iPad Pro Ipad pro for my (complex) gaming use case?

[al2813]

I have been putting a lot of thinking and reading into this and probably part of the answer to my dilemma will be revealed once the new Ipad pro goes through proper reviewing.

We've got three tablets currently in the family - two ipads (my children) and one cheap android used by me for bedside surfing, watching the occasional movies and also private surfing when I travel for work (my work laptop is pretty locked and I can't do a lot with it except working....). When the family travels (and we do that at least 3 times a year for holiday and my family/friends visits), all 3 tablets travel with us, but than we also had to take a 4th device and this is where the dilemma starts. My two boys (especially the big one, the small one is just starting) are big gamers. For the last two years we had an Asus gamer laptop that was used purely for gaming when travelling - the current hits are Fortnite and minecraft (which my big one loves playing with the boys of my best friend when we visit them and also online when we are 5000 km apart) this last one is a tricky point as you will see in a second.

a couple of months ago after the last trip I got fed up and sold the laptop. Fact was we were not using this at home at all (my boys now game at home on their PCs), and also I decided I am tired of travelling with 3 tablets and a laptop and here's where the ipad pro comes into play. It seems the Ipad pro (as of the 2017 flavours) run fortnite extremely well - in fact my my son tells me it runs it as fluidly as a gaming laptop. With Minecraft I have a small issue as my son's playing mates run Minecraft Java on a PC which apparently do not interact with Minecraft Bedrock running on the Ipad. After thinking a lot about this we might have a solution by remote connecting the Ipad pro to a windows PC we will setup on the cloud. This looks an interesting suggestion as I will get my beside tablet, my travel tablet, and occasional windows usage in "laptop mode" all with one device. It looks a more tempting solution than getting a windows tablet which for me is a bad tablet and apparently also a bad gaming machine.

So my two questions (to those who read my long story - I am hoping there are others that have similar stories, use cases...):

- Is my line of thinking a sensible one - would you do the same in my place?
- Do I get a second hand iPad pro 10,5 (which I can get 2nd hand in mint conditions plus accessories for about 550-600 EUR) or I splash for the new 11 model (at 900 EUR in Europe for the 64Gb model will be stretching my initial budget of 800 EUR, and I will still need to get a keyboard, cover and protection)? Again looking for views and opinions.

Thanks for your input - spent the whole weekend reading and still have not made my mind

 

[darkarn]

As someone who have used remote connection with an iPad Pro 2017 via Teamviewer, I suggest that you test this out with what you have first before buying anything. This is so as remote connection eats up a lot of mobile data, which is a concern if you are travelling a lot and do not always have Wifi. There's also some latency involved in remote connection which is ok if you are just checking on your computer but for real time Minecraft I am unsure.

As for deciding on the 10.5 against the 11, I am siding more towards the 11 as it has the A12X SoC, which will make a big difference in gaming. I already have one game that lags a bit under certain circumstances in my A10X iPad Pro 12.9 2nd Gen; I won't be surprised if the A12X will resolve it

 

[al2813]

As someone who have used remote connection with an iPad Pro 2017 via Teamviewer, I suggest that you test this out with what you have first before buying anything. This is so as remote connection eats up a lot of mobile data, which is a concern if you are travelling a lot and do not always have Wifi. There's also some latency involved in remote connection which is ok if you are just checking on your computer but for real time Minecraft I am unsure.

As for deciding on the 10.5 against the 11, I am siding more towards the 11 as it has the A12X SoC, which will make a big difference in gaming. I already have one game that lags a bit under certain circumstances in my A10X iPad Pro 12.9 2nd Gen; I won't be surprised if the A12X will resolve it

Thanks indeed I am leaning also towards the new one. The remote connection is indeed my main concern and over here in Belgium returns are only possible for a few days after purchase...

 

[darkarn]

Thanks indeed I am leaning also towards the new one. The remote connection is indeed my main concern and over here in Belgium returns are only possible for a few days after purchase...

If Belgium has an Apple Store, see if you can use their 14 day policy too. It should be more than enough to test for that

 

[fnsroot]

Regarding your remote idea I have a very similar setup. I was a bit tired to take my Macbook 13 on every business trip (e.g., confereces), because my iPad (9,7 pro) is simply lighter, more mobile and does most tasks (mail, word processing, ...) almost identically well. Nevertheless, I choosed the Macbook most of the time, because I use some software (SPSS, SmartPLS...) which is only available under Windows or MacOS. My solution was that my Windows computer at home serves as a remote computer for my iPad with the software that otherwise lacks (via Windows RDP). The latter is permanently accessible via DynDNS and can be booted up via Wake on Lan (using my router).

