1 External Drive support - use a WiFi Drive 2 Lack if mouse - use the Apple Pencil 3 Headphone jack - use a dongle or a device with a usb c jack. 3.5 headphone jacks have gone from mobile devices 4 Overpowered - come on, rendering a video in less than half the time is a problem. It will also future proof the iPad. 5 Storage - see 1
Gave serious thought to switching over the iPad as my main computing device. However, what held me back were several things.
1. The typing experience is far better with a laptop than with the cobbled together external keyboard-iPad combination.
2. The combination of good keyboard, indeed, a real keyboard, and a good trackpad and/or mouse cannot be replicated--YET--with an iPad.
3. I use Word and Excel extensively with both customized greatly (something far less possible now in the latest versions even on the Mac)-- and I use the trackpad or mouse all the time. Both keep me sticking to an older MBA. (I have tried Pages and Numbers and while they have some good features, the overall experience and capabilities are lacking in comparison to decades of Office use.)
4. I am able to fully backup my MacBook Air (Carbon Copy Cloner) and know that, if disaster strikes, I have a *complete* full restorable copy of my hard drive.
Alas, one cannot do that with an iPad. There is no complete backup from the iPad to a drive (or the Mac). Instead, one synchs via iTunes, which is only a partial backup and gives priority to what's on the Mac. I cannot, e.g., have *ALL* my photos, ebooks, etc. copied to the Mac; instead, I have to sync them in a process that can be quite convoluted. I have ToDo apps, news reading apps, and ebooks apps that do NOT make mirror copies of all settings, bookmarks, categories, etc. You may wish to blame the developers, but Apple should provide a way of backing up the ENTIRETY of an i-device to a Mac or hard drive.
One could respond by suggesting using iCloud, but I do not want my taxes, business and medical information, personal letters, political material, private notes, etc. stored on a 3rd party server.
Apple needs to create a Carbon Copy Cloner type app that will make an exact duplicate of an iPhone, iPod Touch, or iPad on a Mac or external hard drive.
5. For many people, an iPad is fully-functional, useful, computer, one that takes care of everything they need. For me, it is an excellent complement to Mac and even does many things much better--ebook reading, newspaper reading, tech forum browsing (but not commenting), running various apps pertaining to my hobbies, etc. But neither can substitute for the either!
1 External Drive support - use a WiFi Drive 2 Lack if mouse - use the Apple Pencil 3 Headphone jack - use a dongle or a device with a usb c jack. 3.5 headphone jacks have gone from mobile devices 4 Overpowered - come on, rendering a video in less than half the time is a problem. It will also future proof the iPad. 5 Storage - see 1
1 External Drive support - use a WiFi Drive 2 Lack if mouse - use the Apple Pencil 3 Headphone jack - use a dongle or a device with a usb c jack. 3.5 headphone jacks have gone from mobile devices 4 Overpowered - come on, rendering a video in less than half the time is a problem. It will also future proof the iPad. 5 Storage - see 1
1. I agree. Or the cloud. 2. Pencil is the worst possible mouse substitute I can imagine, as not only must one move their hands from the keyboard to touch the screen, but then they have to pick up and put down a pencil, with no support to stabilize it in mid-air. 3. Great if someone is using an Android Phone with USB-C, unfortunately with an iPhone, one needs to carry two dongles, and that’s a poor solution. BT is better, if latency and audio quality are not a concern. 4. Agreed
1 External Drive support - use a WiFi Drive 2 Lack if mouse - use the Apple Pencil 3 Headphone jack - use a dongle or a device with a usb c jack. 3.5 headphone jacks have gone from mobile devices 4 Overpowered - come on, rendering a video in less than half the time is a problem. It will also future proof the iPad. 5 Storage - see 1
1. I agree. Or the cloud. 2. Pencil is the worst possible mouse substitute I can imagine, as not only must one move their hands from the keyboard to touch the screen, but then they have to pick up and put down a pencil, with no support to stabilize it in mid-air.
But the mouse causes Carpal Tunnel Syndrome. I haven’t heard of anyone getting carpal tunnel syndrome caused by the pencil usage.
