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Okay, with iPad Pro where does the Macbook stand?
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People have been predicing the demise of laptops ever since tablets were introduced and it never comes true. I am not a fan of tablets in general based on my personal experience with them. I had an iPad 1 and currently an iPad 3 with Verizon data plan (work issued.) To me the iPad Pro is the worst of both worlds. Too big and heavy to use as a tablet, and too annoying to use with a keyboard since a touch interface combined with physical keyboard makes no sense. The rMB is only 1/2lb heavier than the iPad Pro and a whole lot more useful as a laptop than any iPad can be. For me, the combination of the iPhone 6 Plus and rMB would is the perfect combo for usefulness and portability.
Yes, I agree. The only reason I would get the iPad Pro would be to read in bed or to watch movies. It has a bigger screen and better speakers than an iPad Air. Even then, it may be too big for that purpose and an iPad Air would be sufficient. By the way, I am still using my iPad Mini (1st gen) and love it!
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It's not an either-or situation. That's why Apple sells both products.
The same sort of question came up with the MacBook, so many Pro and Air users attacked it as though there's only one right choice. There isn't. If there was, Apple would just sell that.
But they don't. Because the question is flawed. There are people who will want the MacBook, some who will want the iPad Pro. Some who will want both, and some who will want neither.
The same sort of question came up with the MacBook, so many Pro and Air users attacked it as though there's only one right choice. There isn't. If there was, Apple would just sell that.
But they don't. Because the question is flawed. There are people who will want the MacBook, some who will want the iPad Pro. Some who will want both, and some who will want neither.
It's also it's main strength. iOS is an extremely capable and advanced OS. It now, as of iOS 9, lacks anything important for a desktop or workstation OS, except maybe mouse input.
It has a full user filesystem, is has precision input (Pencil, which should cover all mouse needs), it has full multitasking with dual app interactivity... What's missing?
Not a single thing.
Except maybe a mouse. Though I'm not sure. It has a virtual trackpad for cursor movement, and a stylus, so aside from gaming, there's not much I can think of where a mouse is really necessary that isn't already well covered, but I'll grant that it's possible.
The only other omission, which is wholly unnecessary for a desktop OS, but is nice to have, is a terminal.
Not even Apple has predicted this.
You're right that some people have said this, but don't conflate post-PC with no-PC.
Very well said. I think the problem with the iPad Pro is that it isn't quite "pro" enough to unseat the real workhorse tablets that are out there now. And, it isn't nearly powerful enough to replace any laptop, including the MacBook which would be its direct Apple competition. I'd love to figure out a reason to get an iPad pro but it just isn't going to work. I'd rather have my current iPad and just get an rMBP or a MacBook.
The iPad pro pricing is a little iffy too.... It's in the same general ballpark as the laptops, once you add storage and a keyboard. Oh well.
When everything is working call me right now its not and ios 9 is not out. As soon as my all windows and mac software is there full featured and with desktop freedom ill come.
I tried an iPad/keyboard case/iOS 9 beta setup for about 2 weeks. For writing, podcasting, and even just trying to type a document, it was awful. Even with some of the new multitasking features, which are nice, you are eventually required to switch back and forth between keyboard and touch screen, and THAT is where the problem is. Typo in your Word document? Well, you can arrow to it, which takes forever. Or you can touch the screen on the typo, being careful not to knock the iPad backwards, fix the typo, then touch the screen again or arrow back to where you were. If you found the typo after already typing a long way past it, scrolling back down through the document to get to the end can even kind of be tricky. I have actually goofed up the document before because it didn't register my awkward swipe as a swipe, and made an edit I didn't mean to make. A mouse pointer plus keyboard is a MUCH better tool for even simple edits like this and no Pencil or Smart Keyboard is going to change that.
What I DID like about iOS 9 was the picture in picture mode and the slide over, but here's the funny thing--every time I used one of those features, I always came back to the same conclusion: These features are all going to be great for when I'm watching a movie or TV show and need to do something else real quick. They didn't strike me as incredibly innovative ways to be productive, because they just aren't as good as what you can do on a Macbook.
I am not saying I'll never buy an iPad Pro. When the day comes that it can do ALL the things I do with my Macbook Pro, I will get one. I don't care if it does things differently--it just needs to be able to do them at the same speed and convenience level as my Macbook Pro. If you have not tried iOS 9 yet, do not think that it is in any way ready to be a PC OS of any kind. It is still, for the most part, iOS.
Sorry, but I don't agree with the "generational shift" from laptops to tablets. I've read way to many posts over the last few years where tablet users have tried to make their iPad work as a laptop replacement, and it just doesn't. I've never tried, nor would I want to. And by the way, your illustration on the shift from horses to cars is simply wrong; cars replaced horses in droves once Henry Ford invented the assembly line and was able to make a car that cost less than a horse. People were more than happy to give up the care and feeding of a horse, and the manure they produced, for a car that was cheaper to own and operate. There are plenty of older, long time computer users who use touch screen phones and tablets all the time, and yet they still need a computer to do work. This is not a generational shift issue, it's an OS and usability issue. Tim can make all the predictions he wants about tablets being the future of computing, but the tablet in its current form is not it. If it was, you'd see most college students using them, and you don't.
