iPad Pro The end of the iPad era for me, the dawn of M1 era

[subjonas]

tldr- Merging macOS and iPadOS? I don’t think so. iPad app and Mac app parity? I don’t think so. Hybrid? A small possibility.

I don’t see any OS merging happening in the foreseeable future, not because of Apple greed, but because the two OSes simply have two contradicting focuses. macOS was made for the professional in mind (robust and flexible) while making it as accessible as possible to the everyday user. iOS/iPadOS was the opposite—made with the everyday user in mind (simple and rigid) while making it as useful as possible for the professional (and in this regard it is still growing, but it has limited potential due to the OS’ focus). Trying to have one OS do both would merely split the focuses, making it weaker in both extremes. So Apple leaves it to the customer to choose the OS that best fits their uses.

So then there’s the question of form factor and input preference. People got keyboard and arrow input with iOS/iPadOS, so everyone who likes iOS/iPadOS (as is) is pretty much squared away. That just leaves people who want touch input with macOS. The problem with that is it’s likely too small of a niche for Apple to bother revamping the OS and getting developers to jump on board. The reason I say that is because macOS is mainly about professional and power users, and those types of applications are generally not as productive with touch UIs. Prime examples are Premiere (video editing) and Excel (spreadsheets). They require accurate pointing so that you can edit while simultaneously seeing as much of your work as possible. And they have a myriad of functions accessed via buttons and menus. These can be done with a touch UI, but because a finger needs big buttons, there is much more zooming in and out and finding functions buried in submenus. All of this is added time, so those who use these applications professionally would be at too much of a disadvantage if they chose to use touch. This is probably why Apple sees a touch macOS not worth the effort.
That’s also why I don’t see certain professional applications making their way to the iPad, at least not the full versions that exist on desktop, because no matter how fast the hardware is, and even if the OS didn’t hold them back (which it currently does), some applications will be too disadvantaged with a touch UI. Not to mention iOS/iPadOS app pricing issues, which is separate but significant.

I’d note that Pencil input is a slightly different story from touch. Because it is pixel accurate, it doesn’t require a Mac UI change and it can be conducive to certain professional software. But that too is likely too small of a niche for it to be worth it for Apple to put macOS on an iPad, let alone make an entirely new Mac tablet. That’s probably why they made the Sidecar function.

So I think some people understand merging won’t work and pro touch apps mostly won’t work, so they just want a device that can switch between the two OSes and form factors—a hybrid (which the iPad pretty much already is in terms of form factor), so that they can have the robust tools of the Mac and the ease of use and greater portability of the iPad in one device. So far, Apple’s response to that has been ‘why combine the fridge and the toaster?’ meaning do the two actually work well together or do they work better apart? I would say when Macs were Intel-based the two were definitely better apart, but now that they share the same chip architecture, that big technical hurdle has been taken away, and it’s not as clear. I don’t know enough about the underpinnings of each OS to know if there are other technical hurdles. But logically-speaking, there may still been an issue of screen size. Mac’s strength is productivity which weakens as the screen gets smaller. iPad’s strength is portability, which weakens as the screen gets bigger. As of Apple’s current product lines, they intersect at the 12.9” iPad Pro and the 13.1” MacBook Air sizes. Apple did used to have 11.6” and 12” MacBooks, both of which were larger than the 11” iPad Pro, but both were discontinued, so Apple may no longer see anything below ~13” as an appropriate size for macOS. So the ~13” may be the only size to see a hybrid in the future. The only reasons I can see this not ever happening are other technical hurdles I’m unaware of, or Apple just not having enough financial motivation to get around to it.

 

[Digitalguy]

tldr- Merging macOS and iPadOS? I don’t think so. iPad app and Mac app parity? I don’t think so. Hybrid? A small possibility.

