The iPad is basically the main computer for me and my girlfriend. I have iMacs at work and no need for a computer at home. I previously had a chromebook and was fine with it, but the low performance bothered me too much and it had to go back. The iPad is the right device for my needs. If you need certain programs for a living it is obviously not for you, but personally it and even the iPhone are fully featured enough for 90% of people out there. Who needs laptops and desktops anymore for the majority of what people do?
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When will the iPad be our main computer?
- Thread starter ShaneBunting
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Those who like speed, screen size, and a proper OS. You can do almost anything on a tablet but its not always a nice experience. Travel, on the deck having a fanta, in bed browsing? Then the tablet is the best option
Of the three things you listed, the only thing I want is screen size. In terms of speed, the iPad is plenty fast enough for the things I do. And what is a "proper OS"? I don't care about the OS as long as it does the things I want it to do, and the times iOS doesn't do something I'd like it to do are few and far between.
Sure, there are things iOS doesn't do, but those are things I think of as "power user" stuff. For most daily usage for non-techies, like light email, web browsing, social media, I think iOS is fine.
The entire world?
If tablets could realistically replace laptops/desktops, they would have by now. But they can't, which is why laptops and desktops still exist.
If they don't have or want a laptop, yet find themselves doing anything other than basic consumption, an intervention is needed. I love my iPad, but it's horrendous for extensive productivity. Just because you can do a whole host of productivity tasks on an iPad doesn't mean you should.
How you interface with an iPad, it's ram, the extremely closeted nature of the os, the tiny screen relative to a desktop or reasonable sized desktop or even laptop. No contest.
I agree. While some, maybe more than some are happy with light tasks, I'd suggest most users have one, two, or more power user tasks we do. So, it wont replace a laptop for most. I love my iPad as well, but I prefer my 15" rMBP, keyboard, trackpad, and the full OS. If travelling, on the couch, on the deck having a cold one, thats the iPads niche
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Agree mostly. You can interface with a keyboard, but if Apple added wireless or BT mouse support that would change everything for productivity. I don't agree with your comment on "extremely closeted OS" Explain?
@tdale
By that I mean how sandboxed everything is. iOS8 improved matters, but there's so much you can do between applications on a PC/Mac that are impossible on an iPad.
Equally, all the relatively simple things that a PC/Mac can do that I take for granted - use Subler to remux an mkv to MP4, batch rename a tonne of files, meaningful file management beyond simple directories, Automator, bunging some stuff on a usb stick, conversion of a mobi to epub, multiple desktops, install firmware on a random gadget, torrents, newsgroups, emulate Mario Galaxy at 1080p* etc etc. Honestly, I could reel of a hundred little things that are either impossible or very unintuitive on an iPad that a traditional computer can do as simply as adding 2 & 2.
Please don't misunderstand me - I've absolutely no need or desire to do any of the above things on an iPad. If I only had an iPad, a lot of these tasks I simply couldn't perform. As such, when people say an iPad is their one and only, I can only assume they have a very narrow use case, heavily reliant on cloud services and don't feel restricted by the iPad's numerous limitations. That's not a criticism, I'm happy these people are satisfied, but going iPad only would feel like losing a couple of limbs to me.
Neither am I saying these things aren't conceivably possible on a future iPad, but realistically, however far the iPad evolves, it'll always be heavily reliant on it being throughly entrenched in Apple's world/vision.
*Jailbreak or a Surface may enable such functionality, but doing some of these things on a tablet would definitely falling into the "because I can" category when a laptop/desktop sat next to it could perform the same task a million times better.
By that I mean how sandboxed everything is. iOS8 improved matters, but there's so much you can do between applications on a PC/Mac that are impossible on an iPad.
Equally, all the relatively simple things that a PC/Mac can do that I take for granted - use Subler to remux an mkv to MP4, batch rename a tonne of files, meaningful file management beyond simple directories, Automator, bunging some stuff on a usb stick, conversion of a mobi to epub, multiple desktops, install firmware on a random gadget, torrents, newsgroups, emulate Mario Galaxy at 1080p* etc etc. Honestly, I could reel of a hundred little things that are either impossible or very unintuitive on an iPad that a traditional computer can do as simply as adding 2 & 2.
