Every time the iPad Pro gets reviewed, we hear the same phrase repeated, lemming-like, by every reviewer: “The software is holding back the hardware,” or something to that effect.
Dr. B - Can you explain why you’d like a touchscreen on your MacBook? My daughter, who has a school-issued Chromebook feels the same and I just can’t get my mind around it. Aside from the #1 issue - smudges on my screen, I can’t get used to reaching up and touching a screen when my hands are down on the keyboard (and I say this on an iPad with the thoroughly decent Apple Keyboard accessory attached) and I have a trackpad. Heck, I don’t even love trackpads - I’m a mouse guy. Maybe I’m just stuck in my ways, and per the original comment to this piece, resistant to change.
I don’t like smudges either, but I find it very natural to touch the screen and manipulate things with my fingers. I’ve a keyboard and trackpad, too—just love the convenience of all of it working together.
As a data analyst, I can move between my MacBook Air M1 and my iPad Air with ease. Except for some formatting limitations which limit its ongoing value. Improving similarities is making this better but I want more. Eg Paste into Numbers using the existing cell format would be good.
The development of pivot tables is an excellent example of how good it can be, I happily work with millions of cells and get answers faster than I can think, an important step up from decades of Excel
An excellent article that describes exactly my years-long journey with the iPad. My decades journey ended a few weeks ago when I sold my M1 iPad Pro (my only and primary device- work and home use) and got a MacBook Air. I LOVE the iPad concept but my frustrations with iPadOS became intolerable (particularly at work- buggy, inconsistent performance, just as you described). I will always keep my eyes open for new iPadOS development. I’m sure that I will get an iPad in the future again. How soon? That will depend on when Apple fixes iPadOS’s flaws.
Thanks, Carlos! I’m really looking forward to diving back into using iPad full time. I was very impressed with how seamlessly I was able to write this piece in Apple Notes, and then copy and paste it into Substack’s web interface with no issues.
Well, in the specific instance you cite, I always approach anything from the Verge with the understanding that The Verge is staffed with people that seemingly hate tech, so that gives me a frame of reference to start from. Same with Wired.
Now that I’ve ground that axe, the biggest problem with the iPad is what you CAN’T do with it. For me, the #1 thing is that you can’t create and manage a music library because
1.) You can’t rip CDs to it and
2.) There’s not really any good way to edit ID3 tags on existing files.
Maybe in The Year of Our Lord, 2024, working with CDs has become gauche and wholly unnecessary, but there should be options for connecting to my NAS and editing the tags at least. It may be by design because the powers that be want me to subscribe to their streaming service (which, incidentally, I do, as I also do with Tidal) but I feel like you’re losing something when you say “We have music in our DNA” and don’t give users ways to work with their music.
That said, I have three iPads now - an aging Mini 5, an M1 Air and an M2 13” Pro. They’re endlessly useful in media CONSUMPTION if not creation. The pencil and Adobe Illustrator let me make really accurate stickers that I can’t get otherwise. And they’re great CONTROLLERS for an audiophile app called Roon. But using them for writing or spreadsheeting? Far less so. I can’t explain why, but Excel on an iPad feels so inferior to a Mac version that it’s like playing with stick and rocks for me.
But Apple is apparently making money from me - again. Three iPads of my own, each of my kids has one (or shares one). It’s a good device and I don’t want it to be a Mac. But I would like it to do more.
EDIT: I stand corrected. Apparently there are a couple tag editors and maybe even one that lets you do file conversion. (I use a bunch of apps under the umbrella of DBPowerAmp to do all my ripping and tag management because I finally got sick of iTunes and subsequently Music messing with stuff that I fixed by hand. I also do weird things like “Soundtrack” as Album Artist for all my soundtracks to make them easier to find). I do think it’s easier to do that stuff on the Mac. I have an M1 Pro 14” MacBook that I got because I’m one of those audiophile-types that’s so picky. :^)
I look forward to your future thoughts, John. I'd love for my iPad Pro to replace my laptop, but I don't see it happening anytime soon.
