iPad iPad4 (iOS 6.1) vs Laptop (Win8)

[bobbysmith]

I call it hatred because from the sound of this thread it sounds like people want to smack the OP for his point of view.

That's your interpretation.

Oh, and a lot of the apps support Dropbox, so external storage is covered. Who cares about USB with Dropbox.

DropBox isn't support for external storage, it's cloud storage over the internet hosted by a third party, making it slow, cumbersome, and a security risk that could get you fired, land you in court, fined or even jailed.

"Hey, I have a file for you!"
"Cool! No, I can't use a memory stick or card or get it from a network share, but if you sign up for this online service and spend three hours uploading it there, we'll be good to go in no time!"
"Never mind.."

As for Apple's iWork apps, they are perfectly usable until Microsoft wakes up and releases Office iOS.

No, they are not. They do not even support the most basic Office functionality. Not even something as basic as text boxes. Trying to edit Office files with iWork destroys them and just loses half of the content.

You can share between apps if you save the files to DB.

Are you joking? Share files between two applications on the same device by uploading them to a file hosting site on the internet? Do you hear yourself?

You can use the ipad as a laptop replacement if you're creative. It may not be the easiest thing, but it is doable.

You can also perform brain surgery with a spoon, but it doesn't work very well.

 

[ManicMarc]

Hello all. I made a comparison chart last year comparing iPad 3 to my laptop. A year later with the new iPad 4 and I thought I should update the chart, so here it goes.

View attachment 396861
Of-course; do keep note that this is a follow up to a personal thread I did over a year ago and may be biased. Feel free to suggest other things to add to the chart or say your opinions.

This is a bit pointless... You can't do software development on an iPad, so for me iPad looses when it comes to doing actual work it's not that useful (except testing iPad software obviously) Great for browsing forms, blogging and other forms of procrastination however!

 

[OSxiPro]

People who don't read the 1st post and responses clearly think I said:
The iPad is better than desktops and workstations in every way - you can edit large photos, videos and even develop complex software better on the iPad than anything else and every company n the world is switching from laptops to iPads as well!

People who actually read and have some intelligence can see I said:
Even though the iPad is 3 times less powerful than an average laptop, it's doing we'll with catching up and is a great alternative for consuming media and some office functionality too. Some companies have switched from laptops to iPads. Although this wont replace a workstation, it most certainly is getting good enough for an average users main device.

Thanks for the replies from the people who aren't trolls, by the way.

 

[temna]

People who don't read the 1st post and responses clearly think I said:
The iPad is better than desktops and workstations in every way - you can edit large photos, videos and even develop complex software better on the iPad than anything else and every company n the world is switching from laptops to iPads as well!

People who actually read and have some intelligence can see I said:
Even though the iPad is 3 times less powerful than an average laptop, it's doing we'll with catching up and is a great alternative for consuming media and some office functionality too. Some companies have switched from laptops to iPads. Although this wont replace a workstation, it most certainly is getting good enough for an average users main device.

Thanks for the replies from the people who aren't trolls, by the way.

Apparently there are a lot of high end divas here who consider the ipad purely a toy, and not a real computer. For most people out there an ipad is all they really need. An ipad is not a Gameboy. It is not a Kindle. It is not a Zune. It is a full fledged computer.

 

[zerind]

Might be acceptable as a desktop/laptop replacement if you have a liberal arts degree and don't have to do any real work like the rest of us.

Apparently there are a lot of high end divas here who consider the ipad purely a toy, and not a real computer. For most people out there an ipad is all they really need. An ipad is not a Gameboy. It is not a Kindle. It is not a Zune. It is a full fledged computer.

 

[temna]

Might be acceptable as a desktop/laptop replacement if you have a liberal arts degree and don't have to do any real work like the rest of us.

Wow, really? Do you have to insult everyone to make yourself feel better?

 

[bobbysmith]

Apparently there are a lot of high end divas here who consider the ipad purely a toy, and not a real computer. For most people out there an ipad is all they really need. An ipad is not a Gameboy. It is not a Kindle. It is not a Zune. It is a full fledged computer.

Is there any reason why the iPad shouldn't have a shared file system, be mountable as a regular drive over USB, have a USB port, card reader and HDMI output? Why can't it have these things?

I also don't buy your claim that an iPad is all most people need. What is this claim based on? I think most people would find it too restrictive and cumbersome. I don't think I know a single person who'd be happy with just an iPad except for the people who really only want a computer to browse the web and listen to music (and even them I think would be annoyed with the lack of Flash and Java and uploading now and then).

