Reviews for the iPad Pro began to hit the internet today and every review seems to ask: can the iPad Pro replace the laptop?
It makes sense to ask that, considering how long we have used laptops to do computer things. But the iPad is new and different.
Every year, the iPad starts to move further into laptop territory too. Keyboards have been added and refined, we’ve added pointing device through the Apple Pencil, ports have changed to even become more laptop-like. The speed of the iPad Pro this year even comes close to that of the top of the line MacBook Pros.
So with all of Apple’s pushing forward, the iPad is still not a laptop – and that’s okay. It’s not supposed to be. But even I, an iPad enthusiast, don’t think that an iPad can replace a laptop full time.
But the iPad Pro isn’t supposed to replace the laptop, it’s supposed to be its own thing. Yet it’s being held back by a few things. If Apple wants to make this a true pro device it needs to work on the iPad’s hardware options, operating system, and pro apps on the system.
Hardware
Now, don’t get me wrong here. The hardware of the iPad impresses. Every inch of the new iPad Pro screams “I’m the future!”
The screen is one of the best screens on a mobile device, the speakers have gotten an upgrade, the CPU is almost off the charts. The hardware is not the problem here.
Except that sometimes it is.
The iPad Pro by itself is a workable piece of hardware. You can do anything you want without adding anything in. But if you really are a pro, you’re going to want to add those things.
Artists aren’t going to want to draw with their fingers, so this year, Apple improved the Apple Pencil. Now it charges, pairs, and stores by attaching to the side of the device. A huge improvement over the previous Apple Pencil. But the Pencil can do more than help artist. It can help with text selections and editing videos. Apple even add a button like interface this year to the pencil, which could help in day-to-day use.
It’s just that to get that help you have to pony up some money.
The thing that really turned the iPad into a Pro device for me was adding the Smart Keyboard to it. While I can type on with on-screen keyboard, my use of the device really turned around once I got the Keyboard. Until then, my back would hurt because of the angle of looking down at the device while typing and my fingers would cramp since I was holding them up so they wouldn’t touch the screen.
It’s just another added cost to make the machine the real pro device it needs to be. In fact, when you add the Pencil and the keyboard, the price starts to climb into laptop territory.
All of this data was used to support equally spectacular claims about what an iPad really is. It is a “magical piece of glass that can be anything you need it to be,” Apple CEO Tim Cook said, adding that all that power is “going to push what you can do on iPad, or on any computer, even further.” The overwhelming message was the iPad is more powerful, more capable, and more the future than any laptop — Apple’s own new MacBook Air included.
But that’s just nitpicking. The hardware looks truly great, but to get it to be a pro machine, you have to add stuff to it.
Software
It’s really the software that’s holding back the iPad from being the beast of a machine it can be.
I still don’t think Apple is doing enough in software to support the speed and versatility that is provided by the hardware in the iPad Pro. While split screening apps and creating ‘spaces’ that remain in place to bounce between has been a nice evolution of the iPad OS, it’s really only a fraction of what is possible.
Panzarino hits the biggest issue on the head. iOS has come a long way, and it gets better every year, but right now it isn’t pushing forward enough.
I think that will change. It has to.
iOS will have to continue to evolve and push forward. It will have to use the USB-C port to it’s full potiental, and it will need to make iOS a welcoming place for Professional Apps. That might mean making it closer to macOS, but it’s heading that way now away.
But for now the iPad is limited by the apps on the system, which is funny because iOS is successful because of the apps. It’s a weird position to be in.
There are thousands of apps in the app store, but are there really that many professional apps? Photoshop is coming next year, and Autodesk is coming, but where is Final Cut – the professional movie editing software? You can get apps to take its place like Lumafusion, but it’s not the same.
Apps haven’t been pushed far enough on iOS and I’m worried that if Apple isn’t pushing their own apps forward how can the other app developers?
Speaking of developers, where is Xcode? App has started to show the iPad can develop code with it’s Swift Playground app but it never has released a coding app for the iPad Pro.
I’d like to see Apple push the iPad Pro further in regards to software.
Real Pro Apps
The Pro apps that I do use on my iPad aren’t really pro apps like I’d get on a Mac either. I love writing in Scrivener, and I know this is just one example, but the iPad version has been stripped down to the most basic uses. You can’t do meta-data or look at an outline view on the iPad, or many of the other features of Scrivener.
Still I prefer writing on the iPad because it’s simplier and easier to focus.
I’d like to see Pro apps grow more in usablity. You shouldn’t be hampered by what device you’re on. But that takes work on both side. If Apple pushes their apps and the OS to be better though, I’m sure the developers will follow.
Wrap up
I love the iPad. I’m excited to get the new iPad Pro. I hope they don’t run out at the iPad store since I didn’t want to wait all day to get mine delivered. The delivery date seems to have slipped back further, so it seems like there’s a demand for it.
So can you use the iPad Pro as a laptop? Yes, but I don’t think the iPad needs to be a laptop replacement. It just needs to keep pushing forward on the software side.
What do you think? Is the iPad Pro held back by software? What would you like to see pushing forward?
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