iPad Pro iPad Pro or MacBook Pro for a society

[Allen_Wentz]

YES

 

[elmoss]

14” 24/512 M4

 

[Allen_Wentz]

...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 But this is a very out of date and inaccurate position.

Have you worked for a society/association with a membership and board to whom you report? I am guessing no based on your responses. Members join an association or society because they believe in working toward something better than what they deal with every day in their working lives. As such, members expect their association/society to do things right; use the best tools, etc.

I will date myself by noting that the first computer that I bought for an association that I was working for was a DEC PDP-11. That hardware was much more competent than was absolutely necessary for the FORTRAN program that I wrote for the association. However it suited the membership and provided 100% bombproof performance for a decade during which computers were seldom bombproof. It turned out to have been a good choice, despite technically being [your word] overpowered.

The OP queried regarding hardware for a society. IMO the best choice is a MBP.

 

[brilliantthings]

I'm bowing out of this one. Make great choices, everyone.

 

[Sami13496]

Never mind.

 

[splifingate]

MacBook Pro or a Wi-Fi iPad Pro

Why not a desktop unit? iMac, or Mac Mini? (or even a p/o Win64 unit for that matter)

 

[NastyMatt]

Not necessarily recommending either option but my experience of buying Mac’s is some people who have never used them react like you have asked them to use a nuclear reactor’s controls that have no markings on them! i.e. those who have only ever used Microsoft devices. “How do you right click” “where is the menu” “where are the apps” etc

 

[PegLegDreg]

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.

True

 

[leifp]

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


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.


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


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


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.


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.

On board until the last sentence. It’s not a question of working but of being supported in OS for security and privacy. Once the machine can only get “security updates” it becomes slightly less secure and once those stop, security through obscurity enters… and that hasn’t been a useful strategy for Apple users in almost two decades.

 

[Lounge vibes 05]

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.

Completely disagree, for everything the op listed there will absolutely be no usability benefit for a MacBook Pro and an iPad Pro over a MacBook Air and an iPad 10.
Yes, the MacBook Pro has a better display… But it mainly only comes in use when watching HDR content.
Yes, the MacBook Pro has a full cooling system… But it’s barely used unless you’re doing hard-core video editing or something extremely intensive.
As for support timelines, they are literally supported for the exact same amount of time. Anyone purchasing a MacBook Pro over a MacBook Air expecting it to last longer… That’s not how it works. They literally share the exact same silicon, they will lose support at the exact same time.

 

[Lounge vibes 05]

On board until the last sentence. It’s not a question of working but of being supported in OS for security and privacy. Once the machine can only get “security updates” it becomes slightly less secure and once those stop, security through obscurity enters… and that hasn’t been a useful strategy for Apple users in almost two decades.

Except for the fact that the MacBook Pro and air are supported for the exact same amount of time.
Same goes for the iPad Pro and Air.
The latest version of iPadOS, version 18, supports the A12 based iPad Air/Mini and newer, or the A12X iPad Pro and newer. All of the A12 iPads were released within four months of each other, so… no extensions for things with “Pro” in the name.

 

[Lounge vibes 05]

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.

I have never found this to be the experience of most “non-technical” people, which are the majority.
Most of them almost exclusively used mobile devices in their lives, tuns of them have not had an actual PC since the windows XP days.
Trying to explain how a file system works to most people is like talking to a wall, and that’s why the iPad is so successful. You never have to deal with any of that stuff.
The original poster of this thread literally said he has people up to the age of 70, and people who have never used anything except for iPhones. These people are not going to understand the file system. I’m sorry to say.

Not necessarily recommending either option but my experience of buying Mac’s is some people who have never used them react like you have asked them to use a nuclear reactor’s controls that have no markings on them! i.e. those who have only ever used Microsoft devices. “How do you right click” “where is the menu” “where are the apps” etc

This.
So many people on these forums think that they are the norm, flying through Finder and typing commands into the Terminal and digging through system files.
You are not the norm.

 

[muzzy996]

Why not a desktop unit? iMac, or Mac Mini? (or even a p/o Win64 unit for that matter)

Since OP is referring to being a member of a board for a society that implies that mobility of the device may be important, as it is typical that these are not full time office positions and board members typically take things home with them to complete tasks. Besides, OP specifically said their options were either a laptop or tablet.

 

[muzzy996]

To me the answer is two devices. A 15" MacBook Air for the financials and an iPad of some kind for the rest. Keep the financial data separate from a shared device for security reasons.

 

[brilliantthings]

On board until the last sentence. It’s not a question of working but of being supported in OS for security and privacy. Once the machine can only get “security updates” it becomes slightly less secure and once those stop, security through obscurity enters… and that hasn’t been a useful strategy for Apple users in almost two decades.

Fair, but this is no different for MBA, MBP or Windows PCs. Microsoft has recently started doing the same.

 

[TracerAnalog]

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!

Without any doubts: a Macbook. Easier for real work (yes the iPad can do everything as well, I own one) and the only option for a shared device. There is simply no way to have multiple accounts on an iPad: it's a very personal device.

 

[splifingate]

implies that mobility of the device may be important

I see no direct implication that "mobility" is central to the "We need a device that would last for the foreseeable" thesis . . .

have been tasked with purchasing either a MacBook Pro or a Wi-Fi iPad Pro

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?

To the OP's aforementioned query, I directly asked the question

 

[muzzy996]

I see no direct implication that "mobility" is central to the "We need a device that would last for the foreseeable" thesis . . .

Then perhaps we each have a different idea of what being a board member for a society entails. That's fine I suppose. OP is free to answer and explain why they had already ruled out a desktop.

 

[The Samurai]

Your budget is £4000.

I would recommend a Macbook and it doesnt need to be the latest and greatest M series chips. The M1/M2 can be had on eBays Curry Clearance store for around £600-800 depending on spec and you can easily buy 4-6 for the committee members

 

[Ctrlos]

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!

You want a Macbook because its the only device that supports multiple user accounts.

 

[cjsuk]

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.

Yeah that.

Also worth noting that my older relatives seem to have trouble with touch sensitive device operation as they get older, possibly to do with dry skin etc on fingers.

 

[Lounge vibes 05]

Yeah that.

Also worth noting that my older relatives seem to have trouble with touch sensitive device operation as they get older, possibly to do with dry skin etc on fingers.

Even assuming that’s true for a second, how exactly would a MacBook help this situation?
The MacBook is literally controlled by eight touchpad. If someone has trouble using a touchscreen, they most certainly will have trouble, if not more trouble, using a touchpad. Whole interaction method is swiping, dragging and clicking.

 

[thefrost]

I would get the Macbook Pro.

 

[Howard2k]

Is the intent to spend the entire 4,000 pounds? Or to get the right tool for the job?

If the intent is to spend it all, sure. Get the 48GB RAM monster. There are probably more sensible choices based on the described uses though.

 

[smulji]

These people are not going to understand the file system

They shouldn't have to.