I am doing everything with the Mini I did with the full size iPad but with substantial weight reduction - who could imagine ever thinking the iPad is bulky?!? Well that's my experience and I am spoiled horribly now with my new expectations for weight, size, computing power and cellular data speed. Anyone who has taken my class knows I use my iPads at home, and work, and I use them hard.
So whats the iPad Mini like in a work environment? At first I was a bit nervous the battery wouldn't last, its so lite I just didn't think it could be used hard all day. It does. My next concern was the screen size for both typing and reading electronic medical records (I work in behavioral health) using a VPN connection to log into the electronic medical record at work to do my clinical notes, I was doing this with my iPad 2, but I was uncertain whether the Mini might be too small. It isn't.
So far, I have not been disappointed with the Mini, it is every bit as robust as the full size iPad. I can't say the same for Apples so called "Smart Cover" it's going back to the store since it is horrible, and at $40 simply is not worth it. I'll take more time looking for a suitable cover or case.
So why did I move to the iPad Mini in the first place? I still use an iMac and Mac Mini to do all my heavy duty computing at home, and at work we already use a server based thin client network. I really wanted to keep reducing the redundancy of things I carry and the overall cost for my mobile devices (yes that means I'm give up my iPhone 4, more on how in my next post) while not sacrificing mobile computing power.
So far my efforts are paying off, and if you plan to sign up for my next iPad class, along with covering the basics, I'll be showing you some more advanced functions which might make your life and work a bit easer.