Pencil is the worst possible mouse substitute when playing Call of Duty. But on that, the mouse is not the best input device neither, there are game controllers for that. Yet I don't see people discussing "mouse or game controller" in gaming forums, why are we into such a pointless discussion here?
Pencil can do everything that a mouse can do and even more. The mouse is a mechanical pointing device of the 1960s. Pencil is a 21st century technology and there is state of the art engineering in it, encompassing both the display and the device. Pencil is not a stylus, a stylus is a stick compared to Pencil. What the mouse interface provided and the touch interface couldn't provide was the precision data selection. With Pencil, precision data selection is possible even better than the best mouse or trackpad can provide.
1 External Drive support - use a WiFi Drive 2 Lack if mouse - use the Apple Pencil 3 Headphone jack - use a dongle or a device with a usb c jack. 3.5 headphone jacks have gone from mobile devices 4 Overpowered - come on, rendering a video in less than half the time is a problem. It will also future proof the iPad. 5 Storage - see 1
1. I agree. Or the cloud. 2. Pencil is the worst possible mouse substitute I can imagine, as not only must one move their hands from the keyboard to touch the screen, but then they have to pick up and put down a pencil, with no support to stabilize it in mid-air.
.... Pencil can do everything that a mouse can do and even more.
...
That's true!
But it's equally true that the pencil sucks at doing what the traditional mouse can do easily and well.
When I type, I don't want to have to remove my hands from the keyboard or my eyes from the screen. I can't do that with a touch interface.
Apart from that, having a trackpad or mouse is another fundamental requirement to making a computer a computer, as it's much quicker and easier to navigate and move files around. There are so many things on a computer that are tough to accomplish with touch controls alone.
To me this is classic problem people have shifting their computing perspective to see the iPad as a real computer replacement. It’s sort of like switching between automobiles—you don’t say the Hyundai Elantra is not a ‘full’ car because you can’t accelerate to pass other cars as quickly as a McLaren P1. Instead you adapt your driving style to compensate for the differences, which inherently means accepting and adapting to limitations. Undoubtedly if everyone grew up driving a McLaren P1 people would resist the Hyundai Elantra as a ‘real’ car, saying you can’t do this or that with it.
I’m not meaning to say you can do everything on an iPad, but you also can’t do everything on a ‘full’ computer. But that doesn’t make either less of a real computing device. I can’t write this post on my computer because I’d never casually take my MacBook Pro as I’m out and about. If everyone grew up with iPads and didn’t know anything about desktop/laptop computers, we’d undoubtedly think they were too cumbersome and overly complex to accomplish most tasks.
However the Elantra can drive down all roads, and do everything a P1 can, just a bit more slowly. Apple tries to claim the iPad can do everything, but in reality it has limitations which means you'd have to use a computer. To use your analogy, whilst you can take four people somewhere in the P1, it'd be two trips and thus be much easier in the Elantra. A lot of tasks on iPad require many more steps than doing the same on macOS and some just aren't possible. If you have something on a memory stick, you can't "adapt" it to plug it into an iPad. If you want to print something to a non-Airprint printer, you simply can't. If you want to send a large file to a non-Apple device, you can't without uploading it somewhere, again adding 10+ steps for something that's just drag and drop to a memory stick on a Mac.
Again to your car analogy, whilst the P1 has the power to tow a trailer - much like the iPad Pro has enough power to do pretty much anything - it hasn't got a towing hitch so in practise, it can't tow anything at all; just as the iPad is constrained by iOS's limitations. iPads used to be cheap, so the limits of iOS were put down to the cost, but with the inflated iPad Pro price, that's not an excuse anymore. So ultimately it's not about adapting your workflow to suit the iPad, the problem is there are still a number of very important things you simply cannot do on iOS; making it at best awkward as your single, main computer.
That's the problem - Apple is pushing the iPad as a 'real' computer that is capable of replacing a laptop, and it is priced higher than many laptops, so people are expecting it to perform as such.
You’re too late as it already has. Both my parents have given up desktop and notebook computers in favor of iPads. Same use cases.
A computing device doesn’t need to be capable of all possible use cases to remain a computing device. Dunno why so many struggle with this simple fact.
