iPad as a laptop replacement

[duffyanneal]

I agree completely. Same situation for me except that I travel extensively for work. I always carry my work laptop and a secondary device for my personal use. I like to keep a very clear line between the two. So Netflix, YouTube, Hulu, surfing, music, is all consumed on my personal device. So the iPad fits me well. Can an iPad completely replace a computer? It really depends on each person’s requirements.

 

[secretk]

I just wanted to thank everyone that commented on the Bluetooth keyboard latency issues I have. Today I did saw some sort of settings for the hardware keyboard (once it was connected) but there were not the same as the software ones and I don't understand them very well. Nevertheless what I wanted to disable was not there.

I typed just 5 sentences so there was not enough to rest properly the performance. I will keep monitoring it.

 

[subjonas]

Why not added this to the existing threads ?
like you said " many threads " ...way too many

What do you mean? This IS the existing thread that the poster added to.
Unless your comments were moved from another thread or something?

 

[IowaLynn]

What happens when a Mac laptop uses ARM? Blurs the line. Gives Apple more control to optimize, and over production and chip availability. Maybe offer features on both with more shared code, less need to work on iOS plus MacOS. MacOS Mobile?

 

[nviz22]

For the price people pay, the new iPad Pros should run Mac OS X and have some sort of track pad to implement better functionality. I personally think the iPPs are overkill hardware wise and limited by software.

 

[iOli]

If you need to use a trackpad to write or edit text, then you are already not writing or editing text efficiently: whether you’re being inefficient with a mouse, a trackpad or a finger is irrelevant. They all mean you’re taking your hands from the keyboard, and that’s not helpful. With a properly set up keyboard, the times you need to leave the keyboard should be reduced to the bare minimum.

The Apple Smart / Folio keyboard isn’t there yet: they don’t use some of MacOS’s built-in shortcuts such as cmd-d/n/p etc, and you can’t yet remap the caps lock and enter keys to control. That’s not great, but the keyboard still beats a mouse etc for text entry and editing for most purposes, particularly if you’re using a dedicated writing program such as Scrivener/Ulysses etc.

Of course we can dream and hope that one day they’ll implement vim text editing, but I’m not holding my breath for that one. ;-)

If you`re still writing a lot with keyboard instead of dictating, you are already not producing text efficiently. By the way – dictating is a lot better with iPad or iPhone then with a mac (if not using a real dictating app with mac).

 

[secretk]

If you`re still writing a lot with keyboard instead of dictating, you are already not producing text efficiently. By the way – dictating is a lot better with iPad or iPhone then with a mac (if not using a real dictating app with mac).

True if you are English native speaker. I am not. For people like me dictation is not working that well. Also in most cases I am not alone and I cannot bother others with dictating.

 

[ascender]

Muscle memory is improving and I’m doing much more without taking my hands off the keyboard to touch the screen.

I’ve also been reading the various iPad reviews and I totally get why the majority are written from the point of view of “can it replace a laptop”, but I still can’t help feel that many are written from the point of the reviewer - i.e. “can it replace my laptop”.

 

[brookter1]

If you`re still writing a lot with keyboard instead of dictating, you are already not producing text efficiently. By the way – dictating is a lot better with iPad or iPhone then with a mac (if not using a real dictating app with mac).

Dictation? If you're not a touch typist or can't use a decent keyboard or there are other circumstances stopping you typing, then I can understand why dictation would be useful for short pieces, but for long text? Urgh, no... Even if you think you're quicker with getting the words down on the screen (which I think is arguable) then dictation falls at the ease of editing hurdle.

I can understand how useful dictation is for some people whose circumstances stop them being able to use a decent keyboard, but to say that it's more efficient than touch typing for most seems counterfactual.

 

[iOli]

True if you are English native speaker. I am not. For people like me dictation is not working that well. Also in most cases I am not alone and I cannot bother others with dictating.

"English native speaker. I am not."
…me neither
Try dictation with correcting words in an agile workflow…

 

[DoubleFlyaway]

If you`re still writing a lot with keyboard instead of dictating, you are already not producing text efficiently. By the way – dictating is a lot better with iPad or iPhone then with a mac (if not using a real dictating app with mac).

No way. I am a super fast typist and it is way faster for me to type things than to dictate and go back and correct all the mistakes.

 

[Markgnyc2]

For 99.5% of the things I need to do at home personally, the iPad is the best device for the job. Emails, messages, web browsing, photos, document creation, paying bills. It has replaced my computer for all of those things. The MacBook pro is for my son's school work and the other .5% of things that I would need a laptop for.