Hopefully in the future Apple will release MacPad Pro - a combination of Macbook and iPad pro. That would be fun 
Spot on, couldn't have said it better.
The iPP is just the first itineration of the what the future will look like. Difficult to see and understand this early on given this first example but it's coming folks.
That's what is eventually going to happen--convergence of the Mac and iPad. And I'll buy into it once all the functionality I need is there.Hopefully in the future Apple will release MacPad Pro - a combination of Macbook and iPad pro. That would be fun
Not my problem. You do what you want. Not sure why you think your software preferences are supposed to affect mine.
There is another issue at play here too, and it's come up on my Twitter feed several times from several different developers:
iOS users balk at any app price higher than about 99c. This is one of the big reasons that Mac developers don't try to port their serious desktop apps to iOS. After they spend all the time and resources making the app, nobody will want to buy it. On the flipside, when they release the same software on the Mac, users buy it because it's associated with quality and productivity.
I'm not sure what the solution is on that. You can take a stand and put your full blown desktop software on the iPad, but nobody will buy it. Or you can put it on the iPad at a much much lower price, devalue your Mac software, and then go out of business because you're not longer making money.
This isn't even a limitation of the iPad, but rather a stigma that the iPad has among users that it's a mobile device with mostly cheap apps or freemium apps. I'm not sure how Apple or developers intend to change that paradigm, but something is going to have to give at some point.
iOS users balk at any app price higher than about 99c. This is one of the big reasons that Mac developers don't try to port their serious desktop apps to iOS. After they spend all the time and resources making the app, nobody will want to buy it. On the flipside, when they release the same software on the Mac, users buy it because it's associated with quality and productivity.
I'm not sure what the solution is on that. You can take a stand and put your full blown desktop software on the iPad, but nobody will buy it. Or you can put it on the iPad at a much much lower price, devalue your Mac software, and then go out of business because you're not longer making money.
This isn't even a limitation of the iPad, but rather a stigma that the iPad has among users that it's a mobile device with mostly cheap apps or freemium apps. I'm not sure how Apple or developers intend to change that paradigm, but something is going to have to give at some point.
Is the MS Office suite bundled with the pro or do you have to pay for it ? Don't want MS going broke now LOL
I only have the MS suite because my work provides it to us. We have up to 10 licenses we can use on whatever device we want. If I were not in that situation, I would probably just stick with iWork.
Nice to see Cook's thoughts on this are more sane than people are making them out to be. This is from the Buzzfeed interview just today:
Two last questions as we turn the corner onto Fifth Avenue: The first — how close are we to a time when people are going to stop buying home computers and laptops and use only tablets? Will they give up their Macs for the iPad Pro? “I think that some people will never buy a computer,” Cook says. “Because I think now we’re at the point where the iPad does what some people want to do with their PCs.” Cook is quick to point out, however, that this doesn’t foreshadow the end of the Mac. “I think there are other people — like myself — that will continue to buy a Mac and that it will continue to be a part of the digital solution for us,” he adds. “I see the Mac being a key part of Apple for the long term and I see growth in the Mac for the long term.”
Two last questions as we turn the corner onto Fifth Avenue: The first — how close are we to a time when people are going to stop buying home computers and laptops and use only tablets? Will they give up their Macs for the iPad Pro? “I think that some people will never buy a computer,” Cook says. “Because I think now we’re at the point where the iPad does what some people want to do with their PCs.” Cook is quick to point out, however, that this doesn’t foreshadow the end of the Mac. “I think there are other people — like myself — that will continue to buy a Mac and that it will continue to be a part of the digital solution for us,” he adds. “I see the Mac being a key part of Apple for the long term and I see growth in the Mac for the long term.”
Sorry I think you misunderstood
Following on from your suggestion of down pricing valuable laptop/desktop software for IPad/IPad Pro I was wondering if the IPad Pro (after MS appearing in the KN) that MS Office is bundled with the IPad Pro or if it was an add-on you have to pay for.
Like you I get free installation of MS Office 365 from my companies licence
I believe you have to pay for it with a yearly subscription just like on a full blown computer. I don't think anyone mentioned it being bundled in. I haven't had to pay for Office for years though because of work, so I guess I'll never really have to worry about it. hahaSorry I think you misunderstood
Following on from your suggestion of down pricing valuable laptop/desktop software for IPad/IPad Pro I was wondering if the IPad Pro (after MS appearing in the KN) that MS Office is bundled with the IPad Pro or if it was an add-on you have to pay for.
Like you I get free installation of MS Office 365 from my companies licence
I think these issues you cite are what will keep the iOS/OS X divide to hang around for a while. The iPhone and iPad both were pigeon holed very quickly as "consumption" devices while computers create it. Like you, I don't see how they will get around that divide anytime soon. Microsoft has already tried to do it with the Surface, but that hasn't been terribly successful. I'm sure Apple has done a tremendous amount of R&D into this but so far hasn't quite cracked the code on it yet.
