How could anyone even take that video as credible? lol.. that what I want to know...
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iPad as a laptop replacement
- Thread starter Omar Comin' Yo
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I’ve always viewed this debate as one that’s more relevant to people who can’t afford to have both a laptop and tablet and whose needs aren’t extreme enough to push them more towards one or the other. It’s kinda like someone needing a vehicle for personal travel but debating between a pickup truck and a car. Both can serve the general purpose of personal transportation but each is clearly designed do more for a particular market.
For me what I want from a tablet is a machine that can be used with or without a keyboard for general computing use - web browsing, email, basic document editing, PDF viewing, and media consumption. A laptop takes things a step further allowing more advanced file editing (full blown office apps, larger PDF file manipulation, advanced photo editing, video editing etc.).
There’s clear lines for me between tablet and laptop that are based upon my type of usage. I can do basic edits of word or excel files on either one but I’m never going to do it on my iPad if it’s work related because despite the cross platform support Microsoft tries to cook into their various versions of Office when one is collaborating with several people things can fall apart quickly. This is especially true with comments and track changes on in Word and advanced formatting and styles in use - not everything survives when files are edited and passed around from platform to platform. Having to revert to previous versions or try to merge changes in multiple versions that people with loaded labor rates of a couple hundred bucks an hour sucks for a project manager. For this reason I even run Parallels on my rMBP just so that I can run MS Office in windows 7. This is just me though and I recognize that most people aren’t collaborating with advanced formatted word files with people. So yeah . . . No laptop replacement for me but I could see it being the case for others.
For me what I want from a tablet is a machine that can be used with or without a keyboard for general computing use - web browsing, email, basic document editing, PDF viewing, and media consumption. A laptop takes things a step further allowing more advanced file editing (full blown office apps, larger PDF file manipulation, advanced photo editing, video editing etc.).
There’s clear lines for me between tablet and laptop that are based upon my type of usage. I can do basic edits of word or excel files on either one but I’m never going to do it on my iPad if it’s work related because despite the cross platform support Microsoft tries to cook into their various versions of Office when one is collaborating with several people things can fall apart quickly. This is especially true with comments and track changes on in Word and advanced formatting and styles in use - not everything survives when files are edited and passed around from platform to platform. Having to revert to previous versions or try to merge changes in multiple versions that people with loaded labor rates of a couple hundred bucks an hour sucks for a project manager. For this reason I even run Parallels on my rMBP just so that I can run MS Office in windows 7. This is just me though and I recognize that most people aren’t collaborating with advanced formatted word files with people. So yeah . . . No laptop replacement for me but I could see it being the case for others.
It hasn't for me. I have the 10.5 pro. It's good for about 85-90% of things that can be done on a regular laptop/desktop but there's a few tasks or apps that it can't do. I still need Windows Remote Desktop to remote into servers. It can do this just fine but clicking/swiping up, etc is too cumbersome. I know I can get the Citrix mouse etc but I'd rather just pull out the Windows laptop when I want to remote in.
Well said. It’s the same for me as well. There are clear use cases for me as well. While an iPad can achieve most of my administrative / enjoyment side of requirements, it can’t replace my Mac simply because iPads weren’t made for that type of work.
You have no idea what my needs are. But for the record, they include (among many others) website design and creation, orchestral music composition, audio production recording (I assure you, there’s nothing “simple” about this stuff). All of this is done quite effectively on my iPad Pro 12.9.
Your statement merely indicates that the iPad doesn’t meet your specialized needs, and reveals your rather limited awareness of what professionals do on computers outside of your own field of endeavor.
But, the iPad remains an computer, nonetheless.
No one said a thing about you. My post CLEARLY states that the iPad will never replace my computers. AutoCad, Quickbooks Pro and full MS Office suite will not run on the iPad.
Seems the word “simple” set you off.
Try to relax.
I think what upsets people is to assume or speculate their needs are “simple”.
Agreed. As does the use of the term “real computer“ to disparage the choice that many millions people have made for their computing device.
I have a 5k iMac which I use interchangeably with my iPad Pro 12.9, depending on the task at hand, and the size screen I want to be in front of. I do not consider either one of these devices to be less “real“ the other.