The issue is Apple keeps pushing it as a computer replacement, when iOS is too limited for it to be a full replacement for many people. When you encounter one of the limitations of iOS and you don't have a computer to do that task on instead, you're stuffed.
(and DEAR LORD this forum editor SUCKS. has the staff ever tried to use it on an ipad? ever? it’s IMPOSSIBLE to select text with the on-screen selector handles, the textbox auto-selects the entire paragraph ever single time. And half the time the cursor vanishes completely until the window is closed and re-opened.
there must be foul javascript at play, as this never happens on any other site.)
It is utterly awful. Half the time you get stuck in a quote box and can't type outside it, and have to edit the HTML manually. It's complete crap, we've been saying this for years but no one at AI seems to listen/care.
lowededwookie said: [...] I can edit video on an iPhone just as easily as using iMovie on the Mac
"Easily," yes. Accurately, no. Fine adjustments are difficult using a finger on a small screen. One's choices are endless re-zoom operations or accepting edits that are "in the ballpark."
The fact that a task is possible on a phone or tablet does not mean it's automatically equivalent to a laptop or desktop in terms of ease-of-use, speed, workflow (particularly within a facility where one's work is part of a chain), or any other productivity measure. iPads have opened up a new form of computing that is better than a laptop for some things. That's awesome in itself. It doesn't mean that it's better than -- or even equivalent to -- previously existing input and interaction methods for some kinds of work.
Besides, even putting all that aside, the iPad Pro's marketing includes using the keyboard stand and an external monitor. Both make touch a less effective control method than using a mouse.
Besides, even putting all that aside, the iPad Pro's marketing includes using the keyboard stand and an external monitor. Both make touch a less effective control method than using a mouse.
If you'd watched the Keynote you'd know or you already know that the reason to attach a 4K monitor to iPad Pro is to follow iMovie edits in real time 4K, since the iPad's own display is not 4K. The actual iPad page on Apple's site mentions only "USB-C for ... external display" and says nothing about that external display. There is no point to present it as the main "computer display" of iPad.
1 External Drive support - use a WiFi Drive 2 Lack if mouse - use the Apple Pencil 3 Headphone jack - use a dongle or a device with a usb c jack. 3.5 headphone jacks have gone from mobile devices 4 Overpowered - come on, rendering a video in less than half the time is a problem. It will also future proof the iPad. 5 Storage - see 1
1. I agree. Or the cloud. 2. Pencil is the worst possible mouse substitute I can imagine, as not only must one move their hands from the keyboard to touch the screen, but then they have to pick up and put down a pencil, with no support to stabilize it in mid-air.
.... Pencil can do everything that a mouse can do and even more.
...
That's true!
But it's equally true that the pencil sucks at doing what the traditional mouse can do easily and well.
When I type, I don't want to have to remove my hands from the keyboard or my eyes from the screen. I can't do that with a touch interface.
Yes, this is why you cannot do with an iPad. You need a Macbook.
1 External Drive support - use a WiFi Drive 2 Lack if mouse - use the Apple Pencil 3 Headphone jack - use a dongle or a device with a usb c jack. 3.5 headphone jacks have gone from mobile devices 4 Overpowered - come on, rendering a video in less than half the time is a problem. It will also future proof the iPad. 5 Storage - see 1
1. That slows my files transfers to the speed of the WiFi connection. And I get another device that needs to be kept charged. Yay.
2. Use a pencil while the iPad is positioned semi-vertically on the keyboard, and/or while viewing the image on that external monitor the iPad now supports? I wish you luck making it work in either of those obvious scenarios.
3. If I use a dongle to feed the sound system, where will I connect the cable for the projector?
lowededwookie said: [...] I can edit video on an iPhone just as easily as using iMovie on the Mac
"Easily," yes. Accurately, no. Fine adjustments are difficult using a finger on a small screen.
There is Pencil for that.
He said he can edit video on an IPHONE. Did you just overlook that or does the iPhone actually support the Pencil now?
macplusplus said: If you'd watched the Keynote you'd know or you already know that the reason to attach a 4K monitor to iPad Pro is to follow iMovie edits in real time 4K, since the iPad's own display is not 4K.
