iPad Pro Thinking of using 12.9" iPad Pro to supplement home office?

[ecschwarz]

Good find - I wish they made it universal (it looks iPhone-only), but it also looks like they also built the features into OneNote for iPad.

Or Microsoft's free "Office Lens" app, which corrects any angle photo into a flat document, save as pdf, etc.

 

[alecgold]

I'm writing applications for grants. I have a 27" Thunderbolt Display, MacBook Pro 13" (had that before the iPP 12.9", now I would just buy a Mac Mini) and an IPP 12.9"
I use the IPP for meetings, interviews with clients, on the road etc. Easy (but slow) to charge in the car.
When I'm sitting at my desk (3x4 foot sit-stand desk, saves my back and healt to alternate) it's on the side and I use it for to-do-lists, phone jots, doodling when on the phone etc.
I also get a lot of pdf's from junior co-workers that I need to review. (Grant application programs/apps/websites only generate PDF's) I use my pencil to do that. Works like a charm, no need to export to word, get all the messy changes on the side etc. Only when I need to do really big changes/rewrite complete pages I revert back to the keyboard.

I have a small printer, I try to keep printing to a minimum (it's a Canon iP110 portable printer with lithium battery) but since I got the iPad Pro there hasn't been much need for a printer. Just a few official documents that needed signing with a blue ballpoint, but that's it in 6 months!
If I want to read long documents, I use my iPad Pro. And I read some serious reading, 1500 A4 pages every 4 weeks for my law study, so it's not just scanning or comics. But several of my fellow students just can't do it. They can't read on a screen for hours on end. (But I also think the iPP's really nice screen makes it much easier to read long hours on it).

App's I use are MS office, Readdle's app's (everything just not Spark) and Goodnotes for writing notes and to-do-list. Slack for chatting with co-workers and ulysess when I need to concentrate on writing.

 

[donklaus]

i'm a designer working from home in my spare bedroom/converted office.
i use my stupidly powerful pc's for all my design and rendering work. i have no choice in the matter.

but i too need to supplement this with general office duties/admin facilities.

What the 12.9 Pro, Pencil and smart Keyboard does for me on a professional daily bases is OUTSTANDING in doing so.....

1) all my emails and email accounts.
2) all my diary and appointments and meeting times.
3) Skype and messenger facilities, including facebook and social media accounts.
4) notes - all my telephone notes, conversation supplements, sketches, etches, to-dos, ideas etc etc are all recorded in Notability. i probably make pages and pages and pages within a week.
5) Pages handles all official correspondence, invoices and letters to clients via my own templates.
6) Numbers happily copes with my accounts and XL sheets. again, custom made templates.
7) Safari - banking and general comms to the www
8) Dropbox is my off site storage
9) Prints everything beautifully to my wireless laser copier.

and a few minor other apps that do various small tasks.

But in essence, the 12.9 Pro has completely changed and streamlined my working pipeline for the first time in well over 25 years of doing this ****. For me to say it's a game changer is putting it mildly. I dont use my ipad for anything leisure or no-work related usually, so gimmicks and gadgets are not important to me. the screen and processing speed is my god.

In my opinion, if you want general office/admin facilities and are not too worried about not using desktop software or the same software you're generally used to then you cant go wrong with Pro as an office companion. So far there's nothing it cant do for me in this capacity.

I'm a professional independent writer, but your use case mirrors mine precisely, at least it will when my 12.9 Pro arrives next week (praise be to the eBay reseller gods). My Air 2 game so close to being everything I needed, but it's stubborn refusal to work well with any of the expensive stylli I buy for it means it will soon be relegated to a secondary device, at least for productivity usage.

 

[Night Spring]

Air 2 game so close to being everything I needed, but it's stubborn refusal to work well with any of the expensive stylli I buy for it means it will soon be relegated to a secondary device, at least for productivity usage.

Yes, iPP is a better productivity device than the Air2, but it's also way better for entertainment uses, too. I think the times when you use the Air2 wil be a lot less than you think.

