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Apple Shares New 'What's a Computer' Ad Focused on iPad Pro Features

Owning a desktop, laptop and iPad Pro 2nd gen - that's the exact order I use them. Desktop, then laptop, and if I want to draw digitally, the iPad Pro.

It's a computer. Yes, the iPP works for some as a replacement. I am not one of those people.

As long as desktops and laptops are made, I'll keep using and buying them. iPad Pros, nope.
 
oneMadRssn said:
Each of those qualifier just reduces it though, right? Significant percentage = 40%. Most of = 75%. Basic work = 30% of all work. So, even with those generous assumptions, that's still only a total 9% of work being done on a smartphone. And that sounds about right to me, in my experience. Answer a quick email, shoot off a note, maybe review a PDF or word doc, that kind of thing can be done on a phone. Nobody is going to redline an important document on a smartphone, or really do an excel analysis on a smartphone.
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And that’s where an iPad comes in. I’ve certainly done some critical editing via word on my iPad and some basic excel work on it too. I don’t have advanced needs for spreadsheets; for the smaller group of people that do, there’s always the desktop. We’re on a tech enthusiast website, skews towards the hardcore use cases.

Smartphones for emails, brief document viewing, browsing, information gathering, quick notes. Larger tablets for paper writing, research, graphic work (increasingly doable, have you touched Affinity for iPad? Desktop class)...I do all my medical notes on my iPad, for instance, keeps me mobile going from room to room. For the general population, I’m seeing these so called limitations being etched away.

I imagine desktop class computing will become niche how it once was prior to going mainstream, an arch of sorts. For average consumers, the iPad will suffice. Certainly has for me, for my parents, and definitely for teens nowadays.
 
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JosephAW said:
This commercial also shows how out of touch Apple senior staff is with America and the world.
You don't hand a young child a $800 iPad Pro to carry around all day like a toy.
Maybe Mr Cook is handing his grandchildren iPad Pro devices but that's not normal. Children would be dropping them breaking them and loosing parts taking them outside or on the street or worse, stolen at the child's peril.

Now if iPad Pro devices started at $49 you just might see this in Mr. Cook's utopian world.
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Apple knows what they're doing. There are plenty of people in the world that would drop $800 on their elementary school kid.
 
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kingofwale said:
until iPad has a proper filing system, it will never replace my laptop
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but there are a lot of folks that don't care about a "proper filing system" so it will work fine for many of them
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nightflight82 said:
for any uni student ipad's productivity sucks!
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this uni student used an iPad for 3 years and was very productive. both in class and on set. so perhaps the real issue is that not everyone is your kind of 'productive'
 
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kazmac said:
Owning a desktop, laptop and iPad Pro 2nd gen - that's the exact order I use them. Desktop, then laptop, and if I want to draw digitally, the iPad Pro.

It's a computer. Yes, the iPP works for some as a replacement. I am not one of those people.

As long as desktops and laptops are made, I'll keep using and buying them. iPad Pros, nope.
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Dang. You're not down with iPP. We don't know thee.
 
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threesixty360 said:
Surely this is the whole iPad debate in a nutshell. A device that people who were brought up on computers can’t quite get their heads around. So why bother trying to force the issue to please that narrow demographic? Why not just remove yourself from the argument all together?

What people fail to understand with the computer industry is that everything you know to be normal was just the way someone thought to do stuff.
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I own an iPad. I love it. Yet, for me, it will never replace a computer. As I said, sure, I can do a hell lotta things on an iPad and for many this is enough. For me, it's just not.

I - personal, and I'm aware this is subjective, it's just to give you an idea - just off the top of my head, need:

Matlab
R and other Statistical Software (like SPSS) - granted, these may be around already, I'm not paying attention to this (due to lack of need - I prefer my MBP)
Parallels - ArcGIS (amongst others, like Software to read in data from instruments connected via serial adapters)
Fully functional Adobe Suite, especially inDesign and Photoshop, the latter usable with a graphics tablet (granted, the Apple Pencil is great)
Full Excel funtionality
Endnote (with Word integration)
Can we do full raw image editing, yet? Has LR made it onto the iPad, yet? Again, not really following this because I have it on my Macs, so no need.
...

