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Is the iPhone 6s Plus 128GB an optimal replacement for your laptop?

Which is the best laptop replacement?

  • iPhone 6s Plus

    Votes: 5 13.2%

  • iPad Pro

    Votes: 33 86.8%
  • Total voters
    38
T

talwarsirav

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Apr 25, 2016
28
5
I sold my MacBook Pro (Mid-2008) and MacBook Air (Mid-2012) recently as I got very good value for them and honestly, they were slowing down. I invested the amount to purchase an iPhone 6s Plus 128GB. Basically, I am entrepreneur working on Numbers and Pages frequently. My printer supports AirPrint and I really do not need heavy processing. Can this super phone actually be the most optimal laptop replacement?

I feel it is a getter replacement than even an iPad Pro, because of the ability to carry it in your pocket.

If you agree, then why?
If you don't, then what is it actually missing?
 
Could it replace a laptop? Possibly. It's got more power than my 17" PowerBook G4, for sure.

Would I replace my laptop with it? No. I have a range of devices, including laptops, that each serve a particular purpose. Acting as a laptop is the job of my PowerBook and my MacBook Pro, not my 128GB 6s+.

Just my opinion.
 
If all you do is browse emails and social media sites, then you could be ok using an iPhone. Anything else (like photo or video editing, working with external hard drives, etc) would need at least a MacBook to do anything efficiently :)
 
When it comes to using Microsoft excel products, pleasurable viewing size, ultimate storage capacity, dedicated keyboard for speed and efficiency, true full backups in iTunes, etc.....the ipad Pro could not replace my MacBook and 6S Plus wouldn't hold a candle to it.
 
I would vote "neither" also.

An "optimal replacement?" That is absurd. I have a 128gb iPhone 6s Plus and love it, but it's completely different from a laptop computer. It can't run the powerful sofware I use, such as Logic Pro, Final Cut Pro, VectorWorks, Filemaker Pro, etc. It doesn't have the I/O options of the "real" computer for things like external disks, audio interfaces, external monitors and more. And iOS is really limited as operating systems go.

It is a very powerful little computer though and I'm impressed by what Apple has crammed into such a small package. But there's no way it could be my only computing device. I also have a 2008 MBP and a 2013 MBA. I don't use the MBP anymore, the battery is dead and it's just too slow by today's standards. But I use the MBA heavily.

Now maybe you could get by with only the iPhone, and that's fine if it meets your needs. But you asked it it could be an "optimal replacement for your laptop". No way. :)
 
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You will get few if any useful responses to your post, mostly because of the phrase 'laptop replacement' that you used. There is a large vocal minority here that feels threatened by any suggestion of an iOS device "replacing" their chosen device/workflow/OS. It's kind of a religious thing actually.

A better question would be: If you are using the 6s+ as your primary computer, please describe how and why that's working for you.

I am in that category. Occasionally I would prefer the screen real estate of my iPad Air, but the 6s+ is in every other way better. And I haven't missed my Windows laptop since I completely stopped using it months ago. I print wirelessly, use Apple Music, use MS Office for iOS, do my banking, edit photos on it... everything really. So yes, for me it has replaced my laptop. But that really started with the Air first.
 
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Unless your requirement is only very very basic, it can never replace a laptop. I'm an entrepreneur as well & I can do a lot with my phone but I have at least 15 Windows open on my Mac which the iPhone can never do.
 
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Neither would be my choice as well. There is NO way a 6s Plus could replace a laptop as it barely replaces an iPad.

Maybe in the future an iPad Pro could, but we're not there yet.
 
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The answer, as always, depends ultimately on your own needs. There are some tasks which can only be done on a laptop, just as there are tasks which are more seamless to carry out on a phone or tablet.

Personally, I don't think you would want to be typing or working on spreadsheets on a small screen such as the iPhone, even with a Bluetooth keyboard. iPad Pro, maybe.
 
iphone being a laptop replacement is one of the most preposterous things I've read on here.
 
Never ever. I use my iPad and iPhone more than my computers. But at the end of the day and on the weekend with my morning coffee the laptop comes out. I still like a physical keyboard and mouse and a full OS.
 
macgeek18 said:
Never ever. I use my iPad and iPhone more than my computers. But at the end of the day and on the weekend with my morning coffee the laptop comes out. I still like a physical keyboard and mouse and a full OS.
Click to expand...
See right above.
 
I think it's basically been covered, but your usage patterns are rally what's going to dictate whether you could replace a laptop.

Me? I still use a laptop for some work but I can do most of it from my 6s plus (and I imagine an iPad but I no longer have one since I found it redundant for my usage patterns).

My mom got rid of her laptop two years ago and uses nothing but a 6s for all of her connectivity. The apartment complex where we live has an AirPrint enabled printer so she can even print anything she may need to print

I think we are seeing a trend of more and more moving away from a full blown computer. There are some forms of work (and play) that will "never" move completely from a computer, but I imagine in another ten years most citizens of developed countries will have retired their computers for the pocket equivalent.
 
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The question should be can any Apple device replace a computer ? Nope
 
No smartphone or or tablet running iOS is laptop replacement. iOS is too limiting to be a laptop or desktop replacement.
 
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