“7 years after the iPad release, some of us are still trying to parse out if it is a real computer,” Gabe Weatherhead writes for MacDrifter. “I, for one, have given up. Everything is a computer now. Some just have more well defined roles. While I consider my iPad Pro and my MacBook Pro to both be computers, they are different kinds of computers.”
“Steve Jobs once likened the Mac to a truck and iOS to a car. Even with how little he knew of the future of iOS back in 2013, I still think it was a bad analogy,” Weatherhead writes. “If anything iOS is a motorcycle. It’s fun, light, and makes you think really hard about what you might need on a road trip. With the iPad Pro and the changes planned in iOS 11, iOS computing has come very close to replacing my Mac. But close is still not enough for me. I could certainly get by with a motorcycle for 90% of what I use a car for but that last 10% is going to hurt. A drive to work? Sure. No sweat. A trip to Ikea? GTFO.”
“The simple fact that iOS still has a screen that directs you to plug into a Mac to recover the device, tells me what Apple thinks of iPad independence,” Weatherhead writes. “Apple has a blind spot that I think might mean the iPad never has parity with the Mac. The App Store just doesn’t encourage big powerful app development. The price point on the iOS App Store is too low…”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Those big apps are coming and will continue to come to iOS. They will simply be paid for via recurring subscriptions, not upfront. The developers are and will continue to come because iOS is simply too lucrative and especially as Apple returns iPad to growth – which has to (finally) start soon now with the $329 iPad, the new iPad Pros, and iOS 11 (which gives developers and users powerful new tools including Multi-Touch Drag and Drop, a Finder (Files.app), improved multitasking, etc.
If we are now seriously looking at replacing our road Macs with iPad Pro units, we’re certain that millions more other users are, too. We’re finally at the tipping point in mobile computing between traditional personal computers and iPads.
SEE ALSO:
10.5-inch iPad Pro: Back on an Apple computing device, but not in the form I anticipated – June 23, 2017
Apple’s powerful, new 10.5-inch iPad Pro is a typing champ – June 22, 2017
Apple’s iPad Pro and iOS 11 will finally kill the MacBook Air – June 21, 2017
How Apple’s iPad Pro’s 120Hz ProMotion technology works – and why it’s awesome! – June 21, 2017
Tim Bajarin: Apple’s iOS 11 finally brings Steve Jobs’ vision for the iPad to life – June 20, 2017
Macworld reviews Apple’s 10.5-inch iPad Pro: ‘If any iPad replaces the MacBook, it’s this one’
Tuesday, June 20, 2017
CNBC review: In the market for a new tablet? You should buy Apple’s new 10.5-inch iPad Pro – June 17, 2017
TechCrunch reviews new 10.5-inch iPad Pro: ‘Apple pays off its future-of-computing promise’ – June 14, 2017
Apple’s game-changing 12.9- and 10.5-inch iPad Pros arrive in stores – June 13, 2017
Jim Dalrymple reviews Apple’s new 10.5-inch iPad Pro: Highly recommended – June 12, 2017
LAPTOP reviews Apple’s new 10.5-inch iPad Pro: Amazingly fast performance beats most Windows laptops – June 12, 2017
Ars Technica reviews Apple’s 10.5-inch iPad Pro: Much more ‘pro’ than what it replaces – June 12, 2017
These go to 11: Apple makes iOS more Mac-like and iPad’s promise is finally realized – June 9, 2017<
Only the Haters!
iPad is not needed at all get a MacBook and be done with it it’s a waste of money
I’m not a hater and love my iPad most of the time, but I know that’s nonsense. It will NEVER replace my PC
For sure. But, ahh, if you have the budget for it (and the mind bandwidth to handle having multiple gadgets to maintain), would it/could it not supplement it nicely?
I don’t really understand what the problem is. It seems as though people want Apple to stop making the iPad simply because the sales aren’t high enough to suit certain people. Honestly, times can change and maybe eventually people will come back to using tablets. No one is ever saying that Amazon should stop making the Kindle Reader just because sales might not be high or people can use other tablets in a pinch to read books. Maybe the iPad will never have parity with a Mac running OSX but that could change at any time. I wish people would stop concerning themselves about who does or doesn’t want an iPad. Apple must think it’s relevant or they would have discontinued it like the iPod Classic.
I think if Apple every gets those health care projects going in full swing, the iPad is going to be the go-to device for health care professionals. Meanwhile, Apple should keep building iPads and continue to perfect them. None of us really know what Apple’s long-term plans are for the iPad.
I’m not rich, but who the hell thinks that we must or even can own a single device?!? I need a phone, I need a Mac. The iPad Pro is an incredible tool that keeps getting better. And I don’t do much traveling. For my art/musical projects, I find all three devices useful if not necessary at different times for different purposes. Content consumption/ creation, they are all part of my arsenal. A fork, a knife, and a spoon. Bikes, cars, and trucks…
Precisely my dear Watson. We need all the flavors of the computing spectrum. One size or type will not fit all or all purposes. Ain’t it glorious?
agreed…the Apple Pencil is just incredible.