I did watch the Keynote and I didn't get that impression. To me it looked like just using one possible application among many as an example. Assuming I misunderstood and that really is Apple's sole intent, it seems like a whole lotta tech, effort, and expense for not much payoff.
That's the problem - Apple is pushing the iPad as a 'real' computer that is capable of replacing a laptop, and it is priced higher than many laptops, so people are expecting it to perform as such.
And for some people it can. For some people the only computer they have is the phone in their pocket. IPhone XS is more expensive than many laptops with a trackpad and mouse support and “real” file system.
1 External Drive support - use a WiFi Drive 2 Lack if mouse - use the Apple Pencil 3 Headphone jack - use a dongle or a device with a usb c jack. 3.5 headphone jacks have gone from mobile devices 4 Overpowered - come on, rendering a video in less than half the time is a problem. It will also future proof the iPad. 5 Storage - see 1
1. I agree. Or the cloud. 2. Pencil is the worst possible mouse substitute I can imagine, as not only must one move their hands from the keyboard to touch the screen, but then they have to pick up and put down a pencil, with no support to stabilize it in mid-air.
But the mouse causes Carpal Tunnel Syndrome. I haven’t heard of anyone getting carpal tunnel syndrome caused by the pencil usage.
Pencil is the worst possible mouse substitute when playing Call of Duty. But on that, the mouse is not the best input device neither, there are game controllers for that. Yet I don't see people discussing "mouse or game controller" in gaming forums, why are we into such a pointless discussion here?
Pencil can do everything that a mouse can do and even more. The mouse is a mechanical pointing device of the 1960s. Pencil is a 21st century technology and there is state of the art engineering in it, encompassing both the display and the device. Pencil is not a stylus, a stylus is a stick compared to Pencil. What the mouse interface provided and the touch interface couldn't provide was the precision data selection. With Pencil, precision data selection is possible even better than the best mouse or trackpad can provide.
You’re taking my response out of context of the article to which we’ve all been replying. The Pencil is great for fine tuned selection and editing directly on an iPad laying flat on a table. It’s terrible for an iPad propped up on a keyboard stand. It’s terrible when using an external monitor. Heck, even if the iPad is laying flat and the user is merely typing on it, having to take their hands of the keyboard to pick up and put down a Pencil is still worse than using a mouse. And forget about using it while sitting on a couch as one might with a MacBook. That’s where a trackpad rules the day. Apple has added a virtual trackpad, but that’s far from ideal, even on native Apple apps, but still better than the Pencil which you’d have to pull off its magnetic docking perch, holding the iPad with one hand, and then reattaching it, before continuing with the typing. So in general I’d say a mouse or trackpad would still be better for most everything in daily computer use, aside from drawing, editing, and taking notes.
Besides, even putting all that aside, the iPad Pro's marketing includes using the keyboard stand and an external monitor. Both make touch a less effective control method than using a mouse.
If you'd watched the Keynote you'd know or you already know that the reason to attach a 4K monitor to iPad Pro is to follow iMovie edits in real time 4K, since the iPad's own display is not 4K. The actual iPad page on Apple's site mentions only "USB-C for ... external display" and says nothing about that external display. There is no point to present it as the main "computer display" of iPad.
So the user has to continually shift his eyes back and forth from the iPad to the screen, as well as take their hands off the keyboard, to lift a Pencil to the vertical screen, and hover it unsupported in midair to make detailed selections, then put the pencil down to continue using the keyboard; all the while shifting their eyes from the iPad to the 4K monitor and back as they make the fine adjustments and make sure the Pencil is where they think it’s supposed to be on the iPad? Doesn’t really sound more efficient than a mouse ... in fact it sounds a lot worse, even if Apple only intended the external monitor to be used solely as a 4K reference display and not a workspace.
