Apple Highlights Five Reasons the iPad Pro Can Be Your Next Computer

[tromboneaholic]

It’s like no one is ever happy with Apple no matter what they do. The negativity is sickening. I guarantee that most people complaining about these so called “lack of features”, don’t even own the new iPad Pro.

Some companies hire PR firms that post on forums as regular users and talk trash about the competition. It makes you wonder how much of the outrage is authentic.

I'm certainly not implying everyone debating if the iPad is a computer is astroturfing, but it would explain some of the newer accounts that pop up and only have negative input.

 

[0947347]

Most new office copiers come with duplex scanners. Most multi-function printers now come with duplex scanners. And lastly, there are a good number of standalone home use page scanners that are duplex.

Photograph/slide scanners are still usually single sided.

Come to think of it, our office is slightly “Stone Age”. We still use fax almost as much as an email

 

[jimthing]

703 comments, across 29 pages, on this ... wowser!

 

[nsayer]

It doesn't run Xcode

Yet.

Fair. But I have no reason to fear for the future of MacOS until they port Xcode to something else.

 

[tkatz]

Come to think of it, our office is slightly “Stone Age”. We still use fax almost as much as an email

I still maintain a digital fax account as more often then I think it should be in 2018, I'm actually forced to send or receive a fax. I generally joke that most likely I'm sending a fax to another digital fax system, and an email would have just been easier.

 

[nsayer]

I still maintain a digital fax account as more often then I think it should be in 2018, I'm actually forced to send or receive a fax. I generally joke that most likely I'm sending a fax to another digital fax system, and an email would have just been easier.

The medical profession seems *deeply and inextricably* mired in fax technology. Everything that can't be done in person seems to be done over fax.

 

[montycat]

The medical profession seems *deeply and inextricably* mired in fax technology. Everything that can't be done in person seems to be done over fax.

So true! Sending patient info to a wrong fax number is scary. Big HIPPA violation these days. I always triple check the fax number before hitting the send button.

 

[Aluminum213]

A rich person doesn't tell you they are rich, only a poor person masquerading as a rich person does. But whatever, wealth isn't relevant in relation to whether the IPP can be your next computer.

Spoken like someone with a lite bank account

 

[Mainsail]

Meh. There's no technical reason why those soft features can't be added to iPhone other than upselling to iPad because they're common on Android phones.

Yep. And there is no technical reason why you couldn't put those features on a watch too, other than it would be unusable....just like a phone. So, I guess a watch and a tablet are the same thing too.

Just because you can stick a feature on a device doesn't mean it is useful or desirable in that form factor. I would never attempt to write a 10 page report on a phone. But, I have done it numerous times on my iPad. It would be torture to drag and drop text or photos into a document on an iPhone split screen.

A phone and a tablet are different devices that have different strengths. Look, I can take my family to Disneyland in a mini van. I can also shove them into a mini cooper. I might choose to commute in the mini cooper, but I wouldn't want to take a family road trip with one.

 

[Zdigital2015]

Let's take a step back here ; there are very few tasks an iPad, or any iOS device, can do as well as a traditional computer with a traditional OS .
There are virtually no tasks an iPad can do better , the majority of medium to advanced computing tasks are beyond the competence of any tablet , for reasons explained above .

Tablets don't need a keyboard - that can be very nice . And it's the only reason they exist .



Here's the catch - the more your use and workflow depends on or shifts to a tablet, the less computing literate you become .

Because you keep hitting the limitations of a very crude device, and there is no progress possible beyond a certain point .

At some point in the the next 5-7 years, you will end up eating those words.

The 2018 iPad Pro is incredibly overpowered for the limitations inherit in iOS 12, which is as Captain Obvious as it gets. Apple knows this and while iit may take until iOS 16, but Apple will address more than enough to make the iPad most users main computing platform.

We are all using trucks right now, some of us know it, some do not and some refuse to see how it can happen, but it will, even if slowly, and right under their noses. Punch cards gave way to magnetic tape, which gave way to the floppy disk, which gave way to the hard disk, which is giving way to solid state storage. Mainframes were replaced by the mini-computer, which was replace by the workstation, which was replaced by the PC, which will be replaced by the tablet and the phone. History marches on and things change.

 

[Brammy]

I might choose to commute in the mini cooper, but I wouldn't want to take a family road trip with one.

