I've been using macs since 1994 and own several macbooks, iphones, and ipads. I'm a diehard Apple fan.
What follows is not meant as a criticism of other people's choices. As a large iPad, the iPad Pro is great. I wanted to share some thoughts about why I think the Surface Pro 4 is a better choice if your main purpose for the device is productivity rather than consumption.
I've had the Surface Pro 4 for a week and have been very happy with it. I stopped by the Apple Store this morning to check out the iPad Pro, pencil, and keyboard--and I spent a good while testing them.
Without question, it's a nice iPad, possibly the best. The pencil is terrific--magical even--and superior to that on the Surface P4. What about the rest of it? Can I get real work done on this more easily or pleasurably than I can on the SP4? No, I can't.
After about 30 minutes with it, the reason became clear.
The iPad Pro, along with every other iPad, is still constrained by Steve Job's vision for the device from 2010. It's meant for consumption, not production. Its primary uses are surfing, checking your email, and watching video--on the couch or in bed. That's it. Everything else--*everything*: peripherals, productivity apps, use of a stylus, etc--is an after thought that never feels quite as right on the iPad as do those original uses.
I went to the Store this morning with an open mind: maybe at a much larger size, the iPad's onscreen keyboard will be more useful--making it a more portable and productive device than the Surface Pro on the subway, the plane, or the couch. It wasn't. I was just as prone to make errors typing as I am on the Air 2 or the mini.
OK, I thought, well maybe the larger screen will make multi-tasking feel more comfortable, less cramped, more laptop-like. Yeah, not quite. It's still a massive compromise that feels just as limiting as it does on the Air, but now you see two or three paragraphs in each window instead of one. The point is, you can't easily move the windows, or open and rearrange them without thinking. In short, everything apart from consumption is a compromise.
Put otherwise, the iPad wasn't meant to be a competitor to the SP4. It was meant to be the device in that original scene when Steve Jobs unveiled it sitting on that black leather lounge chair, surfing. The iPad Pro with keyboard and pencil are so obviously an attempt to respond to the SP4 that it's a bit depressing--as an Apple devotee of some 20 years--to see.
If you want a bigger iPad for movies, email, and surfing, great. It's awesome. Maybe a bit pricey for the whole kit. But it's great.
If you want to get real work done, want to 'replace your laptop,' it doesn't come close to the SP4.
The keyboard is fine, but not anywhere near as nice as the one on new Surface Pro. And as nice as the pencil is, it's not nice enough to make up for the rest of it. If drawing or taking notes by hand is your *primary* purpose for the device, fine. Otherwise, it seems unavoidable: this is really just a big iPad. And for the foreseeable future, the iPad is primarily about consumption.
What follows is not meant as a criticism of other people's choices. As a large iPad, the iPad Pro is great. I wanted to share some thoughts about why I think the Surface Pro 4 is a better choice if your main purpose for the device is productivity rather than consumption.
I've had the Surface Pro 4 for a week and have been very happy with it. I stopped by the Apple Store this morning to check out the iPad Pro, pencil, and keyboard--and I spent a good while testing them.
Without question, it's a nice iPad, possibly the best. The pencil is terrific--magical even--and superior to that on the Surface P4. What about the rest of it? Can I get real work done on this more easily or pleasurably than I can on the SP4? No, I can't.
After about 30 minutes with it, the reason became clear.
The iPad Pro, along with every other iPad, is still constrained by Steve Job's vision for the device from 2010. It's meant for consumption, not production. Its primary uses are surfing, checking your email, and watching video--on the couch or in bed. That's it. Everything else--*everything*: peripherals, productivity apps, use of a stylus, etc--is an after thought that never feels quite as right on the iPad as do those original uses.
I went to the Store this morning with an open mind: maybe at a much larger size, the iPad's onscreen keyboard will be more useful--making it a more portable and productive device than the Surface Pro on the subway, the plane, or the couch. It wasn't. I was just as prone to make errors typing as I am on the Air 2 or the mini.
OK, I thought, well maybe the larger screen will make multi-tasking feel more comfortable, less cramped, more laptop-like. Yeah, not quite. It's still a massive compromise that feels just as limiting as it does on the Air, but now you see two or three paragraphs in each window instead of one. The point is, you can't easily move the windows, or open and rearrange them without thinking. In short, everything apart from consumption is a compromise.
Put otherwise, the iPad wasn't meant to be a competitor to the SP4. It was meant to be the device in that original scene when Steve Jobs unveiled it sitting on that black leather lounge chair, surfing. The iPad Pro with keyboard and pencil are so obviously an attempt to respond to the SP4 that it's a bit depressing--as an Apple devotee of some 20 years--to see.
If you want a bigger iPad for movies, email, and surfing, great. It's awesome. Maybe a bit pricey for the whole kit. But it's great.
If you want to get real work done, want to 'replace your laptop,' it doesn't come close to the SP4.
The keyboard is fine, but not anywhere near as nice as the one on new Surface Pro. And as nice as the pencil is, it's not nice enough to make up for the rest of it. If drawing or taking notes by hand is your *primary* purpose for the device, fine. Otherwise, it seems unavoidable: this is really just a big iPad. And for the foreseeable future, the iPad is primarily about consumption.
