mac_128

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  • Here are the five biggest iPad Pro problems, because no device is perfect

    mac_128mac_128
    crosslad said:
    Here’s how to solve your problems:

    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
    GeorgeBMacwilliamlondon

  • Here are the five biggest iPad Pro problems, because no device is perfect

    mac_128mac_128
    So you’re saying lifting your hands off the external keyboard to touch the screen to manipulate your insertion point, or navigate the screen, or taking your eyes off an external monitor to look at the iPad screen in order to see where you’re putting your fingers to manipulate the screen is more serious and productive?

    Your objection seems to be semantic. I’m not sure anyone is saying an iPad isn’t a computer, but rather it’s not able to replace laptops and desktops, in the way one would assume from Apple’s engineering and  marketing efforts.
    lowededwookie said:
    A mouse is cumbersome and not very accurate despite the claims. There’s nothing about file transfer that warrants a mouse at all. Hell, I can edit video on an iPhone just as easily as using iMovie on the Mac so the lack of mouse does not hold the iPad Pro back as a serious computing device.
    GeorgeBMac

  • Here are the five biggest iPad Pro problems, because no device is perfect

    mac_128mac_128
    jurassic said:

    Actually, you can use external drives with iPads (even older iPads). Instead of connecting your drives by USB-C cable, you can connecting them wirelessly! I have a 1TB Seagate drive that has a battery and Wi_Fi built into it. I've been using it for years with my iPads and iPhones. And there are relatively inexpensive flash drives that you can buy, that also have an internal battery and Wi-Fi.

    The cool thing about using external drives wirelessly is that the drive can stay in your pocket, or on a table across the room, while you access files on it with your iPad.

    But, you don't need to buy a new wireless hard drive or flash drive if you already have external portable drives. You can buy a Kwilt (or another similar portable wireless server) and connect your drives to it. Then you can access the files on those drives either locally, or remotely access files on drives connected to your Kwilt and at home while you are away.

    I agree this is not one of the valid reasons for discounting an iPads usefulness as a MacBook replacement. Once people adjust to the iOS file management system, in many cases it’s a far more useful, if expensive, solution. However, speed is not one of the strong suits of wireless, or cloud based file transfer, which is one reason the iPad gets a bad rap. But again, it’s about the device that suits a users particular needs, not that the iPad won’t accomodate them.
    bb-15

  • Review: Apple's 11-inch iPad Pro is stunningly powerful, with a few key limitations

    mac_128mac_128
    MplsP said:
    MplsP said:
    They tout the processor power, etc, but what's the point if you can do little more than surf the web and compose e-mails?
    And you'd be wrong. You're literally not paying attention to all the apps that support the Pencil, the video editing apps, the myriad music production and synthesizer apps, the fact full Photoshop is coming next year, etc. "Little more" shows that maybe YOU are incapable of doing more than that on an iPad, but that doesn't mean others are.
    No - I didn't use my iPad Pro for drawing. It probably would have been better had I done that. I naively tried to use it as a replacement for my laptop and used it for other general uses and was routinely frustrated by how difficult it was to do things. For starters, the pencil and keyboard are necessities; so you can add $250 to the cost of the device. Even with those, routine tasks were so cumbersome that I found myself avoiding using it. Anything that involved any sort of file management or moving a file from one app to another was downright painful but trivial on my MacBook. It is possible that had I invested a bunch more money in 3rd party apps that my experience would have been better, but nominally, Apple's apps should have been up to the task.

    None of these issues were caused by hardware limitations. The were all due to the design of iOS. ultimately, it's still seems like a glorified smart phone OS that they've expanded to the iPad. IOS 11 was a huge jump forward. I'm hoping iOS 13 will be another quantum leap. until then, as powerful as the A12x processor is, there's really no point.
    I would agree that once you start using iOS methods for managing files, including hire party apps, cloud services, and wireless drives, you’d get used to handling your files that way. In that sense, you’re transferring your expectations of using a MacBook onto the iPad, and that’s wrong.

