Is it possible to do all the things I use my Mac for. ie. Work ( Excel, spreadsheets, Word, email, invoice, copy/ paste, print ( over WiFi) etc.. ))

Can I do this with a iPad/ tab or would I need a laptop? External drive for all my current data?

What would I need? I already have a WiFi printer/ scanner.

Can’t think of anything in that list that would be an issue. I use roninapp.com for invoicing and the Apple suite of productivity apps. All work just fine on iPad.

I still use my Mac for actual website development as coding and git access is tricky on iOS.

Rachel

No. You need a proper computer.

FYI I have iPad and Mac Mini, I’ve tried using the iPad with a wireless keyboard and whilst you can create larger documents and do markups of other peoples work, email etc you still really need a computer.

Got the new office for ipad suite and it’s really good. Shows apple how office apps should be done. Numbers was unusable.

Jambalaya +1. There’s a real limit to what you can do with an iPad in my experience – every time I try to create anything in any way complex or of any length I get annoyed with it – even to the extent of proper replies to a forum post on here.

tymbian – My wife bought me a chromebook for xmas and I think it would fit the bill perfectly.
Slim, light, instant on/off, 8.5hr battery life, fast, USB to attach drives, HDMI, SD slot, loads of apps available (inc online and offline google docs) – AND you can print from it.
All for less than £200.
In our house we have an iMac, Mac Mini and two iPads – the chromebook is my go-to device.
All the apps are free and obviously you get perfect syncing between all your devices.

Lot of our guys are trying to get by with just ipads, some of them are doing not too badly.

Spreadsheets of any complexity are crap to work with on an iPad.

If I had my time again I’d be content with this macbook air, but to get here I tried the iPad and bluetooth keyboard route.

Are all Chromebooks born equal???

Spreadsheet on a tablet? Nah be aff yer but to put yourself through that pain. In 5 years time maybe but not now.

Tymbian: basically yes.
Same OS but screens may differ. I have an acer and although it may not have mac build quality the OS is great for 90% of the population.

Tymbian: sort of. Some specs are different. If my Samsung Series 3 goes bang I’ll be getting an Acer C720 which is cheaper than this but is faster due to the haswell processor. I’d like a little more oomph on times. Ooer.

Also I’m not bothered by the onboard storage. Tend not to use it tbh, but if you’re out and about you may use it for document storage (you can use google docs offline).

I use a Microsoft Surface RT for work. Cost me about £170 second hand with a receipt off here.

I love it. Has the full office suite on it and I mostly work at a client’s office where I hook it up to a monitor, keyboard and mouse.
When I go to visit other clients I cycle so stick it in a backpack – nice and light.

It’s kind of a tablet-plus or laptop-minus… somewhere in between.

Microsoft? Are they really still going, am disappoint 🙁

In my opinion Macbook Air is the way to go. All the power or a “real” computer with the size, weight and convenience of a tablet.

Most chromebooks are cheap (but awesome) and similar. However there is a Google one that costs £1000. As a Mac owner you might be interested in paying far more money for something that does the same job, so maybe take a look.

The unknown quantity for me is photo editing. I like the idea of using a Chromebook to do the initial sorting and basic editing of photos on my SD card, then move them to my Mac when done. Are there good apps on Chromebooks for doing that?

^I’ve googled and answered my own question I think. As a huge fan of Google Docs a Chromebook is mighty tempting…

There’s a decent casual photo editor on Chrome store, BUT it doens’t run all that quickly on a basic chromebook. So some stuff is fine, some stuff is a little slow. Stuff like magic wand selection of complex patterns.

But why would you do stuff on Chromebook then move to mac? Generally not a good idea – Chrome stuff is meant to be ‘in the cloud’ and not moved around physically from one machine to another. Plus, uploading 4Gb of photos to google drive is rather time consuming, which is what you’d need to do.

You can use your chrome stuff anywhere you have a copy of Chrome web browser though.

But why would you do stuff on Chromebook then move to mac?

