I think its cool that people can make things like remote desktop work to make up for things that aren't possible to do on the iPad itself. I've become so accustomed to multitasking on multiple monitors on my computers that I can't envision using remote desktop to accomplish things.
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iPad Common laptop PC/Mac use cases where iPads just don't work...
- Thread starter johnhackworth
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I am not sure if I agree on scanning. I scan a lot of music with my iPad Pro using Scanner Pro app - the quality is very good as long as the papers are laid flat and lighting is sufficient.
True but there's a difference between taking a photo with a camera in a mobile scanning application and a dedicated scanner with a platen that will ensure a flat scan every time that is free of distortion, even in lighting and allows for higher resolution if needed. Don't get me wrong, I love having mobile scanning capabilities too and use it frequently but I can relate to what @johnhackworth noted as well.
I guess this this is more a question of what constitutes "good enough".
If I am a teacher in class and I want to grab a quick scan that is still of reasonable quality to show to the students, scanner pro does the job pretty well, and way better than snapping a photo and emailing it to yourself. After that, the benefits of using a dedicated scanner just seems very marginal compared to the extra effort required. And some teachers use a scanner, only to set PPI to 200, meaning the final product is all grainy and pixellated, meaning my iPad still churns out better quality scans at the end of the day.
Right, it's about perspective. As you say it works well for many. I'm just recognizing the fact that for those for whom doesn't meet their requirements these kinds of statements sound like compromises rather than positives.
I have seen many ‘professional’ scans which are far inferior to what I would expect to get from my iPad Pro camera using the Scanner Pro app. I can understand people wanting a flat bed and a feeder if they are scanning thousands of documents, but that would only be in large businesses and archives.
I use my flatbed scanner to make high-quality scans of photos and to scan slides - another use case.
I work in design and almost all of the art that ends up being digitally printed or screenprinted starts as paint on paper, and is then scanned. I also have to make requests that require someone to physically sign a piece of paper. Even if I have to only scan 2 sheets, it's way more efficient to use a networked 3 in 1 than to undock an iPad from a stand and find a white piece of counter to take a photo.
Of course not everyone's use case but scanning is one of those things that you realize how bad it was before until you got a real scanner. And you kick yourself for only getting the letter size one the first time you have a bigger piece of paper.
I think also what makes us think we're doing something faster or more efficiently is the ability to push the task off to a device. So even if a 20 year old epson scanner takes 2 whole minutes to scan at 1200dpi, the fact that I can get a coffee or flip through instagram while the scanner is working makes it feel more useful than lining up an iPhone or iPad, getting the lighting right and snapping a picture.
Of course not everyone's use case but scanning is one of those things that you realize how bad it was before until you got a real scanner. And you kick yourself for only getting the letter size one the first time you have a bigger piece of paper.
I think also what makes us think we're doing something faster or more efficiently is the ability to push the task off to a device. So even if a 20 year old epson scanner takes 2 whole minutes to scan at 1200dpi, the fact that I can get a coffee or flip through instagram while the scanner is working makes it feel more useful than lining up an iPhone or iPad, getting the lighting right and snapping a picture.
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I didn’t see mentioned:
- Time Machine versioned backups
- Local file and media hub (for those who don’t want to subscribe to cloud services or whose data collection is too big to cheaply store in the cloud)
I think someone mentioned photo library management, but I want to add specifically photo keyword tagging because it’s something that I feel should be easy on an iPad/iPhone but for some reason it is not. iOS 14 introduces captions but that’s not the same. And someone correct me if I’m wrong but I’ve found that third party apps allow you to add keywords to your photos but the keywords are lost when you transfer the photos off your iPad/iPhone.
- Time Machine versioned backups
- Local file and media hub (for those who don’t want to subscribe to cloud services or whose data collection is too big to cheaply store in the cloud)
I think someone mentioned photo library management, but I want to add specifically photo keyword tagging because it’s something that I feel should be easy on an iPad/iPhone but for some reason it is not. iOS 14 introduces captions but that’s not the same. And someone correct me if I’m wrong but I’ve found that third party apps allow you to add keywords to your photos but the keywords are lost when you transfer the photos off your iPad/iPhone.
Also the other day a family member’s iPad became “disabled” (I believe because of too many incorrect password attempts) and the only way to restore it was by plugging it into iTunes.
So many people commenting on how the iPad can’t use scanners, this seems odd to me as my Epson printer and scanner is WiFi enabled and can scan to an app on my iPhone. Is this not a common scanner feature?
I cannot comment for others but I personally do not use scanner or printers at home. I use them at work. Both the scanners and the printers are in the company network and every company laptop can access them. The thing is iPhones/iPads/other mobile devices are not equipped to connect to those printers.
I mean I can connect any company laptop to those scanners/printers as long as the laptop in the same network. I cannot do this with mobile devices. So at least for me here the thing is that this was not something Apple or other companies were thinking about. And if you use the mobile device for personal needs it kind of makes sense. If you want to use to use it as a corporate device for work it is a bit different though.
So in the end of the day it is also about the strategy Apple are following. Fact is however that it is easier to configure a traditional laptop/desktop to a scanner/printer than mobile device. Both from the setup point of view and the choices you have in terms of devices.
