I would say I’m someone who has had an overall love/hate relationship with the iPad. I got my first iPad, a first-gen iPad in 2010 w/cellular, as I was finishing up high school and it always felt so futuristic and innovative. However, I never really felt it reached its potential or met the hype. I just couldn’t come up with use-cases for the device as much as I wanted to. I had 2 subsequent iPads (iPad 3rd gen and iPad Mini) and I never really ended up using the devices. I always reverted to using MacOS and the iPads would just become another device I have to maintain (update OS, updates apps) only to never use the thing all year long.
I had an ‘iPad hiatus’ and didn’t own an iPad for a number of years. I didn’t miss them. I was tempted when they launched iPad Pros and released keyboard attachments/Pencil but I still felt like my opinion would remain the same.
Shift to today and I’m typing this up on my iPad Pro 11-inch. The thing that I love most is definitely the hardware. They took a very aging design and came up with something totally fresh. Seeing one in person is really necessary to truly appreciate the hardware and overall form factor. When you consider that this super light device has a chip as powerful as it does, it really makes you fall in love with the hardware. The gesture based navigation, a la iPhone X, is next level and makes the device feel that much more futuristic. Also, without the home button, it just becomes a super-light glass slab that you hold in any orientation.
I feel the 11-inch form factor is fantastic. I know Apple designed the 10.5 inch Pro around the notion of a full-sized keyboard, and this new 11-inch model is just a natural evolution of the form-factor. The keyboard is really effortless to use and as someone who is used to the butterfly keyboards, it’s a very natural typing experience that I don’t have to really think about going between my MBP and my iPad. I know there’s the whole 11 vs 12.9 debate, but more than anything it comes down to personal preference and how you use the device. When I consider what I like the most about my iPad, it’s the combination of portability in a stunning form-factor and always-on LTE. It wouldn’t be nearly as portable if I owned a 12.9 version, however if I just sat it at a desk all day, the 12.9 might be a better choice.
I also continue to find use-cases for the device, which I never did in the past. A lot of it has to do with the fact that it has a very usable keyboard now, and iOS has matured to recognize basic shortcuts i.e. Spotlight or CMD-F. I find that iOS is better suited for when I really need to focus on one thing— such as typing this review. My profession requires me to multitask so frequently, and because of this whenever I open my Mac, I immediately go do 100 different things. If I just need to do one or two quick things, I find the iPad is the better device to pick up because I can quickly accomplish whatever I need to, then just move on.
It’s ironic because part of what I enjoy most about the software (the simplicity) also becomes the devices’ Achilles heel when comparing it against a laptop. As every review mentions, it’s incredibly obvious that the bottleneck for this device is the software because you can just feel how powerful it is as you’re using it. The fact that I can’t connect a USB-C drive and transfer to/from is laughable for a device that costs this much. When you add in a Pencil/Keyboard, you’re already looking at an additional $300+, not to mention if you opt for the cellular model ($150). It adds up quickly yet I can’t even transfer a movie over from a drive. Another limitation of the software is the fact that iOS continues to treat so many sites as ‘Mobile’ sites. This thing is larger than a lot of real laptop devices- i.e. Surface Go, but certain sites insist on locking me into a mobile browser view, even when I ‘Request Desktop Site’. If I’m being honest with myself, to knock out some real work, I’m reaching for the Macbook every time due to limitations such as these.
Wouldn’t be a review without mentioning the bending. I will say I’ve stared at the damn thing for a lot longer than I’d like to admit, and I can’t determine whether or not there is a slight bend when looking along the top. After so much focus and one-eye squinting, I decided if I have to try that hard to see something, it’s not worth letting it ruin my opinion of the device. I’ve moved on from caring about the ‘bending’ and I think many others would live happier lives if they did the same. I’ve seen pictures of some extreme cases and they are appalling, to be completely transparent. I know there are exceptions and some cases are different than others, but largely I think it’s a lot of noise about what’s essentially a non-issue.
iOS 13/14 will really shed light on the path forward for iOS (maybe eventually PadOS?) and that will really dictate just what this device will become in the future. The exciting thing about the 2018 iPad is that for the first time in forever, it feels like the device is about to get that much better when Apple launches iOS13. Innovation in the tablet category was stale for so many years, however it finally feels like the time is right with Marzapian and all of these other synergies going on that the iPad may finally be approaching a point of maturity where the OS will eliminate the need to use mainstream desktop operating systems for a lot of people. The beginning of the end, so to speak. Especially when considering the younger generation (under age 15 or so) who heavily prefer iOS to something like MacOS, the time seems right for a shift. There will always be a place for MacOS but mainstream computing is approaching a new phase. The time is ripe for Apple to show us the next big thing.
