Ipad mac mini combo possible?

Question

Hello all
This is my first post
I am itching to buy a mac mini and was about to when the ipad came out. So here I see a beutiful display (with a keyboard dock) that would be perfect for a mac mini.
The mac mini needs a display, keyboard and mouse. ipad has display and keyboard.
The combo reminds me of the powerbook duo i think it was. Go mobile with the ipad and back up stuff on the mac mini. It sounds too good to be true.
But the question is - does this combo have a market of more than me?
Any ideas?

Answer 1

AFAIK, the iPad cannot be used as a "just a monitor and keyboard" for any computer. So your idea would not work, at least not the way I believe you're thinking about it.
The analogy of the Powerbook Duo is more akin to the Macbook Air than the Mini. The Duo included a screen and keyboard like any other notebook, just lighter without the optical drive, etc. The Duo also ran the same MacOS as the desktops and other notebooks, unlike the iPad/iPod Touch/iPhone.
The idea of a "transportable remote screen" was tried in the Windows world several years ago with products like the [Viewsonic Airpanel|http://hk.viewsonic.com/en/products/airpanel/index15.php]. This was a tablet screen that ran a version of Microsoft PocketPC, just like other Windows Mobile PDAs of the time. This is similar to how the iPad is running an OS similar to the iPhone and iPod Touch, but is not exactly the same as the desktop OSX. The Airpanel would connect directly to the PC as a traditional monitor when docked, but when you pulled it from the dock, you would use the Remote Desktop protocol to remote control the Windows PC. (This of course, assumed you has some sort of Wi-Fi connectivity in your house.) It never really took off. On of the issues was that the Airpanels were too expensive. Similar in size and pricing to the iPad, but realize you're getting a only 10" screen for several hundred dollars, where even back then, you could get a 15" screen for around $200. (Nowdays, $200 will get you a 20" or larger screen.)
There are apps to let your iPhone/iPod Touch remote control a Mac, but you still need a screen/keyboard/mouse to do the initial setup of the Mac. (i.e.: VNC, a.k.a. Screen Sharing.) So assuming that you can run those apps on the iPad, you could do similar to the Airpanel. Some exceptions:
- You don't really get a "directly connected" screen when docked.
- And the iPad's directly docking keyboard wouldn't work for the Mini. I thought I heard that there would be a wireless keyboard for the iPad, but I doubt you could use the one keyboard for both the Mini and iPad without having to do some "relinking" of some sort. (IOW, it wouldn't be convinient.)
- Remote control is likely not to be very fast, depending on what app and how it's connecting. This might not be a big deal if you're doing light work like email or web surfing. (But you can do email and web surfing on the iPad directly, so the "need" to remote control the Mac is reduced.)
In general, these apps are a complement to, not a replacement for, the traditional screen/keyboard/mouse. But the advantage that the iPad and this idea has is time. When this was tried in the Windows world, the Pocket PC CPUs were much slower, so the remote experience was really bad. With the fast CPU and screen of the iPad, and faster 802.11n, the experience will likely be much better. But I have my doubts that there is much of a market for this. But who know, maybe this is the "killer app" that will make the iPad the "must have" for 2010.