I don’t see it replacing my laptop either, but I’d love to see how far I can push that.
Great! I'll definitely look forward to those thoughts, John. Also, I wouldn't mind a MacBook with a touch screen.
Dr. B - Can you explain why you’d like a touchscreen on your MacBook? My daughter, who has a school-issued Chromebook feels the same and I just can’t get my mind around it. Aside from the #1 issue - smudges on my screen, I can’t get used to reaching up and touching a screen when my hands are down on the keyboard (and I say this on an iPad with the thoroughly decent Apple Keyboard accessory attached) and I have a trackpad. Heck, I don’t even love trackpads - I’m a mouse guy. Maybe I’m just stuck in my ways, and per the original comment to this piece, resistant to change.
I don’t like smudges either, but I find it very natural to touch the screen and manipulate things with my fingers. I’ve a keyboard and trackpad, too—just love the convenience of all of it working together.
As a data analyst, I can move between my MacBook Air M1 and my iPad Air with ease. Except for some formatting limitations which limit its ongoing value. Improving similarities is making this better but I want more. Eg Paste into Numbers using the existing cell format would be good.
The development of pivot tables is an excellent example of how good it can be, I happily work with millions of cells and get answers faster than I can think, an important step up from decades of Excel
Thanks for sharing your perspective!
An excellent article that describes exactly my years-long journey with the iPad. My decades journey ended a few weeks ago when I sold my M1 iPad Pro (my only and primary device- work and home use) and got a MacBook Air. I LOVE the iPad concept but my frustrations with iPadOS became intolerable (particularly at work- buggy, inconsistent performance, just as you described). I will always keep my eyes open for new iPadOS development. I’m sure that I will get an iPad in the future again. How soon? That will depend on when Apple fixes iPadOS’s flaws.
Thanks, Carlos! I’m really looking forward to diving back into using iPad full time. I was very impressed with how seamlessly I was able to write this piece in Apple Notes, and then copy and paste it into Substack’s web interface with no issues.
Well, in the specific instance you cite, I always approach anything from the Verge with the understanding that The Verge is staffed with people that seemingly hate tech, so that gives me a frame of reference to start from. Same with Wired.
Now that I’ve ground that axe, the biggest problem with the iPad is what you CAN’T do with it. For me, the #1 thing is that you can’t create and manage a music library because
1.) You can’t rip CDs to it and
2.) There’s not really any good way to edit ID3 tags on existing files.
Maybe in The Year of Our Lord, 2024, working with CDs has become gauche and wholly unnecessary, but there should be options for connecting to my NAS and editing the tags at least. It may be by design because the powers that be want me to subscribe to their streaming service (which, incidentally, I do, as I also do with Tidal) but I feel like you’re losing something when you say “We have music in our DNA” and don’t give users ways to work with their music.
That said, I have three iPads now - an aging Mini 5, an M1 Air and an M2 13” Pro. They’re endlessly useful in media CONSUMPTION if not creation. The pencil and Adobe Illustrator let me make really accurate stickers that I can’t get otherwise. And they’re great CONTROLLERS for an audiophile app called Roon. But using them for writing or spreadsheeting? Far less so. I can’t explain why, but Excel on an iPad feels so inferior to a Mac version that it’s like playing with stick and rocks for me.
But Apple is apparently making money from me - again. Three iPads of my own, each of my kids has one (or shares one). It’s a good device and I don’t want it to be a Mac. But I would like it to do more.
EDIT: I stand corrected. Apparently there are a couple tag editors and maybe even one that lets you do file conversion. (I use a bunch of apps under the umbrella of DBPowerAmp to do all my ripping and tag management because I finally got sick of iTunes and subsequently Music messing with stuff that I fixed by hand. I also do weird things like “Soundtrack” as Album Artist for all my soundtracks to make them easier to find). I do think it’s easier to do that stuff on the Mac. I have an M1 Pro 14” MacBook that I got because I’m one of those audiophile-types that’s so picky. :^)