So lo and behold, last night I had to create a list in Pages and I wanted to have another document opened to refer to. I couldn't easily do that on the iPad Pro since you cant have 2 documents from Pages open at the same time. So I grabbed the MBP and did what I had to do on there. So yesterday, soon after I posted, I found my other .5%.

 

[iOli]

So lo and behold, last night I had to create a list in Pages and I wanted to have another document opened to refer to. I couldn't easily do that on the iPad Pro since you cant have 2 documents from Pages open at the same time. So I grabbed the MBP and did what I had to do on there. So yesterday, soon after I posted, I found my other .5%.

Thats exactly my workflow as a lawyer: refering to a lot of other documents, taking excerpts from legalDatabases – parallel looking for notes. May handle this with a tiny macbook 12 but odd with a single or wired-double-task functionality with iPad (no real difference concerning "Pro"iPad)…

 

[Howard2k]

Apple will never produce a device that will eliminate another device from Apple.
An iPad is not a MacBook and will never be. Some uses can be replaced (browsing, e-mail acces, social media...) but without external storage and without OSX, iPad will never replace a laptop in a full way.

Didn't the iPhone replace the iPod?

 

[nicho]

I wanted to have another document opened to refer to

Refer to, as in view only?

If it's stored in icloud/somewhere else compatible then you could open it in the files app next to your pages app.

 

[nviz22]

Is Apple holding back the iPad from growing further? Shouldn't there be a device w/ 4gb RAM that can at least run some modified version of OS X to have more software potential w/ point and click? Not just a bigger sized version of iOS with a few bells and whistles to emulate real computing?

 

[ascender]

Today has been my first full day of what I’d say is normal work, at a client site, using the iPad as my main device for the usual productivity apps, some Zoom video calls and working in a Citrix session. Until last week my device for this was a 2018 MBP 13” TB machine, but I no longer need to run multiple VMs.

Setup at the desk was the iPad, Smart Folio Keyboard and Citrix Mouse. I also had the pencil for taking some notes in Notability.

Previously I also had a 10.5” iPad Pro which I occasionally used with a Smart Keyboard, but I found the screen too small and hard on the eyes if i was sitting for prolonged periods of time trying to do stuff.

Pros

• Battery life has been very good. I watched some Netflix first thing when getting ready, so from a full charge, nearly 8 hours later its at 58%.
• Form factor and weight is very nice I’ve ended up with a smaller bag although some of that was down to habit with me taking spare adapters etc. But even with the keyboard cover on, its a nice light setup.
• The screen really is nice. For the work I’ve been doing today, I don’t notice any difference between this and the wide colour gamut model of the MBP.
• Cellular without faffing around with tethering is something i didn’t think I’d appreciate as much as I do. I guess it becomes an always-connected device without thinking about it.
• Typing on the Smart Keyboard is much improved over the 10.5 one, but i can’t compare it to a 12.9. The keys are nicely spaced out and after a couple of days I’m typing as reliably as i would on a magic keyboard or laptop one.
• The keyboard is much more stable on the desk - the old one always seemed to just not be quite flat. And its way more stable on the lap.
• I do like the focus of having a single full screen app on the go at any one time. But as a user of Spaces on the mac that’s not a surprise.
• A pleasant surprise has been that iOS seems to be much better at anticipating when you’re going to want to paste information from app A to app B. A few times I’ve been ready to copy and paste, only to switch apps, highlight a field and its filled the information in for me already.

Cons

• I do still feel like i’m having to re-learn how to do simple things as my first instinct is often to reach for a non-existent trackpad or touch the screen. Instances of touching the screen are reducing, particularly down to the new keyboard shortcuts I’m learning and as my old brain remembers to try those first.
• Touching the screen when there’s no other option. This is where I really wish there was a way of navigating to “hotspots” in an app or menu items/web page components. Whether you could tab to them or as I’ve suggested before, a floating cursor you could invoke via force touch like you do when editing text.
• Why on earth is there not an escape key?!?
• Multi-tasking, for the rare times I need to do it is still a faff, especially if the app isn’t in either side of the dock. It’s a nice idea for when you want to be taking notes alongside a web page, but I wish it was easier to setup.
• I’ve been using a 4K monitor at the home office which gives a brilliant picture, but its a shame the image is windowed with loads of wasted space.
• And using an external screen just confuses my brain even more about what and where I should be touching and where I shouldn’t be!

A promising start, but I need to get more apps on this thing first off for the other side to my work which is going to involve some light photo and video work.

Something I also never noticed about the touchbar implementation of predictive text when typing (and I know everybody else would have pointed this out years ago) is that they’ve obviously taken the feature from the iPad. But the difference on the iPad is that when you’re using the Smart Keyboard, the predictive text suggestions appear on the vertical, right in front of your typing fingers and kind of in your eyeline, so I find myself using them. On the touchbar, they appear on the horizontal in front of your fingers and you kind of have to adjust yourself and peer over your fingers to look at them and by that point its just wasted time.

