iPad Pro and Apple Pencil Compared to Surface Pro 4 and Surface Pen

[shaunp]

I think they both look great, but are aimed at different audiences. There is an overlap though - a laptop that does touch, and a tablet that has a keyboard - so they are bound to be compared with each other. Which one you get depends on your needs.

Personally I'm more interested in the Surface as I want to run VMWare and Office Apps. The touch is merely a bonus for when I run Lightroom.

 

[jetjaguar]

i haven't used windows in like 5 years but the surface looks really nice

 

[oneMadRssn]

This line is complete hogwash. While the Pencil and Pen are helpful for creative types; lawyers, doctors, nurses, building inspectors, sports coaches, students, i.e. ANYONE who can make use of a large screen mobile device with a useful writing tool will find this useful.

I think the point of what the OP meant was that the main strength of the iPP is the pencil. Anyone that wants to use a stylus as a writing or drawing tool will enjoy the iPP. While all the occupations you listed do it sometimes, they don't do it so often that it is a major concern. For example, as a lawyer, I can tell you that on my iPad Air 2, using my finger to highlight and underline works very well already, and I don't think the improvement to my highlighting or underlining is worth the upgrade. I think those who draw, who need the extreme precision, are mostly to benefit from this. For everyone else, it's just a bigger iPad.

 

[Digital Skunk]

People are going to compare the two because they are more similar then different. The differences are telling, the Surface Pro is basically a laptop then a tablet, and the SP is a tablet then a laptop.

I can see that.

Maybe it's just the operating system part that makes me feel that the two have some overlap, but overall are two seriously different products.

 

[Yojimbo007]

Apple should make a Mac tablet.

Yes.. Or at least allow for full fledged full featured software to run on ios device that is called Pro.

I dont want watered-down , fragmented apps..

I want to run full photoshop and alike !

Why does apple think this is not an important issue? ( their competitor is already allowing this)

 

[maflynn]

Apple should make a Mac tablet.

Never happen, at least right now

Cook as already gone on record to say that there will be no iOS/OS X convergence and I think a tablet form factor running OS X will not occur because it will just muddy the waters with iPads and MacBooks.

 

[jmorrison0722]

Never happen, at least right now

Cook as already gone on record to say that there will be no iOS/OS X convergence and I think a tablet form factor running OS X will not occur because it will just muddy the waters with iPads and MacBooks.

Do you mean "at least not right now" ?

 

[maflynn]

I think the point of what the OP meant was that the main strength of the iPP is the pencil.

That strength is limited, while its a great implementation, it can only be used in an app, i.e., drawing.

 

[carrrrrlos]

Sketch pad and paper wins.

 

[wigby]

Apple has made it clear that their vision for tablet computing is limited to mobile devices, essentially PDA's, and they have no greater vision of how creative people & professionals will work more efficiently going forward into the future. ...or they can see it, but have decided that like every other area of the once thriving "pro" product line, it's not worth the investment. They'd rather sell short lifecycle watches and phones and cars to teenagers with disposable income.

And so, it falls upon, of all companies, Microsoft, to grab the baton and make the bigger strides pushing computing forward again. ...and we know how that goes.

This will be the biggest missed opportunity for Apple to lead of Cooks career.

You're right. Apple has missed so many opportunities and Microsoft has been there to...do what?

If you don't understand that Apple is trying to merge the pro and consumer markets, you really understand nothing about them. They are willing to alienate some pros in order to move computing forward instead of Microsoft who simply guards their enterprise cash cow and fumbles with their consumer market time and time again. They get props for trying but all this failure gets old and loses anyone with hope for them eventually.

Microsoft has no other cards to play. They are losing to everyone on the consumer level. The only thing left for them was to make their own hardware.

At least Apple is creating their own path and not listening to a CFO and shareholders telling them how to stay in the game.

 

[Rogifan]

People are going to compare the two because they are more similar then different. The differences are telling, the Surface Pro is basically a laptop then a tablet, and the SP is a tablet then a laptop.

I'd argue they are more different than similar. One runs a mouse/keyboard first OS and x86 apps the other runs a touch first OS on ARM.

Then I guess you're out of luck.

Well I'm not as I get along with an iPad just fine. I use a Windows computer at work every day and have no desire to use it outside of work.

General takeaway: iPad Pro is good for starting a project, then uploading to Creative Cloud to finish on a regular computer... i.e. finish the project on a Surface Pro with the full Creative Suite.

