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Hello and how the hell are you? If this is your first time here thanks for stopping by. In this weeks blog we are going to talk about The Way of the iPad 10. I feel in love with the use case of an iPad from actually watching Star Trek when I was younger. The data pads that they would use back in the next generation was out of this world to me at the time. Around the time the first iPad came out in 2010 I was watching Star Trek Enterprise which was a spin off from the OG series.

In that show they still had the data pads and it was set not that far off in the future. So to me I was living in the beginning of that world. This started my journey of exploring the use case of the iPad. Thus it started the way of the iPad for me. There was so much wrong with those first iPads that it was not funny. Yes you could write out a blog but the act of using word press back then was like pulling teeth just to try and upload the file that you had started.

I was also going through college at the time and trying to upload papers to my classes was just not worth it. I found that at the time the iPad was stuck as a bigger iPhone. This meant that the iPad was regulated to just being a consumption device and I was fine with that for many years. I used it to read websites and research for papers that I was writing for college. I would also watch wait for it Star Trek on the darn thing. It was a great tool for distracting me from doing actual work on the computer.

Enter today and the definition of a computer has changed so much that the iPad has become a main computer for so many people out there. The act of writing is accomplished with ease now days because the app ecosystem has caught up to what the people wanted out of the iPad. I took a break from using the iPad for around ten years as I could not get around the file management system that the iPad/iPhone had and it just sucked. This stopped me from thinking of it of an actual computer and more on the lines of a bigger iPhone. Then in 2017 the iOS Operating system got a new files app that actually gave it the ability to upload files right from the iPad.

At the time I had a iPhone and I tested the app out and while it worked good but it lacked the ability to format SD cards or HDD’s at the time so again I had to wait for it to truly get to that point for me. Then in June of 2024 with the beta release of the iOS 18, and iPadOS 18 the ability to format a SD and HDD was given to us. This simple little thing caught my eye and I started re-thinking using an iPad as a computer.

This took me many months of research on how it worked and how I could integrate this into my workflow. The act of being able to actually use the iPad as a main computer was here. Yes there is still going to be downfalls to that as the apps while getting better are still not there with full on desktop type programs that let you get work done. The difference in the apps is less than it was ten years ago that is for sure and I can actually get ninety percent of my work done on the iPad. This was all that I needed for the green light in my head to say now is the time.

I had to wait for the update to actually hit for me to buy the iPad and start using it as my main computer. Well in October of 2024 the updated OS hit and I took the plunge for trying to make this happen. I wanted this for so long and with all the disappointment I had many years ago I didn’t want to buy the best of the best just to be left with this tool that fell short again. So instead of buying the top of the line iPad I went with the base model and the max storage. I also went with the iPad that was going to give me cellular options to save in the long run of paying for internet services. This makes the iPad the tool that can go every where I go and I have my computer with me and it is connected to the internet to upload a blog or a photo from a hike if I wanted to.

The iPad is the one device that gives me freedom that I dreamed of for many years. The act of computing on the go is something that I have wanted for so long so now I have that. The way of using a iPad is going to be different for so many of you that it comes down to a personal use case for each of you. Yes to me the iPad is a tool that I can pick up and just start working on the blog or edit a photo from the middle of nowhere. This freedom of having my office on the top of a mountain that I just hiked up is so freeing. The ability to be anywhere and still work on the computer that I love interacting with it just amazing to me.

The title of this stated the Way of the iPad and for me the way that I use it connects me to everything that I am doing at the time. It is my escape from the real world it is my extension of my mind. Every time that you read a blog you are getting to read about a part of me. Enjoy from St Johns AZ y’all.