“There’s been a lot of talk about whether or not the iPad Pro can replace your Mac as a primary device,” Jim Dalrymple writes for The Loop. “I think the simply answer to that question is, yes, it can. However, for me, the bigger question is do I want the iPad to replace my Mac? The answer to that question is, no.”
“There are a tremendous number of people out there that can use an iPad as their main computer. Those that surf the web, check email and social networks, and other touch oriented tasks where the iPad excels,” Dalrymple writes. “There are those that can do complex tasks on iPad and use it as an everyday computer. This number is growing all the time.”
“I’m not suggesting the iPad isn’t powerful, because it is. The iPad Pro is more powerful than most of the PCs on the market today. What I am saying is that if you truly want an iPad to replace your Mac, it can,” Dalrymple writes. “However, I just don’t think we are there yet.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Yes, for anyone who feels that they are forcing themselves to use an iPad where they’d prefer to use their Mac, the iPad is not there, yet. For many, iPad is there already. As iOS and iOS apps continue to evolve and the hardware gets ever more powerful and sophisticated, most of us will get there eventually.
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TIME Magazine reviews iPad Pro: ‘The best computer Apple has ever made’ – November 16, 2015
Apple’s new iPad Pro debuts with forced reboots, missing Apple Pencils – November 16, 2015
Apple’s perplexingly incomplete launch of the iPad Pro – November 16, 2015
I’ve ditched my MacBook for an iPad Pro; here’s why – November 16, 2015
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iPad Pro: Day 2 and already making my work better, easier, and faster – November 13, 2015
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Apple’s new iPad Pro is faster and more affordable than beleaguered Microsoft’s Surface Pro 4 – November 12, 2015
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Apple’s joyless iPad Pro launch: WTF are the Apple Pencils and Smart Keyboards? (4-5 weeks away) – November 12, 2015
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Horace Dediu reviews Apple’s iPad Pro: Unlike anything we’ve ever seen before – November 11, 2015
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Gruber reviews Apple’s iPad Pro: A MacBook replacement for many
Wednesday, November 11, 2015
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
For a great many people who do not have computers and use their phones as their primary (and only) computer, the iPad is already there. And I think the iPad Pro will help push some of these people into buying their first computer. For these people there’s nothing a laptop or desktop can do for them that an iPad can’t.
But please, STOP dumbing down MacOSX apps for the sole purpose of making them *feel* more like iOS apps.
Instead, investigate how iOS apps could behave more like MacOSX apps. I am referring here to: improving the preference system, access to (possibly only) remote file systems
And more importantly: a document filing system organized around PROJECTS rather than APPS.
I’d like to see Apple focus on increasing the ability to tag files and utilize those tags in smart folders and searches. Much of this could be automated the the user needs to have tight control when he/she wants it. This would apply to OSX and iOS.
“But please, STOP dumbing down MacOSX apps for the sole purpose of making them *feel* more like iOS apps”
100% agree!
This may sound like heresy but what I think the iPad needs is a mouse/trackpad interface. There’s no getting away from the fact that using your fingers is far from optimal for certain kinds of tasks. Editing a long document would be an example. When you are sitting at a desk using the keyboard and you want to move the cursor, select parts of text, draw diagrams etc, there is nothing that I have seen yet that matches a trackpad or a mouse. Until we have that (or some other solution that is as powerful), an iPad is not going to be a Mac replacement.
– HCE
Dont you think thats the whole pont ofthe Pencil ?
Good point.
I’m sure the pencil helps with certain things but it does not help much with the use case I am describing. If I am using it like a laptop (setting it down on a table and using the keyboard), I don’t want to be stretching my hand towards the screen over and over again to do things I would typically do with a mouse/trackpad.
Maybe Apple will come up with a new way of interacting with the iPad that makes the mouse/trackpad unnecessary – until then, it cannot be a laptop replacement for me.
– HCE
The pencil can help with certain things.
Yes, it is heresy.
I agree that the touch IO is not optimal for editing text or spreadsheets. But I’d also strongly argue that a mouse and/or trackpad is also suboptimal. Nothing beats a keyboard with arrow navigation key to edit text and spreadsheets.
I’m likely to get an iPad Pro for scoring music with Notion, PDF sheet music with ForScore, and comic books with Comic Zeal. I expect each use case to be the best possible of any device. It will replace my iPad Air, not my 5K iMac.
It won’t ever be there… I never want to have to use my finger to select and edit text. Ever. And I want access to the file system. I have 9Tb of storage in use right now. I know where my stuff is and I want direct access to it. Locally.
I’m with you and Dalrymple. I love my iPad. I love my Mac even more. Yes to the file system, yes to the Unix command prompt, yes to a 25″ screen for debugging, yes to attaching a DVD recorder/player…EASILY!
I strongly agree that the iPad Pro is not a “replacement” for a desktop computer, or even a laptop for many/most of us professional or power users.
I also think you are cheating yourself out of an incredible tool if you avoid the iPad Pro over this silly premise.
For a very large number of users, the iPad Pro, or an air, or mini is all the computer they will ever need. For many Professionals the iPad pro is a powerful computing tool to use alongside a desktop, laptop, mainframe, workstation, etc. Those who seem confused are most likely the tweeters, those who fall somewhere in between.
Submitted from my iPad Pro
Until the iPad has dual 27″ screens, I’ll be keeping my Mac.
> There are those that can do complex tasks on iPad and use it as an everyday computer. This number is growing all the time.
Actually, I think the number (as a percentage of total Mac and iPad users) has mostly stabilized. The Mac portion is growing, based on sales from the latest completed quarter
4Q 2014 – iPad 12.3M – Mac 5.5M
4Q 2015 – iPad 9.9M – Mac 5.7M
but iPad Pro will no doubt give the iPad portion a boost.
