A Great Take On The "Laptop Replacement".

[Donka]

The reason why it is a topic of debate is because they market it as so.

While that is correct, they are not so naive to assume it applies to everyone. I would imagine the vast majority of users can do what they need on an iPad. If I look at my family, I am the only one who uses a traditional computer and even then that is only around 10% of the time. My Wife, Mother, Father, Sister, Brother in law and kids all only use a phone or tablet and never use a computer.

If Apple genuinely saw it as a replacement to the traditional computer for everyone then they wouldn't still sell Macs.

 

[spiderman0616]

This whole thread is exactly the point of the article though. It only took about a page and half of comments to digress into whether the iPad is or is not a laptop replacement. The iPad, specifically the iPad Pro in its current iterations, is being positioned as a paradigm shift. It's being a computer in a different way than a laptop is, and in a way that is not complicated for the mass market to use. It's not supposed to be a replacement. It's supposed to be an alternative. And if someone wants to use it for things beyond what the normal computer user does, well, it can do a lot of that stuff too.

I do things on my iPad that most laptop/desktop owners don't do with their computers. (write music, record podcasts, etc.) Does that mean their computers can't do those things too? No. Because their computers can do those things too, does that mean my iPad sucks as a computer? Absolutely not. It's just that I've found my personal workflows to be better on the iPad. That's not assault on anybody's laptop. It's just the way things are.

 

[MiniMe77]

I think desktop sales must have decreased enormously since nowadays everybody uses their phone or a tablet for internet access and all the other things they can do. When I look at family and friends, most of them don't need a desktop anymore. In the past, they would get one and be excited to have the latest version of Windows/OS etc. and Microsoft Office but they barely used it other than for internet and printing. Now you can do all of these things just with your phone. Many people I know with phones don't understand why I could possibly want an iPad. 'What do you do on it?!' I hear a lot. Personally I am over having a small screen giving me eye strain all the time (the phone) and my Ipad (12.9) is becoming increasingly more the device I do everything on.

I have a Mac Mini too which is quite powerful and I use it for learning programming, other than that it rarely gets switched on these days. If I could do programming on the iPad then I really wouldn't need the Mac Mini at all. There's something much nicer about being able to lie on the couch and do all the tasks you need to do from a tablet than having to sit at my desk using the Mini. I feel bad that the Mini doesn't get used much but I honestly think your average Joe Bloggs doesn't need a desktop computer anymore.

 

[seadragon]

Here's my experience so far...

I've always wanted to be able to use an iPad instead of a laptop so that I don't have to take both with me whenever I'm on the road. I am a database administrator and as such, I need to ability to RDP into servers remotely from anywhere. The iPad combined with Jump Desktop and the Citrix X1 mouse coupled with the 12.9 inch screen is a dream come true in this regard. With LTE on my iPad, I can literally login from ANYWHERE. So, I can now use my iPad only for work while not in the office.

My main hobbies are photography and music (I play drums and keyboards). I use Adobe Lightroom mostly for photography and Logic Pro for my music. I also use Final Cut for making videos every so often. This is where I have traditionally always needed a desktop/laptop. I'm hoping that I will be able to some or most of this on the iPad now since it is even more capable than before along with the newer desktop class apps that are coming online.

I've been dabbling with processing photos on the iPad and I'm quite impressed so far. It is a little bit more involved than using a desktop but basically this is my workflow so far:

- Connect lightning SD card reader to the iPad and import raw photos into the Photos app (USB 3 is quite fast here)
- Allow Photos to sync up to iCloud
- Use Polarr or Affinity Photo apps to open the raw files and then process into finished photo
- Export photo to the camera roll which in turn syncs up to iCloud.

End result is that I can pretty much produce the same quality of photos using the iPad as a processor. The ability to use the Apple Pencil to apply local adjustments is quite an amazing experience compared to using a traditional Wacom tablet.

For cataloging, I have created various folders in the Photos app to house my files. This seems to work good, but again I'm not a professional making a living from this.

On the music side, I still use my 2009 Mac Pro (the big aluminum box) which has served me very well over the years. I can't see the iPad helping too much in this area yet. I may end up buying a new iMac for my house at some point as the Mac Pro is getting long in the tooth and is now officially obsolete.

