I also think that for the most part, the vast majority of iPad users are just fine with how the device works and don’t care at all about “pro” features. Most of the dissatisfaction is being expressed by enthusiasts/pros, which is what the population of people who have the means to express things broadly tend to be. Most of us here are also in the category of enthusiasts and pros, so we tend to also have very strong opinions about the (perceived) shortcomings of tech.
Unfortunately, that campaign was picked up by the enthusiast community even if it wasn’t targeted toward us.
These threads remind me of the “AI will replace . . . “ conversations that have been going on lately. Or some that happen some years earlier, “For milk and kindred deliveries the automobile is a poor substitute for the horse.”
Maybe Steve Jobs was wrong about the iPad. Maybe some people are just using it wrong.
I have two thoughts regarding Federico. I listen to all of the Connected episodes and most of the other podcasts he is on. I thoroughly enjoy listening to him; he is delightful.
I’ve listened closely to recent podcasts where he talks about migrating to the Mac. One of his key points is he loves the modularity of the iPad—that is, it can morph into different computer devices based on use case and accessories. I agree wholeheartedly with this. I would love to see the iPad OS develop so that it becomes a more robust laptop WHEN USED IN THAT MODE-LANDSCAPE WITH KEYBOARD while maintaining its strengths as a tablet. During the last hour I’ve used it both ways. I used it in tablet mode with the pencil to draft out my top strategic priorities for next year and I used it in laptop mode to draft a devotional on holiness. I’m using it now to write this post while sitting outside under a tree in beautiful weather. I can’t do that with the Mac because there is no Wi-Fi where I am. I’ll go back to tablet mode to read the news.
I too have noticed what sometimes comes across as a dismissive attitude about the ability of the iPad to do “real work.” I find one of the greatest strengths of the iPad is distraction free writing. While one can write distraction fee on the Mac, it takes more effort to do so. The iPad is a “natural” for this. Good writing, regardless of purpose and audience, is by definition real work and often real hard work at that! Writing is the most powerful medium for both creating and communicating ideas and ideas have profound consequences for every aspect of human existence, including seeking to plumb the most consequential questions. Any tool that facilitates good writing is a “power tool.”
To borrow from the analogy used by Steve Job, if the Mac is a truck then my iPad is a versatile SUV. The iPad can do much of what the truck can do but not everything but it is often the easier vehicle to drive and often the more pleasant one to drive.
Yeah, saw that and was about to comment there. Then saw this pop up. Had a moment of, oh no, where do I reply!
Whatever they do I hope they don’t screw it up. Which is to say, I hope they don’t push it to far into Mac-like windowing. There’s a line there somewhere… Also, do they introduce a 15" iPad Pro at some point? If they are going to increase the complexity of iPadOS and keep the hardware in step with the Mac then it would seem that a larger size iPad Pro would be a thing. I’ve been happy with the 13" just as I found my old 12" PowerBook ideal back in the day. But I can imagine that a larger size would be beneficial especially with more complex windowing.
I’ve generally been happy with split screen and a side over. Not used the Quick notes much. I guess we’ll find out in a few days.
No-one has mentioned a couple of the biggest changes which made a significant difference to Federico’s use of the MacBook Pro. Firstly, the M1 Chip is massively efficient and has significantly increased the battery life of the Macbook, often exceeding the iPad, secondly, Federico can run some of his iPadOS apps on the Macbook.
2 years ago, that article would have been very different and I’m not so sure that Federico would have stuck with the Macbook, he may have been seriously tempted to return to the iPad.
Now if Apple were to add a Mobile capability to the MBP, it may be the complete machine.
No. My memory is the iPad came along for Viticci at just the moment when he needed it. He was sick and not sure what was going to happen next. But the iPad happened, he is better now, and the rest is podcast/blog/review history!
I was thinking more about what came later after his health improved and he got back to normal. He stuck with the iPad and increasingly got a reputation for being an iPad power user… sorta became the most notable example. I was thinking about the many times I heard time respond/react to the notion of “can’t get work done on an iPad”. From an outsider perspective it seemed to me that while the iPad was genuinely a good fit for him and he enjoyed it, overtime there was the added dimension that his reputation as an iPad-focused added some weight to his writing/podcasting reputation. And along with that reputation came occasional critiques… hence my referring to him being backed into a corner. Probably not the best choice of words there. But really just guessing that sometimes his focus and determination as an iPad power user with very complex workflows might have been given extra energy in part as a response to outside critique of his iPad advocacy.
