iPad Pro iPad has become quite useless and I regret purchasing it

[DeepSix]

My S7+ is worth $600 and still is towards the purchase of any S8 tablet. I could have gotten the S8 Ultra 256GB for around $375 but I decided against it.

Wow that's unreal. It must be for a limited time only though, so you have to act quick?

I just checked Microsoft will give $250 on a i5/8GB Surface Pro 7 towards the Pro 8...the way overpriced Pro 8. And I am guessing that's USD. That's insulting for a product that was $1000 just 6 months ago.

 

[iPadified]

Even if it's the only computing device they have?

For those who can afford it, I'd absolutely recommend getting an iPad as a second device. But I'm skeptical many students will manage to get through 4 years of college with just an iPad. But granted, I haven't used the iPad Pro with the magic keyboard. Is the typing experience on that as good as on MacBooks?

Depends on the study. Engineering. Get a PC not a Mac. Many others that does not need compute, an iPad will be sufficient. As pen and paper replacement, it is very valuable. iPad is sufficient for report writing using a keyboard. Many scientific tools are now also web based.

 

[kc9hzn]

Depends on the study. Engineering. Get a PC not a Mac. Many others that does not need compute, an iPad will be sufficient. As pen and paper replacement, it is very valuable. iPad is sufficient for report writing using a keyboard. Many scientific tools are now also web based.

Even for engineering, it depends on the software you need. Most of the major IDEs computer science students use are multi platform, and Matlab most certainly runs on a Mac (though it did need X11.app the last time I tried, but that was around 12 years ago).

 

[JohnBrowny]

I used to use ipads a long time ago but now I have stopped doing it. After all, the phone now performs all the necessary functions. In principle, I do not need more.
I think Apple has forgotten about its iPads and I do not want to promote them.

 

[OS X Dude]

I've always said if you have a MacBook then an iPad is superfluous. It shines when paired with an iMac, really. I know as I used to have one with a MacBook Pro, never used it as a result, then moved to an iMac and used it a lot with the Keyboard Case.

Work have given me an M1 Air, and you can guess what has happened... I've actually just stuck it on charge to update it!

 

[DeepSix]

The 12.9" IPP may be beat for screen quality even despite the Ultra only maxing out at 400 nits and no mini-LED. Wow the Samsung ultra makes it look small.

 

[sparksd]

The 12.9" IPP may be beat for screen quality even despite the Ultra only maxing out at 400 nits and no mini-LED. Wow the Samsung ultra makes it look small.

Interesting - thanks for the post. I liked the color rendition of the videos on the iPad better - deeper colors. Also, look at time 3:36 - in the video of the waves breaking, the white in the Samsung video looks to have a purplish hue. Also makes me hope that future iPads don't have a notch.

 

[kc9hzn]

The 12.9" IPP may be beat for screen quality even despite the Ultra only maxing out at 400 nits and no mini-LED. Wow the Samsung ultra makes it look small.

I generally prefer a 4:3 ratio screen for non-video stuff, and I really like portrait displays (which is where 4:3, or rather 3:4, really shines) for reading/writing, etc. It means you get more text in a single screen. Heck, you get more text in a single screen in 4:3 than you do in 16:9 (since you sacrifice vertical resolution for horizontal). That’s great for things like video that should be optimized for horizontal display (because human vision is) but is terrible for things like code (a lot of wasted horizontal space, and it shows less code because it sacrificed vertical resolution vs a 4:3 monitor of the same pixel density and screen size) and does a terrible job emulating reading. 16:9 in portrait is really too narrow to do anything with at 100%, too. Maybe Apple could offer an iPad Video Pro with a 16:9 ratio for 4k video editing, but, for everything else, I’d favor 4:3 on a tablet.

 

[code-m]

I was responding to how people diss iPadOS because of the calculator/weather app business. macOS (or iPadOS, for that matter) is no less useful for “real work” because it doesn’t have a full weather app or stock app (or etc.), but some people in this thread have cited it as an iPadOS weakness. It’s a totally stupid claim, but it’s still one people make.