1 External Drive support - use a WiFi Drive 2 Lack if mouse - use the Apple Pencil 3 Headphone jack - use a dongle or a device with a usb c jack. 3.5 headphone jacks have gone from mobile devices 4 Overpowered - come on, rendering a video in less than half the time is a problem. It will also future proof the iPad. 5 Storage - see 1
1. I agree. Or the cloud. 2. Pencil is the worst possible mouse substitute I can imagine, as not only must one move their hands from the keyboard to touch the screen, but then they have to pick up and put down a pencil, with no support to stabilize it in mid-air.
But the mouse causes Carpal Tunnel Syndrome. I haven’t heard of anyone getting carpal tunnel syndrome caused by the pencil usage.
Pencil is the worst possible mouse substitute when playing Call of Duty. But on that, the mouse is not the best input device neither, there are game controllers for that. Yet I don't see people discussing "mouse or game controller" in gaming forums, why are we into such a pointless discussion here?
Pencil can do everything that a mouse can do and even more. The mouse is a mechanical pointing device of the 1960s. Pencil is a 21st century technology and there is state of the art engineering in it, encompassing both the display and the device. Pencil is not a stylus, a stylus is a stick compared to Pencil. What the mouse interface provided and the touch interface couldn't provide was the precision data selection. With Pencil, precision data selection is possible even better than the best mouse or trackpad can provide.
You’re taking my response out of context of the article to which we’ve all been replying. The Pencil is great for fine tuned selection and editing directly on an iPad laying flat on a table. It’s terrible for an iPad propped up on a keyboard stand. It’s terrible when using an external monitor. Heck, even if the iPad is laying flat and the user is merely typing on it, having to take their hands of the keyboard to pick up and put down a Pencil is still worse than using a mouse. And forget about using it while sitting on a couch as one might with a MacBook. That’s where a trackpad rules the day. Apple has added a virtual trackpad, but that’s far from ideal, even on native Apple apps, but still better than the Pencil which you’d have to pull off its magnetic docking perch, holding the iPad with one hand, and then reattaching it, before continuing with the typing. So in general I’d say a mouse or trackpad would still be better for most everything in daily computer use, aside from drawing, editing, and taking notes.
Besides, even putting all that aside, the iPad Pro's marketing includes using the keyboard stand and an external monitor. Both make touch a less effective control method than using a mouse.
If you'd watched the Keynote you'd know or you already know that the reason to attach a 4K monitor to iPad Pro is to follow iMovie edits in real time 4K, since the iPad's own display is not 4K. The actual iPad page on Apple's site mentions only "USB-C for ... external display" and says nothing about that external display. There is no point to present it as the main "computer display" of iPad.
So the user has to continually shift his eyes back and forth from the iPad to the screen, as well as take their hands off the keyboard, to lift a Pencil to the vertical screen, and hover it unsupported in midair to make detailed selections, then put the pencil down to continue using the keyboard; all the while shifting their eyes from the iPad to the 4K monitor and back as they make the fine adjustments and make sure the Pencil is where they think it’s supposed to be on the iPad? Doesn’t really sound more efficient than a mouse ... in fact it sounds a lot worse, even if Apple only intended the external monitor to be used solely as a 4K reference display and not a workspace.
All your long anecdotal narration is irrelevant. The iPad is not for desktop usage. If you don't want to leave your comfy desk get a laptop. Neither the folding keyboard nor the 4K display are main components of iPad Pro. The monitor is there only to watch 4K iMovie edits. Besides that there is absolutely no point in buying a 4K monitor for the iPad Pro.
OK if your point is to get a trackpad on that foldable keyboard, then this is not possible: 1) How will you power it? 2) What if people with disabilities or long fingernails want to attach a mouse to that keyboard? How will you power both? 3) There is no pointer in iOS. Your request requires the whole UI to be re-written for the mouse interface. That won't happen, buy a Surface it has both touch and mouse. I am off that mouse discussion.
It should just work. If you have to do a work around, the concept is compromised. Then add the escalating prices on anyone wanting anything other than base config. Well, TBH the base config has no doubt impressive margins already, so it is galling. Like far too many Apple products, the iPad Pro has become too expensive to recommend.
i honestly can’t recommend the iPad Pro. Very regretfully. The basic iPad with the old pencil, with its stupid charging solution, is the iPad I have had my workplace switch to from iPad pros. The constant war I have with the Apple Hating IT department to have iPads at all, means I really don’t need the extra lead in the saddle bag of the iPad Pro price. Actually, rather than lead in the saddle bag, maybe it’s plutonium in the saddle bag. Apple product prices is always the first weapon IT use against my use case.
