iPad Pro Features for iPad pro to replace my MacBook

[Mathias Denichi]

iPad pro has come a long way; however there are still a few features that keep me from moving away permanently from my MacBook or Custom Built Pc:

• Full Version of Photoshop (Pixelmator doesn't cut it)
• Adobe Indesign or Magazine Layout Equivalent
• Xcode
• Inspect Element on Browser (coda iOS is ok, mostly for FTP, no emulation though)
• Full split screen and drag and drop support between apps
• Loading or Moving files without having to copy them and take up more storage space.

Dream Features

• Steam App Support for in home or LTE streaming from PC (moonlight is ok...)
• App game support for Keyboard ( IE MINECRAFT PE)
• Mouse for game support ( miss jailbroken keyboard and mouse app)
• Proper external monitor or Wireless external monitor output

I feel like some of these will come sooner than later, some I was hoping to see in iOS 10. What is keeping you from dropping the MacBook entirely? If you have any suggestions of apps to do what i need above, please leave them here, thanks!

 

[sjleworthy]

There are so many work related items that cant yet be done on ipad. Some cant even be done on laptops. I think this will always be a struggle. And we're all individual in our needs.

Personally, 3d modelling and rendering isnt available to the standards i need other than on powerfull multicore desktops. Even laptops woefully fall short. Image processing is more than possible, but i dont when i can just much easier use my works computers. (Ie, no full photoshop for example, but al of Adobe's other apps between them do almost a full photoshop job, only it's a major faff). And yes, software issues like lack of mouse support (which is more than easy to achieve) is a frustration.

So yes, in my opinion an ipad can easily replace a laptop/desktop as long as your requirements for it are pretty generic. My Pro handsomely tackles all my business accounts and admin works. And all my personal down time time, but ask it to take on something more works specific then i havent a hope in hell.
But then, i never and will never expect this from it.

I treat my ipad and an ipad an expect nothing more or nothing less. I'm satisfied

 

[M. Gustave]

iPad pro has come a long way; however there are still a few features that keep me from moving away permanently from my MacBook or Custom Built Pc:

• Full Version of Photoshop (Pixelmator doesn't cut it)
• Adobe Indesign or Magazine Layout Equivalent
• Xcode
• Inspect Element on Browser (coda iOS is ok, mostly for FTP, no emulation though)
• Full split screen and drag and drop support between apps
• Loading or Moving files without having to copy them and take up more storage space.

Dream Features

• Steam App Support for in home or LTE streaming from PC (moonlight is ok...)
• App game support for Keyboard ( IE MINECRAFT PE)
• Mouse for game support ( miss jailbroken keyboard and mouse app)
• Proper external monitor or Wireless external monitor output

I feel like some of these will come sooner than later, some I was hoping to see in iOS 10. What is keeping you from dropping the MacBook entirely? If you have any suggestions of apps to do what i need above, please leave them here, thanks!

Many of these are app features, not hardware or OS features. But you don't say why you need all these to run on an iPad? What's wrong with your laptop? An iPad suited my needs, so I was happy to switch now... i.e. I wasn't complaining that an iPad isn't a desktop computer.

 

[Mathias Denichi]

Many of these are app features, not hardware or OS features. But you don't say why you need all these to run on an iPad? What's wrong with your laptop? An iPad suited my needs, so I was happy to switch now... i.e. I wasn't complaining that an iPad isn't a desktop computer.

My macbook has no touch screen, which would be great for photoshop masking, illustrator,
Hearthstone etc...

My iPad also has LTE. Being that apple refuses to create a touch screen macbook for these such uses, and the SP4/BOOK takes me out of the ecosystem with my phone and continuity, i have no choice but to embrace the iPad pro.

Again, there's not much of any hardware features on an ipad being that it is a slate of screen. So my reliance is on apple to open extensions and support for full featured functions.

However, if apple were to open iMessage, id be over on windows 10 in a second.

 

[Night Spring]

drag and drop support between apps

What's the fascination with drag and drop? It's an inefficient way to manipulate files and objects, especially if you have to drag the object from one end of the screen to the other. I'm afraid of letting go before reaching my target and setting off unintended actions. I totally avoid drag and drop unless there is no other way to do something.

