iPad Pro vs MacBook Air Day 1

What a day.

Today, I was able to pick up my new iPad Pro and MacBook Air during my lunch break, but I haven’t had a chance to really get into them until this evening.  Work ran long and they were both calling my name, wanting to be played with.

But I want to back up a little bit before I get into everything.

Also,  make sure that you check out what I was thinking yesterday before the devices launched

The Situation

I didn’t have much time to post earlier, especially since I’m trying to start making videos as well, but I want to touch upon the Apple Store for pick-up.

Last week, when Apple announced the release dates for everything and I contemplated pre-ordering one, it didn’t seem like these things were flying off the shelves.  I made the decision to go to the store to pick them up because I couldn’t decide between the 11 inch iPad Pro or the 12.9 inch iPad Pro.

I had never really used the bigger iPad and with the reduced bezels it was pretty tempting.  So I decided I’d go try them both out and pick at the Apple Store.  Well between then and now, the shipping dates started to slip back.  And then further back.

So I was starting to panic.

Luck for me, this morning around 8 AM the In-Store Pick Up went live and I quickly ordered the things that I wanted.  I bit the bullet and ordered the 11 inch iPad Pro.  I just felt like it was the one that I was most comfortable with and if I wanted to trade it out, I could try to at the store after I got to use one.

At least I would have one to go home with something to write about.

The Apple Store

When I got to the Apple Store around lunchtime, there really wasn’t much of a crowd.  The little crowd that was there gathered around the new iPads.

Apple had them spread out around the store pretty well though, so it wasn’t difficult to get access.

I headed first to the 12.9 inch iPad Pro.  It was the one that I was most curious about and the most eager to get my hands on.  The screen was giant and beautiful.  The device wasn’t too hard to hold like I thought it might be.

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I really liked the Space Grey on these iPads.  It looks darker than normal and I really like it. I know some will miss the gold, but the silver and space grey just look more professional to me.

Web pages looked great on the giant screen.  Everything was much bigger than I was used to.  Apps were opening up and looked giant.  The screens on both of the Pros look amazing.  I hadn’t had a device with Pro Motion before and I can’t wait for it to come to the rest of the line.  It just makes everything smoother.

The last thing that I checked out on the 12.9 was Books.  I’ve been doing a bit of reading on the iPad lately and I just couldn’t imagine reading a book on a device that large.  The words on the page when I opened it intimidated me.  Turning the device sideways made things easier to handle.

So I moved to the smaller iPad.  The screen felt bigger than my normal iPad so I really felt like I would be happy with it.  Plus, I’d save $200 doing it as well. I also really loved how portable my iPad was right now with the 9.7 inch screen.  I wanted to maintain that since that’s one of my favorite things about the iPad line.

I decided to keep the smaller iPad Pro and so far, I’m very happy with it.  More on that later though.

The MacBook Air

On the other side of the sat Apple’s confusing laptop line.  I felt bad for the laptops because no one paid them any attention. There were a few people looking at the computers, but most everyone in the

store was looking at the iOS devices.

Still, I wanted to check out what I was getting.  I ordered the silver MacBook Air with 256 GB SDD.  The first Air I came across was the Space Gray version.  At first, it felt very much like the iPads.  The Gray looked dark, but once I moved over to it, I couldn’t really tell any difference.  It looked silver.

I played around with the machines and they felt like laptops but I wasn’t as impressed initially by them. Then, I tried to get a picture of them all but the entire time I was there a lady was playing with the gold version.  I didn’t want to jump in front of her or kick her off so I thought I’d come back after I finished getting all of my new stuff, but honestly, I forgot.  The gold looked like the gold of the iPhone.  I personally think it’s too much gold but to each their own.

Setup

Once I finally got home (hours later) I finally got to unbox and set things up.  As far as the competition goes, the iPad is winning for the setup alone.  I just had to bring my old iPad near to the new one and everything started to transfer over.

I don’t have a backup of my MacBook Pro.  Most of my stuff lives in the cloud, so once I got the MacBook Air up and running, I had to go through and download apps and search the internet for the apps that I use that aren’t from the Mac App Store, which are many.  It wasn’t as pleasant a process.

I know that you can use Time Machine to backup and restore and I have done that before but that takes almost as long as it does to start fresh.

First Impressions

I started with the iPad Pro.  I wrote everything from the beginning until the part about the MacBook Air.  Then I switched to it.

Between the two I’m liking the iPad more so far.

iPad

The iPad is just more of an exciting device right now.  There is much more going on with it than the Mac.  I really think that Apple needs to dump Intel and start doing things with the Mac like they are doing with the iPad if they are going to keep updating Macs.

The screen and Pro Motion of the iPad just look better.  Everything feels snappier on the iPad.  The space of the screen is great coming from the 9.7 inch iPad Pro as well.  When I compared them side by side, it didn’t seem like the new iPad was going to be that much bigger, but the space it gives you without all the bezels is substantial.

The iPad Pro 11 inch also has a new aspect ratio. I don’t think it’s something that you’d notice, but since the screen has changed a bit some apps are going to need to be updated.  For now, the iPad puts black borders around them.  I don’t think it is a huge deal, it just looks like the bezels are back for that app for now.

I actually really like the Smart Folio keyboard so far.  It feels sturdier than before and I’m actually not hating the fact that the keys are exposed when you have it folded back.  I would be interested in another case if anyone is making one, let me know. I’ll be happy to review it.  What I do like is that the case covers both sides and doesn’t add too much weight.  I also like that it’s not aluminum.

So far I’m favoring the iPad.  It’s a better device by far.

However, it’s still held back by the operating system

MacBook Air

Besides the backup situation, this MacBook is okay.

It’s not blowing me away.  In fact, it’s taking much longer to get this thing altogether than it did with the iPad.

The screen is good and the bezels are slim.

This is a slim Mac, but it’s not as light as I remember it being.  I did have the 11 inch Air a long time ago, but I was expecting this thing to feel lighter.  I guess I’ve been spoiled by the iPad.

The keyboard doesn’t bother me, and TouchD isn’t really doing much for me right now.  I keep forgetting it’s there, not that I’ve really needed it.

Photos has taken the longest to get going.  I’m wanting to put more pictures on this post, but right now I can’t because Photos is taking it’s sweet time to work.  Every time I try to see if the photos I need are available to me, it stutters my system.

Night one, and I’m pretty sure that the MacBook Air isn’t for me.  I’m not ready to give up on it yet, but right now, the iPad is definitely winning my attention.

Wrap up

I’m really just getting started with all of this, but so far I’m really impressed by the new, and kind of meh by the older stuff.  I think that’s to be expected though.

I still need macOS for stuff so I’m still going to be diving into the Air.  I’m going to see how much it really calls to me this week and then determine what to do.

Oh and FaceID is way better than TouchID for me.

If I had to help you decide which one to pick I think it would boil down to this one question: Do you need macOS or will iOS work for what you want to do?

I think your answer is simple if you need one of the other.  If that doesn’t matter then…

I still have lots of tests to put both of these devices though, so stay tuned to the site.  Follow us on Twitter, Facebook, and youtube now! I’ve still got lots to do tonight, but if you have any questions please hit me up on any of these things!