iPad Pro Review Roundup: Powerful Creative Canvas, but Not Quite a PC Replacement

[convergent]

A lot of comments on this launch. I think this is a 1st gen move by Apple, and agree they could have done better. The real backstory is that the competition (Microsoft) has stepped up their game substantially and Apple looks like they got caught here. They've had the advantage on tablets by a huge amount, but Microsoft has had a series of successes with the Surface, and have doubled down on that with a some great new products.

I was all Apple for a number of years, but for the last few my employer has kind of forced my hand back to Windows for work... so Windows at Work, Mac at home for me. I sit here at my home office with a 27" display on each corner of my desk... one tied to a Dell laptop for work, and the other tied to a Mac Mini. Neither of these could be replaced by an iPad Pro. But, the Dell could definitely be replaced by a Surface Book, and I'd love to do it if I could.

If Apple wants the iPad Pro to be a home run, they need to land at an OS point that is somewhere between iOS and OSX for the iPad Pro. There are simply too many gaps for "many, many users". I am sure that there are many that can use it... but they were people that didn't really need a computer in the first place. My wife uses an iPad as her only computer and she's quite happy with it.

 

[Rogifan]

That Mossberg quote is the most surprising one fo all. Mossberg, who was buddy buddy with jobs himself and often sounded more like a Apple salesman than anything else, actually saying "don't buy one" came as a complete shock to me.

Why are people surprised by his review? He said he's keeping his iPad Air. This probably isn't a device for him. So what? I'm sure the Mac Pro isn't for him either.

Why hasn't anybody mentioned the ergonomic aspect of the iPad Pro? Put it upright with the keyboard cover and you have to stretch your arm and index finger every time you need to do something. See all these office workplaces where people have trackpad-like mice? That's because it's less strenuous than using a classical mouse. With the iPad Pro I can only imagine the surge in shoulder pain because people have to repeatedly reach the upper corners of a 13" display.

Hence why Apple hasn't signed on to these 2-in-1 devices Intel is pushing. If you go to Apple's website you'll notice very few iPad Pro marketing shots with the keyboard attached. And in Jony Ive's product video when he mentions the connector he references compatible "accessories"; he never uses the word keyboard. I don't think Apple is expecting people to use the device with the keyboard attached all the time. With my iPad Air 2 I can actually type faster using the onscreen keyboard than when using a 3rd party keyboard.

 

[mwd25]

Saying "Apple Shoved Crap In our Faces" is not being critical of the company. That's a trolling type of a statement. If you want to be taken seriously put out valid points. And don't forget, you don't have to buy so nobody is shoving anything in your face.

You know, you sound very reasonable in your post's. You say things like,"If it's not for me then it's not for "ME". So I don't bother posting trolling comments on forums about Apple products that I feel are nothing more than "Crap" shoved in my face. What a ridiculous statement."
You make the point that if Apple makes a product you dont like....then you just dont buy it...no big deal right????
So why dont you apply that same logic to posting on here. I see you engaging people, calling them out for a opinion in a comment section. Not just once or twice but back and forth,back and forth. Based on your stated views( which are very reasonable and make sense) I dont get why you respond.....over and over and over.
Let it go, you dont agree with what the guy says, move on.
Or not.

 

[tampageek]

Tim is laying the tracks with Apple Watch and iPad Pro. It'll only get better as time goes on. I bet the next iPad Pro will have iOSX the bridge between Mac and iPad. Whoa!

Welcome to Tim Cook's 
1- new product that doesn't really work just yet - but it might someday
2- software update for product that doesn't really work just yet - in hopes of making it seem like it really works
3- another software update where useful features are removed or hidden - because they don't really work just yet, or they gave the user too much control over the OS. Apple hates that.
4- new product turns out to be a dud because it's too expensive for too many people and doesn't really work just yet anyway.

if this was the business model of any other company they would be out of business by now.

 

[wakinghour]

OS X is difficult to engineer backwards towards a mobile world. But iOS is like using raw materials. It may not have form now, but it can be anything it wants to. The iPad Pro will be the first to cross that bridge.

 

[KPOM]

Split screen was a good step. File management would be a good step. Multiple user accounts would be another good step that I think everyone from a pro user to a family would use.

The hardware is there. Now give us a different version of iOS. It's beyond silly that the iPad and iPhone run virtually the same OS.

PS- does the iPad Pro come with a stock calculator app?

This makes a lot of sense to me. Rather than ask Apple to port OS X to the iPad Pro, people should push for enhancements to iOS.

