ipad and MacBook Air

[madhatter61]

Photography and backing up photos

This post reminds me when we got our first digital camera and wanted to be able to back up photo files so we wouldn't lose them. I am a backup freak.

Anyway, in those days Epson had a 4.3 inch display on a 35 GB harddrive, for $550. Expensive, eh? (didn't buy it) Then I got a gift horse, and was able to buy a 14 laptop with 60 GB for an extra $100. Wow, thought I was in heaven. That was 5 years ago.

Now we have an iPad2 (64GB, Wi-Fi) same price as laptop. The biggest advantage now is 10 hours of battery not 2 and weighs a lot less, is faster, and has a much better screen. Movies look a whole lot better, too.

With the camera connection kit i downloaded 900 shots from my nice Panasonic Lumix (8 B SD card) ... took just a minute or so ... and what a gorgeous way to look at those shots. They are fully backed up and the display is spectacular.

Super nice to show family, friends, and customers if you make your living in photography ... FWIW

 

[Mtnmedic]

It is impossible to fully explain how much use you can get out of the iPad. It is like explaining bread. You can tell that it is used to make sandwiches, toast, stuffing, etc., but you cannot describe how great these things taste. And then some one gets a loaf and discovers they like it to make french toast.

Now I'm hungry....

Michael "Spam, spam, bacon, eggs and spam. Hold the bacon and eggs." Sent from my iPad 2 using iPF

 

[Tinman]

The iPad and MacBook air will compliment each other, you may not want to carry the air around with you all the time

Well, if you have compared iPad with a standard laptop, I would have said yes. But Macbook Air itself is so light that iPad won't give you any extra portability.

In fact, I would rather say Macbook/Air and iPad are not a very good combo because they are so similar.

A windows/Linux laptop + iPad 1/2 will be a much better combo as you'll have best of both worlds.

In my opinion once you get past the size and silver case the Air and the iPad are not really that similar. In fact it is like being in two different worlds... both have their place. Yet they do go together well.

I have a Windows laptop... which can boot Windows or Ubuntu. Do I think it and the Air is a better combo than the Air and iPad? Heck no! Indeed that is exactly the combo I got away from when I bought the Air. What a breath of fresh air... lol, no pun intended.



Michael

 

[Tinman]

I also have both an Air and an iPad, and they work really well together as Michael has said. One thing he didn't mention was Air Display, which lets you use your iPad as a second screen over a wireless network. I've a MiFi, so with that I can have a two-screen setup with me wherever I am, and it works a treat.

Ironically I had started to mention about using Air Display--which is pretty cool indeed. Alas for me it didn't seem to be quick enough. May have been something else, or that I wanted to use it for watching a Netflix movie, but I know I felt a lag. I will try it again though... I do love the concept.

Another thing I use is Boom. This utility increases the sound from the Air's speakers if needed. I'm surprised at how well it works actually--only use it for watching video. But it does take around 10% of the CPU, always. Maybe I will try Air Display again with Boom disabled.


Michael

 

[ipfuser653]

Another thing I use is Boom. This utility increases the sound from the Air's speakers if needed. I'm surprised at how well it works actually--only use it for watching video. But it does take around 10% of the CPU, always. Maybe I will try Air Display again with Boom disabled.

I tried Boom once and the sound was, to me, so horribly distorted I deleted it immediately. Still, if it uses that amount of CPU time then that could be why you find Air Display laggy. I do find the app can sometimes take a few seconds to settle down at first, but once it's over that I've found it work nicely.

 

[Tinman]

As an FYI my best results with Boom are when I have it set no more than 70%, and regular volume no more than 80% or so. This is clear and not distorted, yet still noticeably louder than having just the regular volume at 100%. Never use it for music. But for video it's great to have. I sometimes throw the Air on the breakfast bar streaming news in the morning as I get coffee going in in the morning. 'Course I do that with the iPad too.

I'm going to try Air Display again now though with Boom not running. It really does pair the MB Air and iPad together nicely. Too nice not to try again.



Michael