I love my iPad for emailing, internet, video, light text editing, reading .... on the go. My husband uses his for essentially everything he does, including video editing, but he has none of the above mentioned needs I do. Frankly, lately he's returning to the iMac to do photo editing...

If you end up hooking up your iPad to monitors and keyboards, constantly...why not get a dedicated desktop/laptop? And yes, at least up to some point an iPad just doesn't have enough computing power, yet(!), as my 24 GB RAM iMac....

It has NOTHING to do with how I was brought up. I embrace new technology. But, I'm a strong believer in specializations and having dedicated machines for different, specific tasks. If you start trying to find a fits-all-solution, you inevitably will end up with compromises...
 
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MacFan23 said:
I mean, it definitely can do more than your phone, aside from the benefits of a bigger screen you have all the new multitasking options.
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Definitely not the case. My phone can do much more than the iPad. But that is more so because of the differences between Android and iOS. But that's a whole different topic. Point is, my phone can do many more things and is closer to a computer than that.
 
Nice advert!

An iPad Pro is already my main computer and for doing real work. There is very little that can’t be done on an iPad Pro unless you have some specialist software requirements.

Love working on a touch screen device - so much better than a mouse, at least for me
 
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Jonathantuba said:
There is very little that can’t be done on an iPad Pro unless you have some specialist software requirements.
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But that's exactly the point. There is not "very little" that can't be done. It's totally different use cases and because you're not in them can't comprehend that there is a plethora of software and workflows that can't be used on a tablet. Some of which aren't even really that "specialist".

I, for one, would be extremely careful to make such absolute statements when my experience is obviously limited.
 
Finally a computer with only one port and no keyboard. iPod shuffle and Mac Mini, both even without a screen (obviously the wet dream of Tim Cook), did not survive though.
 
kyykesko said:
What's a computer? Hint: it's not iPad.

There's always dozens of people who only use their computer as a pocket calculator and use that to justify claiming that iPad can replace a computer. Sorry, it can't. It doesn't even come close. It's a nice device to use in addition to a computer in certain niche jobs but that's about it.
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I think Apple made it completely obvious that it isn’t a computer. And was the whole point of the ad, good catch I guess?
 
Great commercial. I'd be lost without my iPad, it goes everywhere with me and use it for so many different things. But in the end it's still not my main device because I like having a 27" screen and multitasking is still better on a desktop for me than on the iPad.
 
kyykesko said:
What's a computer? Hint: it's not iPad.

There's always dozens of people who only use their computer as a pocket calculator and use that to justify claiming that iPad can replace a computer. Sorry, it can't. It doesn't even come close. It's a nice device to use in addition to a computer in certain niche jobs but that's about it.
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A computer is not what it used to be, it’s no longer just one thing. It’s whatever you say it is, and whatever you use it for. This perfectly describes the iPad.

“One day all the old men will be dead, and we can bury the past with them. Then we’ll be free to move on with the future.”
 
Great ad. I think macOS is very stale and have loved going iOS only for my computing needs. I bet Apple is working on a next gen OS to replace macOS that works on it’s A-Series chip and uses a keyboard and touchpad. Maybe then I’d consider going back to that model. For now though, really excited about where iOS on the iPad is going.
 
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DNichter said:
Great ad. I think macOS is very stale and have loved going iOS only for my computing needs. I bet Apple is working on a next gen OS to replace macOS that works on it’s A-Series chip and uses a keyboard and touchpad. Maybe then I’d consider going back to that model. For now though, really excited about where iOS on the iPad is going.
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But wouldn't that be a big downgrade in performance? You wont get near the performance of an Intel chip in an A-series processor. I'd imagine there is a reason Apple uses Intel processors in their laptop and desktops, and A-processors in their phones.
 
I use a 12” iPad Pro instead of a MBP when travelling because I like the touch screen and the MBP is just too expensive. However, my iPad would never replace my iMac so in that sense it’s not a computer replacement for me.
 
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