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2018 iPad Pro Hands-On Impressions: 'Might Be the Truest Embodiment of a Tablet Yet'

No headphone jack is a pain. I had just about come to terms that I needed to equip my various nice pairs of headphones with Apple's lightning dongle for iPhone use, but these new iPads are USB-C... Yet another dongle?

Pricing this time around has also tipped over into the 'once every four years' kind of territory for me, whereas before I would be a bi-annual upgrader. I will be sticking with the 10.5inch Pro for some time it seems.
 
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Falhófnir said:
I'd imagine no, there's no way to pair it as there's no lightning port. I suppose you could get a USB C to lightning dongle, but I don't know if apple would support it in the firmware for these iPads.
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The old Pencil needs a female Lightning port. No such dongle exists. To replace my existing IPP, I’d have to fork over a whopping $2000 (here), and it wouldn’t last very long due to using USB-C which puts the stress on the port and not the plug.
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playtech1 said:
No headphone jack is a pain. I had just about come to terms that I needed to equip my various nice pairs of headphones with Apple's lightning dongle for iPhone use, but these new iPads are USB-C... Yet another dongle?
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Unlike Lightning, USB-C doesn’t have good audio support or universality. If you need high quality or low latency (e.g. monitoring, making music), you need another device altogether for that, such as the previous generation (then use the new one for whatever it’s good for, AR and presentations, mostly, it seems).
 
awer25 said:
The gap between a real computer and the iPad Pro is not going to be closed by a new physical design and chip. It needs MacOS.
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Except MacOS would be awful on an iPad. It isn’t designed for touch screens. Microsoft has been trying for years and still doesn’t have the right balance.
 
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So with the smart connector on the back I'm assuming this new device can't be used with the Logitech charging dock, correct?
 
It’s a stupid price hike for what mainly amounts to a design refresh. Everything else is the usual evolution that apple used to keep prices flat for. $200 for a keyboard!?

I’ll wait until next year to see what they bring with iOS 13. If they bring mouse support and overhaul the icon layout (looks at those lonely icons in the photos) I might update. I wanted to get rid of the home button but not at prices like that
 
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I am surprised that the 'rounded corners' in iOS are not inline with the iPad Pro's corners/curves. It's quite off actually, and this brings more attention to the bezels. Surely modifications could've been made to either iOS or the iPad's chassis to make it more aligned, as with the iPhone X line.
 
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Aniseedvan said:
I’m glad I’m not the only one who’s been thinking this. I’m intrigued to know if I could do my PS workflow on an iPad but I’m not sure I want to drop the pounds and pence this year if PS doesn’t come out for 12 months and really does need the 2019 ipad to fly.

I wonder whether this could finally replace my trusty 2012 11” Mac Air but not being able to run full Visio and project on an iPad yet is still putting me off... I think that’s my last two apps that would need to go over...
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A UK software company puts out what seems to me an excellent alternative (Affinity Photo, not to mention Designer) to PS already for the iPad and Mac as well. It is far less costly and runs perfectly fast on my 10.5” iPad Pro. Have you considered supporting them?
 
Gorms said:
I don’t get the external display thing, if this is just mirroring the iPad display as publicity shots seem to show, then what’s the point? Mirrored, borders either size, without any increase in usable area. It’s just completely redundant.

I mean, the road is pretty clear for what could then happen at wwdc19. That’s when we get a non mirrored second screen of some description (iPad screen would need to become a big input device like a keyboard, trackpad and Touch Bar all in one) and it could be glorious. Especially for productivity.

But until then, ACTUAL use cases are, what? Keynote presentations on TV that could be achieved previously using lightning to HDMI? Is that it?

Someone else please enlighten me?
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You already answer yourself. The software road map will be something similar to your speculation.
The move to USB-C port is to match with what you have in mac book line. When everything is connected using USB-C then it makes a lot of sense to move to USB-C.
Right now, it's up to developer to develop apps that use the extended screen and turn the ipad into an input device. I've seen several ones in the wild and there will be more coming.
Maybe in the future mouse support will become a thing when the ipad is hooked to an external device and turn into a computer. Just a wishful thought.
 