 

[sjleworthy]

I'm a professional independent writer, but your use case mirrors mine precisely, at least it will when my 12.9 Pro arrives next week (praise be to the eBay reseller gods). My Air 2 game so close to being everything I needed, but it's stubborn refusal to work well with any of the expensive stylli I buy for it means it will soon be relegated to a secondary device, at least for productivity usage.

To be honest this wasnt possible until the 12.9 pro and pencil came along for me. As you say, it was close, but not close enough. Pre Pro days with regular stylus and regular screen were not cutting it. Too small fiddly and not accurate enough. Not responsive enough.
The Pro for me is now laptop standard in tablet form.
Sits permanently on my desk with my smart keyboard and Pencil helping my business run like a charm. I'm LOVING it.

 

[Saturn1217]

iPad Pro arrived last night. Bought the Pencil like 30 minutes later (it is awesome to live a 10 min walk from the Apple store!).

First impressions:

I am VERY impressed with the pencil. I somehow wasn't able to get a good feel for how good the pencil was in the Apple store (because you can't actually sit down and use the pencil with the iPad naturally, you have to stand over it). My (terrible) handwriting looks basically the same with the iPad Pro + pencil as it looks on paper. I can easily see this being perfect for my note taking during meeting calls.

I actually had some research for my next project to do and I started it on the iPad Pro. With PDF Export + the Pencil the experience was almost perfect. MUCH better than on my iPad Air because of the bigger size and the fact that PDF Expert will ignore your finger when you are using the pencil so I can just turn pages easily with my hand without disabling the highlighting or pen tool that I am currently using.

I do find that I will basically require a matte screen protector. The screen felt very sticky or tacky instead of smooth and I hate seeing it all covered with fingerprints after only a few minutes. I have a matte screen protector on my iPad Air already and vastly prefer it to the naked screen so hopefully it is a similar experience here.

Overall pretty happy. I won't be able to really use it for work until the end of the month when I move and set up my home office but things look very promising.

Only one last concern. Does anyone use the iPad Pro in a corporate office environment that is NOT their company? I'll probably be traveling on site to clients (big/medium pharmaceutical companies) and I'd love to bring the iPad Pro along to take meetings notes, but I'm a little worried that using a tablet will be considered a security concern in a way that a paper notebook wouldn't. Am I being silly worrying about this? People bring laptops to these types of meetings don't they? (I've never been to a client meeting on site before, only remote phone calls so I don't know what is typical for my company).

Thanks again to everyone for their input!

 

[sjleworthy]

I use my Pro for taking notes and client briefs when out at their offices at meetings. The security risk is the same as using a laptop, which everyone accepts. The Pro + Pencil is a massive pose and talking point too, so good to break the ice with clients and it's hugely client impressive too. Dont worry about looking odd - you wont. The ipad is highly regarded and isnt mocked as a toy (well, not in the business circles i mix in).
And, showing portfolios, previous works and client related content to a new/existing/prospective client when out and about with them is always a plus point and a feather in your cap. Never fails to impress and get people talking

 

[ibookg409]

The 12.9 with Apple Pencil is great for notes and has hugely reduced my use of paper. I use Notability for handwriting notes, plus Apple Notes for various lists.

I use the Apple Pencil and "Noteshelf" for taking my study notes. I really like it. The IPad dPro 12.9 it's great for taking notes.

 

[eltoslightfoot]

Only one last concern. Does anyone use the iPad Pro in a corporate office environment that is NOT their company? I'll probably be traveling on site to clients (big/medium pharmaceutical companies) and I'd love to bring the iPad Pro along to take meetings notes, but I'm a little worried that using a tablet will be considered a security concern in a way that a paper notebook wouldn't. Am I being silly worrying about this? People bring laptops to these types of meetings don't they? (I've never been to a client meeting on site before, only remote phone calls so I don't know what is typical for my company).

Thanks again to everyone for their input!

Most people these days have smartphones and tablets. A couple of ways to approach this is to get a leather folio case that makes it VERY obvious it is a ipad not a laptop. In fact, using a leather folio and the apple pencil, some folks think it is a legal pad. The second approach is to just use it like you always do and see if anyone even cares. They probably don't.

But I get to test this personally next week. I have heard security is pretty tight at my face-to-face. I'll report back.