Over time, I think the ratio of iPad-to-Mac users has become more or less stable. There was initial excitement over iPad and the “coolness” of using the multi-touch interface, and higher sales “filled the void” of a new product category (no existing iPads before 2010). Now, customers are choosing based on their preferences, and the relative strengths of the Mac and iPad user experiences. Some choose Mac, some choose iPad. They all choose Apple.
I’d rather use my 27″ inch iMac for reading email and surfing the web. Much easier on the eyes!
Heck, I can’t even get a Mac to replace my Mac. The (kind of) new coffee can Mac Pros are simply not a replacement for the ultra-versatile tower Mac Pros.
That hasn’t been my experience.
What constitutes “good” or “bad” hardware is often highly entangled with what one’s workflow and productivity requirements are.
In this regards, one’s personal experience can’t speak for all.
For example, given the topic here of the ‘trash can’ Mac Pro, it simply isn’t a solution that was as good as its predecessor for having high levels of high performance local data storage.
And ‘goodness’ here isn’t merely if the machine is capable of doing it – – because a nMP *can* attach a Promise Pegasus on Thunderbolt to provide 3.5″ bays – – but rather, if the solution not only has the _capability_ but is also of a comparable *value*.
And while USB3 appears to be an option, it introduces some hardware-centric system management issues there that mean that the compromise shifts to reliability. Choose your poison.
In the meantime, the thermal design envelope of the nMP is inferior to the old tower, which adversely affects some other workflows.
What the nMP appears to be good at (I say “appears” because it isn’t my use case) is to be a heavy lifting sprinter: it can very quickly crunch some 4K video (heavy lifting) editing … but because of its limitations, it can’t be too big of a project (thus, sprinting) before it runs out of fast local data storage or exceeds its thermal limits and slows itself down. As such, it is a specialty product with an even narrower niche than what the old Mac Pro was able to service.
A quick PS:
George nailed it with the word … “VERSATILITY”.
george, too bad you’re not carrying a big stick when you say that.
yes I love my 64lb shipping weight REAL Mac Pro, I use it mainly for backup storage because I can’t upgrade the OS beyond Snow Leopard ( hey wait, thats a good thing, except that much of my critical software requires the “latest and greatest” )
Only when full fledged software is availible and ofcourse a user managable file system.
And he doesn’t have to;
http://loumiranda.com/2015/11/17/literalists-the-ipad-pro-is-not-a-laptop-replacement-and-thats-a-good-thing/
Agree. I don’t want to replace my Mac with an iPad. I just want my Mac to continue to evolve. I find the replacement conversation strange especially considering there isn’t much of a cost benefit to going with an iPad Pro over a MacBook Air.
It will just take longer for the transition as all the old farts die out and the kids take over. Everybody wins!
I love my Mac, I really do.
I also really love my iPad,
but not for the same reasons.
I’ve been fantasising about running Logic Pro on the jumbo iPad. Maybe it will work as a drawing pad for logic running on my mbp ?
I played with one with the pencil at the local Apple Store and loved it. If this comes about I’m buying one just for that (and everything else that it’s got going). BTW I have tried various Wacoms but they just didn’t feel right.
The question isn’t whether the iPad can replace the Mac, but whether iOS can replace OSX. As I see it now, there’s no way. My iPhone 6+ has replaced my iPad mini, but it’s simply not possible to do many things (at least not comfortably and quickly) on it vs my Macbook Air.
Until they figure out how to make voice dictation or touch keyboard typing faster and more accurate than a regular keyboard and make finger touch a superior practice to Apple’s awesome trackpad, they’ll hit a ceiling, not to mention making iOS more OS X-like and not vice versa as they’ve been doing.
At last a sensible take on the situation. The iPad is wonderful at so much and adds to the Mac experience by making all those things I can do on a Mac totally mobile and away from my computer. And the latest iOS is a big leap forward too and makes me more comfortable on my iPd for a lot more things in particular communicating with the outside world. But there are still some things that I prefer to do on my Mac and some like my design work that can’t be done on an iPad as yet. But the non work stuff is narrowing all the time and if a few things improved then it could get a lot closer and take on more of my work biased fringe stuff too like research.
It needs better spell checking which prevents me from using it for heavy input or even as my first choice for this forum because the errors that creep in are annoying and more time consuming. It needs to have a forward back space because dealing with those errors is itself slow and ponderous or down to luck that you select what you need to. It needs better screen capture for when I am doing research. But generally the things are small and annoying but can be correctable over time as have the options for sending, storing and generally handling various selectable files, text and images in or related to documents and web. A traditional file structure isn’t vital for me but a better alternative for more heavy weight flexibility is probably the main improvement required but thats likely going to revolve around the cloud than the device overall but still a better system is required for many.
There’s been a lot of talk about whether or not the iPad Pro can replace your Mac as a primary device.
NO.
Use what fits your needs. I do NOT need to toss my Macs and use iPads instead. NOT gonna happen. Sheesh. End this stupid question already.
I believe that Steve said that some of us will always need to use trucks. When you are highly involved in (musical) content creation as Jim is, and I am, iOS is not enough. Personally, I’d be very happy and productive owning every device Apple makes, if I could afford it. But along with my phone, I need my iMac. Got an iPad 4. Whether my iMac with Superdrive or iPad gets refreshed first, we’ll see. Won’t be just one- it’ll be both.
Jim is right. Apple doesn’t make a bunch of widgets that hit the same exact market segment, so all talk of this replacing that is just idiotic drivel, spouted by an SEO-driven tech press hungry for clicks.
Hey MDN,
Maybe asking if the iPad Pro is a laptop replacment is the wrong question. Here’s another great perspecitve;
http://www.mondaynote.com/2015/11/23/ipad-pro-wrong-questions/