I can’t lie. I scoffed when I heard that Apple considered the iPad a computer. Surely no one takes people who use iPads with keyboards seriously?
Oh, how the tables have turned. I’ve spent the best part of the last six months on my iPad, and I’m actually enjoying it far more than I have on some of the sleekest, most powerful, most expensive laptops in my time.
To be fair, I’ve got the good fortune to have most of Apple’s current five-device iPad line-up on hand to make such a bold statement. But it’s not too far-fetched, even if you consider yourself a “power user”. There’s a huge caveat that comes with that statement, but we’ll get to it later.
MacDailyNews Take: Many, many people think they need a traditional “computer” who would be much better served with an iPad. They don’t know it, yet, but they will eventually. And, it’s only going to get (much) better with the release of iPadOS this fall!
Simple tools for simple tasks.
Which covers most peoples needs.
The best computer is the one you don’t see is what this article confirms.
The best computer, for me, is the one I control.
I’m not arguing ownership.
ya don’t use windows then ???
I love sarcasm, but I don’t understand this one. My Windows Computer are under my control. My iPads aren’t.
The best Xitizen is one your never hear from
Simple comment from a simple cynical fool whose only claim to fame is a bunch of narky, useless comments on an Apple news aggregation site.
Hard to believe these stupid articles keep get written and also covered on MDN for years. Over and over and over. THE IPAD IS NOT A REPLACEMENT FOR A COMPUTER LIKE A DESKTOP OR LAPTOP. The reasons come down to:
Lack of screen real estate. It’s absurd that a person would trade a 27” plus screen and multiple of them for a little iPad: pinching and zooming and scrolling hell.
Lack of processing power relatively speaking. Don’t even think about arguing that the iPad Pro is so powerful with machines like the Mac Pro, iMac Pro, MacBook Pro, etc. as options.
Multitouch is awkward and inefficient compared to the speed and precision of a mouse arrow to the level of 1 pixel.
IF YOU CAN REPLACE YOUR COMPUTER SUCH AS A DESKTOP OR LAPTOP WITH AN IPAD, YOU NEVER NEEDED ONE IN THE FIRST PLACE.
“THE IPAD IS NOT A REPLACEMENT FOR A COMPUTER LIKE A DESKTOP OR LAPTOPf” followed by
“IF YOU CAN REPLACE YOUR COMPUTER SUCH AS A DESKTOP OR LAPTOP WITH AN IPAD, YOU NEVER NEEDED ONE IN THE FIRST PLACE.”
So, it’s not a replacement until it IS a replacement. You could have just left out the paragraph in the middle. MOST people don’t need a computer. Go to an average person right now, ask them what they do on their computer and you will find that 100% of the very very simple tasks they do can be done on an iPad.
Most people don’t need a computer and when time comes to buy their NEXT computer, many will opt for an iPad.
Wrong again: it means that for those people who can just use an iPad, they never needed a different class of computer in the first place. However people discover that for themselves/how long that takes, is not known to us.
And neither you nor I know what the “average person wants/needs”. You have cited zero evidence to support your statement.
The bottom line is that the iPad does not replace a desktop or laptop: it does not invalidate and replace these classes of computers in the same way that a convertible car does not invalidate and replace a truck. This is meant in the general sense which is what the media and MDN seem to push based on some assumption that “most people can just use an iPad”.
Exactly right…
”Lack of screen real estate. It’s absurd that a person would trade a 27” plus screen and multiple of them for a little iPad”
It is absurd and yet it happens. I can’t believe i’m using and been using my iPad Pro instead my desktop PC. I even bought new very powerful pc and yet most of times i don’t turn it on, i’m using my iPad. Screen size really isn’t problem.
Also in speed using this iPad Pro feels same than my new i9 intel PC. Of course it’s not as powerful but in usage it feels like.
And you are exactly the kind of person who never needed a different class of computer in the first place: you can simply use the iPad.
That’s not true, i still need my PC for heavy work like making music and doing graphics, but nowdays i even do my photo editings with iPad. Amazing screen with very accurate colours.
Like you said it’s weird that you wanna use that small screen, but using iPad is just so effortless and enjoyable so you want to use it most of the times instead sitting next to your big screen or using slow awkward bad battery laptop with horrible screen.
