iPad Pro iPad Pro or MacBook Pro for a society

[LouisOscar17]

Hi folks,

I’ve just become a treasurer for a society and have been tasked with purchasing either a MacBook Pro or a Wi-Fi iPad Pro (with Keyboard, Pencil, etc) for our committee of 10 people.

We would use the device for financial reports (Numbers), importing photographs (USB-C), editing photographs (Photoshop), writing documents (Pages), streaming/downloading lossless music, maintaining a shared calendar (Apple), internet browsing (Safari), video calls (Teams and FaceTime) and controlling our venue lighting and heating (Apple).

Our budget is £4000. We need a device that would last for the foreseeable. Some of our committee have only used iPhones, whilst others have used Macs and PCs.

What would you guys recommend?


Thanks!

 

[PegLegDreg]

Depends on the age of the committee members. If young then MacBook. If older iPad!

 

[LouisOscar17]

Depends on the age of the committee members. If young then MacBook. If older iPad!

Varying from 25 - 70

 

[PegLegDreg]

PERSONALLY, by what you said, I'd go for MacBook because 'everyone' is familiar with using a spreadsheet on a computer. I use numbers on iPad and it can be a bit baffling at times.

However..... you say its for work purposes but lets be real. How often are your fellow committee members going to use it to quickly show a YouTube video or link etc is the question you need to ask yourself If that outweighs the work then iPad, obviously.

Overall I'd say iPad based on how 'normal' people go about their business and aren't tech geeks like us.

 

[Silvestru Hosszu]

Does it involve note taking. If yes, the pencil should come in handy.
How important mobility is? If you are moving it very often is also a plus for the iPad.
On the other hand, if its role will be mainly stationary and no handwriting is involved, the laptop may be more usefull.

 

[PegLegDreg]

Plus, it is highly likely any work on the computer will automatically be given to the more tech savvy amongst the group lol. These people will prefer handing the iPad to each other rather than carefully giving over the MacBook.

There are no right answers, I know!

 

[dmccombs]

I would recommend a 15" Macbook Air with a beefed up processor and Ram. This would be lightweight for when you take it places. The processor and ram would future-proof it for a while. For Number and Pages a macbook would be easier to use than an Ipad, IMO.

 

[ericwn]

I would look at a MacBook for the use case that you described.

 

[snipr125]

I would recommend a 15" Macbook Air with a beefed up processor and Ram. This would be lightweight for when you take it places. The processor and ram would future-proof it for a while. For Number and Pages a macbook would be easier to use than an Ipad, IMO.

Yes definitely this, get an 15" Macbook Air (about £1,349 on Amazon UK) which is perfect for these tasks. With all the money saved from the £4,000 budget divide it equally among your 10 members as a quarterly bonus!

 

[Allen_Wentz]

Depends on the age of the committee members. If young then MacBook. If older iPad!

You must be younger to suggest older folks would best do those activities on an iPad. Older folks like me learned on computers with real keyboards and trackpads/mice'trackballs. Real computers with real file systems. Most of us find doing the activities defined by the OP to be far more competently performed using Mac OS rather than some flavor of iOS.

 

[mpetrides]

Go with a Mac. The file management tradeoffs with using an iPad make it more cumbersome to use, especially if the device needs to be used by multiple people.

Even if you are talking about multiple devices, one for each person, file management is still a lot easier, more consistent using MacOS than iPad OS.

The above from someone who has 4 iPads and 4 Macs. I use my iPads for reading, media consumption, and taking hand written notes. I use my Macs for real work mainly owing to the file management limitations of iPad OS.

 

[rui no onna]

You must be younger to suggest older folks would best do those activities on an iPad. Older folks like me learned on computers with real keyboards and trackpads/mice'trackballs. Real computers with real file systems. Most of us find doing the activities defined by the OP to be far more competently performed using Mac OS rather than some flavor of iOS.

