What's a better fit - iPad Pro or MacBook?

[jackgbanks]

I’ve been looking at getting either an iPad Pro (12.9”) or a MacBook (12”) and wanted your thoughts or suggestions. My budget is around the £1k-£1.2k mark, and I was looking for something small and light. In any case I’d want to wait until after WWDC in case Apple pulls something out of the bag. I could potentially be persuaded to go for something else if there were any better ideas…



I’ve currently got a 3rd Generation iPad, and a gaming PC build by yours truly.

Intel Core i5 4690K
8 GB DDR3 RAM

256GB SSD

1TB HDD

I’d mainly be using it on the sofa and for travelling (occasionally long distance). I like the idea of using the MacBook to stream games from my gaming PC so that I can play them away from my desk, but am also rather enamoured by the note-taking capabilities of the iPad Pro & pencil. Again, I’d want to be able to play some basic games away from home (most likely just Football Manager and bit of Civ V), but this would be a pretty rare instance.

I’d also be consuming media (Netflix etc.), and do a reasonable amount of writing but wouldn’t be using it all day as I have a work PC/laptop.

As you can probably tell, I’ve been umming and ahhing over what would fit best with what I use, so experience of your set ups and how you use your devices would be much appreciated.

Ta!

 

[Samuelsan2001]

The MacBook will be a better fit for that use case especially writing, however if you go that direction there is a possibility there will be an upgraded one before the end of April.

 

[jackgbanks]

The MacBook will be a better fit for that use case especially writing, however if you go that direction there is a possibility there will be an upgraded one before the end of April.

Thanks for the reply!

What sort of life span would the MacBooks probably get? I had an Air from 2011 that was still going strong until it met an unfortunate end last year.

Also, would you go for the base model or upgrade the processor?

 

[Samuelsan2001]

To be honest processor isn't going to mean much I would wait for the new ones though as the graphics should be a fair bit better on skylake.

I think if your use case doesn't change drastically it should do you 4-5 years no worries.

 

[merkinmuffley]

Get a Macbook. IPads are good for viewing content, not so hot for generating content.

 

[gman901]

Isn't there a way to boot into Windows 10 on an iPad Pro? I heard the Pro is more powerful hardware than the MacBook so is it possible to have the best of both worlds?

 

[ApfelKuchen]

Isn't there a way to boot into Windows 10 on an iPad Pro? I heard the Pro is more powerful hardware than the MacBook so is it possible to have the best of both worlds?

Short answer? No. If it was possible, I think you would have felt the earth shake when all those Mac users who have been clamoring for the iPad Pro to run OS X learned that iPad could run Windows but not Mac.
[doublepost=1460909874][/doublepost]Why is a Mac preferable for writing? If it's just a matter of getting words onto "paper," than iPad and a keyboard are just dandy - been doing that since 2010. The lighter weight and portability mean I have my writing tool with me far more frequently. If you must use a particular writing app that's not available in iOS... then it's not about writing, it's about tools.

As far as the OP is concerned... You've been using an iPad for quite a while. Other than wanting to stream those games, what other limitations have you come up against, what other "If only I had a Mac/Mac app..." situations have arisen? On the other hand, since you don't have a Mac currently, there's something to be said for adding a Mac to your lineup, and sticking with the current iPad for those times when you don't want to carry the Mac around.

And using Pencil for writing? I type far faster than I can write longhand - give me a keyboard any day. In my longhand days, I lost thoughts before I could get them onto paper. Given a choice between handwriting-to-text and speech-to-text, I'll take speech any day of the week.