@Denny - I was just writing a response to your post in the catching up with Viticci thread, and was thinking about what you had written about keeping the multitasking such that it’s not “too” Mac like. I agree with you (as you’ll see from my response to that post over there). I don’t think the iPad needs to improve that much in the multitasking department (my personal view). I’m okay with more options. But I don’t want to change the character of what we already have.
I think that, whatever form multitasking takes on the iPad, it’s going to be additive. I think Apple is wary about making the device harder to use. I also think they’ve got themselves stuck in a corner where they can’t use overlapping windows because of the nature of touch input and mobile app design, which is fine, but means tiled input is likely.
The multitasking isn’t the big deal to me, though. It’s overall capability. I’d love to run Docker on the iPad. Why not, at this point? Is the argument that somebody’s grandma will download Docker accidentally and be confused? I thought that was why we had an App Store!
If they will market a “pro” tablet, let me use it in more professional contexts. I wouldn’t deny the iPad is capable for many, but I don’t think the rest of us are asking too much.
The big thing for me is that iPad detractors aren’t trying to say “the iPad sucks and you suck for using it,” although I’ll admit we can become embittered and act that way. What we mean to say is this: “I would love to use it and love it the way you do, but because of my context, I can’t. And it’s worrying that Apple doesn’t view my context as valuable enough to make a solution for.”
So sure, fix multitasking, but also, maybe add an SD card slot. Or make pro app development possible. Or make Files more like Finder, and give me similar save dialogues to macOS as an option in power-user apps — not because being more like the Mac is good, but because giving people control over where their files live is A Good Thing.
The iPad has simplified computing greatly, but to a point where a lot of simple things on any other platform are very hard on the tablet many of us want to love. Apple should regularly chip away at that irony.
You know, this entire conversation could go away if Apple were to announce at WWDC next week the availability of a cellular plan for the newly redesigned M2 MacBook Air. The key feature of which would be some kind of magic so as not to kill the battery.
Edited to add: …and not to blow the top off your data cap either. (That would be pretty important, too. )
I totally agree that you need to use the right device for the job. I certainly think the iPad is a great device.
The challenge is that I for one cannot afford to buy both. At the time I was choosing, iPads had received a lot of love and macs hadn’t. With the increase in chatter online that iPads can replace laptops, I took the plunge.
I do think this conversation needs to include people who need to choose between iPad and MacBook as I believe many fall into this category. If I had the money to buy whatever I want this wouldn’t even be a conversation. Having to choose one of the two does blur things a little because as always, everything is a compromise of sorts.
I think that Feredico’s conclusion is significant as Apple have mentioned in the past that they are pay attention to what he’s doing remember his interview with Craig F. (SVP of Apple software)? It has to sting when the no.1 proponent of your platform throws in the towel. This reminds me of back in the late 90’s (I think) when a then very well known Apple columnist announced to the world that he was abandoning the Mac for windows. Does anyone know what I’m referring to (the mind being the first thing to go and all…)
@snelly - This is the world between worlds that I feel I live in. I get tremendous amount of professional use out of my iPad Pro. Still, there are contexts in which I could rely on the iPad more and think that the things that I want would not make iPadOs less iPad-like or jeopardize the simplicity that benefits others. The iPad’s modularity is what makes it so appealing.
I think the “why not” is beause of the iPad’s much bigger problem than how it exposes multitasking: the fact that apps can be (and are agressively) killed when in the background. In my opinion this is the single biggest problem with iPadOS on the Pro devices and by far the greatest barrier to using it instead of a Mac even for things that it should be quite good at. There’s nothing like working in a web app, going to check an email, and returning to the browser to find the page reloading and your session gone. This is not a problem on the M1 MacBook Air (or any Mac) and it shouldn’t be a problem on the M1 iPad Pro.
(Thank you for the opening that let me rant about my biggest frustration with the iPad Pro )
But the iPad happened, he is better now, and the rest is podcast/blog/review history! 
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