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The Neo Taught Me I Never Needed an iPad
- Thread starter Cyberguycpt
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I dunno. I use it for very tangential stuff, mostly browsing and media. As a go to pro tool, though, no, a laptop will always be superior. I think the iPad began as a potentially game changing device, but the plot was lost along the way. Now it is a nice supplemental tool. I honestly do stuff on my phone more, and no, a bigger phone is not going to impact that in any way, Apple, that is repeating the same mistake.
Supplemental devices are fantastic, thank you for such awesome ones, as in supplemental devices, but that is all they are.
MartiNZ
macrumors 65816
interesting to hear. Yeah I guess I've not taken my Flips to the beach, but I've had no issues with dust ... except for its gathering under the cover I've been using, but the 6 just feels too delicate without a cover! The original design really was perfect, and it is a shame they bricked up for the newer models. The opening and closing is only ever an issue when I have to do it with one hand - it is a bit of a pain, but I take it as a challenge lol. In every other situation it still makes me feel very futuristic 🙂
As for the main subject, the Neo is a beautiful thing and I bought one to support the fact that it exists, a Mac at that price point and without that ridiculous notch. I already knew I didn't need an iPad. The main thing I use my Samsung tablet for is media from an SD card, and I even handed off my last Surface Pro to my mother recently; touch control seems to have run its course for me I guess. Still sometimes useful on my Surface Book 3, but its main selling feature is the presentation mode with the screen right at the front, which is amazing with external keyboard, basically like having an external display as your main display. A real shame they discontinued the model 🙁
But what the Neo has really taught me is that I have no need for any Apple product in my life. I'm using it to sort out my music and photos, something I used to love OS X for with its built-in tools, but Music is a far cry from iTunes and amazingly even the Windows version of iTunes is now better for the task and more likely to actually load Store content, rather than just beachballing forever.
I had forgotten how much of the Mac experience was actually fighting with the OS rather than enjoying it. And now most of the old hidden defaults write commands to fix annoyances don't even work anymore. Spotlight settings just beachball and one has to delete caches and restart any time one wants to load them. Conveniently I was never much of a Spotlight fan, but I do expect things to at least work.
The Neo is an awesome piece of hardware that really shows what can be achieved, and that fun can still exist in design. It's just a shame that the Mac experience doesn't match that anymore. Microsoft brought the fun with Windows 8 and Windows Phone, but then they killed all of it lol. What a time.
I7guy
macrumors Westmere
What the ipad does well it does very well. My IPP M5 is a good companion to the Neo. Different strokes and all of that.
1BadManVan
macrumors 68040
If you thought you could get away with an iPad Pro for your workload vs an MacBook Pro, wouldn’t the MacBook Air be the next logical step instead of going to the iPad set up to begin with? Lighter and more powerful than the iPad Pro and far less expensive…
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Yup. Just like some folks were using an Apple II long after the Mac was out and was likely the last machine they ever used, some folks will never be comfortable with an iPad as they do with a Mac.
apple contributor
macrumors member
snipr125
macrumors 68030
The iPP + MKB 11” is just more fun to use though, and has a much better display. For me it’s my actual laptop and my MBA 15” is my mobile desktop.
Yes, and with the upcoming fold segment...ipad will lose its momentum and fall way down
Maybe the new CEO will try to trigger some nostalgics and place macOS on it but will not help it since the price will be above and far slower than a mac
1BadManVan
macrumors 68040
I only have an iPad Air with the Magic Keyboard because someone was selling an m1 air with the Magic Keyboard for $400 (CDN) so it was a no brainer for me at the time. And it fits in the front pocket of my lunch bag. Cheapest Neo in Canada even with educational discount is $761 after tax
That being said, this will still probably be my last iPad once this one loses support or the battery is toast. Just not quite the right fit for me as a laptop replacement while I’m at a bunkhouse for 18-20 hours at work.
Glad to hear.
The iPad is a great tablet but an awful laptop.
I do feel Apple were delusional trying to market iPads as a netbook replacement.
Yes performance on paper, it was crazy powerful but as longs as iPad OS continues to intentionally dumb down the experience to protect Mac sales.