 

[Mr_Killjoy]

On the Adobe stuff, take that to Adobe. They could release a full version of anything in their suite, but they prefer to keep it all in their little system where they can gouge the hell out of customers. I'm curious what Procreate and Pixelmator are lacking though - as a longtime photoshop user, I found the two of them a joy to use in comparison.

On Xcode, I totally agree. A version of it where you can build and test an iOS app on the device itself would be a boon, and would have me rebooting my dev work.

Inspecting is an app deal. Send that request to developers, as the lack of it isn't to do with the Pro, but the apps.

On Drag and Drop, I'm not entirely positive what the benefit of that is over the share option. The ability is there right now, so it kind of just sounds like semantics of how it's implemented.


As for your dream options:

-Steam = up to VALVe. I'd say send the request to them, but user requests fall on deaf ears. Gaben will savor your tears though, so at least there's that.

-Game support for ASK. I agree with this entirely. Though I believe it's possible for developers to implement such already. There's also the option of wireless controllers, which is my preference.

-Mouse support likely isn't happening. Again I'd say look to wireless controllers.

-Wireless monitor support, Airplay with a TV tends to work for most things, as far as I know.

 

[Night Spring]

On Drag and Drop, I'm not entirely positive what the benefit of that is over the share option. The ability is there right now, so it kind of just sounds like semantics of how it's implemented.

One thing that would be useful is the ability to share multiple files at once. For instance, if I have five files in Dropbox I want to open with Pages, I'd like to be able to select the five files, tap the share icon, select Pages as the "open in" destination, and all five files open in Pages.

So I'm not saying iOS is perfect as it is, but no need to drag desktop paradigms into it where it's not needed.

 

[Mr_Killjoy]

One thing that would be useful is the ability to share multiple files at once. For instance, if I have five files in Dropbox I want to open with Pages, I'd like to be able to select the five files, tap the share icon, select Pages as the "open in" destination, and all five files open in Pages.

So I'm not saying iOS is perfect as it is, but no need to drag desktop paradigms into it where it's not needed.

I'd agree with that wholeheartedly. The options are there - it's up to Apple to streamline them now.

 

[Beavix]

What's the fascination with drag and drop? It's an inefficient way to manipulate files and objects, especially if you have to drag the object from one end of the screen to the other. I'm afraid of letting go before reaching my target and setting off unintended actions. I totally avoid drag and drop unless there is no other way to do something.

If you have a disability impeding a drag and drop operation then I totally understand your point of view. Otherwise your remark is silly. Drag and drop has been THE simplest and fastest way of exchanging information between windows. It is essential on computers, and now because they added multitasking features like split view, drag and drop should be added to iOS too.

Yesterday I did some research on my iPad Pro for a project I'm working on. Copying and pasting images from Safari to GoodNotes, in split view mode. Long tap → Copy → tap → Paste. 20+ times, tedious. A long tap plus drag and drop would be easier and faster.

 

[iPadDad]

iPad pro has come a long way; however there are still a few features that keep me from moving away permanently from my MacBook or Custom Built Pc:

• Full Version of Photoshop (Pixelmator doesn't cut it)
• Adobe Indesign or Magazine Layout Equivalent
• Xcode
• Inspect Element on Browser (coda iOS is ok, mostly for FTP, no emulation though)
• Full split screen and drag and drop support between apps
• Loading or Moving files without having to copy them and take up more storage space.

Dream Features

• Steam App Support for in home or LTE streaming from PC (moonlight is ok...)
• App game support for Keyboard ( IE MINECRAFT PE)
• Mouse for game support ( miss jailbroken keyboard and mouse app)
• Proper external monitor or Wireless external monitor output

I feel like some of these will come sooner than later, some I was hoping to see in iOS 10. What is keeping you from dropping the MacBook entirely? If you have any suggestions of apps to do what i need above, please leave them here, thanks!

What do you need Pixelmator to do that it can't?

 

[Mathias Denichi]

What do you need Pixelmator to do that it can't?

There's a few things:

• The way fonts and text is handled, resizing etc kind of sucks compared to photoshop.
• General liquification and photo editing is meh.
• No gif support that I have seen.

Just a few, unless I'm wrong and there's a tutorial out there. It's been about 6 months since I last used it. And I'm not a fan of using 2-3 different adobe apps to do one photo.

Adobe illustrator is also trash compared to the auto desk graphic which is basically a full fledged illustrator on iPad.

