Well, we can download ANY file and save it in a folder, for starters! Then there are .torrent files, of course, which Apple decided to exclude. Tough luck trying this on an iPad.
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Apple Promotes Microsoft Office 365 as iPad Pro 'Accessory'
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Well, we can download ANY file and save it in a folder, for starters! Then there are .torrent files, of course, which Apple decided to exclude. Tough luck trying this on an iPad.
I don't know why people think this is Apple's doing. Apple gets profit from selling iPads, not Office. I think this is Microsoft's strategy to drive sales of their Office. MS probably called Apple and set up a deal to put Office as iPad Pro accessory.
I have used Microsoft Office app on iPhone for a while, and the lack of even basic local file system frustrate me always. Luckily I have OneDrive for Business for cloud storage.
However, as Apple and Microsoft are gradually pushing their customers to cloud, I doubt if Microsoft Office app will remain having no file system until the end.
Try viewing a .txt document in iCloud Drive on an iPad or iPhone. Can you preview it? No. It opens in Pages. No way to set what the default app is to open different file types. No way to move files between different folders, unless it's back one step only.
Such a long way to go before the iPad comes anywhere close to replacing a PC. Apple's external keyboard doesn't even have a trackpad. No cursor support. No mouse support. No external backup support.
It is my humble opinion that the iPad will never become a replacement to the Mac. I love using it, and it serves a great function, but it will never replace my iMac, not least because a 24" screen is so much easier to work with.
I'm glad they are not wasting time on it. It's never going to be on a par with MS Offfice.
Truth. No reason at all to upgrade my mid-2012 rMBP. Only thing I've been looking into is getting a 5k iMac at some point. But the processors really haven't advanced much over the years and the SSDs are still overpriced. I mean you can't even configure the MBP with more than 16GB of RAM! That's how much I have in my nearly four year old machine! And since it's soldered to the motherboard we can't even swap it out. I mean, I'd bet if I dug into it more, part of the problem has to do with Intel. Desktops just haven't been increasing in performance like mobile devices. I think we're finally hitting a wall. We need graphene chips to bridge the gap until quantum computing.
I'm using a maxed out (i7, 2 GB GPU) 27" iMac 2011 with a 256GB SSD (as Fusion Drive with the original 2 TB HDD + the original DVD is still in its place, too
) and 16 GB RAM.Cannot complain
Or.... wait! That's 5 years by now! Maybe I should replace it with an iPad PRO!
.... not!
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Wow.... really?!
Let's assume you're not a Troll: "Where have you been the last 10 years?!"As previously stated by fellow MR members, it just may be a move to entice the windows crowd into a "cheaper" tablet (iPad starts at 200 USD less than the cheaper surface pro 4, never mind the extra features of the SP4, just talking price here), which is a really smart move.
Somehow it brings back memories of when I was on elementary school back in 2002. You see, my father was ready to replace our aging PC (really aging, had the thing since 1995 or so) with something newer; when asked for advice I said we should get one of those sexy and newly released iMac G4´s, the design would allow us to save a ton of space (pc towers and monitors back then as many remember were humongous) and provide us with a more than decent computer; in the end I was not able to convince my father, since OSX (at least back then) was not compatible with many apps or programs, so we ended up getting a generic PC that lasted for quite a while (at least till 2010).
Why mention this?, well, it´s because I think situations like this are part of the reasoning behind offering office at checkout. So as to entice customers into believing any iPad can replace their PC, or at least replace it on mobile situations; IMO, this is true for a great majority of people, however there is also a great deal of people that have many needs above the basic functions of iOS; I for one need a file system, plug in support and many other things; for me an iPad will never be more than a media consumption device (AND also an excellent note taking complement).
Somehow it brings back memories of when I was on elementary school back in 2002. You see, my father was ready to replace our aging PC (really aging, had the thing since 1995 or so) with something newer; when asked for advice I said we should get one of those sexy and newly released iMac G4´s, the design would allow us to save a ton of space (pc towers and monitors back then as many remember were humongous) and provide us with a more than decent computer; in the end I was not able to convince my father, since OSX (at least back then) was not compatible with many apps or programs, so we ended up getting a generic PC that lasted for quite a while (at least till 2010).
Why mention this?, well, it´s because I think situations like this are part of the reasoning behind offering office at checkout. So as to entice customers into believing any iPad can replace their PC, or at least replace it on mobile situations; IMO, this is true for a great majority of people, however there is also a great deal of people that have many needs above the basic functions of iOS; I for one need a file system, plug in support and many other things; for me an iPad will never be more than a media consumption device (AND also an excellent note taking complement).
Which is really annoying when you can't change default apps on iOS
Absolutely.
I'm still running my mid-2010 iMac at home and have thought several times "there must be something better now," or "it's probably time to replace it, before something fails." However, every time I look at Apple's current desktop offerings (iMac, mini, Pro), I see no compelling reason to upgrade. My maxed out 2010 machine has better hardware specs than most mid-level offerings in the store today!
