Currently Using:
Surface Studio 2 as desktop
Surface Pro 8 for long travel with heavy-duty word-processing laptop (or)
Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Fold 16 (don't ask why; I got it stupid cheap)
iPad Air 5 M1 3-day travel
iPad Mini 6 weekend travel, out and about, and couch surfing
iPhone 15 Pro
Realizations:
I've given up on the unicorn single device solution.
For video/audio editing and some content creation, I am highly likely to keep a Windows "desktop" equivalent no matter what
Other than heavy-duty file management and a few PowerPoint features, the iOS apps do 90% of anything I would be doing away from a desktop
I'm doing almost of my digital inking/notetaking on the iPads
Siri meets my needs for automation in the car
I can handle being dual OS, but I really don't want to re-introduce Android back into my ecosystem
Plan?
Ditch the Windows laptop(s)
Get the M4 iPad Pro 11"
Depending on what iOS 18 does, swap the iPhone 15 Pro for 16 Pro Max
Rationale:
The M4 has enough power for almost any need while traveling, including remoting into a Windows machine (or using a virtual service)
I'll always be back to desktop Windows in a day/few days
Worst case is carry 2 not 3 devices, chargers, cords, etc.
Caveat:
FUD - Should I wait to see if WOA or Lunar Lake results in a Surface Go 11-inch device in an iPad chassis with 10(+) hours of battery life?
I'm thinking... 🤔
Just got back from a week-long trip where I had to have some light-ish word processing, spreadsheet and PowerPoint editing on existing files. So, I only carried the iPhone 15 Pro and the M1 iPad Air 5 with the Magic Keyboard. First time I'd flown with the iPad Air in the Magic Keyboard (MK).
TLDR: I survived, and I'm too picky.
Observations:
No problem with processing power
Slight nits with file management (that's just iOS)
Taking the iPad out of the MK to use as a slate is annoying
Having no place to put the MK other than to stack it under the slate and hold them both while inking is suboptimal (spoiled, huh?)
Weight-wise it wasn't that much more than the Surface Pro 8
the iPad on MK was perfect for going through the board meetings
Found myself wishing I had the iPad Mini 6 for the plane and down time
Safari STILL needs pinch to zoom capabilities
Conclusions:
I still want the Courier/Surface Neo form factor MS promised (perilously close to realizing the reality thereof is somewhere between the Thunderball/James Bond jet pack that never came and the Jetson's car)
Beginning to wish Apple's foldable work was on an iPad device that folded to iPad Mini size @Dale Strauss