Apple's 2020 MacBook Air vs. 2020 iPad Pro

[ascender]

I’m amazed at some of the replies in this thread - are people still playing the “iPads are rubbish, iPadOS is rubbish, nobody can get work done on them” card after all this time?

Some people have been using their iPad as their only computer for years. I’d have at least thought the recent addition of native cursor support would have made some people maybe consider looking in to it? Given a lot of so-called “pro” users seem to do nothing more than basic productivity stuff, I’d have thought an iPad would be a great choice for more.

Or if not the native mouse support how about the specs - this is a great video which ironically shows up a lot of the shortcomings and neglect of the Mac laptop lineup. The MacBook is slower in single & multi-core; the front-facing camera on the Air is poor; the mics are better on the Pro; the screen is better on the Pro; there’s FaceID on the pro; you can use the Pro in a laptop form factor or as a tablet.

I couldn’t give a monkeys what computer people use and a MBP has been my machine of choice for as long as I can remember, but I’m genuinely surprised at the lack of willingness to try something different, especially on a tech forum 😐

 

[bgalakazam]

13" iphone vs a proper computer... hmmmmmmmmmmmm

 

[FlyingDutch]

I have an iPad Pro 11” (2018) and a MacBook Pro 13” (2019), and I love both.
My typical usage is 70/80% ipad and 20/30% MacBook... I’d like to have 100% ipad, since it is easier and more comfortable to use and bring around, but it just is not.
Sometimes even basic tasks like browsing just requires a Mac (or a PC) to work properly, especially when you have modules to fill.
iPadOS is improving, but not so fast as I would like...

 

[Freeangel1]

SEE APPLE. you screwed up! your switching to CRAPPY underpowered ARM chips and Intel comes out with a 5.3 GHZ laptop chip. It will BLOW the PANTS off your ARM CHIP. It will also run Windows 10!

Intel's 10th-gen H-series laptop CPUs reach 5.3GHz

Just like Intel said at CES, it's crossed the 5GHz barrier with its new H-series 10th generation notebook CPUs. And you won't need to shell out for the top-of-the-line Core i9 to do it: The new six and eight-core i7 processors reach up to 5.1Ghz (boost speed) on a single core. But if you want to...

www.engadget.com

 

[throAU]

I don't know what kind of "coding" the author has done but the iPad isn't really up to it. Maybe it's fine for tinkering with some HTML, but for any modern workflow you need a command line, a capable IDE, possibly some virtual machines, device simulators or web browsers, maybe a database.

You can have all that and more via AWS or Azure.

 

[weguin]

I just don't like the cooling on the air

 

[imdropbear]

You can have all that and more via AWS or Azure.

Yes but accessing all of these while working from an iPad is just... not fun definitely not efficient yet.

 

[ingambe]

Swift playgrounds, maybe? Ha. Yeah you really can’t yet. I hope Xcode makes it to the iPad soon.

You can have all that and more via AWS or Azure.

not a really good experience to be honest
I’ve trie with Colab to write some notebooks but it’s a bit of a pain

 

[The Game 161]

Sold my MacBook Air to go full on 12.9 pro...for me faster, better apps, better multitasking and can use it as a laptop and a tablet when it suits. Plus with trackpad support.

 

[Steve121178]

Until all the apps I need are on iPadOS, then the iPad will always be a second choice as my primary device. It's getting there, but Apple have handled the platform shambolically. iPadOS should have been 'a thing' years ago.

How many more annual tiny incremental steps until the iPad really can replace everything most of us do on a traditional Mac/PC? Maybe the ARM based Macs will accelerate things & pretty much force developers to rewrite their apps for iPadOS or whatever they end up calling it in the future. AppleOS is my bet.

 

[Abazigal]

No, of course not. There has been a drumbeat of iOS fans (cultists?) on these forums saying things like (this is a direct quote): "folks don’t like the Mac form factor and much prefer the size and features that come with iOS". So I was pushing back against that general extremist point of view I've seen repeatedly on these forums, that iOS obviates the need for the Mac.

My own view is that the iPad and Mac are different tools, they each have their place, it's better that we have both available rather than one or the other, and that you need to get the tool that's appropriate for your use cases, work style, and personal preferences.

