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All iPads Should I dump my MacBook ?

jimfastcar1

jimfastcar1

macrumors member
Original poster
Oct 30, 2015
45
3
Oakville, Ontario Canada
The announcement that the new iPad IOS will make the iPad more "notebook like", has prompted me to think again about the merits of owning both an iPad and a MacBook.

90% of my use of a computer is consuming content - Web browsing, email and photo editing accounting for almost all of my use. I very occasionally create a Word doc or Excel spreadsheet.

To that end, I am considering dumping my iPad Gen 1 12.9 / 512 GB (70% full) and MacBook 13" for the new iPad Pro 12.9 / 1 TB.

I download pictures to iPad and screen them, deleting most and then edit them in Affinity which exceeds my needs. I store my photo collection in DropBox, iCloud and Google Photos (can't be too safe...)

What has been holding me back is my email archive but I spoke to my ISP (Bell Canada) and the Tech is not aware of any limits to hosting, so i could move my local email folders sitting on my MacBook to the ISP for hosting.

Does this make sense ?, sorry for the long post but i wanted to present a clear picture.
Thanks
 
Maybe in the future, depending on your workflow, but not yet.
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Well, you already have a pretty powerful iPad Pro at hand - give it a try and see how well that one works with your email archive in the cloud. If that solution works satisfactory, you could come up with a plan to transition over completely.
 
I downloaded iPadOS last week and apart from the occasional hiccup, I haven’t looked back. I am loving every single part of it so much - I have barely picked up my MacBook Pro. I came to a conclusion that I can’t dump it just yet because of the following:

- I use it for work. If you use yours for work, you need a good docking solution. I think this is the final piece of the puzzle for iPadOs
- Trackpad support isn’t great. Yes you can technically use a Trackpad but it’s not meant to be used by one and I really know what Apple means. Using a mouse on iOS software, I found to be really bizarre for some reason
- Keynote. The gesture control on iOS still really frustrates me. I need precise input to pick up small objects and I still can’t do it. Heck I haven’t even worked out how to move in a straight line with the ‘Move’ animation.

So my conclusion is that this is a great mobile personal computer. It is so competent at being that. I can travel with it and not worry about limitations anymore. To fully replace my laptop it will have to do everything either the same, slightly worse or better for me to do it and it just falls short.
 
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You'll never get a good answer to this here. The Mac diehards will tell you no, the iPad diehards will tell you yes. The only person who really knows is you. I personally do FAR more than just content consumption and have moved all my personal workflows to the iPad Pro (photo/video/audio editing, recording, music composition, artwork, etc.). Got rid of my personally owned Macbook Pro 2 1/2 years ago and don't miss it one bit. I still have a Mac but only because work gives me one. If they took it away I would not replace it with my own.
 
jimfastcar1 said:
The announcement that the new iPad IOS will make the iPad more "notebook like", has prompted me to think again about the merits of owning both an iPad and a MacBook.

90% of my use of a computer is consuming content - Web browsing, email and photo editing accounting for almost all of my use. I very occasionally create a Word doc or Excel spreadsheet.

To that end, I am considering dumping my iPad Gen 1 12.9 / 512 GB (70% full) and MacBook 13" for the new iPad Pro 12.9 / 1 TB.

I download pictures to iPad and screen them, deleting most and then edit them in Affinity which exceeds my needs. I store my photo collection in DropBox, iCloud and Google Photos (can't be too safe...)

What has been holding me back is my email archive but I spoke to my ISP (Bell Canada) and the Tech is not aware of any limits to hosting, so i could move my local email folders sitting on my MacBook to the ISP for hosting.

Does this make sense ?, sorry for the long post but i wanted to present a clear picture.
Thanks
Click to expand...
Find out yourself! :)
 
I went all iPad about two years ago. My 12” Macbook broke in <2 years and Apple wanted $600 to repair it (I paid $930 refurb.) I was entertaining waiting for a good deal on a new MacBook Air but, with the keyboard issues, I don’t know why any non-professional would invest in a Macbook at this point. You’re signing up for expensive repairs if/when the keyboard dies outside of warranty or AppleCare. If you do decide to try going to exclusively iPads give it at least 6 months. There are certain things that will annoy the hell out of you at first but eventually you figure out a workaround or learn to just live with them. I run two 2nd gen iPad Pros with ASK’s and just got a great deal on the iPad Mini 5 at Rakuten. While I do miss the trackpad sometimes using iOS exclusively sure makes MacOS feel pretty antiquated.

I was actually considering getting a Surface Pro 6 to use on business travel. But with the new mouse and Safari desktop browser support I might be able to use my 10.5” IPP for that.
 
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I was considering it as well but decided against it. I'm the type of person that has 20 tabs open in chrome, multiple other apps open, and it just is a lot easier on a Mac. Only you can tell if you can. Why not try this. Keep using iPadOS beta for a while and if after a month or so you still don't use your mac sell it and upgrade to the 12.9" 1TB 3rd gen model. Sorry for my grammar I never paid attention in school. Haha
 
See if you can get by with your current iPP 12.9 for the next few weeks and if that works out for you, then make the jump. If it doesn’t quite work out for you yet, then try again with either the iPadOS 13 Beta or official version when it comes out.

