPad is pure joy

As I described it on the #NoOffice about page I write this book entirely on the iPad. I write in iA Writer, sync it with Working Copy which I use to post new chapters to GitHub.

I spend the first half of August 2020 traveling with my family. We were living in 3 separate AirBNB houses and 4 hotels. My iPad was always with me. Always ready to write. In places like these:

A decade with an iPad - what a delightful computer! 2

iPad is a real computer. And it’s a delightful one at that. I can’t imagine my work without it.

What makes the iPad so much better against a traditional computer?

In no particular order, these things stand out:

It’s super light, only 600 grams, small at 11” and even with the Magic Keyboard it’s still only 1kg. It fits any man purse so it’s really easy to carry around. And I can hold it with one hand effortlessly.
It’s multi-touch so you can just browse, read and interact with things directly on the screen with your finger or fingers (multi-touch!).
It’s both portrait and landscape as there’s no right or wrong way to hold it. Just grab it and turn around and depending on the content, use either layouts.
It’s always ready with a 10 hour battery life it’s always ready to take out and work. No booting, no waiting, no charging throughout the day. Only 10% left? Still an hour to go!
It’s always online! I recommend the cellular model as it’s online all the time. And usually the LTE/4G connection is faster than any open WiFi around you. This way I could work on my book from anywhere and send my written chapters wirelessly.
It’s focused as despite the split screen features and slide over, I usually work on one app at the time like I’m doing now writing this post. It helps me work very productively.
It has a smaller sibling as it shares its operating system with the iPhone, I have the same apps and can access the same resources on both devices. With an iPhone and an iPad it’s like carrying two ultra-powerful and ultra-portable computers at a time!
It has great apps as the app ecosystem is a lot more mature after 10 years and most of pro apps are there and new ones are coming every day. Instead of visiting web sites I very often turn to their apps.

All these arguments make it a delightful device to use. It’s a computer I love to work on. It’s just fun.

But really, how was it that the iPad came to be?

Now that you know the iPad is a joy to use and it does the job for me, if you’re curious how it initially came to be, check out this video by my favorite vlogger, Rene Ritchie.