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All iPads iPad ready for prime time??

JoeRito

JoeRito

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Apr 12, 2012
505
155
New England, USA
Opinions please: is the iPad ready for use as the only computing device in an office/finance setting? Are iWork apps fully featured enough? Need a strong spreadsheet app to replace Excel and a great presentation app. Locating files would be key- not so easy in iOS.

Is a retina display too fatiguing to the eyes to use 8+ hours a day?
 
iPad sucks at multitasking and heavy productivity tasks.

An iPad would probably work, but a computer who be more efficient.
 
Simple answer: no. Recently, I arrived at a customer site after a disasterous morning at the hotel (starting with a false fire alarm at the hotel). I realised I'd forgotten my site access card (lots of begging with receptionists, who fortunately recognised me), and the power brick for the Dell from Hell. What I learned:

  • You can do a lot with an iPad
  • Including VPN to to the mothership, ssh access to critical systems, and light spreadsheet and word processing
  • But it's not as productive as a PC or Mac, especially when connecting to many external systems and working with multiple documents.

Overall, I was impressed by just how many things I could do with the iPad, and this enabled me to stretch the Dell From Hell's battery for the day. But little things like how you select, copy, paste and switch your attention between tasks aren't really as productive, especially compared to Mountain Lion.

Edit: Oh, and the iPad helped save face, at a time when losing face would not have looked good.
 
The iPad is great for everyday tasks and light content creation. It can be a very useful tool that enhances your productivity, if you use it for the proper applications.

Financial anlyisis is really best done on a desktop, with lots of screen real estate. Also, Excel is the industry standard for Finance, so an iPad is going to be limited in this department.

I spent 20 years in Budgeting and Finance, and I would not recommend the iPad as a primary tool for this application. Actually, analysts that build large complex spreadsheets typically don't even use laptops for development work. They need lots of screen space for multiple sheets, pivot tables, and macro creation.

That said; an iPad can still be a very useful companion when mobile and away from a full desktop computer.
 
Everyone is saying it won't work because they are talking about using the iPad's Retina Display.

What if you plugged the iPad into an external monitor and bluetooth keyboard. You can use the iPad itself as a mouse/trackpad while looking at a much larger display. Thoughts?
 
yinz said:
Everyone is saying it won't work because they are talking about using the iPad's Retina Display.

What if you plugged the iPad into an external monitor and bluetooth keyboard. You can use the iPad itself as a mouse/trackpad while looking at a much larger display. Thoughts?
Click to expand...

The bigger problem is going to be the KEYBOARD. For finance applications, that on-screen keyboard is going to be a huge pain.

If you use an external keyboard and mouse, maybe, but then still App selection is limited. If you are doing some basic bookkeeping and small time finance stuff, maybe you can succeed in Google Docs or Numbers, but if this is "serious business" then the iPad will be grossly inadequate app-wise.

I suppose we can get super technical and say what if he uses the iPad to control a remote terminal, but I am sure that is not what the OP had in mind. Even that would also be a pain.

Honestly, just get a Macbook of some sort or iMac for the serious work, and keep your iPad for personal use. That way you wont feel like you are 'at work' when you use it!
 
JoeRito said:
Opinions please: is the iPad ready for use as the only computing device in an office/finance setting?
Click to expand...
Collecting opinions won't get you your answer. It is for some and it isn't for others. That doesn't tell you anything as to whether it will work for you. If you want to know then give it a spin.
 
takeshi74 said:
Collecting opinions won't get you your answer. It is for some and it isn't for others. That doesn't tell you anything as to whether it will work for you. If you want to know then give it a spin.
Click to expand...

^^^^^ This.

Nobody here knows your exact work needs, so nobody here can give a fully informed answer.

It really depends on what you mean by "finance"... It could be that you *REQUIRE* a piece of software that simply isn't available for the iPad. Or that you need to use a website that requires Flash, which would rule out the iPad.

Or it could be that you just need a simple spreadsheet, and it will work fine.

I am not in Finance, but I do deal with spreadsheets regularly. The one downfall of the iPad is the small screen/low resolution (yes, even Retina is "low resolution" since it only lets you display as much as a 1024x768 screen would display at readable size.) Spreadsheets are difficult to use on the iPad due to the small amount of data you can display at once. Again - it might be that it is just right for your usage model, but I can't answer that.
 
Not to beat a dead option, but it sounds like you'd actually be better off with a refurbed Surface RT for 200$ or the new Surface 2 for 450$. You get Excel with that.
 
Gregintosh said:
The bigger problem is going to be the KEYBOARD. For finance applications, that on-screen keyboard is going to be a huge pain.

If you use an external keyboard and mouse, maybe, but then still App selection is limited. If you are doing some basic bookkeeping and small time finance stuff, maybe you can succeed in Google Docs or Numbers, but if this is "serious business" then the iPad will be grossly inadequate app-wise.

I suppose we can get super technical and say what if he uses the iPad to control a remote terminal, but I am sure that is not what the OP had in mind. Even that would also be a pain.

Honestly, just get a Macbook of some sort or iMac for the serious work, and keep your iPad for personal use. That way you wont feel like you are 'at work' when you use it!
Click to expand...

