iPad as a laptop replacement

[Kal Madda]

Your right, its a fact that the number of users using Apple products with professional grade software on a regular basis is a small % of owners, so financials probably don't stack up.

Its not as if Apple do not adopt similar practises even between their own devices (ie you have to pay twice to use the same app on macOS and IPadOS) and (EG FCP is not the same on Macbooks as IPads etc etc)

Family sharing does not come with 6TB of storage like Family Office 365 and so on

Sorry but others overly criticising MS in this respect is throwing stones in glass houses IMO

I get around comparability issues on my Macbooks by running Parallels and use the Win 11 versions

A. I’m asking for evidence for this “fact”. Plenty of people use pro software on Apple devices. How many, I don’t know, but I am not the one making fact claims about percentages of Apple users who use these types of software…

B. These are not “similar practices”. Paying “twice” for two versions of a software isn’t the same as not providing anywhere remotely close to the same functionality in one vs the other. Final Cut Pro on the iPad has the majority of the same features as the Mac version, and Apple continues to improve it to close that very small gap between them. Microsoft has had years and years, and isn’t doing squat to improve their iPad apps, they like to try to make people buy Windows machines to run their software. Apple even provides Pages and Numbers on Windows, and doesn’t severely kneecap the functionality like Microsoft does.

C. Cloud Storage isn’t free. Different companies charge different rates for cloud storage. Who cares? This is completely irrelevant to the discussion at hand.

Not to mention that Microsoft’s support absolutely sucks. Every time I’ve had to deal with them has been a bad experience. Apple has great customer support, and I’ve never had a negative experience with their support.

You’re in an Apple fan forum, why would you be surprised that we don’t like and criticize Microsoft?

 

[elmoss]

Pages is great on iOS and Mac OS.

 

[Kal Madda]

Pages is great on iOS and Mac OS.

Agreed! And I’m unaware of any major features in the desktop version of Pages or Numbers that are missing in the iPad versions. They seem full featured. I use Pages and Numbers now for all of my office software needs. 👍🏻

 

[SteveJUAE]

A. I’m asking for evidence for this “fact”. Plenty of people use pro software on Apple devices. How many, I don’t know, but I am not the one making fact claims about percentages of Apple users who use these types of software…

B. These are not “similar practices”. Paying “twice” for two versions of a software isn’t the same as not providing anywhere remotely close to the same functionality in one vs the other. Final Cut Pro on the iPad has the majority of the same features as the Mac version, and Apple continues to improve it to close that very small gap between them. Microsoft has had years and years, and isn’t doing squat to improve their iPad apps, they like to try to make people buy Windows machines to run their software. Apple even provides Pages and Numbers on Windows, and doesn’t severely kneecap the functionality like Microsoft does.

C. Cloud Storage isn’t free. Different companies charge different rates for cloud storage. Who cares? This is completely irrelevant to the discussion at hand.

Not to mention that Microsoft’s support absolutely sucks. Every time I’ve had to deal with them has been a bad experience. Apple has great customer support, and I’ve never had a negative experience with their support.

You’re in an Apple fan forum, why would you be surprised that we don’t like and criticize Microsoft?

As I said your throwing stones in glass houses LOL and now adding anecdotal remarks and ignore how many years Ipad users had to wait for FCP etc etc so equally you should not be surprised to receive replies on this sort of rhetoric

Now you want to argue Apple has less short comings. This is just clutching a straws. Both companies have varying practices that are not always in favour of users and have biases to hardware.

As for facts it's straight from the horses mouth, I think Timmy said it was under 15% if I recall correctly

 

[Kal Madda]

As I said your throwing stones in glass houses LOL and now adding anecdotal remarks and ignore how many years Ipad users had to wait for FCP etc etc so equally you should not be surprised to receive replies on this sort of rhetoric

Now you want to argue Apple has less short comings. This is just clutching a straws. Both companies have varying practices that are not always in favour of users and have biases to hardware.

As for facts it's straight from the horses mouth, I think Timmy said it was under 15% if I recall correctly

And you still have not provided any evidence for any of your claims, and you are making anecdotal remarks claiming things like we’re “throwing stones in glass houses”….