No one is claiming this at all. People still don’t get that this is not an iOS vs Mac / PC discussion, but about a shift to a modern mobile computing platform from hardware to software and the cultural changes surrounding that.

When Steve Jobs said the iPad would be the car and the Mac would be the pickup truck, I believed he too envisioned a future where it was 90% iOS and 10% OS X (as he called it then).

The thing about vision, which Steve had in spades, is that you have to be able to look beyond the present and your current workflows, and realize that tools are always getting better. So when the iPad was introduced in 2010, I knew without a doubt that this was the future. I also knew it would take a while before the hardware and software got to the point where it really could replace a Mac 90% of the time.

Getting there is only a matter of time. And probably sooner rather than later. The Mac may never entirely get replaced by the ipad, but I daresay that we will see the ipad continue to take on more and more of the functionality that once used to be the exclusive domain of the PC.

And the irony here is that while you all keep trying to move the goalposts by citing some ultra-specific PC-only workflow that only applies to a few people in real life, the ipad has in fact replaced the PC for a variety of tasks, such as email (by far the most-used productivity tool) and browsing the web (now that iPadOS have full browsers). These easily form the bulk of why many people even turn on a computer in the first place.

In my opinion, we will very quickly see a world where many many people can and will be tablet first, or even tablet only. The platform is there, the apps are there, all that is left is the cultural change that will permit the technology change to happen.

 

[MacBH928]

Lets see...
full fledged operating system that was made to put Windows to shame, or turbo-charged Blackberry competitor OS? hmmmm...

 

[[AUT] Thomas]

Dualboot OSX on the iPad Pro... that's all I'm asking for... It will take a while until 3rd party apps are available for ARM anyway, so Apple would do good with some field-testing using the existing hardware for those who are willing to dual boot on an a tablet...

 

[throAU]

Dualboot OSX on the iPad Pro... that's all I'm asking for... It will take a while until 3rd party apps are available for ARM anyway, so Apple would do good with some field-testing using the existing hardware for those who are willing to dual boot on an a tablet...

I suspect you'll see a lot more cross over as iOS and macOS converge when Apple go ARM in the macbooks.

Eventually the macbook will be replaced by a more capable iOS/macOS hybrid device that looks more like an iPad. Most of the bulk in a macbook these days is purely to have enough battery capacity for intel processors, and because its what people expect a "laptop" to look like.

 

[BP9906]

They each have their purposes and their advantage or disadvantage. For someone doing web, email, photos, and iMovie suddenly there is little reason to own a Mac. Even as a college student, it makes sense. Apple now needs to let its own developers run X code on iPad and there will be less reason.

 

[throAU]

13" iphone vs a proper computer... hmmmmmmmmmmmm

You know a lot of people scoff at Macs like they're not a "proper computer", right?

Just like a lot of people used to scoff at PCs like they're not a "proper computer" (Silicon Graphics / Sun workstation users), etc.

 

[asiga]

With one of them you have a complete UNIX system at your fingertips. With the other, you have something that claims to be an OS but that it's nothing more than a platform targeted at bigdata-based business.

 

[mixel]

I can’t remember the last time I locked my MacBook, only to unlock it a couple of minutes later, to find it had arbitrarily reloaded all my open applications, losing whatever work I was in the middle of doing?

So, until Apple sorts out those iOS 13 related problems (memory issues, on an iPad Pro? Really?) then for me, for critical work, it would be the MacBook, rather than the iPad, I would reach for. iOS 13‘s well documented aggressive app “management“ is somewhat ruining the usability of the iPad Pro, for me.

This hasn't happened to me once while using my 2018 1TB iPp, and its been my main work machine for months.. Maybe this is what the 6GB is doing, and if so.. The new ones shouldn't do it either.

 

[asiga]

Do people code on iPads? The comments I always see are, "It can't replace a Mac until I can make apps for it on it"

That's not the important point. Xcode is not the difference between the two systems. Opening a terminal, using UNIX commands, building and running generic UNIX/Linux code, writing shell scripts, and not being forced to store your photos in a closed managed library *is* the difference.

 

[Seanm87]

I just don't like the cooling on the air

I don't get these comments. My air fan never comes on. If you are pushing your air to the point where the fan is always on you should have gone for the pro.