So all I'm lacking by this point is indesign for the magazine side work I do. Instead they give us the ever useless adobe comp.

 

[Beavix]

In my opinion Pixelmator is one of the most overrated apps on both Mac and iOS. For professional use Affinity Photo is much better, and is coming to iPad too.

 

[Traverse]

There are so many work related items that cant yet be done on ipad. Some cant even be done on laptops.

This is true. I'm a huge advocate of iPads and fully believe that they can be used professionally. However, just today I needed to download my students' grades as a CSV file from my school's instructure site. I tap "Export" and then it says "Export Complete" but no file every appears to be opened in another app. I tried multiple workarounds but it refused to work.

There are some things that simply don't work on iOS, so I will always need a traditional system. However, that doesn't mean that my iPad hasn't replaced my MacBook for many tasks:

• I browse the web and listen to music with it.
• I hand write Solutions for students
• I teach using Splitview to have the problem on the left and my solutions on the right.
• I respond to student emails.
• I read 100's of PDFs and annotate them.
• I take notes with it.

In fact, I use my MacBOok for the following things now which is much smaller than it used to be:

• Managing my digital files and media -> 700GB so can't be stored on the iPad and not everything is in the cloud.
• Heavy work with multiple displays and apps/windows. I could do this on an iPad, but it would be teadious and take much loner. Over th weekend I used 3 screens, 13GB of RAM, 8 PDFs, Chrome with 18 research tabs, working documents, etc.
• Listening to music. I do this on the iPad too, but the iPad is my causal listening on the go with EarPods, Mac is lossless library with higher-end headphones.

EDIT: My next Mac will actually be a stationary desktop with 2TB SSD. It will function as homebase with my iPad as my portable system. In a few yeas when I enroll back to school if the ipad still can't suffice I'll buy a rMB or whatever Apple's cheapest laptop is the time to supplement my iMac.

 

[Abazigal]

I wish that Google would update their mobile google doc apps to achieve feature parity with their desktop equivalents. It annoys me to no end that I cannot do something as elementary as freeze frames on google spreadsheets on my iPad and need to access the same page from my desktop browser for that.

 

[Mathias Denichi]

In my opinion Pixelmator is one of the most overrated apps on both Mac and iOS. For professional use Affinity Photo is much better, and is coming to iPad too.

I'll take a look at this.

 

[Night Spring]

If you have a disability impeding a drag and drop operation then I totally understand your point of view. Otherwise your remark is silly. Drag and drop has been THE simplest and fastest way of exchanging information between windows. It is essential on computers, and now because they added multitasking features like split view, drag and drop should be added to iOS too.

Yesterday I did some research on my iPad Pro for a project I'm working on. Copying and pasting images from Safari to GoodNotes, in split view mode. Long tap → Copy → tap → Paste. 20+ times, tedious. A long tap plus drag and drop would be easier and faster.

I do have a disability that affects motor control, but it doesn't take that much to make drag and drop a pain. Both my mom and my boss have trouble doing drag and drop, because their motor control have declined with age. Is dragging things 20 times really that much faster than copy and pasting 20 times?

Apple may or may not eventually implement drag and drop across split view apps, but the method they did implement first is the one accessible to more people. Which in my book is a good thing.

 

[Mathias Denichi]

I do have a disability that affects motor control, but it doesn't take that much to make drag and drop a pain. Both my mom and my boss have trouble doing drag and drop, because their motor control have declined with age. Is dragging things 20 times really that much faster than copy and pasting 20 times?

Apple may or may not eventually implement drag and drop across split view apps, but the method they did implement first is the one accessible to more people. Which in my book is a good thing.

I don't even know why someone would argue against drag and drop. What is the negative to it at all? That's one of the simplified gestures that apple has advertised on their machines for quite awhile now. It would be nice to have being that this is a touch based computer, and the surface pro has already been able to achieve it properly in windows 10.

 

[Night Spring]

I don't even know why someone would argue against drag and drop. What is the negative to it at all? That's one of the simplified gestures that apple has advertised on their machines for quite awhile now. It would be nice to have being that this is a touch based computer, and the surface pro has already been able to achieve it properly in windows 10.