In the end, I'm having fun with this iPad experiment so far and I think I'll be able to go on my next vacation with just my iPad Pro and leave the old laptop at home.

 

[profets]

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.

This is where these topics always go. Are there some things that can be done on a Mac/PC that can't be done on an iPad? Absolutely. But for the majority of consumers these won't affect them. Not that there's anything wrong with the Mac or that the Mac has to go away, rather that the iPad is a new, more intimate form of computing.

I could say the same thing - I use my iPad for so much that a MacBook is a poor replacement.

 

[richpjr]

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".

And this is a major sticking point for people that really would not be hard for Apple to address - if they wanted to. Same with file system support. The majority of people will never need access to the entire file system, but the clunky way of juggling files between cloud services to get something done is still way more inconvenient and slower for me than using a laptop.

 

[sracer]

That's the point: there doesn't need to be a divide here. All this us vs. them stuff is stupid.

Sadly, most people don't get beyond the "elementary school yard" mentality. Not just on this topic but on every aspect of life (sports, politics, etc.)

From my vantage point, the resistance to many Apple customers' acceptance of the iPad as something more than a "smart tv" is caused by Apple itself. Apple prided itself in, "it just works". For years they offered products that led the user down a guided path (like those "dark" rides in Disneyland). Want to do "X"? Take path "Y" to accomplish that. No greater analysis or thought was required. That made things easy to do... but only those things that Apple laid paths out for.

For many, they look at what the iPad does out of the box. They create a checklist in their minds of what they do with their notebook/desktop and compare it against the iPad can do. The moment they don't find a match is enough for them to say, "the iPad is not a notebook replacement"... it is only a "smart tv". They have established habits on both devices and there is a mismatch.

But those of us who take a step back from HOW we do things on those platforms and focus on WHAT those tasks are trying to accomplish, we find that we can form alternative workflows that are optimized for that particular platform. This will not always result in total success. There ARE limitations inherent in each platform that would prevent a perfect mapping/translation of tasks.

There are limitations in 3 areas that will prevent the iPad from being a notebook/desktop replacement for many...
1. hardware. There is limited connectivity for peripherals and removable media that cannot be overcome with a simple "go wireless" alternative.

2. iOS. The design philosophy for iOS prohibits things that are required for some tasks (and no alternatives exist). A system-wide file manager is one glaring example. Files in iOS 11 doesn't appear to be that. Time will tell. Support for pointing devices like mice/trackpads.

3. Software. Even business productivity software like MS Office is woefully lacking in their iOS versions. It's slowly changing in some areas, but still a long way to go in others.

For me the journey has not been a blanket either-or. It's not either use a Macbook Air OR an iPad, but slowly transitioning tasks that I would traditionally do on the MBA over to the iPad as the software/hardware/OS allows. Over time I am doing more things on my iPad (and less on macOS devices) than I did in the past. I doubt for me there will ever be a time when every task gets swapped over.


That happens in software in general. Apps like Photoshop have dozens (of what I call) "do-it" buttons. uni-taskers that automate the functions that once took multiple steps. Adding a "drop shadow" to an image only requires a single mouse click. Back in the day, it would take a few steps to accomplish that. Older users were forced to understand the underlying concepts of image composition in order to accomplish those tasks.

The next generation of users rely on Photoshop to accomplish those things because they don't know of a time when those functions DIDN'T exist. That is why many "need" Photoshop. Without those do-it buttons they wouldn't know how to... do it.

The upside to these advanced software features is that it allows the user to think on a higher level. Rather than get bogged down in the minutia of the tasks, they can spend more effort being creative. Things are being done with today's software that wouldn't have been possible in the past... not because of some hot, new must-have feature, but because there wasn't enough time/resources to be able to do things with more primitive software. The new wave of advanced software frees up that time to accomplish higher level tasks.

 

[throAU]

I think the biggest restriction to an iPad being a laptop replacement for most people is not that it can't do something, but more often it "can't do this the way I have always done it".

