TLDR: Services for the iPad Pro are being held this Friday, on Craigslist.
So, this will be too lengthy, but here goes. I am an old school Apple fanboy, with my first Mac being the bizarre DuoDock laptop that I bought for $100 (without the dock), from the smelly IT guy at my first job. I’ve been the happy owner of many, many Macs and two iPad Pros over the past two decades (Yeesh). I’ve used the iPads primarily for art, and movie watching, though my kids use the first-gen, now-cracked iPad Pro for Minecraft, or whatever the hell they’re doing while I’m being a terrible, absent parent.
I’m a TV editor, so I’ve also been interested in the prospect of editing on the iPad. But mostly, the use case has been for drawing. While I adore Procreate and the Apple Pencil - and the AirDrop feature with my MacBook Pro - I had become increasingly infuriated by the Playskool-level iPadOS. I’ve spent hours and hours over the past year trying to find files that I just sent to the iPad, or wrestling with the atrocious “Files” app just to share pages between art apps on the iPad itself, or the last straw of attempting to import 4 fonts, and simply share them on a systemwide level between various art apps. Despite my mounting frustration, I figured there was no other game in town, due to the fantastic drawing experience of the Apple Pencil. And, I mean, Apple owns my soul. right? (It’s in the EULA.) But then… I got to thinking…
I had also felt cramped by the limited screen space of even the 12.9 inch, especially when using Clip Studio Paint, with its Photoshop-like palettes and menus. So I started searching for any larger tablets, but none existed. I knew that Surface 2-in-1 tablets came in a 15” variety, but I also knew that the pen experience was not great, and that was a dealkiller. Then, while looking at Galaxy S7 forum posts, someone mentioned the new Samsung Galaxy Book Pro 360, and how it was using Wacom EMR technology for the pen (which I’ve loved on Wacom tablets) and that the drawing experience was identical to the iPad Pro… but with an actual operating system, an OLED screen, and 15” form factor. I got a crazy idea… I’ve never owned a Windows computer in all of my 48 years, but if I could just think of it as a tablet, maybe I wouldn’t have to go to confession in the local church, right? After all, iOS isn’t macOS either, not by a million miles. So I’m already kinda cheating. right? OK, I thought, i’ll try it, feel dirty, then return it and never look back. Here, now, two weeks in, is my comparison…
SCREEN: Galaxy Book wins. OLED, kinda ‘nuff said. Not as bright as my 2020 iPP, but I draw inside anyway. Movies are insanely gorgeous, art colors are as accurate as my iPP. (Note: this is the last-gen 2020 iPP, not the mini-LED.) And it’s 15”, but in a 16:9 aspect ratio, which makes it less bulky, while still keeping movies at a juicy size.
OS: GBP, obviously. MacOS is still superior to Windows IMO, but they both pull iPadOS’ pants down and laugh at it. It is a DREAM to have a god@*mn filesystem on my art tablet. It’s heaven.
BUILD: iPad Pro, hands down. Galaxy Book trackpad clicks when you have it in your lap (in computer mode) and when you rest your hands aside the trackpad. CRAZY lightweight, but it feels like it could fall apart tomorrow. iPP is built like a tank. No contest.
DRAWING: Galaxy Book, which is NUTS. I can’t believe I’m saying it, but it’s for one very good reason… Wacom EMR. Latency is identical to Apple Pencil, BUT… HOVER capability. If you’ve ever used a Wacom, you know that the screen senses when the pen is above it, but not yet touching. This is massively important for art applications, as you can see the size of your brush (and its location) before applying a stroke. Dealmaker. Oh, and it doesn’t need to charge. Again, no contest.
PRICE: Galaxy Book, by a decent amount. For $1,300, I get 16GB RAM, 1 TB SSD, WiFi 6, OLED and pen included. Plus an SD slot to expand storage, and an actual Thunderbolt port, not like the crippled TB port on the new iPP. And 6 months of Clip Studio. And a built-in keyboard. I already pay for Creative Cloud, so I can use full Photoshop, Illustrator, Premiere, etc. etc., on my art tablet for no extra cost.
So… all in all, this Apple fanoldman is gobsmacked. I still have my 16” MBP (though I’ll probably replace it with an M1 mini, as it never leaves my desktop after Covid anyway). I still have my iPhone 11, for which iOS is perfectly suited… but now, suddenly, my go-to mobile computer is a freaking Windows machine, and I feel horribly guilty because I think I’m in love.
Now, that said, I’ll check back in a month from now, and if my Galaxy Book is blinking (as has been reported), or bending like Gumby, or rife with viruses, or all of the above, my review will change. It may fall apart like wet tissue paper this afternoon, and if it does, I’ll be honest about it and report it here.
But, for the time being… wow. RIP, my iPad Pro. Please send cash in lieu of flowers.
