What do you still need your laptop for?

[sman789]

Full desktop OS and file server on the go. Also, on some webpages that don't render properly on Safari for iOS.

This. I tried both the 10.5 and the 12.9 this week. The 10.5 is too small to have two windows at once going. The 12.9 is really nice to work on but a few sites do not render properly and it's either unusable or makes my work flow much slower.

And GIMP, it's free and powerful.

 

[sracer]

And finally, I immediately stop reading whenever anyone starts saying things like, "The iPad will never have _____" or "The iPhone will never be able to _______" or even "PCs and Macs can't _____". Nobody knows those things except the people working on the development of those products/services. One thing I personally am fairly certain on though, is that the Macrumors bubble of commenters is going to sit here and argue about this for probably the next few years, while the rest of the world slowly moves on from legacy systems and hardware. That may be by way of iOS/Android, or it may be something completely different, but it is going to happen. There's really zero point in sitting here splitting hairs about it.

You can stop reading in....3....2....1....

The iPad will never have support for removable media like SD cards. Nor will it ever have extensive support for USB devices. Anyone who needs those things (like myself) can stop waiting for the possibility of those things becoming available for the iPad.

That's the reality and it doesn't take a mind-reader or Nostradamus to figure that out. What IS important is what you DO with that information.

We can sit and lament over the lack of those things, figure out ways to use our iPads that don't require those things, or move on to devices that do. "All of the above" is a reasonable option as well.

Life is short. I have things that I need my devices to do. I'm happy to invest time in investigating and exploring to push the envelope of every device to where I need it to be. They often fall short. But I'm not going to settle for what some company decides is best for me... when it clearly is not.

 

[roccobladr]

I have a 10.5" IPP with ASK and it does everything I need EXCEPT screen sharing in WebEx! I use WebEx for work maybe 1-2x per month so it's not a big deal grabbing my MacBook Air for this, but it would be nice to have this feature on the ipad app version. Otherwise, the iPad Pro does everything else I really need (email, photos, browser-based things for work).

 

[spiderman0616]

View attachment 712550
You can stop reading in....3....2....1....

The iPad will never have support for removable media like SD cards. Nor will it ever have extensive support for USB devices. Anyone who needs those things (like myself) can stop waiting for the possibility of those things becoming available for the iPad.

That's the reality and it doesn't take a mind-reader or Nostradamus to figure that out. What IS important is what you DO with that information.

We can sit and lament over the lack of those things, figure out ways to use our iPads that don't require those things, or move on to devices that do. "All of the above" is a reasonable option as well.

Life is short. I have things that I need my devices to do. I'm happy to invest time in investigating and exploring to push the envelope of every device to where I need it to be. They often fall short. But I'm not going to settle for what some company decides is best for me... when it clearly is not.

Nobody asked you to.
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I have a 10.5" IPP with ASK and it does everything I need EXCEPT screen sharing in WebEx! I use WebEx for work maybe 1-2x per month so it's not a big deal grabbing my MacBook Air for this, but it would be nice to have this feature on the ipad app version. Otherwise, the iPad Pro does everything else I really need (email, photos, browser-based things for work).

Same for me. I do a lot of conference calls with screen sharing all day. Only thing I need my Mac for anymore. And I'm happy to give that task to whatever computer my employer gives me.

 

[EnderBeta]

Nobody asked you to.
[doublepost=1502471232][/doublepost]
Same for me. I do a lot of conference calls with screen sharing all day. Only thing I need my Mac for anymore. And I'm happy to give that task to whatever computer my employer gives me.

We use Zoom at our office. It works well on the iPad. It also works well on the Mac and Windows. I mostly use it on my iMac but it is very nice to have the iOS version handy If I'm on the road even without wifi I can still do a video call and present documents for tech specs, UI design, ect.

I found an awesome app called Working Copy for the iPad too. I can check out my code repos from bitbucket and edit code on the road without my laptop. I can't compile and load but it's nice to be able to do little things and review code changes from other team members.

 

[sracer]

Nobody asked you to.

You were supposed to stop reading at, "the iPad will never..."

This. I tried both the 10.5 and the 12.9 this week. The 10.5 is too small to have two windows at once going. The 12.9 is really nice to work on but a few sites do not render properly and it's either unusable or makes my work flow much slower.

That has been a point of irritation for me as well. Sadly, that's going to be the reality for the foreseeable future.

 

[MacDevil7334]

I think for me the question is not whether an iPad can replace a laptop. Rather, it is can an iPad replace a serious computer. For me, the answer is still a resounding no. Without an SD card reader, full access to local storage, ports for connecting external storage, and the ability to run full versions of Lightroom and Photoshop, I don’t think an iPad would ever be able to truly be able to replace a serious computer for me. There are also a number of everyday computing tasks, such as working with spreadsheets, that, while possible on an iPad, are much more pleasant and efficient on a computer. I’d really hate to be stuck with an iPad as my only option for those tasks, at least until the OS becomes closer to that of the Mac and it gains the option to use a mouse as well.

