iPad trumps MacBook pro

[BergerFan]

I'm awaiting delivery of my 16gb iPad from the US(good to have relatives over there 😀), and I can already forsee it relegating my laptop to 'desktop replacement' status.
Of course the laptop will be used for 'real computing' - video/website editing, etc, but for all the casual stuff, the iPad will take over(unless I visit CNET or something 😀).

 

[zerolight]

I completely agree. I've got a 27" iMac in the lounge / study. However I tend to do my surfing, email checking, twitter, whatever, on my iTouch and leave the iMac for when I need to do something more serious.

Last week we got a new MBP and an iPad. I've gravitated to the iPad for all the same stuff I use my iTouch for - so about 80% of what I use a computer for at home. The rest of the time I go to the iMac and leave my wife to enjoy the MBP.

Nobody is saying they want to replace their iMac or MBP with an iPad. What they are saying is that for the bulk of their couch potatoe / bed surfing, the iPad is the goto device. And it's true for me to.

 

[zerolight]

You people obviously don't do any work then... since it's impossible to replace my MBP with a iPad to do any serious graft. Do you only use your machines for surfing and watching porn? 😀

That's it though. It's about surfing. Email. Media Consumption (Air Video is terrific). Gaming. And all those cool little Apps like the iPad IMDB, etc. It's for everything you do at home that isn't work. The kinda stuff you'd like to do on the couch, maybe whilst watching telly, or laying down in bed. It's all about casual media consumption. As soon as you need to work, do something intensive, un par some newsgroup files, knock up something in iMovie, whatever, it's time to get your butt up and go sit at the desk with the big computer. But for everything else, my iTouch and now the much better iPad, do exactly what I need.

 

[VladM]

That's it though. It's about surfing. Email. Media Consumption (Air Video is terrific). Gaming. And all those cool little Apps like the iPad IMDB, etc. It's for everything you do at home that isn't work. The kinda stuff you'd like to do on the couch, maybe whilst watching telly, or laying down in bed. It's all about casual media consumption. As soon as you need to work, do something intensive, un par some newsgroup files, knock up something in iMovie, whatever, it's time to get your butt up and go sit at the desk with the big computer. But for everything else, my iTouch and now the much better iPad, do exactly what I need.

Fully agree with this. The OP didn't quite portray it that way (or is maybe just not as eloquent).

 

[zerolight]

Fully agree with this. The OP didn't quite portray it that way (or is maybe just not as eloquent).

I could have been less eloquent and admitted to spending way to long sitting on the can watching 24 whilst my toes went numb. But I thought better of it.

 

[xlii]

This is what those tuned in to Apple's vision have been saying all along.

The iPad is gradually, bit by bit, replacing certain regular tasks that you'd do on a notebook. It's only a matter of time and development (might not be that far off) until you use your notebook for only the most intensive and rare tasks. Your iPad will become your go-to device.

True, just as even an inexpensive laptop today can outperform a 8 year old desktop. Over time, the iPad will creep up in performance becoming able to handle tasks that only a laptop or desktop can handle now. What hasn't happened (other than games) is that killer app that just needs the raw power of a more powerful machine that compels you to go out and get that more powerful machine.

 

[greygray]

No. It may be more portable, but it still has to sync to another computer.

 

[*LTD*]

True, just as even an inexpensive laptop today can outperform a 8 year old desktop. Over time, the iPad will creep up in performance becoming able to handle tasks that only a laptop or desktop can handle now. What hasn't happened (other than games) is that killer app that just needs the raw power of a more powerful machine that compels you to go out and get that more powerful machine.

Half the draw (easily) of the iPad isn't how "useful" it is or what it can do, but the real pleasure and enjoyment of using it for what it is. That's a big deal. It takes mundane computing tasks and breathes new life into them. Apple products have a way of doing that.

Send and check e-mails on a regular PC. Now do it on an iPad. 😉

 

[FlashHead]

Half the draw (easily) of the iPad isn't how "useful" it is or what it can do, but the real pleasure and enjoyment of using it for what it is. That's a big deal. It takes mundane computing tasks and breathes new life into them. Apple products have a way of doing that.

+1

 

[crobbins]

I find myself using it at night when I get home. During the day I don't even bring it with me. I tried to use it to replace my MacBook Pro for daily school use and such, but quickly found that I switch in and out of PowerPoint, Safari, and Word way too often to make this a better product for my day needs. Again, at night when I am just using the Internet..I love the thing!!

