iPad already replaces Laptop, when will it replace the Desktop?

With Docs to Go having updated their app so it no longer crashes on the iPad when opening large Word docs from Dropbox, and articles like this one showing how to print from the iPad using Dropbox - http://www.labnol.org/internet/print-from-mobile-phones/17827/ - it is getting harder to find things I could do on my desktop that I couldn't do with just e iPad. I know the linked article has a script running on a desktop to make it work, but since my home printer is a wirelessly networked Epson, that is a convenience I could work around if I was willing to put a little time into it.

So I find myself wondering what it would take to drop even my desktops and still have the functionality I have. I find myself realizing that the only two thugs I currently couldn't do are limitations of online offering, rather Han limitations of the iPad itself - editing photos in RAW format, and editing Video files that are several gigs in size. Other than that, it's hard to see anything that with a little work I couldn't do just with my iPad.

Then the question becomes, is there anything I wouldn't want to do because of my iPad. Again, I find the portability and the interface mean that I would be happy doing a lot of what I do on the desktop even more with the iPad. I have to think having an iPad like interface to a full version of Photoshop would actually be an improvement.

Which brings up the question, will the tablet format (if not necessarily the iPad itself) end up replacing desktops as well? I suspect for even above average users, the answer over the next couple of years will be "Yes". Which is an interesting place to be.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad