This just in: People who don't think iPads can be productive agree with this review. Film at 11.
This is merely confirmation bias.
This is merely confirmation bias.
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iPad Pro 10.5 - it’s a trap
- Thread starter freddisier
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This just in: people that do think iPads can be productive disagree with this review. Film at 11.
You can call it confirmation bias, but the reality is that some people agree with the shortcomings highlighted in that review. Some don't and it will work for them.
Right. Yet here we are on yet another thread splitting hairs again.
LOL - there are a lot of these thread, aren't there?
At home, iMac. At work, PC because ya have to. Out and about (or at home not in the office, desk) iPad Pro.
When you're RDP'd into a virtual machine, there's little differences between an iPad Pro and a MBP. Grab a Citrix X1 mouse and install Jump Desktop on your iPad and you're the wizard with a mouse on an iPad working with multiple excel workbooks.
But you say right here that you are in the field of game design. So it would make sense that you would need a "truck" instead of a "car" (Steve Jobs terms).
I guess we should expect that on a computer forum most of the folks are programming and IT professionals, but this is a very small subsection of the general public. Most folks aren't spending their time programming, using Remote Desktop clients, using FTP, etc. These are things that programming and IT jobs require.
If we were having a descussion about trucks vs. cars and we went to a Carpentry & Construction forum, I bet most would agree that cars are pretty useless as every day vehicles, and that is what we are seeing here.
No, an iPad cannot replace a laptop. But the reality is that most people never needed a laptop in the first place. Most people just need a device to do some emailing, web browsing, video watching, and the occasional use of a word processor to type a letter or use of a simple spreadsheet to do some accounting. The iPad does all of those things very well, and is much simpler to use than a Mac or PC.
You’re using it wrong.
Nah, just joking.
But in a way I’m serious as well.
First and foremost. I believe it is too limited for you (and all the people that said so before and after you).
But I will also disprove your point as well.
I’m a consultant, B2B, self employed and I work together with some others.
So I run a small company, I’m not doing too bad.
Therefore I have an administration to keep, taxes to pay, make small financial reports, file taxes, work together on projects. I also have to write reports, drafts, financial and progress reports on project. And an enormous amount of email and commenting/annotating PDF’s and DOCX’s.
The two biggest things to win me time are working efficiently without distractions and not having to tinker with computers/laptops/OS’s/software.
So what brings working with both the 12.9 and 10.5 iPad me?
- I work in one screen, say Ulysses. And not in landscape, but a 13” portrait with almost 4K pixels height!! A complete A4 is perfectly readable to me. And I have no real estate left, so no distractions. (All notifications on both iPads are off, my iPhone is for notifications). Then I have the 10.5 second screen for referencing.
- I work in one split screen, say in word on the left and I have a reference document in PDF-expert to the right. Then I browse the web for extra information on the 10.5. This keeps my main screen clean: just the information I need, no internet distractions there. When I’m browsing on the 10.5 there is always the risk of distraction/wandering, but it’s not as big as when it’s on my main screen.
- I need to read endless amounts of information. Work magazines, long books on international tax laws, etc. Etc. I hang back in a really comfy chair, lay down on a day bed, take my Lamzac outside when the weather is good and read on the 12.9. Resting it on my tummy, or even resting it at a corner between my index finger and thumb. Again in portrait mode and I have the A4/magazine in full screen, perfectly readable, just like I would with the paper book or paper magazine.
- I want to read a pocket/novel sized book, so I take the 10.5 and hang back in the hammock, holding it in one hand for hours on end.
The other main part is that I don’t need to tinker with the OS. You can’t. It works or it doesn’t, that’s it!
If you are really set in your ways for several decades, that is so unbelievable annoying. You’ve had Linux/windows, then Mackintosh, then OSX, but fundamentally they where all the same. Now this iOS is doing things differently. Radically.
And if your workflow becomes slower/more steps with iOS, then it becomes more difficult to enjoy it.
However, there is automation possible. Why do the boring repetitive stuff when you can automate it? (I don’t do it, I like boring, I like repetitive stuff at times).
So there are three things that make iOS/iPP a winner for me:
- read/write in portrait mode
- have fewer distractions
- a no tinker OS.
And the bonus: it’s easier to use in a hammock!! Woooohoooo, hammocks for the win.
I agree with the iOS part. It is getting "pro" but very slowly. You could have most of the features Apple has introduced in Jailbroken iPads years ago (though with maybe not as slick implementations) and there have been 3rd party concept videos that do the split view better by letting you choose from all apps you have instead of the ones on the dock. iOS to me often feels artificially limited because Apple didn't want to implement something simple found in other operating systems. It took them a really long time to even add a file browser.
The iPad Pro is getting good enough for the average user to replace their laptop with it but I really want them to push it forward for the power users too. I don't want to run full OSX, I understand that doing things so that they are good to use on a tablet requires a different approach but I still need more configurability as well as the ability to run certain software before it can be a laptop replacement for the power user (which would be most IT professionals).
The iPad Pro is getting good enough for the average user to replace their laptop with it but I really want them to push it forward for the power users too. I don't want to run full OSX, I understand that doing things so that they are good to use on a tablet requires a different approach but I still need more configurability as well as the ability to run certain software before it can be a laptop replacement for the power user (which would be most IT professionals).
My guess at least in part would be that if the iPad supported pointing devices, it simply would allow developers to not have to rethink their apps to be easily used with touch. Apple is fighting for a singular touch experience on iOS as much as possible. Not one where you're going to want to use a mouse half the time. I say half the time because selecting text and spreadsheet cells--the two biggest use cases for pointing devices--are very common occurrences (otherwise we wouldn't see people clamoring for mouse/trackpad support so much). That said, I have no idea what developers could do to make it easier to select text and spreadsheet cells with touch. Make it bigger? Then you can't see as much information. One of the pitfalls of touch.
Of course the other problem (other than precise pointing) is having to reach up from the keyboard to the screen. That is a real problem and as far as I can tell there is no solution other than adding support for pointing devices. People who use their computers for work surely can't be reaching up to their little screens, trying to touch little boxes or long pressing to painstakingly move cursors, for 8 hours a day.
It's a mess. I don't even know where Apple should take the iPad Pro. Things sure made much more sense in the days of Steve Jobs when there was one iPad and it was not meant to be a laptop replacement but merely an in-between device "better for certain things." It was held in the hands and used intimately. It was essentially a big iPhone and I for one was completely fine with that (except for wanting native pen input and a bigger screen for drawing, which we now have thankfully) because iPhones are incredibly powerful devices as they are. The main restriction they had was their size constraint. Therefore simply giving them a tablet screen freed them up to be all the more enjoyable and useful, albeit a supplemental device not everyone needed.
Now Apple wants to make the iPad necessary for everyone, or as many as possible, and confusing people because they're convoluting the original vision of the iPad.
Apple could add support for mouse easily. Here's a 2012 video of a jailbroken iPad using a hack to connect a bluetooth mouse:
Likewise using iPad with Xcode's iOS emulator allows you to try how it feels to use with a mouse and for the most part it works perfectly fine. Maybe not as nice for general use as a touchscreen but perfectly acceptable. The main difference with touch input is the lack of hovering over elements, lack of an on screen cursor and the much larger size of the "cursor" (your fingertip).
Maybe what ultimately needs a rethinking is how iPads are used on a desk. Now the cases and keyboards essentially ape a laptop style setup while something akin to the Surface Studio in an easel like position would be the better way to work with both a touchscreen and keyboard.
I know Apple COULD easily do it. I'm saying why they're not is possibly because they want to force developers to rethink the design of their apps that would normally be better with mouse to be just as good with touch. If that makes sense.
I think the problem with surface studio is it's not good ergonomics for long use. Best ergonomics is looking straight ahead, not down, and hands level with resting elbows, not above.
The ipp is still (and will for a long time be) a companion device. I can travel with it as my 'laptop', but dread getting a complex Word or Excel or document to review or edit while on the road without my MBP. The Surface is a much better solution from a hardware perspective.
These threads are really getting ridiculous now: a Chromebook is a laptop.
They say it's a laptop replacement for some people:
Tim Cook said:
Not everyone. Just like a laptop can't replace a Mac Pro for some users, or a custom gaming PC for some users. Like everything, it depends on your use case. Why not just let people use the thing that suits them without constantly debating it? I really don't see the point of endlessly rehashing the same arguments...
Exactly. That's the whole problem. If the tool you really need is a laptop and you prefer the workflows that can only be done on a laptop, then the iPad is not going to make you happy, because it's not a laptop. Buy a laptop instead. Apple's stance is that for "many" users, a full blown Mac or PC is, and always has been, overkill. Only in the last few years has the technology been miniaturized and advanced enough where it can be fit into a simple, portable, touch based device that is powerful enough to do both basic and advanced tasks. For many/most people, that's enough. For example, my mom and dad haven't had a beige box PC in their house since 2011 when they got their iPad 2.
I agree that spreadsheets and complex word documents are maybe not a great experience, I tried the other night and ended up back at the mac, but things like the excellent 'pencil with pad' abilities make this a great complementary device plus ease of use for media and reading, though I suppose Surface users would say it can all be done on theirs, but then I don't like Windows so will not consider it. Meanwhile happy with 2 devices.
Agree. My MBP stays in the bag 80% of the time, but glad it's there when I need it.
His ending comment "its still a giant pain in the ass" hits the nail on the head.
Agree with the review. It’s Apple not thinking through apps. I can’t even duplicate calendar events to put on my schedule on iOS unless I invest in a third party app. Sounds minor, but it speaks volumes about usefulness.
You don’t understand that they want the iPad to be a touch first device as opposed to OS X that’s a legacy OS that relies on using a mouse?
I think if Steve were still around we would be at a merged device and OS device by now (or something like that). You would dock the pad, have most everything in the cloud, with duplicates as needed on the dock and pad. Instead, we have people at Apple who are spending hours upon hours designing curves, but who is the visionary these days?
Pro sales have been lukewarm and further declines are predicted.
So if you mean "few", yes, i guess so.
Also the fact pro's are readly available don't suggest a rush from consumers to embrace the switch.