 

[secretk]

"English native speaker. I am not."
…me neither
Try dictation with correcting words in an agile workflow…

My pronunciation sucks. It's something I am not good at it. I have tried dictation but it does not recognize what I am saying. You are right that with correction it will get better, but I don't have the time to do it. Usually I need to type things fast and I can't allow myself to play around with this a lot.

 

[subjonas]

If you`re still writing a lot with keyboard instead of dictating, you are already not producing text efficiently. By the way – dictating is a lot better with iPad or iPhone then with a mac (if not using a real dictating app with mac).

I see where you’re coming from. I agree that using a keyboard compromises the pure tablet experience. The problem is people have gotten so fast at typing on the keyboard that dictation is comparatively much slower. And depending on your subject, the transcription can sometimes require too much correction to the point of frustration. Also I think it’s rude to use dictation in front of others for more than a few seconds, which severely limits me to inputting text only when I’m alone. Tablets need a much better form of text input than dictation in order to be able to compete with keyboards. I don’t think that form has been invented yet.
As it is currently, tablets have to transform halfway into traditional laptops in order to become productive enough for people who need to input a good amount of text (which I’ll venture to say is most people). This is a compromise and naturally/consequently gives rise to people wanting the keyboard’s companion, the mouse, to come to the iPad as well.

This is a pickle Apple has gotten themselves into. They either have to go back on their ‘no trackpad’ stance, or figure out some other solution. Or I suppose they could continue ignoring the complaints.

 

[nviz22]

Is a Surface Go a better laptop replacement, especially the 4gb RAM model to do stuff like light reading, docs, PowerPoint, Excel, media consumption, emails, web browse? The most intensive thing I would do on it is Tableau.

 

[bnmcj1]

If you need to use a trackpad to write or edit text, then you are already not writing or editing text efficiently: whether you’re being inefficient with a mouse, a trackpad or a finger is irrelevant. They all mean you’re taking your hands from the keyboard, and that’s not helpful. With a properly set up keyboard, the times you need to leave the keyboard should be reduced to the bare minimum.

The Apple Smart / Folio keyboard isn’t there yet: they don’t use some of MacOS’s built-in shortcuts such as cmd-d/n/p etc, and you can’t yet remap the caps lock and enter keys to control. That’s not great, but the keyboard still beats a mouse etc for text entry and editing for most purposes, particularly if you’re using a dedicated writing program such as Scrivener/Ulysses etc.

Of course we can dream and hope that one day they’ll implement vim text editing, but I’m not holding my breath for that one. ;-)

As said. Trackpad is needed especially for text. Real document editing with hundreds of pages. And for using vpn workspaces with real applications. It’s that easy.

Apple has lost me as a customer of their computers and iPads, as they do not have a true 2 in 1. If it is not a 2 in 1 in 2018 or at least a computer with touch screen, it is obsolete to me.

 

[nviz22]

As said. Trackpad is needed especially for text. Real document editing with hundreds of pages. And for using vpn workspaces with real applications. It’s that easy.

Apple has lost me as a customer of their computers and iPads, as they do not have a true 2 in 1. If it is not a 2 in 1 in 2018 or at least a computer with touch screen, it is obsolete to me.

So what would you buy instead of an iPad? Surface Go or Pro?

 

[bnmcj1]

So what would you buy instead of an iPad? Surface Go or Pro?

Surface Pro 6. Would buy Surface Go if I had less text editing work, but I do have a lot.

 

[nviz22]

Surface Pro 6. Would buy Surface Go if I had less text editing work, but I do have a lot.

Seems like that’s the only product line with 2-1 and lightweight computing in mind. The Go is underpowered, but you’re paying for the form factor. The Pro 6 is expensive, but you can get a good deal on BF from Costco.

I only like how efficient the iPads are. The Surface products don’t have that same level of reliability either.

 

[brookter1]

As said. Trackpad is needed especially for text. Real document editing with hundreds of pages. And for using vpn workspaces with real applications. It’s that easy.

Apple has lost me as a customer of their computers and iPads, as they do not have a true 2 in 1. If it is not a 2 in 1 in 2018 or at least a computer with touch screen, it is obsolete to me.

I’m not saying it wouldn’t be nice to have the ability to attach a trackpad to the iPad; just that bald statements like ‘require a trackpad for writing and editing documents of hundreds of pages’ may be true for you, but they’re not universal truths. This is a general point, applicable on desktops and laptops as well as iPads: a decent text editor doesn’t need a trackpad: the two best text manipulation tools work perfectly well without a mouse.