“I think x person said this” isn’t evidence… Can you provide a link to back up your claim?

As to me somehow “ignoring how many years it took iPad to get Final Cut Pro”, I’ve done no such thing. My criticism of Microsoft isn’t that it took them too long to get Office on iPad. It’s that they have added only the very bare minimum required, and don’t care a mouse’s rear-end about users who have made very simple and basic requests, they don’t even make any kind of substantive effort in improving their office apps. Microsoft seems to do this expressly to force people to buy Windows computers. They basically haven’t improved much since their original introduction. Meanwhile, Apple actually does demonstrate that they care about user feedback, and are actively improving their apps. There are observable improvements with Final Cut Pro on the iPad that close the gap between the iPad version and the Mac version, and Apple has been consistently narrowing that gap with updates. Microsoft has not, and they’ve had many many years now to do so… They are two very different stories…

As to whether or not Apple has less shortcomings than Microsoft, I have stated my opinion on the matter. I don’t claim Apple has objectively fewer shortcomings, or Microsoft has objectively more shortcomings. What one views as shortcomings or advantages varies by an individual’s preferences, needs, etc. What I have stated is my experience with both. For me, dealing with Microsoft sucks, and I have never had a single issue dealing with Apple. That’s my experience, YMMV…

The original topic was about the limitations of Microsoft Office on the iPad. This is 100% the fault of Microsoft, Apple is not preventing Microsoft from delivering more features… And that is the point I have made, that this is 100% Microsoft’s fault, and that Microsoft likely chooses to kneecap their iPad/Android and Mac apps to force people to use Windows computers for office work. The later part of that I have stated as my cynical opinion of their motivations, I am not claiming that as fact, and never have…

I don’t know why you’re here defending Microsoft in an Apple fan forum. I guess maybe you like Microsoft, and that’s fine. But why you’d be surprised that some of us really don’t like Microsoft seems odd to me…

 

[Bungaree.Chubbins]

As I said your throwing stones in glass houses LOL and now adding anecdotal remarks and ignore how many years Ipad users had to wait for FCP etc etc so equally you should not be surprised to receive replies on this sort of rhetoric

Now you want to argue Apple has less short comings. This is just clutching a straws. Both companies have varying practices that are not always in favour of users and have biases to hardware.

As for facts it's straight from the horses mouth, I think Timmy said it was under 15% if I recall correctly

Calling Tim Cook 'Timmy' or 'Tim Apple' or any of the array of derisive pejoratives doesn't serve your cause very well. How am I supposed to think your argument is sound when you resort to emotional name calling?

 

[Kal Madda]

Calling Tim Cook 'Timmy' or 'Tim Apple' or any of the array of derisive pejoratives doesn't serve your cause very well. How am I supposed to think your argument is sound when you resort to emotional name calling?

Exactly… 👍🏻. It seems to me like he doesn’t like Apple and is a Windows fan. I could be wrong, but that’s the way it reads to me with his tone and wording.

 

[elmoss]

Could be a BG fan

Check their user posts from the android forum

theend

 

[SteveJUAE]

Calling Tim Cook 'Timmy' or 'Tim Apple' or any of the array of derisive pejoratives doesn't serve your cause very well. How am I supposed to think your argument is sound when you resort to emotional name calling?

My apologies it was meant in a humours tone and not a derogatory

 

[SteveJUAE]

And you still have not provided any evidence for any of your claims, and you are making anecdotal remarks claiming things like we’re “throwing stones in glass houses”….

“I think x person said this” isn’t evidence… Can you provide a link to back up your claim?

As to me somehow “ignoring how many years it took iPad to get Final Cut Pro”, I’ve done no such thing. My criticism of Microsoft isn’t that it took them too long to get Office on iPad. It’s that they have added only the very bare minimum required, and don’t care a mouse’s rear-end about users who have made very simple and basic requests, they don’t even make any kind of substantive effort in improving their office apps. Microsoft seems to do this expressly to force people to buy Windows computers. They basically haven’t improved much since their original introduction. Meanwhile, Apple actually does demonstrate that they care about user feedback, and are actively improving their apps. There are observable improvements with Final Cut Pro on the iPad that close the gap between the iPad version and the Mac version, and Apple has been consistently narrowing that gap with updates. Microsoft has not, and they’ve had many many years now to do so… They are two very different stories…

