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All iPads Anyone thinking about Eliminating iPad?

They both have their strengths. I use the iPad as my main device every day. The portability is great, note taking and sketching with the Pencil is great, reading PDFs and websites is great. Listening to podcasts in the background is great, music is adequate for many cases. However, there are other things for which the MacBook Pro is simply necessary.

My plan is to upgrade from the 1st gen 12.9" to the latest 12.9" (maybe the 11", I have to see them first) then next year I'll ditch the MBP and get an iMac 27". I almost never need to travel with the MBP any more. The iMac would be much better for the heavy lifting like Xcode and creating presentations and lab reports. Because of the file system I find that macOS is much better for archiving all sorts of things like scans of papers and receipts. The iPad will be a great accessory and the iMac will be the hub.

I find I'm not much of an iPhone user. I make phone calls and use iMessage and take some pictures and navigate with Maps. I find that at night I usually have around 80% battery remaining. I regularly drain the iPad.
 
I won't get rid of my iPad pro 9.7, but I'm not upgrading it either. I'm contemplating buying a Surface Pro 6 to replace my aging 11 inch MBA. So I'd be moving away from iOS and Mac OS. If I absolutely have to stay with Mac OS I can buy a Surface and a Mac Mini for slightly more than a MBP, Apple's pricing is crazy.
 
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Won’t be ditching the iPad, however I will have to get a computer in order to restore my iPhone or iPad through iTunes. That’s the only bummer for me that you have to have another computer in order to restore your iPhone or iPad if something goes wrong. Wish there was another way.
 
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Nope. I use my iPad Pro way too much to get rid of it and I love traveling with it over a laptop. Desktop, iPad, iPhone is a good combination for me.
 
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bniu said:
Aside from the crazy high prices of the new iPad Pros today, I'm starting to think with MacBook Pros getting better displays, being even lighter, and of course, still more powerful (especially with the VEGA graphics), I'm finding that I can probably squeeze the iPad out of my workflow.

I'm currently on a 2013 macbook pro 15" and I'm looking to maybe upgrade when Cannonlake comes out, and it got me thinking, I almost never bother with my iPad as I can usually do just fine with my macbook pro and my iPhone 7 Plus for when I'm away from my mac. I'm starting to struggle to find a usage scenario for my iPad.

Anyone else thinking about going back to the old lineup of just a mac and a phone?
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I went iPadless back in March. Prior to this, the iPad had been my favourite piece of tech and I’d owned an iPad 2, 3, 4, Air, Air 2, Pro 9.7 and Pro 10.5.

I realised that I was no longer using it as much as before, was conscious of the cost, so I decided to sell it before the new models were announced and see how I coped without one.

My primary use was for content consumption. It replaced newspapers, magazines and also reduced the time I spent browsing the web. I also used it for gaming. For productivity, and even for browsing, I preferred using a laptop.

The reason I was no longer using it as much was down to what I’m calling app regression. To illustrate what I mean by that, these were my most used apps -

Zite - This was a really good app for content discovery. Select your interests and it would find articles on those subjects. It was purchased by Flipboard and supposedly integrated into their app, but that was nowhere near as good.

Mr.Reader - This was an RSS reader that allowed you to subscribe to the content you regularly viewed. It brought the content to you, eliminating the need to browse websites. It was discontinued by the developer. Fiery Feeds was a good alternative, but support for RSS seemed to be dying. Admittedly, that wasn’t an app issue.

The WeekDay - This was a newspaper app which provided a morning and evening edition every weekday. The news was condensed into ten pages, although some pages would carry several stories. It avoided the length and repetition of newspaper articles and was a good way to quickly keep up with day's events. The developer stopped supporting the app and instead concentrated on emailing daily newsletters.

Zinio for Libraries - This app allowed you to view magazines free from your local library. It was a bit buggy, but much better than the app that replaced it. RB Digital launched their own app for accessing the same content, but it was terrible. Recent reviews suggest that they may have improved this.

I spent a lot of time looking for alternatives to Zite and The WeekDay, but was not able to find anything that came close.

It’s frustrating that the iPad is no longer as useful to me as it once was. Adjusting to life without it has been much easier than I expected although I don’t rule out about buying another one in the future.

That's my experience, based on my own specific use case.
 
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Nope. I'll keep my 10.5" iPP just as I'll keep my laptop and desktop - they are all useful tools for me that I can pick and choose from as needed/desired (need and desire being two different drivers).
 
No way for me, I use it every day. I do everything from working to web browsing to watching tv on it. It’s my primary travel machine was well, and now that I’m getting the Pro, it will be my only travel machine as it should cover all the past situations where I needed to bring my MBA 11”. I generally keep my devices for a long(ish) time—6-7 years on laptops, 3 years on the watch (just upgraded from series 0 to 3 last year), and I’m currently running a 6s and an Air 2—so I don’t have the constant layout of cash that others have who update more frequently.

My husband has eliminated it, though it wasn’t a decision so much as a gradual progression. He prefers his phone and over time, he just stopped using his iPad. If he needs a bigger screen, he reaches for his 15” MBP.
 
I got rid of mine when I stopped travelling as much.

I found anything I can do on it I can do far more efficiently and ergonomically on my desktop at home and laptop on the go, especially now that my laptop gets 12-16 hours of battery life (which used to be the problem), or TV if it's movies.

