At the recent #edcampchicago I was sitting next to a new friend who had brought both her iPad and her Chromebook with her. She preferred her iPad but knew the battery would not last the entire day. I had faced the same quandary in the morning but opted to leave the iPad at home since I hate lugging unnecessary extra weight. Late in the afternoon, after her iPad battery was in the critical zone, she found herself with her Chromebook on her lap and kept swiping at the screen waiting for something to happen. I nudged her a couple of times to remind her she had her Chromebook, not her iPad.

I’m finding my battery on the iPad lasting a shorter time since I’ve downloaded the latest operating system and decided on the #edcampchicago day to just bring the Chromebook. I used it somewhat steadily throughout the day, from 8:00am until 4:00pm and still had 3 hours of charge left on the battery when I left for home. This is a very cool thing.

I absolutely love the iPad. It’s practically an extension of me. None-the-less, I’m liking the Chromebook more and more. This is probably because I’ve been using it more often. and besides that, I’ve been helping out in classrooms with students using the Chromebooks and I can see firsthand how engaged the students are, how quickly they get to work with the Chromebooks, how easily they can finish up their work, and get on to their next class. Naturally, a big part of all this ‘liking’ is Google Drive and the collaborative features. Google Drive and Chromebooks walk hand-in-hand and it’s a very happy union. I should probably say, though, that I’ve gotten used to using the iPad with Google Drive, and even updated a Google Site I was working on from my iPad, at home, simply because a thought crossed my mind, my iPad was there, and I used it before losing the notion.

What I would really like is a new, slightly larger Chromebook, with a super strong keyboard case (similar to the Clamcase for iPad) that swings about in all directions, with a touchscreen. Yes, I crave a touchscreen on my Chromebook. My iPad is an original iPad2, 16GB, which means I don’t have enough space. Sure, I would love the newest, latest, beefiest iPad going, but I’ll limp along with this one, constantly removing apps to add others, until it stops. I don’t think I’ll ever give up my iPad, but I am finding space in my heart for the Chromebook. I’m eager to see the new Chromebook from Acer coming out in December.