Arne in Norway wrote last month about losing weight by shifting from an iPad to an iPad Mini for on the go work. He says it was pretty successful:
“So now I am experimenting with using the new iPad Mini only when on travel and in meetings. So far I have used both iPads and the MacBook Air on travel and the iMac at my home office. By using the iPad heavily I have been able to do more or less 75% of my work on the iPad. Only when doing demonstrations I have had to use the MacBook Air.“
I asked Arne in the comments whether he was using the Logitech Ultrathin Keyboard Cover for the iPad mini, and the answer then was “no.” A week or so later Arne purchased said keyboard, and has recently posted his analysis of the keyboard. It’s not a pretty picture:
“… to be honest, it was not worth it. I do love the iPad Mini, for reading, finding info and so on. But for real hard writing work it is simply too small and so is the keyboard. The keys are simply too small for my fingers, which results in a lot of misspelling and make me less productive because I have to do a lot of corrections.
But, done is done. I gave my iPad 2 and its keyboard to one of my daughters. I don’t have the heart to ask her to return it. So I guess I will still use my MacBook Air for the hard work while on travel, and use the iPad Mini for reading and info checking.“
Arne’s reaction pretty much mirrored my expectation, based on what I’d read others had said about the keyboard. Has anyone got it to work in a wildly successful way?
Categories: Tools & Technologies
Michael Sampson 
I do agreement that the keyboard is too small. That us why I prefer the Aple Bluetooth keyboard. That makes the iPad ready for hard work. It is a bit more to carry around but in the end it is a better experience for me.
Fokke, thanks for that. I used to carry an Apple Bluetooth Keyboard with an iPad 1, but found it unreliable. I’d forgotten about that option. Interesting.
Now I disagree with this assessment. Its a timing thing, given almost a month with an iPad Mini with the Logitech keyboard you do get more adapt in using it. Its never for me going to replace a big laptop (my choice is the Lenovo X1 Carbon Touch). I still however find it a useful adjunct to the iPad Mini. Its not “wildly successful” as its still more error prone than a bigger keyboard but its better than no keyboard.
Stu, thanks for the opposing perspective. It sounds like I’m just going to have to spend the money and try it for myself! I’ve heard the X1 Carbon Touch is a very nice machine too; nice choice.