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Those with MBP and iPad..why?

X

xMBPx

macrumors regular
Original poster
Dec 29, 2010
183
2
I have a macbook pro that I am on a lot during the day. I also have a 4th ipod touch, and rarely use it unless listening to music while working on art. ( I am in art college.)

So my question is for those of you with a MBP and iPad..

How much do you use them? and what's the point of an iPad if you have a MBP?

Not trying to flame, just seriously considering an iPad2 and wanted to know if its a justifiable purchase for someone with a MBP, or if it'll just sit around..
 
Simply put:

One is very powerful but big, bulky, heavy, and gets OK battery life.

One is powerful enough for basic tasks and is small, svelte, light, and gets all day battery life.
 
Since I've purchased my iPad, my MBP is just sitting around. I can go days without opening the lid. So much so that I may sell it and buy an iMac desktop 27"
 
Only you know if it's useful for you but it's become my go-to device (and I have a MBP and MBA). Much, much easier to read on a plane or train (daily commute), that includes work documents, emails and books. Great for video; handy for photo viewing and fantastic in the car (3G surfing, GPS, time-wasting). We took a 2-week road trip over the summer and it was the ideal device for the trip.

I also grab it first at home, be it for a quick recipe in the kitchen, checking email or light surfing.

It's not a necessity if you already have a notebook but it gets tons of use in my life.
 
Cat5e said:
Simply put:

One is very powerful but big, bulky, heavy, and gets OK battery life.

One is powerful enough for basic tasks and is small, svelte, light, and gets all day battery life.
Click to expand...

So my MBP would become more like a desktop and the ipad would become the new carry around?

I really want one, they look like a lot of fun haha but I don't know if I'll get used to using both or if one will just wind up not used.
 
xMBPx said:
So my MBP would become more like a desktop and the ipad would become the new carry around?

I really want one, they look like a lot of fun haha but I don't know if I'll get used to using both or if one will just wind up not used.
Click to expand...

I wouldn't buy it just to buy it. If you didn't have a notebook it would be a decent alternative (but not a full substitute). If you've lived without it you can continue to live without it.
 
I got my MBP because I needed a good and reliable computer to use at home and also take on the road.
Since I got my iPad 3G 64GB, it has become my primary portable device, leaving my MBP at home most of the time.
If I run into something I can't do on the iPad, I would remotely connect to my MBP via LogMeIn.
Usually I only take my MBP on the road when I need to configure a Cisco switch or Router, but this may change too as there's a company that made an iPad Console cable and App to program Cisco devices. :D
 
Why have a PSP and a DS?
Why have a car and a motorbike?
Why have a house and an RV?
Why eat out when you can eat in?

All pointless questions with blatantly obvious common answers - they each offer something different :rolleyes:
 
There are many reasons. Some big, some small.

Big ones:

1) Because it's completely unnecessary and inconvenient to carry my computer (in backpack) with me when I can do 85% of the stuff I want/need to do from my iPad.

This applies as much to being at home as it does everywhere else. Before I had one, I would have to carry my laptop and charger with me everywhere around the house. At minimum, once in the morning and once in the evening.

My MBP used to always be besides me in bed, because doing stuff online is usually what I do before bed, as well as first thing in the morning. This has changed though (much to my girlfriends delight), as now I just leave my computer where it is and take the iPad.

Also, since it uses an iPhone charger, there is almost always going to be one around, whether it be a friends house, restaurant, bar, hotel, car... wherever, someone's always got a charger.

2) It's a completely different experience than using the computer, often times, a much better one. For example, reading Google Reader using Reeder is an exponentially better experience than reading it on my computer. It just flows better. It looks better, it's easier to use, it's more focused, and perhaps most importantly of all... for many tasks, you can work through things faster.

Smaller reasons:

  • Now I can watch a Netflix on my comp with my girlfriend, while also being able to do other stuff.
  • I can watch Netflix from my iPad (in the car, at a friends house, at an airport, etc).
  • Games - The iPad is an amazing gaming experience. You are carrying in a small package entertainment for everybody around. I can't tell you how many times I've saved a group from boredom by playing a game of Monopoly or RISK. A ton of awesome single player games too.
  • I use iTeleport, so I can pretty much do anything I could do in front of my computer. Usually this comes down to sending myself files or information from my comp when I'm away from home.
  • The music applications are amazing. I spend a lot of time creating music, and my mind has been blown by what is possible on the iPad. You can truly create professional sounding music, but 100x easier and more intuitively than you can on the computer.
  • Various other applications that aren't possible on a computer.

I'm sure there are a lot more that I'm forgetting.

