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Video and photo editing has certainly been pushed by Apple and its software partners as a use case for the iPad Pro, so we can leave it aside as its not enthusi
by llampx 6y ago
Video and photo editing has certainly been pushed by Apple and its software partners as a use case for the iPad Pro, so we can leave it aside as its not enthusiasts and hackers asking for it in this case.
That leaves programming. And programming is possible on iPads in terms of writing code - even with detachable keyboards now, its only compiling it which is not possible due to Apple's restrictions. It seems fair to ask why.
- cm2187 6y agoBut my question is: if you must attach a keyboard, aren’t you better off with a laptop? And if you don’t use a keyboard, is anyone really doing any meaningful coding on an ipad with touch only? And if so I’d be curious why?
- detaro 6y agoIt doesn't need to be as good as a laptop, it just needs to be good enough to avoid having to also bring along a laptop.
- Retric 6y agoIf you’re bringing a laptop presumably you can simply leave the iPad at home. IMO, laptop + phone covers most use cases for iPad + keyboard just fine.
- wlesieutre 6y agoI’ll just pack a Wacom tablet too so I can draw and write on my laptop and leave my iPad at home then?
- Retric 6y agoFor Windows you just need a laptop that supports the pen protocol. https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-hardware/design/component-guidelines/pen-protocol-implementation https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-hardware/design/com... For Apple you might need a Wacom tablet.
- wlesieutre 6y agoI used to have a Surface, it’s fine if you want to doodle occasionally but it really doesn’t measure up to an iPad for its overall tablet experience
- Retric 6y agoThere are better alternatives to an old Surface.
- wlesieutre 6y agoSure, and the 2020 iPad Pro is better than the 2016 iPad Pro that I switched to initially. The problem on Windows’ side is the software. Unless Microsoft has found a way to get developers on board with their own modern UI paradigm, you get a good tablet experience maybe 10% of the time. And their tablet friendly UI sucks even when Microsoft does it themselves. For example, the new disk manager, which is objectively worse in every way than the old one except for having big touch targets: https://mspoweruser.com/this-is-the-new-windows-10-modern-disk-management-tool/ https://mspoweruser.com/this-is-the-new-windows-10-modern-di...
- detaro 6y agoPlenty things a laptop is not as nice for as the iPad. And even comfortably replacing it assumes your laptop is similar in size and weight than the iPad, which puts another constraint on your device choices.
- llampx 6y agoSorry for the late reply, but I'd say if you can attach a keyboard and do more of the tasks that a traditional laptop does, it can replace the traditional laptop. Then you have one device where you can pop off the keyboard when you are on the couch, and pop it back on when you are at a desk or need to do some typing. Not my taste, I still prefer the traditional laptop form-factor, but Apple is actively pushing their (expensive) keyboards so its worth asking why not allow compiling of code.