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Should I Stick with iPad or MacBook?
- Thread starter Dan50
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What do you need to do? Without that nobody here can answer your question.
Even then, it is up to him to be fair. All you can do is give him some loose advice at best.
The iPad is a consumption device. I use mine as an e-reader. Something that a macbook would be a bit bulky for. I find I can toss it in a bag and take it with me easier as well. I'd much rather carry an iPad on a plane, or train than a laptop for typical usage. Battery life is way better in travel situations. Its also better for just casual use.
The iPad Pro isn't just a consumption device, it can also create, you can use the Smart Keyboard to type with and the Apple Pencil to draw and annotate with notes and things, it can also be used to edit 4K footage. However if your a heavy user then yes the OP may need a laptop such as the MacBook Pro, but for most people the iPad Pro is more than enough.
I must add in here, yes it is good at consumption, but it is also outstanding at productivity! Here are just a few things that I find my iPad dominates my PC (which by the way hasn't been used in 4 years!).
- I fly through email,
- Am more creative in Advert creation in Pixelmator and Pages
- Am better at creating presentations in Keynote
- Faster to set up confrence calls with my sales team with Zoom
- More product and faster to collaborate with projects in, collaboration though Pages, number and Keynote.
- Faster to communicate with staff via iMessage
- More productive in capturing client notes and critical information via Notability
- Faster to search and pull information from Safari
- Much faster to find data sheets via iCloud Drive
Go with iPad, but I would say go with Pro if you can, for me 12,9 is the way forward!
It really depends on your usage, but for most people the iPad Pro is more than capable to replace a laptop.
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I agree 100% the iPad Pro has made the iPad better at productivity, i love my 12.9" iPad Pro. I hope they update it next year since they haven't this year. For most people the iPad Pro is enough to replace a laptop.
Personally, I ended up going the MacBook and 7 Plus route. I had an iPad Pro, but just felt that it was so underdeveloped from a software perspective, that I didn't really see the advantage to having one AND an iPhone. The MacBook, on the other hand, is a device that I take everywhere with me. It's portability has changed how I use a computer on a daily basis. I think this combo is the best of both worlds and I will likely keep this two device set up for a while.
This cannot be said enough. The image in people's minds that the iPad is just a toy needs to die. A lot of us do real work on them and actually find them better experiences than a laptop
Well, what all do you do on the ipad/macbook? I mean, at the end of the day these are very different products. Help us out here.
Yep... and a note taking device, a communication device, a spreadsheet creation device, a music making device, a photo editing device, a word processing device, a presentation making device, a task/schedule managing device...
I see whenever I get texts, I receive them on my iPad too but is there any way I can just disable my number on my iPad? I want to just keep it enabled on my iPhone only. How do I do that? I just want to stick to my apple screen name instead of my number
What's your advice, other than just throwing shade in the thread ?? Mine is have both, there is some overlap but each has unique qualities and usage that stand out.
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Get rid of iPad and Windows laptop and get a decent MacBook. MacBook (or any mac laptop) + iPhone is a great combo. My whole family used to have iPads, but after the novelty wore off, we sold them all except the one that my youngest daughter is using and got ourselves mac laptops. Together with iPhones, you can't beat the portability, functionality, and versatility.
I have both a rMB and an iPP 12.9.
I use the rMB 75% of the time, because of the keyboard, the software and because I find it much more convenient to use it while lying on bed (12.9 is too top heavy for that use, this might not apply with smaller iPads).
I use the iPP to study pdfs (better experience with the portrait mode and annotating with the pencil on pdf expert) and to write notes on notability.
I would love the idea of being able to use the iPad more, but I find the iOS too restricting. What is worse, is that I believe that most of its limitations are artificial, meaning that they are present in order to promote a different agenda and not the user's best experience (i.e. pushing users to buy both iPads and Macs).
The ideal scenario is too have both, but if you can afford only one, I strongly recommend to take a look at the rMB: fanless, as light as iPP, more compact c/w iPP (think no origami keyboards), no limitations with your software.
I use the rMB 75% of the time, because of the keyboard, the software and because I find it much more convenient to use it while lying on bed (12.9 is too top heavy for that use, this might not apply with smaller iPads).
I use the iPP to study pdfs (better experience with the portrait mode and annotating with the pencil on pdf expert) and to write notes on notability.
