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Am I the only one annoyed by these "but the iPad Pro is not a real laptop replacement!"
- Thread starter ksb315
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No it isn't. It's a patently false complaint. The device is absolutely, without any doubt, a laptop/notebook replacement for some subset of laptop/notebook users. Therefore, the complaint is not valid.
The ONLY thing I use my MacBook Pro for is downloading movies. If I can download torrents without issue and transfer to an external drive or NAS, I would love to have just an iPad. I don't think we are there yet though, unless someone knows of a good way to do this.
I think the reason the iPad Pro (and any iPad really) isn't a laptop replacement yet is because it is very impractical to have an iPad without also having a laptop or desktop to sync it with.
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I could say the exact same thing about a laptop; for my needs, I have to have a desktop at home acting as a server for storing/streaming media (Plex) and stuff like that. I have always remoted into my desktop, be it from my rMBP or now from my iPP, to do things like manage downloads or big file collections. So swapping the laptop with an iPP isn't a big deal for me.
Conversely, there are folks for whom just having a laptop and/or an iPad (or even a smartphone, for that matter) is enough computing power for their needs. Different strokes, man.
I'm not talking about computing power or hyper-niche uses here. A laptop can exist on it's own perfectly fine. It can download from anything and can connect to nearly anything. Importantly, you can back it up to a USB harddrive, or make online backups to any number of competing services that integrate and work super well on an OS-level and offer a plethora of different features (Apple's Time Machine, CrashPlan, Carbonite, and dozens if not hundreds of others). iOS has only two backup pathways - (1) syncing with another computer running iTunes or (2) Apple iCloud - and neither of those two ways are really ideal since they aren't designed to be backup solutions primarily, rather file syncing solutions. Files have been lost in iCloud, files have been corrupted during an iTunes sync. In both these cases, a user would be wise to have a real backup as well (one of the ones I listed above). Any other cloud service available on iOS are nothing more than a glorified viewers and uploaders - none offer the functionality of actual backups.
This backup ability is key - as without a proper backup, no one can or should really trust the device to be a primary device. Photographers can't trust their photos to it, writers can't trust their documents to it, etc. Nearly everything we do is creating or modifying or adding to or otherwise working with some kind of content. Why should people trust a device to serve as their "primary computer" that can't even keep their files properly backed up?
Even the "regular users who only browse and email" that iOS-as-a-primary-device proponents always point to are likely to have lots of photos of friends, children, pets, vacations, and the various other miscellaneous documents everyone keeps, and that they would be devastated to lose. How does someone keep a 20GB photo library in a way they will be relatively sure it will not disappear suddenly using only an iOS device? Pay for iCloud $1/month in perpetuity for life? That life-sentence seems totally unreasonable, and isn't even a sure thing as plenty of people on this forum talk about files lost in iCloud. Or they sync it to their actual primary computer with iTunes, and then back it up to a USB drive or online backup service. Certainly, you can't just keep it on iOS and assume nothing will ever happen to it.
This is why iOS pretty much must have a companion laptop or computer, and cannot be a primary device for anyone as it exists today.
I haven't synced an iPhone/iPad in years... I think its a bad practice personally and a waste of an actual laptop.
For me the iPad pro is going to be my daily device for content creation and consumption. I am a student. I do have a lot of files I need to have managed, for this i bought one of those $99 kangaroo windows 10 devices. It does everything I need and it runs kodi on my TV. So in all I changed my 12" Macbook and Nvidia gaming machine in for an iPad Pro and a Kangaroo Pc. And I am now going to be able to sink the $1200 difference into paying off debt.
I really do not want to setup computers anymore or manage files. The macbook gave me too many options and I dont want those anymore. Also the ipad pro is the best device for reading piano music off of. I have been waiting for one for a while.
I really do not want to setup computers anymore or manage files. The macbook gave me too many options and I dont want those anymore. Also the ipad pro is the best device for reading piano music off of. I have been waiting for one for a while.
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I haven't either... that's what icloud backups are for!
Yea... See above for my rant on iCloud. In sum, it's not a real good backup solution because files can become corrupt without you knowing (there is no post-upload check, which is something proper backup systems do behind the scenes), and also because paying a monthly fee in perpetuity for life is super lame and forget that nonsense.
If you're philosophically against cloud backups then that's your prerogative, but iCloud is a perfectly acceptable way to backup/restore data. I keep all my photos synced to iCloud, and my documents are stored in OneDrive. Nothing is stored locally on my iPad; I could crush it up in a grinder right now and lose not one file or piece of data.
This is the new paradigm; keeping data on your computer or a hard drive is an old way of thinking that is slowly dying. Anecdotal stories of files becoming corrupted during transfer are about as valid a reason to stay away from cloud backups as fears of drive corruption are for shying away from hardware backups. Honestly, the best way to ensure data continuity in this day and age is to embrace cloud storage and apps that utilize that storage to retrieve, modify, and save your data. Microsoft's iOS Office apps are a perfect example of this; they access my files from OneDrive, not the device itself, by default. I'm never afraid that I'm going to lose those files.