All that being said, I will say that the iPad has now come far enough with iOS 11 that I am ok with it being my only mobile option. My work is such now that I don’t travel often. For the times that I do, the iPad is good enough that I’m fine traveling with just it and not a laptop. It’s not ideal sometimes, and I have to wait until I get home to process any photos I’ve taken. But it works and is a very lightweight solution. And it has allowed me to switch from a MacBook to an iMac for my serious computing needs, where I get a much bigger screen and faster hardware. So, while the iPad has not eliminated my need for a serious computer, it has affected the hardware I’ve decided to own. I’m already considering switching from my 9.7” Pro to a 12.9” in the future for the extra screen real estate.

Really, what I want is for Apple to make a Nintendo Switch-like product. By that, I mean a tablet that comes with a base station you can plug a large monitor into. The base station would have ports like an iMac and maybe additional RAM and a discrete GPU that would be made available to the system when the tablet is docked. When in tablet mode, it would use something similar to iOS and run iOS level apps. But when docked, you would get something closer to macOS and be able to run full apps as if it were a desktop computer. I know there are probably numerous techincal hurdles to something like that. And I know you wouldn’t really be able to get desktop quality internals or performance in a tablet enclosure. But, if none of that were an issue, it’s exactly what I’d want to own.

 

[spiderman0616]

We use Zoom at our office. It works well on the iPad. It also works well on the Mac and Windows. I mostly use it on my iMac but it is very nice to have the iOS version handy If I'm on the road even without wifi I can still do a video call and present documents for tech specs, UI design, ect.

I found an awesome app called Working Copy for the iPad too. I can check out my code repos from bitbucket and edit code on the road without my laptop. I can't compile and load but it's nice to be able to do little things and review code changes from other team members.

Just set up Zoom on my iPad and I am super impressed. All the screen sharing I do is via websites, so this would work perfectly for me. I guess there goes the last reason I needed to hold on to a Mac.

 

[EnderBeta]

Just set up Zoom on my iPad and I am super impressed. All the screen sharing I do is via websites, so this would work perfectly for me. I guess there goes the last reason I needed to hold on to a Mac.

Happy to help you eliminate a expense.
[doublepost=1502480094][/doublepost]

I think for me the question is not whether an iPad can replace a laptop. Rather, it is can an iPad replace a serious computer. For me, the answer is still a resounding no. Without an SD card reader, full access to local storage, ports for connecting external storage, and the ability to run full versions of Lightroom and Photoshop, I don’t think an iPad would ever be able to truly be able to replace a serious computer for me. There are also a number of everyday computing tasks, such as working with spreadsheets, that, while possible on an iPad, are much more pleasant and efficient on a computer. I’d really hate to be stuck with an iPad as my only option for those tasks, at least until the OS becomes closer to that of the Mac and it gains the option to use a mouse as well.

All that being said, I will say that the iPad has now come far enough with iOS 11 that I am ok with it being my only mobile option. My work is such now that I don’t travel often. For the times that I do, the iPad is good enough that I’m fine traveling with just it and not a laptop. It’s not ideal sometimes, and I have to wait until I get home to process any photos I’ve taken. But it works and is a very lightweight solution. And it has allowed me to switch from a MacBook to an iMac for my serious computing needs, where I get a much bigger screen and faster hardware. So, while the iPad has not eliminated my need for a serious computer, it has affected the hardware I’ve decided to own. I’m already considering switching from my 9.7” Pro to a 12.9” in the future for the extra screen real estate.

Really, what I want is for Apple to make a Nintendo Switch-like product. By that, I mean a tablet that comes with a base station you can plug a large monitor into. The base station would have ports like an iMac and maybe additional RAM and a discrete GPU that would be made available to the system when the tablet is docked. When in tablet mode, it would use something similar to iOS and run iOS level apps. But when docked, you would get something closer to macOS and be able to run full apps as if it were a desktop computer. I know there are probably numerous techincal hurdles to something like that. And I know you wouldn’t really be able to get desktop quality internals or performance in a tablet enclosure. But, if none of that were an issue, it’s exactly what I’d want to own.

I'm intrigued about this concept. I would prefer the OS be open like macOS but able to run iOS programs side by side. As long as it can run a Windows VM and the lighting to USB is able to be used by VMWare Fusion and get a USB to serial connection working I'm 100% on board!

 

[spiderman0616]

Happy to help you eliminate a expense.

It's not technically an expense for me, as my company allowed me to switch from an old crappy Windows 7 laptop to a Macbook Air, but it is nice to know if this job were to fall through and I had to give it back, I still have a conference call/screen sharing option on my iPad without having to involve a laptop.

 

[dk001]

I think for me the question is not whether an iPad can replace a laptop. Rather, it is can an iPad replace a serious computer. For me, the answer is still a resounding no. Without an SD card reader, full access to local storage, ports for connecting external storage, and the ability to run full versions of Lightroom and Photoshop, I don’t think an iPad would ever be able to truly be able to replace a serious computer for me. There are also a number of everyday computing tasks, such as working with spreadsheets, that, while possible on an iPad, are much more pleasant and efficient on a computer. I’d really hate to be stuck with an iPad as my only option for those tasks, at least until the OS becomes closer to that of the Mac and it gains the option to use a mouse as well.

All that being said, I will say that the iPad has now come far enough with iOS 11 that I am ok with it being my only mobile option. My work is such now that I don’t travel often. For the times that I do, the iPad is good enough that I’m fine traveling with just it and not a laptop. It’s not ideal sometimes, and I have to wait until I get home to process any photos I’ve taken. But it works and is a very lightweight solution. And it has allowed me to switch from a MacBook to an iMac for my serious computing needs, where I get a much bigger screen and faster hardware. So, while the iPad has not eliminated my need for a serious computer, it has affected the hardware I’ve decided to own. I’m already considering switching from my 9.7” Pro to a 12.9” in the future for the extra screen real estate.

Really, what I want is for Apple to make a Nintendo Switch-like product. By that, I mean a tablet that comes with a base station you can plug a large monitor into. The base station would have ports like an iMac and maybe additional RAM and a discrete GPU that would be made available to the system when the tablet is docked. When in tablet mode, it would use something similar to iOS and run iOS level apps. But when docked, you would get something closer to macOS and be able to run full apps as if it were a desktop computer. I know there are probably numerous techincal hurdles to something like that. And I know you wouldn’t really be able to get desktop quality internals or performance in a tablet enclosure. But, if none of that were an issue, it’s exactly what I’d want to own.

Use a dock and/or wifi peripherals. Use both.
Just wish my iPad / iPhone would also be able to use these wifi devices.

 

[EnderBeta]

It's not technically an expense for me, as my company allowed me to switch from an old crappy Windows 7 laptop to a Macbook Air, but it is nice to know if this job were to fall through and I had to give it back, I still have a conference call/screen sharing option on my iPad without having to involve a laptop.

Thats right I forgot the MacBook is the companies.

It's amazing the power of the iPads today. I remember when I was in college and how blown away I was with the dual core G4 Power Macs. The 2017 iPad Pro is way more powerful then it in every way, without needing active cooling or sucking up anywhere close to the amount of power, or kicking out the heat.

The progress made is nothing short of amazing. I still love my Late 2015 27" iMac 5K from my signature and won't be getting rid of it anytime soon. However when it is time to upgrade it the landscape could be vastly different.

I honestly really resent Windows and how it is holding back progress.
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Use a dock and/or wifi peripherals. Use both.
Just wish my iPad / iPhone would also be able to use these wifi devices.

I think what he means is if Apple could make a 27" 5K monitor that cleanly allows the iPad to be docked and charged and provides the ports like an iMac. Something elegant and functional.

 

[Rshill]

Here's the problem - people who say they "need" a laptop often mention capabilities, but rarely use cases.

Cad Design

 

[Scepticalscribe]

I'm into photography and music. I've been trying to go all iPad and I've run across a few things I can't get done on my iPad (Pro 12.9 128 GB) I thought, what if we throw out what is keeping us from going all iPad and maybe others can help?

In photography, Lightroom does almost everything I want, but I can't do HDR's like Photomatix. I would also like to do some editing tools like DxO Optics Pro. On the music side, I have adopted Apple Music and really enjoying it. I'm just hooked on smart playlists.

I'm sure I could work around all these items, but it sure would be nice if I could get there.

So what is keeping you from going all iPad?

Don't like it. Couldn't stand it when I had one (actually, I had two, - I fell for the advertising - and ended up giving both away, one to each brother).

I write a lot - both personally and professionally and I want and need a full keyboard, and the ease and power an comfort of that.

In short, - from what I could see - the iPad is a device to consume content, whereas a laptop is designed to create content. My current laptop is a CTO maxed-out 11" MBA, fast, powerful, portable, sturdy, reliable, and a machine that has travelled the world with me over the past three and a half years.

 

[dk001]

...

I think what he means is if Apple could make a 27" 5K monitor that cleanly allows the iPad to be docked and charged and provides the ports like an iMac. Something elegant and functional.

That would be sweet!

 

[jlseattle]

Haha, it's funny, I'm working on stuff at a bar getting a drink (very nice and relaxing) and the iPad Pro is in my bag and my laptop is out. That tells me everything I need to know. The iPad Pro is still just an iPad. I think there are those that will push it in the boundaries. But I still need OS X. iOS will never been a fully productivity solution for me.

I was rooting for the iPad Pro too. I'll keep it and know I have a very fancy iPad that I occasionally use for productivity and mostly for content consumption.

 

[spiderman0616]

Haha, it's funny, I'm working on stuff at a bar getting a drink (very nice and relaxing) and the iPad Pro is in my bad and my laptop is out. That tells me everything I need to know. The iPad Pro is still just an iPad. I think there are those that will push it in the boundaries. But I still need OS X. iOS will never been a fully productivity solution for me.

I was rooting for the iPad Pro too. I'll keep it and know I have a very fancy iPad that I occasionally use for productivity and mostly for content consumption.

I honestly appreciate that you point out in your comments that this is the situation for YOU. It's hard to discuss this topic intelligently with people when they make blanket statements and judgements about everyone else's use cases. One person's use of a Mac does not invalidate another person's use of an iPad and vice versa. We can all be happy by just choosing the device that works best for ourselves without passing judgement on other peoples' preferences/workflows/use cases.

 

[subjonas]

Really, what I want is for Apple to make a Nintendo Switch-like product. By that, I mean a tablet that comes with a base station you can plug a large monitor into. The base station would have ports like an iMac and maybe additional RAM and a discrete GPU that would be made available to the system when the tablet is docked. When in tablet mode, it would use something similar to iOS and run iOS level apps. But when docked, you would get something closer to macOS and be able to run full apps as if it were a desktop computer. I know there are probably numerous techincal hurdles to something like that. And I know you wouldn’t really be able to get desktop quality internals or performance in a tablet enclosure. But, if none of that were an issue, it’s exactly what I’d want to own.

Don't you pretty much just end up with two devices again? What does this solve? Only difference I can see is that you can't use both at the same time.

 

[Speechless]

Coding
Gaming
Multiple video sources playing
Multitasking

 

[Aluminum213]

Music that isn't on Apple Music, pretty simple

 

[Diving Capers]

I'm into photography and music. I've been trying to go all iPad and I've run across a few things I can't get done on my iPad (Pro 12.9 128 GB) I thought, what if we throw out what is keeping us from going all iPad and maybe others can help?

In photography, Lightroom does almost everything I want, but I can't do HDR's like Photomatix. I would also like to do some editing tools like DxO Optics Pro. On the music side, I have adopted Apple Music and really enjoying it. I'm just hooked on smart playlists.

I'm sure I could work around all these items, but it sure would be nice if I could get there.

So what is keeping you from going all iPad?

For general laptoping and grudgingly backing up my iPad

 

[annk]

I think what you write about Chromebooks is very interesting @sracer. I'm firmly in the Mac ecosystem and happy with it, but I'm curious about replacing my MBP with a Chromebook when it dies. I use my MBP for a lot of writing/proofreading/editing and occasionally managing iTunes content and my iOS devices, but other than than I could work in a web-based system, especially since the online versions of Word, Outlook etc are useable on a Chromebook.

I love my 12" iPad Pro, and type just as easily on it as on my MBP. By finding the right apps and experimenting with the Pencil I've found I can do quite a bit with the iPad (and it's mostly how I consume media). My 27" iMac is five years old but it's still going strong. A Chromebook would be a less expensive laptop to take when I travel, and coupled with my iMac and iPad Pro would likely be just fine.

Besides, paying around USD 450 for a good, convertible Chromebook is a tempting thought when MBs start at USD 1000 and MBAs/MBPs start at USD 1300.

 

[t76turbo]

Work. Specifically Citrix client. Which I can use on the ipad and got it working but it is very hard to deal with on a smaller screen.

Another is some general internet browsing. Most sites are ok but some just do not interact well with the ipad. Even if you try to request the desktop site it still sends you to the mobile site and sometimes it sucks.

 

[Fattytail]

Don't like it. Couldn't stand it when I had one (actually, I had two, - I fell for the advertising - and ended up giving both away, one to each brother).

I write a lot - both personally and professionally and I want and need a full keyboard, and the ease and power an comfort of that.

In short, - from what I could see - the iPad is a device to consume content, whereas a laptop is designed to create content. My current laptop is a CTO maxed-out 11" MBA, fast, powerful, portable, sturdy, reliable, and a machine that has travelled the world with me over the past three and a half years.

I agree with that. The iPad is a joy to use and it's come a long, long way, but we haven't reached the point where the world is optimized for tablets. Tablets are primarily an ancillary device and as such aren't given the same attention as full blown computers or smartphones. There really isn't a tablet market - there's just an iPad market. Still lucrative for certain developers, but nothing like the smartphone market.

 

[BWhaler]

iWork.

Apple makes the bloody app, and instead of making it an icon for why using the iPad in the office, it doesn't even have basic features like editing master slides or spacing objects automataly.