Then IT moves to file management arguments (I have no answer here), and connectivity to local printers and presentation hardware. The day Surface comes with built in GPS it’s game over.
Yeah, prices. IT depts hate Apple products because their practices (& so jobs) become largely redundant which actually reduces price per seat - those salaries/services contracts ain’t cheap.
All arguments (& most across the web on iPad Pro) are down to people not getting that you don’t employ the same practice to different products, not Windows PCS, not Macs, iPads. If you do, you either spend too much money or beak the service & productivity workflows built on it. You shouldn’t need to change these, just the practice-layer/people.
Files; I use iPad Pro with OneDrive for Business +SharePoint. Done. Printers; I use a modern, AirPrint compatible printer. Don. Presentations; I use AppleTV (the most robust wireless solution) for KeyNote, PowerPoint & best of all - iBooks (as the contain reference material which you can duck into professionally) Cost; no IT involvement means huge savings.
Good luck.
While it's true Apple devices are more reliable that Windows, when they do have an issue they're a nightmare to deal with. I do the Mac support for my company and when there's a problem none of the tools Windows has exist. At best there are poor third party solutions like JAMF. I've used Apple since the 80's but there are days when a simple issue makes me want to throw the whole bunch out and make everyone use Windows. Apple is very business unfriendly.
Comments
1 External Drive support - use a WiFi Drive
2 Lack if mouse - use the Apple Pencil
3 Headphone jack - use a dongle or a device with a usb c jack. 3.5 headphone jacks have gone from mobile devices
4 Overpowered - come on, rendering a video in less than half the time is a problem. It will also future proof the iPad.
5 Storage - see 1
Gave serious thought to switching over the iPad as my main computing device. However, what held me back were several things.
1. The typing experience is far better with a laptop than with the cobbled together external keyboard-iPad combination.
2. The combination of good keyboard, indeed, a real keyboard, and a good trackpad and/or mouse cannot be replicated--YET--with an iPad.
3. I use Word and Excel extensively with both customized greatly (something far less possible now in the latest versions even on the Mac)-- and I use the trackpad or mouse all the time. Both keep me sticking to an older MBA. (I have tried Pages and Numbers and while they have some good features, the overall experience and capabilities are lacking in comparison to decades of Office use.)
4. I am able to fully backup my MacBook Air (Carbon Copy Cloner) and know that, if disaster strikes, I have a *complete* full restorable copy of my hard drive.
Alas, one cannot do that with an iPad. There is no complete backup from the iPad to a drive (or the Mac). Instead, one synchs via iTunes, which is only a partial backup and gives priority to what's on the Mac. I cannot, e.g., have *ALL* my photos, ebooks, etc. copied to the Mac; instead, I have to sync them in a process that can be quite convoluted. I have ToDo apps, news reading apps, and ebooks apps that do NOT make mirror copies of all settings, bookmarks, categories, etc. You may wish to blame the developers, but Apple should provide a way of backing up the ENTIRETY of an i-device to a Mac or hard drive.
One could respond by suggesting using iCloud, but I do not want my taxes, business and medical information, personal letters, political material, private notes, etc. stored on a 3rd party server.
Apple needs to create a Carbon Copy Cloner type app that will make an exact duplicate of an iPhone, iPod Touch, or iPad on a Mac or external hard drive.
5. For many people, an iPad is fully-functional, useful, computer, one that takes care of everything they need. For me, it is an excellent complement to Mac and even does many things much better--ebook reading, newspaper reading, tech forum browsing (but not commenting), running various apps pertaining to my hobbies, etc. But neither can substitute for the either!
See also:
https://www.imore.com/best-flash-drives-backing-your-iphone
https://www.macworld.co.uk/feature/iphone/best-external-storage-drives-for-iphone-ipad-3579792/
2. Pencil is the worst possible mouse substitute I can imagine, as not only must one move their hands from the keyboard to touch the screen, but then they have to pick up and put down a pencil, with no support to stabilize it in mid-air.