Well, a road trip in a Mini would be hella-fun, though.

 

[rp2011]

Your rebuttal doesn't mean anything. iOS has been on the iPad for almost a decade, and it's yet to escape the "oversized iPhone" state of functionality.

There are too few changes that barely reach a "computer replacement" threshold, and we have just a couple third party app providers to thank for the numbered 'Pro' apps out there.

And your rebuttal means less. In 2008 there was barely even a processor and iOS was new and designed for the limitations of it. Things have changed dude. Make a smarter rebuttal or just stop posting about it.

 

[OldSchoolMacGuy]

Just asking, can I plug in my DSLR, copy all the pics to the desk top then arrange them into whatever folders I want then copy them onto an external hard drive? The sort of stuff that the cheapest and nastiest pc laptop could do many many years ago?

Seems you have difficulty reading so let me highlight the part you missed in my original comment:

Certainly can replace a laptop for many people. All depends on the use case.

Notice how I used the word "many", rather than the world "all"?

My comment was still correct which is that for many, the current iPad Pro could be used as a laptop replacement. There will ALWAYS be special use cases where a tablet or even a laptop won't cut it. That will always be the case. But more and more, the general tasks involved in the daily jobs of the majority of our workforce can be taken care of using tablets and don't necessarily require laptops or desktops.

And yes, the iPad Pro can do the task you described also.

 

[tromboneaholic]

At some point in the the next 5-7 years, you will end up eating those words.

The 2018 iPad Pro is incredibly overpowered for the limitations inherit in iOS 12, which is as Captain Obvious as it gets. Apple knows this and while iit may take until iOS 16, but Apple will address more than enough to make the iPad most users main computing platform.

We are all using trucks right now, some of us know it, some do not and some refuse to see how it can happen, but it will, even if slowly, and right under their noses. Punch cards gave way to magnetic tape, which gave way to the floppy disk, which gave way to the hard disk, which is giving way to solid state storage. Mainframes were replaced by the mini-computer, which was replace by the workstation, which was replaced by the PC, which will be replaced by the tablet and the phone. History marches on and things change.

Well stated.

I also believe there were rumors than in order to focus on performance, a lot of new features for iOS 12 were shelved during development. It wouldn't surprise me to see more iPad-specific features announced for iOS 13 at Apple's dev conference this summer.

 

[macsimcon]

At some point in the the next 5-7 years, you will end up eating those words.

I don’t think so. Until we come up with a way for a computer to reliably read my mind, a keyboard will remain the most efficient input method. And no accessory will ever make an iPad/keyboard hybrid as stable or efficient as my laptop with its keyboard.

The iPad can’t run Fusion, it can’t run Bootcamp, it can’t (and will never due to technical limitations) run Xcode, it can’t run VPN Tracker, it can’t run Creative Cloud.

As long as you don’t need an Apple Pencil to get your work done, a laptop will almost always be a better choice. I mean, the four Thunderbolt ports on my MBP can be adapted to do practically anything I need, and I just don’t have that flexibility with an IPP.

 

[Zdigital2015]

I must join the chorus of disagreement. Kitted out with pencil and keyboard, the 11" model comes in at $1530 with tax. It's the price of a MacBook Air without the ability to connect to anything. Apple can't even sell a connector to let it sync with iTunes on a Mac made prior to this year. I learned that the hard way and returned mine for an iPad Air 2 and saved a cool $1k and re-used my old keyboard case. OTOH, with Apple removing ports and degrading connectivity of Macs, the answer is simple: Just replace everything you own". I got that song and dance from MS with Vista in 2006 and that pushed me back to Apple. Third party docks are the wave of the future and maybe they will come in cool designer colors.

Article Link: Apple Highlights Five Reasons the iPad Pro Can Be Your Next Computer

Good grief....first of all, Apple added USB-C to its lineup in 2015, not 2018, and has transitioned quickly to USB-C. Second, if you still have an older Mac or Windows PC and need to use USB Type-A, simply buy a USB-A to USB-C cable from Anker or another company. I bought an Anker Powerline+ USB C to USB 3.0 cable for my Sandisk Extreme Portable SSD (the enclosed cable is too short) and it works like a dream, it is fast and sturdy.

I have a late 2016 15" MacBook Pro that I purchased a handful of USB-C cables to work with my audio interface, printer and USB 3.0 hard drives to the tune of $29. I did not have to replace everything I own. The USB-C to DisplayPort cable was $21.00, but works with my Dell P2415Q. My BenQ has USB-C, so I am set in that regard.