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Relentless Power said:
But not everybody needs/wants the capabilities of laptop, the iPad meets the expectations for those who can still execute some of the same things on an iPad as they can on a laptop, And most importantly, It still incorporates iOS as a direct result.
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The fact it uses iOS and not OSX. Is its biggest drawback!!
 
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mixel said:
It has the best software for various industries. The iPad is absolutely unsurpassed now as a portable (2D) art creation device. And that’s before Adobe we’re forced to up their game by the competition and release versions of their suite we’ve been asking for for years.
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I continue to be amazed at posts here by UK folks who don’t know about the Affinity software team in the UK. They make a perfectly acceptable alternative to PS and it’s amazing on the iPad. Why are you waiting to Adobe??
 
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Much as I like this new design, there is one thing that rubs me the wrong way, and it has a lot to do with the mixed messages Apple is sending. In its presentation, Apple made it clear that music professional like DJs have been fans of the iPad for a while, and that the new power afforded to them by the A12X Bionic chipset would help them spice up their performances. That's cool and all, but I wonder how those DJs feel about the iPad Pro lacking a headphone jack. Seems kind of important, no?
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Wouldn't any DJ be jacking into their mixer and not the iPad anyway making this irrelevant? Or are DJs now relying solely on software mixers?
 
zuiram said:
The old Pencil needs a female Lightning port. No such dongle exists. To replace my existing IPP, I’d have to fork over a whopping $2000 (here), and it wouldn’t last very long due to using USB-C which puts the stress on the port and not the plug.
[doublepost=1540929736][/doublepost]
Click to expand...

There’s an adapter in the box with the original Pencil, so you have a way to charge it over a Lightning cable if you so wish, unlike the new one which only charges in contact with the new Pro. Theoretically you could use the old one with the new Pro.
 
Aniseedvan said:
I’m glad I’m not the only one who’s been thinking this. I’m intrigued to know if I could do my PS workflow on an iPad but I’m not sure I want to drop the pounds and pence this year if PS doesn’t come out for 12 months and really does need the 2019 ipad to fly.

I wonder whether this could finally replace my trusty 2012 11” Mac Air but not being able to run full Visio and project on an iPad yet is still putting me off... I think that’s my last two apps that would need to go over...
Click to expand...


Honestly you’re right. I’m contempt with my iPad Pro 10.5” works great on iOS 12 as well. Really not many things different about this one
 
Blown away…. absolutely love the 12.9 pro And the new Pencil!!!
(They pretty much resolved all the Pencil issus I found ridiculous in the previous version)
Upgrading my older 12.9 and old Pencil right away

And sorry to say.. but Adobe will finally make me take the bait and subscribe
Photoshop on new iPad pro Rocks + the AR…… then Adesk Autocad…and whole slew of desktop level apps to come.

To me, the iPad that i had been waiting for has finally Arrived !!! Yee haaa

( wish there were more color choices though )
 
I gave up on the iPad about four(?) years ago because I couldn't establish a decent/simple workflow between it and my Mac desktop. As an illustrator's tool it had potential but wasn't quite ready for prime time. My sense at the time was that it was just another content consumption device, not a professional content creating tool. Right or wrong, I ignored the whole iPad / iPad Pro product line ever since because of that impression, and concentrated only on Mac's.

I scoffed at the first generation iPad Pro, mainly because (and this may be unfair) in the roll-out, Eddie Cue was quoted as being extremely impressed with the speakers. Really? The speakers! That suggested to me that Apple was still focused on content consumption and the "Pro" name was just Schiller Spin.

With the introduction of the New iPad Pro, I think I'm ready to re-consider.

They rolled this second generation out much better, with a proper emphasis on performance that appealed to me. I can now see how I can potentially integrate this mobile product (Pencil included) into my workflow and no longer be chained to my desktop full time.

Of course, I'll wait for in-depth reviews and look to get some hands-on time when it arrives at my local Apple Store, but my first impression is that this may be a decently "Pro" device, at least for me.

This was bit long as thread comments go. Thanks for reading!
 
awer25 said:
The gap between a real computer and the iPad Pro is not going to be closed by a new physical design and chip. It needs MacOS.
Click to expand...

For all those people who want Apple to make an iPad with MacOS they have already. Its the MacBook FFS!
 
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