The iPad will continue to stagnate and become less relevant, at least from a power user/ professional perspective.
Trusteft
macrumors 65816
I don't have a Neo or an iPad. Never had. I do have a PC tablet with Windows 8.1 which I use mostly when I lie in bed. I have a soft stand for it which allows it to stand upright and play episodes of Seinfeld when I am in bed. I do have a couple of laptops I could use, but the extra size of them is more of a problem than not.
I am guessing there are others like myself who have a very limited need for a tablet like device, thus something like an iPad would be perfect, no matter how good the Neo or any other laptop might be. I am glad there are options.
I am guessing there are others like myself who have a very limited need for a tablet like device, thus something like an iPad would be perfect, no matter how good the Neo or any other laptop might be. I am glad there are options.
GeorgeRussell
macrumors newbie
Why is all this iPad replacement rhetoric coming about after the release of the Neo? Before the Neo, and still now, you could've got an older M1 Air for much cheaper than the Neo and better in all ways except single core performance.
Considering the current iPad Air is technically better than the Neo on paper, does anyone know if any sustained performance tests have been done? I wonder if the air thermal throttles more and actually has lower performance in longer tasks.
Anecdotally, my 17 Pro thermal throttles like crazy when exporting a lot of images which reduces its theoretical performance.
If op is just browsing the web and lightly editing documents, surely a good iPad keyboard would have sufficed?
Anecdotally, my 17 Pro thermal throttles like crazy when exporting a lot of images which reduces its theoretical performance.
If op is just browsing the web and lightly editing documents, surely a good iPad keyboard would have sufficed?
Am I the only person on Earth who uses an iPad primarily the way Steve Jobs originally presented it? Sitting on the sofa in your living room and holding the Internet in your hand, consuming it like a book (not to mention, reading actual books)?
Skwoodge
macrumors member
That's how I use mine. I primarily use it to watch shows or movies and fall asleep. It's much more enjoyable than a smaller phone screen or an annoying laptop.
warriors2017
macrumors regular
throAU
macrumors G4
I said that because the only reason (as I see it at least) that people are trying to replace multiple devices (e.g., iPad and iPhone) with an iPhone fold is because you're compromising to try and get some/most of the functionality out of a single device with a compromised form factor.
Instead of just buying the best devices for the respective jobs - which is what a sane person would do if they were in a position to do so.
throAU
macrumors G4
Nope, the future is wearables that you don't have to fish out of your pocket, and (quite some way after that) connectivity direct to your brain.
All of these current devices we need to pull out of a pocket, bag, etc. are all compromised in various ways - they all require you to stop what you're doing and either fish something out of your pocket, sit down at a desk, or in front of a screen to do stuff.
For what? To get something done that is now distracting you from living your life and doing things in the real world.
This is the key change that augmented reality (via header, implant, whatever) will bring. You won't set time aside to sit in front of a computer or look at a phone screen. You will have information overlaid over the real world, while you are free to do whatever it is you'd otherwise be doing with your hands, feet, etc.
Yes, it's a fair way off, but things like the Vision Pro are stepping stones and development devices on the path to that. These early AR devices (whether they're from Meta, Apple, Microsoft or Google) are all experiments on the path to that goal. None of them are the end goal or expected to take over the world just yet. They're on a timeline which is still 5-10 years out or more.
This sort of computing revolution will massively change the way people work. Heaps of traditional tools like spreadsheets, written documents, etc. exist merely to convey or calculate information for us to make decisions with. The goal isn't to make the spreadsheet or whatever, the actual goal is to make a decision, the spreadsheet (for example) is just a means to an end, not the end goal itself.
AR and AI will skip that BS - for example you'll collect information by looking at it in the real world and you'll get decision making information by querying the collected data in real time, not by reading a report or interpreting a spreadsheet to answer a question.
These two technologies will change the way people work. Most people won't be using a traditional computer like a laptop or a traditional smartphone.
But they're not cooked yet.
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Wanted797
macrumors 68020
This is a very strange sentence to me. Of course a laptop with full desktop OS will do everything you need? It’s literally a step above an iPad in terms of functionality.