I don’t see any OS merging happening in the foreseeable future, not because of Apple greed, but because the two OSes simply have two contradicting focuses. macOS was made for the professional in mind (robust and flexible) while making it as accessible as possible to the everyday user. iOS/iPadOS was the opposite—made with the everyday user in mind (simple and rigid) while making it as useful as possible for the professional (and in this regard it is still growing, but it has limited potential due to the OS’ focus). Trying to have one OS do both would merely split the focuses, making it weaker in both extremes. So Apple leaves it to the customer to choose the OS that best fits their uses.

So then there’s the question of form factor and input preference. People got keyboard and arrow input with iOS/iPadOS, so everyone who likes iOS/iPadOS (as is) is pretty much squared away. That just leaves people who want touch input with macOS. The problem with that is it’s likely too small of a niche for Apple to bother revamping the OS and getting developers to jump on board. The reason I say that is because macOS is mainly about professional and power users, and those types of applications are generally not as productive with touch UIs. Prime examples are Premiere (video editing) and Excel (spreadsheets). They require accurate pointing so that you can edit while simultaneously seeing as much of your work as possible. And they have a myriad of functions accessed via buttons and menus. These can be done with a touch UI, but because a finger needs big buttons, there is much more zooming in and out and finding functions buried in submenus. All of this is added time, so those who use these applications professionally would be at too much of a disadvantage if they chose to use touch. This is probably why Apple sees a touch macOS not worth the effort.
That’s also why I don’t see certain professional applications making their way to the iPad, at least not the full versions that exist on desktop, because no matter how fast the hardware is, and even if the OS didn’t hold them back (which it currently does), some applications will be too disadvantaged with a touch UI. Not to mention iOS/iPadOS app pricing issues, which is separate but significant.

I’d note that Pencil input is a slightly different story from touch. Because it is pixel accurate, it doesn’t require a Mac UI change and it can be conducive to certain professional software. But that too is likely too small of a niche for it to be worth it for Apple to put macOS on an iPad, let alone make an entirely new Mac tablet. That’s probably why they made the Sidecar function.

So I think some people understand merging won’t work and pro touch apps mostly won’t work, so they just want a device that can switch between the two OSes and form factors—a hybrid (which the iPad pretty much already is in terms of form factor), so that they can have the robust tools of the Mac and the ease of use and greater portability of the iPad in one device. So far, Apple’s response to that has been ‘why combine the fridge and the toaster?’ meaning do the two actually work well together or do they work better apart? I would say when Macs were Intel-based the two were definitely better apart, but now that they share the same chip architecture, that big technical hurdle has been taken away, and it’s not as clear. I don’t know enough about the underpinnings of each OS to know if there are other technical hurdles. But logically-speaking, there may still been an issue of screen size. Mac’s strength is productivity which weakens as the screen gets smaller. iPad’s strength is portability, which weakens as the screen gets bigger. As of Apple’s current product lines, they intersect at the 12.9” iPad Pro and the 13.1” MacBook Air sizes. Apple did used to have 11.6” and 12” MacBooks, both of which were larger than the 11” iPad Pro, but both were discontinued, so Apple may no longer see anything below ~13” as an appropriate size for macOS. So the ~13” may be the only size to see a hybrid in the future. The only reasons I can see this not ever happening are other technical hurdles I’m unaware of, or Apple just not having enough financial motivation to get around to it.

while I agree with the first line I only partially agree with the rest.
As someone on Windows, where you have everything from 7 to 17in laptops and Microsoft itself making 10-10.5in devices I can say that they are quite usable thanks to the square aspect ratio. A 11in ipad runnin MacOS wouldn't be smaller than my 11.6in macbook, just a different aspect ratio. And you can always plug it to a monitor....
Also I don't agree Macs are only for pro. Macs are for everyone, they are just desktop OS, what is true is the reverse, if you are a pro you want a mac, not viceversa. Many students or or other people that don't work with their devices prefer a laptop to a tablet.
Where I tend to agree is Mac developers not bothering porting apps to iPad. Rewriting the interface for touch is too much work, especially when you also have to pay apple 30% for the effort.
And technically Mac version of Apps (universal apps) won't run on iPadOs, so it's more complicated to port to iPad, while with MacOS is just a simple recompile (a developer confirmed this to me recently)
So unless Apple puts MacOS on iPad, I wouldn't bet on too many pro apps coming to iPad...
And Apple won't do it (put MacOS on iPad) because it has more to lose than to gain from it....
And for those that say they will be punished by competition... What competition? Windows? It's always been there... Android... No... There is no incentive for Apple...

