Why I'm opting for the Surface Pro 4 over the iPad Pro

[nylon]

No... it won't. Developers for IOS only care about one thing and that is reaching the most devices possible. That is why even when the latest iPad Air comes out, games are still not as graphically intensive as they could be so that people with older IOS devices can still play the latest and greatest games.

Why would a developer spend their money and resources to cater to an audience that is a small small fraction of the total IOS community?

Apps will continue to be designed with the regular iPad, mini and iPhone in mind. If you don't believe me read some reviews of new games that have come out and then been updated with decreased graphics to reach a larger audience.

Most people assumed what you said when the first iPad came out. Most people panned it as "just a big iPhone". That perception changed rapidly. Developers will find ways to make use of the larger screen just as they did with the original iPad. To an extent it's a symbiotic relationship with developers. New devices and form factors come out, developers make apps which in turn sells more devices and thereby sells more apps. And I'm not sure games released a few days after a new form factor is unveiled really provide an accurate yard stick for what's going to happen down the line. I would at least give it a year to see if your hypothesis pans out.

 

[AbSoluTc]

I would go to great lengths to avoid Windows, at all cost. But if Microsoft doesn't deliver their Office apps with inking in a month, or if I still can't get a hold of the Pencil by that time, I am returning my iPP and buying a Surface instead.

That's not great lengths. Lol

 

[TurboPGT!]

I've been using macs since 1994 and own several macbooks, iphones, and ipads. I'm a diehard Apple fan.

tl;dr no one cares.

 

[silverblack]

That's not great lengths. Lol

Spending the extra cash to buy an iPP, with keyboard, pen and other cases (when I already have an iPad Air 2, 11" MacBook Air, 15" MacBook Pro, and 27" iMac), just so I can use inking with PowerPoint for teaching? Well, ...that's great lengths to me.

By the way, a Surface at less than half the price of an iPP would serve my needs.

 

[masotime]

Spending the extra cash to buy an iPP, with keyboard, pen and other cases (when I already have an iPad Air 2, 11" MacBook Air, 15" MacBook Pro, and 27" iMac), just so I can use inking with PowerPoint for teaching? Well, ...that's great lengths to me.

By the way, a Surface at less than half the price of an iPP would serve my needs.

Ah... you're in education. Yes a stylus in education is really quite indispensible. It does make a compelling argument for a Surface if iOS apps don't have what you need.

 

[AbSoluTc]

Here's the difference between Microsoft and Apple..

Windows was and will always be a desktop OS ported to a "tablet/touch" interface. You saw this with windows mobile back in the day with the stylus and the small buttons. This was more evident recently when Windows 8 came out. They tried to port it for tablet use but blew it hard on the desktop side. It was not well received and was literally a mess. Mobile aspects did not transfer well to the desktop side and vice versa. Windows 10 comes out and they are finally hitting a decent mix of desktop/mobile interaction. It's still a work in progress but it's better.

Apple on the other hand started as a desktop OS and has maintained that branch. They released the iPhone and thus started their mobile OS branch. With every iteration they have changed, bettered and advanced each one. Taking minor aspects from mobile and adding it to the desktop and vice versa. However, each one does it's designed task, extremely well. If you were to port OSX to iOS, you would have the same mess you did as Microsoft. It doesn't translate well. Same for porting iOS to a desktop platform.

Apple is on a good path. They know what they're doing and you will eventually see a hybrid of both systems on a mobile platform but ONLY when it's perfect/refined. Apple is not about to release a miss mash of crap just to cater to the few people complaining that IPP should have OSX on it. What these people don't realize is there's more to it that just slapping OSX on the iPad. There is battery life, weight, hardware, size, code, software and the like. TONS of things. There is a balance that has to be met.

Now, I could be totally wrong here about everything but that's my view on the matter. For me, if I want die hard apps for design, productivity and I need a keyboard/mouse - I'll switch over to my rMBP 13".

 

[Codeseven]

I have to agree with the OP.....for now.

If Cook implied the iPad Pro is ready to replace peoples laptop today, he is wrong.

Right now, if I already had an iPad Air 2 I wouldn't expect the iPP to be all that much better running my apps and performing my day to day tasks that the Air 2 can do just fine. If I was more of a power user I could see how a Surface Pro might look more appealing (though after many years of being a PC user and builder I swore myself from ever owning a Windows device ever again).