Yes, again, edge cases exist, but the last few people who have asked me what laptop to buy, I have done the standard thing of asking "what do you want to do?". After getting the basic "email, web, Facebook, YouTube" response and suggested an iPad, they say "I don't want a tablet". But are unable to give an example as to why they need/want a laptop (and ended up asking me to help them spec a MacBook Pro).

Despite the iPad having better battery life, lower price, better screen, in the case of the pro, pencil support, a keyboard, etc.

This will change eventually. I'd say give it another 2 years, give AR a little time to kick off on iOS and laptops will be a lot less popular. AR will be a game changer, as the lack of keyboard and mouse is totally irrelevant when you're interacting with virtual 3D objects (and real objects) via some AR glasses. Sure that won't be what you're doing 100% of the time, but there are a whole slew of new applications coming (including stuff none of us will even see coming) that will move "real work" closer to being back out in the real world. Manual data entry will be less of a thing, and replaced by smart technology; image recognition, GPS, QR code scanning, etc. a high end phone and headset will be capable of this soon. Most certainly a tablet that you could carry with the rest of your stuff in a backpack.

There's a reason ARkit is targeting iOS 11 and not macOS. The iPad Pro hasn't hit its stride yet. If you think it's close to being a laptop replacement now, just wait until Apple starts with the AR push properly. Prepare to have your minds blown.

The mouse, keyboard, filesystem, etc. on a laptop are entirely irrelevant for AR. Make no mistake. AR is coming and it will be the biggest thing to hit computing since the graphical user interface. Some of the hololens demos are amazing. And you just KNOW that whatever Microsoft shovels out, Apple and others will do far, far better when they finally do release. Microsoft (and google for that matter) make a big deal of showing off beta quality demos well in advance of shipping product. Apple get things to a production quality state and then release and announce virtually simultaneously.

People think they need a computer at the moment, but they often don't realise that for the basic things they want to dol they just simply don't. They just want a laptop because they want a laptop and don't know any better. And to be honest most people need the protection of a fully sandboxed platform like iOS. Because they aren't security experts, and shouldn't need to be.

Again. Some people do need a computer to do things that are either awkward or impossible on a tablet at the moment (and that's fine). But they're a tiny subset of the people who think they do.

 

[eltoslightfoot]

I think that there is another key issue that is going to arise as people try to use an iPad Pro to replace a laptop/desktop. Ergonomics. It is not good to stare down at either a laptop or a tablet all day. Now if all you need is to spend a couple of hours as a casual user then okay, but there are a lot of pro users that need ergonomic keyboards, mice, multiple monitors at eye level. For those users an iPad would be bad even if the workflows were MORE efficient. I have an iPad Pro 12.9" and I can (with different workflows) do most everything I can do on my 2014 MBP 15". However, I only use it at times, sticking with my external monitors, etc.

And trust me on this one, the more you use tech to do your work, the more ergonomics will become important whether you want it to or not.

Now if the iPad Pro next year with iOS 12 has the ability to add mice, external keyboards, and external monitors, then we might be on to something.

 

[Mainsail]

I think the linked article is pretty good.

I did take exception with; "I can’t remember the last time I saw anyone under twenty years of age with a laptop, either"

I have kids in college. Go to any university library. You will see hundreds of students doing their assignments on MacBooks (mainly MBAs) and exactly zero students doing their work on iPads.

I am not knocking the iPad, but when you need to do research and draft reports and papers, an OS designed for keyboard and mouse input is far superior to touch based UI. This is especially true if your research requires analysis that includes complex spreadsheets.

Bottom-line: If your primary input requires keyboarding and precise control of input (such as spreadsheeting), then a laptop is the better tool. If your primary input can be done with a touch base interface, then a tablet is probably better. What I don't get is buying a tablet with an expensive connected keyboard because, if your primary input is keyboarding, why not just buy a laptop with an OS optimized for keyboard and mouse input?

 

[alecgold]

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.

The price is certainly a thing.
I'm a lucky bastard who can get away with doing everything on his ipad. I had the ability to change a few things and I don't mind learning a new workflow.
But my fully loaded MacBook Pro was well over two average months wages! I also ordered the Magic Keyboard, Magic Trackpad, 27" Thunderbolt Display, a big VESA mount-stand thing. I just don't want to know how much it all was, but I'm not exaggerating when I say it was well over 5k.