Please don't misunderstand me - I've absolutely no need or desire to do any of the above things on an iPad. If I only had an iPad, a lot of these tasks I simply couldn't perform. As such, when people say an iPad is their one and only, I can only assume they have a very narrow use case, heavily reliant on cloud services and don't feel restricted by the iPad's numerous limitations. That's not a criticism, I'm happy these people are satisfied, but going iPad only would feel like losing a couple of limbs to me.
Neither am I saying these things aren't conceivably possible on a future iPad, but realistically, however far the iPad evolves, it'll always be heavily reliant on it being throughly entrenched in Apple's world/vision.
*Jailbreak or a Surface may enable such functionality, but doing some of these things on a tablet would definitely falling into the "because I can" category when a laptop/desktop sat next to it could perform the same task a million times better.
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Agree fully. The way I see it is that the iPad, even if it had OS X, so can do all of your stuff at the drop of a hat, is too small. If you got an iPad Pro if that had OS X (which it wont), you still are limited in storage, you will have a crappy BT keyboard, no trackpad, a fingerprinted screen, and no mouse. By then you will have sold the above and got an Air!
The iPad is not such a niche device, it has its own excellence. A phone is too small to watch a movie, a laptop is too big to carry to the bedroom to watch a movie, the iPad fills that nicely, as does computing on the deck, or on a plane, or on holiday.
Those tasks you mention I guess you can do almost all, if not all on a Surface SP3, or an Android tablet? But would anyone really want to?
Yeah, and size is a very big issue. The iPad Air feels relatively big for most purposes it's designed for, but go back 5 years we were all (well some of us were toting ghastly netbooks that had, yep, 10" screens (or thereabouts). We loved the idea of a small computer, but boy did that screen feel tiny with a traditional OS on.
I had an 11.6" MBA a few years ago. Excellent computer, in a pinch I could have just about survived using that alone but I certainly wouldn't want to. So by that metric the fabled iPad Pro would need 12" minimum. How practical is a 12" tablet though? With a Wacom digitiser and a crazy high res screen it'd be delightful for specific uses, and it'd have a not insignificant number of rabid fans, but how big is too big for a device that you hold in your hand? We'd be getting there at 12".
toting ghastly netbooks that had, yep, 10" screens (or thereabouts). We loved the idea of a small computer, but boy did that screen feel tiny with a traditional OS on. I had an 11.6" MBA a few years ago. Excellent computer, in a pinch I could have just about survived using that alone but I certainly wouldn't want to. So by that metric the fabled iPad Pro would need 12" minimum. How practical is a 12" tablet though? With a Wacom digitiser and a crazy high res screen it'd be delightful for specific uses, and it'd have a not insignificant number of rabid fans, but how big is too big for a device that you hold in your hand? We'd be getting there at 12".
In fact a better response to the OP is it all depends if you use a computer, or if you use the internet. Two totally different situations.
And by mentioning "main computer" he has really answered his own question. That implies he does not see a tablet replacing a laptop/desktop. Goes back to my first sentence
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True, add a flimsy BT keyboard, BT mouse, your digitiser and all done. But i'd still prefer a rMBP or MBA. Keep the tablet for its dedicated market, consumption, and creativity if you have to when travelling etc.
And by mentioning "main computer" he has really answered his own question. That implies he does not see a tablet replacing a laptop/desktop. Goes back to my first sentence
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Yeah, and size is a very big issue. The iPad Air feels relatively big for most purposes it's designed for, but go back 5 years we were all (well some of us were
I had an 11.6" MBA a few years ago. Excellent computer, in a pinch I could have just about survived using that alone but I certainly wouldn't want to. So by that metric the fabled iPad Pro would need 12" minimum. How practical is a 12" tablet though? With a Wacom digitiser and a crazy high res screen it'd be delightful for specific uses, and it'd have a not insignificant number of rabid fans, but how big is too big for a device that you hold in your hand? We'd be getting there at 12".
