Using the iPad instead of a laptop

I went on a business trip this past week and decided to leave my computer at home.  98% of my work passes through my email, so it seemed that I could just take my iPad and get almost everything done.  It seemed to work.

Two adjustments to the iPad were necessary.  First, I purchased Apple's Pages program, an app that costs $9.99 and provides most of the full functionality of a word processor.  Then I purchased the Apple Bluetooth Keyboard, a bit more expensive at $69, but weighing a mere 11 oz.  Plus, it's gorgeous:

The keyboard worked flawlessly and allowed me to do all the typing I needed to do, and the Pages program handled all of my writing chores that couldn't be done in Gmail.

There were a few minor things that I couldn't do, most notably that I could not log directly into my company's network.  But I could get almost everything I needed via email and Google Docs, so very little was lost.

All in all, a very satisfying experience.  Laptops are doomed.