Two years ago Christmas I received my first iPad from Santa. Up until then I thought that a owning tablet computer would be nice, but It wasn't a must have device. After using it for a few weeks I changed my mind, and if you've followed this column over the past two seasons, you will know how indispensable my iPad has become. While I use my computer, a MacBook Pro Retina laptop, for serious photo editing and graphic design, just about everything else I do on a computer can now be done on my iPad. Which brings me to my timely experiment.
By the time you read this, Eddie and I will have left for a trip to Hawaii. Our son is in the Army, and has just begun a tour of duty on Oahu. We plan to spend three weeks visiting with him, his wife, and our beautiful granddaughters. Normally, one of the items on my packing list would be my computer. I actually cannot remember a trip of more than one or two days time when I did not take my laptop . This time, however, I am actually planning to leave the laptop behind and travel with only my iPad.
With my iPad I can send and receive email, browse the internet, store PDF versions of our travel documents, and all of my recipe files (a grandmother cannot visit without doing some cooking). I also have apps (tablet and smartphone speak for applications) for reading books, word processing, using spreadsheets, keeping database records, watching Netflix and HBO, playing games, and editing photographs. My only concern is whether or not I have enough free storage on the iPad for all the photographs I plan to take in Hawaii.
As a photographer I'll be packing a Nikon DSLR, two lenses, a point and shoot Panasonic, and of course my iPhone. During the past year my photography workflow has been to download photographs directly to the iPad using Apple’s camera connection kit. Using a specially designed app, I can then sort through my photos, selecting keepers and deleting not-so-good images, and then transfer the keepers to my laptop. I can preform all but the last of these tasks if I leave my laptop home, but what can I do about the lack of adequate storage space on the iPad? My iPad is a 64GB (gigabyte) model, and I have approximately 20GB free. It sounds like a lot, but I tend to take a lot of photographs, especially when I am around my granddaughters.
I have ordered what I hope to be a viable solution to the storage problem. It is a small, portable drive with wifi capabilities designed to work as both a standard USB flash drive and a storage device for smartphones and tablets. The drive, a Kingston Wi-Drive (pronounce wee-drive), is about the size of an iPhone and comes in 32 and 64 gigabytes sizes. I ordered the 64GB drive, which should be adequate for my needs.
I plan to continue submitting my columns during our trip, and I will include updates on how I am managing without my laptop. I am very optimistic and the only potential problem I see is that I will have to share my iPad with my granddaughters — but being with them makes everything worthwhile.
No comments:
Post a Comment