True, add a flimsy BT keyboard, BT mouse, your digitiser and all done. But i'd still prefer a rMBP or MBA. Keep the tablet for its dedicated market, consumption, and creativity if you have to when travelling etc.
It seems that the lack of mouse support or some other more specific touch interface would really go a long way to making the iPad a computer replacement. That's the one thing I always wished it supported.
I would probably say that the ipad is now my main computing device. Over the years I've been using my computer less and less. In the past year I've probably only used it 5 times and they they were for 2 things: ripping DVDs to play on my android devices and manually updating my kindles. I don't use it for anything else.
However as I've moved over to ios I'm not going to be ripping DVDs because I prefer to buy things from iTunes and I dont like using iTunes on the computer so I'll avoid it wherever possible. I can update my kindles over the air.
Everything else I do on my ipad/tablet/phone/iPhone. My computer is on its lasy legs and I'm fed up of windows computers at this point. They require too much maintenance and there is always something wrong with them. I'm going to save up for a MacBook pro. In the meantime my iPad air will be my main computing device.
However as I've moved over to ios I'm not going to be ripping DVDs because I prefer to buy things from iTunes and I dont like using iTunes on the computer so I'll avoid it wherever possible. I can update my kindles over the air.
Everything else I do on my ipad/tablet/phone/iPhone. My computer is on its lasy legs and I'm fed up of windows computers at this point. They require too much maintenance and there is always something wrong with them. I'm going to save up for a MacBook pro. In the meantime my iPad air will be my main computing device.
what he means is the fact that you cannot directly move files around on the iPad, decide where they are stored, open them with more than one app, etc, etc. it's all cloud based and there is NO local file system like on a traditional OS such as Mac OS or Windows.
For the basic users this is not a problem and keep them out of trouble. But for a power user or someone looking to be more productive it is viewed as a hindrance.
Was your spelling bad or am I just that much out of touch with this stuff? Of all the things you mentioned the only one that bothers me is about the file management. I do just about everything I ever need to do from my iPad. It works, and works very well for what I need to do.
I dont file system access an issue. If you had Finder on an iPad, that would be a pain, as too much info on a small screen and no mouse or stylus support
But there is file system support in iOS
Finder in OSX
You see the files. OK, you move to the folder say called PDF Magazines. In there you click the folder called Computer Magazine, click that, and choose from the months that are in there.
Goodreader in iOS
Click Goodreader. I am at workn and canno recall the click trail, but Goodreader has all those folders there. Yiou can add folders, move files to folders, rename, etc.
All thyats different is in Goodreader I narrow down to the app that has my pdf files. Its still file system access of a sort, it is still seeing the folders and files and locating the one you want
Now I know not all apps are as structured this way as Goodreader is, thats the issue.
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Yeah I see that. But its a tablet. Its not a case of cartering for basic users, its designed for consumption. I am not a basic user, am I going to use it for power tasks, on a 9.7 screen, with no mouse, no stylus, looking at raoes and columns of a spreadsheet or all my fikles in Finder if Finder was in iOS. No way, the screen is too small. So that takes away 90% of the usefulness on an iPad if it had OSX. It would then be a poor tablet and a still too small full OS, so a poor OSX tablet
I dont have an MBA, but I do have a 15" rMBP. I'd take a MBA 11 or 12 over the iPad any day, even if it had OSX/OSX features
The hardware is there, the app support is there, the OPERATING SYSTEM that is made and designed by Apple isn't even close to be there. Apple decision to make the iPad OS nothing more then a blown up iPhone iOS will forever hold back the device till they decide to do something about it
So you want OSX on an iPad? Or you want iOS on an iPad with the bulk of OSX features
The iPad iOS needs to have many of the OSX features, the simple task of split screen multi tasking isn't even there. There needs to be a real file search on the system, not just a sole reliance on Dropbox and other apps. Those two upgrades alone would go a LONG way for the iPad as a true productive machine, not just an entertainment app. The third party devs have done everything they can, there really are some amazing desktop quality apps on the iPad store
File Search, you mean file system?
Splitn screen, yes that will probably come before long