I would love the idea of being able to use the iPad more, but I find the iOS too restricting. What is worse, is that I believe that most of its limitations are artificial, meaning that they are present in order to promote a different agenda and not the user's best experience (i.e. pushing users to buy both iPads and Macs).
The ideal scenario is too have both, but if you can afford only one, I strongly recommend to take a look at the rMB: fanless, as light as iPP, more compact c/w iPP (think no origami keyboards), no limitations with your software.
As much as I love my iPP. As much as it fulfills 98% of my day to day needs and as light as it is and as much battery life as it gets and etcetera there's a large part of me that thinks I would have been better off with the rMB.
If only for the simple reason, much like the Surface Pro is, it satisfies what I wanted out of a tablet and what I wanted out of a laptop, for many of the reasons you mentioned in your post. It's got no fans and it's still light and it's got a gorgeous screen and nice speakers and can be used just about anywhere pretty comfortably.
That said the grass is always greener. I like having built in LTE on the iPad especially and it's something I'd hate to be without these days.
Every week we see the same headline "Should I stick with iPad or MacBook" surly people can make their own mind up.
every question has been answered hundreds of times.
every question has been answered hundreds of times.
Everyone's use case is different, so YMMV. Nevertheless, I'll risk a rule of thumb here: if you think most (over 50%) of your use will be keyboard input intensive, then buy the rMB rather than an iPad. Here are my reasons:
I have a MacBook Air that I dock at my desk and take with me when I leave the house. While I am retired, I work on family real estate that regularly requires Notes, Numbers, Pages, etc. I like to take my laptop with me to meetings and coffee shops to get stuff done, and I use the keyboard and track pad intensively at least half of the time. So, I will probably replace my MBA with a rMB down the road.
Of course, I could probably make an iPad with a keyboard case work while away from the house and use a desktop for heavy lifting. But, at this time, I don't really see the point for the reasons stated above.
My two cents.
BTW - I believe most students are better off with a MacBook rather than an iPad. Students do a huge amount of keyboard intensive work (papers, notes, projects, etc..) while away from their dorm (classrooms, study groups, team meetings, library, etc.).
- When you add an external keyboard case to an iPad it ends up being about the same weight and bulk as the rMB
- When you add accessories to your iPad, the average annual cost of ownership is equal to or greater than the rMB. Most folks keep iOS devices about 3 yrs and laptops about 5 yrs....again, YMMV
- Mac OS is optimized for keyboard and track pad input. iOS is optimized for touch input. So, if you are using a keyboard most of the time, you should buy the device that is optimized for that form of input.
I have a MacBook Air that I dock at my desk and take with me when I leave the house. While I am retired, I work on family real estate that regularly requires Notes, Numbers, Pages, etc. I like to take my laptop with me to meetings and coffee shops to get stuff done, and I use the keyboard and track pad intensively at least half of the time. So, I will probably replace my MBA with a rMB down the road.
Of course, I could probably make an iPad with a keyboard case work while away from the house and use a desktop for heavy lifting. But, at this time, I don't really see the point for the reasons stated above.
My two cents.
BTW - I believe most students are better off with a MacBook rather than an iPad. Students do a huge amount of keyboard intensive work (papers, notes, projects, etc..) while away from their dorm (classrooms, study groups, team meetings, library, etc.).
i generally make my purchasing decisions before I buy stuff.
I agree with a lot of what you said, but this is incorrect:
I disagree. I think the variety of work environments you're describing really calls for a more flexible form factor than a traditional laptop. This is where the iPad excels. Study group at the coffee shop? Leave the keyboard at home. Long typing session in the library? Bring it.
Someone will mention a "2-in-1" laptop here.
Having just bought one (Acer R11), I can tell you firsthand that the weight, thickness, and handling are not in the same league as iPad. And it's just awkward and bizarre feeling to have the keyboard keys as the backside when in tablet mode.
rMB starts at $1300. You can get an iPad Air 2 new for $450, and a really nice case and keyboard for another $100. So your math is way off, even if you upgrade to the iPad Pro 9.7.
I disagree. I think the variety of work environments you're describing really calls for a more flexible form factor than a traditional laptop. This is where the iPad excels. Study group at the coffee shop? Leave the keyboard at home. Long typing session in the library? Bring it.
Someone will mention a "2-in-1" laptop here.
Having just bought one (Acer R11), I can tell you firsthand that the weight, thickness, and handling are not in the same league as iPad. And it's just awkward and bizarre feeling to have the keyboard keys as the backside when in tablet mode.