Selling up 27” iMac for iPad Pro..? Is it finally time to leave the desk behind??

[cb911]

Hi all,

I know this will probably be a fairly common type of question, but I’m hoping that anyone with a similar situation can help...

I have a mid-2010 27” iMac, Core i3 upgraded with 16GB RAM, 300GB SSD boot drive and 3TB HDD. When I bought it I was in the graphic design industry and the decision was a no-brainer. I upgraded it over the years to help it keep up and it’s a great machine.

These days I’m in a completely different industry so I just want to be able to get away from the desk. I dont need all the design apps, Photoshop etc. (although they were handy along with the Wacom tablet when i redesigned my logo and vehicle signage recently). But really all my accounting, job scheduling and other important stuff is online.

The only other main concern in the back of my mind is photo editing - on a hobby level as well as managing/editing photos for my business social media and website. The 27” display on the iMac is fantastic and i’m a bit anxious about giving up all that screen real estate even for a big 12.9” iPad.. has anyone else done similar? I know there are some great RAW editing solutions available on iOS, I only use a 10MP camera so at least using old tech there will probably be a help, I don’t need to process lots of 30MB+ RAW files.

Also just wondering what the workflow would look like if using the iPad as a main device? I guess you’ve just got to go with a cloud storage subscription? That would be the easiest way?

What do you think the iMac is worth? I still have the original box and packaging, I know the internet loves that.

I also have a base model iPad mini 2, I don’t really use it that much - not sure if it’s worth selling as I wouldn’t get much for it I’d imagine? Does anyone have nifty ways to use older iPads?

Thanks for reading the long post, cheers for any advice.

 

[Darmok N Jalad]

Hi all,

I know this will probably be a fairly common type of question, but I’m hoping that anyone with a similar situation can help...

I have a mid-2010 27” iMac, Core i3 upgraded with 16GB RAM, 300GB SSD boot drive and 3TB HDD. When I bought it I was in the graphic design industry and the decision was a no-brainer. I upgraded it over the years to help it keep up and it’s a great machine.

These days I’m in a completely different industry so I just want to be able to get away from the desk. I dont need all the design apps, Photoshop etc. (although they were handy along with the Wacom tablet when i redesigned my logo and vehicle signage recently). But really all my accounting, job scheduling and other important stuff is online.

The only other main concern in the back of my mind is photo editing - on a hobby level as well as managing/editing photos for my business social media and website. The 27” display on the iMac is fantastic and i’m a bit anxious about giving up all that screen real estate even for a big 12.9” iPad.. has anyone else done similar? I know there are some great RAW editing solutions available on iOS, I only use a 10MP camera so at least using old tech there will probably be a help, I don’t need to process lots of 30MB+ RAW files.

Also just wondering what the workflow would look like if using the iPad as a main device? I guess you’ve just got to go with a cloud storage subscription? That would be the easiest way?

What do you think the iMac is worth? I still have the original box and packaging, I know the internet loves that.

I also have a base model iPad mini 2, I don’t really use it that much - not sure if it’s worth selling as I wouldn’t get much for it I’d imagine? Does anyone have nifty ways to use older iPads?

Thanks for reading the long post, cheers for any advice.

I just bought an iPad Pro 12.9 last weekend with this very idea. We moved recently, so my iMac 27” is in the basement, and has now become the family Mac (wife is finally going to move over from her Lenovo). I got the iPad Pro for use around the rest of the house and to alleviate the traffic jam for the iMac. I’m pretty happy with the iPad, it’s a little bulky as a tablet, but I don’t plan to take it with me everywhere. I do some photo editing with my DSLR, but sadly, Nikon’s WIFI transfer utility is garbage, so I have a Lightning to SD card adapter on the way. My plan is to use iCloud and Photos to manage my library, which I had done previously with my Sony alpha and Air 2. I will then let iCloud sync them to my Mac and get backed up by Time Machine. I don’t take that many pictures, so the 50GB plan is more than enough. I also plan to use iCloud for document management, but other cloud services also work with Files.

If most of your work is online, so long as you are sure that iOS safari is able to load those sites correctly, then you are good there. As for photo editing, Affinity Photo is a really really good app. It’s amazing how capable it is. There is a lot to learn, but the dev offers tutorial videos in the app that really help get you going. At $13 or so, it’s expensive for an App, but cheap for a photo editor.

Couldn’t tell you about the value of your Mac. Check eBay and see what people are asking. If yours is in good shape, you should be able to sell it easily. You may want to keep it for a while, just to help with your transition. Others may disagree, but I managed to get by on just an iPad before for 95% of my needs.

 

[cb911]

Cheers for that - it’s a big help!

Good point about keeping the iMac for the transition... I would probably be trusting all my files to the cloud, hoping that they will be able to keep everything safe. Is there any other option if you want to be able to keep/access files locally with an iPad (other than having another computer around)?

 

[Darmok N Jalad]

Cheers for that - it’s a big help!

Good point about keeping the iMac for the transition... I would probably be trusting all my files to the cloud, hoping that they will be able to keep everything safe. Is there any other option if you want to be able to keep/access files locally with an iPad (other than having another computer around)?

You can store locally to the iPad. You just need to be sure to have enough local storage for your needs. I just have the 64GB model, and I have my entire photo library stored locally and synced by iCloud, and I’m only using half of my iPad’s storage. As far as I know, hooking external storage to an iPad is still a one-way deal. You can transfer to the iPad, but not off into storage.

 

[torana355]

I would choose a laptop over a tablet as it can still do Heavy lifting if needed. Between todays Phablets and Ultra Portable Laptops i think Tablets will slowly die off.