 

[subjonas]

while I agree with the first line I only partially agree with the rest.
As someone on Windows, where you have everything from 7 to 17in laptops and Microsoft itself making 10-10.5in devices I can say that they are quite usable thanks to the square aspect ratio. A 11in ipad runnin MacOS wouldn't be smaller than my 11.6in macbook, just a different aspect ratio. And you can always plug it to a monitor....
Also I don't agree Macs are only for pro. Macs are for everyone, they are just desktop OS, what is true is the reverse, if you are a pro you want a mac, not viceversa. Many students or or other people that don't work with their devices prefer a laptop to a tablet.
Where I tend to agree is Mac developers not bothering porting apps to iPad. Rewriting the interface for touch is too much work, especially when you also have to pay apple 30% for the effort.
And technically Mac version of Apps (universal apps) won't run on iPadOs, so it's more complicated to port to iPad, while with MacOS is just a simple recompile (a developer confirmed this to me recently)
So unless Apple puts MacOS on iPad, I wouldn't bet on too many pro apps coming to iPad...
And Apple won't do it (put MacOS on iPad) because it has more to lose than to gain from it....
And for those that say they will be punished by competition... What competition? Windows? It's always been there... Android... No... There is no incentive for Apple...

We may have had some miscommunication. As far as macOS not being suitable on sub 13” displays, just to be clear, that wasn’t me asserting my preference. That was just a guess as to Apple’s view, based solely on their current MacBook lineup. If they still sold an 11.6” MacBook Air, I would have guessed that the similarly-sized (though smaller by a hair) 11” iPad Pro has an equal chance as the 12.9” of becoming a hybrid. And I didn’t say that Macs are only for pros- I said that Macs cater to professionals and power users first, while iPads cater to the everyday user first. Of course any type of person can and does use either device according to their own preference.
I agree, Apple isn’t facing any real competition in this space. Windows 2-in-1s are poor tablets. They do have the pen feature advantage, but that probably doesn’t make a big dent in Apple’s sales.

 

[Digitalguy]

We may have had some miscommunication. As far as macOS not being suitable on sub 13” displays, just to be clear, that wasn’t me asserting my preference. That was just a guess as to Apple’s view, based solely on their current MacBook lineup. If they still sold an 11.6” MacBook Air, I would have guessed that the similarly-sized (though smaller by a hair) 11” iPad Pro has an equal chance as the 12.9” of becoming a hybrid. And I didn’t say that Macs are only for pros- I said that Macs cater to professionals and power users first, while iPads cater to the everyday user first. Of course any type of person can and does use either device according to their own preference.
I agree, Apple isn’t facing any real competition in this space. Windows 2-in-1s are poor tablets. They do have the pen feature advantage, but that probably doesn’t make a big dent in Apple’s sales.

Ok I understand, although I wouldn't rule out the Macbook 12 coming back. As for Windows tablets being inferior, being a Windows guy I can tell you that, contrary to what many people believe in the Apple world, the issue is not so much software but hardware. Many people believe that the fact the Windows apps are often not optimized for touch is the big dealbreaker.
It is for basic users. Not for pro users. Most apps can be replaced by a browser and many pro users would take the relatively "inferior" touch experience of Windows any day in exchange for the ability to do much more with it (even more than with Mac in some cases), especially if you use a pen. For instance I am into music making and it's totaly feasible with pen and much more powerful than ipad. And you can do everything from your sheet music rest (not possible with macs). Same for many other things. The real issue is hardware. Surface devices and clones thereof don't have the same battery life as ipads, tend to run hot if pushed, sometimes have fans, have inferior speakers, have big bezels, are heavier.... Many of these problems could be addressed by Microsoft but others are due to Intel... Anyway, yes they are inferior... although they can make sense as "laptop first, tablet occasionally".

