The second I shipped my 13" retina MBP off to its eBay buyer, I had a feeling of dread. Despite the fact that I've been incredibly skeptical of an iPad Pro ever replacing my laptop, new apps and workflows have become available to me in the last few months that have made it plausible, at least in theory. I do have a work issued laptop for emergencies, and my wife has a Macbook Pro, so that crutch is still there, but I've been surprised to find out that I could totally live without them.
I don't want to sit here and spell out all my tasks I do every day and how I get them done--I'll simplify it to this: For work I do a lot of conference calling, emailing, and web based stuff during the day. As far as personal computing, I do a lot with audio recording and editing, video editing now and then, collaborating with other people on Slack, etc. In other words--a huge variety of stuff.
I took a hard pass on the 12.9" iPad Pro, but when the 9.7" came out, I had to have it, and I can honestly say that after putting it through its paces since the day the UPS guy dropped it off, the iPad Pro is going to be my main computer going forward.
The first thing I did was test all my work applications. We use Office 365 and are permitted to put it on our personal devices. We also use a lot of internal and external teleconferencing software. All of these apps have either always been iOS compatible/optimized or just recently became compatible, and they all work amazingly well in iOS. The one thing that makes me say I wouldn't want to work from my iPad all day is that they don't all support split screen. For example, I think all the Office 365 stuff supports it EXCEPT for Skype for Business (formerly Lync), which is the main way my company communicates. There are also still times where I like my dual monitor setup for certain tasks. In those occasions, I will still use a laptop. So for work--most of the time, yes, I can work on an iPad Pro. And the times I can't, I'm convinced that that will become less common as the software evolves.
For all the other stuff I do, the iPad Pro has me covered. The way final cuts of my projects sound is actually better than anything I ever got out of GarageBand on my Mac. I don't know the particulars of how the audio processing works on iPad Pro, but I am blown away by the results. I cannot believe a tablet this thin and light can produce content like that. There is one very small, quick task in my personal non-work workflow that I need a computer for, but it's not because of a limitation of the iPad Pro or iOS, it's actually more a limitation of the app itself not having iCloud Drive or Dropbox compatibility.
Speaking of which, I couldn't have cared less when the "share sheet" initially came out for iOS, but having iCloud Drive and Dropbox available in the share sheet has fully taken the place of Finder on my Mac. I organize my files just like I did on that machine. Yes, it's a LITTLE more cumbersome to move stuff around, but I'm not one of those people who was every married to having a file system. I'm open to new methods, and those methods will get faster. I think iOS 10 is going to have a lot of improvements specific to iPad Pro, and file management is hopefully one of them.
Yes, all the other stuff you keep hearing about in the media is great too--the screen, the speakers, the speed, etc. But what's blown me away, honestly, is just the fact that the iPad Pro has proven to me that my hesitation about it being a laptop replacement (for ME, not saying it is for YOU) was unfounded. I think the iPad Pro is going to be the only "laptop" I need for quite some time. It is the iPad I have always wanted but never quite got. It's the real deal now, and I am SO happy with it.
I don't want to sit here and spell out all my tasks I do every day and how I get them done--I'll simplify it to this: For work I do a lot of conference calling, emailing, and web based stuff during the day. As far as personal computing, I do a lot with audio recording and editing, video editing now and then, collaborating with other people on Slack, etc. In other words--a huge variety of stuff.
I took a hard pass on the 12.9" iPad Pro, but when the 9.7" came out, I had to have it, and I can honestly say that after putting it through its paces since the day the UPS guy dropped it off, the iPad Pro is going to be my main computer going forward.
The first thing I did was test all my work applications. We use Office 365 and are permitted to put it on our personal devices. We also use a lot of internal and external teleconferencing software. All of these apps have either always been iOS compatible/optimized or just recently became compatible, and they all work amazingly well in iOS. The one thing that makes me say I wouldn't want to work from my iPad all day is that they don't all support split screen. For example, I think all the Office 365 stuff supports it EXCEPT for Skype for Business (formerly Lync), which is the main way my company communicates. There are also still times where I like my dual monitor setup for certain tasks. In those occasions, I will still use a laptop. So for work--most of the time, yes, I can work on an iPad Pro. And the times I can't, I'm convinced that that will become less common as the software evolves.
For all the other stuff I do, the iPad Pro has me covered. The way final cuts of my projects sound is actually better than anything I ever got out of GarageBand on my Mac. I don't know the particulars of how the audio processing works on iPad Pro, but I am blown away by the results. I cannot believe a tablet this thin and light can produce content like that. There is one very small, quick task in my personal non-work workflow that I need a computer for, but it's not because of a limitation of the iPad Pro or iOS, it's actually more a limitation of the app itself not having iCloud Drive or Dropbox compatibility.
Speaking of which, I couldn't have cared less when the "share sheet" initially came out for iOS, but having iCloud Drive and Dropbox available in the share sheet has fully taken the place of Finder on my Mac. I organize my files just like I did on that machine. Yes, it's a LITTLE more cumbersome to move stuff around, but I'm not one of those people who was every married to having a file system. I'm open to new methods, and those methods will get faster. I think iOS 10 is going to have a lot of improvements specific to iPad Pro, and file management is hopefully one of them.
Yes, all the other stuff you keep hearing about in the media is great too--the screen, the speakers, the speed, etc. But what's blown me away, honestly, is just the fact that the iPad Pro has proven to me that my hesitation about it being a laptop replacement (for ME, not saying it is for YOU) was unfounded. I think the iPad Pro is going to be the only "laptop" I need for quite some time. It is the iPad I have always wanted but never quite got. It's the real deal now, and I am SO happy with it.