 

[theluggage]

Good point about keeping the iMac for the transition...

I'd keep the iMac, full stop, while you find out whether the iPad solution works for you - which is the only thing that really matters, and is highly dependent on your personal preferences and the balance of what you use it for.

...my personal feeling is that the power of the iPad is the ability to use it hand-held, or take advantage of the touch screen/Pencil for applications where they really open up new possibilities, and that, coupled with a keyboard, it turns from a great tablet into a second-rate laptop with no pointing device and the old 'gorilla arms' problem whenever you need to use the touch interface. Put simply I see a tablet as a supplement to a conventional laptop/desktop, not a replacement (and most people I know have a laptop, iPad and smartphone - each one has its uses).

I find the on-screen keyboard is fine for jotting notes or a quick email reply, but if I need to type/edit anything substantial its worth firing up a proper laptop or desktop. I tried my iPad in a keyboard case for a while until I realised that I just wasn't using it anymore because it had lost the 'pick-up-and-go' immediacy of a handheld tablet - and the combination of keyboard and touch screen was still awkward. I decided against the 12" for similar reasons: I could think of a few uses for which it would be great (esp. with a Pencil - although one of those was using it as a graphics pad for a Mac) but at the expense of being a bit big for comfortable hand-held use.

So, if you have applications in mind where the touch/Pencil interface and/or being handheld is a huge advantage and think you can live with the on-screen keyboard 90% of the time then an iPad-only solution may be for you. Otherwise, maybe you need a laptop (which needn't be much bulkier than a 12" iPad + keyboard).

...but that's the "what works for me" answer. The only way to be sure is to try it yourself and not burn any bridges.

 

[jaduff46]

I have the same iMac as OP but with 8GB and the i5 chipset, and an iPad Air. I agree with @theluggage on the suitability of the iPad for certain tasks, but would not want even the Pro as my primary computer.

We’re also between homes in a move and the iPad has sufficed in terms of connectivity for the past couple of months, but I would not attempt to do a lot of heavy lifting with it, either in-terms of writing or photo editing.

I anticipate the next setup will be either upgrade to a new iMac, or an MBP with a nice external monitor (my wife’s vote). All SSD in either case.

Best of luck!

 

[cb911]

Cheers. I did think of renting an iPad Pro for a month to test it out as a replacement... might just do that...

I still have options, my wife has a laptop I could use if I get really desperate but I was also thinking of buying a cheap used Mac Mini if I really needed a Mac - it could always do double duty as a headless file server. Leading on from that - I was doing a bit of searching around and it seems like FileBrowser app can expand the capabilities of Files app. Basically allow an iOS device to access any Mac, PC, NAS etc. and upload/download & sync files. I’m going to give the trial version a go but if this works like it says it will solve all the file handling/backup worries!

I have been toying with the idea of a laptop but I feel that would still tie me down a fair bit. I reckon tablets are here to stay, using gestures to navigate just seems so fluid and intuitive, and for someone like me it actually helps to make my time much more focussed when I can’t have 10+ apps and 50 browser tabs all on the go at the same time.

I definitely love the idea of Apple Pencil and it now supporting tilt and pressure inputs, that would make my old Wacom tablet redundant for sure. Being able to do all of that in such a compact package is definitely one of the big upsides to me.

Thanks all - I think I'll give this a good trial before I sell the iMac and see how it goes!

 

[svendobbelaere]

I still have options, my wife has a laptop I could use if I get really desperate but I was also thinking of buying a cheap used Mac Mini if I really needed a Mac - it could always do double duty as a headless file server.

As someone who has a mini running as aheadless server, don’t . Or at least compare / look into a NAS instead. At home I have a Synology DS916 running, and it’s a lot ‘easier’ for the rest of the family to use compared to a mini, imho and ime. Synology also has a file app for instance

I have been toying with the idea of a laptop but I feel that would still tie me down a fair bit.

Besides the obvious differences like macos versus ios, the main benefit for not feeling tied down we in our family get from ipads is the cellular connectivity. Your mileage may vary obviously.

Thanks all - I think I'll give this a good trial before I sell the iMac and see how it goes!

Have fun and good luck!

 

[ggibson913]

I have a 2015 iMac. I do some light coding and still find the iMac useful for some tasks. I did purchase the 10.5 inch iPad Pro. I went to a conference in April. I bought my laptop from work and my iPad Pro, I was able to fully function at the conference on my iPad Pro. I was able to take notes using both a keyboard and the Apple Pencil. Like you I edit my photos very little these days and the iPad photos software is certainly up to the task. With the advent of the Files app the iPad Pro feels like it is almost there. For people like my parents, the iPad Pro or even the regular iPad has plenty of power for them to ditch their computer.

 

[Darmok N Jalad]

I have a 2015 iMac. I do some light coding and still find the iMac useful for some tasks. I did purchase the 10.5 inch iPad Pro. I went to a conference in April. I bought my laptop from work and my iPad Pro, I was able to fully function at the conference on my iPad Pro. I was able to take notes using both a keyboard and the Apple Pencil. Like you I edit my photos very little these days and the iPad photos software is certainly up to the task. With the advent of the Files app the iPad Pro feels like it is almost there. For people like my parents, the iPad Pro or even the regular iPad has plenty of power for them to ditch their computer.

I hope Apple adds full external storage support in the future. You can connect an SD card and Photos will import from it, but you can’t just read it in Files. I’d like to avoid importing to Photos directly, as I usually edit and cull first. I guess it doesn’t really matter, but it would save me a few steps.