I'm not arguing against drag and drop, if Apple implements it, great -- as long as they also keep copy and paste. But I kind of can't get people who act like they can't get any work done without drag and drop. Like that's a necessity before they'd consider iOS a "real" computer system. It can't be THAT important, it's just one element in the overall scheme of things.

 

[Mathias Denichi]

I'm not arguing against drag and drop, if Apple implements it, great -- as long as they also keep copy and paste. But I kind of can't get people who act like they can't get any work done without drag and drop. Like that's a necessity before they'd consider iOS a "real" computer system. It can't be THAT important, it's just one element in the overall scheme of things.

I agree, its not a a requirement for productivity. But iPad pro currently is not a real computer system. If any 200 net book with intel/amd can run and multitask a full feature application, and the ipad is constantly being compared to it, it means apple needs to expedite the process of iOS making it a real computer system. Its very close though.

 

[sracer]

iPad pro has come a long way; however there are still a few features that keep me from moving away permanently from my MacBook or Custom Built Pc:

• Full Version of Photoshop (Pixelmator doesn't cut it)
• Adobe Indesign or Magazine Layout Equivalent
• Xcode
• Inspect Element on Browser (coda iOS is ok, mostly for FTP, no emulation though)
• Full split screen and drag and drop support between apps
• Loading or Moving files without having to copy them and take up more storage space.

Dream Features

• Steam App Support for in home or LTE streaming from PC (moonlight is ok...)
• App game support for Keyboard ( IE MINECRAFT PE)
• Mouse for game support ( miss jailbroken keyboard and mouse app)
• Proper external monitor or Wireless external monitor output

I feel like some of these will come sooner than later, some I was hoping to see in iOS 10. What is keeping you from dropping the MacBook entirely? If you have any suggestions of apps to do what i need above, please leave them here, thanks!

I have a 12.9 iPP, an iMac, and 11"MBA. I don't need nor necessarily want my iPad Pro to replace my other devices.

I'm of the opinion...the right tool for the right job.

There are times when I take my 11" MBA with me as a mobile device. Other times, the iPad Pro.

When I know that I will be doing some OSX-intensive tasks, it's the MBA. If I happen to have my iPad Pro with me and need to do some incidental OSX tasks, I'll fire up Jump Desktop and remotely connect to my iMac. Using Jump Desktop and the Citrix X1 mouse allows me to have the same user experience as I do when sitting in front of my iMac (responsiveness depends upon network performance).

Regarding apps, I am hesitant to recommend any because they are highly subjective and highly dependent upon one's workflow and use cases. Most people want a drop-in replacement (like full version of Photoshop) rather than re-think the tasks that they perform and consider if there is a more effective way to approach it in a touch environment.

I have had great success in thinking outside the box at the tasks that I do. A few things can be accomplished with a drop-in replacement, but most tasks require a different approach. It's been a valuable exercise for me and it has resulted in me being able to be more flexible in accomplishing my tasks. I highly recommend doing that.

 

[Mathias Denichi]

i

I have a 12.9 iPP, an iMac, and 11"MBA. I don't need nor necessarily want my iPad Pro to replace my other devices.

I'm of the opinion...the right tool for the right job.

There are times when I take my 11" MBA with me as a mobile device. Other times, the iPad Pro.

When I know that I will be doing some OSX-intensive tasks, it's the MBA. If I happen to have my iPad Pro with me and need to do some incidental OSX tasks, I'll fire up Jump Desktop and remotely connect to my iMac. Using Jump Desktop and the Citrix X1 mouse allows me to have the same user experience as I do when sitting in front of my iMac (responsiveness depends upon network performance).

Regarding apps, I am hesitant to recommend any because they are highly subjective and highly dependent upon one's workflow and use cases. Most people want a drop-in replacement (like full version of Photoshop) rather than re-think the tasks that they perform and consider if there is a more effective way to approach it in a touch environment.

I have had great success in thinking outside the box at the tasks that I do. A few things can be accomplished with a drop-in replacement, but most tasks require a different approach. It's been a valuable exercise for me and it has resulted in me being able to be more flexible in accomplishing my tasks. I highly recommend doing that.

Here a question, what workflow can your iPad Pro do that your MBA can't?

I'm not sure if it's just me, but I don't really like the idea of dropping $3000 on two devices when I could buy one. Also why bring around two devices, two charges when on the go or traveling?