Are there limitations to the iPad? Yes, of course. But there were also limitations to my former MacBook Pro 15”. A particular case was photo editing: the inability to display portrait image in a decent size was always frustrating. On my iPad Pro I can do this simply by rotating the screen to get a far better full frame view than the MBP could ever produce.
Music creation is another example. With the MacBook I needed to carry around an external piano keyboard. No with the iPad! Virtually any instrumental input you desire is available right there on the screen.
Better to say “desktop OS” instead of “real computer.” It’s more precise, and less loaded.
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When you say replace do you mean you're going to sell your MacBook Pro and purchase an iPad Pro? Or rather, you're going to buy a iPad Pro instead of a new MacBook Pro, and keep the old MacBook Pro?
If you're going to sell your old MacBook Pro for an iPad Pro to use for everything, I'd tell you to do you research. If you're keeping the older MacBook Pro and you're just debating on what your next purchase should be, I'd say get an iPad Pro for sure.
My 2 cents. iPad Pros are fun to use. The Pencil is remarkable. And if you hang on to your old MacBook Pro, you can use it when you need it. Chances are you won't. Also, if you're looking at getting a new MacBook Pro, the touch bar is useless and I wish I wouldn't have spent the money on it.
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This is the weirdest list of complaints I've ever seen. I have my criticisms of iOS.... but cant play a movie on mute and listen to music at the same time? Why would I want to do that? Apple Maps and Push Email? Get Google Maps and Gmail, or one of the million email apps that has push. Podcast that dont download? Overcast works fine.
I have a question, do you use the app store? Or do you only use the stock apps that came on the device.
I did for a long time until my workflow changed at the office but I was iPad only since the iPad 4 and especially the iPad Air 1.
Everyone who says the iPad isn’t a real computer since you can’t get serious work done on it wasn’t around when laptops were first coming out. Do a google search and see what people said back in the late 90’s early 2000’s. They were too underpowered to do “real work”. Things changed and the laptops came into their own.
Also, touch is the new mouse. Touch is intuitive for this generation. They expect screens to have touch. Renee Ritchie talks about this a lot when he pushes for an iPad laptop. (A new iBook)
The iPad is the mobile computer of the future and that future is getting closer everyday.
Everyone who says the iPad isn’t a real computer since you can’t get serious work done on it wasn’t around when laptops were first coming out. Do a google search and see what people said back in the late 90’s early 2000’s. They were too underpowered to do “real work”. Things changed and the laptops came into their own.
Also, touch is the new mouse. Touch is intuitive for this generation. They expect screens to have touch. Renee Ritchie talks about this a lot when he pushes for an iPad laptop. (A new iBook)
The iPad is the mobile computer of the future and that future is getting closer everyday.
What’s the difference between the iMac Pro and the iMac? What about the MacBook Pro and Macbook? Pro doesn’t seem to mean “professional” like some people think. It seems to mean “better”. The iMac Pro is better than the iMac. The MacBook Pro is better than the MacBook.
The iPad Pro is just a better iPad than the iPad.
A lot
Xeon vs i7 processor
Vega graphics vs Radeon Pro
ECC RAM
Storage 1TB SSD standard vs Fusion drive
Ports, 10GB ethernet vs. 1GB
well, I believe he was making a point that functionally those things are doing the same job, and potentially you can do the same things on xeon/vega based mac pro, as well as on imac. I’m not talking about extremes here, like doing 3dmax rendering or heavy color correction - but for 95% of tasks, those things are identical.
If you're surfing facebook, or other consumer type actions yes, but that doesn't negate that the iMac Pro is a lot different then the iMac, and its marketed towards professionals where that level of performacne is needed. In either case, there is a substantial difference imo.
Ultimately, it comes down to the software. People often say iOS is limited, but often it's the apps themselves. I've tried to use an iPad Pro as my "laptop" but, in the end, I couldn't do it for two reasons:
1. I use Dragon dictation software a lot and the iPad has nothing close to it; the built-in dictation cannot be customized in any way and the Dragon Anywhere app is ridiculously expensive and too limited.