This. Having peripherals to enter lots of data and numbers is very helpful for the kind of use OP describes.

I'm not sure why you'd want to use an iPad over a Macbook Air.
 
To me, the iPad is the perfect COMPANION to a real computer.

If your needs are web surfing, emails, games, listening to music, reading books, then the iPad is perfect. If you have more intense uses for a device (word processing, spreadsheets, programming), then you really need a laptop or desktop for these things.

The iPad is the perfect 'occasional' device for word processing, spreadsheets, etc., but not a fully dedicated device. I take my iPad with me in my car, so if I need to these things once in a great while, I CAN do these things. It's somewhat painful, but CAN be done. It's just a lot easier to take an iPad with me than a laptop.
 
JoeRito said:
Opinions please: is the iPad ready for use as the only computing device in an office/finance setting? Are iWork apps fully featured enough? Need a strong spreadsheet app to replace Excel and a great presentation app. Locating files would be key- not so easy in iOS.

Is a retina display too fatiguing to the eyes to use 8+ hours a day?
Click to expand...

no, absolutely not the device for your stated purpose.

Just look at the benchmarks if nothing else - the first gen MBA scores higher than the current top-model ipad.

Now, obviously I'm not suggesting you go out and buy a 5 year old 1st gen air instead of an iPad but i think that nicely illustrates the fact that these devices aren't built for different purposes.

ios isn't a "real" operating system. OSX is.
 
DisplacedMic said:
Just look at the benchmarks if nothing else - the first gen MBA scores higher than the current top-model ipad.
Click to expand...

Those benchmarks don't mean squat. Kind of.

Use a 1st Gen MBA, then use an iPad4. They are completely different in feel. iPad4 kicks ass in speed and resolution compared to the clunky MBA. I have a MacPro double processor which doesn't browse the net or do simple tasks as snappy as the iPad4, and it's rated at 4x the benchmark numbers.

Benchmarks will give you a certain measure of computational power, but the OS, architecture, and usage will determine which device is actually better for the person using the device.

That written, I am not sure the iPad5 will be THE ONE to displace notebooks. It could be, but I doubt it. If someone has simple tasks ONLY, then the iPad might be OK for them as a stand-alone computer.
 
nlot even close

Does this thread come up every week or so? Why would anyone commit to going solo on an ipad--a supersized phone with no file system and no usable stylus implementation. I like the ipad and I admire apples focused implementation. That said--it trails the surface badly as productivity device. Its multitasking is laughable and is easily surpassed by samsungs otherwise quirky touch wiz soufflé. Apple has drawn a line in the sand and the world hs walked over it
 
Lesser Evets said:
Those benchmarks don't mean squat. Kind of.

Use a 1st Gen MBA, then use an iPad4. They are completely different in feel. iPad4 kicks ass in speed and resolution compared to the clunky MBA. I have a MacPro double processor which doesn't browse the net or do simple tasks as snappy as the iPad4, and it's rated at 4x the benchmark numbers.

Benchmarks will give you a certain measure of computational power, but the OS, architecture, and usage will determine which device is actually better for the person using the device.

That written, I am not sure the iPad5 will be THE ONE to displace notebooks. It could be, but I doubt it. If someone has simple tasks ONLY, then the iPad might be OK for them as a stand-alone computer.
Click to expand...

i feel like i addressed all that in my post. obviously they "don't mean squat" in terms of the person using the device, but my point in bringing it up is to illustrate the fact that for most people using a desktop in the manner described by the OP, an iPad isn't going to cut it.

No multi-task, limited document editing, compatibility issue with many network printers or even network access by itself.

For what this guy is describing an iPad isn't the right device.

Now, for others it's perfect. I see it all the time in restaurants now. And physicians are using them all the time now as well. The iPad is certainly getting there, but it's by no means a laptop replacement universally or even close to that.
 
JoeRito said:
Opinions please: is the iPad ready for use as the only computing device in an office/finance setting? Are iWork apps fully featured enough? Need a strong spreadsheet app to replace Excel and a great presentation app. Locating files would be key- not so easy in iOS.

Is a retina display too fatiguing to the eyes to use 8+ hours a day?
Click to expand...

No. Apple continues to purposely limit the iPad's abilities as a desktop replacement so as to not cripple their computer sales. The iPad in its current iteration is powerful enough to run as a full fledged computer but Apple would be stupid to allow it to do so.
 
JoeRito said:
Opinions please: is the iPad ready for use as the only computing device in an office/finance setting? Are iWork apps fully featured enough? Need a strong spreadsheet app to replace Excel and a great presentation app. Locating files would be key- not so easy in iOS.

Is a retina display too fatiguing to the eyes to use 8+ hours a day?
Click to expand...

This question is hashed over here constantly for the past two years. Numerous magazine articles as well.

For some, yes.
Others, not yet.
 
macguy360 said:
No. Apple continues to purposely limit the iPad's abilities as a desktop replacement so as to not cripple their computer sales. The iPad in its current iteration is powerful enough to run as a full fledged computer but Apple would be stupid to allow it to do so.
Click to expand...

i don't think there's much truth to this statement.
 
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