 

[Seed101]

In my opinion Pixelmator is one of the most overrated apps on both Mac and iOS. For professional use Affinity Photo is much better, and is coming to iPad too.

...if only Affinity Designer were coming to IPP, I've not really got on with Graphic...perhaps I'll have to delve a little deeper...

 

[sracer]

Here a question, what workflow can your iPad Pro do that your MBA can't?

It isn't that the MBA CAN'T do something in particular but that the iPad Pro provides a different way of doing things that makes it more effective.

A few things at play here...
iOS apps have more streamlined user interfaces than their OSX counterparts. It's the nature of mobile operating systems (which assume smaller screens) vs. desktop OSes (which assume larger screens). Less of the screen real estate on the iPad is taken up with UI controls and more is dedidated to the content. This is especially true with the large 12.9 screen of the Pro.

That makes working with 2 apps side-by-side on the 12.9 iPad Pro more useful than it is on comparably sized notebooks running OSX. The 12.9 iPad Pro will display the "full" iOS app in each split window whereas on the 9.7 Pro, the "phone" version of each app is displayed. I didn't realize there was a difference until I tested my 12.9 Pro and Air 2 side-by-side.

The 11" MBA obviously has a smaller screen than the iPad Pro but I tried using the same apps on my wife's 13" MBA. I was surprised at how "cramped" it felt even on that larger screen as compared to the iPad Pro.

One example of the iPad Pro doing something in a better way than the MBA is being able to work in split window view.
In one window, I'll have Pages or MS Word open, in the other I'll have the Notes app open. When preparing sermons I'll often sketch out diagrams and structures of the verses being taught on in Notes. The Apple Pencil is great for this. I'll then work on my sermon outline and notes in Pages/Word while being able to refer to the diagram in the other window. I can easily modify/update the diagram as the mood strikes while typing.

On the MBA, I would use mindmapping software (SimpleMind is my tool of choice) and have to cmd-tab between SimpleMind and Pages/Word. That "works" but being able to draw/diagram with a stylus flows more naturally than creating mindmaps.

I'm not sure if it's just me, but I don't really like the idea of dropping $3000 on two devices when I could buy one. Also why bring around two devices, two charges when on the go or traveling?

I don't travel with 2 devices. Only one. But if I needed to, both together are extremely compact. As for price, I agree. I have a nose for bargains. I bought my 2014 11" MBA brand new in 2014 for $475 (out-the-door, taxes included) and earlier this year $775 out-the-door for my 128GB 12.9 iPad Pro. $1250 for two excellent devices was worth it for me.

I've come to the conclusion of more than one device after my experience with 2-in-1 converged devices like the Microsoft Surface and Acer Aspire Switch. Those devices made adequate netbooks, but sub-par tablets.

 

[vinylretina]

Regarding apps, I am hesitant to recommend any because they are highly subjective and highly dependent upon one's workflow and use cases. Most people want a drop-in replacement (like full version of Photoshop) rather than re-think the tasks that they perform and consider if there is a more effective way to approach it in a touch environment.

I have had great success in thinking outside the box at the tasks that I do. A few things can be accomplished with a drop-in replacement, but most tasks require a different approach. It's been a valuable exercise for me and it has resulted in me being able to be more flexible in accomplishing my tasks. I highly recommend doing that.

This is really the attitude that it takes in order to use the iPad effectively as a primary device.

The Microsoft method is broken. Simply cramming their OS on to every device that they produce isn't the way to go. They created the mess that was Windows 8 in order to bring together classic and touch interfaces and then they completely backtracked with their tail between their legs and put everything back into the same crummy box with Windows 10 and it still is a sub-par OS for any touch driven device. Some people may disagree, but my experience with owning a Windows tablet was horrible. The simplest things require you to contort your fingers awkwardly in order to avoid hitting other things on the screen, the onscreen keyboard is such garbage that there is no way you can use your machine without a physical one, and the library of apps designed to be used on touch screen devices barely even exists. Yes, I am obviously aware that their ploy is that you can use full desktop programs, but please refer to the beginning of this rant to see why that doesn't work out so well.

iOS is by no means perfect and we have a long way to go before I could consider chucking my Mac, but Apple is taking the right road by refusing to implement touch in OS X and instead focusing on building iOS into its own powerhouse.

 

[pika2000]

If I want my tablet to be a laptop, I would buy a laptop, not a tablet.