You can make an argument that iPadOS doesn’t enable pro apps or pro workflows (I don’t agree, I think it’s mostly a matter of third party devs, and even Apple to an extent, not wanting to undercut sales of their macOS pro apps by releasing an equally powerful iPad app). But that’s a completely different argument than the stupid argument that iPadOS isn’t good for “pro” work because it doesn’t have [default app on iOS missing in iPadOS that would not be considered pro-level in the first place].

How much longer do you believe Apple is going to hobble iPadOS? Serious question as at some point there is no benefit to the impressive hardware offering.

 

[Pezimak]

I am excited for the rumoured iMac with mini-led display. It would be amazing if the screens are as good as the MacBook Pro 16.

If you can get good value out of the cellular iPad plus the pencil then I think it's worth the investment in the long run.

Well I ended up getting the iPad Pro 11” base model and Apple Pencil. They didn’t have the case I wanted in the Apple store and I got the last Apple Pencil, and it wasn’t the best experience, I had to wait about 30 or 40 minutes to buy one?
Still I had a good play with the Mini and I could use it ok but the text was a little small, but the speakers weren’t a patch on the iPad Pro.
I was also very taken by the 24” iMac, one To consider when I get round to buying a new computer.

 

[bondr006]

The 12.9" IPP may be beat for screen quality even despite the Ultra only maxing out at 400 nits and no mini-LED. Wow the Samsung ultra makes it look small.

Just one expression...Pffft! Bigger don't always make for better. I was interested in the S8 Ultra until I started watching the reviews. I suppose if you want to just watch movies, but that's a darn expensive device just to watch tv with. The iPad Pro beats the knickers off the Tab S8 in all benchmarks, and not by just a little. Samsung is way behind Apple in the Chip market. Heck, the iPhone 11 even beats the new Galaxy S22 in benchmarks. I'd be embarrassed if I was Samsung.

Samsung's next-gen S22 chip is almost as good as Apple's... in the iPhone 11

The latest Exynos chip in the Samsung Galaxy S22+ is laughably bad compared to the iPhone's A15.

www.macworld.com

 

[kc9hzn]

How much longer do you believe Apple is going to hobble iPadOS? Serious question as at some point there is no benefit to the impressive hardware offering.

No, I don’t think they’re really hobbling iPadOS. What I meant was that pro apps like Final Cut and Logic are either not available for iPadOS or are only available in hobbled versions (that is, I believe iPadOS isn’t hobbled, but would be pro apps ARE, most likely due to the lower cost of software on the App Store than on the Mac). I believe these apps largely could exist on the iPad and on iPadOS in their full functionality, but they don’t because of the generally lower cost of iPad apps. For instance, the OmniGroup apps (about as pro as they come) have very full functioned iOS/iPadOS versions (including automation scripting), but they charge prices that are more in line with the macOS software market than the iOS App Store’s.

There may be niche use cases where the iPadOS isn’t as effective (multi-display support, for instance), but Apple can address those if there’s a need for it (look at the iPad’s mouse cursor support). For the most part, though, there’s very little “pro software” that can’t exist in some capacity on the iPad as is. The hardware is clearly powerful enough, and I’d argue that the software generally is, too. (Most pro software doesn’t actually need to operate outside of the sandbox or doesn’t actually need specialty hardware.) Pretty much the only software that CAN’T run outside of the sandbox is software development software, especially ones dependent on local servers like node.js or on compilers. (And I think Apple could certainly add a virtualization framework similar to the one on M1 based Macs that would address the needs of CLI based/background [think compilers] development tools.)

 

[DeepSix]

Interesting - thanks for the post. I liked the color rendition of the videos on the iPad better - deeper colors. Also, look at time 3:36 - in the video of the waves breaking, the white in the Samsung video looks to have a purplish hue. Also makes me hope that future iPads don't have a notch.

The Samsung will for sure have a more exxagerated hue as they push the Reds and the saturation on all their super AMOLED devices. I get this with my phone and the iPad looks more natural without the oversaturation.

