The 'iPad Mini phone' has been my only smartphone for the past three months. Here are my overall impressions, and how using the iPad Mini as my primary portable computing device has changed my idea of what the ideal smartphone should be. See this post for info on how to set up your iPad into an iPad phone to make and receive calls and texts. It just requires a few free apps, then you can make free calls and texts as long as you have a cellular data connection or are on WiFi. This also works on Android tablets and smartphones and iPhones and can greatly reduce your wireless bill.
Read MoreChromebook vs Mac: rethinking my love of the MacBook
For a long time I thought my 13” Macbook Pro was the best mix of performance, battery life, weight, and design in a laptop that one could buy. Of course the retina display models are also great machines, but I could never justify the extra cost. But now the $249 Samsung Chromebook has me rethinking all of that. So if we pit the Chromebook vs Mac on the things that matter for a normal web-based user (me) let's see how they stack up. Yes, most of the technical specs on the Chromebook come nowhere close to a MacBook, and it is made of plastic instead of aluminum. However, it's lighter than any of the MacBooks (other than the 11” Air, which is only a few grams lighter.) Its 6.5 hours of battery life are right in line with the MacBooks. And at $249 it's just a fraction of the price of the $1,000+ Macbook line.
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