iPad Pro The best product Apple has ever made.

[jqc]

I'm with you about most of these things. For me mobile computing is best when viewed as a collection of utilities. It can be a very expansive set of lightweight tools for doing a variety of things that save you from sitting down and firing up a complete computer.

The fact that from pretty much anywhere and at a moments notice I can look up information, contact people in a variety of ways, and entertain myself with games and content is awesome. And for a lot of people, that is the majority of what they need from a computer anyway. So I get the sentiment that for a lot of people it's the best and only device they need.

But there's a lot of us who's work or activities on a computer can't be boiled down into simple utilities, and when you try to, you actually make a less capable tool. I know we certainly aren't everyone. But it's equally narrow minded to say "forget everything else lol my iPad can do Netflix and a notepad side by side!"

except you can't do netflix and notepad side by side bc netflix hasn't been updated to support this yet! this is my most frustrating aspect about IPP, so much potential, so little apps optimized. Ive read comments about apps not being updated to take advantage of the 6+ even a year and half after release. Hope this doesn't happen to IPP.

 

[stevemiller]

Yeah I still have apps unoptimized for even the regular 6. I mostly blame the developer in those cases, but I suppose it's also incumbent on Apple to make it compelling enough to be worth their time. Probably most app makers would rather not share focus!

I wish the iPad would develop more apps that basically work in tandem with a laptop/desktop. leverage the input and ergonomic strengths of the iPad as an additional tool rather than a replacement one.

except you can't do netflix and notepad side by side bc netflix hasn't been updated to support this yet! this is my most frustrating aspect about IPP, so much potential, so little apps optimized. Ive read comments about apps not being updated to take advantage of the 6+ even a year and half after release. Hope this doesn't happen to IPP.

 

[thinayr]

Hey ya'll - OP here! Was excited to pop back onto the forum and see all the awesome perspectives offered on the loves, hates and wishes for the iPad Pro.

Now that I have had several months of on the ground experience on it while running my business, I wanted to throw a few additional thoughts on the alter of apple!

1) Now that I have my Pencil my excitement is multiplied 10x. Having always been a pen and notebook kind of guy, the ipad + pencil is a killer combo. The ability to think and brainstorm in a non-linear way (which I can only really do with a pen in my hand) has made my work all the more enjoyable. My business partner and I took three days over the holiday to plan our 2016 company-wide strategies, and we did it all on the ipad pro using evernote. The presentation we delivered to our team was right out of evernote and our team LOvED it.

I've also had a blast working on designs for my hobby-site, uncomplication.com. Being able to draw wacom-style anytime, anywhere has enabled me to bust out some cool designs in a short amount of time, and is many times more enjoyable than being stuck at my desk with the old tablet.

2) My iPad has not replaced my laptop - there are still too many programs I need on OSX to move entirely into the 'pad to do all the things I need to do. I'm probably about 70/30 between my ipad and mac. My ipad is like my notebook. I take it to every meeting, it's where all my ideas are starting, but I'm still usually back on OSX to finish things. This is fine for me at the moment, although I am really excited by the prospect of more Pro apps tipping the ration ever further (cmon adobe cc!). I did find a great audio editor for ios (Ferrite) and am working on my latest podcast entirely on the pro.

3) The biggest issue I have had so far is that my neck gets sore when I type on it for extended periods. Drawing isn't too bad, but the downward looking typing angle does hurt after a full day of use. I'm not sure how this will be overcome, as it is a device ergonomic and not something that can be solved with software!

4) Biggest surprises: there are some awesome apps that make the ipad pro an even better compliment to OSX. Duet displays has been awesome when I'm working on a complex project and needing some more space on the go. I also have found Astropad to be a great tool for bringing the precision of the pencil to the desktop. I'll never need my wacom again. Lastly, I have been pretty happy with how well google drive and iCloud drive have enabled me to access my files from the ipad without needing a ton of local storage. iOS still has a long way to go before it is has a comparable file browser for serious use, but I have not been as limited as I thought I might in getting my files on and off the device.

Anyhow, just a few additional thoughts! Cheers, all!