 

[wyneken]

One thing I've found with the iPad is that it's easier to focus on the task at hand without distraction. When I sit down at my desktop computer I tend to do several things at once unless I am really forced to focus (for instance by a looming deadline). Otherwise it's just too easy to slip into checking e-mail, glancing at the news, playing with my iTunes library, or something. Especially when the alternative is work.

With the iPad -- perhaps because of this "immersive" quality that everybody was talking about a few weeks ago, or perhaps just because there's only one thing on the screen at a time -- I find it easier to just keep at something until it's finished.

I write a weekly blog (actually more like an online column) for a regional magazine, and I prefer doing it on the iPad -- weird keyboard and all -- to sitting at my desk. My column tends to be about 750 words long, which is not a huge amount to type, and I tend to write slowly anyway. So despite the fact that Pages on the iPad is not as not as feature-rich as most word processors, and that my typing speed is slower (with or without an external keyboard), I tend to get the work done faster.

I'm thinking of moving my novel-in-progress over to the iPad to see what happens. There's something to be said for a creative tool that's fun to use, even if it has some obvious drawbacks. Back in the day, I wrote a novel on the original 128k Macintosh, using MacWrite 1.0. Because of hardware and software limitations, I had to write it in sections of no more than 8 pages in length. The novel has a definite, well-defined pace as a result -- everything happens in short scenes. It was kind of unwieldy but also a lot of fun, and I'm pretty sure the book turned out better than it would have on the MS-DOS machine that the Macintosh replaced.

 

[anthonymoody]

Nobody is saying they want to replace their iMac or MBP with an iPad.

Sorry that's precisely what I'm saying. I'm retiring my MBP (and Kindle2), using an iPad as my primary computer. I'm retaining my household iMac for its existing use as a central storage hub for media/syncing. Other than that it's all iPad all the time.

In terms of missing functionality (not already announced for OS4), we need:

1) Better document handling across apps, specifically a way to get documents from productivity apps (back) into file-system apps like iDisk or Goodreader

2) OS-level (rather than app based) printing

3) Stronger email search tools

The solutions to the issues above, such as they are today, are workable enough, though I'll happily welcome when they get properly baked into the OS.

As for tethered OS updates, that's a choice on Apple's part, not a technical limitation. There's no reason the memory could not be partitioned such that you could d/l and update the OS on the device itself.

To me where this is all headed is crystal clear. We may debate the timeframe but IMO 'very soon' more people will be using the iPad (and similarly 'dumb' devices) than what we mostly think of as 'real' computers, most if not all of the time.

 

[Jaro65]

I could have been less eloquent and admitted to spending way to long sitting on the can watching 24 whilst my toes went numb. But I thought better of it.

LOL! Now the truth comes out!

 

[gtsipad]

I've found for me that an iPad and an iMac can easily replace my Macbook Pro, so i'm considering selling my MBP and picking up the 21" iMac.

 

[Pared]

That's it though. It's about surfing. Email. Media Consumption (Air Video is terrific). Gaming. And all those cool little Apps like the iPad IMDB, etc. It's for everything you do at home that isn't work. The kinda stuff you'd like to do on the couch, maybe whilst watching telly, or laying down in bed. It's all about casual media consumption. As soon as you need to work, do something intensive, un par some newsgroup files, knock up something in iMovie, whatever, it's time to get your butt up and go sit at the desk with the big computer. But for everything else, my iTouch and now the much better iPad, do exactly what I need.

Fantastic post. Those who get it, understand this and feel the same way.

Those who don't, complain it isn't a laptop. Oh well.

 

[eelpout]

Fantastic post. Those who get it, understand this and feel the same way.

Those who don't, complain it isn't a laptop. Oh well.

Careful, by saying some people simply don't "get it" you're treading close to that line of implying maybe they're not up to it intellectually. The iPad is redundant in functionality to some, it's not that they don't understand its use.

 

[0101001]

Sold my MacBook a few weeks before the release .
I have no Need for a MacBook and waiting for the next iPad I will buy it for sure.

 

[Hackint0sh]

Doing things on the iPad is fun because it's such a cool new form factor, but before iPad i was always quickly switching between multiple Internet tabs, adium, iTunes, utorrent, and Microsoft word. And typing a lot faster in all of those. The iPad is a little frustrating that I can only do one thing at a time. It still does everything, just takes longer.

This.

 

[CalMin]

Zerolight and others. You feel exactly the same way as I. Casual media consumption works better when all you have is a screen with no distractions.

I must admit that battery life is a huge factor in this though. While I can easily get an evening out of the MBP, I'm always conscious that I have to tether it before bed. With the iPad, I don't have to think about it. Even when it's down to 25%, that still usually enough for a couple hours surfing.