Perhaps you should try acting, you are being just a tad overly dramatic.

 

[ZachBeo]

Apple today shared a new short video focused on the recently released 11 and 12.9-inch iPad Pro models, listing five reasons why the tablets can be your next computer.

Apple's list of reasons why the iPad Pro can replace a computer are as follows:

1. It's more powerful than most computers.
   
2. It's versatile. It's a scanner, camera, editing suite, notepad, cinema, music studio, book, and a computer.
   
3. It goes anywhere thanks to LTE.
   
4. It's as easy as this (with a focus on gestures).
   
5. It's even better with Apple Pencil.

This is Apple's first ad for the new iPad Pro models, but it has long advertised the iPad Pro as an alternative to a computer. Apple uses the tagline "like a computer unlike any computer," in this ad, which is something new the company has been trying out.

Apple's 11 and 12.9-inch iPad Pro models were first introduced in late October and shipped out in November. The new iPads feature edge-to-edge displays with Face ID and no Home button, powerful A12X processors with performance on par with many Mac notebooks, USB-C to connect to 4K monitors and USB-C accessories, and thinner bodies.

The 11-inch iPad Pro starts at $799 for 64GB of storage, while the 12.9-inch iPad Pro starts at $999, also for 64GB of storage.

Article Link: Apple Highlights Five Reasons the iPad Pro Can Be Your Next Computer

 

[KPandian1]

703 comments, across 29 pages, on this ... wowser!

There was another one 85+ pages long earlier this year - very involved people, lots of venting.

 

[ZachBeo]

Tried several times to use it at work, as a replacement for a computer. I run office productivity software, and particularly MS Office and various PM tools.
Where it falls short, for me, is not that much with the lack of a file system. It's the fact that the available software, like MS Office, but also Apple's Office Suite, does not allow you to open multiple word documents etc.
Usually we have a library of documents, slides etc, and we need to be able to open multiple docs within the office apps. This is not currently possible, and is a serious limitation.
So not for office productivity.
For browsing the web, composing emails, doing simple authoring with office tools (only simple) it can be used as a secondary device, while on the move.

 

[DNichter]

703 comments, across 29 pages, on this ... wowser!

Yea, people seem to get pretty triggered when it comes to whether or not an iPad is a computer. People don't like change and change is coming faster than they would like.

 

[radio893fm]

Aww. What do you do that your job isn't fun?

Right now, working on going back to the moon. Not "fun" at all. And less funner since I can't use an iPad solely for that.

 

[Zdigital2015]

I don’t think so. Until we come up with a way for a computer to reliably read my mind, a keyboard will remain the most efficient input method. And no accessory will ever make an iPad/keyboard hybrid as stable or efficient as my laptop with its keyboard.

The iPad can’t run Fusion, it can’t run Bootcamp, it can’t (and will never due to technical limitations) run Xcode, it can’t run VPN Tracker, it can’t run Creative Cloud.

As long as you don’t need an Apple Pencil to get your work done, a laptop will almost always be a better choice. I mean, the four Thunderbolt ports on my MBP can be adapted to do practically anything I need, and I just don’t have that flexibility with an IPP.

I use a Smart Keyboard with my iPad Pro and it works just fine...it is actually the most comfortable keyboard Apple makes, the current Smart Keyboard w/Num Pad running a close second. Typing e-mails, forum posts, reports, etc, I can go as fast as on a MacBook Pro.

I can run Screens on my iPad and connect to my NAS running Windows 10 (granted, my needs may not match yours), I can access a BootCamp Mac the same way, but Windows 10 has exactly zero usefulness in my workflow (for which I thank God EVERY. SINGLE. DAY).

Do not count out Xcode (or a lighter weight variant of it) at some point. USB-C and display out are already telling me that Apple is thinking about it. The lack of proper access to the Terminal and being able to run necessary build tools is a HUGE deal...unless Apple builds a way for registered Developers to unlock a special build-mode version of iOS. Obviously, that would also limit the iPad to iOS, watchOS, tvOS applications, but never say Never.