As to whether or not Apple has less shortcomings than Microsoft, I have stated my opinion on the matter. I don’t claim Apple has objectively fewer shortcomings, or Microsoft has objectively more shortcomings. What one views as shortcomings or advantages varies by an individual’s preferences, needs, etc. What I have stated is my experience with both. For me, dealing with Microsoft sucks, and I have never had a single issue dealing with Apple. That’s my experience, YMMV…

The original topic was about the limitations of Microsoft Office on the iPad. This is 100% the fault of Microsoft, Apple is not preventing Microsoft from delivering more features… And that is the point I have made, that this is 100% Microsoft’s fault, and that Microsoft likely chooses to kneecap their iPad/Android and Mac apps to force people to use Windows computers for office work. The later part of that I have stated as my cynical opinion of their motivations, I am not claiming that as fact, and never have…

I don’t know why you’re here defending Microsoft in an Apple fan forum. I guess maybe you like Microsoft, and that’s fine. But why you’d be surprised that some of us really don’t like Microsoft seems odd to me…

This is getting silly now and why you are not surprised by alternative comments is beyond me. As I noted before both companies have their anomalies etc.

We would have to have very deep knowledge of Excel programming to claim its a 100% MS fault on cross compatibility and the same for Apple cross platform software.

I am sure you are capable of searching for Tim Cooks remarks on the point in question, I recall it was in an interview.

FYI I only own Macbooks and an Iphone 16P and a Samsung Fold 6, but I use MS products professionally on a daily basis

As others have noted this has been discussed many times before and we are distracting from the regular postings where others are offering help with their IPads etc

 

[Bungaree.Chubbins]

My apologies it was meant in a humours tone and not a derogatory

Fair enough. It's hard to judge tone in a text based discussion.

 

[Kal Madda]

This is getting silly now and why you are not surprised by alternative comments is beyond me. As I noted before both companies have their anomalies etc.

We would have to have very deep knowledge of Excel programming to claim its a 100% MS fault on cross compatibility and the same for Apple cross platform software.

I am sure you are capable of searching for Tim Cooks remarks on the point in question, I recall it was in an interview.

FYI I only own Macbooks and an Iphone 16P and a Samsung Fold 6, but I use MS products professionally on a daily basis

As others have noted this has been discussed many times before and we are distracting from the regular postings where others are offering help with their IPads etc

We actually don’t need to have that terribly deep coding knowledge to know that this is definitely Microsoft’s fault. Features like, for example, custom document templates don’t require anything that iPadOS doesn’t support. In fact, Pages supports custom document templates, which further proves that Microsoft could support this if they wanted to. And any features that can be implemented in the MS web apps could also be implemented in the native iPad versions.

I tried searching your claim, nothing comes up. So no, I can’t “just search it” and I doubt that it’s actually true. I’m guessing you misunderstood something. Because I cannot find a single piece of evidence for that idea, let alone any quotes from Tim Cook…

Yes, this has been discussed before. But I’m tired of people blaming this on iPadOS or Apple (in various articles, comments, etc.) when this is clearly 100% Microsoft’s fault. Several people who actually know about coding have said as much, and I understand enough about coding to recognize that Microsoft could easily incorporate every feature from at least the web versions of the Office apps if they wanted to. Any code that runs in a web app is natively supported in iPadOS. And just take a look at the feature requests in the feedback forum, tons and tons of users, myself included, have repeatedly requested very simple and basic features like custom document templates support, and Microsoft doesn’t care. They don’t do anything. In fact, they haven’t made any major feature improvements like this in Word for at least 2 years, basically all of the updates when you look at the version history in the App Store are labeled Bug Fixes.

We should probably just agree to disagree.

 

[sparksd]

Maybe Apple should port Xcode, FCP, and ProCreate to Windows platforms ...

 

[sparksd]

We actually don’t need to have that terribly deep coding knowledge to know that this is definitely Microsoft’s fault. Features like, for example, custom document templates don’t require anything that iPadOS doesn’t support. In fact, Pages supports custom document templates, which further proves that Microsoft could support this if they wanted to. And any features that can be implemented in the MS web apps could also be implemented in the native iPad versions.

