Anyone Using iPad Pro as Main Device?

[GoldfishRT]

You don't have to import anything to MS Word. Put your Word docs in OneDrive, it's free. You can open, edit, and save them from your OneDrive exactly like you would on a desktop computer.

Okay. Sure that's great for Word and Microsoft Apps but now you're suggesting I have to use three different cloud storage solutions and this still doesn't work for things like Pythonista or Nebo. Which is the exact problem I have with the current state of iOS.

And while sure, most of the time I have internet the automatic assumption that fast internet is available is something that's annoyed me across multiple devices, especially games consoles. The infrastructure in the United States is not good enough to make that assumption as far as I'm concerned, and where it is, it's usually handicapped with data limits.

 

[Night Spring]

My usage is around 70:30 in iPad's Pro 9.7 favour with my rMBP15 2014. I love it but it could never replace those 30% tho.

I felt this way, until I got the 12.9 iPad Pro. Now my iPad usage is about 95%. There are just a few tasks left that I can't do on my iPad / prefer to do on my iMac.

 

[Brammy]

I felt this way, until I got the 12.9 iPad Pro. Now my iPad usage is about 95%. There are just a few tasks left that I can't do on my iPad / prefer to do on my iMac.

Realistically, I'm about 60-40.

I spent a good chunk of the day Friday working on Tableau reports. Unfortuantely, the Tableau app on iOS is just a viewer.

 

[Night Spring]

Realistically, I'm about 60-40.

I spent a good chunk of the day Friday working on Tableau reports. Unfortuantely, the Tableau app on iOS is just a viewer.

Yeah, it totally depends on if the software you need is available for iPad. For work, I only need word processing. The things I still use my imac for are personal stuff, like media management.

 

[Brammy]

Yeah, it totally depends on if the software you need is available for iPad. For work, I only need word processing. The things I still use my imac for are personal stuff, like media management.

Yeah.

The computing power of the iPad Pro is such that I'd love to see apps like Tableau just come to iOS.

 

[M. Gustave]

Okay. Sure that's great for Word and Microsoft Apps but now you're suggesting I have to use three different cloud storage solutions and this still doesn't work for things like Pythonista or Nebo. Which is the exact problem I have with the current state of iOS.

So your answer is... what? Everything stored locally?

I just don't see "three different cloud storage solutions" as a problem. They act just like three folders my devices can access, and two of them are free (Google Drive and OneDrive).

 

[Brammy]

Okay. Sure that's great for Word and Microsoft Apps but now you're suggesting I have to use three different cloud storage solutions and this still doesn't work for things like Pythonista or Nebo. Which is the exact problem I have with the current state of iOS.

And while sure, most of the time I have internet the automatic assumption that fast internet is available is something that's annoyed me across multiple devices, especially games consoles. The infrastructure in the United States is not good enough to make that assumption as far as I'm concerned, and where it is, it's usually handicapped with data limits.

Even on OS X I use them all. Some files in each.

 

[ardchoille50]

I own the iPad Pro 9.7 and am now using the device as my main device. I had spent a month in a sort of testing phase, but am now comfortable selling my Mac mini and relying solely on my iPhone 6s and iPad Pro 9.7. I will say, however, that an external keyboard will prove invaluable in using this device as your main device.

 

[GoldfishRT]

So your answer is... what? Everything stored locally?

I just don't see "three different cloud storage solutions" as a problem. They act just like three folders my devices can access, and two of them are free (Google Drive and OneDrive).

Again, my problem is less that I have to use cloud options and more that the ecosystem doesn't integrate properly. Few apps will properly open from cloud based storage. So, you have to 'import' a file to an app which makes a local copy. Then when I save, I have to make sure to overwrite the previous copy and delete the local copy if I want to free up that space and make sure I always download the latest if I update the file from another device. It's a cumbersome workflow is all.

It's not that I can't work around it. If I couldn't the iPad wouldn't be my main device now but to pretend that it's good as it stands is ridiculous.

And yes, I'd prefer not to have three file systems each with their own folders etc. I'd much prefer unified iCloud storage that actually does just show up as a folder on my Mac as well when I need to use it.

 

[Night Spring]

I'd much prefer unified iCloud storage that actually does just show up as a folder on my Mac as well when I need to use it.

But iCloud storage does show up as a folder on the Mac. Yeah, many iPad apps still haven't moved to letting you open files directly from iCloud storage. But part of that is Microsoft and Dropbox deciding to propmote their own storage services rather than working with iCloud.

 

[GoldfishRT]

But iCloud storage does show up as a folder on the Mac. Yeah, many iPad apps still haven't moved to letting you open files directly from iCloud storage. But part of that is Microsoft and Dropbox deciding to propmote their own storage services rather than working with iCloud.

Woops the apostrophe d in there wasn't meant to be lol. Yes I know iCloud does show up that way. I'd prefer it to operate in the sort of seemless way on the iPad as it does the Mac.

And I'd agree with that assertion. I feel like, it would have to possibly be demanded by Apple's app guidelines in order to make it happen. I also don't think Apple is willing to do that.