They are both cool, but if I could only afford one device, and all my other tech was obsolete, I'd probably have to take the Surface Pro. At least, in the use case scenario demonstrated in the first video.

If you need or want to use Windows. Not everyone does.

 

[just.in.time]

General takeaway: iPad Pro is good for starting a project, then uploading to Creative Cloud to finish on a regular computer... i.e. finish the project on a Surface Pro with the full Creative Suite.

They are both cool, but if I could only afford one device, and all my other tech was obsolete, I'd probably have to take the Surface Pro. At least, in the use case scenario demonstrated in the first video.

 

[maflynn]

I'd argue they are more different than similar. One runs a mouse/keyboard first OS and x86 apps the other runs a touch first OS on ARM.

Yeah, the differences are quite telling as I mentioned. The similarities are all surrounding the physical nature of the products, both are about the same form factor, both are tablets, both use a type-cover, both use styli. The differences is the philosophy in which they were designed for. Laptop first then tablet for the SP and tablet first then laptop for the IPP.

I actually like both a lot, while I own a SP3 and I'm very happy with that, the iPad Pro's design is wonderful, and I have to say Apple did nail the stylus implementation, I just wished that carried that forward into using the stylus in iOS and just a drawing/note taking apps.

 

[ReyMatt]

This line is complete hogwash. While the Pencil and Pen are helpful for creative types; lawyers, doctors, nurses, building inspectors, sports coaches, students, i.e. ANYONE who can make use of a large screen mobile device with a useful writing tool will find this useful.

I'm a doctor. I don't think the ipad pro can connect with an external DVD reader to access a patient's lab results from an outside clinic or even connect with our own hospital computer system. I'm sure it'll give me a lot of headaches when I'm typing my records while at the same time scanning charts and using photoshop for a few picture editing (which I paste into my document) and printing out prescriptions simultaneously. Ipad pro may have multitasking abilities, but the the tasks it could do simultaneously is limited in scope. Ipad pro is an excellent and well crafted tablet, but it is not the first thing I would think of if I consider versatility of function.

 

[dannys1]

Why? Cause you won't use one?

Because OS X is not touch optimised in anyway. Trying to control it with touch would be awful. It is a desktop OS to be controlled as so. iOS should improve if anything, but OS X should not ever have a touch screen.

 

[farkleboy]

That iMore video REALLY annoyed me the way the angle of the camera prevented you seeing the tip of the pencil touching the screen to see the latency.

Any direct angled shot of "pen to pad" was sped up, and the real time shots were obscured by her hand.

Surely deliberate? Unquestionably annoying.

I stopped watching the video because of this. obviously no one was looking at the monitor when they rolled the shot.

I can hear the editor yelling "WTF IS THAT?!?!? WHAAAA/???? WHY IS THE????? HAND! EVERYONE! HAND IN THE WAY!!!!!"

and was vocally trying to cue the camera op to start the slider move to the other side of her neck so it would artistically reveal the awesome fantastic angle so we could all see what the hell was going on.

 

[Crosscreek]

By your definition, if what you want is "just a tablet", then the iPad Pro wins overall. Some people want just a tablet.

Yep. I agree. Although I prefer the size of my iPad Air 2 to the Pro.

 

[TXCherokee]

I think the point of what the OP meant was that the main strength of the iPP is the pencil. Anyone that wants to use a stylus as a writing or drawing tool will enjoy the iPP. While all the occupations you listed do it sometimes, they don't do it so often that it is a major concern. For example, as a lawyer, I can tell you that on my iPad Air 2, using my finger to highlight and underline works very well already, and I don't think the improvement to my highlighting or underlining is worth the upgrade. I think those who draw, who need the extreme precision, are mostly to benefit from this. For everyone else, it's just a bigger iPad.

You may be right about the what the OP meant, but if so it was very poorly worded and the 'tablets' are the only thing mentioned in that sentence. And to understand my point, it's getting old that when most folks on this forum see the word PRO they only think of creative types and developers.

While the Pencil is a nice feature of the iPP, the draw (pun intended) to the device is also the larger screen and better processing power. Combined with the IBM enterprise partnership, many of the PROS I mentioned could have a more productive way to go about their business.

I'm a doctor. I don't think the ipad pro can connect with an external DVD reader to access a patient's lab results from an outside clinic or even connect with our own hospital computer system. I'm sure it'll give me a lot of headaches when I'm typing my records while at the same time scanning charts and using photoshop for a few picture editing (which I paste into my document) and printing out prescriptions simultaneously. Ipad pro may have multitasking abilities, but the the tasks it could do simultaneously is limited in scope. Ipad pro is an excellent and well crafted tablet, but it is not the first thing I would think of if I consider versatility of function.

