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Last updated 2 min read

Considering iPad Mini 7 as a Productivity Device

#Gadgets

I've been in the market for an ultimate productivity porn device for everything: reading, note taking, simple administrative tasks, todo-lists, calendars, planning, etc.

Use Cases

My initial list of use cases included:

  • E-Books
  • Articles, pds, stuff from read-later apps
  • Note-taking via Obsidian

I wanted to at least improve a number of things in my reading/note-taking:

  1. Reading experience in regards of things that I mentioned: A Few Years With Kindle Paperwhite 7th
  2. I wanted to enhance my note-taking by handwriting & sketching and integrate it with my Obsidian note-taking flow. (somehow)

Nice to haves:

  • Calendars
  • Reminders
  • To-do lists

Calendars, reminders and to-do lists a getting into nice-to-haves category. Since I'm actively in Apple ecosystem here (Calendar + [[Things App]]) non-apple devices won't sync seamlessly, making these kind of apps quite useless. A trade-off to deal with.

Obsidian has more options to sync between apple and non-apple, but it can be a caveat. Another pitfall of using Obsidian on a tablet is the keyboard. There is a chance that non-laptop usage will be too uncomfortable.

Portability is a must-have for me, but tablets usually don't fit in reasonably-sized sling bags. It’s kinda annoying. Requiring a backpack defeats the whole idea of portability advantage compared to a laptop. On the other hand, it makes the choice easier: if I would need a backpack anyway, then a 10" tablet is not a portability deal breaker.

Alternatives

Here is a list of alternatives that I considered

  • iPad
    • Mini 7
  • ReMarkable
    • Paper Pro
    • Remarkable 2
  • Boox
    • Note Air 4c
    • Boox Tab Ultra C Pro
    • Go 7 Color (didn't consider, because it came out later)
  • Supernote
    • A6X2 Nomad
    • A5X2 Manta
  • Kindle
    • Scribe
    • Colorsoft
  • Viwoods
    • AI paper

Why iPad Mini 7 Nails It

After carefully researching how people use all kinds of e-ink tablets: Handwritten Note Taking References. Devices, Workflows & Software and workflows they build around note taking I concluded that nothing can beat an iPad as a general-purpose device integrated within the ecosystem. (Althou some devices may be better in some specific use cases)

In the end, there were 2 devices on my shortlist: iPad Mini 7 and Boox Air4 C. Here are some thoughts on iPad Mini 7 vs Boox Air4 C and also A Few Notes on the Leading E-ink Devices

Finally I got an iPad mini and I think I wouldn't have achieved this kind of UX with any other device: [[My Handwritten Note Taking Workflow with iPad and Obsidian]]

References

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