Perhaps where some vindication is needed is that Frederico has influence. His influence has led some to state that all you need is an iPad citing his articles. This has led to unhappy purchases as they trusted his supposition that iPad only is possible. It is of course possible, but not possible for all. They where then stuck with an iPad, but unable to do the work they needed. Yes you can argue that they should have researched properly, etc, but when I respected voice says something which is then amplified it influences decisions massively.
I purchased an iPad pro 12.9 on such a venture. Iâd never used one as my main tool. It led to utter failure and not enough in the bank to rectify, so I had to make do. This has made me a lot more cautious of tech superstars and their opinions.
A positive note is that I now rarely read these blog articles, preferring to chat things through with you lot on this forum! This forum has been far more helpful than any blog articles I read on tech and software. Many a decision I make is based on conversations here and the large number of different perspectives really helps in showing edge case uses and majority cases.
Just hoping now that Apple will contact to offer me a free M1 Macbook Pro!
I think that advertising campaign missed the mark, but perhaps not in the way most people think.
It wasnât that the iPad replaces a computer, but rather for the things that the protagonist used the iPad for, a computer in the traditional sense was not required.
I think the message from Apple has been pretty clear that Macs are Macs and iPads are iPads, and never the two shall meet. (Until of course, they do. )
There is certainly overlap, just as there is with bicycles, motorcycles, cars, and trucks. But they are different things. That a bicycle met my wheeled transportation needs when I lived in a city, but not now when I live in the wilderness, is not a reflection on the bicycles nor bicycle makers. I would be the problem if I tired to force the bicycle to be something it is not.
But they didnât. I fully understand the frustration at that. As I noted above I would love a Mac-like system in an iPad form factor. But that device doesnât exist. So why do people keep trying to make iPads something they are not?
I think my reaction, in part, is that just as you point out âiPad influencersâ, there is the flip side for those of us that enjoy using the iPad is constantly seeing the message âYou canât get real work done with an iPad.â Iâve seen it countless times. Or variations such as âThe iPadâs only good for consumption.â Itâs frustrating to always see variations of Oh, well, youâre using an iPad, you must not be doing real work or youâre using an iPad to get work done, thatâs a bad choice of a tool, just use a Mac, thatâs the right choice.
The whole discussion as it exists on forums, Twitter, etc, is just gotten repetitive and seems to not be very constructive because it feels like there are âsidesâ that are set on proving that this or that tool is the wrong choice for others. Iâm not going to go back and read all of Federicoâs stuff to make a point but early on it read to me as someone that was proving a point because he felt backed into a corner. Then maybe it morphed into his identity⌠or some sort of mixing of the two.
I donât think Iâve ever gone out of my way to suggest to people using a Mac that they shouldnât or that what theyâre doing isnât work or valuable. That is very much the kind of thing that was said 25 years ago about Mac users by Windows users when the larger tech community often referred to Macs as toys.
In any case, it just doesnât seem like the conversation, on the whole, has been all that constructive or helpful.
And when you see this happening it is time to leave the conversation. Because as you said it is not constructive. There are forums I no longer frequent and âpunditsâ I choose to ignore because the argument is that what is right/wrong for them is right/wrong for you.
And there is enough of that in the ârealâ world, I donât need it in my hobbies/work as well.
(The fact that I continue to engage on this site speaks volumes for the quality of the conversion.)
I also think that for the most part, the vast majority of iPad users are just fine with how the device works and donât care at all about âproâ 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 wasnât targeted toward us.
These threads remind me of the âAI will replace . . . â conversations that have been going on lately. Or some that happen some years earlier, âFor milk and kindred deliveries the automobile is a poor substitute for the horse.â
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.
Iâve 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 iPadâthat 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 Iâve 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. Iâm using it now to write this post while sitting outside under a tree in beautiful weather. I canât do that with the Mac because there is no Wi-Fi where I am. Iâll 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 âreal work.â 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 ânaturalâ 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 âpower tool.â
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 donât screw it up. Which is to say, I hope they donât push it to far into Mac-like windowing. Thereâs 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. Iâve 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.
Iâve generally been happy with split screen and a side over. Not used the Quick notes much. I guess weâll find out in a few days.
No-one has mentioned a couple of the biggest changes which made a significant difference to Federicoâs 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 Iâm 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 âcanât get work done on an iPadâ. 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 itâs not âtooâ Mac like. I agree with you (as youâll see from my response to that post over there). I donât think the iPad needs to improve that much in the multitasking department (my personal view). Iâm okay with more options. But I donât want to change the character of what we already have.
I think that, whatever form multitasking takes on the iPad, itâs going to be additive. I think Apple is wary about making the device harder to use. I also think theyâve got themselves stuck in a corner where they canât 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 isnât the big deal to me, though. Itâs overall capability. Iâd love to run Docker on the iPad. Why not, at this point? Is the argument that somebodyâs grandma will download Docker accidentally and be confused? I thought that was why we had an App Store!
If they will market a âproâ tablet, let me use it in more professional contexts. I wouldnât deny the iPad is capable for many, but I donât think the rest of us are asking too much.
The big thing for me is that iPad detractors arenât trying to say âthe iPad sucks and you suck for using it,â although Iâll admit we can become embittered and act that way. What we mean to say is this: âI would love to use it and love it the way you do, but because of my context, I canât. And itâs worrying that Apple doesnât view my context as valuable enough to make a solution for.â
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 â 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: âŚand 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 hadnât. 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 wouldnât 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.
This forum has been far more helpful than any blog articles I read on tech and software. Many a decision I make is based on conversations here and the large number of different perspectives really helps in showing edge case uses and majority cases.
But the iPad happened, he is better now, and the rest is podcast/blog/review history! 