 

[kristalsoldier]

Ok I understand, although I wouldn't rule out the Macbook 12 coming back. As for Windows tablets being inferior, being a Windows guy I can tell you that, contrary to what many people believe in the Apple world, the issue is not so much software but hardware. Many people believe that the fact the Windows apps are often not optimized for touch is the big dealbreaker.
It is for basic users. Not for pro users. Most apps can be replaced by a browser and many pro users would take the relatively "inferior" touch experience of Windows any day in exchange for the ability to do much more with it (even more than with Mac in some cases), especially if you use a pen. For instance I am into music making and it's totaly feasible with pen and much more powerful than ipad. And you can do everything from your sheet music rest (not possible with macs). Same for many other things. The real issue is hardware. Surface devices and clones thereof don't have the same battery life as ipads, tend to run hot if pushed, sometimes have fans, have inferior speakers, have big bezels, are heavier.... Many of these problems could be addressed by Microsoft but others are due to Intel... Anyway, yes they are inferior... although they can make sense as "laptop first, tablet occasionally".

Yeps, I agree with this having been a dedicated Surface Pro user across 3 generations of the device. Today, if I wanted a hybrid device, I would likely opt for the Thinkpad X1 series (or the Yoga). But here is my problem with hybrid devices - if there is a catastrophic failure of the device, I lose both the tablet and the laptop. By having two devices, I reduce that risk substantially. That’s one of the reasons I opted for a sturdy yet relatively svelte Thinkpad laptop (with arguably one of the best keyboards in the business) with the IPP 11” (which is, in my reckoning, the best pure tablet in the market today).

 

[Digitalguy]

Yeps, I agree with this having been a dedicated Surface Pro user across 3 generations of the device. Today, if I wanted a hybrid device, I would likely opt for the Thinkpad X1 series (or the Yoga). But here is my problem with hybrid devices - if there is a catastrophic failure of the device, I lose both the tablet and the laptop. By having two devices, I reduce that risk substantially. That’s one of the reasons I opted for a sturdy yet relatively svelte Thinkpad laptop (with arguably one of the best keyboards in the business) with the IPP 11” (which is, in my reckoning, the best pure tablet in the market today).

Good point and also battery life is multiplied by the number of devices. Many here try to have 1 device. Having more than 1 is probably a better solution, especially if you can sync everything. I have not 2 but many devices and each have their use cases (if not, I sell them). I might be extreme, but I am pretty happy like this. And if one breaks (it happend to me with surface devices precisely...) I still have many...

 

[kristalsoldier]

Good point and also battery life is multiplied by the number of devices. Many here try to have 1 device. Having more than 1 is probably a better solution, especially if you can sync everything. I have not 2 but many devices and each have their use cases (if not, I sell them). I might be extreme, but I am pretty happy like this. And if one breaks (it happend to me with surface devices precisely...) I still have many...

Yes, the same happened with me and the last Surface Pro. I tend to have 3 devices - phone, iPad and laptop and they are all linked through OneDrive and MS Exchange. And, like you, each of the devices have a specific and indispensable role though, naturally, there are areas of (sometimes significant) overlap.

 

[crashnburn]

I am not sure if its been mentioned or discussed in this thread.. and I was out of the loop on what & why Apple Silicon was.. Looked it up..

So it reminded me of my early learning about CPUs days.. good ole RISC vs CISC battle.

Apparently, RISC was more "energy" efficient (a factor that maybe did not get the importance cause PORTABLE POWER was not a thing) - which actually means that our entire planet has been burning up way more CARBON to COMPUTE for DECADES.

Its been kinda right around us with all the ARM CPUs in devices.. but taking to leading edge of CPU to beat the Intel compute curve.. with way LESS power requirement, pretty much seals the direction that was taken with CISC taking the lead.