 

[DeepSix]

I generally prefer a 4:3 ratio screen for non-video stuff, and I really like portrait displays (which is where 4:3, or rather 3:4, really shines) for reading/writing, etc. It means you get more text in a single screen. Heck, you get more text in a single screen in 4:3 than you do in 16:9 (since you sacrifice vertical resolution for horizontal). That’s great for things like video that should be optimized for horizontal display (because human vision is) but is terrible for things like code (a lot of wasted horizontal space, and it shows less code because it sacrificed vertical resolution vs a 4:3 monitor of the same pixel density and screen size) and does a terrible job emulating reading. 16:9 in portrait is really too narrow to do anything with at 100%, too. Maybe Apple could offer an iPad Video Pro with a 16:9 ratio for 4k video editing, but, for everything else, I’d favor 4:3 on a tablet.

After using Surface Pros aspect ratio for the past 7 years, I prefer apples aspect ratio over Samsung's too. I don't watch movies on my devices so the lost space on iPads don't bother me. I mostly prefer to use iPads in portrait so the extra width really helps viewing content on it. Viewing forums and certain sites in portrait are much more pleasing to the eye since you see more information vertically. Scrolling social media on portrait is also much better in portrait since that's how we view it on our phones. This is also why one of my monitors is mounted in portrait for this very reason. I also prefer portrait for viewing code or typing documents and doing spreadsheets.

 

[DeepSix]

Just one expression...Pffft! Bigger don't always make for better. I was interested in the S8 Ultra until I started watching the reviews. I suppose if you want to just watch movies, but that's a darn expensive device just to watch tv with. The iPad Pro beats the knickers off the Tab S8 in all benchmarks, and not by just a little. Samsung is way behind Apple in the Chip market. Heck, the iPhone 10 even beats the new Galaxy S22 in benchmarks. I'd be embarrassed if I was Samsung.

View attachment 1963429

I agree that bigger isn't always better and that's why I went with the iPad 11 over the 12.9. I have no use for the Samsung ultra but I can see why it will sell well. Many could live in apartments where space is tight and they have no space for a big TV and they don't care about portability, so the ultra offers them the biggest screen size on a device they can use anywhere in the house. People will pay good money for this.

For that price though I would rather get a TV, you can get a 75" HDR TV for the same price and it will offer a much better viewing experience. But obviously not everyone will have the space for a TV that big. So this is where the ultra comes into play. I can't see anyone hand holding the ultra for 2 hours to watch a movie but I think over time stands will come out for it to prop it up.

I read in a review that the ultra CPU is under clocked to keep the thermals down due to how thin the device is. This is not good because on paper the Snapdragon isn't even that powerful to begin with. No question the CPU on it is no contest to the M1 in the iPad. I would be a bit worried about the longevity of the Samsung CPU long term and how long it can run future OS updates for.

Is the M1 under clocked in iPad pros?

 

[Heat_Fan89]

Just one expression...Pffft! Bigger don't always make for better. I was interested in the S8 Ultra until I started watching the reviews. I suppose if you want to just watch movies, but that's a darn expensive device just to watch tv with. The iPad Pro beats the knickers off the Tab S8 in all benchmarks, and not by just a little. Samsung is way behind Apple in the Chip market. Heck, the iPhone 10 even beats the new Galaxy S22 in benchmarks. I'd be embarrassed if I was Samsung.

It doesn't matter who has the better benchmarks. It would matter if both were on the same platform. If Samsung was on iOS, then sure the point is valid. An iPad trying to run Android might not hit the same benchmarks as in iOS. The bottom line is this, the iPad is a great tablet and the Galaxy Tab S8 line are three seriously great tablets as well and worth the money if you like or want Android.

As an S7+ user I can honestly say the tablet is great and it's performance is smooth. I don't need to worry about benchmarks. The big hook for the S series is DEX if you want to turn your tablet into a laptop. The Super AMOLED display is off the charts great.

