Replace early 2013 rMBP with iPad Air?

[~Achilles~]

Hello,

In a bit of a torn situation here. I currently have an early/mid 2013 Macbook Pro 13" retina
i5/256/8

Its in absolutely pristine condition, and is as flawless as the day I bought it (no marks, scratches, etc). I tested 3 for IR before coming away with this one, so ive gone through trouble to get it (but I know its never gonna last forever anyway). And still has applecare until 2016


I think I can get upwards of £1k for it. Which would ensure I can replace my broken camera, get an ipad, and have enough to go on holiday this year. I also don't appear to be using the MBP to its full potential. And most of all, I HAVE to keep it in my sight, always. Its almost become a burden having to carry it everywhere and baby it like a child. Im thinking perhaps an ipad (atleast for now) would be a liberating replacement.. IF i can fulfill my needs with it.



However, here is my dilemma.. Here are my uses so far this year, and for atleast the forseeable future:

- Web browsing
- PHOTO EDITING - RAW processing ability would be ideal, however the replacement X100 ill be buying comes out with beautiful jpegs regardless
- Watching/streaming movies - Also, can I stream movies to TV with it? (use HDMI with the rMBP to TV)
- Excel/Numbers use (pretty much essential)
- I can mostly store my files & photos to cloud/dropbox so I dont have to use much storage really. plus it would encourage me to shoot jpeg instead of relying on post processing of pictures.

I'll mostly be using it during downtime in work or home, tethered to my mobile phone wifi in work (this is possible?)


As you can see, no real heavy lifting here. But it must be able to handle the above tasks atleast until I buy a new MBP next year.

Im swinging back and fourth every day it seems. I would love to free myself of the burden of having to carry round my shoulder bag with the Macbook in it, in favour of a nice slim folder sized ipad.




Would the iPad Air be a sufficient replacement for the above? Has anyone successfully swapped the Macbook Pro retina in favour of an ipad?

 

[Meister]

How do you plan on editing photos on an iPad?

----------

How do you plan on editing photos on an iPad?
Everything else can easily be done with an iPad.

 

[~Achilles~]

How do you plan on editing photos on an iPad?

----------

How do you plan on editing photos on an iPad?
Everything else can easily be done with an iPad.

I mostly adjust contrast, saturation, exposure levels in iPhoto anyway. Not much else. if there's a version of iphoto on the ipad that would be perfect, if not any ideas of the best app?

thanks

 

[jclo]

I think there are enough photo apps on the iPad that would enable you to make reasonable edits on your photos. The mobile version of Lightroom, for example. There is an iPhoto app, but Apple's replacing it with Photos next year -- should have a lot of the same capabilities.

While there are apps that can do a passable job editing photos on an iPad, you're not going to find anything like the desktop versions of Aperture/Lightroom, just a warning. If you're only really making edits in iPhoto though, there are tons of apps you can use instead. Snapseed, Afterlight, PhotoToaster, Photo FX, the choices are really endless. Plus there are plenty of fun photo editing apps on the iPad too to spice things up.

I'd be a little more worried about Excel/Numbers -- what do you do with these? It's not as easy to edit and create spreadsheets on the iPad. It's also not as easy to do things like type up papers.

 

[Meister]

Lr needs the full version to access raw files I think.

 

[~Achilles~]

I think there are enough photo apps on the iPad that would enable you to make reasonable edits on your photos. The mobile version of Lightroom, for example. There is an iPhoto app, but Apple's replacing it with Photos next year -- should have a lot of the same capabilities.

While there are apps that can do a passable job editing photos on an iPad, you're not going to find anything like the desktop versions of Aperture/Lightroom, just a warning. If you're only really making edits in iPhoto though, there are tons of apps you can use instead. Snapseed, Afterlight, PhotoToaster, Photo FX, the choices are really endless. Plus there are plenty of fun photo editing apps on the iPad too to spice things up.

I'd be a little more worried about Excel/Numbers -- what do you do with these? It's not as easy to edit and create spreadsheets on the iPad. It's also not as easy to do things like type up papers.

Thats great to hear about the photo apps & particularly iphoto.

The spreadsheet is really just personal financial planning. I've already got it set up, mostly use/edit it in work on Excel. And view/plan with it at home too and adjust things here and there. So as long as I can work with that, that's fine.

What about streaming movies? Can I stream a film on the usual streaming sites & youtube, etc

 

[Meister]

Thats great to hear about the photo apps & particularly iphoto.

The spreadsheet is really just personal financial planning. I've already got it set up, mostly use/edit it in work on Excel. And view/plan with it at home too and adjust things here and there. So as long as I can work with that, that's fine.

What about streaming movies? Can I stream a film on the usual streaming sites & youtube, etc

you can stream movies and use the lightning to hdmi adapter to play on a TV.

 

[~Achilles~]

you can stream movies and use the lightning to hdmi adapter to play on a TV.

This is great. Looks like just about everything is covered then! Now Ive just got to see if I can actually part with my beloved rMBP :/ (for a while until I get another anyway)



Thank you all for your answers ITT

 

[infernoguy]

I did this last year with a 2012 rMBP. Sold it for a iPad Air (plus cash) and ended up regretting it.

Like you, i didnt use my laptop to its "fullest potential" and thought the iPad was the answer. I then realized that I was a laptop guy - I like multiple windows open while I surf, etc. I bought an old MacBook and then a 2014 MacBook Air but still missed the crisp retina display. I'll be buying a rMBP tomorrow for tax free weekend after selling my MBA and iPad.

My advice, stick with the rMBP.

Just my 2 cents....

 

[kramjam]

I love the iPad, but was so frustrated using it, especially when web browsing. I like to have multiple tabs opened, and experienced constant page refreshes in Safari on iOS. As for Pages and Numbers, I never wanted to use it on the iPad unless I'm doing some quick editing. The iPad is a cool device, I personally just felt so limited in what I can do with it and found myself reaching for the desktop to really get things done efficiently. With that said, I switched over to a rMBP and have no regrets and I'm so happy with my decision.

 

[Fean0r]

I'm going the other way to you - most of my computing needs for the last few years have been served by my iPad 2, while I only occasionally fire up my 8 year old desktop for Lightroom or something where I need a desktop browser. But the iPad is just too limited and I rarely have time at home to use my desktop. An iPad Air has the same limitations, it's just faster.

You can edit photos on the iPad, including RAW photos. But it's faff, and managing a photo library on the iPad is impractical.

And the iPad has other limitations that start to irk after a while. Lots of websites still don't work quite right on its browser. Forums often cause issues. And article/blog comments, especially Disqus, often don't work properly.

I think you'll be making a mistake by switching to the iPad if you a) work with RAW files and b) like to type. The iPad is great for consuming media - videos, reading websites, etc. But as soon as you do anything more than basic media creation it becomes far less efficient than a classic laptop or desktop, IMO.

Also, we're probably only 2-3 months away from an iPad Air 2.