In one way CISC is REDUNDANT LESS EFFICIENTLY USED SILICON HARDWARE burning more ENERGY for what RISC does with SHARED SILICON while moving the Instruction Complexity to the Next Level UP.

From a layers/ abstraction perspective this is obvious but was hidden in plain sight by the Intel x86 dominance.

 

[rui no onna]

Yeps, I agree with this having been a dedicated Surface Pro user across 3 generations of the device. Today, if I wanted a hybrid device, I would likely opt for the Thinkpad X1 series (or the Yoga). But here is my problem with hybrid devices - if there is a catastrophic failure of the device, I lose both the tablet and the laptop. By having two devices, I reduce that risk substantially. That’s one of the reasons I opted for a sturdy yet relatively svelte Thinkpad laptop (with arguably one of the best keyboards in the business) with the IPP 11” (which is, in my reckoning, the best pure tablet in the market today).

Yes, the same happened with me and the last Surface Pro. I tend to have 3 devices - phone, iPad and laptop and they are all linked through OneDrive and MS Exchange. And, like you, each of the devices have a specific and indispensable role though, naturally, there are areas of (sometimes significant) overlap.

I guess for me, I don't really need a laptop. At home, we've got several active desktops plus enough parts for repair or full build in case one fails.

The laptop is pretty much just my desktop alternative when on vacation overseas for a month or more. Carry-on weight is limited and even the fairly lightweight ThinkPad X280 takes up quite a bit of that quota. If I can get full Firefox or Chrome with extensions on the iPad, that pretty much covers majority of my laptop usage on vacation.

Granted, if I travelled for work, then I'd want an actual laptop, too. Probably 15.6" with dedicated number pad so ThinkPad P-series or something. Of the brands I've tried, IBM/Lenovo's ThinkPad series keyboards really are the nicest.

 

[kristalsoldier]

I guess for me, I don't really need a laptop. At home, we've got several active desktops plus enough parts for repair or full build in case one fails.

The laptop is pretty much just my desktop alternative when on vacation overseas for a month or more. Carry-on weight is limited and even the fairly lightweight ThinkPad X280 takes up quite a bit of that quota. If I can get full Firefox or Chrome with extensions on the iPad, that pretty much covers majority of my laptop usage on vacation.

Granted, if I travelled for work, then I'd want an actual laptop, too. Probably 15.6" with dedicated number pad so ThinkPad P-series or something. Of the brands I've tried, IBM/Lenovo's ThinkPad series keyboards really are the nicest.

Yes, I agree. My preference is for the Carbon series. I currently use the X1C6.

 

[ssledoux]

I’m struggling with this. A lot of folks have suggested a laptop to me over the last few years of trying to decide if I could be all in one with a single device. For almost everything, my iPad works. My struggle was having my photos organized and being able to easily make photo books and gifts. I’ve always used Shutterfly for that, but its not possible to customize on the ipad. I got Motif after someone on here recommended it, but I have so much stored in Shutterfly, it’s not been super easy to use.

So my quandary is, an iPad that will do everything I need except ease of making those photo scrapbooks, which is honestly pretty important to me, although I know that’s a pretty simplistic issue for many, OR a laptop that will do everything my iPad does with the exception of being able to play my favorite game I’ve been playing for probably 8 years now (which I CAN play on my phone, but it’s not the same) - also a simplistic issue.

The only other thing is lack of LTE if I went with a laptop.

I don’t have enough of a use case to own both. I did when I was working from home, but really don’t at this point.

Honestly, it’s cheaper for me to buy/own a laptop than an LTE iPad with MK, but, having never owned a laptop, and having an iPad for the last, heck IDK, however many years since the first one, I‘m just not sure if I can jump ship.

**I should note that I never use my iPad away from the desk/keyboard. I always think I will, but when I’m sitting on my couch or laying in the bed, I use my phone. I just can’t get away from that.