So, this will be too lengthy, but here goes. I am an old school Apple fanboy, with my first Mac being the bizarre DuoDock laptop that I bought for $100 (without the dock), from the smelly IT guy at my first job. I’ve been the happy owner of many, many Macs and two iPad Pros over the past two decades (Yeesh). I’ve used the iPads primarily for art, and movie watching, though my kids use the first-gen, now-cracked iPad Pro for Minecraft, or whatever the hell they’re doing while I’m being a terrible, absent parent.
I’m a TV editor, so I’ve also been interested in the prospect of editing on the iPad. But mostly, the use case has been for drawing. While I adore Procreate and the Apple Pencil - and the AirDrop feature with my MacBook Pro - I had become increasingly infuriated by the Playskool-level iPadOS. I’ve spent hours and hours over the past year trying to find files that I just sent to the iPad, or wrestling with the atrocious “Files” app just to share pages between art apps on the iPad itself, or the last straw of attempting to import 4 fonts, and simply share them on a systemwide level between various art apps. Despite my mounting frustration, I figured there was no other game in town, due to the fantastic drawing experience of the Apple Pencil. And, I mean, Apple owns my soul. right? (It’s in the EULA.) But then… I got to thinking…
I had also felt cramped by the limited screen space of even the 12.9 inch, especially when using Clip Studio Paint, with its Photoshop-like palettes and menus. So I started searching for any larger tablets, but none existed. I knew that Surface 2-in-1 tablets came in a 15” variety, but I also knew that the pen experience was not great, and that was a dealkiller. Then, while looking at Galaxy S7 forum posts, someone mentioned the new Samsung Galaxy Book Pro 360, and how it was using Wacom EMR technology for the pen (which I’ve loved on Wacom tablets) and that the drawing experience was identical to the iPad Pro… but with an actual operating system, an OLED screen, and 15” form factor. I got a crazy idea… I’ve never owned a Windows computer in all of my 48 years, but if I could just think of it as a tablet, maybe I wouldn’t have to go to confession in the local church, right? After all, iOS isn’t macOS either, not by a million miles. So I’m already kinda cheating. right? OK, I thought, i’ll try it, feel dirty, then return it and never look back. Here, now, two weeks in, is my comparison…
SCREEN: Galaxy Book wins. OLED, kinda ‘nuff said. Not as bright as my 2020 iPP, but I draw inside anyway. Movies are insanely gorgeous, art colors are as accurate as my iPP. (Note: this is the last-gen 2020 iPP, not the mini-LED.) And it’s 15”, but in a 16:9 aspect ratio, which makes it less bulky, while still keeping movies at a juicy size.
OS: GBP, obviously. MacOS is still superior to Windows IMO, but they both pull iPadOS’ pants down and laugh at it. It is a DREAM to have a god@*mn filesystem on my art tablet. It’s heaven.
BUILD: iPad Pro, hands down. Galaxy Book trackpad clicks when you have it in your lap (in computer mode) and when you rest your hands aside the trackpad. CRAZY lightweight, but it feels like it could fall apart tomorrow. iPP is built like a tank. No contest.
DRAWING: Galaxy Book, which is NUTS. I can’t believe I’m saying it, but it’s for one very good reason… Wacom EMR. Latency is identical to Apple Pencil, BUT… HOVER capability. If you’ve ever used a Wacom, you know that the screen senses when the pen is above it, but not yet touching. This is massively important for art applications, as you can see the size of your brush (and its location) before applying a stroke. Dealmaker. Oh, and it doesn’t need to charge. Again, no contest.
PRICE: Galaxy Book, by a decent amount. For $1,300, I get 16GB RAM, 1 TB SSD, WiFi 6, OLED and pen included. Plus an SD slot to expand storage, and an actual Thunderbolt port, not like the crippled TB port on the new iPP. And 6 months of Clip Studio. And a built-in keyboard. I already pay for Creative Cloud, so I can use full Photoshop, Illustrator, Premiere, etc. etc., on my art tablet for no extra cost.
So… all in all, this Apple fanoldman is gobsmacked. I still have my 16” MBP (though I’ll probably replace it with an M1 mini, as it never leaves my desktop after Covid anyway). I still have my iPhone 11, for which iOS is perfectly suited… but now, suddenly, my go-to mobile computer is a freaking Windows machine, and I feel horribly guilty because I think I’m in love.
Now, that said, I’ll check back in a month from now, and if my Galaxy Book is blinking (as has been reported), or bending like Gumby, or rife with viruses, or all of the above, my review will change. It may fall apart like wet tissue paper this afternoon, and if it does, I’ll be honest about it and report it here.
But, for the time being… wow. RIP, my iPad Pro. Please send cash in lieu of flowers.
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