Now I have the 12.9" and the 10.5", two pencils, two Smart Keyboards. I also have an expensive desk stand at 150 and a "cheap" ($40) k380 keyboard.
Yet even with spending all this bling bling stuff, it is still way cheaper and I'm more flexible and it suits my work better. A quick calculation gets me just above 3k.
Big difference.

What changed? Not much.
I stoped using excels for certain tasks and now use an online planning system.
I changed several workflows to suite the iPad's / iOS.
That's it.
One thing I still need the old MacMini for is OCR large PDF's. It doesn't have a screen or keyboard, just Jump Desktop is installed. I could do with an ancient (2009) 21.5" iMac I use at a client, but I prefer to keep things separated. I had the MacMini hanging around anyway.

The other day I was thinking: when my house burns down, everything in it ( and I can only save my wife and kids). What would have happened in the past? Big money needed, large space needed for that laptop and display.
It will now cost me an iPad 2017 and a k380 Bluetooth keyboard to get going. €549, thether it to my iPhone and I'm up and running. Ideal? Certainly not. Being able to keep clients happy for the time being? Certainly!

This whole thread is exactly the point of the article though. It only took about a page and half of comments to digress into whether the iPad is or is not a laptop replacement. The iPad, specifically the iPad Pro in its current iterations, is being positioned as a paradigm shift. It's being a computer in a different way than a laptop is, and in a way that is not complicated for the mass market to use. It's not supposed to be a replacement. It's supposed to be an alternative. And if someone wants to use it for things beyond what the normal computer user does, well, it can do a lot of that stuff too.

I do things on my iPad that most laptop/desktop owners don't do with their computers. (write music, record podcasts, etc.) Does that mean their computers can't do those things too? No. Because their computers can do those things too, does that mean my iPad sucks as a computer? Absolutely not. It's just that I've found my personal workflows to be better on the iPad. That's not assault on anybody's laptop. It's just the way things are.

Spot on!!
[doublepost=1498660775][/doublepost]

I have kids in college. Go to any university library. You will see hundreds of students doing their assignments on MacBooks (mainly MBAs) and exactly zero students doing their work on iPads.

I am not knocking the iPad, but when you need to do research and draft reports and papers, an OS designed for keyboard and mouse input is far superior to touch based UI. This is especially true if your research requires analysis that includes complex spreadsheets.

I'm back in college (and with a full time job, family and this forum I don't have much time ) but I'm doing the iPad only thing.

I admit, it' just like anywhere else. It's not for everybody.
I couldn't do my mechanical engineering degree again with an iPad. Just like mathematics, chemistry etc. Etc.

But with Law school, psychology, sociology and many other like those? Perfectly possible.
You read PDF's (lots of them). You write an essay in Word/Pages.
You make some tests/skill training courses online.
Exams are still written with pen and paper.
What do you need an MacBook Air for?
Writing in college helps you retain information better.
Writing on the hand-outs is much easier when studying them later.

 

[Brammy]

I wish all of these iPad for Word [edit. should be iPad for Work] threads were just merged into one. It seems like weekly we have some variant of this discussion.

There are three camps in these discussions:

1. Matt’s article was inspired by a rant by Joshua Topolsky (https://twitter.com/joshuatopolsky/status/879512768206053376). While there are plenty of reasoned takes on why people cannot use the iPad for work, his was not one of them. His tone was condescending, a lot of “you kids get off my lawn,” and a lot of “here’s how we do Real Work in the Real World. These people think that the sole purpose of a computer is productivity. I guess these people think mindless surfing or watching cute cat videos on YouTube is “research” and not “consumption.”
2. At the same time, the iPad Only crowd gets a little “this is the year of Linux on the desktop”. While I respect the hell out of what Vitticci can do with the iPad, some of his workflows seem a little convoluted. That said, clearly going iPad-only has worked out for him, and I think the advantages of the system for him outweigh the negatives. These two camps exist in a perpetual state of conflict. I’m making broad generalizations here, but it seems like Camp 1 is “You can’t do real work on a iPad, don’t waste your time.” Camp 2 is: Don’t be threatened by change, Camp 1. Come to the iPad where everything is cleaner and simpler.”
3. Camp 3 is made of people who understand that there does not exist a computer that can meet all the needs of all the people and make wonderful posts about why platforms do and don’t work for them. These posts get trampled over by the other 2 camps in their quest to prove each other wrong.

