iPad Mini as a productivity "tool"???

[islandpar]

Hey guys,

I am new to the forum and I would like to ask about your experiences with the iPad mini as a business tool. You see, my current carrier is offering a 64GB iPad mini for my renewal. I own another tablet (he who's brand shall not be mentioned in this forum...) but alas it has outlived its usefulness and is now a legacy model.

What I saw so far with the mini is that it would suit my personal life well as I read a lot, listen to music, play games, visit forums and social sites, watch videos but I haven't heard of or seen friends or other people using it for productivity purposes.

Here is some of the "work things" I do with my current tablet:

1) Plan schedules (calendar is synced to my gmail, and outlook)
2) Emails (2 business and 2 personal )
3) To do lists and tracking of projects
4) View/edit excel sheets and word sheets
5) View/edit/create powerpoint presentations
6) Attach the table to an LCD projector or TV for presentations or just to get a bigger screen while editing or typing
7) Conference calls/ Video conferencing
8) Record meetings (video or voice)

Can it connect to an external USB drive as well? As you can see I have no experience with ipads whatsoever and I would appreciate hearing from those who actually use the mini for work.

I travel a lot and I would like to just carry with me a tablet rather than a laptop and the size of the mini is just right for me. Should I need a bigger screen then I can hook it up to the TV in the hotel room (wired or wireless?)

Thanks in advance and looking forward to hearing from you.

iPar

 

[Somerled]

With the right apps/adapters, 1-8 is possible, even easy. I do most of those with my iPad on nearly a daily basis.

External drive - well, yes/no. you can get the camera kit but (without being jailbroken) you can only move photos/videos one way - to the iPad. I have a Seagate Wireless 1TB external drive that I have used very easily to transfer to and from my iPad to the drive. I have used it on one charge for over 6 hours (streaming videos while traveling) and the thing was flawless.

For traveling and movies, I will not go smaller than the regular iPad. I love the bigger screen. If I were you, go into the store and play with both models. There is nothing better than hands on.

Another note for traveling - my travel kit has gotten smaller and smaller as the years go on, and now it is pretty muck my iPad, iPhone, BT Keyboard, power adapter (has 2 USB charging slots) and TwelveSouth Compass iPad stand and wifi drive. The nice thing with the drive, when I shoot photos on the iPhone, I can store them on the wifi drive and edit the full sized photos on the iPad. Using the Photo Stream, the images are down-sized.

 

[Redjupiter]

Hello Ipar,

I can't match your exact list but here how I use it (Ipad Mini 32GB Wifi Only):

1. Goto Meeting, WebEx, Skype and Microsoft Lync for conferences.
2. Calendars, shared with boss and few employees.
3. Work emails 1, and personal 5.
4. A lot of notes (I use Notability most) but I also use reminders,notes and tasks. https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/notability/id360593530?mt=8
5. Camera connection http://store.apple.com/uk/product/MD821ZM/A/lightning-to-usb-camera-adapter?fnode=3a
6. I have Numbers, Keynote, Pages for presentations, docs etc ... and this Lightning to VGA Adapter - Apple Store (U.S.) to connect to overhead projector.
7. I use CoPilot when travelling and this http://www.amazon.co.uk/Universal-Bluetooth-Receiver-Wirelessly-Devices/dp/B006M49G80/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1381248093&sr=8-1&keywords=dual+xgps+150
8. I use Pdf Expert for pdf and annotation. Readdle
9. ScannerPro to scan docs, receipts, cards, and really anything I wish to keep digitally. Readdle0. DropBox for sharing, Also SkyDrive
11. Pocket Money for finance, budget and expenses.
12. Podcasts, and Youtube.
13. Various others not connected to business