Or it would have taken two...

This isn't a cop out, but you have to understand that my clients wouldn't be happy if I released their internal docs and such to the world :)

However I can point to this site for my own company. Roughly 60% (maybe a bit more) of that was written on the iPad. I used the app Koder to do the work, because it has Dropbox support. I created the project in IntelliJ IDEA, and then whenever I wanted to go outside the house to work, I would grab the iPad. Then I would come home and work on my laptop.

It was also a chance to test out Koder, which was fine. I mostly use Gusto, but it lacks Dropbox support, alas.

When I write documents, I either use Elements and write in markdown for things that don't require a lot of formatting. I personally think markdown is unwieldy beyond basic formatting, but that is just me. When I need to do more complex formatting I will use QuickOffice, Pages, or when document fidelity is primary I remote desktop into a VM I have running at home (but that isn't very often).

Mindmapping is an amazing experience on the iPad using iThoughtsHD (and don't use a keyboard), I used to find it annoying on a desktop os. On the tablet you have a direct connection to your concepts, I find I am more free and playful with moving and rearranging ideas and concepts. Again I wish I could show you some but their either whole deeply personal information, or my clients information. They also just look like mindmaps ;)

For diagramming I use OmniGraffle. While more limited than its desktop version, I find it to be easier and more fluid to create the diagrams I create.

When I just want to play with algorithms or sketch in code, I will use iLuaBox Pro. Lua isn't my favorite language but it is very good for working out ideas.

For spreadsheets I use Numbers or QuickOffice. Keynote is the only thing I use for presentations.

For quick photo editing I use Naked Touch. For vector images I use TouchDraw. I also use Photoshop Touch, but not as much as I thought I would. I use iSSH for SSH, VNC, and remote Desktop. I don't have cause to do remote X Windows, but it can do that too.

And when I am back home I use AirDisplay to turn the iPad into a second monitor.

Again it might not be the right answer for most people, but it is for me.

Did I say it was anything other than an anecdote? Someone said (without data themselves) that the iPad sucked at content creation. I just offered an example. I have never claimed my experience was typical, simply that his wasn't universal.

Most — between 70 and 80% of the time if I had to hazard a guess — of the time when doing text based things, there are number of things on my list that don't require a keyboard at all. Mindmapping is so direct and fluid on the iPad that simply can't use my laptop to do it at all; and I don't use an external keyboard when doing that.

I don't view this as cheating, or a failure of the iPad. I see it as a strength, the fact that it can (near seamlessly) adapt to the best way to work at a given moment. And if we are talking blasphemy: I am very intrigued by the MS Surface's keyboard cover, and the fact that it can act like a pointing device.

Live by the pointing stick, die by the pointing stick

If size, weight, battery life, OS, adaptability (IE using a keyboard or not) aren't a paradigm shift I don't know what is. The only difference between a mainframe and a laptop is size, weight, portability, and the OS.

I give you the right to the last word...

No that was the massive amount of morphine I have to take every day.

Sorry all true. Please consult the post where I assert what I am saying is true. Also why are technical docs the thing that cause your incredulity?

I am sorry I didn't realize I had to mention that. It is an option available to all users of the iPad, including the one who said it sucked at content creation. Indeed may of the people replying to me assumed I was using an external keyboard. You will also notice that a number of my use cases I mention don't use the keyboard at all.

But some clarifications. I don't carry a dock, I carry a small plastic stand (which is a part of the keyboard). But the exact same effect can be had by placing a pen on the table and laying the iPad on that.

It's like saying that a phone is perfectly adequate development device, after I plug it into a dock and attach my massive LCD screens, and USB mouse and keyboard. At that stage, what device is processing the input for all those devices is irrelevant.

No it isn't. It isn't something unusual. It isn't a hack. It is a standard option for the iPad and has been for a very long time.

Nobody's claiming that these devices don't have the capacity, or the speed, or whatever, to perform productive tasks.

Yes they are. Go back and look at the posts in this thread. Again many of them are assuming I am using an external keyboard, and still say the iPad sucks at content creation.

Sorry I didn't mean "three hours" I meant "three miles". Being in Portland, OR I have a metric ton of coffee places within three hours of my house...

You still make it sound like I am making a sacrifice, and what I am saying is that I am not. It is a different form of UX, but it isn't a lesser one.

Even before my disability I didn't like to carry big heavy bags with me, or full laptops. I did, I just didn't like. I am as sure as I can be that I would have gravitated to the iPad anyway. It is, for me, a better way to work. Just accept that.

There is one other thing you should realize about /. moderation. It is a lot like wikipedia. While an article is active some posts can be quite volatile. As I write this my original post is back up to a 2. So no harm actually done. It may go up to a three, it probably won't. I frankly think it was about a 2-3 post (hey they all can't be winners).

In wikipedia you see lots of flaws and inaccuracies, but eventually things get better, mostly, for most of it. Tomorrow this whole thing will be forgotten by most people. In a week it will be irrelevant.

This is /. for good and ill

There is a difference between better for you, and better for everyone.

If you want to say there is one definitive better way to write for everyone, you are going to have to back that up with real data. My point it is subjective. People like me may be the minority, but we are real and out there. Please don't assume we are somehow deluding ourselves.

I have bone spurs in my neck, shoulders, and spine. Oh and in one of my hips as well. Every gram counts. I carry a small folding bluetooth keyboard with full sized keys. It has a little snap off stand that I use to prop up the ipad.

Well it isn't uncommon to have proxy dailies that are much smaller for that reason. But there are also software to view the originals without storing them on the ipad directly

I did in my original post, but just to make it more clear: battery life, lightness, portability, all things that aid me with my increasing disability