Apologies to the OP for hijacking his post, but let me explain the problem and see if anyone has a sensible solution.

I have an iMac for home use, including photo and video editing and I’m pretty happy with the Apple apps for this purpose. I also remote into my work computer from my iMac, which means I’m spending most of my working week in front of it. I begrudge spending my evening sat in front of it when I want to edit/organise a few photos so was looking for something that would let me do basic photo editing/sorting on the sofa. Once done I then want to copy the photos back to the Mac; I don’t want to move my entire photo library to the cloud (yet), so it’s important to keep the main photo library local. If I want to share photos I tend to do so via Flickr.

I also use Google Docs for work and non-work stuff and really rate it. I like the low price of Chromebooks as opposed to a Macbook for example and I’d rather have a proper keyboard as opposed to making do with a tablet.

If money was no object I’d have a Macbook, but I can’t ignore the fact the Chromebooks are a quarter of the price and the compromises might be worth that type of saving.

I can get photos on a Chromebook and into Flickr no probs, but Flickr only allows me to download images one at a time, so that’s not really a sensible solution.

Ideas?

so was looking for something that would let me do basic photo editing/sorting on the sofa.

Hmm. If you don’t want to put your photos in the cloud then you’d have to copy them onto SD card, then edit them on chromebook then copy back.

Chromebooks can have some local storage, 16Gb in the Acer’s case, but I am not at all sure if the photo editor thing can work on them. The assumption is that your files are on google drive. I can check on the wife’s later.

Pixlr is a very well rated ‘in browser’ editor and it can open files stored on the Chromebook/attached USB drive.

I can get photos on a Chromebook and into Flickr no probs, but Flickr only allows me to download images one at a time, so that’s not really a sensible solution.

Ideas?

Bulkr allows batch downloading from flickr

Another practical example:
Coming back from a typical holiday, I have a lot – often hundreds – of photos to go through. Many get deleted, so it seems a bit silly uploading them to the cloud only to delete them then download the remainder. I suppose what I’m asking is whether a chromebook allows local photo editing

I suppose what I’m asking is whether a chromebook allows local photo editing

Yes

Mmm, sounds interesting…

Thanks

@stilltortoise – you can access the Apple apps like Pages, Numbers, Keynote from any computer and web browser via cloud.com, you don’t need a Mac. I used to be a reasonably big user of Google Docs but Apple stuff is better IMO.

Also you don’t need photo editing by the sound of it – you just need to look at them and delete the ones you don’t want ? Tablets are good for that, get photos onto there (I have an adapter for my iPad) and then review / delete as required. Easy to do whilst on holiday/flights.

in our house (me, the boss and boys ages 7 and 11) we have a brand new Dell laptop (just replaced ageing desktop) which is mainly for itunes and photos, 2 chromebooks, a Nexus, an iPad and a few ipods. Youngest is itching for a chromebook for his birthday in a few months.

The chromebooks get used the most by a mile, they just ‘work’ and we have just ordered chromecast to let the kids see their stuff on the bigger screen.

I can see no reason not to wholly reccoend chromebooks !

@jambalaya

Much as I’m a big Apple fan, I do prefer Google Drive, especially for the collaborative stuff. I realise iWork is cloud-based now but it is still very much a niche offering compared to Google and – if I’m not very much mistaken – doesn’t offer cloud based storage. Apple offer cloud-based apps designed to do specific jobs rather than a complete cloud-based infrastructure like Google. This is where Apple are behind in my opinion, especially when it come to photos.

I’ve experimented with tablets and moving pictures back and forth between tablet and Mac. I found it quite a messy workflow to be honest. Again, Apple are behind the curve with sync’d cloud workflow of images, but I don’t know who – if anyone – is ahead of it. Maybe I just need to wait for Apple to apply the same iCloud treatment to iPhoto, but I’m getting a bit fed up of waiting.

More significantly I’d prefer a laptop form factor because it will get used for sitting down and typing at a table.

[edit] @iainc thanks for the thumbs up. I’m almost prepared to give one a try for under £200.