I have had no issues, other than different fonts, using MS Office 365 on my iMac, MacBook, iPad Air2, iPad Mini 4 or iPhone 6. One drive keeps all the files synced and I can open them all by logging into One Drive on our Windows PC's at work (One of the World's largest and a leader in their field). I can open and work with every Excel, Word or Powerpoint file that was created at work on my Macs, iPads or iPhone without any issues and vice versa. For me Office 365 is great. I am certain that I am not, nor is my employer using the vast majority of features that Office has to offer, but for us it gets the job done and that my friends is what is most important. Office was always overloaded with features that the vast majority of people never used, but they were there in case at some point you needed it. As far as the iOS versions being crippled, I have not found any reason to believe that since everything I've thrown at it worked just fine. What it might be crippled with is that it is missing the features that 95% of the world's population will never use which just bloats and complicates the app even more. Office 365 works great in iOS, OS X and Windows.
Pretty much anything that requires having more than one windows open at the same time, or requires quick switching between apps. iPad can't have two safari windows open at the same time, can't have two Word documents open at the same time. Even with split-screen view, switching from app to app requires numerous confusing swipes.
It is certainly possible to do all those things on a tablet, but they are in no way better than a windows PC.
I'd take a good laptop from 2011 over an iPad any day for any task that requires the use of 2 or more apps.
Sadly, these creaky 5 year old relics you're referring to are only about 40% more antiquated than the Mac Pro, supposedly the most powerful Mac you can buy today.
My MacBook Pro is 5 years old now and I recently wiped it clean and reinstalled El Capitan on it and it is running great. Still has the original 4GB memory and 320GB HD.
What "Current ports" is it missing? It's got USB 3, the latest standard, Thunderbolt 2 (not the latest which started shipping in Dec15). What else is there?
Yes they may need more of them but for most they work very well. I can count on 2 fingers the # of times I needed more than 2 that my MBA has.
Part of what got me into computer engineering was breaking and tinkering with my computer when I was a kid lol
Not sure the iPad's will ever replace that
I don't understand the need for a local file system. Can someone please explain this to me? Why are folks so obsessed with having a confusing for most users a MS Windows type file system on the iOS? Does one really care where their .doc is located? If having said file system is so important, then don't use an iOS device.
Very true. I recently helped a teacher who had to fill out a form for each student. She was retyping information and cutting and pasting stuff. She had no idea that mail merge could automate much of that for her; I setup a spreadsheet where she could enter in the information, easily fill in the same info over numerous cells, etc and then created a Word doc as a template and setup mail merge. Now what took hours takes minutes to complete, which highlights a problem with many programs and how they are used. They are very powerful but not easy to learn and so most people find one way to do something and keep using it even if it is slow and time consuming.
It took reading your comment before I found one that both made sense and that I agreed with. Desktop computers have a function. Laptops have a slightly different function and the tablet have their own function. The reality is that a few years back, it did not matter what your needs were since there was only one answer -- the desktop. Now people have choices they can make based on their use and lifestyle. What the geeks/nerds here fail to understand is that very few people need the power and ability of the desktop. Millennials especially value cloud based everything and simply need a device to access the cloud. They are connected 24/7 so having bulk hard drives to store everything is just not needed. I put a keyboard case on my ipad and do not miss the mouse at all.
People need to be open to use cases other than their own -- they exist.
Why should I be troll? What's the last 10 years got to do with the last 5? What, actually, is your point?Wow.... really?!
What I am trying to say is that tablets, even phones, now do perfectly or better all those things most people use the 5 year old pc's for.
No one is saying iPads do everything a pc can do. People are saying they do everything that most people use a pc for. Email, Facebook, online shopping and banking etc.
Others have rejected my point citing torrent downloads, dual or more Windows etc. You do these things. I do these things. Does your granny? Do your kids?
I have a rMBP 15". And an iPad Pro. I cannot make do with just an iPad, like many of you. But the world is not just you and me.
For what MOST do, the iPad or even the iPhone (or, come to that, the Galaxy S7) does better than the pc.
From the beginning, Microsoft made money from software. The iPad and iOS devices are probably just different hardware to up their sales even though they may not contribute you OS revenue, which I totally respect as long as their software is worth the money.
That being said, I hope they fully utilize all the iOS functions, and as for Apple, I hope they make the OS functions more flexible to offer something more similar to personal computers if they really want these devices to be laptop replacements.
It probably won't happen any time soon, so in the meantime they really need to offer more macs with power and battery life.
That being said, I hope they fully utilize all the iOS functions, and as for Apple, I hope they make the OS functions more flexible to offer something more similar to personal computers if they really want these devices to be laptop replacements.
It probably won't happen any time soon, so in the meantime they really need to offer more macs with power and battery life.