 

[Digitalguy]

Interesting - thanks for the post. I liked the color rendition of the videos on the iPad better - deeper colors. Also, look at time 3:36 - in the video of the waves breaking, the white in the Samsung video looks to have a purplish hue. Also makes me hope that future iPads don't have a notch.

The deeper colors are not due to mini-led vs oled, but to the reflectivity of Samsung screens. Turn off the light and the situation changes completely... Concerning the white point and colors in general you can change it in settings (something not possible in iPads, although to be honest they are pretty well calibrated). I don't mind the notch, in a 16.10 display used mainly for 16.9 content, I would definitely mind it in an iPad where I use it in portrait mode.
PS I use an antiglare screen protector anyway in every device, iPad included, as I can't stand fingerprints (and on iPad it works better with the pencil)

 

[bondr006]

I agree that bigger isn't always better and that's why I went with the iPad 11 over the 12.9. I have no use for the Samsung ultra but I can see why it will sell well. Many could live in apartments where space is tight and they have no space for a big TV and they don't care about portability, so the ultra offers them the biggest screen size on a device they can use anywhere in the house. People will pay good money for this.

For that price though I would rather get a TV, you can get a 75" HDR TV for the same price and it will offer a much better viewing experience. But obviously not everyone will have the space for a TV that big. So this is where the ultra comes into play. I can't see anyone hand holding the ultra for 2 hours to watch a movie but I think over time stands will come out for it to prop it up.

I read in a review that the ultra CPU is under clocked to keep the thermals down due to how thin the device is. This is not good because on paper the Snapdragon isn't even that powerful to begin with. No question the CPU on it is no contest to the M1 in the iPad. I would be a bit worried about the longevity of the Samsung CPU long term and how long it can run future OS updates for.

Is the M1 under clocked in iPad pros?

That's a great question. I just did a search and couldn't find an answer to that. What I did find, is that the M1 chip in the iPads is the same M1 chip in the Macs. I did find in this article that the M1 in the MacBook Air, Mac Mini, and iPad Pro run about the same speed.

Benchmarks show M1 iPad Pro offers 50% speed boost, outperforms high-end MacBook Pro - 9to5Mac

The first M1 iPad Pro orders are slated to arrive to customers later this month. Ahead of those arrivals, early...

9to5mac.com

Here are average multi-core results for other Apple products:

• M1 Mac mini: 7,346
• M1 iPad Pro: 7,200
• M1 MacBook Air: 7,580

 

[Digitalguy]

Just one expression...Pffft! Bigger don't always make for better. I was interested in the S8 Ultra until I started watching the reviews. I suppose if you want to just watch movies, but that's a darn expensive device just to watch tv with. The iPad Pro beats the knickers off the Tab S8 in all benchmarks, and not by just a little. Samsung is way behind Apple in the Chip market. Heck, the iPhone 10 even beats the new Galaxy S22 in benchmarks. I'd be embarrassed if I was Samsung.

View attachment 1963429

Concerning the TV argument, I think people spend at least as much in large 4k oled TVs. And personally I have no interest in a TV. I want to start my movie, TV program or whatever in one room (e.g. the kitchen), then move to another, then go back etc. Not to be stuck in one room or to have to stop the movie. But everyone is different.
As for benchmark, that's the advantage that Apple has with tablets, but for most things it makes little difference (I had an S7+). Where Samsung needs to improve is the browser optimization instead.

 

[Digitalguy]

I agree that bigger isn't always better and that's why I went with the iPad 11 over the 12.9. I have no use for the Samsung ultra but I can see why it will sell well. Many could live in apartments where space is tight and they have no space for a big TV and they don't care about portability, so the ultra offers them the biggest screen size on a device they can use anywhere in the house. People will pay good money for this.

For that price though I would rather get a TV, you can get a 75" HDR TV for the same price and it will offer a much better viewing experience. But obviously not everyone will have the space for a TV that big. So this is where the ultra comes into play. I can't see anyone hand holding the ultra for 2 hours to watch a movie but I think over time stands will come out for it to prop it up.