3. Great if someone is using an Android Phone with USB-C, unfortunately with an iPhone, one needs to carry two dongles, and that’s a poor solution. BT is better, if latency and audio quality are not a concern.
4. Agreed
https://appleinsider.com/articles/18/11/16/youtuber-unsurprisingly-discovers-that-if-you-try-to-bend-an-ipad-pro-it-will-actually-break
Pencil is the worst possible mouse substitute when playing Call of Duty. But on that, the mouse is not the best input device neither, there are game controllers for that. Yet I don't see people discussing "mouse or game controller" in gaming forums, why are we into such a pointless discussion here?
Pencil can do everything that a mouse can do and even more. The mouse is a mechanical pointing device of the 1960s. Pencil is a 21st century technology and there is state of the art engineering in it, encompassing both the display and the device. Pencil is not a stylus, a stylus is a stick compared to Pencil. What the mouse interface provided and the touch interface couldn't provide was the precision data selection. With Pencil, precision data selection is possible even better than the best mouse or trackpad can provide.
Again to your car analogy, whilst the P1 has the power to tow a trailer - much like the iPad Pro has enough power to do pretty much anything - it hasn't got a towing hitch so in practise, it can't tow anything at all; just as the iPad is constrained by iOS's limitations. iPads used to be cheap, so the limits of iOS were put down to the cost, but with the inflated iPad Pro price, that's not an excuse anymore. So ultimately it's not about adapting your workflow to suit the iPad, the problem is there are still a number of very important things you simply cannot do on iOS; making it at best awkward as your single, main computer.
It is utterly awful. Half the time you get stuck in a quote box and can't type outside it, and have to edit the HTML manually. It's complete crap, we've been saying this for years but no one at AI seems to listen/care.
The fact that a task is possible on a phone or tablet does not mean it's automatically equivalent to a laptop or desktop in terms of ease-of-use, speed, workflow (particularly within a facility where one's work is part of a chain), or any other productivity measure. iPads have opened up a new form of computing that is better than a laptop for some things. That's awesome in itself. It doesn't mean that it's better than -- or even equivalent to -- previously existing input and interaction methods for some kinds of work.
Besides, even putting all that aside, the iPad Pro's marketing includes using the keyboard stand and an external monitor. Both make touch a less effective control method than using a mouse.
If you'd watched the Keynote you'd know or you already know that the reason to attach a 4K monitor to iPad Pro is to follow iMovie edits in real time 4K, since the iPad's own display is not 4K. The actual iPad page on Apple's site mentions only "USB-C for ... external display" and says nothing about that external display. There is no point to present it as the main "computer display" of iPad.
2. Use a pencil while the iPad is positioned semi-vertically on the keyboard, and/or while viewing the image on that external monitor the iPad now supports? I wish you luck making it work in either of those obvious scenarios.
3. If I use a dongle to feed the sound system, where will I connect the cable for the projector?
I did watch the Keynote and I didn't get that impression. To me it looked like just using one possible application among many as an example. Assuming I misunderstood and that really is Apple's sole intent, it seems like a whole lotta tech, effort, and expense for not much payoff.
So the user has to continually shift his eyes back and forth from the iPad to the screen, as well as take their hands off the keyboard, to lift a Pencil to the vertical screen, and hover it unsupported in midair to make detailed selections, then put the pencil down to continue using the keyboard; all the while shifting their eyes from the iPad to the 4K monitor and back as they make the fine adjustments and make sure the Pencil is where they think it’s supposed to be on the iPad? Doesn’t really sound more efficient than a mouse ... in fact it sounds a lot worse, even if Apple only intended the external monitor to be used solely as a 4K reference display and not a workspace.
OK if your point is to get a trackpad on that foldable keyboard, then this is not possible: 1) How will you power it? 2) What if people with disabilities or long fingernails want to attach a mouse to that keyboard? How will you power both? 3) There is no pointer in iOS. Your request requires the whole UI to be re-written for the mouse interface. That won't happen, buy a Surface it has both touch and mouse. I am off that mouse discussion.