Yeah and you also can’t take your desktop PC and sit back on your couch with it sitting in your lap nice and comfortably like an iPad. Each has their strengths.
And wait for iPadOS 13 with mouse support on the 12.9 inch iPad Pro sitting 8 few inches from your face and see how that is before you comment on precision etc.
Let me translate this to truth:
I’m an idiot with a light writing job that spends all day reading twitter, web browsing, and otherwise being a sap on humanity. I call this work. I want everyone to be a loser and do nothing of worth so I feel less bad about what a loser in life I am. I have no work output that takes any real skill or energy to create. If you’re a loser like me, join me, and declare this is the new world order to hide our sloth behind large numbers of our collective idiocy. We’ll declare this “working smarter, the new way” to hide that we really don’t do any hard work worth a damn, and are more or less useless drains on humanity, the ilk that inspired the chair denizens of WallE.
LOL. Wow.
I’ll be a bit kinder. The author is quite young and thus, doesn’t have a decade (or more) of “gotta keep” important records in email, PDFs, etc…and while his pic shows a fancy Sony alpha 9 dSLR, he’s clearly has not used it enough to have a few TB worth of RAW files to try to data-manage, such as how Apple’s iCloud service currently tops out at only 2TB.
Thanks for the down votes, folks … too bad you’re unwilling to step up to explain why.
FWIW, I have iPads too – – and I’m not pooh-poohing them. After all, they do a fine at handling the Pareto Principle’s proverbial majority which is the “lightweight” stuff.
And sure, they’re becoming even more capable to shrink the “not lightweight” exception … but that’s a dangerous assumption, because the technology is changing on these functions too: we no longer have 4MP cameras, but instead have 24MP: this regular, and cumulative, consumption of data creeps up on everyone, which is why Apple’s iPads aren’t 16/32/64GB storage anymore.
Case in point: RAW 4K video footage eats storage at a rate of ~2GB per minute.
And 8K is four times that.
They are overhyped though, and I have 2 “Pros”. Mainly for the stylus.
Well said. While I agree with MDN take for most folks, no way Jose will an iPad replace a Pro computer. Get a grip…
I’d switch except I cannot rip a movie on an iPad.
Not going to work for me and many others. The iPad is essentially a laptop at this point, I fail to find the insight in this. Before it was essentially a laptop, even this person with their modest needs couldn’t use it for much work. If you enjoy the iPad then go nuts, but incidentally, you can still do more with a MacBook. Sorry, but it’s true.
YOU can do more. Unfortunately, the vast majority of folks out there can’t even be bothered to open anything other than Mail and Safari. Actually, mail is probably a stretch as they likely use web clients for everything.
Sure. I’ll bet everyone drives a 2 seat convertible too. Every survey proves truck drivers and SUV owners never haul anything 90% of the time, so shouldn’t they voluntarily downsize because MDN can’t find any better memes to support this month?
For the price Apple charges for the iPads and accessories needed for the “average” user to half replace a Macbook at best—- why would you not simply buy the more capable product? Other than the horrid butterfly keyboards of course….
The minute Apple stops making Macs is the minute Apple is dead to me. ipads don’t replace Macs. Ipads are accessories with OBVIOUS limitations and compromises that only shills like MDN would ignore.
Wow, it is OBVIOUS that you are OBVIOUS
“SUV owners never haul anything 90% of the time” True, but when I need to haul something, I NEED to haul it, not just “want ” to.
And! when it snows in my beautiful canyon with 10% grade hills in both directions up and down, I tow (for free) those two seat convertibles so they can get to work. And then come home.
They are properly embarrassed, they are good people, just did not think things out.
The computer world is the same when you think about it.
Love my iPad Pro, which does Procreate very effectively.
For most other work, I need a proper desktop filing system, which iMac and MacBook Pro provide.
Shut The Heck Up. Quit promoting the mantra that an iPad alone will solve all your computing needs. It just isn’t true unless your need is simple. I can think of many reasons why “you shouldn’t too.” Screen real estate alone is a massive disadvantage.
Team a non-screen and all processing iPad with 8K Apple Monitor Glasses and maybe. (Nah!). Some things aren’t broke and don’t need fixing. They exist in an ideal form for human use. Keyboard, a big a** monitor(s) and mouse or trackpad aren’t broke.
