Two weeks earlier during packing I thought about leaving my MacBook Pro at home. After all, it is a vacation and I don't want to spent too much time with it. But then I realized that there is almost nothing that would require a notebook during vacation when I take my iPhone with me.

Answering e-mails, web surfing, twittering ([Tweetie](http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSoftware?id=296415944&mt=8)), chatting ([BeejiveIM](http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSoftware?id=291720439&mt=8)), navigating ([OffMaps](http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSoftware?id=313854422&mt=8)), calculating tips ([Tipulator](http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSoftware?id=284935446&mt=8)), checking the Metro trains ([New York Subway](http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSoftware?id=301912130&mt=8)), SSHing ([TouchTerm Pro](http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSoftware?id=296468040&mt=8)), sending digital postcards ([Postage](http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSoftware?id=312231322&mt=8)) and playing games are all perfectly doable with the iPhone.
Well, perfectly doable when a prepaid data plan would exist in the US. But all the service providers we asked seem to have no need to offer one. That's just sad.

There is only one compromise I had to accept: I had no chance sending pictures I made with my digital camera without a computer. However, handling 12 megapixel images on the iPhone surely wouldn't have been much fun anyway. And there are very nice [Apple Stores](http://www.apple.com/retail/fifthavenue/) in New York with lots of Macs on which I could've done that.

So I decided to leave the MBP at home. And it all worked out well. Sometimes you have to exercise yourself in patience but there are lots of free WiFi hotspots. So the missing data plan was no big deal at all. It even saved us some money.

This experience again made it clear to me that sooner or later traditional computers will only be necessary for complex tasks. For every day living devices like the iPhone are almost sufficient. The iPhone is already a very good companion on the go. Perhaps we will see some sort of "iTablets" replacing the traditional personal computers in the living room in the near future...?