I tried searching your claim, nothing comes up. So no, I can’t “just search it” and I doubt that it’s actually true. I’m guessing you misunderstood something. Because I cannot find a single piece of evidence for that idea, let alone any quotes from Tim Cook…

Yes, this has been discussed before. But I’m tired of people blaming this on iPadOS or Apple (in various articles, comments, etc.) when this is clearly 100% Microsoft’s fault. Several people who actually know about coding have said as much, and I understand enough about coding to recognize that Microsoft could easily incorporate every feature from at least the web versions of the Office apps if they wanted to. Any code that runs in a web app is natively supported in iPadOS. And just take a look at the feature requests in the feedback forum, tons and tons of users, myself included, have repeatedly requested very simple and basic features like custom document templates support, and Microsoft doesn’t care. They don’t do anything. In fact, they haven’t made any major feature improvements like this in Word for at least 2 years, basically all of the updates when you look at the version history in the App Store are labeled Bug Fixes.

We should probably just agree to disagree.

I disagree as to calling it a fault - it's a business decision. All companies do similar things.

 

[Kal Madda]

I disagree as to calling it a fault - it's a business decision. All companies do similar things.

Whatever you want to call it, I don’t really care. I’m just tired of people complaining and getting angry at Apple and saying it’s Apple’s fault that MS Office is gimped on iPadOS and even macOS when it’s literally not something Apple could possibly control or should be held at fault over. It’s Microsoft’s decision, not Apple’s. Microsoft chooses to limit it the way it is.

 

[01cowherd]

Agreed! And I’m unaware of any major features in the desktop version of Pages or Numbers that are missing in the iPad versions. They seem full featured. I use Pages and Numbers now for all of my office software needs. 👍🏻

There's one feature that's missing from iOS/iPadOS Numbers that frustrates me is it doesn't have "instant calculations" where you highlight number cells and it automatically calculates and displays statistics. On iPad, you have to manually choose a statistic and then it has to insert the formula into a cell. Not the end of the world, but pretty annoying once you get used to the convenience.

The other thing stopping me from using iPad for Numbers for more serious spreadsheets is the UI is clearly optimized for touch, even when there's a hardware keyboard. And I don't mean the size of buttons, but the animations that always take the full time. For example, if you open the find view (⌘F) and start typing, it will eat the first few keys pressed while it's waiting for the animation to finish...

You do get some extras though like the form input to add rows to a sheet, which is pretty neat.

 

[xxFoxtail]

Agreed! And I’m unaware of any major features in the desktop version of Pages or Numbers that are missing in the iPad versions. They seem full featured. I use Pages and Numbers now for all of my office software needs. 👍🏻

There's some very minor things missing, like being able to adjust shadow settings. Other than that, I think it's fully featured and I use the iWork suite at my job and home.

 

[Silvestru Hosszu]

Puffin browser was the only one able to load computer version on my iphone no matter what. Give it a try on ipad.

Thanks a lot!!!
Tried Puffin, is a kind of remote to cloud and looks like s***t but it does the job exactly as I need it.
Having to work with just one particular web page makes it bearable.
It was my last serious obstacle in using the iPad on the go.
Thanks alot to the whole community, it were your inputs that helped me achieve this goal!

 

[Kal Madda]

There's one feature that's missing from iOS/iPadOS Numbers that frustrates me is it doesn't have "instant calculations" where you highlight number cells and it automatically calculates and displays statistics. On iPad, you have to manually choose a statistic and then it has to insert the formula into a cell. Not the end of the world, but pretty annoying once you get used to the convenience.

The other thing stopping me from using iPad for Numbers for more serious spreadsheets is the UI is clearly optimized for touch, even when there's a hardware keyboard. And I don't mean the size of buttons, but the animations that always take the full time. For example, if you open the find view (⌘F) and start typing, it will eat the first few keys pressed while it's waiting for the animation to finish...

You do get some extras though like the form input to add rows to a sheet, which is pretty neat.

