Alright, so I got my iPad on the first day via pre-order. And I have to say that within it’s limits – it is an awesome device.
I will not go through the features of the device and they are available on the Apple website and have been reviewed and deconstructed on almost every major tech website.
I will try to divide this post in 3 major parts – who will benefit most, limitations and use in medicine.
1) Who will benefit most from the iPad (vs laptop)
The quick answer is most casual users. If you want to browse the Internet, check email, watch video, read books – the iPad is more than enough. Some may argue that an iPhone (or other smart phones) can also do this, so why buy an iPad. That is a matter of personal choice. Some people will be comfortable with the small screen of the iPhone and may not want to carry an extra device. The advantage of the iPad is the larger screen and keyboard which does allow for light typing – so it is possible to actually get some work done. Also he apps make use of the larger screen and offer more functionality.
People who need to edit audio-video, type long documents or need to use applications that use a lot of horsepower will not ditch their laptops any time soon.
2) Limitations
It is not a stand alone device and needs iTunes for transferring data. There is no file system so one file cannot be be opened in another application (e.g. PDF files transferred into one application cannot be opened by another application and needs to be transferred through iTunes again thereby creating 2 copies on the iPad).
Apple has provided iWork suite of applications but they cannot replace the desktop versions. They are good for creating outlines and a basic version and then transferring to the computer to finalize it. That said these applications are sufficient for creating light documents. I transferred a Keynote presentation from my computer to the iPad and ended up losing fonts, some formatting and animations.
3) Use in medicine
Finally a device in which I can keep all my journal articles (in PDF format) and actually be able to read them. That is a huge benefit. Also I am waiting for the major textbook publishers to release medical textbooks so instead of carrying actual books, I can have ebooks with me all the time.
Electronic health records will presumable be extremely slow to use this platform but I can imagine the day when I can go to the hospital with my iPad (or other tablet computer) and get the entire patient chart, labs and radiology images on it. This is a huge advantage for busy clinicians as most will attest that a lot of time is wasted in searching for charts and finding a computer to actually get work done. And when my patients want to see their labs or x-rays I can show it to them immediately!
(This post was typed on iPad – and minor editing done online in Wordpress)
