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celo48

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Apr 9, 2010
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OK. I have an iPad 2 and didn't touch that thing for 4 years!

Now, iPad is different. It looks like it may replace my Macbook Air.

Am I wrong here when I say I want to Ebay my MacBook Air and get the new 10.5 iPad?
 
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So up until recently I have been a 10+ year user of apple products at home, but recently moved to the SP4, which I really like. It isn't quite fast enough for my needs though, and I was about to buy a Surface Book instead, but held out for WWDC just to see what there is.

I'm now thinking about getting an ipad pro 10.5 and the 21" retina imac. This works out about the same cost as the surface book but brings me back into the Apple ecosystem that I have loved for many years, but got a bit disillusioned with recently.

Still undecided because the SB would be everything I need in one product. The ipad + imac combo however, is quite appealing, but I just need to be honest at how much use the imac will actually get.

Thanks for making things complicated again apple...
 
Giving my mac book pro to my brother, and selling my XPS 13 9350. Primarily because my job is senior enough now where I don't have to do content creation anymore.
 
Ordered my 256GB 10.5 as soon as the store came back on. I am selling my MacBook and going iOS only moving forward. Apple added everything I needed to iOS 11. Looking forward to the new multitasking, higher refresh rate, 4GB of ram, and better screen.
 
Get the iPad first, then figure out if you can live without the MacBook Air.

Personally, I couldn't do it. I use my iPad for 85-90% of my tasks but for the 5% that I use my laptop, there are no substitutes.

I am in the same situation but I would like to shed my "old skin" and get on with iPad only.

For example, right now I'm replying via iPad Tapatalk app. Much better than using safari (MacOS or iOS). Same goes for Kayak (but not expedia), Apple News, Flipboard, Instapaper (the best), etc. whenever the app sucks, you can always fallback to Safari/web.

iOS 11 seems promising. Still waiting for multiuser or at least guest mode for iOS. Glad to see iPad/iOS moving forward.
 
Ordered my 256GB 10.5 as soon as the store came back on.

Same, except I went with the 12.9.

Only change to my plans was not going with cellular. As T-Mobile dropped their free 200 MB offering, the cost of cellular dial tone is now back up to $10/mo. I will just use my iPhone hotspot instead.

A.
 
I tried this but it won't be the same. Apps and iOS have a mindset of crippled apps even tho' the processor seems capable. There are a lot of things one can do with it, but then there a few things you can't, and that will be the culprit. I used to have my mac pro around but since I moved my office out of my home, the ipad won' t do everything I need. One thing that helps, is a NAS, like a synology, those belong together.
 
An iPad cannot replace a MacBook. If you find that you can, you never needed a MacBook in the first place.

The only way an iPad can replace a MacBook is root access and terminal support. At that point, I can pretty much compile my own drivers and load my own OS - it's not really an iPad anymore. What people don't realize is that iOS is an integral part of what makes an iPad an iPad. Otherwise it really is just a laptop with touch support, like countless other competitors out there.

This is a good thing, and despite all the hardware announcements this WWDC, the real improvements were on iOS 11 itself.
 
Keeping my Dell XPS 13 9350 - works perfectly for my needs and I really like using it. I can't see an iPad replacing it.

The XPS 13 is the best computer I've ever purchased. I've had mine for over 2 years now and I have yet to see any device that has tempted me to trade it in. :)
 
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I have been an iPad person for a while now. I am buying the new 10.5" to replace my older iPad 3rd generation (2011) - yes, I've had it this long and believe it or not it still runs like a gem. Apples downside on making these devices is that they make it so well that people like me take years to replace them. I have been using it with a logitech keyboard, and it has served me well.

Now to answer your question, I think the new iPad Pro's combined with the features they showed for iOS11 is a step much closer in replacing the laptop style devices. I just find it convenient to detach the tablet from the keyboard when the keyboard is not necessary, and easily slap it back when needed. Has my iPad3 replaced the functionality of the laptop in my personal use? I could say it has. All those years I have been carrying my ipad 3 more than my laptop. I use it for work and leisure.
 
Im not saying i dont believe it but im having a very hard time trying.

Agreed. I have an iPad Air 1 and a 1st gen iPad Mini and they are slow and sluggish as hell on iOS10. Usable, but treacle slow.

...but I guess performance is based on perception so more power to OP :)
 
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I tried this with the iPad Pro but soon sold it.

Its nice to see Apple moving in the right direction but its still too restrictive. Maybe in a few more years.....
 
Now to answer your question, I think the new iPad Pro's combined with the features they showed for iOS11 is a step much closer in replacing the laptop style devices. I just find it convenient to detach the tablet from the keyboard when the keyboard is not necessary, and easily slap it back when needed. Has my iPad3 replaced the functionality of the laptop in my personal use? I could say it has. All those years I have been carrying my ipad 3 more than my laptop. I use it for work and leisure.

The iPad can only be a laptop replacement when the iPad can accommodate your workflow without disrupting it (at least, not to a large degree). I can think of a number of things that I can't do with an iPad today, which basically render it useless as a laptop replacement.

- I can't run macOS applications
- I can't create and run virtual machines
- I can't use a mouse (I can do without most of the time, but not always, when I require extra precision)
- I can't use it as a development platform, partly because of the above, but also because of performance constraints

Obviously, if all you do is consume content, the iPad is great. Even if you use it to produce content, it might also be ok, if you just need it to write documents, emails, etc. For some users, like me, this is not enough though - you still need a MacBook, even if you use it for a small fraction of the time.
 
Apple / Tim Cook makes the rather odd distinction between the iPad replacing a laptop versus the iPad replacing a MacBook. As far as I can tell, "laptop" refers to any non-tablet that isn't a MacBook. It's quite a stretch, but if you buy into the iPad as a complementary device for your MacBook it "makes sense". That's how I view it anyway.

The presumption is that too many people buy laptops (as Apple defines it) for use cases that the iPad Pro could do just as well, and there is strong evidence in this forum at least that this is true for quite a number of people.

However, there'll always remain a subset of people who do indeed need more than "basic laptop functionality" (as @mariotr87 describes). Apple expects that the MacBook is the more appropriate choice and/or complement in that scenario.

It can indeed serve as a complement, provided the iPad Pro has a similar app that exists on the MacBook with sufficient functionality that allows you to at least touch up whatever project you're working on. The new Affinity Photo for the iPad Pro is a great example of this, and could complement a more fully featured workflow on a MacBook.

Bottom Line: Evaluate your use cases, see how well they can fit in an iPad Pro workflow, then decide if you require a MacBook. Or if you already own a MacBook, see if an iPad Pro makes you more productive as a complementary portable "semi-pro" device.
 
I may have considered this, had there been mouse support.

Too bad Adobe hasn't stepped up with true equivalents of their Adobe CC desktop apps.
Looks like upstart Serif may be filling that void of professional graphic software for the iPad Pro.
 
Haven't had a desktop (my iMac) in over a year. The ONLY thing I do that requires one is making books on Shutterfly (just can't customize them the way I'd like to on the iPad). For those I use either of my dd's older iMacs that really just sit around storing photos.

Of course, I'm not a super productive person (well, on a computer anyway), so take that with a grain of salt. ;-p
 
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