Question for Mac/Apple users

[golocx4]

My wife is asking me to get her an Apple Ipad.
I run my business out of my home and have 4 pcs running all connected with a snap server, but she want an Ipad.
Now rather that go into why I never tried a Mac even though I was well aware back in the first days of the PC that their chip and OS were better than DOS and subsequent windows which would probably po the Jobs worshipers, lets just say that I am giving in and it looks as if I will be buying my first Apple product.
Question:
Will the IPAD via wireless Ethernet be able to communicate with the pcs and server on my local network. Transfer files - etc.
Do I have to buy any peripheral software like emulators etc.
Does it come with a word processor and spreadsheet program?
or
Do I have to start from scratch and buy all the extra Mac software.
Jeez for the price of these things i could buy a new SIG or Beretta..... hmmmmmm.

 

[Jason Heiser]

any reason she is particularly sold on an iPad? There are plenty of other tablet offerings out there. You could get a Windows 8 based tablet and have no questions about the compatibilities. I own a Surface and it is virtually a laptop replacement for me.

 

[JSK]

I use an iPad almost exclusively now instead of a laptop. Unfortunately I can't answer all your questions because we are exclusively Apple in our home (brought my husband out of the dark side). The only peripheral she may want is an external bluetooth keyboard. There are a variety of options there. The App store has all the office computing apps you need from Word to Excel to generic forms of them all. At most the Office app is around $20, but I might be high. There is of course the free open office app as well.

Based on your language/choice of words alone, I'd say that you are not familiar with Apple. So I would suggest having her look at a Windows Tablet, even though there have been significant issues with them. I believe that you will feel more comfortable setting that up to work with your current setup than exploring Apple and iOS capabilities and how to adapt that to your setup.

 

[4handgun]

Agree there are other tablets out there, both have limitations. What I don't like about the ipad is you can't transfer via thumbdrive, cannot connect to an external drive via cable...etc. Might want to look at ASUS Transformer, more versatile. Just my opinion. Good Luck.

 

[Gruvmann]

iPad will integrate with your existing network. Welcome to the good side of the force

 

[golocx4]

iPad will integrate with your existing network. Welcome to the good side of the force

I am sure the moment the transaction is complete Steve Jobs will be spinning in his grave. LOL

 

[golocx4]

any reason she is particularly sold on an iPad? There are plenty of other tablet offerings out there. You could get a Windows 8 based tablet and have no questions about the compatibilities. I own a Surface and it is virtually a laptop replacement for me.

You may be right, I think I will shop around before making a decision.
I never really saw the need to a tablet but then again, I have learned to love my driod phone.

 

[DikM]

I have a Mac, PC and an iPad. If you want to transfer files, sign up for an account on dropbox.com and get the app for your iPad. Then you can open PDFs or whatever you need anywhere you need to. Another way is just emailing it to yourself. You can also sync the iPad to the PC via iTunes and transfer that way. There are other ways, but it depends on what types of files you need.

 

[soul]

Only tablet that can access network file shares is Microsoft Surface, it has a full file system unlike iPad, multiuser, supports USB devices like camera or printers and comes with Microsoft office. It is much better and useful than iPad at the same pricepoint. It has file explorer and desktop grade tools, and Skydrive integration is superior to Dropbox.

Check it out

 

[LibDemGun]

Only tablet that can access network file shares is Microsoft Surface, it has a full file system unlike iPad, multiuser, supports USB devices like camera or printers and comes with Microsoft office. It is much better and useful than iPad at the same pricepoint. It has file explorer and desktop grade tools, and Skydrive integration is superior to Dropbox.

Android has plenty of apps that can browse network file shares. NFS/SMB/iSCSI/FTP/SSH, I've used them.

MS Office ... while fairly widespread, sucks. Google Docs is much quicker and easier to use, for most people.

Google Drive has been great at sharing files between my Win7, Ubuntu, Asus Transformer, Nexus 4 and Chromebook.