Here are a smattering of images in support of the above!
http://imgur.com/a/AtzaF

 

[SoCalAppleWatch]

Hey ya'll - OP here! Was excited to pop back onto the forum and see all the awesome perspectives offered on the loves, hates and wishes for the iPad Pro.

http://imgur.com/a/AtzaF

Freaking AWESOME post. I'm in love with the Apple Pencil right now. Taking some classes to learn how to draw though, I'm very jealous of your skills. I'm a business owner myself and plan to incorporate basically everything you just did as far as meetings and "white board inspirations" go. Being able to use colored markers with straight line tools and instant eraser is just phenomenal. Was possible before the Pro, but nothing can come close to the new Pencil and it makes all the difference. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Cnasty]

Wow, that is a fantastic presentation and well formatted and the content is very true. I'm stealing some of those sayings. Well done

 

[paulmeyers42]

1) Now that I have my Pencil my excitement is multiplied 10x. Having always been a pen and notebook kind of guy, the ipad + pencil is a killer combo. The ability to think and brainstorm in a non-linear way (which I can only really do with a pen in my hand) has made my work all the more enjoyable. My business partner and I took three days over the holiday to plan our 2016 company-wide strategies, and we did it all on the ipad pro using evernote. The presentation we delivered to our team was right out of evernote and our team LOvED it.

3) The biggest issue I have had so far is that my neck gets sore when I type on it for extended periods. Drawing isn't too bad, but the downward looking typing angle does hurt after a full day of use. I'm not sure how this will be overcome, as it is a device ergonomic and not something that can be solved with software!

#1 is huge for me. I "think" much better by drawing things out, using pen or marker on a whiteboard. Brainstorming, mind mapping and sketching out ideas is great with the big screen. I tried to do this before on the smaller iPads with inferior styluses, and it just didn't "feel" right. It's completely different and better with this device and stylus - I'm much more productive with this setup. When I travel, it's my traveling whiteboard. I'm not an artist, but I use the Pencil all the time for that.

#3 - Have you considered more of a drafting table setup, something angled?

 

[calden]

The IPP isn't just for artists. Anyone in a profession that requires reading documents (journal articles in my case, legal filings in someone else's, etc.) will likely find compelling the ability to read, highlight, and annotate PDFs with the ease that the Pencil permits. And to store the annotated documents digitally instead of filling file cabinets and boxes with annotated hard copy. I've tried to highlight/annotate journal articles many times before both on iPads using iAnnotate PDF when it first came out and on the original Surface Pro, but the poor quality of previous iPad styluses and the dreadful user experience with Windows 8.1 left me going back to hardcopy, pen, and highlighter.

When I retired a few years ago, I literally had an entire room full of annotated journal articles in boxes and file cabinets--that I ended up pitching when I moved out of state and to a much smaller place. It certainly would have been nice to still have access to those files, but it wasn't worth paying a mover to haul them or a storage room to store them. Had I been able to store them as PDFs annotated on my IPP using the Apple Pencil, I'd still have them.

And, from the standpoint of play, I'm really enjoying scanning or screen dumping coloring books, importing the images into Procreate and coloring using the Pencil. No fuss, no muss, no storage of paper.

Save a tree. Buy an IPP and GO DIGITAL. (Stated only slightly facetiously!)

Good luck with that as any device running iOS is a complete nightmare when it comes to dealing with files. If you thought your room was a mess now, wait until you get those files on your iPad Pro. Not only will you ever be able to find anything as there isn't a global search, but every time you edit a file in one of those PDF apps, you create a copy and aren't using the actual original, so your system after only a few days of use will be littered with duplicates. IOS is not and I can't not stress this enough, is not a productivity device, even of you have convinced yourself. People might claim so but there computer needs are simple. When dealing with a lot of files you'll need a feel desktop computer or even Android as it has an actual file-system, iOS because of that Walled Garden nonsense will always restricted to consuming content, media and data input (vertical markets use iPads for this purpose, though people think that because Enterprise use them to input data into pre-formatted forms that the iPad is also able to do other computer related tasks well.) THEY CAN'T!

 

[seadragon]

Good luck with that as any device running iOS is a complete nightmare when it comes to dealing with files. If you thought your room was a mess now, wait until you get those files on your iPad Pro. Not only will you ever be able to find anything as there isn't a global search, but every time you edit a file in one of those PDF apps, you create a copy and aren't using the actual original, so your system after only a few days of use will be littered with duplicates. IOS is not and I can't not stress this enough, is not a productivity device, even of you have convinced yourself. People might claim so but there computer needs are simple. When dealing with a lot of files you'll need a feel desktop computer or even Android as it has an actual file-system, iOS because of that Walled Garden nonsense will always restricted to consuming content, media and data input (vertical markets use iPads for this purpose, though people think that because Enterprise use them to input data into pre-formatted forms that the iPad is also able to do other computer related tasks well.) THEY CAN'T!