It's not just a matter of space, I have the space at my place, and I have no budget issues (= I could have both a big TV and a big tablet), but, as I said above "I have no interest in a TV. I want to start my movie, TV program or whatever in one room (e.g. the kitchen), then move to another, then go back etc. Not to be stuck in one room or to have to stop the movie. But everyone is different...."
Any tablet stand can hold the ultra, they can easily hold a heavier surface pro, the ultra is a piece of cake for a tablet stand (let alone the fact that you can also magnetically attach a kickstand). I have at least one tablet stand in each room

 

[Digitalguy]

After using Surface Pros aspect ratio for the past 7 years, I prefer apples aspect ratio over Samsung's too. I don't watch movies on my devices so the lost space on iPads don't bother me. I mostly prefer to use iPads in portrait so the extra width really helps viewing content on it. Viewing forums and certain sites in portrait are much more pleasing to the eye since you see more information vertically. Scrolling social media on portrait is also much better in portrait since that's how we view it on our phones. This is also why one of my monitors is mounted in portrait for this very reason. I also prefer portrait for viewing code or typing documents and doing spreadsheets.

The aspect ratio is the reason why my ultra will only be used for movies, TV, sometimes youtube, and as external monitor with battery and pen support, for everything else it's iPad... I don't need to justify (to anyone or to myself) spending the money "just" for that, since I am fortunate enough to be able to easily afford all my tablets, but if I had, I can say I saved the equivalent money spent on a 4k OLED TV.... ?

 

[Superman730]

Just to chime in on this - I've used Pencils on two different iPads with screen protectors (and one without). The drawing experience was essentially the same, outside of the difference in the feel of the Pencil on glass vs. a screen protector. Perhaps there are low-quality screen protectors that hinder it, but you can spend as little as $15 (and possibly less now) and have a great experience.

Same for me. I put tempered glass screen protectors on all my devices and the Apple Pencil works flawlessly on my iPP 11" 2020 and iPad Mini 6th gen.

 

[Heat_Fan89]

Part of the draw for the iPad is the aspect ratio. I prefer that over a 16:10 AS that Samsung is currently using with the S7 and S8 tablets. For movies the Sammy's have an advantage as well as in landscape mode using a browser. I sometimes will watch live sports scores and the extra width helps out in showing extra content on the screen but in portrait mode it becomes unsightly and in landscape mode it's huge and heavy holding on to it. That's the main reason why I decided against the S8 Ultra, too big for me.

I'm looking forward to see what the new iPad Pro's look like and what kind of speed bump they get. I'm tempted at getting the newly released 12.9" iPad Pro this year.

 

[Isengardtom]

The deeper colors are not due to mini-led vs oled, but to the reflectivity of Samsung screens. Turn off the light and the situation changes completely... Concerning the white point and colors in general you can change it in settings (something not possible in iPads, although to be honest they are pretty well calibrated). I don't mind the notch, in a 16.10 display used mainly for 16.9 content, I would definitely mind it in an iPad where I use it in portrait mode.
PS I use an antiglare screen protector anyway in every device, iPad included, as I can't stand fingerprints (and on iPad it works better with the pencil)

They didn’t improve that anti reflective coating then on the Galaxy tab? That’s a bit unfortunate.

 

[DeepSix]

That's a great question. I just did a search and couldn't find an answer to that. What I did find, is that the M1 chip in the iPads is the same M1 chip in the Macs. I did find in this article that the M1 in the MacBook Air, Mac Mini, and iPad Pro run about the same speed.

Benchmarks show M1 iPad Pro offers 50% speed boost, outperforms high-end MacBook Pro - 9to5Mac

The first M1 iPad Pro orders are slated to arrive to customers later this month. Ahead of those arrivals, early...

9to5mac.com

Here are average multi-core results for other Apple products:

• M1 Mac mini: 7,346
• M1 iPad Pro: 7,200
• M1 MacBook Air: 7,580

Sounds like getting the M1 was a wise choice. No doubt it’s more future proof than the A14 in the Air 4.