I had an ‘iPad hiatus’ and didn’t own an iPad for a number of years. I didn’t miss them. I was tempted when they launched iPad Pros and released keyboard attachments/Pencil but I still felt like my opinion would remain the same.
Shift to today and I’m typing this up on my iPad Pro 11-inch. The thing that I love most is definitely the hardware. They took a very aging design and came up with something totally fresh. Seeing one in person is really necessary to truly appreciate the hardware and overall form factor. When you consider that this super light device has a chip as powerful as it does, it really makes you fall in love with the hardware. The gesture based navigation, a la iPhone X, is next level and makes the device feel that much more futuristic. Also, without the home button, it just becomes a super-light glass slab that you hold in any orientation.
I feel the 11-inch form factor is fantastic. I know Apple designed the 10.5 inch Pro around the notion of a full-sized keyboard, and this new 11-inch model is just a natural evolution of the form-factor. The keyboard is really effortless to use and as someone who is used to the butterfly keyboards, it’s a very natural typing experience that I don’t have to really think about going between my MBP and my iPad. I know there’s the whole 11 vs 12.9 debate, but more than anything it comes down to personal preference and how you use the device. When I consider what I like the most about my iPad, it’s the combination of portability in a stunning form-factor and always-on LTE. It wouldn’t be nearly as portable if I owned a 12.9 version, however if I just sat it at a desk all day, the 12.9 might be a better choice.
I also continue to find use-cases for the device, which I never did in the past. A lot of it has to do with the fact that it has a very usable keyboard now, and iOS has matured to recognize basic shortcuts i.e. Spotlight or CMD-F. I find that iOS is better suited for when I really need to focus on one thing— such as typing this review. My profession requires me to multitask so frequently, and because of this whenever I open my Mac, I immediately go do 100 different things. If I just need to do one or two quick things, I find the iPad is the better device to pick up because I can quickly accomplish whatever I need to, then just move on.
It’s ironic because part of what I enjoy most about the software (the simplicity) also becomes the devices’ Achilles heel when comparing it against a laptop. As every review mentions, it’s incredibly obvious that the bottleneck for this device is the software because you can just feel how powerful it is as you’re using it. The fact that I can’t connect a USB-C drive and transfer to/from is laughable for a device that costs this much. When you add in a Pencil/Keyboard, you’re already looking at an additional $300+, not to mention if you opt for the cellular model ($150). It adds up quickly yet I can’t even transfer a movie over from a drive. Another limitation of the software is the fact that iOS continues to treat so many sites as ‘Mobile’ sites. This thing is larger than a lot of real laptop devices- i.e. Surface Go, but certain sites insist on locking me into a mobile browser view, even when I ‘Request Desktop Site’. If I’m being honest with myself, to knock out some real work, I’m reaching for the Macbook every time due to limitations such as these.
Wouldn’t be a review without mentioning the bending. I will say I’ve stared at the damn thing for a lot longer than I’d like to admit, and I can’t determine whether or not there is a slight bend when looking along the top. After so much focus and one-eye squinting, I decided if I have to try that hard to see something, it’s not worth letting it ruin my opinion of the device. I’ve moved on from caring about the ‘bending’ and I think many others would live happier lives if they did the same. I’ve seen pictures of some extreme cases and they are appalling, to be completely transparent. I know there are exceptions and some cases are different than others, but largely I think it’s a lot of noise about what’s essentially a non-issue.
iOS 13/14 will really shed light on the path forward for iOS (maybe eventually PadOS?) and that will really dictate just what this device will become in the future. The exciting thing about the 2018 iPad is that for the first time in forever, it feels like the device is about to get that much better when Apple launches iOS13. Innovation in the tablet category was stale for so many years, however it finally feels like the time is right with Marzapian and all of these other synergies going on that the iPad may finally be approaching a point of maturity where the OS will eliminate the need to use mainstream desktop operating systems for a lot of people. The beginning of the end, so to speak. Especially when considering the younger generation (under age 15 or so) who heavily prefer iOS to something like MacOS, the time seems right for a shift. There will always be a place for MacOS but mainstream computing is approaching a new phase. The time is ripe for Apple to show us the next big thing.
