iPad Pro Q: What’s a Computer?

[prospervic]

A: An electronic computational* device that helps you get your work done. This includes iPad.

From johnsonwax on arstechnica.com forum: (emphasis mine)
“Why should drawing/painting or music or other thing that iPad is actually quite capable at be an exception? Apple has historically treated these as core pro markets. FFS, look at the first party apps Apple sells?

I used my 13" iPad Pro as a go-to interface for accessing technical print-ready reports. Sufficiently close in aspect and dimension to a standard sheet of paper so everything is legible without zooming so I could hand it to someone without a problem, and I could grab any of the thousands of reports I generated in my career without having to haul binders into meetings. And it was trivial to throw those up on a projector or into a zoom call if needed. Isn't that pro work? I was paid for it. It dramatically improved productivity.

Every single home inspector or general contractor or appraiser that has come in my house in the last 8 years or so had an iPad in their hand. Notes, quotes, measurements, all in their hand. When we had an addition the foreman carried the plans on an iPad. Isn't that pro work?

I swear, according to [the geek] community the only pro work is command line docker deployments of mission critical software. Everyone else can **** straight off, I guess.”

*Yes, I know I used the term being defined in the definition, but this is to prevent people from making comments like “So, a power drill is a computer, then?”

 

[ericwn]

I’m not sure the intend of your post. Yes the iPad evolved from the iPhone and your document review use case makes that point exactly. I want a bigger touch device to review these, in comes the iPad.

I also don’t think it needs establishing that iPads are successful tools for millions of people, be they on their couch or somewhere else in the field. Professional work always means you get paid for your work. What Apples marketing folks deem to call a device or what they label as “pro” is of no concern to me.

 

[ProbablyDylan]

The owner of the company I work for does all his work on an M1 iPad Air. Signs documents, sends angry emails, inspects materials remotely via Facetime, coordinates with overseas factories, reviews and marks up excel and pdf reports. Doesn't even use an external keyboard.

If steering the corporate ship isn't 'pro' then I don't know what is.

 

[prospervic]

I also don’t think it needs establishing that iPads are successful tools for millions of people, be they on their couch or somewhere else in the field. Professional work always means you get paid for your work.

You would think this truth would be self evident, but my post is aimed at the people on these forums that continue, despite evidence to the contrary, to insist that iPad is only for content consumption, and that it's really just a "blown up iPhone."

 

[Digitalguy]

A more interesting question nobody asks is "What's a tablet?". And the definition given by Jobs when he introduced the iPad is far too limited today.
I am sure there as as many answers as the counteless use cases for iPads and tablets in general...

 

[prospervic]

The owner of the company I work for does all his work on an M1 iPad Air. Signs documents, sends angry emails, inspects materials remotely via Facetime, coordinates with overseas factories, reviews and marks up excel and pdf reports. Doesn't even use an external keyboard.

That's badass!

 

[klasma]

One property of a computer is that you can program it, and can devise and run any program on it that you like. This is heavily restricted on iPads. I would say that the iPad contains a computer, but the iPad itself is arguably not a general-purpose computer, due to how Apple controls how it can be put to purpose. Of course, this is not black and white, but a spectrum. Those who say that the iPad doesn’t qualify as a “real” computer would prefer it to be more open, more a collection of tools and facilities you can combine at will, add your own facilities to it, and replace existing ones. Again, this is rather restricted on the iPad.

 

[sparksd]

One property of a computer is that you can program it, and can devise and run any program on it that you like. This is heavily restricted on iPads. I would say that the iPad contains a computer, but the iPad itself is arguably not a general-purpose computer, due to how Apple controls how it can be put to purpose. Of course, this is not black and white, but a spectrum. Those who say that the iPad doesn’t qualify as a “real” computer would prefer it to be more open, more a collection of tools and facilities you can combine at will, add your own facilities to it, and replace existing ones. Again, this is rather restricted on the iPad.

There are a lot of computers that cannot run "any program on it that you like". I used a CRAY that fit that bill and it was certainly a computer.

 

[Abazigal]

You would think this truth would be self evident, but my post is aimed at the people on these forums that continue, despite evidence to the contrary, to insist that iPad is only for content consumption, and that it's really just a "blown up iPhone."

The unspoken implication of that statement is that an iPad is good only for content consumption "for them", just as I am happily using my iPad to help teach in the classroom, but I also acknowledge that I am far from being the majority here.

At the end of the day, one's arbitrary definition of what a computer entails isn't nearly as important as what one is able to get out of said device. If I can't run notability on a windows PC, then it doesn't matter how much ram or how powerful its processor is. It just can't do what is considered basic table stakes for my iPad.

 

[G5isAlive]

You would think this truth would be self evident, but my post is aimed at the people on these forums that continue, despite evidence to the contrary, to insist that iPad is only for content consumption, and that it's really just a "blown up iPhone."

i feel you’re pain, but for the most part those people narrowly define a Computer to be what they wish it was, so that they can criticize Apple for not delivering. you aren’t going to get them to be logical.

 

[Algr]

Many products used to be labeled "electrical" or "motorized". Such practices became so expected that the labels became unnecessary. An iPhone is far more powerful than a PowerPC Macintosh. Calculating the verbiage is interesting, but not of critical importance.