Free English grammar lesson: in the sentence, “An iPad meets all my needs,” the word “my” is the first-person singular pronoun. It meets the speaker’s needs. If he meant that it met his reader’s needs, he would have used the pronoun “your.” If he meant somebody else’s needs, he would have used a third-person pronoun. There is no implication that an iPad will meet your needs. Criticizing the writer for not addressing your needs is missing the whole point he is making about the iPad meeting his needs as a professional who uses his computer to make a living. His advice applies only to other users with his needs. That isn’t you, so ignore the advice; don’t attack it.
The implication is his needs being met must mean it’s good for all. Which is of course wrong. You’re splitting semantic hairs.
Right on, PB…
yea yea yea, heard it before so many, many times from MDN. Some of us do stuff like science and research – where we rely on our laptops and desktops (remember those) to do the heavy lifting and all the grunt work. So much of the software and associated tasks I do on a daily basis is not an option on an iPad (yea, I have one so I know what I’m talking about). It’s a theme MDN repeats ad nauseum. May be true for some, but definitely not all of us laptop and desktop users, so please, please MDN, take a chill pill about this fave theme of yours.
You can do science and research with pen and paper. I would bet most of what you do is online anyway. That being said, your ‘needs’ don’t negate the fact that most people don’t need a computer as you describe it. Most people need access to:
News
Email
social media
entertainment
All of which can literally be done on an iPod.
And please. Don’t start whining that I don’t understand the needs of people that need computers. Most people actually don’t.
Who the fuck are you to determine what most people need????
Funny that. Opinions are like assholes. The there is the case of your face.
You don’t have to prove your stupidity in EVERY post. It’s redundant.
Don’t cry. someday you will matter to some pile of scat.
Citizen X, no.1 of the Fortune 1 eejeots, great accomplishment dude. You go you, No.1 farqwheat winner!
Xitizen C has an obvious a-hole instead of a mouth on his face
Oh. And literally 43 years experience in needs and wants regarding PCs. 43 years experience understand the computer and society.
Was it you going into electronic stores in 76 to see if they had computers. Damn Pet had a bigger hood than my Chevette to open it up.
Was it you that bought your first computer in 77. Was it you that got a job selling computers in 80. Back when you had to convince people they were useful.
No.
Was it you that sold your grandparents a computer which they passed down to your single mother that you learned ‘keyboarding’ on and to play Oregon Trail?
No?
Was it you that consider Gates, Jobs, Osborne, The Terrell Brothers your equal? Was it you that insisted in a “genius” window when we redesigned the Byte Shop NW stores. By the way. They looked remarkably like the apple stores today.
Was it you that was asked to teach a computer course at a community college? No. Well it was me.
I could go on and on but I don’t expect a blockheaded troll to be able to process complex thoughts.
Was it you that they say this about?
“In 1984 or so, upstairs in our offices at 2030 Fifth Ave in Seattle, Oscar told me the future of computers was as a communications device more than as a computational device. As someone who had just learned Lotus 123, this came a quite a shock. But as usual, Oscar was right and the rest of us were just too slow to see what was obvious to him. And with that he hooked up our first LAN, and I started down a path that I continue to this day. Thanks for the tip, Oscar.”
No. I didn’t think so.
So I will leave you with this.
Grow up.
I will trust my opinion back by 43 years qualified experience.
You have an asshole. Every one else has an opinion.
Wait
You are an asshole. Every one else has an opinion.
Dear secret king, no one cares about your experience or bloated opinion of yourself. Instead of 8 lame comments in a single post how about you be a good little boy and use your vast Steve Jobs-equaling genius to make one good one. Maybe you’ll finally get the pat on the head you’ve been craving
spare me. I’m actually retired and make a comment once in a while. the idiot you fellate seems to need to try to make me feel bad. Is that you d or another personality.
Bloated?
Well, i guess since your parents buying an iPhone for your birthday present makes you qualified to judge me… nothing i can do about it.
I didn’t start this idiot.
I gave my opinion. Like it or not. I Don’t Really Care! Do U!
And it is obvious you do.