 

[subjonas]

but I have so much stored in Shutterfly, it’s not been super easy to use.

What do you mean by this? Is Motif not as fully featured as Shutterfly or slower to use? Or is it as functional but it’s just a tough setup process to transfer over whatever you had stored in Shutterfly to Motif?

If the latter, and Motif can be all that you need once you get through the transition pain, then that sounds like it would be your best option.
If the former, and there are no new options or workarounds, then it does appear you have only the three options:
- Shutterfly, but game only on phone
- iPad game, but less usable Motif
- Both Shutterfly and iPad game, but spend more money

Obviously, only you can answer what’s most important to you, but I would say two things. I think having a basic laptop and cheaper iPad (standard, Air, or Mini) would cover your needs and could be pretty relatively inexpensive depending what you go with. Maybe you could even go with a super cheap Windows laptop. If not, you simply have to ask what between Shutterfly and the iPad game gives you more joy/what would make you have less joy if taken away.
Sorry for your quandary, they’re never fun. But on the bright side, I suppose these things tend to help us figure out what’s really important to us!

 

[rui no onna]

Obviously, only you can answer what’s most important to you, but I would say two things. I think having a basic laptop and cheaper iPad (standard, Air, or Mini) would cover your needs and could be pretty relatively inexpensive depending what you go with. Maybe you could even go with a super cheap Windows laptop. If not, you simply have to ask what between Shutterfly and the iPad game gives you more joy/what would make you have less joy if taken away.
Sorry for your quandary, they’re never fun. But on the bright side, I suppose these things tend to help us figure out what’s really important to us!

Pretty much why I've got Windows for desktops and laptops.

A MacBook Air with 16GB RAM+1TB SSD costs $1600. I can get a ThinkPad X-series for around $700-800 on sale and upgrade RAM and storage myself (32GB+2TB NVMe) for a total cost of $1000-1100.

A Mac mini with 16GB RAM and 1TB SSD costs $1300 (was $1400 with Intel). A NUC build with 32GB RAM+2TB NVMe SSD is only $700-800 with Windows 10 license.

Plus easy enough for me to fix these versus Macs which I'd need to bring to the Apple Store. Obviously, these don't run MacOS which is a major con for most here. I use Windows PCs at work and have no issues using the same at home.

With that said, the fanless M1 MacBook Air is quite tempting. One of my main issues using laptops in bed/couch is battery life and keeping all the air vents clear. Even then, thermals could've still used improvement. Having the M1 on the MacBook means I could actually use it without being tethered to an outlet.

 

[ssledoux]

What do you mean by this? Is Motif not as fully featured as Shutterfly or slower to use? Or is it as functional but it’s just a tough setup process to transfer over whatever you had stored in Shutterfly to Motif?

If the latter, and Motif can be all that you need once you get through the transition pain, then that sounds like it would be your best option.
If the former, and there are no new options or workarounds, then it does appear you have only the three options:
- Shutterfly, but game only on phone
- iPad game, but less usable Motif
- Both Shutterfly and iPad game, but spend more money

Obviously, only you can answer what’s most important to you, but I would say two things. I think having a basic laptop and cheaper iPad (standard, Air, or Mini) would cover your needs and could be pretty relatively inexpensive depending what you go with. Maybe you could even go with a super cheap Windows laptop. If not, you simply have to ask what between Shutterfly and the iPad game gives you more joy/what would make you have less joy if taken away.
Sorry for your quandary, they’re never fun. But on the bright side, I suppose these things tend to help us figure out what’s really important to us!

Part of it is having so much already stored in Shutterfly, and the moving of photos with my not so stellar wifi (limited on gigs). Also just how much easier it is to load photos into a laptop (or desktop for that matter) from a flash drive. Plus Shutterfly just has more options for things to do with photos from what I’ve seen.

I’m not at all interested in anything Windows. But you’re right - I could do the laptop and ultimately if I missed the iPad, just grab another, less expensive one.