It just packs a huge punch for the size and convenience. Almost all of the functionality of my computer, yet I can pick it up and walk out the door without a second thought. I still use my computer a lot, but much, much less than before.
 
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For me,
MBP - I use VMware windows 7, traveling when I need to connect to my work network, doing some serious document creation.

iPad - taking notes at work, surfing at home when I'm not on my computer, tracking meetings and other work related stuff.

two tools, with a little over lap but certainly each has its own distinct role.
 
It all depends on your circumstances. For myself, the iPad has become my primary mobile computer over my MBP for most days (working in a coffee shop or library for example) but I need the option to be able to take a full computer when I travel for my research. Not to mention that I am currently living abroad for my graduate degree and thought about getting an iMac instead of a MBP but realized that the former would be nearly impossible to take home when I am finished with my degree. It all depends on individual needs and circumstances. But I love having the option to take both on any given day and would get both again if I was faced with the decision. That being said, if I didn't previously own one or the other and were purchasing both simultaneously when finances are tight (as they often are for students) I would get the MBair rather than the MBP iPad combo.

Good luck with your studies
 
Ok thanks guys.. I have one other question.

Why are they limiting it with iOS instead of a full OSX?
 
My mbp has been relegated to a desktop computer as it is hooked up to an acd. The iPad basically fills in for mobility around the house.
 
xMBPx said:
Ok thanks guys.. I have one other question.

Why are they limiting it with iOS instead of a full OSX?
Click to expand...

It's a completely different platform.

iOS is Apple's mobile OS that uses touch for everything. You interact with what you are looking at using your fingers, not a trackpad or mouse.

OS X requires a keyboard and mouse. It isn't meant to be touched directly. It would be virtually impossible to use without serious, serious tweaking. Hint: they did tweak it, it's called iOS :)

Additionally, OS X is massive, and the hardware, while possibly being able to run it, would run it extremely poorly.
 
I have an ipad, I hardly ever use it. During my web browsing I encounter a lot of sites that need flash, and not only that I find that i'm faster and more organized browsing on my mbp.
 
"What´s the point?"

There is no point.

iPad is just a toy and a luxury item and can´t do anything (even better) that MBP/MBA/iPhone couldn´t do. Period.

Nobody needs it.

But everyone wants it of course. :)
 
My current job I can do from anywhere, as long as I have a computer and Internet. I want to take advantage of it an travel a lot. In addition to that I'm in a long distance relationship, so sometimes I just go stay with my boyfriend for a month or so.

My ideal setup would be iMac plus iPad but considering how little I am home and how much I'm moving around it doesn't make sense for me to have a desktop I'll rarely use. So I need my main machine to be mobile, hence the MBP.

But for some things the iPad is still more useful. Reading, keeping up with light email, chatting with my co-workers... All of that I can do from the iPad, which is small and light enough that I can just fit in my purse and it's just there whenever I need it.
 
spacehog371 said:
There are many reasons. Some big, some small.

Big ones:

1) Because it's completely unnecessary and inconvenient to carry my computer (in backpack) with me when I can do 85% of the stuff I want/need to do from my iPad.

This applies as much to being at home as it does everywhere else. Before I had one, I would have to carry my laptop and charger with me everywhere around the house. At minimum, once in the morning and once in the evening.

My MBP used to always be besides me in bed, because doing stuff online is usually what I do before bed, as well as first thing in the morning. This has changed though (much to my girlfriends delight), as now I just leave my computer where it is and take the iPad.

Also, since it uses an iPhone charger, there is almost always going to be one around, whether it be a friends house, restaurant, bar, hotel, car... wherever, someone's always got a charger.

2) It's a completely different experience than using the computer, often times, a much better one. For example, reading Google Reader using Reeder is an exponentially better experience than reading it on my computer. It just flows better. It looks better, it's easier to use, it's more focused, and perhaps most importantly of all... for many tasks, you can work through things faster.

Smaller reasons:

  • Now I can watch a Netflix on my comp with my girlfriend, while also being able to do other stuff.
  • I can watch Netflix from my iPad (in the car, at a friends house, at an airport, etc).
  • Games - The iPad is an amazing gaming experience. You are carrying in a small package entertainment for everybody around. I can't tell you how many times I've saved a group from boredom by playing a game of Monopoly or RISK. A ton of awesome single player games too.
  • I use iTeleport, so I can pretty much do anything I could do in front of my computer. Usually this comes down to sending myself files or information from my comp when I'm away from home.
  • The music applications are amazing. I spend a lot of time creating music, and my mind has been blown by what is possible on the iPad. You can truly create professional sounding music, but 100x easier and more intuitively than you can on the computer.
  • Various other applications that aren't possible on a computer.

