I have found with my Pro 9.7, pencil and keyboard I have all I need in a laptop. But that clearly isn’t true for everyone.
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A Great Take On The "Laptop Replacement".
- Thread starter spiderman0616
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I have started a new thread in the iPad forum called How Do You Use your iPad?
A positive thread not an iPad as laptop replacement thread.
Can't remember how to find the link function for a thread, can someone remind me please?
A positive thread not an iPad as laptop replacement thread.
Can't remember how to find the link function for a thread, can someone remind me please?
I bring my iPad Pro with me on the go. Last weekend I received an urgent task for my family business. I quickly launched Microsoft Word on my iPad, opened a document from Dropbox, made some modifications (with the Smart Keyboard), output the amended document as PDF and shared it via Whatsapp and e-mail, the document was then auto saved back to Dropbox, all when I'm out, in just a few minutes. Is this productivity? What laptop can do this so easily?
While I truly understand your sentiment, I feel I need to point out that you need a secondary file repository to facilitate the delivery of the file you were working on.
I didn't mean that you did anything wrong. Given what you have, you did it well. My gripe is that we can't simply create a file in iOS and then eMail it. Or open pdfs from Mail in iOS. I don't like that we need an intermediary file service to use things that have been easy to do with contemporary operating systems.
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God, I hope so.
Exactly. I wish iOS 11 fixes this part of the problem. Microsoft Office on the iPad can save on local storage, but it is very limited. Hopefully after the launch of iOS 11 we can at least have better local file management. In the use case above it was fine for me because I have an always on LTE connection and I needed that file on Dropbox.
Anyway, the iPad doesn't replace a laptop for me because I don't bring a laptop with me on the go. Even the lightest one-port MacBook is 2x the weight of the iPad Pro 10.5 with LTE with much inferior performance. So for me, I bought the 15-inch MacBook Pro and save it for serious and highly demanding stuff at home. It is a desktop replacement.
I think the reason is because it's being pushed so hard by a certain subset of iPad devotees who are almost evangelical about it. Some guy in an iMac Pro thread questioned why pro desktops exist anymore when iPads can do everything. In another thread, someone declared that tablets universally replacing laptops was "inevitable."
Extreme and unsupported statements about almost any issue are going to create pushback, and I think the "evangelical" iPad people are driving the bus a little bit on this topic -- even though the great majority of iPad-only folks are probably just doing what works for them with no fanfare.
That's the point: there doesn't need to be a divide here. All this us vs. them stuff is stupid.
I could fulfil all of my computing needs and much more with just my iPhone.
I've captured HD quality video & fantastic pictures of family events, pulled them together via iMovie then shared the outputs instantly to family worldwide. Couldn't have done that with just a desktop/laptop.
I do also have an iPad Pro but my point being I could, if I had to, be iPhone only.
I remember connecting my iPhone via AirPlay to my TV, connecting a Bluetooth keyboard and sitting with my family to create a poster for a charity event. Nothing too fancy admittedly but that situation was more productive for me than us all trying to huddle around a desktop monitor or laptop.
Some people can get away with that. I also understand if it wasn't for desktop & laptop machines, I wouldn't have the wonderful apps I use on my iOS devices each day, and that's absolutely fine.
I've captured HD quality video & fantastic pictures of family events, pulled them together via iMovie then shared the outputs instantly to family worldwide. Couldn't have done that with just a desktop/laptop.
I do also have an iPad Pro but my point being I could, if I had to, be iPhone only.
I remember connecting my iPhone via AirPlay to my TV, connecting a Bluetooth keyboard and sitting with my family to create a poster for a charity event. Nothing too fancy admittedly but that situation was more productive for me than us all trying to huddle around a desktop monitor or laptop.
Some people can get away with that. I also understand if it wasn't for desktop & laptop machines, I wouldn't have the wonderful apps I use on my iOS devices each day, and that's absolutely fine.
Agree, but i think any change is discomforting. I remember working with main frames and DOS PC. As the youngest kid , I was send up to the people working with adevertisments to connect their new shiny mac to a printer.
"Where is the command promt???"
"This is much better", was the reply.
"Really???"
Ironic that mac hardliners have an attitude towards a new computing experience like the iPad.
Agree. There is WAY too much - I use my iPad/laptop in a certain way and therefore anyone who uses it different is wrong. But I guess that's kind of the world we live in these days - shout down anyone with a different opinion.
For the vast majority of people who do basic data entry, email, banking, and web apps (which is what most businesses are migrating to) it is more than capable.
The refusal to give up direct access to local filesystem is something that people will eventually let go of.
Once you do, the potential benefits of seamless sync can be realised.
People just fear change.
Yes, there are some who this model is not suitable for, but the vast majority look for ways in which an iPad can fail to work for them and in reality the examples they come up with are contrived and rarely encountered by the majority.
People fear change. This is not new.
Edit:
To echo the iPhone user above. I have also done real work with my iPhone. Repaired network vpn connections, etc. while in transit without access to a desk or my laptop.