For me, a lot of my personal day-to-day work I can do on an iPad. I have a MacBook Pro I need for some tasks. It will be a while before I can do all of them on an iPad. As mentioned earlier, Office has come a long way but it boggles me that neither Word or Pages lets me create or edit document styles on iOS. I think the more you control the start to finish of the product of your work, the more successful you will be on iOS. If you hit a wall, you can find some other way of doing the task, or maybe just deciding that the task isn’t worth it. This is why I think independent workers have the highest success rate of going iOS. Assuming the work can even be done on an iPad. IOS development is a good example of where the work just can’t be done.

I think a lot of people look for one device to solve all their problems. I can get guilty of this, especially with apps. I’ll end up with one app that does a lot of things, but doesn’t excel at any over a few apps that are perfect for what they do. This is something I need to work on. That said, I cannot do all of my day job on an Mac. A lot of corporate workflows I have depend on Windows. I do use my iPad for taking notes, answering emails, and light document editing, though.

 

[alecgold]

I think that there is another key issue that is going to arise as people try to use an iPad Pro to replace a laptop/desktop. Ergonomics. It is not good to stare down at either a laptop or a tablet all day. Now if all you need is to spend a couple of hours as a casual user then okay, but there are a lot of pro users that need ergonomic keyboards, mice, multiple monitors at eye level. For those users an iPad would be bad even if the workflows were MORE efficient. I have an iPad Pro 12.9" and I can (with different workflows) do most everything I can do on my 2014 MBP 15". However, I only use it at times, sticking with my external monitors, etc.

And trust me on this one, the more you use tech to do your work, the more ergonomics will become important whether you want it to or not.

Now if the iPad Pro next year with iOS 12 has the ability to add mice, external keyboards, and external monitors, then we might be on to something.

How did they do it with books then? They were not propped up to eye-brow-level-height, I think? I don't remember that anyway.
Sometimes they did use a slope.
Edit: and typewriters as well?!
But for endless reading I just hang back, well supported in a huge 24h desk chair. Very, very ergonomically

 

[eltoslightfoot]

How did they do it with books then? They were not propped up to eye-brow-level-height, I think? I don't remember that anyway.
Sometimes they did use a slope.
Edit: and typewriters as well?!
But for endless reading I just hang back, well supported in a huge 24h desk chair. Very, very ergonomically

LOL. Books and typewriters aren't ergonomic either. If you are lucky enough that it isn't a problem for you yet, then go for it!

 

[profets]

Classic Verge...

iOS 11 on an iPad still won’t replace your laptop - The Verge

Great example though. The title should be “iOS 11 on an iPad still won’t replace my laptop”

 

[Mainsail]

[doublepost=1498660775][/doublepost]

I'm back in college (and with a full time job, family and this forum I don't have much time ) but I'm doing the iPad only thing.

I admit, it' just like anywhere else. It's not for everybody.
I couldn't do my mechanical engineering degree again with an iPad. Just like mathematics, chemistry etc. Etc.

But with Law school, psychology, sociology and many other like those? Perfectly possible.
You read PDF's (lots of them). You write an essay in Word/Pages.
You make some tests/skill training courses online.
Exams are still written with pen and paper.
What do you need an MacBook Air for?
Writing in college helps you retain information better.
Writing on the hand-outs is much easier when studying them later.[/QUOTE]

Interesting. Perhaps this will work well for you as a law student. It is hard for me to imagine this working well for a major (i.e. business, economics, engineering, etc) that requires writing numerous reports, case studies, and other documents with supporting spreadsheet analysis. I am not saying it can't be done, but it just seems like a tablet is the wrong tool for the job.

I can use an ax to drive a nail, but it is probably not as good as a hammer. I can also use an ax to split wood, but when I need some precision in cutting wood, a saw is a much better tool.

 

[spiderman0616]

[doublepost=1498660775][/doublepost]

I'm back in college (and with a full time job, family and this forum I don't have much time ) but I'm doing the iPad only thing.

