How I Lost Over 6 lbs On The iPad Diet

TOPICS:

Posted By: Dan Cohen

From eye-fi (by Eye-Fi) - TSTI - Picasa Web Albums.jpg

One of the unexpected benefits of starting to use the iPad in place of my MacBook is that it has made me feel far lighter than ever before. No, I don’t mean “lighter” in a
“techno-geeky I’m so happy to be using this magical device…” way. No, I mean lighter as in “using the iPad means I carry a lot less in my bag”. In fact I can now carry a far lighter bag now thanks to the iPad.

I set out to figure how much weight I had “dropped” and even I am surprised. Here is a quick, rundown that is actually conservative in its estimation of what I carried until last week.

13″ MacBook Pro (plus weight of powerbrick and Speck shell since both were needed)- 4.5 – lbs

Kindle DX plus case 1.3 lbs

Acme Made Courier Laptop Bag (love this bag!!) 3.2 lbs

iPhone wall charger and external battery plus my touch (I carried it so music and video didn’t put a drain on my iPhone’s battery.)

The total weight of these items is about 9.5 to 10 lbs.

In addition I would carry my Livescribe Pulsepen and small pad, my wallet and assorted other items.

Fast forward to LAiP (Life After iPad).

I no longer carry a Kindle with me. I no longer carry the iPhone cord or extra battery since I use my phone so much less. I am using a light bag such as the Waterfield Muzetto (or will be when the new smaller version arrives) which is 1/3 the weight of the notebook bag. I don’t even carry the iPad’s wall charger since the battery life is so amazing.

The weight of the iPad and bag come to about 3 lbs.

Add back in the Livescribe and small pad and my wallet since I still carry those and the total savings in weight is in the neighborhood of 7 lbs WITHOUT ANY SIGNIFICANT LOSS IN FUNCTIONALITY.

From eye-fi (by Eye-Fi) - TSTI - Picasa Web Albums-1.jpg

In fact, if I really want to carry light I can throw my iPad and my Livescribe Pulsepen in one of my “iPad compatible” Scottevest jackets and be good to go at under 2 lbs with no loss in my ability to get work done.

Now that’s a diet I think I’ll be able to stick with.

I don’t know about you but by the end of the day my back would hurt if I had to schlep my bag from place to place.

As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases. If you are shopping on Amazon anyway, buying from our links gives Gear Diary a small commission.

About the Author

Dan Cohen
Having a father who was heavily involved in early laser and fiber-optical research, Dan grew up surrounded by technology and gadgets. Dan’s father brought home one of the very first video games when he was young and Dan remembers seeing a “pre-release” touchtone phone. (When he asked his father what the “#” and “*” buttons were his dad said, “Some day, far in the future, we’ll have some use for them.”) Technology seemed to be in Dan’s blood but at some point he took a different path and ended up in the clergy. His passion for technology and gadgets never left him. Dan is married to Raina Goldberg who is also an avid user of Apple products. They live in New Jersey with their golden doodle Nava.

Related Articles

9 Comments on "How I Lost Over 6 lbs On The iPad Diet"

  1. Judie Lipsett | April 12, 2010 at 9:35 am |

    RT @GearDiarySite: How I Lost Over 6 lbs On The iPad Diet http://bit.ly/9UmMzf

  3. Thomas R. Hall | April 12, 2010 at 11:42 am |

    RT @GearDiarySite: How I Lost Over 6 lbs On The iPad Diet http://goo.gl/fb/6FWpm

  4. Randy Murray | April 12, 2010 at 12:14 pm |

    RT @geardiary: How I Lost Over 6 lbs On The iPad Diet http://bit.ly/9g5Nlm

  5. Mary Beth-TeleNav | April 12, 2010 at 12:25 pm |

    Wow – that is pretty significant although 3.2 lbs seems like a heavy laptop bag to begin with. I keep hearing good things about the Scottevest – I’ll have to check them out.

  6. Dan Cohen | April 12, 2010 at 1:20 pm |

    You may be right about the bag- I didn’t have a scale as sensitive as I needed so I just went off the official specs. Specific weight aside it is AWESOME to be traveling this light!

  8. Drew Guttadore | April 12, 2010 at 3:07 pm |

    Wow! You were Bursting! Im curious as to how you’ve changed using the iPhone along with the iPad? I’m contemplating an iPad whilst we wait for them down under, but currently just carry a Touch and a BB 9700. If I’m logical, I would dump the Touch and carry an iPad, but since I’m doing just fine with the Touch and don’t even need a special bag to carry it in, I would actually be increasing my load to get an iPad.

  9. ramfrancis | April 12, 2010 at 11:35 pm |

    How I Lost Over 6 lbs On The iPad Diet – http://bit.ly/bE12Jb

Comments are closed.