 

[attila]

I'm a way off ditching my Mac. I have now ditched my Mac Pro and I'm now running everything from a MacBook Pro via a Thunderbolt dock. It's an awesome setup and still extremely portable for me if I want to leave the office and head to the coffee shop

Here's hoping the 17" MacBook Pro will come back soon!

 

[LordVic]

Why are people surprised by his review? He said he's keeping his iPad Air. This probably isn't a device for him. So what? I'm sure the Mac Pro isn't for him either.

Because Mossberg, if you've read him in the past is basically a glorified Apple salesman. Even for devices before that he doesn't himself use, he's said "but you should buy it"... this is probably the only Apple device that I can recall from recent memory where he said.. don't

thats why it's shocking. I'm not saying anything about agreeing / disagreeing with him. Just that it's an unusual tone for him

 

[LIVEFRMNYC]

Too bad I suck at drawing, cause it looks underwhelming for any other purpose.

 

[Tech198]

I was all Apple for a number of years, but for the last few my employer has kind of forced my hand back to Windows for work... so Windows at Work, Mac at home for me. I sit here at my home office with a 27" display on each corner of my desk... one tied to a Dell laptop for work, and the other tied to a Mac Mini. Neither of these could be replaced by an iPad Pro. But, the Dell could definitely be replaced by a Surface Book, and I'd love to do it if I could.

So, the question is the OS... If OS X was on iPad would things be different ?

 

[tampageek]

Tim Cook - iPad sales have been going down for years.....lets make a bigger one.

 

[dk001]

All depends on the discipline. If I'm in a history class or social studies class I'll probably want a keyboard for taking notes (I can type about a bajillion times faster than I can write).

BUT: for math and engineering... you MUST be able to draw and write symbols quickly. A keyboard just doesn't cut it.

Attached are a couple of examples from one of my classes this semester. (Note: they are exported at low resolution, they look glorious on my iPad/Macbook

View attachment 599283 View attachment 599284

I probably should have mentioned he's working towards Int'l Business ....

 

[paulvee]

It can be a cool product for a lot of reasons. That being said, it can't replace my Mac Pros or my MacBook. It's not just the OS that's not up to snuff for it, it's the IO. I need massive storage for photography and video. I need heavy GPU power, as well. I need a keyboard. Even if they could tack on a keyboard that works, a breakout box and more powerful graphics processing, you what that gives us? It gives us a half-assed laptop with a bunch of dangling components. I think the Pro is a cool device for a lot of things, but NO WAY can it replace my desktop machines, no matter how far I think outside the box.

 

[Rogifan]

Because Mossberg, if you've read him in the past is basically a glorified Apple salesman. Even for devices before that he doesn't himself use, he's said "but you should buy it"... this is probably the only Apple device that I can recall from recent memory where he said.. don't

thats why it's shocking. I'm not saying anything about agreeing / disagreeing with him. Just that it's an unusual tone for him

Well I guess I don't think of him that way. And I've never looked to him as validation on whether I should buy something or not.

 

[bpeeps]

iPad Pro will replace a PC for the most basic tasks - browsing, email, listening to music, light word processing, spreadsheets. Anything more complex and you'd be struggling with an iPad Pro.

Air already does this. The Pro is so far, only bigger..

 

[Thunderhawks]

iPad Pro will replace a PC for the most basic tasks - browsing, email, listening to music, light word processing, spreadsheets. Anything more complex and you'd be struggling with an iPad Pro.

iPad Pro could be looked upon as a first gen PC replacement - but not there yet. Maybe in the 3rd Gen iPad Pro when Apple have improved iOS more.. then more people would be able to switch.
Its still a long time until you can replace that PC for doing things such as professional movie editing, software development, or replace that PC in the office for 'clerk' type work.

Agreed. As I posted before, lukewarm on it.

Plus, while it is an iPad , it's still first gen, which I will never buy from Apple knowing their deal.

This is an entry into a new market, but for the moment too expensive and it needs to mature.

By generation 4 it could be on par with laptops and it's own iOSX.

The app developers and 3rd party inventors will drive this thing into success.

Using my 15" MBP I have quite often wished that I could just detach the screen,
but keep all the functionality.

For that matter I also wished for a 27" iPad, basically an iMac laid down.

I bet we'll get there.

iPad Pro....I'd buy one for 1/2 the price now to do what I do now with my iPad2.

 

[dk001]

Tim Cook - iPad sales have been going down for years.....lets make a bigger one.