2. Working with long, complex documents is just too difficult/cumbersome. Word is terribly basic; it cannot display facing pages, there is no way to navigate via section headings and you cannot even insert a Table of Contents!
Unless you have specific app needs like me, the iPad Pro could be a terrific everyday mobile computer. It's great for drawing/note taking, music and even general productivity. But it's that 10% of things it can't do that are a deal breaker for me, pushing me to use a Surface Pro instead. If you don't have those issues, you'll love it.
1. I use Dragon dictation software a lot and the iPad has nothing close to it; the built-in dictation cannot be customized in any way and the Dragon Anywhere app is ridiculously expensive and too limited.
2. Working with long, complex documents is just too difficult/cumbersome. Word is terribly basic; it cannot display facing pages, there is no way to navigate via section headings and you cannot even insert a Table of Contents!
Unless you have specific app needs like me, the iPad Pro could be a terrific everyday mobile computer. It's great for drawing/note taking, music and even general productivity. But it's that 10% of things it can't do that are a deal breaker for me, pushing me to use a Surface Pro instead. If you don't have those issues, you'll love it.
The question comes down to what profession “pro” is referring to. There are lots and lots of us— even smart people with very “professional” jobs— who can do our jobs without huge technical specs. For me— the addition of keyboard and pencil does make the difference between whether it is possible and pleasant for me to use the iPad to do work or not,
IMO, “pro” is a very general term without the rather specific meaning some on here are ascribing to it. It just means it is more capable. Not that it meets everybody’s needs for everything under the sun.
For some reason, "pro" seems to have become associated mainly with video editing (especially in the YouTube review community) - as if there are no other professions!
And coding. There are lots of professions. Seriously. Filled with people who do very serious work that is aided by technology but not focused on technology.
My
Makes me laugh every time I think of it.
My favorite comment ever on here was “Pro doesn’t stand for Professional, it stands for Profit”
Makes me laugh every time I think of it.
That was not an exhaustive list of every issue universal to all users, that was just the shortcomings I ran into in a single morning of going to give a presentation and trying to use the iPad to do it. The point was, the iPad allows a very narrow set of functionality, and it expects you to operate within that in a limited number of ways. Going beyond that extremely basic functionality, trying to use it as a versatile tool to accomplish work in varying environments where the consequences are high, as in the often unpredictable needs of a "Professional", is fraught with errors and dead ends.
Showing up to a presentation and declaring that you can't connect to their projector or their network because all you have is an iPad and it's really the rest of the worlds fault for not having the latest gear with proprietary connectors compatible with the thing you showed up with, is not "Pro".
The long obsolete 2009 macbook pro, and an old thumb drive, were able to pick up the slack to make up for the state of the art iPads inability to perform basic functionality. I want to find something the iPad is good at, but aside from surfing the web and messaging, I haven't come up with anything yet.
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Apple is calling it a Pro because the cpu benchmarks or specs is better than cheap laptops. So technically they are right, realistically its BS for real world comparison to Windows Laptops or Tablets.
Completely agree with both of you. Nobody knows what the “pro” is supposed to mean.
For me, it’s anybody who can use the iPad for their professional requirements. The spec bumps just help with certain type of work.
Well, even within those parameters, many of your issues were related to specific pieces of software, not the iPad itself. Those would be really easy to overcome.
Didn't your 2009 MacBook Pro also need an adapter to connect to their projector?
Showing up to any presentation and declaring that you can't connect to their projector is not 'Pro". The new MacBooks also need connectors to connect to projectors. As does my work-issued Dell (unless it's HDMI). Anyone who plans to give a presentation should make sure that their device can connect to the projector. I've never had any issues with my iPad connecting, as long as I bring the adapters, which is the same limitation I have with my MacBook, and with my work laptop, so that also doesn't seem iPad-specific.
All that being said, it definitely doesn't sound like the iPad fits your work flow. I use mine for a lot of stuff & it works great, but it's definitely not for everyone/ every task.
And there’s a big difference between the iPad and iPad Pro. You’re point being...?