Sure there are edge cases where tablets are not capable enough but they are becoming less and less.
The refusal to give up direct access to local filesystem is something that people will eventually let go of.
Once you do, the potential benefits of seamless sync can be realised.
People just fear change.
Yes, there are some who this model is not suitable for, but the vast majority look for ways in which an iPad can fail to work for them and in reality the examples they come up with are contrived and rarely encountered by the majority.
People fear change. This is not new.
Edit:
To echo the iPhone user above. I have also done real work with my iPhone. Repaired network vpn connections, etc. while in transit without access to a desk or my laptop.
Sure there are edge cases where tablets are not capable enough but they are becoming less and less.
Two things I always need a Macbook Pro for were photo editing and movie editing. The iPad apps while good were always too restrictive. That has all changed with Affinity Photo and LumaFusion on the iPad. I can now do all my editing on the iPad Pro and it works great. There are still some small challenges with workflow (iOS related) and I do not do this editing in a Pro capacity but more as a Prosumer. The hardware is great, the apps are starting to appear and the OS is less restrictive today than it has ever been.
I don't have any genuine need to use my Macbook Pro at the moment but still like the idea of having one more as a safety net.
I don't have any genuine need to use my Macbook Pro at the moment but still like the idea of having one more as a safety net.
Interesting topic, in a sense.
There are still plenty of tasks that cannot be done on an iPad or they can be done easier and more efficiently on a laptop. My iPad cannot replace my laptop (or iMac), those machines can do just too much that the iPad is a poor replacement.
There are still plenty of tasks that cannot be done on an iPad or they can be done easier and more efficiently on a laptop. My iPad cannot replace my laptop (or iMac), those machines can do just too much that the iPad is a poor replacement.
Only thing I would really miss is how to integrate my DSLR into the iPad workflow. How do I use the iPad to transfer files from my iPad to external HDD because I shoot RAW? I fancy that an iPad can take care of 90% of my needs but the remaining 10% of my needs need a different OS such as macOS. I did not say computer because even an iPad is a computer. The reason people sometimes miss the "computer" is because of OS and because of hardware access advantage on a "computer".
I'm not a professional photographer, more of a hobbyist, but what you wrote is a good example. I saw some posts or threads where some photographers can and do use an iPad in place of the laptop, and that's all well and good for them but as I think about my workflow and I find that the laptop is more efficient. Yes, I can use the iPad to do the tasks but it seems to require more work.
As for my main job, I remote into work PCs and servers, using a mixture of RDP and gotomypc. I understand my use case is not typical, but that doesn't matter. Its my needs and using those apps on an iPad is down right painful.
I used an iPad Air 2 for the first few months at my job when I started to travel, keeping my MBP 15 Late 2011 at home. It is a fine piece of computer to type, I am fine with the onscreen keyboard, the browser, the workflow where MS Office suite is concerned - it really excels at typical use tasks of browsing, writing, email.
The moment I needed something more advanced than that - I missed the ease of the laptop format with keyboard and its connectivity options to begin with.
The reason why it is a topic of debate is because they market it as so.
iPad does seem like a great companion device.
It does handle ~70% of what I do on MBP at home. At work, the number is lower.
Until that number reaches 100% though, it cannot be called a 'replacement.'
It's just a different class of device that happens to handle many, but not all, of what laptops do.
Like an iPhone. With slightly higher %.
iPad does seem like a great companion device.
It does handle ~70% of what I do on MBP at home. At work, the number is lower.
Until that number reaches 100% though, it cannot be called a 'replacement.'
It's just a different class of device that happens to handle many, but not all, of what laptops do.
Like an iPhone. With slightly higher %.
Its hard to justify spending upwards of 3,000 for a MBP (at least a 15"), where as for me, I can justify spending 700+. This purchase was made to defer the laptop purchase and I'm finding the iPad to be very useful. On my next trip, I'll be taking both the iPad pro and my old 2012 rMBP with me. It is indeed a companion device. When I return, I hope to have the MBP's battery replaced, thus giving me more time with the old girl instead of plunking so much money down on the MBP.
I don't see that ever happening, there will always be a need for laptops/desktops for some, though as the iPad gets more powerful, those who need desktop/laptops will certainly shrink
I think it's great that these conversations are going on, it means Apple is doing something right with the iPad line. I think any sort of change like this will make some people uneasy, but it is a positive step in computing. For me, I just find iOS much more enjoyable to use than macOS.
The issue is with the word "replacement" being assumed as valid for everyone with a laptop. It is not. For those people who browse the web, consume content, send off emails, for designers and artists even, who would love to have a Pencil and draw their hearts out, the iPad is a fantastic tool. Even for writers. But, as @mayflynn said, this is a companion, not a replacement in its own right and might.
For many use cases it would be a "replacement" but for some users it will be an add-on.
For many use cases it would be a "replacement" but for some users it will be an add-on.