Would you put a load of concrete bags on the back of a motorcycle? Would you ride it though driving snowstorm? Could you make it work in a rain storm? No. No. Yes. Just because you could drive it in a rain storm doesn’t mean it would be a good experience. Same for iPad versus Mac. You can make the iPad do many of the things a Mac does, and visa versa, but they really do what each of them does best. I can drive a nail with a screw driver, but I wouldn’t want to.
It still needs mouse trackpad support.
The car vs truck problem is that trucks have and always will, sell more than the best car… F150 #1 selling vehicle for like a zillion years!…
And now? Trucks have 4 doors and can be people’s cars also. And then the crossover and compact SUV market, while traditional cars are fading.
Microsoft got the crossover idea right. They just don’t execute well and it’s Windoze…
But I keep wanting my MacBook display to be able to tear off and use as an iPad… nope. Even if it didn’t use touch but used an Apple Pencil that would be fine…
Mac is a computer.
iPad is a good mobile extension to a computer.
___________
iPad apps are subsets or complements of their equivalents in Mac.
The (nowadays) lack of an adequate file system/manager is the worst problem.
Damn sandboxing!
In order for it to replace a laptop it needs specks like one. It needs ports. It needs to support local storage options hd thumb drives etc. it needs to support dvd/blurry burners and other things people may want. Hating to say it but in regards to a closer thing replacing a laptop it’s a Surface Pro. It gives more options. Simple as that.
Whatever!!
Fact is that Apple inc. has multiple devices, covering a multitude of shapes and sizes. Each form factor sells at a premium price compared to the competition, whether Macs, iPads, iPhones etc, where the competition are chasing EACH OTHER (.. not Apple inc.) for meagre margin and often zero profit.
The iPad has clearly evolved from its initial stratospheric trajectory to settling down and selling many millions every quarter, with a clear strategy of allowing Apple’s own devices to canabalise where it makes sense; the clearest example here is the iPad mini loosing sales to iPhone plus models, where customers could get a larger iPhone that would suffice for truly mobile computing (keeping users within the Apple inc. ecosystem).
However, make no mistake, the latest 2017 iPad Pro models will see a huge refresh by the existing customer base, plus yet more powerful pro apps that will define use cases beyond what we currently see, especially with the push into Augmented Reality (I.e. If IKEA and other dominant retailers take immersive shopping into the home), this has a huge market potential).
In other words, the iPad is evolving, improving and gaining more and more ground across an ever wider number of use cases.
Fact: Apple inc. is defining its own future across all of its device families because nobody else can compete against an organisation that controls everything, from software, hardware, silicon, user experience, bricks-and-mortar.
Did Steve have a time machine to travel to 2013? “Even with how little he knew of the future of iOS back in 2013” Steve wasn’t around in 2013. He may have known the future if iOS in 2011, but it’s impossible for anyone to know anything 2 years after death.
I can’t remember the last time I picked up one of my iPads. I charge them every few months…not sure why.
The iPad will never be a decent computer replacement for anyone who does significant typing. With a Mac, the full size keyboard of your choice is way more effective. The mouse or trackball is dramatically faster in selecting text or touching up images. Ios apps are too limited–impossible to effectively multitask with several windows. And finally, an iPad screen is way too small for detail content creation.
The ipad is a consumption or elementary clerking device, that is all.
Get a Mac if you intend to create anything.
The question is not whether the iPad is a computer. Of course it is a computer. The question is whether the iPad is a computer replacement. As far as I’m concerned, the answer is definitely “No!” A stubby finger is a poor substitute for a precise screen cursor, which makes almost any kind of editing on a touch screen (e.g. text editing or image editing) a slow and cumbersome process.
The iPhone replaced the iPod, cellphone, camera, alarm clock, etc. Today, there should be one device to replace the MacBook, iPhone, and iPad. Maybe that product is Smart AR Glasses. Some might say a keyboard and trackpad will still be needed for typing, etc, but my guess is the device will track eye movements, and interact with an AR keyboard. The user would select letters, or, with the help of contextual AI, pick word options with their eyes. If their eyes get tired then maybe there will be a sensor at the bottom of the device to detect out-of-view finger input. Using verbal commands is another input option, but that can’t be used in every situation.
Ten years from now we will be laughing about how we thought swiping on glass was one of the coolest things ever.
Riiiiight..
Here’s the real take:
https://m.hardocp.com/news/2017/06/27/former_engadget_verge_chief_trashes_new_ipad_pro/
Why are you removing my posts MDN? Are you seriously in the business of free speech suppression? Do you believe in only allowing one “proper” opinion?
Wow even though you’re an obviously pro-Apple website, I expected more from you.