I'm sure there are a lot more that I'm forgetting.

It just packs a huge punch for the size and convenience. Almost all of the functionality of my computer, yet I can pick it up and walk out the door without a second thought. I still use my computer a lot, but much, much less than before.
Click to expand...

What kind of music apps do you use to create music?
 
spacehog371 said:
There are many reasons. Some big, some small.

Big ones:

1) Because it's completely unnecessary and inconvenient to carry my computer (in backpack) with me when I can do 85% of the stuff I want/need to do from my iPad.

This applies as much to being at home as it does everywhere else. Before I had one, I would have to carry my laptop and charger with me everywhere around the house. At minimum, once in the morning and once in the evening.

My MBP used to always be besides me in bed, because doing stuff online is usually what I do before bed, as well as first thing in the morning. This has changed though (much to my girlfriends delight), as now I just leave my computer where it is and take the iPad.

Also, since it uses an iPhone charger, there is almost always going to be one around, whether it be a friends house, restaurant, bar, hotel, car... wherever, someone's always got a charger.

2) It's a completely different experience than using the computer, often times, a much better one. For example, reading Google Reader using Reeder is an exponentially better experience than reading it on my computer. It just flows better. It looks better, it's easier to use, it's more focused, and perhaps most importantly of all... for many tasks, you can work through things faster.

Smaller reasons:

  • Now I can watch a Netflix on my comp with my girlfriend, while also being able to do other stuff.
  • I can watch Netflix from my iPad (in the car, at a friends house, at an airport, etc).
  • Games - The iPad is an amazing gaming experience. You are carrying in a small package entertainment for everybody around. I can't tell you how many times I've saved a group from boredom by playing a game of Monopoly or RISK. A ton of awesome single player games too.
  • I use iTeleport, so I can pretty much do anything I could do in front of my computer. Usually this comes down to sending myself files or information from my comp when I'm away from home.
  • The music applications are amazing. I spend a lot of time creating music, and my mind has been blown by what is possible on the iPad. You can truly create professional sounding music, but 100x easier and more intuitively than you can on the computer.
  • Various other applications that aren't possible on a computer.

I'm sure there are a lot more that I'm forgetting.

It just packs a huge punch for the size and convenience. Almost all of the functionality of my computer, yet I can pick it up and walk out the door without a second thought. I still use my computer a lot, but much, much less than before.
Click to expand...

I'm really tempted to just say "me to" as I feel exactly the same way. Here are a few more items I'd put under the "different and better experience"

- The paperless meeting. I refuse to take a documents and a note pad to meeting any more. I find note-taking way more productive on the Ipad than either a physical notebook or computer. (far less intrusive than a computer as well).
- Reading almost anything at length. I'm not going to read a full book, magazine, or comic book on my computer but doing so is a joy on the Ipad.
- Social media. See you what your twitter or FB accounts looks like on-line vs your Ipad via flipbook or pulse. They totally change the experience of these services.
- News. If your a new junkie, check out the Economist, NPR, or the BBC apps. The experience blows away looking at these same sites on-lines.
- Detailed maps. Your not going to use your MBP for in-car driving directions.
- A second computer monitor. Yes, there's an app that turns your Ipad into a second/supplemental monitor.
- Do you travel for work and need to take a work computer? I do, and this leaves me no way to do my personal business on the road without using the work computer - which I hate for privacy reasons. I'm not taking a second computer with me, even my MBA. But taking the Ipad is easy.
- There are dozens of other examples - really.
 
I bought my iPad to be a dedicated eReader, however my wife uses it for some light web browsing just laying around the house. They are two different types of machines, they aren't meant to be interchangeable. I think tablets are just a very nice compliment to a mpb, not a replacement.
 
For me, working in the tech sector doing very resource intense work, a fast, powerful laptop is a mission critical tool. If not for my need to be mobile, my Mac Pro would be my primary Mac. That said, my 15" i7, 8GB, Vertex 2 SSD equipped MBP fits the bill well.

As far as the iPad is concerned there's a myriad of reasons why it's a nice alternative when I need to just grab it and go. Or to take a break from behind the computer if I'm simply dealing with notes via Evernote, or Dropbox. Excellent for the web, it meets my alternate & casual needs just fine.

Being suitably impressed with the original, I've already sold it in preparation for the second generation model. I learned years ago that Apple does an exemplary job on second gen products.

Therefore going forward I expect to always use both.
 
I recently sold my iPad because I could no longer justify having both. The only thing I was really using it for was browsing, and I have a better experience doing that with my MBP. I still don't see how people can justify using it over their laptop for specific tasks. Right now it is a luxury item.
 
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