However, I think the iPP's over the top specs are there for a reason, and it's not just to be a more powerful iPad. The iPad Air 2 is plenty powerful, even my measly 16Gb iPad Air 1 runs all 'my' programs just fine. So why the powerful A9X, screaming graphics, 4Gb ram and USB 3.0 if the Air 2 is already capable of running 'todays' programs? Does it really need all that power for just a bigger screen and Pencil?

I think the iPP is poised to go far beyond what just an 'iPad' has been used for or traditionally thought to be. The iPP's hardware is way ahead of it's current iOS and available apps. Once upcoming updates to iOS and no doubt 'pro' level apps in development, both able to take full advantage of the iPP's hardware, it will become more apparent what it actually is, what it's meant for and it's future as a computing device.

I wouldn't look at the iPP for what it is now, but rather for what it can, and will be.

 

[AbSoluTc]

Spending the extra cash to buy an iPP, with keyboard, pen and other cases (when I already have an iPad Air 2, 11" MacBook Air, 15" MacBook Pro, and 27" iMac), just so I can use inking with PowerPoint for teaching? Well, ...that's great lengths to me.

By the way, a Surface at less than half the price of an iPP would serve my needs.

I mis-understood your post. My apologies.

What level of education are you in?

 

[bounou]

I returned the SP4 and am keeping the IPP, he SP4 is a laptop that won't replace your tablet and can't really do the lap part very well. Still a vey cool device just not what I wanted.

 

[Newtons Apple]

I will be getting the SPro4 also as soon as they have the more capable models in stock. In the mean time I picked up a IPad Pro 128 with cellular today at my local Apple Store to replace my Air 2.

This thing is a beast!

 

[nylon]

I have to agree with the OP.....for now.

If Cook implied the iPad Pro is ready to replace peoples laptop today, he is wrong.

I totally agree the iPad Pro is not ready to replace laptops and it might never be. However, I do know a lot of people for whom their go to device is an iPad but still hang on to the laptop because the screen size is more conducive to getting work done. Those people who primarily use their laptops for browsing, emailing, document editing, content consumption might find the larger screen of the iPad Pro as just the right leap for abandoning their laptops. Just a thought.

 

[npmacuser5]

The reason I went with the Surface Pro 4 is IOS has so many little things it cannot do. Start with Safari or any of the web browsers. What happens when many webpages see Tablet OS they send you to a less then functional page. Some allow you to go to full site but then you run into things that require certain extensions to work. IOS apps in many cases are less then functional to the OSX versions. Think Pages, Numbers as an example. The need for at least an OSX version laptop crops up for me several times a week. Simple tasks that I cannot complete unless I go to a full OS. The Surface Pro 4 gives me both worlds, Tablet with the benefits of a laptop. I would prefer to have Apple make an OSX iPad pro or allow the Mac Books to function without a keyboard using a finger/pen/pencil as Apple products dominate our environment. I will add the Surface Pro 4 plays pretty nicely in the Mac environment. Not perfect but acceptable. I am still under trial period, so far going well.

 

[MH01]

It's an iPad plus. I've used mine for three days now , and it's basically a large iPad. For me that is fine, I like the larger size, this is no computer replacement though.

this device should not be compared to the surface, it's should be compared to large android tablets with a stylus .

 

[pat500000]

Okay...interesting read...but what was the point of the thread?

 

[arcite]

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.

I think you're vastly underestimating the market for an iPad that does just those things you listed. You forgot to add, enterprise, retail, and education ---- all sectors which Apple has strengths and 3rd party software integration. In this regard, the iPad Pro is not in direct competition with the Surface.

 

[Codeseven]

I totally agree the iPad Pro is not ready to replace laptops and it might never be. However, I do know a lot of people for whom their go to device is an iPad but still hang on to the laptop because the screen size is more conducive to getting work done. Those people who primarily use their laptops for browsing, emailing, document editing, content consumption might find the larger screen of the iPad Pro as just the right leap for abandoning their laptops. Just a thought.

I'm typing this now on my old and heavy 15" 2008 MBP instead of my iPad Air 1. Why? Primarily screen size. Before I bought the iPad I had only been using the MBP. The 9.7" screen on the iPad has always looked small to me but I was tired of lugging around a ships anchor of a laptop and wanted more portability, for that the iPad has served me well. I finally got my hands on an iPP yesterday and immediately loved the screen size and meager overall weight. I'd love to finally ditch my laptop for the Pro but at this early stage of it's existence I don't think I can justify it's cost. I think that will change though.