 

[TacticalDesire]

As much as I like the iPad, when it comes to actually getting stuff done, please hand me a laptop. Or better yet, a desktop. The iPad is so limited to what it can do I don't even know where to begin. But that's just me. Other peoples usage is obviously different. Once I can dock it to a monitor and run a full OS on it or at least access the file system and have the interface more optimized for a mouse I may reconsider.

 

[TacticalDesire]

Yuuuuuuuuuuup.

I saw dave hester walking down the street once.

 

[Essenar]

Bwahaha. You puny archaic primates with your 'choices'.

I have my bluetooth keyboard and magic mouse synched to my iPad 4, LogMeIn and a fully upgraded MacBook Pro.

My iPad turns into a MacBook Pro with Windows in Parallels and 10 hours of battery life in about 15 seconds if I want it to.

Photoshop? Video editing? Notepad++? All a matter of hitting LogMeIn, signing into my Remote Hub and I'm in.

Whatever 'work' I need to get done, at that point, is a matter of a wifi connection away.

 

[temna]

Considering that everything is heading to wireless. Sync, charge, video/audio are going wireless, I'm guessing in a few generations there will be no ports on the iPad.

As far as if the iPad is enough for the average user, I think most home users use their computer for web, email, instant messaging, watching a lil TV and listening to music. The iPad may not quite be ready to take over for business laptops, but for home it should be fine for 95% of home users.

 

[marc11]

Bwahaha. You puny archaic primates with your 'choices'.

I have my bluetooth keyboard and magic mouse synched to my iPad 4, LogMeIn and a fully upgraded MacBook Pro.

My iPad turns into a MacBook Pro with Windows in Parallels and 10 hours of battery life in about 15 seconds if I want it to.

Photoshop? Video editing? Notepad++? All a matter of hitting LogMeIn, signing into my Remote Hub and I'm in.

Whatever 'work' I need to get done, at that point, is a matter of a wifi connection away.

Lol your iPad is not turning into your MBP it is just a really tiny screen your MBP is doing all the work. Take the MBP out of your picture and do that same exact work only on your iPad.

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Considering that everything is heading to wireless. Sync, charge, video/audio are going wireless, I'm guessing in a few generations there will be no ports on the iPad.

As far as if the iPad is enough for the average user, I think most home users use their computer for web, email, instant messaging, watching a lil TV and listening to music. The iPad may not quite be ready to take over for business laptops, but for home it should be fine for 95% of home users.

Agreed the iPad is all my six year old daughter needs but my middle school aged son already needs a laptop for research, reports, graphics, etc. he can get some of it done on an iPad but a laptop is far faster, multitasks better, shares data better and has better apps to get his work done faster and with a higher quality result.

 

[Essenar]

Lol your iPad is not turning into your MBP it is just a really tiny screen your MBP is doing all the work. Take the MBP out of your picture and do that same exact work only on your iPad.

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Agreed the iPad is all my six year old daughter needs but my middle school aged son already needs a laptop for research, reports, graphics, etc. he can get some of it done on an iPad but a laptop is far faster, multitasks better, shares data better and has better apps to get his work done faster and with a higher quality result.

Dude, a Voodoo priest could be doing it for all I care. The point is, I'm doing it FROM my iPad. That's the world we live in now. Digital, wireless and easy to use.

 

[marc11]

Dude, a Voodoo priest could be doing it for all I care. The point is, I'm doing it FROM my iPad. That's the world we live in now. Digital, wireless and easy to use.

Get that dude but the ops point of this thread was that the iPad can almost replace the PC and one day soon will. Your reply and set up while great counters and not agrees with the original point but you are wording it as if your iPad has already replaced your mbp which it hasn't at all. It is just a smaller more portable screen.

Now you do make an interesting idea, could the future of the PC powder be back on Apples servers where all the heavy lifting is done with something like an iPad the window and human interface to that computing power located in the cloud? I say one day yes that will happen but we aren't there yet.

 

[OSxiPro]

Might be acceptable as a desktop/laptop replacement if you have a liberal arts degree and don't have to do any real work like the rest of us.

May I ask what job you do? How "real" is it?

I'm an accountant and also run a technology website too. I use my accounts service on the iPad along with Wordpress and remotely access a network attached storage along with some server apps from the iPad too.

Do I need a laptop to do most of my work? Not really. A keyboard does come in handy on some of the longer blog posts but its not the most important thing in the world and if I wanted I suppose I could go out and buy a Blutooth keyboard but its really not enough of an issue to need one.