Has the iPhone now become the Mac?

[prospervic]

On the other hand, I have no desire to use an iPad (apart from perhaps getting an iPad mini in the future to use as a display for my quadcopter remote). I also don't know many people who (even with the means) use an iPad Pro. It would seem that the iPad Pro is much less of a necessity and is closer to my definition of a toy. The only time I've seen someone use an iPad Pro in a mobile/portable setting was a little girl who was playing games on it at the art museum.

As much as Apple wants to push the iPad Pro as a "computer," I think most consumers, both for personal and business use, would prefer the MacBook Pro.

Meanwhile, every day I observe a variety of professionals using iPad Pros for their work. I guess it depends on where you hang out.

 

[C DM]

Yeah. According to Apple's CEO...

^ Said that two years ago.

hmm.. i don't think he actually said that.

someone skewed the quote.

Putting aside whether or not the quote is actually real, does PC in that scenario refer to basically any computer in general (including Macs) or simply PCs, as in non-Mac computers?

 

[flat five]

Putting aside whether or not the quote is actually real, does PC in that scenario refer to basically any computer in general (including Macs) or simply PCs, as in non-Mac computers?

he was speaking of personal computers in general..

laptops and desktops of any brand name.

 

[Apple_Robert]

Yeah. According to Apple's CEO...

^ Said that two years ago.

Tim said the following...

"I think if you're looking at a PC, why would you buy a PC anymore? No really, why would you buy one?"

 

[flat five]

Meanwhile, every day I observe a variety of professionals using iPad Pros for their work. I guess it depends on where you hang out.

fwiw, i too see people using iPads for their work..

not so much the creatives but more like sales reps and whatnot..
graphic designers and the ilk, i'm still seeing them on Macs. (or PCs on occasion)

also, a decent amount of cafes/shops use iPads as their cash registers.

----
i'd like to use one in my work but i just can't.. the software & functionality isn't there.

 

[sean000]

Meanwhile, every day I observe a variety of professionals using iPad Pros for their work. I guess it depends on where you hang out.

I love using my iPad Pro for work. We use Office 365, which is great on iOS. From my observation Microsoft takes care of iOS users a bit better than Android users. Sometimes it takes longer for the Android users to get features that had already been available on iOS apps. I had an iPad 3 for a number of years at the office. When it was time to replace it my boss offered to buy me a Surface Pro or a Macbook. I told him I wanted an iPad Pro instead, and I'm still very happy with that decision. I go to a couple of meetings a day, and I also do a fair amount of work away from desk and while standing up. Most of the time it's me needing to look something up quickly, or take a quick note. The iPad excels at being a note-taking and information retrieval machine. I never have to worry about battery. I have a simple faux-leather portfolio case that folds into a stand. It has everything I need to access from a meeting: Web browser, Office 365 apps, Skype for Business, Slack, etc. I can even access Office 365 admin tools from the iPad, because those all run in a browser (although there is an Office 365 Admin app as well).

I have a Windows desktop computer on my desk at the office, and for longer stretches at the desk it's awfully nice to have a couple of really big displays. There are some things I can't do from the iPad: Monitor Windows print queues, run Powershell, access network shares that don't have SMB or WebDAV enabled... but even then I can just remote into my desktop from the iPad. So it's mostly about the comfort of dual displays and a full size keyboard... especially when I'm writing articles for our website or knowledgebase and I need to type a lot.

I will say that in order for an iPad to be a good work computer, most of your work files need to live in the Cloud. Before we rolled out Office 365, it was a lot more cumbersome to access network shares from an iPad. The Office 365 apps for things like Word, Excel, OneNote, etc. have all improved a ton as well. I also use Google Apps and Google Drive on the iPad. Yes a Macbook would be more versatile, but not nearly as easy to use standing up or sitting in a chair without a table... and I do both a lot.

Forgot to mention that our Facilities department now uses iPads to access work orders in the field. We have some other departments that use them as well. We are managing them with JAMF.

Sean