I don't understand that one either.
From a sales perspective I would be looking at a way to encourage current users to update and looking at another market segment not already plundered by tablets to .... plunder.
This isn't it IMHO.

 

[bpeeps]

Indeed.

Can you imagine Walt saying something like that when Steve Jobs was alive? Goodness, no.

Times change.

There's one of you in every post.

 

[jlseattle]

I've been waiting for an iPad that can run the full OSX operating system. It would be nice to have it be iOS when not docked and full operating system when docked to Keyboard. Who wants a giant iPad? Ultimately when I want to get "real" work done I need a full OS to do that. iOS has always been and will be a "quick" view OS that allows you to get information. It isn't robust enough to be a place that you interact with and store information.

Example, I use OneNote to record all my meeting notes and also pull information together to have meetings from. I cannot use OneNote to pull meeting information together on iOS. I have to be on a PC or Mac to get all the aggregate information together easily. Meaning that I have up to 5-6 applications open gathering information for that meeting. I cannot do that in iOS. I am constantly jumping between full screen apps to get that information. Add to that, the copy and paste functionality in iOS still leaves a lot do be desired. It is really rough and isn't as quick and accurate as just using a mouse to copy and paste. Ultimately I end up struggling more with iOS doing things than I would just going to a my Mac and doing it much more quickly. They really need to get a full blown OSX on the iPad pro. Figure it out Apple....

 

[OllyW]

Why are people surprised by his review? He said he's keeping his iPad Air. This probably isn't a device for him. So what? I'm sure the Mac Pro isn't for him either.

Probably because of the reputation from his enthusiastic Apple reviews which were often quoted in Apple keynotes and mocked in the Mosspupet parody videos.

 

[bpeeps]

Oh you didn't buy an Watch? Oh, this isn't your post I quoted from the Watch 42mm Space Grey order thread? Hmm...

LOCK AND LOAD.

 

[HenryDJP]

You know, you sound very reasonable in your post's. You say things like,"If it's not for me then it's not for "ME". So I don't bother posting trolling comments on forums about Apple products that I feel are nothing more than "Crap" shoved in my face. What a ridiculous statement."
You make the point that if Apple makes a product you dont like....then you just dont buy it...no big deal right????
So why dont you apply that same logic to posting on here. I see you engaging people, calling them out for a opinion in a comment section. Not just once or twice but back and forth,back and forth. Based on your stated views( which are very reasonable and make sense) I dont get why you respond.....over and over and over.
Let it go, you dont agree with what the guy says, move on.
Or not.

First, be nice. No need for scolding, because that's what you're doing. But on the last line I agree with you but you have to know that I made the first post and that other poster replied to something "I" wrote and his response was a trolling comment. I absolutely have a right to respond to that, and should. BTW, I did let him have the last word.

 

[artfossil]

Why hasn't anybody mentioned the ergonomic aspect of the iPad Pro? Put it upright with the keyboard cover and you have to stretch your arm and index finger every time you need to do something. See all these office workplaces where people have trackpad-like mice? That's because it's less strenuous than using a classical mouse. With the iPad Pro I can only imagine the surge in shoulder pain because people have to repeatedly reach the upper corners of a 13" display.

I'd like to gently suggest you make a paper model of the iPad Pro and a keyboard and see just how much of a "stretch" your arm has to do.

Speaking for myself, and frequently using an iPad Air with a keyboard, I don't find it a stretch at all to move from a keyboard which is right up against the base of the iPad to the iPad screen and back again. And no, I won't have any difficulty moving to those oh so distant "corners" of an iPad Pro display.

My iPad Air 2 is a 9.7 inch diagonal. The iPad Pro is a 12.9 inch diagonal. Am I really going to strain myself using the larger display?

But then, I enjoy the combination of physical touch and typing. And iPads are not for everyone. And the iPad Pro isn't for everyone.

 

[LIVEFRMNYC]

Tim Cook - iPad sales have been going down for years.....lets make a bigger one, that runs on OSX.

Now if he said that .... I would recklessly throw my money at Apple.

 

[LordVic]

Well I guess I don't think of him that way. And I've never looked to him as validation on whether I should buy something or not.

I still want one. I don't really put a lot of respect into his statement.

But the price here is absolutely insanity. Base model (32gb) starts at $1,049. add on pencil ($129) and Keyboard ($229) and reasonability goes right out the window. For $1,407 ($1,589.91 w/ tax), I can think of a lot better uses with that money.