I do not need VPN Tracker to connect an iOS device to a VPN, not that every VPN will allow me access via native iOS Settings or via OpenVPN, so that speaks more to the age of the VPN and whether it should be EOL'd than anything else. Sure, I get it...there will Lucent Bricks and old-ass, unpatched Cisco crap out there until the end of time, because the Bank/Credit Union, factory, et al. are too cheap to update it or replace it, I get it. So points to you, for now. It will take a third party to implement a true VPN Tracker competitor as Equinox is firmly a Mac only developer.

Not running Creative Cloud is considered a blessing by some...but seriously, I would not argue that anyone try to design a 300 page catalog on an iPad. Not yet, at least. I also remember the days when trying to do it in Aldus PageMaker (or was it Quark Xpress) was not even possible due to limitations in the app and required the designer to break it into multiple "chapters". Give it time. Someone earlier mentioned a Font Manager...among other things that have been developed in the Mac/PC ecosystem over the past 30 years, so lets give iOS another couple of years to see if it can get up to snuff before we count it out.

I have a TB MacBook Pro, which I love the versatility of the 4 TB3 ports, love the Touch Bar,*gasp*, 90% love the keyboard (hate the arrow keys and there is a certain amount of almost imperceptible"roughness" when typing at speed). But I keep coming back to my iPad Pro, using it more and more, reaching its limitations (especially in Files) and waiting patiently as Apple continues to update and evolve iOS. Trust me, macOS used to just be called System and Finder and it was nothing to write home about. People now just have the benefit of 30 years of evolution. It is no different for the iPad and iOS.

My point is that whenever the iPad versus PC/Mac debate gets heated, the PC/Mac people trot out all the things the iPad cannot do as if the PC/Mac has been doing those things since time immemorial, which they have not. SO MANY THINGS a PC and Mac could not do for so long. Evolution takes time...and commitment.

 

[tromboneaholic]

Not running Creative Cloud is considered a blessing by some...but seriously, I would not argue that anyone try to design a 300 page catalog on an iPad. Not yet, at least. I also remember the days when trying to do it in Aldus PageMaker (or was it Quark Xpress) was not even possible due to limitations in the app and required the designer to break it into multiple "chapters". Give it time. Someone earlier mentioned a Font Manager...among other things that have been developed in the Mac/PC ecosystem over the past 30 years, so lets give iOS another couple of years to see if it can get up to snuff before we count it out.

While it was just a demo, Photoshop looked to be on par with the CC version in many respects. I think it's an obvious first step, possibly with illustrator to follow. I think bringing over Premiere Pro and After Effects are going to take some time, but I wouldn't be surprised to see it happen. I agree improved font management is necessary, but I am sure it will come.

 

[Zdigital2015]

While it was just a demo, Photoshop looked to be on par with the CC version in many respects. I think it's an obvious first step, possibly with illustrator to follow. I think bringing over Premiere Pro and After Effects are going to take some time, but I wouldn't be surprised to see it happen. I agree improved font management is necessary, but I am sure it will come.

Premiere Rush CC is a great first step...I do expect to see some sort of Final Cut Pro "Express" on the iPad at some point...or a Logic Pro Express and they should be first before Premiere or Audition.

If not, then I have to question Apple's commitment to making the iPad Pro a first class computing citizen and rescind, uh, eat my words. I expected to see a preview of Logic "Pro" or "Express" for iOS demoed on the new iPad Pro, given the venue they chose. I was less than impressed when they decided to feature NBA 2K19 or whatever it was. $1899 to play basketball? Uh, sure, whatever. Ima gonna let myself out now and go grab an Xbox One X or four!

Dear Apple, if you are reading this, you need to get on the stick and quit screwing around. It says Pro, it costs Pro, why can it not run Pro? It has been 3 years! How do I know? Because I have been using an iPad Pro for three years.

This is Apple's game to lose.

 

[Bacillus]

Yea, people seem to get pretty triggered when it comes to whether or not an iPad is a computer. People don't like change and change is coming faster than they would like.

Don’t like change ?
I ‘ve been trying to use my iPad as a Mac for 5/6 years now and gave up.
It just doesn’t work and iPad Pro doesn’t change that (apart to closing the price gap)
The faster CPU is the improvement of what didn’t need to be improved.
Whatever Cook seeks to supplete or substitute - it’s still an oversized phone (i.e. with a phoneOS) that isn’t even a phone. Why an 8 core A12 and 512Gb if even text selection tools do not work ?
Apparently, the great influencers never used the device itself.