I agree. The thing I don't like about iOS is the the OS itself doesn't really let you do anything. You need to use an app for everything you want to do. Relying on a pile of 3rd party apps for basic stuff is not ideal IMO as those 3rd parties may or may not keep their apps updated.

I think iOS was really designed and works well as a pocket device OS. I hope the iPad (especially the "Pro") will one day get it's own OS that is more similar to a full computer operating system than a pocket device OS.

 

[LiveM]

Even though I don't use it myself anymore, I'm so glad Microsoft had the balls and vision to bring this form factor to market.

My son enjoys our original Surface Pro while I am happy with my iPad Mini 4 and the original Pencil by 53 and Apple Wireless Keyboard as well from time to time. I can get by with signing contracts and prefer typing notes to handwriting. I'm not an artist so the stylus is adequate.

I much prefer working at a cafe to my office but as mentioned above, I value my Mac desktop for the ergonomics as I do not wish to have back and neck problems. I wish I could do Final Cut type work on the iPad Pro but it will take a few generations yet for that.

Regardless, once the iPad Mini Pro comes out, I will be there at launch as I was with the Surface Pro.

 

[paulmeyers42]

Good luck with that as any device running iOS is a complete nightmare when it comes to dealing with files. If you thought your room was a mess now, wait until you get those files on your iPad Pro. Not only will you ever be able to find anything as there isn't a global search, but every time you edit a file in one of those PDF apps, you create a copy and aren't using the actual original, so your system after only a few days of use will be littered with duplicates. IOS is not and I can't not stress this enough, is not a productivity device, even of you have convinced yourself. People might claim so but there computer needs are simple. When dealing with a lot of files you'll need a feel desktop computer or even Android as it has an actual file-system, iOS because of that Walled Garden nonsense will always restricted to consuming content, media and data input (vertical markets use iPads for this purpose, though people think that because Enterprise use them to input data into pre-formatted forms that the iPad is also able to do other computer related tasks well.) THEY CAN'T!

This was true in the past, but just isn't the case anymore.

There is now a native file system (iCloud Drive) and a built-in app to manage the file system (the iCloud Drive App).

With the new Document Pickers, you can access files outside the app walled garden. I have a project folders, reference folders, etc. in my iCloud Drive with mix of app/file types - Word, Powerpoint, etc.

With Document Providers, you can also access DropBox, Box, OneDrive just as easily, without making duplicates and without being limited to the app walled garden.

You can also open/edit files outside the app walled garden without making duplicates. You can still use the "Send To" or "Open In" which will make copies, but you don't have to anymore.

Spotlight search indexes iCloud Drive and other document providers like Box.

Working with files was a huge pain in the past, but it's much better. There's still a lot of room for improvement, but for the basics it's now fully functional.

 

[Eric5273]

This was true in the past, but just isn't the case anymore.

There is now a native file system (iCloud Drive) and a built-in app to manage the file system (the iCloud Drive App).

With the new Document Pickers, you can access files outside the app walled garden. I have a project folders, reference folders, etc. in my iCloud Drive with mix of app/file types - Word, Powerpoint, etc.

With Document Providers, you can also access DropBox, Box, OneDrive just as easily, without making duplicates and without being limited to the app walled garden.

You can also open/edit files outside the app walled garden without making duplicates. You can still use the "Send To" or "Open In" which will make copies, but you don't have to anymore.

Spotlight search indexes iCloud Drive and other document providers like Box.

Working with files was a huge pain in the past, but it's much better. There's still a lot of room for improvement, but for the basics it's now fully functional.

I was going to say the same exact thing. I use OneDrive and am able to access my files directly from the 3 apps I use for 99% of my work (Word, Excel, PDF Expert). I use the Documents app as my main file manager.

 

[Noble Actual]

Seems like an amazing device for a creative professional job.

Unfortunately that's a niche that doesn't apply to college students. Tons of MacBooks and Surfaces tho.

Really would like to see Apple take technology from iPad Pro and put it in their other devices.

 

[Channan]

Even if, say, the Microsoft Surface were empirically a better product, I would still never buy one.

It's one thing to say you like Apple better and stick with them, but flat out admitting you wouldn't buy the best product if it didn't come from Apple is just...well I'm glad I don't feel unconditionally loyal to any company.