Can my iPad completely replace my computer entirely, i.e., never using the actual pc or mac itself, only remotely? Certainly not. Mouse and keyboard are simply something different when it comes to usability. However, I don't need to worry anymore about a "full-fledged" computer while traveling.

One think you should try out is how well your upload works at home. I currently have 40mbit up-stream, which is perfectly sufficient for a "stream" of the interface. However, a remote video consumption or the like is still too slow.

Best
Fred

 

[Mathias Denichi]

I have been putting a lot of thinking and reading into this and probably part of the answer to my dilemma will be revealed once the new Ipad pro goes through proper reviewing.

We've got three tablets currently in the family - two ipads (my children) and one cheap android used by me for bedside surfing, watching the occasional movies and also private surfing when I travel for work (my work laptop is pretty locked and I can't do a lot with it except working....). When the family travels (and we do that at least 3 times a year for holiday and my family/friends visits), all 3 tablets travel with us, but than we also had to take a 4th device and this is where the dilemma starts. My two boys (especially the big one, the small one is just starting) are big gamers. For the last two years we had an Asus gamer laptop that was used purely for gaming when travelling - the current hits are Fortnite and minecraft (which my big one loves playing with the boys of my best friend when we visit them and also online when we are 5000 km apart) this last one is a tricky point as you will see in a second.

a couple of months ago after the last trip I got fed up and sold the laptop. Fact was we were not using this at home at all (my boys now game at home on their PCs), and also I decided I am tired of travelling with 3 tablets and a laptop and here's where the ipad pro comes into play. It seems the Ipad pro (as of the 2017 flavours) run fortnite extremely well - in fact my my son tells me it runs it as fluidly as a gaming laptop. With Minecraft I have a small issue as my son's playing mates run Minecraft Java on a PC which apparently do not interact with Minecraft Bedrock running on the Ipad. After thinking a lot about this we might have a solution by remote connecting the Ipad pro to a windows PC we will setup on the cloud. This looks an interesting suggestion as I will get my beside tablet, my travel tablet, and occasional windows usage in "laptop mode" all with one device. It looks a more tempting solution than getting a windows tablet which for me is a bad tablet and apparently also a bad gaming machine.

So my two questions (to those who read my long story - I am hoping there are others that have similar stories, use cases...):

- Is my line of thinking a sensible one - would you do the same in my place?
- Do I get a second hand iPad pro 10,5 (which I can get 2nd hand in mint conditions plus accessories for about 550-600 EUR) or I splash for the new 11 model (at 900 EUR in Europe for the 64Gb model will be stretching my initial budget of 800 EUR, and I will still need to get a keyboard, cover and protection)? Again looking for views and opinions.

Thanks for your input - spent the whole weekend reading and still have not made my mind

I’ve done a bunch of experimenting when it comes with the iPad, remote gaming, connecting and playing games with controllers.

You can play Minecraft together universally, on near any device if they switch to the windows 10 edition on pc (it’s free if they have the legacy java one).

Gaming remotely is best done with an app called Moonlight, but requires an Nvidia card. You can use the GeForce experience to connect, both WiFi and LTE, and play remotely using touch screen or a controller.

If you do something like Jump desktop or splash, you can actually use a mouse. Either swift or the Citrix x1. But unfortunately, when I last tested, the Apple Smart Keyboard and mouse didn’t work for prolonged presses. The WASD sitiuation didn’t work for games, and it didn’t properly track the mouse for games.

It’s not a bad idea, I’d just get the 10.5 iPad since you may want a controller accessory etc. None of those games will take advantage of the new hardware for a bit, so save your money.

 

[al2813]

I’ve done a bunch of experimenting when it comes with the iPad, remote gaming, connecting and playing games with controllers.

You can play Minecraft together universally, on near any device if they switch to the windows 10 edition on pc (it’s free if they have the legacy java one).

Gaming remotely is best done with an app called Moonlight, but requires an Nvidia card. You can use the GeForce experience to connect, both WiFi and LTE, and play remotely using touch screen or a controller.

If you do something like Jump desktop or splash, you can actually use a mouse. Either swift or the Citrix x1. But unfortunately, when I last tested, the Apple Smart Keyboard and mouse didn’t work for prolonged presses. The WASD sitiuation didn’t work for games, and it didn’t properly track the mouse for games.

It’s not a bad idea, I’d just get the 10.5 iPad since you may want a controller accessory etc. None of those games will take advantage of the new hardware for a bit, so save your money.

Thanks for the feedback! - yes we're already checking moonlight as our PCs have NVIDIA cards. I am worried about upload. I have 10 MB upload and will be upgraded soon to 20.