I admit, it' just like anywhere else. It's not for everybody.
I couldn't do my mechanical engineering degree again with an iPad. Just like mathematics, chemistry etc. Etc.

But with Law school, psychology, sociology and many other like those? Perfectly possible.
You read PDF's (lots of them). You write an essay in Word/Pages.
You make some tests/skill training courses online.
Exams are still written with pen and paper.
What do you need an MacBook Air for?
Writing in college helps you retain information better.
Writing on the hand-outs is much easier when studying them later.

Interesting. Perhaps this will work well for you as a law student. It is hard for me to imagine this working well for a major (i.e. business, economics, engineering, etc) that requires writing numerous reports, case studies, and other documents with supporting spreadsheet analysis. I am not saying it can't be done, but it just seems like a tablet is the wrong tool for the job.

I can use an ax to drive a nail, but it is probably not as good as a hammer. I can also use an ax to split wood, but when I need some precision in cutting wood, a saw is a much better tool.[/QUOTE]
A friend of mine is currently in the process of getting his doctorate in music and has been iPad-only since the day the 12.9" came out. It can be done, depending on the work.

 

[dingclancy23]

I don't understand how this became such a hot topic issue. Remember the "desktop replacement" laptops? Same idea. There are some people who have replaced a desktop with a laptop when laptops became powerful enough. It doesn't mean that everyone abandoned the desktop. It just means that for some users the laptop became an acceptable replacement.

Same situation with the iPad being a laptop replacement. There will be some people who will swear up and down that the iPad is perfectly suitable as a replacement, but it doesn't mean that the laptop is going away. They will continue to co-exist. Some users will replace their laptops with iPads, many will not.

I don't see much more to debate. Buy the device that fully meets your needs. Or buy more than one device. Buy whatever works for you.

This might have already been mentioned, but the laptop as a desktop replacement is the same software in a different form factor.

The iPad being a "laptop replacement" is a bigger leap, and as Matt Gemmel mentioned, it is not really a laptop replacement but has now matured enough to do things that a laptop can do, differently. The iPad is its own thing, and that is what is bothering many people because for many people, they cannot just make the leap or the connection.

When you work on an iPad you really have to suspend belief or any notion of the old way, and just treat it as it is.

 

[rui no onna]

But with Law school, psychology, sociology and many other like those? Perfectly possible.
You make some tests/skill training courses online.
Exams are still written with pen and paper.

My cousin had to take an exam or something for law school. I had to install Windows 7 on his MacBook because the program they were using required Windows specifically.

I still remember having to use Internet Explorer for signing up for classes because the website didn't work properly on Firefox.

Even PayPal, I have 2FA enabled and on occasion, it has required me to use a desktop/laptop to pay for select ebay purchases (kept redirecting me to login page) within the past 6 months. Not all but some. Not sure if it's just a glitch in the system or something but definitely annoying. DC Comics website doesn't display properly on the 9.7 iPad. Not sure if it's because DC uses a fixed resolution layout or something.

It's little things like that requiring legacy support I find annoying.

 

[seadragon]

I can use an ax to drive a nail, but it is probably not as good as a hammer. I can also use an ax to split wood, but when I need some precision in cutting wood, a saw is a much better tool.

For on the go use, I think I'd just carry the axe versus a hammer and a saw.

 

[alecgold]

For on the go use, I think I'd just carry the axe versus a hammer and a saw.

Haha I was thinking about how often I've used the back of n axe head for hitting a few nails that weren't deep enough in.

 

[dingclancy23]

Also this is the gist of Matt Gemmel's article:

The iPad isn’t a laptop replacement, because it’s not a laptop.... ...But the iPad has replaced my MacBook. That’s a fact.

 

[spiderman0616]

Also this is the gist of Matt Gemmel's article:

The iPad isn’t a laptop replacement, because it’s not a laptop.... ...But the iPad has replaced my MacBook. That’s a fact.

This point will be missed over and over and over again.

