In a world where most authors are also working a 40 hour work week to pay the bills, finding time to work on your books, your author platform, and your laundry can be a challenge.  So, what can you do?  Enter productivity helpers!  Each week I will share something I have found to help me get all the words! 

Last week I told you about how great Office 365 was for me and how combining an Office subscription, my Bluetooth keyboard, and my phone gave me a mini computer essentially on-demand. I also mentioned I would tell you about another essential game-changing gadget. Enter the 2018 9.7 inch 6th generation iPad!

I *know* I said I didn’t like Apple computers or phones, but I have to admit the newer iPad is pretty sweet. My real problem with Apple things are the prices and how some of the products I got from them in the past seemed to not last long before they were “obsolete”. Seems like to me if I have to pay an arm, leg, and toe for something it should last five years.

Then I saw that 2018 iPad Pro in November. OMG. Does that thing have a USB-C? You say it outperforms some computers? It has a rechargeable PEN. Photoshop is coming to iPad??!!! Those were all the things that made me WANT this more than anything. Anything, except the price. $799.00 USD to begin with? Uhm. I just bought that Galaxy S9 and a new desktop in 2018. So, that was a not gonna happen dream.

But, these days there are SO many iPads. I didn’t realize HOW many models they had. Their naming system sucks, though LOL. I’m not up on all the Apple doings like I am say with DAZ Studio things. The last time I looked at an iPad, the mini second gen had just launched. There were far fewer choices, but I still managed to get a dumb sales person who sold me the wrong mini. I wasn’t a fan of that mini-either. 16 GB of internal memory is all it had. This time when I started considering an iPad might help me, I did my research. I read a lot of CNET things like this article HERE comparing 2018 vs 2019 models.

My main objective in getting an iPad was to write. However, I am also an artist. If I could get an iPad with the Apple Pencil I would be able to draw on it AND write on it. Plus, Photoshop app in 2019? Yes, please.

I’ll skip all the inner monologues. The should I buy it button hovering. The hemming and hawing. I ended up going to the store and standing in line on Grey Thursday (my name for Thanksgiving shopping) to get the iPad 2018 6th gen 9.7 “entry level” for the fabulous price of $249.00 USD. I think that’s a reasonable price. Of course the thing with Apple is to watch for sales. Apple controls their prices for the most part, so that’s why you don’t always find super good deals at the big box stores. Apple always puts stuff on sale in the Spring and around Christmas time. It coincides with their Spring and Winter launches for new things. In fact, the iPad I picked up retails for $329.00 USD and was a Spring 2018 release.

There are a few other things I learned along the way to navigate the Apple infused waters. Regardless of what chip is in the model you look at or how much RAM it has or even the storage capacity you need to keep one thing in mind. They all run the same OS. I wanted to know if PS would run on this intro level model and I came across that sentiment in a comparison article. I wish I could find it now, but it was lost in a sea of reading.

So, what does that mean? It means that if you can run it on something running OS 12 or whatever you have, it will work. RAM and storage are nice, but I’m here to tell you for the casual user this entry level iPad, especially on sale, is VERY capable.

I use my iPad almost every day to write. It is so much easier on my eyes than my phone. Plus, I can use it in the kitchen while I am cooking or if I am too lazy to turn my computer on. I also use the iPad to write when my desktop is rendering b.c even with IRAY a large render sucks up most of my resources.

Do get a case though! I picked up a Speck Ipad Stylefolio from Wal-Mart. It was like $15.00 USD on sale and has been a decent case.

Come back next week where I talk about more Techy things.