Moving from PC to iPad

[ChAoTiCpInOy]

My grandfather has been using a Windows XP machine for the past 10(?) years at least. Mostly to write word documents and to check email/CNN/stocks. Over the summer, some relatives finally convinced him to get an iPad. He bought an iPad Air and has been "using" it since then. I put "using" in quotes because he still uses his XP machine and only uses his iPad to check news and listen to music when he wakes up in the morning.

I recently helped set him up/taught him how to use the iPad to do everything he was doing on his computer, but it's a slow process and I started by saying just try to use the iPad more around the house and use the computer less.

Here's my conundrum. He has about 500MB of word documents/PDFs that are stored locally on his computer. I don't know the sensitivity of the documents, etc. But to fully get him onto the iPad, we need a way to get those documents to the iPad, any thoughts (iCloud, Dropbox, Google Drive)? It would need to be something secure that isn't too complicated to open documents from and save documents to. Also, are there any resources that I can send to him so that he can get better at using his iPad in general?

 

[Eug]

iCloud

Best integration (obviously) and free up to 5 GB.

 

[JeffMD]

Yea, icloud, especially since you don't want the only copies on the ipad.

 

[serpretetsky]

May I ask why he's been convinced to use an ipad?

 

[Oyeve]

May I ask why he's been convinced to use an ipad?

This was my thought as well. Why not get a surface, or a dell venue or something of the sort?

 

[Eug]

He already has an iPad.

 

[Commodus]

This was my thought as well. Why not get a surface, or a dell venue or something of the sort?

If it's the sort of grandparent who keeps the same PC for 10 years, odds are that you're also providing tech support for this device. A mobile OS tablet is likely to be less of a headache in a case like this, both in terms of ease of use and support.

 

[Tegeril]

This was my thought as well. Why not get a surface, or a dell venue or something of the sort?

Probably some series of questions over and over across a number of years that would all be relatively irrelevant with a mobile OS and have nothing to do with his general usage pattern.

Email client issues/popups/thatpagemybrowsernowgoestowhenisearch etc.

 

[ChAoTiCpInOy]

May I ask why he's been convinced to use an ipad?

This was my thought as well. Why not get a surface, or a dell venue or something of the sort?

If it's the sort of grandparent who keeps the same PC for 10 years, odds are that you're also providing tech support for this device. A mobile OS tablet is likely to be less of a headache in a case like this, both in terms of ease of use and support.

Because though he's comfortable and knows how to use the computer, he only knows so much and it's been something that he has to write down and do certain things a certain way because that's how he was instructed to do it. The iPad gives him the chances to use something that (in my opinion) is easier to use and allows him to be able to do other things while still doing the tasks that he wants to do. Plus, my hopes are that by switching to an iPad the support needed by others will drastically reduce.

 

[ChAoTiCpInOy]

Probably some series of questions over and over across a number of years that would all be relatively irrelevant with a mobile OS and have nothing to do with his general usage pattern.

Email client issues/popups/thatpagemybrowsernowgoestowhenisearch etc.

Exactly. He checks his email by clicking on a bookmark that launches a web browser to aol.com so he can log in and check. He writes documents by copying a previous document and then saving it with a name + increment a number. He surfs 2 sites (aol and cnn). Does it work for him? Yes. Could he be doing more? Yes.

An iPad also allows him to FaceTime with his grandchildren in a very simple way.

 

[CuriousMike]

I moved my Mom to a Chromebook --- IT calls have cratered.
Bliss.

 

[LouieST]

firstly, you could use icloud to transfer the document and PDF to iPad.

personally I almost use my iPad to watch movie, surfe on internet and play games. as for other things relative to computer, I still keep using my MBA or sony notebook. it's more convenient and fast I think.