Not sure why I didn’t think of this as a usage scenario. Thanks for that.
The only scanners I ever use are at home or university. My home one has an app to scan from and saves to device as a PDF, the university ones don’t even connect to other machines on the network, they send the files to your email (even for staff members).
Yeah, I mean, I have used the scanner of the Files app for official documents that I needed for online procedures and I haven’t had any problem lol
I have a multi-function printer and I can scan anything on it wirelessly straight to my Android. I believe the same would be on iPhone. Most multi-functions today are network/wifi capable.
I want to add something to this and especially when it comes to cameras. I agree that mobile phones don't always have the best camera out there due to their sensor being small but we develop a mobile application in our company and we do offer OCR and even digital signing of documents. Trust me the phone camera is good enough so that the OCR can pick up and recognize whatever is needed and our customers do use this for archiving.
Granted our customers pay for that app and we do check for the image quality before allowing archiving but newer devices' camera are capable enough IMO.
I'm surprised how long this scanner discussion is carrying in this thread. For me the thing about cameras for scanning is that the distortion that is inherent to using a small lens/sensor combo at close range has to be corrected in software which will never result in as close to a 1:1 scan as a dedicated scanner would. For most this is usually not an issue, but for some it can be.
Most of the time the scans that I get from phone/tablet are more than fine for me. If I'm just scanning a document to send someone most of the time I won't care but sometimes I will depending on the content/intent of the document. I get a little irritated with not having great control over 1:1 scaling of small items like receipts, but I do use scanning on my phone and iPad a lot.
Still I will never see a day that we'll replace the scanners in our office with mobile devices, and it isn't because we scan volumes of information - its because we need the accuracy and consistency in our scans. A 10 page set of construction plans isn't voluminous, but by golly if I scan all 10 pages to PDF I should be able to scale off dimensions in PDF accurately anywhere on any page in that document.
Most of the time the scans that I get from phone/tablet are more than fine for me. If I'm just scanning a document to send someone most of the time I won't care but sometimes I will depending on the content/intent of the document. I get a little irritated with not having great control over 1:1 scaling of small items like receipts, but I do use scanning on my phone and iPad a lot.
Still I will never see a day that we'll replace the scanners in our office with mobile devices, and it isn't because we scan volumes of information - its because we need the accuracy and consistency in our scans. A 10 page set of construction plans isn't voluminous, but by golly if I scan all 10 pages to PDF I should be able to scale off dimensions in PDF accurately anywhere on any page in that document.
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I have a simple, cheap Brother scanner and printer and use the app to print and scan from an iPad. I have a Linux desktop and the old Sane program allows me more settings, which is important for scanning photos.
Coming back to the main thread - I'm still using the old Linux desktop as:
- multimedia magazine,
- a place where I copy my CDs and DVDs,
- SMB / DLNA server,
- archive of home documents and e-mails,
- storage of photos from iPhone and other cameras,
- a tool for formatting disks, pendrives, microSD cards - because I will not do it on the iPad.
In addition, on an old laptop with Windows, I have iTunes for music management on the iPhone / iPad and backups of these devices.
I am slowly thinking about buying a basic MBA with i5 to be the back-up for iPhones and iPads at home.
Best regards!
Coming back to the main thread - I'm still using the old Linux desktop as:
- multimedia magazine,
- a place where I copy my CDs and DVDs,
- SMB / DLNA server,
- archive of home documents and e-mails,
- storage of photos from iPhone and other cameras,
- a tool for formatting disks, pendrives, microSD cards - because I will not do it on the iPad.
In addition, on an old laptop with Windows, I have iTunes for music management on the iPhone / iPad and backups of these devices.
I am slowly thinking about buying a basic MBA with i5 to be the back-up for iPhones and iPads at home.
Best regards!
Darth Tulhu
macrumors 68020
I just wanna thank the OP and all contributors for this thread. I see that it has remained as objective as it can be.
As for me, this thread has truly highlighted how the iPad is and probably will always be a device in the middle, between an iPhone and a Mac.
It also shows that my dream Apple 2-in-1 is not quite here yet.
As for me, this thread has truly highlighted how the iPad is and probably will always be a device in the middle, between an iPhone and a Mac.
It also shows that my dream Apple 2-in-1 is not quite here yet.
I agree with all of this. What the iPad does well is truly amazing. But it's frustrating how much it could do in theory that simply has never been implemented.
- Lengthy background processing.
- Running applications on multiple screens (different apps on different screens).
- Running applications that needs more than available memory.
My workflow is not particularly power hungry, but I might have 3-6 .doc files, 3-6 .pdf files, a spreadsheet or powerpoint or two, a bunch of browser windows, an email client, and a messaging client open and in use at one time. That would be a nightmare on an iPad because of the way it handles multitasking (both within a single app and across apps) and because of the lack of external/multiple monitor support.
There's no reason these needs could not be addressed in future editions of iPadOS, and if they are, an iPad could become my main device. But for now, it definitely doesn't work for my use case.
There's no reason these needs could not be addressed in future editions of iPadOS, and if they are, an iPad could become my main device. But for now, it definitely doesn't work for my use case.