“First impressions last a lifetime, goes the adage,” John Gruber writes for Daring Fireball. “You’re going to have to forget your first impressions of the iPad to understand the iPad Pro.”
“The iPad Pro now impresses solely by dint of its engineering. Anyone who doesn’t see this is blinded by their established impressions of the first few iPads,” Gruber writes. “For the moment, put aside the form factor differences (tablet with optional keyboard vs. hinged clamshell), conceptual differences in iOS and OS X (direct touchscreen manipulation of full-screen apps vs. a mouse pointer and tiled windows) and software differences (simpler iOS apps vs. more complex OS X apps). All those points are worth consideration, but for now, put them aside. Right now, today, the iPad Pro is a peer to the current lineup of MacBooks in terms of computational hardware performance.”
“For me, the iPad Pro marks the turning point where iPads are no longer merely lightweight (both physically and conceptually) alternatives to MacBooks for use in simple scenarios, to where MacBooks will now start being seen as heavyweight alternatives to iPads for complex scenarios,” Gruber writes. “Is it a MacBook replacement for me, personally? No. For you? Maybe. For many people? Yes. It brings me no joy to observe this, but the future of mass market portable computing involves neither a mouse pointer nor an x86 processor.”
Tons more in the full review here.
MacDailyNews Take: Oh, but John, there can be much, much joy without the mouse, its pointer, or x86 processors! Magic, even.
Hopefully, though, Apple won’t stop making trucks for people like us until comfortably after we discover we no longer need them because Apple has obviated their need to exist.
Death is very likely the single best invention of life. It is life’s change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. — Steve Jobs
SEE ALSO:
Mossberg reviews Apple’s iPad Pro: Graphics folks will love it, but I’m sticking with my iPad Air – November 11, 2015
The Verge reviews Apple’s iPad Pro: Could this replace my MacBook? – November 11, 2015
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Dan K.” for the heads up.]