Depends on how old. Most of the 80+ folks I know didn't have access to computers while working. That said, I doubt any of them would easily do any of the tasks listed by the OP on any platform.

For 50-70s, definitely a computer. Not sure about Macs though. I think most workplaces still use Windows for work so that's what most are probably used to.

@LouisOscar17
Why not survey the committee members what device they'd prefer? It might actually be better to get a mix of devices (probably mostly Macs with one or two iPads or Surface).

Our office is pretty much all Windows but there are instances where an iPad with built-in cellular is the best option (need a larger display device with built-in cellular for video conferencing/remote inspection).

 

[brilliantthings]

Your budget allows for two devices, but I wouldn't choose the exact ones you've suggested.

A 15" MacBook Air and an 11" iPad Air with Magic Keyboard and Pencil would work really well for all tasks and all users.

The MacBook Pro is not the best choice for your proposed use. iPad Pro isn't necessary but if you can fit it within your budget alongside the MacBook Air that'd be great. Otherwise iPad Air would serve you very well.

 

[Teletypewriter]

You have more printer options with a Mac. You can directly attach a printer or print wirelessly. You could take the printer and laptop to a group meeting and not depend on anyone. With an iPad, you can only print on your own wireless network, and it is a subset of the printers features.

 

[Rnd-chars]

A shared iPad (Pro or not) seems dicey since everyone would use the same account. That seems like a governance nightmare to me (app installs, purchases, email, etc), so I’d default to a Mac.

And unless these are some extremely demanding spreadsheets or especially large RAW files, I would also opt for a MacBook Air. That would leave more headroom in the budget, which you could use to purchase other technology in the future.

 

[Allen_Wentz]

Hi folks,

I’ve just become a treasurer for a society and have been tasked with purchasing either a MacBook Pro or a Wi-Fi iPad Pro (with Keyboard, Pencil, etc) for our committee of 10 people.

We would use the device for financial reports (Numbers), importing photographs (USB-C), editing photographs (Photoshop), writing documents (Pages), streaming/downloading lossless music, maintaining a shared calendar (Apple), internet browsing (Safari), video calls (Teams and FaceTime) and controlling our venue lighting and heating (Apple).

Our budget is £4000. We need a device that would last for the foreseeable. Some of our committee have only used iPhones, whilst others have used Macs and PCs.

What would you guys recommend?


Thanks!

I recommend a Macbook Pro with the largest size display available, not a tablet. Because for those apps and for multi-user usage you want a real file system.

Your choices listed MBP not MBA, and I agree. MBPs are significantly better than MBAs in every regard except that MBPs are a small bit heavier. The only value MBAs have is that they are cheaper; many posters will say "get a cheaper MBA" because they personally prefer cheaper, but that is misguided advice. The original query regards buying for a society where the budget is £4000, and the needs of a society are different.

A society needs to buy it and just use it for maximum life cycle with minimum anomalies; not some buy an MBA and upgrade in 3 years for cutesy new chip or whatever. The superior specs of an MBP will facilitate a longer, smoother operating life cycle. And out of ten users there are sure to be some with eyes/ears trained well enough to appreciate the far superior display and speakers of an MBP. In a society such a computer is simply a tool that you want to buy and use for a decade without thinking about it.

I have done exactly that type of computer purchasing and recommend for a society:
• Macbook Pro, refurbished if you can find one that suits your specs because you can get more RAM for your 4k budget. I have purchased several refurbs over the years and consider them equal or better than new because unlike new computers they have been vetted by real humans. And any slight cosmetic ding should be irrelevant to the society [like it is to me].
• AppleCare+ for sure. Among other things AppleCare+ gets you a step up of phone support, and any of multiple users can use it for any old naive query.
• Cloud backup and image storage. That way you can avoid buying a big pricey SSD and if some calamity happens the society entity is covered. Get the board to approve the ongoing fees. Probably I would still have a cheap backup external drive with physical possession and infrequent backups being the responsibility of some specific board officer.
• Put money into RAM not into the chip. Specifically I recommend the lowest cost MBP Pro chip with 48 GB RAM [minimum] and a minimum 1 TB SSD.
• If you have budget money left include the sweet nano-texture display.