    But you’re not at fault for you’re expectations from the hardware side. Apple markets and sells the iPad with a keyboard presenting the expectation of using it like a MacBook, but does not give you the same ergonomic ability to navigate the device without touching the screen, and that in my opinion makes it impossible to use as a MacBook replacement, despite the apparent marketing, much less a desktop replacement using an external monitor.
    GeorgeBMac

  • Apple should keep Lightning for now, but USB-A has to die

    mac_128mac_128
    MplsP said:
    mac_128 said:
    MplsP said:
    rossggg said:
    Let's not pretend that there aren't USB-A charging outlets in facilities all over the world.  If we went to USB-C to lightning then we would still have to keep a USB-A to lightning cable handy to top off our lightning-based devices in cafes/airports/etc.  Then we are just going to have an extra cable to travel with and that doesn't make much sense over what we do now.  It makes more sense to either just replace the lightning port with USB-C so one pair of USB-A to USB-C and USB-C to USB-C cables can be used to charge any of our devices, or to wait for a wireless power standard that can truly replace charging cables entirely.
    This. USB A has become a standard. No matter how much Apple wants to deny it it is and will be the standard for a while. My kitchen has a USB A outlet in the wall. My 2017 car has 2 USB A outlets. At the airport, there were USB A charging outlets. The emergency battery packs sold in the airport vending machine have USB A outlets. On the plane, there were USB A outlets. In the rental car - USB A outlets. At the Hotel, USB A outlets. 

    Yes, I can get an adapter. I have one for my MacBook Pro because all it has is the damned USB C ports that aren't compatible with any accessory older than 6 months old, including every currently produced iPhone. Nor is it compatible with my company-issued security key. My question is why should we get an adapter so we can use it 90+% of the time instead of having a cable that just works without an adapter. And by the way, take a tour over to the Apple Store and look at the reviews for USB C adapters. The majority of them have 2 star reviews because they don't work. Even the lowly USB A - USB C adapter made by apple got panned because USB A plugs kept getting stuck in it. 

    I had a MacBook Air had the MagSafe connector which ran circles around USB C IME. It was quicker and easier to connect. It was reversible. It had a charging light so you could tell if it was charging or complete without even opening the device and it saved my ass several times when the dog or kids tripped over the cord. The only benefit of the USB C is I can plug it in on either side of the computer - something I still don't know that I need.

    I agree with the other posters - USB C is a mess. with USB A, you knew what you had. With USB C - you have no idea. You may have a charging cable. You may have a data cable. You may have both. you may have a thunderbolt cable. If you get a hub, it may allow for data, it may not. Ditto with charging. Even if it allows for data, it might not be thunderbolt. 
    Just because USB-A is bordering on ubiquity in installation does not mean the industry shouldn't push it to a better standard. USB-C seems in many respects a much better port for charging purposes. And it's not like there haven't been wholesale changes in connector standards before -- two-prong outlets to three-prong, four-pin phone connectors to modular, CAT-3 to Cat-5, and so on. I'll give you that USB-A is a darn near universal standard compared to the international electrical and phone variations, but the sooner the transition starts, the better. 

    More than likely this will start to change only after wireless charging become a common feature on the devices we currently need to plug into USB-A ports. Then it likely won't matter quite so much.
    USB C has 4 advantages that I can tell:
    1. reversibility
    2. Higher power capability 
    3. higher speed
    4. the ability to combine with thunderbolt 

    Number 4 is in some ways a liability because it creates confusion, making it more difficult to use. In the vast majority of cases, the speed and thunderbolt capability are completely unnecessary; for many/most purposes, USB 3 via a USB A connector was more than adequate. Likewise, there are the added power capacity of USB C is rarely needed as well. Not only that, not all cables are spec'd to meet this capability, adding additional confusion. The point in all this is the fact that as you said, we have a near universal standard with USB A and there are very few cases where it doesn't meet the needs. As such, there is no real benefit or driving force to change the standard. 
    All fair arguments, however, USB-C is a much smaller, more conservative design, which doesn’t rely on correct orientation. From a user standpoint it’s a considerable improvement over USB-A, and would make a huge difference when plugging something into a USB port on an outlet under a table or behind a couch. And it’s going to look better and take up less room in any device or panel in which it’s installed. The unfortunate reality is that economics will slow down the adoption of a better way, but eventually a truly beneficial improvement will overtake the former standard. My guess is designers and customers both will eventually pony up for the upgrades.
    watto_cobra