Honestly, I have never had any interest at all in a laptop, but with how I mainly use my ipad, a laptop COULD make sense. I just might miss my ability to do stuff like take screen shots, and the touch screen. I always tried to touch the screen on my iMac to do things out of habit. Lol

I guess with the changes in the MBA, it just seems more appealing than in the past, but I’m really still just toying with the idea. I need to play around more with Motif and see if it can work for me.

 

[circatee]

Part of it is having so much already stored in Shutterfly, and the moving of photos with my not so stellar wifi (limited on gigs). Also just how much easier it is to load photos into a laptop (or desktop for that matter) from a flash drive. Plus Shutterfly just has more options for things to do with photos from what I’ve seen.

I’m not at all interested in anything Windows. But you’re right - I could do the laptop and ultimately if I missed the iPad, just grab another, less expensive one.

Honestly, I have never had any interest at all in a laptop, but with how I mainly use my ipad, a laptop COULD make sense. I just might miss my ability to do stuff like take screen shots, and the touch screen. I always tried to touch the screen on my iMac to do things out of habit. Lol

I guess with the changes in the MBA, it just seems more appealing than in the past, but I’m really still just toying with the idea. I need to play around more with Motif and see if it can work for me.

Oddly enough, I have an iPad Pro, with a Smart Keyboard.

I started to look into the Magic Keyboard, and that thing cost $300. When I factored that, plus my iPad Pro is now officially two years old, with Apple Care now run out, I started to think. Maybe an MBA M1 would be more practical.

Alas, still on the fence.

 

[subjonas]

Pretty much why I've got Windows for desktops and laptops.

A MacBook Air with 16GB RAM+1TB SSD costs $1600. I can get a ThinkPad X-series for around $700-800 on sale and upgrade RAM and storage myself (32GB+2TB NVMe) for a total cost of $1000-1100.

A Mac mini with 16GB RAM and 1TB SSD costs $1300 (was $1400 with Intel). A NUC build with 32GB RAM+2TB NVMe SSD is only $700-800 with Windows 10 license.

Plus easy enough for me to fix these versus Macs which I'd need to bring to the Apple Store. Obviously, these don't run MacOS which is a major con for most here. I use Windows PCs at work and have no issues using the same at home.

With that said, the fanless M1 MacBook Air is quite tempting. One of my main issues using laptops in bed/couch is battery life and keeping all the air vents clear. Even then, thermals could've still used improvement.

Yeah there are definitely pros and cons to both machines/OS platforms and both serve different sets of needs well. For me, the easy ecosystem integration is probably the biggest reason why I stay within Apple for my personal devices.

I’m a big fan of fanless. It’s a game-changer. I was disappointed when the 12” macbook was discontinued, but glad to see a light fanless Mac is back. I want one but it would have too much functional overlap with my 12.9” iPad Pro, which I need for the Pencil and Sidecar.

 

[subjonas]

Part of it is having so much already stored in Shutterfly, and the moving of photos with my not so stellar wifi (limited on gigs). Also just how much easier it is to load photos into a laptop (or desktop for that matter) from a flash drive. Plus Shutterfly just has more options for things to do with photos from what I’ve seen.

I’m not at all interested in anything Windows. But you’re right - I could do the laptop and ultimately if I missed the iPad, just grab another, less expensive one.

Honestly, I have never had any interest at all in a laptop, but with how I mainly use my ipad, a laptop COULD make sense. I just might miss my ability to do stuff like take screen shots, and the touch screen. I always tried to touch the screen on my iMac to do things out of habit. Lol

I guess with the changes in the MBA, it just seems more appealing than in the past, but I’m really still just toying with the idea. I need to play around more with Motif and see if it can work for me.

I’m not really into Windows either, but another way to possibly see it is as purely a Shutterfly machine. So you’d stay with an iPad Pro and keyboard as your main device since that is what you seem to prefer, and only when you need to use Shutterfly, you’d pop open the cheap laptop. This might not work though if it’s too disconnected and you need really good integration between the two devices. Or if the cheap laptop performs too poorly.