That purchase for those kinds of apps should provide 7-10 years of solid performance with minimal anomalies. Typically the box will either RAM out or start having issues due to having a less than modern OS on board at 7-10 years.

 

[Allen_Wentz]

@LouisOscar17
Why not survey the committee members what device they'd prefer?

No. Surveying committee members regarding a tech purchase is a horrible idea! Committee-think is not the way to analyze a computer purchase. Let the officer whose job it is do the analysis and recommend to the board.

 

[Allen_Wentz]

Your budget allows for two devices, but I wouldn't choose the exact ones you've suggested.

A 15" MacBook Air and an 11" iPad Air with Magic Keyboard and Pencil would work really well for all tasks and all users.

The MacBook Pro is not the best choice for your proposed use. iPad Pro isn't necessary but if you can fit it within your budget alongside the MacBook Air that'd be great. Otherwise iPad Air would serve you very well.

Sorry but suggesting two devices is bad advice. Suggesting Apple's lowest end laptop and lowish end tablet together is even worse. Managing files between two devices is a horrible idea for a society, even worse if one is a tablet with lousy file management capabilities.

OP should stick to one higher end product with bombproof file management to minimize anomalies.

 

[brilliantthings]

The only value MBAs have is that they are cheaper

No, they are less cumbersome and for its size the 15” MacBook Air has an impressively large screen size.

not some buy an MBA and upgrade in 3 years for cutesy new chip or whatever

All MacBooks now operate on Apple Silicon. They use the same chips. MacBook Air will be upgraded to the M4 chip in the coming weeks. The same chip that is used in the base MacBook Pro.

True, higher end M4 Pro or M4 Max chips are only available for MacBook Pros, but these would be completely overpowered for your needs.

Put money into RAM not into the chip

Yep. Get the chip they put in the MacBook Air.

The superior specs of an MBP will facilitate a longer, smoother operating life cycle

It is not accurate to suggest that a MacBook Pro will have a longer life cycle than a MacBook Air. This claim is baseless.

I have done exactly that type of computer purchasing and recommend for a society

Yes and based on the above, I wonder if you were well placed to make such a recommendation. It is common for the IT buyers at corporations and societies to buy overpowered MacBook Pros for their organisations because they are inclined to fill a budget and tend to gravitate to the word “Pro”. They believe that their organisation is worth more than some “cutesy” MacBook Air. But this is a very out of date and inaccurate position.

Typically the box will either RAM out or start having issues due to having a less than modern OS on board at 7-10 years

Not sure what this is about, but MacBooks (Air and Pro) receive on average about 7 years of software support from Apple and then keep working well on the older versions of MacOS after this.

 

[brilliantthings]

Sorry but suggesting two devices is bad advice. Suggesting Apple's lowest end laptop and lowish end tablet together is even worse. Managing files between two devices is a horrible idea for a society, even worse if one is a tablet with lousy file management capabilities.

OP should stick to one higher end product with bombproof file management to minimize anomalies.

Hard disagree. The interoperability of Apple’s ecosystem is unrivalled. Spreadsheet work for the more tech-savvy members would work best on MacBook Air and Photo editing, curating would work best for most users on iPad. The fantastic thing about the ecosystem is that iPad users do not have to have an understanding or even contact with the file system to contribute to most of the tasks described.

There seems to be a fixation on “low-end”, but I can’t work out why. We’re not talking about Chromebooks here.

 

[mpetrides]

I recommend a Macbook Pro with the largest size display available, not a tablet. Because for those apps and for multi-user usage you want a real file system.

Your choices listed MBP not MBA, and I agree. MBPs are significantly better than MBAs in every regard except that MBPs are a small bit heavier. The only value MBAs have is that they are cheaper; many posters will say "get a cheaper MBA" because they personally prefer cheaper, but that is misguided advice. The original query regards buying for a society where the budget is £4000, and the needs of a society are different.

