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This is true, but I'd be sacrificing the silence, the portability and the battery life. And the hipster factor, I guess. 102x768 isn't for everyone, but in tex

This is true, but I'd be sacrificing the silence, the portability and the battery life. And the hipster factor, I guess. 102x768 isn't for everyone, but in text-mode it's all the same. I've no idea how many hours I've spent on a huge high-res monitor staring at a relatively tiny terminal window surrounded by a pretty desktop picture.

swombat 15y ago
The battery life of a Macbook Air is pretty damn good. You can get a good 6+ hours of work out of them before needing to plug in. Not quite iPad-scale, but close enough in many cases. Also, the iPad does tend to run out of battery a bit more quickly when using 3G and bluetooth heavily, I believe...
- moconnor 15y ago
  For me, 6 hours is the difference between needing to take a charger to work and never thinking about it. If I'm going to take a charger, I might as well have 1 hour battery life. I didn't buy the 3G version, but I do use bluetooth for the keyboard all day and still get around 9 hours out of it.
- mgcross 15y ago
  Maybe with the 13" MBA or MBP, but my 11" gets around half the battery life of an iPad. On a different note, an iPad also makes for a decent external display for a cramped 11" MBA.
- ynniv 15y ago
  It's useful to note that the Air's battery life is fleeting if you actually use the processor. Intensive game development has left me thinking that it's life is closer to two hours.
scottschulthess 15y ago
I see your point, but still, battery life/silence/portability doesn't seem to be worth the flexibility of having full osx esp when compared to an Air
- moconnor 15y ago
  The restrictions of iOS make me happy: I have a simple consumer brick. I can wipe it and restore it on a different device without losing a single byte. It never stutters, never misses a frame. I never need to care which programs are running or the layout of the filesystem. The psychological effect of this is surprisingly powerful.
  - For_Iconoclasm 15y ago
    I'm not going to argue with your opinion like others are doing, but I find it very interesting that you have this viewpoint. It would sort of be like a car enthusiast preferring an automatic car for its smooth, self-maintained shifting, or a skilled cook preferring a boxed meal because it is easier to make.
    - abrowne 15y ago
      The iPad is his terminal, not what he's programming. So it's more like a cook who prefers an oven with a temperature knob over the flexibility and control of lighting and tending his own fire.* * I say this a someone who definitely is glad not to have to kindle a fire to cook even the most elaborate meals, but who loves a good wood-fired pizza.
- jasongullickson 15y ago
  Don't overlook the cost difference as well, the iPad2 is half the price of even the base MacBook Air and if you include the cost of the keyboard you still have a couple hundred bucks left over.
cageface 15y ago
This is true, but I'd be sacrificing the silence, the portability and the battery life. And the hipster factor, I guess. A 11" laptop, particularly the new MBAs, is less cumbersome than an iPad + keyboard and far, far more useful as a real development tool. Other than battery life I just don't see the point of doing this other than the "hipster" factor. Just the ability to spin up a Rails instance on my own machine or run XCode alone keeps my iPad on the shelf when I'm working.
- dotBen 15y ago
  I don't see the point of doing anything for the "hipster" factor. Sometimes people are surprised that the reason I buy macs is not because they're metal and shiny.
randallsquared 15y ago
If there's more than a little visible desktop around my terminal, I feel like I'm working through a keyhole. Also, being able to stretch out horizontally to 160 characters or more is wonderfully relaxing; it makes chaining two or three tests in an IF readable, in the process saving at least two lines of vertical space, which is in far shorter supply on modern 16:9 displays. (Although, it seems you use your iPad in portrait orientation, which reverses these benefits, I suppose).

swombat 15y ago

The battery life of a Macbook Air is pretty damn good. You can get a good 6+ hours of work out of them before needing to plug in. Not quite iPad-scale, but close enough in many cases. Also, the iPad does tend to run out of battery a bit more quickly when using 3G and bluetooth heavily, I believe...

moconnor 15y ago
For me, 6 hours is the difference between needing to take a charger to work and never thinking about it. If I'm going to take a charger, I might as well have 1 hour battery life. I didn't buy the 3G version, but I do use bluetooth for the keyboard all day and still get around 9 hours out of it.
mgcross 15y ago
Maybe with the 13" MBA or MBP, but my 11" gets around half the battery life of an iPad. On a different note, an iPad also makes for a decent external display for a cramped 11" MBA.
ynniv 15y ago
It's useful to note that the Air's battery life is fleeting if you actually use the processor. Intensive game development has left me thinking that it's life is closer to two hours.

scottschulthess 15y ago

I see your point, but still, battery life/silence/portability doesn't seem to be worth the flexibility of having full osx esp when compared to an Air

moconnor 15y ago
The restrictions of iOS make me happy: I have a simple consumer brick. I can wipe it and restore it on a different device without losing a single byte. It never stutters, never misses a frame. I never need to care which programs are running or the layout of the filesystem. The psychological effect of this is surprisingly powerful.
- For_Iconoclasm 15y ago
  I'm not going to argue with your opinion like others are doing, but I find it very interesting that you have this viewpoint. It would sort of be like a car enthusiast preferring an automatic car for its smooth, self-maintained shifting, or a skilled cook preferring a boxed meal because it is easier to make.
  - abrowne 15y ago
    The iPad is his terminal, not what he's programming. So it's more like a cook who prefers an oven with a temperature knob over the flexibility and control of lighting and tending his own fire.* * I say this a someone who definitely is glad not to have to kindle a fire to cook even the most elaborate meals, but who loves a good wood-fired pizza.
jasongullickson 15y ago
Don't overlook the cost difference as well, the iPad2 is half the price of even the base MacBook Air and if you include the cost of the keyboard you still have a couple hundred bucks left over.

cageface 15y ago

This is true, but I'd be sacrificing the silence, the portability and the battery life. And the hipster factor, I guess. A 11" laptop, particularly the new MBAs, is less cumbersome than an iPad + keyboard and far, far more useful as a real development tool. Other than battery life I just don't see the point of doing this other than the "hipster" factor. Just the ability to spin up a Rails instance on my own machine or run XCode alone keeps my iPad on the shelf when I'm working.

dotBen 15y ago
I don't see the point of doing anything for the "hipster" factor. Sometimes people are surprised that the reason I buy macs is not because they're metal and shiny.

randallsquared 15y ago

If there's more than a little visible desktop around my terminal, I feel like I'm working through a keyhole. Also, being able to stretch out horizontally to 160 characters or more is wonderfully relaxing; it makes chaining two or three tests in an IF readable, in the process saving at least two lines of vertical space, which is in far shorter supply on modern 16:9 displays. (Although, it seems you use your iPad in portrait orientation, which reverses these benefits, I suppose).