 

[rui no onna]

Yeah there are definitely pros and cons to both machines/OS platforms and both serve different sets of needs well. For me, the easy ecosystem integration is probably the biggest reason why I stay within Apple for my personal devices.

I’m a big fan of fanless. It’s a game-changer. I was disappointed when the 12” macbook was discontinued, but glad to see a light fanless Mac is back. I want one but it would have too much functional overlap with my 12.9” iPad Pro, which I need for the Pencil and Sidecar.

I'm not too concerned about having functional overlap in my devices. Heck, I regularly switch among three iPads and the two smaller ones are nearly identical (Pro 10.5 and Air 3).

Lightweight, good battery life, fanless and good thermals make the M1 MacBook Air one very attractive package. The MacBook's not gonna replace my iPads since I use those sans physical keyboard for comics and ebook reading majority of the time. However, those features do give it a major edge over Windows laptops/ultrabooks to make it worth the price premium for me.

 

[ssledoux]

Oddly enough, I have an iPad Pro, with a Smart Keyboard.

I started to look into the Magic Keyboard, and that thing cost $300. When I factored that, plus my iPad Pro is now officially two years old, with Apple Care now run out, I started to think. Maybe an MBA M1 would be more practical.

Alas, still on the fence.

Yeah I have the 2020 pro with the MK. I do love the setup for sure, but it would be really redundant to have this AND a MBA. I could probably justify a cheaper iPad just for games and stuff if I got the MBA, or maybe having a larger phone again, but I just can’t really see myself doing that. I finally got settled with a phone I feel good about.

 

[ssledoux]

I’m not really into Windows either, but another way to possibly see it is as purely a Shutterfly machine. So you’d stay with an iPad Pro and keyboard as your main device since that is what you seem to prefer, and only when you need to use Shutterfly, you’d pop open the cheap laptop. This might not work though if it’s too disconnected and you need really good integration between the two devices. Or if the cheap laptop performs too poorly.

Yeah there’s really no way I’m gonna have a non-Apple anything. The Apple stuff just works too seamlessly. I may order the MBA and see how I feel about it, and if I like it, sell my pro and then down the road if I miss the pad, I could just get a base ipad.

Or I may do nothing. Covid quarantine is kicking my a**. ;-p

 

[rui no onna]

Or I may do nothing. Covid quarantine is kicking my a**. ;-p

Lol, the quarantine has gotten me on a shopping spree for toys. By that, I do mean actual toys (1/6 scale Marvel action figures).

 

[ssledoux]

Lol, the quarantine has gotten me on a shopping spree for toys. By that, I do mean actual toys (1/6 scale Marvel action figures).

Well I don’t discriminate. I’ll buy just about anything. ?

 

[rui no onna]

Well I don’t discriminate. I’ll buy just about anything. ?

Problem is that was supposed to be my iPad Pro 12.9 1TB WiFi+Cellular money. ?

 

[subjonas]

I'm not too concerned about having functional overlap in my devices. Heck, I regularly switch among three iPads and the two smaller ones are nearly identical (Pro 10.5 and Air 3).

Lightweight, good battery life, fanless and good thermals make the M1 MacBook Air one very attractive package. The MacBook's not gonna replace my iPads since I use those sans physical keyboard for comics and ebook reading majority of the time. However, those features do give it a major edge over Windows laptops/ultrabooks to make it worth the price premium for me.

You have one up on me iPad-wise haha. I only have two—12.9 and mini. For me, I don’t mind functional overlap as long as a device has a critical unique function. So I really should have said the m1 MBA would have no critical unique function for me, want it as I may. My 12.9 iPP does pretty much everything I would use the MBA for, plus it has pencil input and second display ability which I need. Some tasks the MBA would definitely do better, but either it’s not critical, or if it is, I can use my beefier MBP.

 

[subjonas]

Covid quarantine is kicking my a**. ;-p

Ah I hope things get better for you.