Question, is it possible the animation is slow due to a bug? I just tried this out in Numbers on my iPad out of curiosity, and I haven’t yet been able to our-type the animation, and I would consider myself a pretty fast typer. Maybe I’m just slower at typing, but I’m wondering if you may be experiencing a software bug that’s slowing down that animation. Or maybe it’s something improved in iPadOS 18. 👍🏻

 

[01cowherd]

Question, is it possible the animation is slow due to a bug? I just tried this out in Numbers on my iPad out of curiosity, and I haven’t yet been able to our-type the animation, and I would consider myself a pretty fast typer. Maybe I’m just slower at typing, but I’m wondering if you may be experiencing a software bug that’s slowing down that animation. Or maybe it’s something improved in iPadOS 18. 👍🏻

I suppose it could be a bug, but I've experienced it on both iPadOS 17 and 18 (and retested just now), and on two separate iPad Pro devices (both set up fresh). When I was testing just now, my keyboard shortcuts stopped working in apps too lol. Although that one may be a bug in Universal Control.

 

[Kal Madda]

I suppose it could be a bug, but I've experienced it on both iPadOS 17 and 18 (and retested just now), and on two separate iPad Pro devices (both set up fresh). When I was testing just now, my keyboard shortcuts stopped working in apps too lol. Although that one may be a bug in Universal Control.

Hmm, maybe you’re just a much faster typer than I am. 🤷🏼‍♂️👍🏻.

 

[sparksd]

Thanks for asking! I ended up giving it to my son to use in college. It wasn't because I didn't like Android, or the tablet itself...because it could fully do what I wanted/needed it to, but because I am very invested in the Apple ecosystem and decided to keep my efforts there for now. Knowing Android now, and what the Galaxy Tabs have to offer, and just liking tech in general...I'll probably end up with another Tab sooner or later. I have nothing bad to say about Android, or the Galaxy Tabs. I had a lot of fun with the experience of getting to know it and what I could do with it. We'll see what the future brings. Thanks for your input and help when I shared I had gotten the Tab. There were many people here that helped me, and I was surprised at all the people and resources available that I found right here at MR. This is my very favorite forum ever.

OK, I'm going back down the Android rabbit hole after a few years not using it. I saw that they fixed what was my biggest gripe with the Tab - they finally put on a good non-reflective coating. So I took the plunge and picked up an S10 Ultra. I must say, the 14.6" display is quite nice. I'll play with it a while to see if I'll keep it or not. I don't plan on doing any custom ROMing again, I'll use it stock. (I'm a retired h/w & s/w engineer - these things are my pricey toys. I would like a Vette like one of my other retired buddies has ... ain't gonna happen).

 

[Ludatyk]

OK, I'm going back down the Android rabbit hole after a few years not using it. I saw that they fixed what was my biggest gripe with the Tab - they finally put on a good non-reflective coating. So I took the plunge and picked up an S10 Ultra. I must say, the 14.6" display is quite nice. I'll play with it a while to see if I'll keep it or not. I don't plan on doing any custom ROMing again, I'll use it stock. (I'm a retired h/w & s/w engineer - these things are my pricey toys. I would like a Vette like one of my other retired buddies has ... ain't gonna happen).

I told myself once Samsung add cellular to the Tab Ultra line… I’ll look into purchasing it (and now they added with the latest model).

But I just can’t see me giving up on the iPad… the whole experience from the keyboard shortcuts to the scrolling on the trackpad is too good to pass up. I have my Galaxy Fold, so at least I’m not fully with Apple.

Anywho, looking forward to your thoughts on it as you try it out.

 

[sparksd]

I told myself once Samsung add cellular to the Tab Ultra line… I’ll look into purchasing it (and now they added with the latest model).

But I just can’t see me giving up on the iPad… the whole experience from the keyboard shortcuts to the scrolling on the trackpad is too good to pass up. I have my Galaxy Fold, so at least I’m not fully with Apple.

Anywho, looking forward to your thoughts on it as you try it out.

Not giving up on the iPad at all, just getting another toy. My prime unit will remain the M4 13".

 

[Ludatyk]

Not giving up on the iPad at all, just getting another toy. My prime unit will remain the M4 13".

Enjoy the new toy, I can’t do the two tablet lifestyle lol… I think adding the Ultra would make that three for you if I’m not mistaken.

You have the Mini 7?