I just upgraded my 2013 MacBook Pro to the new 2019 MacBook Pro as I still do feel the need to have a Mac personally. I am a programmer, so until XCode can be used on the iPP, then I’ll have a Mac. I also backup family iOS devices and photos, but this could be done solely on iPad now. Video conversion is another thing I need my Mac for that is becoming less important to me.
I had my previous MacBook Pro for 6 years and I plan on having this one that long too. It wouldn’t surprise me if the iPP 12.9 with external monitor and mouse support becomes my main computer within that time and that this could be my last MacBook Pro that I own.
 
jimfastcar1 said:
The announcement that the new iPad IOS will make the iPad more "notebook like", has prompted me to think again about the merits of owning both an iPad and a MacBook.

90% of my use of a computer is consuming content - Web browsing, email and photo editing accounting for almost all of my use. I very occasionally create a Word doc or Excel spreadsheet.

To that end, I am considering dumping my iPad Gen 1 12.9 / 512 GB (70% full) and MacBook 13" for the new iPad Pro 12.9 / 1 TB.

I download pictures to iPad and screen them, deleting most and then edit them in Affinity which exceeds my needs. I store my photo collection in DropBox, iCloud and Google Photos (can't be too safe...)

What has been holding me back is my email archive but I spoke to my ISP (Bell Canada) and the Tech is not aware of any limits to hosting, so i could move my local email folders sitting on my MacBook to the ISP for hosting.

Does this make sense ?, sorry for the long post but i wanted to present a clear picture.
Thanks
Click to expand...

I would not jump into it so quickly. You already have a 12.9” iPad Pro, so try using this one as your main device after iPad OS comes out and see how it works. You can try using the beta version, but you should not make the jump before you try the final one and the new apps which get releases using its full potential.

If you use Word or Excel, you should be aware that the iPad versions are far worse then the desktop ones. You may try using them on the iPad with the new functionality to see it it works for you. If it does not, wait to see if Microsoft improves it in the future.

Do not hurry. Are you in need of a new device? Wait for the iPadOS to show its true potential before making a decision. Otherwise, you may end up having to buy another computer if it does not work as planned.
 
TheRealAlex said:
My note 9 already does all this and more.
Click to expand...
Fantastic! Samsung makes great devices and has great ideas. If only they would build their own OS instead of using a 'free' one developed by an advertising company.

I was part of the Ubuntu Touch beta back in 2013ish. In my mind an amazing concept. Carry your computer in your pocket. I imagine walking into work, placing your phone on a wireless charger and have the display mirror to a 27" display, wireless keyboard and mouse automatically syncs and you start working in seconds. But that has not happened yet.
 
Dunbar said:
I went all iPad about two years ago. My 12” Macbook broke in <2 years and Apple wanted $600 to repair it (I paid $930 refurb.) I was entertaining waiting for a good deal on a new MacBook Air but, with the keyboard issues, I don’t know why any non-professional would invest in a Macbook at this point. You’re signing up for expensive repairs if/when the keyboard dies outside of warranty or AppleCare. If you do decide to try going to exclusively iPads give it at least 6 months. There are certain things that will annoy the hell out of you at first but eventually you figure out a workaround or learn to just live with them. I run two 2nd gen iPad Pros with ASK’s and just got a great deal on the iPad Mini 5 at Rakuten. While I do miss the trackpad sometimes using iOS exclusively sure makes MacOS feel pretty antiquated
Click to expand...
I was working on something yesterday, non-professionally, that involved having a half-dozen PDF documents, a few word docs, my address book, several browser windows, and the photos app all open and in use. Doing that on an iPad would have been far more time consuming and frustrating than on a MacBook.

Although ipadOS is a good step forward, the multitasking both within and among apps is still nowhere near what it is on the Mac, and that’s why ipad-only seems like a solution in search of a problem to me.
 
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DUMP YOUR LAPTOP I SAY!!! NOW!!

j/k, as many have already stated, it depends on your specific needs.
 
I tried using the iPad Pro only but after a while I came to value having an actual MacBook and bought the new Air.

Also, I'd given up on Apple giving the iPad external hard drive support as well as doing things like create a desktop only version of Safari. I'll have to test it out and see how it is, but if it lives up to the hype I'd say unless you need to do video editing or something like that then you should be good with the iPad.
 
I have 2 MacBook Pros and 1 iPad Air 2. iPad for me is for entertainment only and I don’t need the pro version at all.

My next iPad will be the cheapest iPad for sure, coz I don’t use it for productivity. iPadOS is still not comparable to macOS in terms of multitasking.

However I do need an iPad for causal stuff coz it’s simple and easy to use for non work related stuff. And obviously iPad Pro is beyond my need.
 
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