Upas or laptop

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robertj

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I have been toying with the idea of either having an ipad or laptop for onboard use.
Probably navigation and general Internet use
ideas and which one would suit best?
 
iPad on board

For use on board and as a back up navigation, iPad wins. Better battery life, instant switch on,cheaper 'boatie' apps,lighter,easier to mount and more portable. Downsides, don't think you are going to use it for your primary navigation because it is difficult to see the screen in bright conditions,it's not waterproof. Make sure you buy one with 3G. Get a free 3G pay as you go card from O2 or one of the other phone companies. You don't have to have any credit on it, you just need to put the chip in to use the gps function. Personally, I would not buy any more than the 16gb one. I have used mine every day for the last 2 years and still have 10 gb free space. It's an excellent piece of kit, as is my laptop but I find the iPad of more use on the boat. Thanks. Alan
 
I'm using one right now. Its biggest problem for me is the keyboard and the predictive spelling. It wanted to put it's at the beginning of the last sentence. Correcting typos is tedious and copy and paste are worse. There is no useful equivalent for Word, so it seems not possible to compose anything. I believe it is possible to print from it but I would need additional hardware. So for e-tickets, for example, no good.

Having said that it is excellent for keeping up with the forums. Boots up in 10 seconds and is available immediately. Great for photos, once you have got to grips with the annoying way you need to add them from the laptop. Apps I have for Cruising Association and Navionics are very useful.

Summary - highly convenient for short term use aboard. For longer term you need the laptop as well.
 
vyv_cox said:
I'm using one right now. Its biggest problem for me is the keyboard and the predictive spelling. It wanted to put it's at the beginning of the last sentence. Correcting typos is tedious and copy and paste are worse. There is no useful equivalent for Word, so it seems not possible to compose anything. I believe it is possible to print from it but I would need additional hardware. So for e-tickets, for example, no good.

Having said that it is excellent for keeping up with the forums. Boots up in 10 seconds and is available immediately. Great for photos, once you have got to grips with the annoying way you need to add them from the laptop. Apps I have for Cruising Association and Navionics are very useful.

Summary - highly convenient for short term use aboard. For longer term you need the laptop as well.
Click to expand...

Hi Vyv.

I seems to me like you need to download the iPad "tips and tricks" app.:D
If you don't like predictive spelling turn it off. You are then in the same position as a laptop.
It's really easy to type it's and it wasn't corrected for me on the iPad I am typing on.
Copy and paste seem fine to me. You select the word and then copy and paste it. I agree it doesn't have the laptop's keyboard shortcuts but most people don't know about them anyway.
As far as Word goes, you can download Pages for iPad which IMHO is a better app anyway. More intuitive and better for DTP.
Printing is very easy as long as you have a modern printer. You can buy one for less than £50. Our HP cost less than £100 and in our house we have 3 iPads, 3 MacBooks, 4 iPhones and two Macs. We all use the same printer and not a single wire between them.
iPads boot in 2 seconds. You do not need to turn them off.
Why are you adding photos from a laptop? Mine go direct from my phone to the iPad, or direct from the camera with the connection kit.

I agree with you on Nav apps though.

In conclusion, you really do not need a laptop, unless you have to run some sort of Windows applications.
 
Last edited:
Laundryman said:
For use on board and as a back up navigation, iPad wins. Better battery life, instant switch on,cheaper 'boatie' apps,lighter,easier to mount and more portable. Downsides, don't think you are going to use it for your primary navigation because it is difficult to see the screen in bright conditions,it's not waterproof. Make sure you buy one with 3G. Get a free 3G pay as you go card from O2 or one of the other phone companies. You don't have to have any credit on it, you just need to put the chip in to use the gps function. Personally, I would not buy any more than the 16gb one. I have used mine every day for the last 2 years and still have 10 gb free space. It's an excellent piece of kit, as is my laptop but I find the iPad of more use on the boat. Thanks. Alan
Click to expand...

FYI you do not need to put a Sim card in for the gps to work. You just need the 3G iPad.
 
Agree with most about IPad but one drawback is some online forms just do not like iPads.
And ipads will not accept DVDs
I use my iPad on the boat and in reality have not needed a Laptop.
 
Last edited:
Last edited:
Ex-SolentBoy said:
Hi Vyv.

I seems to me like you need to download the iPad "tips and tricks" app.:D
If you don't like predictive spelling turn it off. You are then in the same position as a laptop.
It's really easy to type it's and it wasn't corrected for me on the iPad I am typing on.
Copy and paste seem fine to me. You select the word and then copy and paste it. I agree it doesn't have the laptop's keyboard shortcuts but most people don't know about them anyway.
As far as Word goes, you can download Pages for iPad which IMHO is a better app anyway. More intuitive and better for DTP.
Printing is very easy as long as you have a modern printer. You can buy one for less than £50. Our HP cost less than £100 and in our house we have 3 iPads, 3 MacBooks, 4 iPhones and two Macs. We all use the same printer and not a single wire between them.
iPads boot in 2 seconds. You do not need to turn them off.
Why are you adding photos from a laptop? Mine go direct from my phone to the iPad, or direct from the camera with the connection kit.

I agree with you on Nav apps though.

In conclusion, you really do not need a laptop, unless you have to run some sort of Windows applications.
Click to expand...

I guess it's like so many things in life, easy if someone shows you how. I have not owned an iPad for long, and not familiar with any Apple products. I find it not at all intuitive, particularly selecting words with the blue brackets. I double tap for ages with little effect. Placing the cursor i find to be very hit and miss and i very much miss the keys that allow me to do it.
I have thousands of Windows documents, so i doubt that i shall be beginning a new word processing program that doesn't talk to them. I have turned off predictive text though, thanks.
I own a book about the iPad and have now downloaded the app you suggested, so thanks for that too. However, i doubt that i shall ever see iPad as my No.1 computer.
 
vyv_cox said:
I guess it's like so many things in life, easy if someone shows you how. I have not owned an iPad for long, and not familiar with any Apple products. I find it not at all intuitive, particularly selecting words with the blue brackets. I double tap for ages with little effect. Placing the cursor i find to be very hit and miss and i very much miss the keys that allow me to do it.
I have thousands of Windows documents, so i doubt that i shall be beginning a new word processing program that doesn't talk to them. I have turned off predictive text though, thanks.
I own a book about the iPad and have now downloaded the app you suggested, so thanks for that too. However, i doubt that i shall ever see iPad as my No.1 computer.
Click to expand...

I know the feeling. After 20 years in the computer industry I was a windows dinosaur and then got persuaded by my son to switch over. We have now ditched all things windows.

Pages on iPad will probably open all your word documents and Numbers will do the same for excel.

If you have a cursor placement problem don't worry about it. Just touch the screen and then slide your finger to where you want it to be.

If you really insist on having a main computer as well you can always get Microsoft Office for Mac and run it on a MacBook! I think it's all down to work volume.
 
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