It occurred to me last night that although I’ve been using the iPad a lot over the last month, vie never really put it through a real stress test to see if it can stand up to being the only computer I have with me on a trip. Some of that is a factor of all of my recent travel being work related and needing my work files with me for the trip. But this week I have the perfect opportunity to run the iPad in real world travel conditions and see how it holds up. I’ll get to assess it’s utility as not just a media player, but also as a primary tool for blogging, email, and forum participation; basically this is my chance to find out how it performs as a laptop replacement.

I know that being without a traditional computer for five days sounds like some people’s version of a perfect week, but it fills me with a certain amount of concern simply because I can’t point to the last time I traveled without a full blown computer (or two) along for the ride. I’ve probably lost most of the readers by now, but I’ll be taking plenty of notes and report back on my observations and experience. It might even be helpful for some of you who are not obsessive early adopters.

Since I regularly go a day or two without even turning on my laptop, this test seems like an easy win for the iPad, particularly since the heavy duty writing and photo editing will take place when i get back to Memphis. Knowing that, though, I think I should be able to prove to myself that this little device can actually free up a lot of space in my usually ridiculously heavy electronics kit bag.

Written on iPad.