I've begun this post on a mid-2006 iMac running Snow Leopard and Safari 5. iCloud is telling me my browser isn't supported and helpfully suggests I upgrade to a newer version of OS X and Safari. Unfortunately, my iMac doesn't support anything newer. But with any luck, this will be virtually the last time I have to use this machine for anything other than media storage (and maybe not even for that!)
I've decided to fully embrace the post-PC era. This means that this old iMac may be the last traditional computer in my house. The future of computing is mobile and iOS is a mature enough platform that suffices for everyday home use. At least, that's what I'm telling myself. In this experiment, I plan to use only my iPhone 5S and iPad Air for my home computing needs. No desktops or laptops and no traditional operating system. Do the advantages of living completely within a mobile OS outweigh any potential drawbacks and irritations? I hope to find the answer is yes.
Of course, this isn't much of a risk for me. I'm not a power user in my home environment and for work I have a company-issued, relatively high-end Windows laptop so if I get into any jams with my iOS lifestyle, that machine is always available in the background to bail me out. But I'm going to try really, really hard not to need it. The goal is to do all my personal computing using iOS and only fall back to a regular computer in the most dire extremity.
There are a few reasons for this little experiment: the first is cost. A decent iMac runs $1200 and up, and the cheapest Apple computer you can buy is the Mac Mini that starts at $599 sans monitor, keyboard, and mouse. When I examined what we use our iMac for, it's really hard to justify a thousand-dollar price tag for what is essentially an internet and email machine. $1200 gets you a couple of really nice iPads, for example. And since so much of our computing is content consumption along with some light productivity (say, updating a resume, curating photos or writing for this blog), I have a really hard time forking over that kind of cash - it's overkill. iOS can meet all those needs less expensively and hopefully more flexibly. You give up some power, but I seriously doubt I'll need all those CPU cycles for home use.
I've got some friends who run their own businesses (or side businesses) from home using their own machines. Certainly in that case a mobile-only lifestyle is not really workable. I understand this type of setup isn't for everyone. But I'm convinced that the vast majority of home use can benefit strongly from the right mobile setup (for example, a high-quality iPad paired with a physical Apple wireless keyboard for long-format typing) and that we have truly entered the post-PC era. Most home users simply don't need all that power under the hood with its attendant complexity and cost.
The one area of risk to this plan is storage. Local storage on iOS gets really expensive and tops out at 128GB on the iPad - that's not enough for photos, music, videos, etc. Fortunately, the latest generation of wi-fi enabled storage devices support saving both to and from iOS, so something like Western Digital's 2+TB "MyCloud" drives will allow hugely expandable storage beyond what iOS devices have. This means I feel comfortable with a 16GB phone and a 32GB iPad. So part of this strategy is relying on cheap network storage coupled with use of free cloud accounts like Dropbox (for several reasons, I'm not too keen on paying a monthly or annual subscription for cloud storage - I'll go into why in another post).
This blog will chronicle various aspects of living post-PC using only mobile devices (for me, that'll be my iPhone 5S and iPad Air). I'll have some posts on what specific hardware I chose and why, what apps I consider essential for the iOS-only household, and any challenges or irritations I encounter. Hopefully after a few months of this, I'll look back and congratulate myself on not spending big bucks on a full-blown machine. Time will tell, but I hope it'll at least be an interesting exercise.
Endnote: I finished up the final editing of this document on my iPad Air paired with Apple's wireless keyboard - so I'll be sure to post some thoughts on why I chose the model I did. But first, I'll discuss my new iPhone 5S.
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ReplyDeleteBest of luck to you! The heavy-hitting nature of my computing needs (audio/video/photography) precludes a mobile-only option, but I think that your premise is right for the majority of households.
ReplyDeleteOne area I'm interested in hearing about would be personal finance management (IE: Quicken) in a post-PC life. Lots of people use their home computers for this in addition to the typical e-mail and web-browsing pastimes.
Sure, mobile computing hasn't hit professional grade as an end-to-end solution as yet. You still need to do the heavy lifting with traditional machines.
ReplyDeleteAs far as personal finance goes, there are a plethora of apps (e.g. Mint) designed to help with that. In our house we mostly use good old-fashioned spreadsheets (currently Google Docs) to create budgets and track spending. I might migrate to Numbers but Google Docs pretty much meets our needs. I'll add personal finance as a future topic!
Best of luck to you with your experiment and new blog! I'll be reading how the experiment goes as my home laptop is stuck on Lion and I'd prefer replacing it with a tablet. I'll still have my Mac mini for any heavy lifting, but moving the majority of my home computing to mobile devices sounds intriguing.
ReplyDeleteHaving a capable backup computer just in case is a great way to try out a mobile-only lifestyle - if you get caught in a bind, there's always a capable machine there to bail you out if you really need it. I'm not going to unplug my iMac anytime soon, but I hope to not need to use it much. Thanks for your comment.
DeleteI would be interested to know how the iPad really compares to the iMac both in price and function. For example, to enable the iPad to function on a desktop, you need all the accessories - keyboard, number keypad, stand for the screen. Then there is the hard drive needed to compare equally to storage functionality. Then you have the usual accessories for iPad to be portable - screen protectors, sleeves, cases. Is the iPad really less expensive in the end than an iMac?
ReplyDeletePossibly not less expensive, though not all of the things you mention are needed just for the iPad. For example, more storage in the form of an external hard drive (e.g. a NAS like WD's MyCloud/Cloudbook) can be used with computers as well as tablets, and may need to be depending on the hard drive capacity of the iMac (ours is nearing capacity right now).
DeleteAs far as pricing goes, comparing apples to apples you could go with a base-model iPad Air (so, no LTE) for $500, plus a keyboard, cover, and stand for another $150 tops, plus a portable hard drive (WD's 2TB drive is $150). That's a total of $800 for iMac-like capability, including MUCH more storage than you get with an iMac and the ability to use it like a tablet as well.
Oh, and I'd add that $800 is $500 less than a base-model iMac. You get a much larger, nicer screen with the iMac, but you get the portability with the iPad. This is all assuming you don't need the iMac's power; that the capability of the iPad is enough. For home use, I think it is.
DeleteI might add that The base model only gives you 16 GB of storage. Even with the added capacity of an external hard drive you need enough space to store your apps and active documents data, photos, etc.
DeleteI got the 32GB iPad and I think that will be enough for me to keep current things on it while offloading most to an external HDD. but for someone with a home business, I get that might not be enough to keep current work easily accessible. I do think that post-PC lining is most practical for personal use, not business.
DeleteCan't wait for the first follow-up with your initial reactions (pro and con). Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDelete