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Resolved What is better to do HTML or CSS? iPad Pro or Macbook Pro?

Adam1988

Adam1988

macrumors regular
Original poster
Mar 15, 2013
122
4
United States in Texas, After this will be Japan.
Hello Everyone! :)

I got an iMac 21.5" Mid 2010. But i am looking for portability this time...:(

Well, i will start school soon for fall 2018 and get some coding classes, mainly HTML & CSS. The reason for this thread is because i want to get a new device to be portable and durable for many years to come.

I head amazing things about the iPad Pro that supposedly is way better than the Macbook Pro (standard without upgrades). Now the issue is, i do not have any portable device only my iphone 6 and an old windows laptop. Anyways, the main reason is because i really want something that will endure like my iMac and i am in love with my iMac, i never had any issues.

Anyways i read articles and questions in certain forums about the ipad pro vs the macbook pro, and ... heard best things about the ipad pro... yet i believe the macbook pro is better but to be honest guys... I REALLY DO NOT KNOW THE ANSWER..:(

Heard alot of good things from the ipad pro. Because it has better hardware than the Macbook Pro, well i will need this device for HTML & CSS also some Video and Photo Editing.
Mentioning the Apple Pen its very precise and 0 latency.. yet the macbook pro doesnt have any touch screen hardware but does have the touch bar... anyways what do you guys suggest from this THREAD?

What do you guys recommend for it to last in the future?
And what is best to get for HTML and EDITING?
o_O:oops::confused::(


Thank you everyone for helping me.
I really need help...
Asked several apple consultants online but none gave me an exact answer :(

Bless Everyone :apple:​
 
Adam1988 said:
So then the articles i read from tech sites like about the ipad pro vs the macbook pro is not real?
Then why did they mention the processor is faster than the macbook pro? faster than kabylake?
Click to expand...

I remember something about the processor speed of the iPad Pro being extremely impressive, but I'm not planning on replacing my 2016 MBP with one anytime soon. I'd go back to my 2012 MBP before I start programming on an iPad. It has nothing to do with the processing power.

I'm sure there are some pretty decent Web development apps available for iPad now, but by and large, most of your tools for creating websites are going to be available only for a Mac. If you're only doing HTML and CSS, I could possibly see an iPad Pro to be good enough to get you through, but you don't stop at HTML and CSS. That's just the start of the conversation.

Web development is at its heart a text editor based activity. You're going to want a device that is made with text input as a primary concern. You can make an iPad do all sorts of things, but it's primarily a touch input based device and for that reason alone it'll be starting far behind a traditional laptop. iPads are not an ideal form factor for development work.

That said, anyone know of some really interesting Web Design or Development apps for iPad that I should check out just for my curiosity's sake?
 
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smirking said:
I remember something about the processor speed of the iPad Pro being extremely impressive, but I'm not planning on replacing my 2016 MBP with one anytime soon. I'd go back to my 2012 MBP before I start programming on an iPad. It has nothing to do with the processing power.

I'm sure there are some pretty decent Web development apps available for iPad now, but by and large, most of your tools for creating websites are going to be available only for a Mac. If you're only doing HTML and CSS, I could possibly seeing an iPad Pro to be good enough to get you through, but you don't stop at HTML and CSS. That's just the start of the conversation.

That said, anyone know of some really interesting Web Design or Development apps for iPad that I should check out just for my curiosity's sake?
Click to expand...

So from buying the ipad pro or mbp> What is the best for eGPUs and if thunderbolt is available for both devices?
mmm (sighs*) I apologize everyone.. im giving headaches im so sorry..
yes i want to use it because i will be doing some html and css... but then also i want to edit good videos and images.

Heard on th apple keynote that ipad pro is higher than mbp. (supposedly u can use external hdds. Via wifi)
and heard it becomes a laptop with the keyboard and then does its full mechanisms...

Its a critical situation and decision and i know it.. but i really want to spend the money and make it worth for my future.
I dont know what to do sincerely...:(
 
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Adam1988 said:
So from buying the ipad pro or mbp> What is the best for eGPUs and if thunderbolt is available for both devices?
Click to expand...

Those are the wrong questions to ask while you're trying to start your journey on Web Design/Development. If you're not even sure about whether you need an iPad or a MBP, why are you worrying about eGPUs? If you're just learning how to create websites and are learning how to be a media creator, you're not going to be limited by the horsepower of your equipment. You're going to be limited by your skillset. You'd probably be fine with a MacBook, but get a MBP if the extra cost isn't prohibitive for you.

16GB of RAM and 512GB of storage would be nice, but even 8GB of RAM and 256GB should suffice. Just stick with the base processor. Going from 2.3Ghz to 2.5Ghz in clock speed isn't going to matter much for your purposes. You just don't need that much when you're starting off.

Having a little extra RAM and extra storage is just nice because you can never predict what is going to end up on your computer in the next few years, but I wouldn't go for a 1 or 2TB SSD. Part of learning to develop is learning how to keep your filesystem organized and clean.

By the time your skills have advanced to the level that your gear becomes what's limiting your development, you're going to be ready for a new setup so don't obsess about buying the perfect setup. You just need a laptop and not an iPad.

And don't worry about things like resale value. Keep it simple.
 
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Your going to university, the last thing is you wanting to jump around in hoops to achieve something basic. Can the iPad do it - probably. The question is, should YOU do it? No.
 
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Adam1988 said:
Well, i will start school soon for fall 2018 and get some coding classes, mainly HTML & CSS.
Asked several apple consultants online but none gave me an exact answer :(​
Click to expand...

I'll give you an exact answer. :)

  1. No class or school materials will cater for iPad.
  2. If you start with HTML/CSS you aren't far away from JavaScript if interested in modern web development.
  3. Once you get into JavaScript development and the ecosystem then iPad becomes just an expensive paperweight.
MacBook Pro is much better choice between the two options presented.
It is a shame Apple has such an uncompetitive line up at present.
 
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Adam1988 said:
Well, i will start school soon for fall 2018 and get some coding classes, mainly HTML & CSS.​
Click to expand...

Then you need a laptop, not a tablet. When it comes to coding HTML/CSS/any mark-up or programming language, I'd pick your old Windows laptop over an iPad.

I have an iPad Pro. They're great. I've bought more than one iPad on the day they were launched - so I'm not a hater. iPads are good at the things they are good at: media viewing, casual web browsing, short note-taking in meetings (without hiding behind a laptop) using the Pencil for artistic work... but writing HTML/CSS/Javascript code is possibly the thing that iPads are absolutely worst at - half the symbols used are on the second or third 'page' of the keyboard, accurate selection/cutting/pasting without a mouse or cursor keys is a pain. If I need to compose anything longer than a tweet, finding my Mac and powering it up takes less time than fighting with text editing on an iPad. Adding a keyboard/case helps a bit, but when I tried that it turned the iPad from a great hand-held device into an ergonomic disaster that had to be used on a table and was no longer so good at the things that an unencumbered iPad did best.

Also, if you progress to web applications, you may want to run a local web server/database for testing, a content management system like Wordpress, or a Linux VM to practice server administration etc. All non-starters on an iPad.

Ideally, I'd want a 15" laptop if I were going to be doing a lot of work without access to an external large screen (its good to have your CSS and HTML editing windows open and a web browser for preview and another browser for online documentation - the more screen estate the merrier) - one of the flaws in the current MacBook Pro range is that you have to spend an inordinate amount of money on quad i7s and discrete GPUs just to get a decent sized screen.

If you want some advice: on the first day of school, take your old Windows laptop and put up with it for a few weeks until you get a feel for what hardware you really need for the course. The course may be very PC-centric (not so likely these days, but possible) or it may be all lectures that everybody is recording on their iPhones, with assignments that you can do back at base on your iMac. Then, get what you need with a student discount...

NB: if you get into serious web/web app design you'll need an iPad and a Mac and a PC (or Parallels/Bootcamp) for testing - but you can at least go some way towards emulating an iPad on a Mac.
 
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I was still investigating for the career and yes i think the MBP is the way togo ☺️
Since the teacher told me i might need egpu for editing and plus i can connect external hdds might help for future references. Yes i made up my mind of the career im taking and of course! I will go over the macbook pro and take my fiture super serious.

THANK YOU EVERYONE SO MUCH FOR HELPING ME GET THE RIGHT DEVICE THAT WILL LAST FOR SEVERAL YEARS!!! Thank you all!
 
IPP is a powerful device than most MacBooks. However, for your needs, the software for what you want is better served with a MacBook Pro. You would soon get frustrated with the IPP for your purposes. I may be wrong about IOS apps for what you need to be doing but from many discussions on here, it does appear that programming of any sort is not as straightforward on an IPP.
 
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HTML Is how websites are build with certain coding
CSS is creative stlye sheet
This code tells the certain areas of a website what styles to read.

An iPad can’t edit code, so far.
 
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Adam1988 said:
So then the articles i read from tech sites like about the ipad pro vs the macbook pro is not real?
Click to expand...

Those articles are real and often times accurate. Keep in mind that those articles are geared towards regular computer users. People who generally only use their computers for light duty stuff and that doesn't include writing code. Writing code is one of the things an iPad is just not good for. Yes, you can do it under certain circumstances but a cheap laptop is better.

As for me personally, my iPad is a laptop replacement (I still have a PC at home however for when I need a "real computer"). I take it everywhere with me when I travel and I'm a software engineer. I have done website development on it and other coding tasks but that was for a work emergency. I do it by ssh'ing into a remote server and doing all the development there. Yes, it works but it's not something I'd want to do a lot. In fact, a big reason I chose an iPad over a MacBook is because the former is just good enough for me to do this when I absolutely have to; I bring a MacBook Pro when it's a work trip and I know I'll be coding a lot.

Another big downside to doing website development on an iPad is the browser developer tools just aren't good enough. They generally assume you'll be connected to a real computer and be running the development tools there.

In short, iPads are great devices and can indeed replace a laptop but you should get a real laptop.
 
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I see you really want an iPad. I really wanted one too so I got a cheaper Mac for getting the job done and a”non Pro” iPad for fun. I now am a very happy user of both.
 
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smirking said:
I've seen a few respectable looking text editors with code completion. It seems to actually be ok as far as raw coding goes. It's the IDE type of tools that appear to be lacking.
Click to expand...

The main problem is inability to run the code on the iPad itself due to Apple’s artificial limitations.
 
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