Citizen x, no.1 HATED FARQWHEAT on the forums and SECRET Bill Gates lover, too dumb to do anything of value, a DOPE
We all know by now potty mouth X is struggling to be relevant. Unfortunately, he has nothing enlightening to say beyond badgering those that disagree with him. It is what it is…
Sorry, but being old is not a excuse for your stupidity.
FYI: I learned Basic on a well-used Digital PDP-8 which shared 16K of memory among four teletypes.
Which brings us back to my original question. Who the fuck do you think you are you to determine the needs of others?
awww is it confused by the concept of opinions.
LOL. Liar.
Go here. watch the video. You can masturbate to me at about 18:00 minutes in. If you want to do so reading before you drift off to your post otgasm sleep, read the newsletter posted. You will see my name as secretary for the group. I volunteered to be secretary as we sponsored the group and I had to be there anyway. The next year (the kent references on page one), I was President of the group.
What? Alan Kay came all the way from cupertino to bring us the ROM listing for the Atari computer.
ALAN ‘FUCKIN’ KAY flew up to deliver the Atari ROM listing to our user group. Damn!
Where is my DynaBook. I’m sorry. Where is my iPad.
See. Even then, us intelligent people understood that most people don’t need the “classical” definition of computers.
Access to information is all that is needed for MOST PEOPLE.
iPhone. The computer in your pocket.
Forgot the link
http://hasten.co
damn I wish this site allowed editing.
Sorry. No response to my other post.
It’s been a mirage iOS-crazy Tim Cook has been dreaming of to become a “Post PC Era” hero with his version of “forward vision”. But he needed the deep understanding of underlying technology which he lacks. But an iPad is a superb tool for manipulating P/L etc on Excel.
Whaaa???
Excel is an absolutely indispensable tool for millions. But it ABSOLUTELY SUCKS on an iPad or any tablet. Not only is it severely watered down, the screen size and horrible inaccurate finger selection make it the slowest most infuriating mistake prone mess. Not a fan of touchscreens at all for any numerical or word processing work.
Add to that the reality that iPads can’t multiprocess for shit, and output and file sharing options are similarly constrained to weak slow inconsistent messes —- yeah, just buy a Mac.
Lol, you are absolutely correct but I was somewhat tongue-in-cheek about “Tim Cook using an iPad” for serious works, particularly with anything that might require MSFT (MisFit?) Office level of tasks. So far, all photos of Tim Cook at his working desk (or any desk) showed iPad opening in front of him. Was he working on manipulating numbers to figure out the highest possible price he thought he could apply on certain product lines? I do not know if it’s a marketing ploy or he was really serious in advocating doing everything on iPad, as he had been doing for quite sometime, all the while pushing the idea of convergence between iOS devices and Macs, until he openly admitted that it was not what the market wanted. But they did come up with a dedicated iPad OS which should make iPads far more useful. But iPad is not for me for any serious work, not as yet for any foreseeable future. But you never know. Passion might open a way quite unexpectedly 🙂
I have been using an iPad as my primary home computer for about a year — since my iMac died. I have a Mac at work, but only travel with an iPad. For the most part the iPad does everything I need. My frustration is the software developers. Here are the areas that I struggle with:
– tax software. There is no app for doing taxes. I tried both TurboTax and HandR Block. Neither is really a tax program, but are rather web apps that relay information to the website. I called for tech support and was told to just go to the website!?!?
– genealogy software. Reunion makes an iPad app, but it must be tied to Reunion on the Mac
– bank software. I use Banktivity, but it is about 3/4 of the program that the Macversion is.
Also, you can edit a comment on this site with an iPad. Really!?!?!
Er, “Can’t edit”
You can’t edit comments on the site, period.
2 people actually voted down a simple statement.
It is to display their hatred of your stupidity for all to see, but most of all for your mother to see.
My mother is dead. By the way. The San Diego Board of Supervisors named a day for her. Twice. Think Mother Theresa in Southern California.
Either way. I’m still smarter and more accomplished than you.
My guess is that she died of shame and embarrassment. Funny how you think that you are smarter and more accomplished than people that you don’t know. Actually, it explains a lot about you.
Look up “Dunning–Kruger Effect” then have a first grader explain it to you.
Playing with you is too easy… becoming rather tedious actually, much like you.
Actually pancreatic cancer. I’m not going to do your homework.
Please grow up. If your mind is so small that your life is devoted to trying to fellate me, you need to grow up.
