I also love my ipad2 and it's with me every day. I only use my big pic when I have to. My husband has a surface pro and see,s to get along fairly well with it. But I'm not sure the iPad will work with the programs you are interested in so maybe just a good laptop would work. They have gotten so much lighter in the last several years but if you want a table, I'm thinking the surface pro would be worth the money.