A society needs to buy it and just use it for maximum life cycle with minimum anomalies; not some buy an MBA and upgrade in 3 years for cutesy new chip or whatever. The superior specs of an MBP will facilitate a longer, smoother operating life cycle. And out of ten users there are sure to be some with eyes/ears trained well enough to appreciate the far superior display and speakers of an MBP. In a society such a computer is simply a tool that you want to buy and use for a decade without thinking about it.

I have done exactly that type of computer purchasing and recommend for a society:
• Macbook Pro, refurbished if you can find one that suits your specs because you can get more RAM for your 4k budget. I have purchased several refurbs over the years and consider them equal or better than new because unlike new computers they have been vetted by real humans. And any slight cosmetic ding should be irrelevant to the society [like it is to me].
• AppleCare+ for sure. Among other things AppleCare+ gets you a step up of phone support, and any of multiple users can use it for any old naive query.
• Cloud backup and image storage. That way you can avoid buying a big pricey SSD and if some calamity happens the society entity is covered. Get the board to approve the ongoing fees. Probably I would still have a cheap backup external drive with physical possession and infrequent backups being the responsibility of some specific board officer.
• Put money into RAM not into the chip. Specifically I recommend the lowest cost MBP Pro chip with 48 GB RAM [minimum] and a minimum 1 TB SSD.
• If you have budget money left include the sweet nano-texture display.

That purchase for those kinds of apps should provide 7-10 years of solid performance with minimal anomalies. Typically the box will either RAM out or start having issues due to having a less than modern OS on board at 7-10 years.

I agree completely with these recommendations, including specs and AppleCare+.

 

[Lounge vibes 05]

To be honest, it sounds like you should get both.
The Mac will excel at most of those productivity tasks, the photo editing, spreadsheets and such.
Meanwhile, the iPad will be much, much better for casual web browsing, FaceTime, any video watching and home control.
You are probably better off getting the cheaper options for both, instead of just a MacBook Pro or just an iPad Pro, get the iPad 10 and a MacBook Air.
People are going to argue against this, but you specifically mentioned you have people in the house that are both older and have only used an iPhone. It will be a much tougher task getting them used to the quirks and confusion of a full Finder based macOS, plus for things like light and cooling control the Mac is just going to be a much more complicated experience.

 

[Allen_Wentz]

There seems to be a fixation on “low-end”, but I can’t work out why. We’re not talking about Chromebooks here.

What is hard to understand about low end? Read the specs, look at the display with trained eyes/brain, listen to the speakers with trained ears/brain; everything is lesser on the low end. You may prefer the low end, but it is the low end for lots of reasons. Low end is seldom ideal for a society.

 

[richmlow]

Hi folks,

I’ve just become a treasurer for a society and have been tasked with purchasing either a MacBook Pro or a Wi-Fi iPad Pro (with Keyboard, Pencil, etc) for our committee of 10 people.

We would use the device for financial reports (Numbers), importing photographs (USB-C), editing photographs (Photoshop), writing documents (Pages), streaming/downloading lossless music, maintaining a shared calendar (Apple), internet browsing (Safari), video calls (Teams and FaceTime) and controlling our venue lighting and heating (Apple).

Our budget is £4000. We need a device that would last for the foreseeable. Some of our committee have only used iPhones, whilst others have used Macs and PCs.

What would you guys recommend?


Thanks!

I would definitely recommend a MacBook Pro (as opposed to an iPad Pro) for your needs.


richmlow

 

[brilliantthings]

What is hard to understand about low end? Read the specs, look at the display with trained eyes/brain, listen to the speakers with trained ears/brain; everything is lesser on the low end. You may prefer the low end, but it is the low end for lots of reasons. Low end is seldom ideal for a society.

I had a feeling I might get that sort of response. I'm going to seek my recommendations elsewhere.