mac_128

georgie01 said:

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.

svanstrom said:

seanismorris said:

I’m not sure why anyone would want to do this...

An iPad makes for an expensive but tiny screen.  You can get a high quality 34” for $500-$700...

Which is $500-$700 more than if you use an iPad you’ve got laying around.

Sooner or later I’ll get a new Mac mini for BitTorrent, media storage and backups; and I’ll use an iPad to interact with it whenever I don’t want to switch on the tv that’ll be connected to.

(And… Right now I’m using this type of a thing to have the iPad as a mobile second screen for my MBP.)

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. 

Andrew_OSU said:

bb-15 said:

“Is the iPad Pro really a pro device?” 

I’ll put aside the small niche use of pro artwork/photo editing with the Apple Pencil (or simple point of sale registers).
Also, any tablet/large smartphone can be used for basic note taking/form input in the field (such as in a doctor’s office). That doesn’t make it a professional computer device.
Why?

* ~$1000 Laptops are commonly used by professionals which can completely do all their job computer tasks.
The test is whether the 2018 iPad Pro could completely replace a laptop for typical professional work.
In most situations I know of the 2018 iPad Pro falls short.
- For instance in an office setting with multiple computers for basic word processing, email, video attachments, database programs.
Hardware: The 2018 iPad Pro can connect to a larger monitor with the iPad + Apple Pencil trying to act as a trackpad/mouse substitute. (Complete control of the UI by the Pencil would be needed.)
But to charge the 2018 iPad at the same time needs a dongle. If one gets a video (with sound) to review, you need a dongle to work with wired headphones+charging+video out. I haven’t heard if that’s possible with the 2018 iPad Pro yet.
The 2018 iPad Pro needs more ports.
Software: besides problems with file management, iOS needs multiple floating windows, including in the email app, for better work flow.
- The 2018 iPad Pro falls short to replace a laptop in typical basic office work.

Those are going to certainly vary by job, which is what I said right at the inset. In my previous job as a Digital Marketing Manager, I used the iPad just fine work. It is roughly the same price as a laptop, affords more portability, and a lot of software is cheaper. It can easily do word processing, email, video attachments, and databases (I used several apps to tap into web-apps for DBs, as well as MySQL and SQL DBs). Some companies use proprietary software or others that may not be represented on iPad, but that isn't the tablets fault.

I also don't see the issue of one port. When connected to most USB-C monitors, the tablet charges at the same time, so a non-issue. Otherwise, it still lasts many hours before needing to be charged. It could powered up over lunch, or a cheap adapter can be picked up, a minimal expense for a workplace. Headphones can be Bluetooth which would nullify that issue as well. Most offices used shared document solutions such as cloud storage or private servers, which all can be accessed on iPad, again, not an issue.

I know it won't fit in many offices yet, but many offices can easily use iPads as computer replacements. 

chasm said:

A lot of people have picked up on the fact that for typical use, an iPad (not even Pro) is a suitable laptop replacement with some extremely minor tricks to learn (like split screen) to use it to its full potential. The iPad Pro is a suitable laptop replacement for people who primarily use a computer to create drawn art -- I predict over time it will also become the tool of choice for photo editing (it's very near that now).