 

[Dammit Cubs]

So I have to agree with you that, as a surface pro 3 owner, the SP3 is by far a better all-around tablet that say the Ipad Pro. Yes the Pencil is by far a superior product and there will be App developers whom probably will take advantage but its not even close. The file system used my Apple is terrible for any time of joint app work. And this really where the Surface Pro shines because its a full operating system. It would take the SP3 to meetings to get aot of work done and I have a system to transfer by my work notes. I also can do other things, use VIM editor to look up programs and code for quick check ups. The surface Pro is more "laptop" to me than tablet.

Where the Surface pro struggles, is actually in the tablet part. The icons are too small to be used consistently with your fingers, i kept going to my mouse and keybard for better productivity. I haven't tried windows 10 with my SP3 because i broke it 3 times. Yes, I'm kinda pissed out fragile it is and I had to pay almost 300 dollars to get the screen replaced twice!. THe best problem I had with the surface, was that I didn't feel comfortable browsing webpages as I would with a true tablet. Could be the Weight, could be the OS? It just didn't feel smooth and clunky. I wanted to constantly go to desk and browsing in landscape with my keyboard and mouse. It also didn't help that the text scaling on the Surface was not where as good as on the Macbook pro or Ipad. There were times when text was smooth but there were other times when the text was terrible and when you are coming from a macbook pro retina, you want perfectly...all the time.

And there lies the single reason why i'm trying the pad pro to see whether or not this can truly take over the media consumption which i have been proud to give to my SP3 or Macbok pro. And so far for media consumption it was been great, it has also been great as a PDF reader and I get alot of techincal documents which i want to review and there are times i want to keep them on my tablet and bring it to the lab so i can treat it like a piece of paper, and so far it is been great.

The only problem i have is that I hvae too many apps for little tasks - ibooks does not annotate so there for i have to use a pdf app for annotation. It doens't help that all the apps are isolated when it comes to data share so excel files have to be transferred to and from. I woud love to use this for excel, but i have to basically email the final excel file to my work email due to firewall restrictions with onedrive.

The one thing I am loving over my surface pro 3 was that the battery life on the Ipad Pro is Boss. It is miles better and one thing I really want to do with this is carry it on airplanes for media consumption Do I miss out on attaching a harddrive to the this, yes but at least I won't run out of battery or having to look for a plug on a plane. The battery life has been lasting me 12 hours of constant use and I'm really enjoying that I don't need to worry about battery life while teh surface pro only really lasted me 3 hours. Even the Macbook Pro Retina didn't last as long but that's a 4 year old computer.

I think the biggest thing for me will be the upcoming trip to asia. I"m going to not bring my laptop and just bring my computer and see what happens. I"m hoping that this actually does get alot of things done. Granted, it's vacation and not work. THere is no way in hell, i would not bring my work laptop, because that would be jeopardizing my job - i don't care what Tim Cook says, he's just trying to make money. I"m trying to get **** done.

Well that's my two cents.

BTW. I typed this complete article on my Ipad Pro using Logitech Keys to go. i think that keyboard is just as good as the keyboard cover and it's smaller, bluetooth, spill proof and detachable. I also typed this in under 4 minutes. Cheers

 

[Robstevo]

Surely the iPad pro failed as a tablet as well? You have people on here already complaining it's too big, too heavy etc

As a laptop replacement it fails as well? Remember on here people complaining about the fact you canr place the surface on your lap as good as a normal laptop? Well guess what, the iPad pro doesn't even have a kick stand....

 

[Jetfire]

I'm going through the same questions now. I bought a Surface Pro 4 I5 8GB Ram 256 SSD., on Halloween. I just got the IPad Pro on Wednesday morning. I really wish I could marry the two together. Why Apple hasn't made an easy way to transfer files on iOS is a sin. Cloud doesn't count since that has its own issues. Like others I'm waiting for Ink to be enable in the MS office apps. I really can't compare styluses since I don't have the Pencil. But from what I felt at the store the demo felt nice in the hand. But I like the Surface's pen's top button short cut to open One note. Also why doesn't Apple on screen keyboard have arrow keys. The bad thing about Surface Pro's touch is that you need to use the stylus to work correctly. While Apple Pencil is more for precision work like writing and drawing.

 

[ZombiePete]

I have to agree with the OP.....for now.

If Cook implied the iPad Pro is ready to replace peoples laptop today, he is wrong.