 

[whiteboytrash]

Artists are people too. The iPad is better than a Cintiq in many ways, and when you factor it's competitors in the sketching/art space incredibly good value, while the Air is.. Just another low end laptop, that even if I did rig up my tablet to it wouldn't be even approaching as smooth to work on.

There's an argument for both, but if it wasn't for development purposes I wouldn't need Macs much really..

Exactly my thoughts. Everyone's "work" is different - iPad Pro for me is a true compliment to my work. I have an older MacBook Air but I rarely use it.

 

[throAU]

With one of them you have a complete UNIX system at your fingertips. With the other, you have something that claims to be an OS but that it's nothing more than a platform targeted at bigdata-based business.

Sorry are you comparing Linux, FreeBSD, IRIX or SunOS to MacOS here, or something else?

 

[one more]

I have been using an iPad as my “main” computing device over the last 5 years and here are my thoughts:

Prices - iPads win here, if you do not go for the most expensive Pro series. Apple should come to senses about the pricing of their iPad keyboards with/without trackpads soon enough. They usually learn well from people not rushing to buy their stuff, se we just need to be a bit patient to see them drop from a ridiculous 350$ to something more realistic between 150-200$ tops. We can also go third party, like Logitech and Co. Chargers, cables, etc. - all cheaper to replace for iPads, if needed. Besides, if my iPad charger is grilled, I can use the one from my iPhone while I get hold of the new one. MacBook charger grilled? Too bad...

Hardware - I much prefer that there are less movable parts on iPads, so potentially less things to break/wear out. User-repairability nowadays is bad enough on both. iPads are obviously much lighter and easier to carry around if needed, but then they also bend easier for the same reason;

Workflows - if your computing needs are rather basic, you do not type much and are happy with iPadOS very rudimentary file storage/access system, the experience can be good enough. For anything else - it may need quite a bit of tweaking or finding alternative products/solutions. We still cannot download a BitTorrent file directly as there are no clients allowed on the AppStore. So I have to use a “normal” computer/laptop for that.

As iPadOS and accessories mature, things might get better for iPads. Right now, however, if I had to choose between MacBook/iPad I would still go with the MacBook.
[automerge]1585831411[/automerge]

To each his own, I guess, but I find even web browsing to be tedious on an iPad. If I tried to use an iPad to do actual work, I would go insane.

Can be done, just much slower and much more awkward. 😋

 

[whiteboytrash]

I have an ipad pro 2018, try as i might to make it work at my office, its just a joke.

cant use autocad, cant connect to my local a0 printer, cant print pdf (some apps), that alone is a fail. Not to mentoin the other apps i need like excel, word, pdf editors. simple tasks like rotating pdfs, editing formulas in excel are made harder because of the interface.

if you can use it as a pc replacement, good on ya, but for the rest of us, its nothing more than a 11”/12.9” phone trying to pretend to be a pc.

Why did you buy it for these purposes?

 

[ingambe]

I have been using an iPad as my “main” computing device over the last 5 years and here are my thoughts:

Prices - iPads win here, if you do not go for the most expensive Pro series. Apple should come to senses about the pricing of their iPad keyboards with/without trackpads soon enough. They usually learn well from people not rushing to buy their stuff, se we just need to be a bit patient to see them drop from a ridiculous 350$ to something more realistic between 150-200$ tops. We can also go third party, like Logitech and Co. Chargers, cables, etc. - all cheaper to replace for iPads, if needed. Besides, if my iPad charger is grilled, I can use the one from my iPhone while I get hold of the new one. MacBook charger grilled? Too bad...

Hardware - I much prefer that there are less movable parts on iPads, so potentially less things to break/wear out. User-repairability nowadays is bad enough on both. iPads are obviously much lighter and easier to carry around if needed, but then they also bend easier for the same reason;

Workflows - if your computing needs are rather basic, you do not type much and are happy with iPadOS very rudimentary file storage/access system, the experience can be good enough. For anything else - it may need quite a bit of tweaking or finding alternative products/solutions. We still cannot download a BitTorrent file directly as there are no clients allowed on the AppStore. So I have to use a “normal” computer/laptop for that.

As iPadOS and accessories mature, things might get better for iPads. Right now, however, if I had to choose between MacBook/iPad I would still go with the MacBook.

for BitTorrent you should buy a raspberry pi and set up a local server

But IMHO iPad are better when used in synergie with MacBook and not against them