 

[TechnoMonk]

iPhone, iPad, mac, desktop, and Apple Watch are all computers that serve their purpose. One isn’t worth more than other depending on the use/needs.

 

[TechnoMonk]

You would think this truth would be self evident, but my post is aimed at the people on these forums that continue, despite evidence to the contrary, to insist that iPad is only for content consumption, and that it's really just a "blown up iPhone."

Vocal minority that wants Mac OS on iPad. They just use buzzwords like real work/pro use to regurgitate same old narratives.

 

[MacDevil7334]

I use my iPad Pro for all my work notes, technical documents, and for quick responses to emails and IMs while in meetings. Those are “pro” tasks and the iPad does them well. That’s not really the issue I and many others have with the current state of the iPad Pro line. We aren’t saying it can’t do any “pro” tasks. Obviously it can, and for some tasks is the best tool (anything that benefits from the pencil or being touch-first).

Let me frame the issue this way: an M-series MacBook Air can’t do everything an iPad Pro can because of its hardware design and limitations. It lacks a touch screen and stylus support. So, it can’t do things that require those features and is instead limited to tasks that can be accomplished with a keyboard and trackpad. The iPad Pro with the exact same chip (or in the case of the new models, a better chip) does support a keyboard and trackpad. But, when the iPad is hooked up to those peripherals, it can’t do the same things an equivalent MacBook can do because Apple has limited the software. That’s infuriating given Apple pushes the iPad Pro hard as a laptop replacement.

I’m not necessarily saying iPads should run macOS. I think the people yelling for macOS are more looking for a quick way to free the iPad from limitations on backgrounding, memory, and file management that the Mac hasn’t had in decades. If iPadOS were to evolve to remove these limits, that would be fine with me. But, after 14 years, the core of iPadOS is still a phone OS based around protecting scarce system resources that are abundant in modern hardware. That needs to change somehow.

 

[Tyler O'Bannon]

People don’t need massive power for spreadsheets, notes, and surfing the web. They need power for video editing, photo editing, rendering, compiling, etc. This has become synonymous with the moniker “pro”, not using it for something you’re getting paid for.

 

[iPadified]

People, even at MR that should know better, tend to mix "computer" with "personal computer, PC" where "PC" is a subset of "computer". Considering the overlap of task done, tables and phones are subsets of "PC" just like Wintel PC, Mac, and some Intel-Linux boxes are.

That we are able to directly compare tables and PC shows how close the tables are to PC today and it s a matter of preference and fit to the respective presume tasks.

Yes, there are some irritating issues with iPadOS but it also gets better every year. Not long time ago the App limit was 4 Gb not it is 16 (or is it 12?). That like led to Logic and FCP on iPad and some higher end games and more layers in Procreate. I must be a an idiot regarding file management as I experience that Finder and Files works very similar for me. Not killing background processes such as video export on iPad would be good.

Break is over: Back to correcting student reports and I chose the iPad with pencil because it is most efficient computer for the task!

 

[rafark]

Yes the iPad evolved from the iPhone

The iPad was being developed before the iPhone.

 

[unchecked]

It’s the same with other electronics like cameras. We don’t need a pro camera to do pro stuff. Lots of photographers/videographers do paid work with entry-mid tier “normal” equipment, including phones.

Labels like “pro” can mean so many things to many people, they are basically meaningless.

And yes most of us can do almost everything with the base iPads. The Air is already an upsell. The Pro is a luxury item at this point.

 

[xxFoxtail]

The owner of the company I work for does all his work on an M1 iPad Air. Signs documents, sends angry emails, inspects materials remotely via Facetime, coordinates with overseas factories, reviews and marks up excel and pdf reports. Doesn't even use an external keyboard.

If steering the corporate ship isn't 'pro' then I don't know what is.

I was getting ready to take over the family business and all I had was an iPad at the time (my parents decided not to retire and to keep working). Everything I needed to run the business was do-able on my iPad. QuickBooks, Excel, email, phone calls, signing documents, etc all had no issues.

And one of my hobbies is photography, which the iPad of course has no issues with photo editing.

Just because I’m not creating music or video editing, doesn’t mean I can’t use the iPad for pro work.

 

[ThomasJL]

Q: What’s a Computer?​

A: A device that Tim Cook greedily removed upgradable memory and upgradable storage from, stupidly added a hideous notch to, and greedily increased prices for.

 

[Wando64]

Is this discussion really happening?

 

[ericwn]

The iPad was being developed before the iPhone.

Yeah so the story goes until the point where all work was focused on iPhone and it launched first. iPad launched three years later.

 

[ericwn]

A: A device that Tim Cook greedily removed replaceable memory and hard drives from, stupidly added a hideous notch to, and greedily increased prices for.

And oh have they suffered from cook.

 

[prospervic]

i feel you’re pain, but for the most part those people narrowly define a Computer to be what they wish it was, so that they can criticize Apple for not delivering. you aren’t going to get them to be logical.

this is true. Logic is useless with those who have a deeply felt need to be “right“.

 

[prospervic]

A: A device that Tim Cook greedily removed replaceable memory and hard drives from, stupidly added a hideous notch to, and greedily increased prices for

Apple is not the only company that removed hard drives and replaceable memory from laptops.