It really depends on what you're using your laptop for, doesn't it? A lot of people scoffed at Chrome-based computers for a long time, but now are having to sing a different tune.

Nothing will ever be all things to all people, but for a lot of folks the iPP might scratch an itch that people were using laptops for. I know I personally will be carrying my iPP around instead of my rMBP on a day to day basis.

 

[HelloMikee]

The OS is definitely a deal breaker.

 

[whodatrr]

I'll go ahead and say something odd - the kickstand is one of the things I love most, about the Surface. really, i just can't go back to the goofy cover-stands, after using a kickstand. When on your lap or sitting own the couch, it lays way back. When using touch on the coffee table, it's at about 50% back. When in type mode on the dining room table, it't almost vertical. Instant adjustments for whatever your use case. It's solid, and easily adjustable.

I know it sounds trivial, until you use one. Great innovation, IMOHO.

A year or so from now, Apple will invent 'The Swing-Stand'... and everyone will be like "Apple has done it, again"... Ha!

 

[Ulenspiegel]

The Surface is a laptop. I'm not sure why people are comparing it to an iPad.

I guess the reason can be found in Tim Cook's latest interview to The Telegraph: "I think if you’re looking at a PC, why would you buy a PC anymore? No really, why would you buy one? Yes, the iPad Pro is a replacement for a notebook or a desktop for many, many people. They will start using it and conclude they no longer need to use anything else..."

 

[aevan]

iPad Pro is, in my opinion, a specialized product, actually. People seem to want to do everything they do on a computer with it. And Tim Cook saying "why would you get a PC?" just reinforces that idea. But I don't think it can work for a lot of people. It's not going to replace your workflow that includes secondary monitors, mice, USB drives, etc. It simply won't. But - it just might do something else instead.

I use Photoshop with a Cintiq Companion 2. I use it as a tablet device or connect it to my iMac. Although the stylus is superb (in fact, it's the best artist stylus out there - we'll see if Pencil can rival it and no - Ntrig can't compare) - I often need my mouse or trackpad. I also need a desktop OS - not because it is required for creating art, but it's something my workflow requires. I can't imagine serious work without OS X (heck, I can't imagine almost any computing without it). And I'm one of the people that simply LOVES the new Magic Keyboard (hey, you either love it or hate it) so I can't imagine working without it (even if I mostly use it just to press keyboard shortcuts in Photoshop).

However, I'm getting the iPad Pro. The thing is, my CC 2 is cumbersome, has a lot of cables and is difficult to hold or carry around. I love the thing, but it's more a mobile workstation which I can move from desk to desk - and after spending a full day at work, when I feel like sketching at home, I want to be able to lean back on my couch and draw next to my girlfriend while she watches TV. Or move my pad around without cables. Or just take it with me outside. Also I want to have something to pick up and sketch while I'm too lazy to get out of bed. I want a digital sketchpad - not a full setup that requires me to have a desk, a mouse, a keyboard, etc. I want apps that are designed around the idea of a touch screen, I want a "light" experience with just a surface to draw on.

But - I already have an iMac and a Cintiq and I'm not REPLACING anything. I'm complementing them.

For some people - who just need to watch movies, surf the web, read email - I think the iPad Pro - actually, any iPad - can replace a computer. For others - it simply can't (if you require special software, peripherals, etc.) But there's a third category - for them, the iPad Pro can SUPPLEMENT their setup. Expensive? Sure. But I've been waiting for a product like this ever since I first picked up a pencil and paper.

 

[Jetfire]

I'll go ahead and say something odd - the kickstand is one of the things I love most, about the Surface. really, i just can't go back to the goofy cover-stands, after using a kickstand. When on your lap or sitting own the couch, it lays way back. When using touch on the coffee table, it's at about 50% back. When in type mode on the dining room table, it't almost vertical. Instant adjustments for whatever your use case. It's solid, and easily adjustable.

I know it sounds trivial, until you use one. Great innovation, IMOHO.

A year or so from now, Apple will invent 'The Swing-Stand'... and everyone will be like "Apple has done it, again"... Ha!

The lack of Kickstand and ports is what pushed me away from the Surface Book. But I'm using Urban Gear Cases on both the IPP and SP4. It has a built in Kickstand. It's not as nice as the OEM one on SP4 but the both have a Stylus hold on Top. I'm a little rough on my tablet handling. The magnet attachment of the SP4 pen is nice paper but I knock it off to easily for the real world.