 

[rui no onna]

But iCloud storage does show up as a folder on the Mac. Yeah, many iPad apps still haven't moved to letting you open files directly from iCloud storage. But part of that is Microsoft and Dropbox deciding to propmote their own storage services rather than working with iCloud.

Honestly, given MS Office for iOS natively supports at least five different cloud services, I find it unusual that they don't have a more seamless integration with iCloud.

 

[M. Gustave]

Honestly, given MS Office for iOS natively supports at least five different cloud services, I find it unusual that they don't have a more seamless integration with iCloud.

Seamless iCloud integration is one reason I've moved from Word to Ulysses for my writing projects.

If iCloud integration is important to you, you need to vote with your dollars in the App Store.

 

[rui no onna]

Seamless iCloud integration is one reason I've moved from Word to Ulysses for my writing projects.

If iCloud integration is important to you, you need to vote with your dollars in the App Store.

Nah. I'm a Dropbox user myself (PCs and laptops are all Windows) and Dropbox integration in MS Office is quite seamless. I just find it unusual that they don't have better support for iCloud.

And honestly, I've tried a bunch of spreadsheet apps but thus far, Excel for iOS has been the most polished and functional that I've used. Numbers is the most polished and creates very fancy looking spreadsheets but the technical aspects seem somewhat lacking compared to Excel.

 

[Precursor]

I would love to be able to use my 12.9" as my main, but until I can get full blown Office working on iPP, unfortunately i can't.
MS Office works fine and all on iPP, but still too limited for the sheets that I have to work on at work.

 

[Patron_Saint]

I used my iPad Pro 12.9" exclusively for a couple months. It worked, and was viable - almost entirely so. That being said, now that I'm on a 2016 MBP I see just how much time I was wasting with work-arounds and such that really just added frustration and interrupted workflow.

Now I'm seeing more productivity, and split usage between my iPad and MBP - with my iPhone receiving less attention outside of specific phone usage.

 

[M. Gustave]

I used my iPad Pro 12.9" exclusively for a couple months. It worked, and was viable - almost entirely so. That being said, now that I'm on a 2016 MBP I see just how much time I was wasting with work-arounds and such that really just added frustration and interrupted workflow.

That may be true for your uses, but without specifics it's not much help to others.

 

[Vital0gy]

I use the 12.9" iPP for nearly 95% of my work as a quality and operational excellence manager. The few use cases that keep me from going 100% include a comparable cross-platform stats program similar to Minitab, downloads from our online quality management system that Excel for iOS cannot read properly, and the inability to create pivot tables in Excel for iOS. If I could solve these few challenges I would be nearly 100% iPP for work and home. For now, I use Parallels on my work laptop to try and get close to the 100% threshold. I look forward to the day I can completely ditch my Windows machine.

 

[weup togo]

If it's good enough for Tim, it's the opposite of what I want.

 

[cracksoup]

At home, I have no doubt that a newer iPad could pretty much completely replace my Macbook Pro. I do have an iPad Air and when doing some basic multitasking, it forgets the previous app (or tab) I used and has to reload. Extremely irritating 1GB of RAM.

At school however, I need a capable machine for making presentations and by some reason, Google Drive refuse to cooperate with my iPad while using a Zagg keyboard. It can't do all the keyboard commands and the equations feature is nowhere to be found in the iPad app. So it's all just software problems, but still annoying.


So not yet possible, but soon maybe?

 

[Brammy]

What I've found is I can do about 90% of my daily personal computing tasks on the IPP -- if I move the goalposts and consider playing my online games to be more of a "console" type thing. Since I have an Alienware Alpha PC that is pretty much a console, anyway. My work stuff is more like 70%, but that's a lot of Windows stuff anyway so it's not a fair comparison.

The tasks that I can't do on the iPad, I hit a hard stop on. I want to learn Mac and iOS programming. Can't run Xcode. I'm not sure Excel can handle off-file references and the like. I don't have the full version of Photoshop.

I don't need to do those tasks often, but the fact that I do means I will always have a Mac available to me. What it does mean though, is I can put off upgrading my MacBook Pro i7 and 11" Air longer.

 

[cibonak]

At home, I have no doubt that a newer iPad could pretty much completely replace my Macbook Pro. I do have an iPad Air and when doing some basic multitasking, it forgets the previous app (or tab) I used and has to reload. Extremely irritating 1GB of RAM.

At school however, I need a capable machine for making presentations and by some reason, Google Drive refuse to cooperate with my iPad while using a Zagg keyboard. It can't do all the keyboard commands and the equations feature is nowhere to be found in the iPad app. So it's all just software problems, but still annoying.


So not yet possible, but soon maybe?

it is possible

 

[Peepo]

I just bought a Logitech K780 keyboard yesterday and so far is working great. I use at work so I can control my main Windows PC and still do other things on my 9.7" iPad Pro easily. I can switch keyboard pretty fast by pressing a button and it and supports pairing up to three devices. Google it, check out some reviews.

For those who are using an iPad as main device, this keyboard is worth a look and would also work real nice with the 12.9" iPad pro.

 

[cibonak]

quite heavy though

 

[RedOrchestra]

That move is only in my future when I can do a back-up and a restore from an external drive. The Cloud has absolutely ZERO value to me.