Well… your major accomplishments is waiting for me to say something so you can lick up my scat…. soooo. You decide.
What does it say that people think you’re a rude nukfukkle who is a regular pain in the a-hole? You can’t live up to your Mom or hide behind her skirts. She is rolling in her grave at the sight of your boastful nukfukklery, it’s a real shame that you had so much potential and waste it here on a comments site. Sad! You set a terrible example for African Americans, really sad. Just a waste of space. Bleeech, yuk.
LOL. you mean the one small dock, scat eating idiot with the 17 screen names…
Do you really think you matter to me.
go back to sleep now.
That’s because people hate you and think you’re an a-hole kisser and loser
Those are the two who live in a world where you can edit comments and most people are substantially better off than they were on January 20, 2017.
Huh?
Yes Shyytzen X, you are a clueless TW&T
LOL. I’m the one that helped usher in the PC era.
You. Your major accomplishment is attaching your lips to my anus for validation.
I’ll take my history.
Wow, what a slime Citizen X is, taking credit for the PC revolution when he is in charge of the anus-revolution. What a slime!
My comment was a response to the two folks who downvoted X for stating an obvious fact about editing on this site. I’m guessing that they are among the number who disagree with his citation of facts about the economy. Ah, for the good old days when people understood that freedom of opinion does not include the freedom to make up facts.
Speaks VOLUMES that you support a formerly banned foul mouth POS…
Got it.
I use my iMac all the time but find very little use for my iPad and I rarely use it. I think that might change with the new OS because it fixes something that made me hate using the iPad for the internet, mobile web pages.
Live and let live, folks. Some people are fine with an iPad and accessories. They do light work and may not need a more flexible and powerful computer. Others need the latest or the desktop or even a Mac Pro workstation. Fine, that’s what they should get.
Why all of this arguing? An iPad is certainly a computer. It can do more than many computers could not so long ago. It just doesn’t offer the same style of file access and such that many people want or need. But I use my iPad a lot more than I use my home computer – the convenience and portability are unmatched and the display is a reasonable size. Apple hit the sweet spot for a tablet from day one.
Let go of the anger and hate that you are spewing on this forum. We can all appreciate Apple in our own way.
A way of life is rapidly disappearing. Some folks accept it gracefully, others strike out at the world, angry that things are changing faster that they are able to adapt. They see that someone can happily ignore macOS and they see that as a personal attack on themselves. “HOW DARE YOU DO WITHOUT MACOS? THEN YOU AND YOUR LIFE AND THE THINGS YOU CREATE ARE OBVIOUSLY WORTHLESS!”
It’s a problem that will sort itself out over time…
The day the iPad comes with dual 27 inch monitors, directly connects to multiple cameras and printers, includes 8 TB storage and allows simultaneous editing of multiple 45 mb RAW files (which is NEEDED in my workflow), I’ll think about it.
Until then, morons like this can stop pontificating on how “You don’t really need a computer”.
I am surprised at how much many Mac users have scorn for the iPad. Lots of the people on these forums are IT people who obviously need more than an iPad for their job, but the vast majority of people are not doing technical work that requires the resources of a Mac. They may well be in professional jobs, but not in the area of IT requirements. For those people the iPad may be exactly what they require to get direct to their work without the technical complications that a Mac can bring. I have a 27” iMac but >95% of my work is done on an iPad Pro managing an international business. I prefer using the iPad Pro to the large Mac. Often a book size device is better than a large unwieldy canvas. Everyone to their own! If you prefer, or need a Mac, then use a Mac – that is fine. But if someone else prefers an iPad, that is their choice too. Just great we have a choice.
sit it on your lap. type on it. boo. clamshell baby!
So what this guys describes is basically casual usage, not power user usage. So what is the point of this article, certainly not laptop alternative? We all know reading, note taking, and web browsing is excellent on the iPad. Just looks like another click bait article.
Enjoying my iPad Air (mainly for drawing/YouTube) but I never would have touched it if Apple made a laptop with a working keyboard
A toy doesn’t meet my needs. I need heavy duty programs. I run a 27″ iMac and use Parallels to access Windows. The plans to drop Windows compatibility for the sake of ARM processors are a joke and Steve Jobs would fired anyone suggesting it.