Nothing about my workflow or software needs works well with the iPad. I don't see another one in my future, and if I were to start to travel again I'd probably get another brand that isn't quite as locked down.
 
Never mind said:
Won’t be ditching the iPad, however I will have to get a computer in order to restore my iPhone or iPad through iTunes. That’s the only bummer for me that you have to have another computer in order to restore your iPhone or iPad if something goes wrong. Wish there was another way.
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Exactly. How can an iPad or large screened smartphone possibly be a laptop replacement when you need a computer to manage these devices?
 
lparsons21 said:
I just use the cloud, I can’t remember the last time I connected any of my iOS devices to a computer.
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If they hard crashed you'd have to connect them up to the mothership iTunes. OK so possibly a rarity but it happens.
 
Nope

I ordered iPad Pro 12.9 to replace my computer as for me it can

Don’t see a point in getting another Mac
 
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lparsons21 said:
I’ve had numerous iPads, starting with the very first one and never saw a hard crash in all those years and devices, so I’d say, yeah a real rarity!
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Hasn’t happened to me either. I had an iPhone crash and not restart, but my solution was to exchange it at the Apple store rather than trying to do anything with iTunes.
 
Nope. I find the iPad is ideal for reading magazines, books, browsing the web during commercials as I sit on the sofa during sports, watching movies and TV shows during travel, browsing in bed.
 
I like my air 2, and it fills a hole that no other device does as well. But, I could never use it for my work - it falls short in a least a half dozen serious ways. So if I were to eliminate one device, it would be the iPad, but why do I need to eliminate any of them? Each has its own purpose.
 
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Newtons Apple said:
My 10.5 iPad is my most used device other than my iPhone. It has replaced my laptop for al,ost everything.

I know the new iPads are expensive but for the amount of time I use it, the upgrade will be worth it for me. TouchID seem somewhat primitive and will be glad to have it replaced next week when my 11” arrives.
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Same for me, my gen 1 12.9” iPad Pro is my most used device, and I’ll be getting the new one before long.
 
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I use my iPad for hobbyist music and audiovisual recording as well as displaying and working with sheet music. I've been very happy with it since I stopped trying to use it for any other traditional and serious kinds of work. I'll also basically never have to upgrade it with these unchanging requirements.
 
sunking101 said:
Exactly. How can an iPad or large screened smartphone possibly be a laptop replacement when you need a computer to manage these devices?
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Depending on where one lives, that's not always a necessity.

It's possible to do backup and restore with iCloud. If something goes terribly wrong, most iPhone/iPad owners I know wouldn't know and would be too scared to try a DFU restore themselves. In my area though, there's ~10 Apple Stores within a 15 mile radius where they can get help.
 
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sunking101 said:
Exactly. How can an iPad or large screened smartphone possibly be a laptop replacement when you need a computer to manage these devices?
Click to expand...

Why do you need a computer to manage an iDevice? I haven't connected my iPhone/iPad to a computer in years and don't plan on doing that ever again.

AJB1971 said:
Mr.Reader - This was an RSS reader that allowed you to subscribe to the content you regularly viewed. It brought the content to you, eliminating the need to browse websites. It was discontinued by the developer. Fiery Feeds was a good alternative, but support for RSS seemed to be dying. Admittedly, that wasn’t an app issue.
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RSS is alive and well and still widely used. I use Feedly, which is cloud based and a great solution when you use multiple devices.
 
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lparsons21 said:
I just use the cloud, I can’t remember the last time I connected any of my iOS devices to a computer.
Click to expand...

sunking101 said:
If they hard crashed you'd have to connect them up to the mothership iTunes. OK so possibly a rarity but it happens.
Click to expand...

One day when I tried to update the iOS to a newer version, lo and behold, I was unable to do so. All these years not having to do so I found myself without an iPad and either I had to find someone with a computer or bringing in long distance to an Apple store. That’s the irony of this. There is no simple way around getting your iPad or other iOS device working without a darn computer. Thank you Apple

My closest Apple Store is about 30 miles away, and others have to go even further.
 
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$329 buys you all the essential ipad'ness you need. if your looking for pro
performance and design easily 5 years ahead of competition: pay up!
[doublepost=1541376507][/doublepost]$329 buys you all the essential ipad'ness you need. if your looking for pro
performance and design easily 5 years ahead of competition: pay up!
 
rowspaxe said:
$329 buys you all the essential ipad'ness you need. if your looking for pro
performance and design easily 5 years ahead of competition: pay up!
[doublepost=1541376507][/doublepost]$329 buys you all the essential ipad'ness you need. if your looking for pro
performance and design easily 5 years ahead of competition: pay up!
Click to expand...
5 years ahead of the competition? Huh?
 
thisismyusername said:
RSS is alive and well and still widely used. I use Feedly, which is cloud based and a great solution when you use multiple devices.
Click to expand...
I also used Feedly to manage my feeds when Google Reader ceased. Mr.Reader or Fiery Feeds were my preferred client apps for the iPad.

A lot of the websites I use no longer offer feeds. Others have reduced the number of feeds they support, which means that the only option is to subscribe to a more generalised feed and sort through a lot of irrelevant information.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RSS#Current_usage
https://techcrunch.com/2018/04/07/rss-is-undead/
 
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