See my IBM comment above. Even with the right apps, this device may not suit your workflow, but I'll bet many, more mobile users, will love what the iPP could do. A few workstations may still be needed for the seriously 'heavy lifting', but the iPP, combined with great softwear development, has much more potential than many people are giving it credit for.

 

[LIVEFRMNYC]

I suck at drawing, so I would go with the Surface Pro even if the Pencil on iPad seems more natural.

 

[ReyMatt]

Because OS X is not touch optimised in anyway. Trying to control it with touch would be awful. It is a desktop OS to be controlled as so. iOS should improve if anything, but OS X should not ever have a touch screen.

But IOS wasn't optimized for multitasking either, but Apple still improved IOS to suit the "Pro" monicker. IMHO, Apple just wants to keep their two profitable lines (Macs and ipads) separate as much as possible to maximize profit. It's not like they haven't turned on their previous statements if they think big bucks could be made.

 

[ReyMatt]

USB connectivity for a variety of gadgets is important to many people

 

[oneMadRssn]

You may be right about the what the OP meant, but if so it was very poorly worded and the 'tablets' are the only thing mentioned in that sentence. And to understand my point, it's getting old that when most folks on this forum see the word PRO they only think of creative types and developers.

While the Pencil is a nice feature of the iPP, the draw (pun intended) to the device is also the larger screen and better processing power. Combined with the IBM enterprise partnership, many of the PROS I mentioned could have a more productive way to go about their business.



See my IBM comment above. Even with the right apps, this device may not suit your workflow, but I'll bet many, more mobile users, will love what the iPP could do. A few workstations may still be needed for the seriously 'heavy lifting', but the iPP, combined with great softwear development, has much more potential than many people are giving it credit for.

I agree that "Pro" doesn't mean creative types and developers. However, to me "Pro" means it is capable of working with a wide range of potential work product. It means it can connect to whatever I need (both physically and virtually), it will open whatever file I use and can open the files anyone I work with uses (clients, customers, suppliers, vendors, etc.), and it will adapt as needed in the future. In this sense, iOS9 is not a "pro" OS, regardless of the screen size it is run on or how fast the processor benchmarks. The example given above is very apt - regardless of what field you are in, today you might still need to open a DVD. In such an event, even the retina Macbook with one port can connect a USB DVD-ROM. iOS has no contingency for this. Maybe iOS10 will be more Pro, but not today.

 

[Michael Goff]

But IOS wasn't optimized for multitasking either, but Apple still improved IOS to suit the "Pro" monicker. IMHO, Apple just wants to keep their two profitable lines (Macs and ipads) separate as much as possible to maximize profit. It's not like they haven't turned on their previous statements if they think big bucks could be made.

That change is so much easier to make than changing just about everything in the UX to make it touch friendly.

 

[ReyMatt]

I agree that "Pro" doesn't mean creative types and developers. However, to me "Pro" means it is capable of working with a wide range of potential word product. It means it can connect to whatever I need (both physically and virtually), it will open whatever file I use and can open the files anyone I work with uses (clients, customers, suppliers, vendors, etc.), and it will adapt as needed in the future. In this sense, iOS9 is not a "pro" OS, regardless of the screen size it is run on or how fast the processor benchmarks. The example given above is very apt - regardless of what field you are in, today you might still need to open a DVD. In such an event, even the retina Macbook with one port can connect a USB DVD-ROM. iOS has no contingency for this. Maybe iOS10 will be more Pro, but not today.

So true.

It's not much of a stretch to imagine transfering the excellent screen to Pencil interface of the iPad Pro to the smaller ipads considering the speed of hardware advances every few months. The question is not if it can be done but if Apple is willing to do it.

 

[dannys1]

But IOS wasn't optimized for multitasking either, but Apple still improved IOS to suit the "Pro" monicker. IMHO, Apple just wants to keep their two profitable lines (Macs and ipads) separate as much as possible to maximize profit. It's not like they haven't turned on their previous statements if they think big bucks could be made.

Thats not remotely similar, iOS has multi-tasked since version 4. Side by side makes sense because of the screen. Features and not remotely comparable to the fundamental way you interact with the entire operating system. OS X is not touch enabled it would be a horrible experience, end of story.

iOS and its apps will continue to evolve, but it will never become a desktop experience and neither should it. Its about the correct experience, not a device that fails to do anything properly.