See, this guy gets it!!!
Kangaroo PC is a full-fledged x86 based Windows 10 machine. Sure it's tiny and portable, but it's still pretty much a desktop computer. If anything, the guy proves my point - an iPad is only a primary computer when it can be backed up and synced with an actual laptop/desktop.
Not really an issue if you keep your important data backed up in multiple places..
I'm with ya, local storage is going out of fashion. But don't fool youself into thinking that iCloud or OneDrive are backup solutions at all. Cloud storage, alone, is not a backup solution. A very very important part of backup is verification. This is invisible to users, but on systems designed for backup, it is always done behind the scenes. Dropbox, OneDrive, Box, Google Drive, iCloud, etc. - none of them do it. A file might be corrupt and you would never know until the next time you tried to open it, and you have no recourse. Proper cloud-based backup systems do exist, but because of iOSes silly restrictions, they cannot work like designed.
Ah, so it is. I still stand by point that the ipad can stand alone for a lot of people though. Back up what you need with icloud, then make backups of what is important with dropbox or another cloud data provider/app and you're golden.
They're perfectly acceptable backup solutions for me; I've never in all the years that I've been using cloud storage across multiple platforms lost one file to corruption or to bad copies. Just because you have a problem with them doesn't invalidate them as solutions, and your position on the importance of backups doesn't mean that for someone else an iPad can't be their only computing device. Broaden your perspective beyond your own needs and desires.
The movies and music I get via streaming or iTunes. So I can use it again later on. I think the cloud is ideal for stuff that isn't private or personal in nature. That includes movies and music.
Here's the deal folks... Each year, Apple removes more and more barriers to using your iPad and iPhone as your sole computing devices. They are taking their time, but the progression each year is obvious.
Whether or not the iPad has reached that level for you personally all depends on what you need.
I've known some people who have used their iPad as their sole computing device for several years now. I'm talking about iPads that are now 2-3 years old - not powerhouses by today's standards. Their needs were basic, and they loved ditching the headaches of owning a full PC and sticking with the elegance of an iOS device. Most of them purchased a keyboard case and were good to go.
Others have been waiting for better multitasking and speed, and the current generation of iPads deliver on this. The iPad Pro ups the screen size and brings an integrated keyboard case option and an amazing stylus. There is now enough CPU horsepower and RAM to equal the horsepower of a typical laptop for most tasks. The performance barrier has been removed. The screen size barrier has been removed. The typing barrier is mostly removed and will be fully removed when Apple refines the keyboard shortcut control in iOS 9.
The remaining barriers to some are: (1) multitasking is still limited (no more than two windows open at once, limited background tasks, can't have more than one instance of an app open at a time); (2) file system is different/limited; and (3) pro level apps not available. (1) and (2) can be addressed in future software updates, while the mere existence of the iPad Pro is going to push Adobe and other companies to up their game with respect to the apps. I could imagine full Photoshop on the iPad Pro at some point.
I'm envious of those that can accomplish all their computing on the iPad Pro. I'd love to ditch the remaining headaches that come with using a full PC. But I just can't do it. My typical work task involves having at least two Word docs, several PDFs, and several emails all open at once for reference while I prepare a report. So I live on a Surface Pro 3. But I think what Apple is doing is terrific, and will start a healthy trend.
Whether or not the iPad has reached that level for you personally all depends on what you need.
I've known some people who have used their iPad as their sole computing device for several years now. I'm talking about iPads that are now 2-3 years old - not powerhouses by today's standards. Their needs were basic, and they loved ditching the headaches of owning a full PC and sticking with the elegance of an iOS device. Most of them purchased a keyboard case and were good to go.
Others have been waiting for better multitasking and speed, and the current generation of iPads deliver on this. The iPad Pro ups the screen size and brings an integrated keyboard case option and an amazing stylus. There is now enough CPU horsepower and RAM to equal the horsepower of a typical laptop for most tasks. The performance barrier has been removed. The screen size barrier has been removed. The typing barrier is mostly removed and will be fully removed when Apple refines the keyboard shortcut control in iOS 9.
The remaining barriers to some are: (1) multitasking is still limited (no more than two windows open at once, limited background tasks, can't have more than one instance of an app open at a time); (2) file system is different/limited; and (3) pro level apps not available. (1) and (2) can be addressed in future software updates, while the mere existence of the iPad Pro is going to push Adobe and other companies to up their game with respect to the apps. I could imagine full Photoshop on the iPad Pro at some point.
I'm envious of those that can accomplish all their computing on the iPad Pro. I'd love to ditch the remaining headaches that come with using a full PC. But I just can't do it. My typical work task involves having at least two Word docs, several PDFs, and several emails all open at once for reference while I prepare a report. So I live on a Surface Pro 3. But I think what Apple is doing is terrific, and will start a healthy trend.