 

[dk001]

This is a piece Matt Gemmell wrote about the notion of the iPad being a "laptop replacement", and I'm in full agreement here:

http://mattgemmell.com/laptop-replacement/

My favorite is this line, because it describes many of the naysayers here to a T:

There’s another pattern I see, which I’ll just mention as a side-note: the stronger the conclusion that the iPad can’t replace the author’s laptop, the more likely it is that the required tasks in question are irrelevant to 90% of the computer-using populace. That, or they haven’t allowed for any change in workflow and interaction model, which is an act of remarkable intellectual dishonesty. But I digress.

I think people are losing site of the fact that the notion of a "laptop replacement" is not necessarily what "iPad-only" users are looking for. It's a different kind of computer that can do everything a laptop can do for a vast majority of users.

Good quote but one personal item I found I was doing and have seen / read from others; changes to your work / personal process that does not improve your use or efficiency but merely allows you to use the tablet.

Some can use a tablet as a replacement, some cannot.
[doublepost=1498671003][/doublepost]

The reason it's a hot button issue is that people are feeling insecure. Not sure why--like you said, I really don't think laptops are going anywhere. They're just not going to be as common as they once were.

There has been, and still is, a base core Apple entity that feels that "You Must Use The iPad as Your Laptop" since TC stating so. Social pressure.

Personally I tried. Tried it with Android also. Neither could do what I needed.
[doublepost=1498671386][/doublepost]

Good discussion with valid points on both sides! I’m biased as a full time iPad user, but I think more and more people are going to use the tablet/iPad as their computer. I wouldn’t be surprised if 80% or more would never touch a laptop/desktop anymore in 5 years time. That is for private use.

Like the desktop, it took some serious time for business use to follow the consumer market and switch to laptops as their main stable.

And just a bit speculation, but why use a big clumsy tablet if some AR/VR can be coupled to your phone so the world becomes your display?? Or even an AR g,asses be used as stand alone device? It’s not yet possible, but it could easily be possible in 5-10 years time.

Unless the iPad really changes, doubtful. It is too restrictive to utilize across the work and personal environment.
Now a tablet becoming the new laptop? Maybe. I have the feeling it will be something else and involve AI.
[doublepost=1498672003][/doublepost]

This is where these topics always go. Are there some things that can be done on a Mac/PC that can't be done on an iPad? Absolutely. But for the majority of consumers these won't affect them. Not that there's anything wrong with the Mac or that the Mac has to go away, rather that the iPad is a new, more intimate form of computing.

I could say the same thing - I use my iPad for so much that a MacBook is a poor replacement.

Agree however unless you can and plan on using multiple devices, you need to ask yourself, what item will do all I need?

Want, is another topic.

 

[spiderman0616]

Good quote but one personal item I found I was doing and have seen / read from others; changes to your work / personal process that does not improve your use or efficiency but merely allows you to use the tablet.

Some can use a tablet as a replacement, some cannot.
[doublepost=1498671003][/doublepost]

There has been, and still is, a base core Apple entity that feels that "You Must Use The iPad as Your Laptop" since TC stating so. Social pressure.

Personally I tried. Tried it with Android also. Neither could do what I needed.
[doublepost=1498671386][/doublepost]

Unless the iPad really changes, doubtful. It is too restrictive to utilize across the work and personal environment.
Now a tablet becoming the new laptop? Maybe. I have the feeling it will be something else and involve AI.
[doublepost=1498672003][/doublepost]

Agree however unless you can and plan on using multiple devices, you need to ask yourself, what item will do all I need?

Want, is another topic.

No. This is where this topic always crashes and burns. Again, missing the point. Just because YOU don't see how it can be the case or YOU tried it and it doesn't work does not mean that's the case for the whole rest of the world. The iPad is not a laptop any more than a laptop is an iPad. Nobody speaks for everyone else. You can only speak for yourself. I cannot tell you that an iPad is a laptop replacement any more than you can tell me that I shouldn't use an iPad for everything because "it doesn't work" or because I've somehow deluded myself into thinking I can use an iPad for everything.

Nobody should be saying either device is good for everything and everyone. The arguing seems to happen when one type of user feels threatened by the other and thinks their device of choice is going away somehow. As the article states, it's the same mentality as Playstation vs. Xbox or Coke vs. Pepsi. It's a pointless argument that will never end.