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I was a pretty staunch opponent of the iPad for a very long time. Tablets were clearly a consumption device, and I've always disliked Apple's penchant for propr

I was a pretty staunch opponent of the iPad for a very long time. Tablets were clearly a consumption device, and I've always disliked Apple's penchant for proprietary connectors. However, things have shifted enough that on the artistic/creative front, the iPad is actually a really nice thing to have. When the iPad Air 4 (I think? The iPad ecosystem has terrible nomenclature) came out, it not only had a USB-C connector, but worked with the Apple Pencil 2. I did something I thought I'd never do - I bought an iPad. There are music & synthesizer apps that only make sense on a tablet, and they can talk with other music apps on the iPad pretty seamlessly too these days. And with the Apple Pencil 2, it's like a magic art pad. I've been sketching and drawing and 'painting' like I haven't done in 20 years. And I can charge it with the same cable that charges my Pixel 6, my work-issued Macbook pro, or my wife's Thinkpad's power supply. It certainly took long enough, but I no longer think that iPads are pure consumption devices. Now... would I try to use it the way I use a laptop? Oh, hell no.

code51 5y ago
Apple Pencil might be the most fragile product Apple ever produced. It's like a ticking time bomb. Its battery is doomed to die any second.
gurkendoktor 5y ago
> I was a pretty staunch opponent of the iPad for a very long time. Tablets were clearly a consumption device I have no doubt that the iPad is great at the things you list in your post, and I wish I had any skills that would justify buying an Apple Pencil. However, I don't understand why Apple and we on HN are so focused on making the iPad "more" than a consumption device. What's wrong with consumption? If I were to buy another iPad, it'd be for reading PDFs (terrible on e-book readers), for listening to podcasts and audiobooks, or to let my children play an educational game sometimes. But Apple keeps investing in productivity features while their Books app seems moribund at times (widget please?), their Podcasts app is an ongoing disaster, and they still don't have a read-only guest mode for children or friends. iPadOS has gotten so "pro" that buying an iPad for grandparents is not the no-brainer it used to be, either. For all the derision that iPads get for being couch potato devices, I wish they were better at being that.
- arvinsim 5y ago
  > For all the derision that iPads get for being couch potato devices, I wish they were better at being that The base and mini iPads are great for that.
- thawaya3113 5y ago
  > What's wrong with consumption? Human beings are more than vessels for SV douches to make billions they don’t need. Or in the case of Peter Thiel (hello HN), to make billions to use to go out of their way to make the world a more miserable place. Computers should empower people. They made them more than they were. The likes of the iPad go out of their way to take a device that someone, nearly everyone on this site, can learn from and grow from, and replace it with one that works hard to prevent you from exercising any brain cells. It says pleasure comes from being a potato, when the people who created it know that the pleasure in their lives can from being active creators.
  - gurkendoktor 5y ago
    > Human beings are more than vessels for SV douches to make billions they don’t need. If I buy an iPad to read PDFs or books, many of which are free, I am hardly making SV douches more money than when I buy a "Pro" device for productivity. Ironically, the idea that people shouldn't read or listen (consume), and instead just build build build, also strikes me as a very Silicon Valley idea. I really don't know what it is about the iPad that makes it the target of this discussion. I have never heard anyone say the same things about e-book readers, or headphones that don't come with a mic for content creation.
    - thawaya3113 5y ago
      It’s about being more than …. A consumption device is nothing more than something designed to extract money out of a person. And no, being productive is not a SV idea. In fact, it’s only recently (in the past 50 or so years) that buying something that doesn’t have a productive purpose is even considered. But I’m not surprised that SV douches have convinced themselves that they’ve created the concept of being productive.
asdff 5y ago
I think even today there are probably a lot more creatives using cheap wacom tablets than iPads and developing music on actual computers. Apple hasn't even bothered getting logic pro on the ipad.
- leviathant 5y ago
  And to your point, the iPad I bought isn't a replacement for my computer. For music, it serves as a playable instrument. On the visual side of things, I draw in Procreate, and then export to PDF, to complete the work in Photoshop. It's not a replacement, but it finally serves well as augmentation. I even bring it along on work trips to function as a 'second monitor' for my Macbook. I would get on just fine without an iPad, but getting one last year was one of the most satisfying tech purchases I've made in a long time.

code51 5y ago

Apple Pencil might be the most fragile product Apple ever produced. It's like a ticking time bomb. Its battery is doomed to die any second.

gurkendoktor 5y ago

> I was a pretty staunch opponent of the iPad for a very long time. Tablets were clearly a consumption device I have no doubt that the iPad is great at the things you list in your post, and I wish I had any skills that would justify buying an Apple Pencil. However, I don't understand why Apple and we on HN are so focused on making the iPad "more" than a consumption device. What's wrong with consumption? If I were to buy another iPad, it'd be for reading PDFs (terrible on e-book readers), for listening to podcasts and audiobooks, or to let my children play an educational game sometimes. But Apple keeps investing in productivity features while their Books app seems moribund at times (widget please?), their Podcasts app is an ongoing disaster, and they still don't have a read-only guest mode for children or friends. iPadOS has gotten so "pro" that buying an iPad for grandparents is not the no-brainer it used to be, either. For all the derision that iPads get for being couch potato devices, I wish they were better at being that.

arvinsim 5y ago
> For all the derision that iPads get for being couch potato devices, I wish they were better at being that The base and mini iPads are great for that.
thawaya3113 5y ago
> What's wrong with consumption? Human beings are more than vessels for SV douches to make billions they don’t need. Or in the case of Peter Thiel (hello HN), to make billions to use to go out of their way to make the world a more miserable place. Computers should empower people. They made them more than they were. The likes of the iPad go out of their way to take a device that someone, nearly everyone on this site, can learn from and grow from, and replace it with one that works hard to prevent you from exercising any brain cells. It says pleasure comes from being a potato, when the people who created it know that the pleasure in their lives can from being active creators.
- gurkendoktor 5y ago
  > Human beings are more than vessels for SV douches to make billions they don’t need. If I buy an iPad to read PDFs or books, many of which are free, I am hardly making SV douches more money than when I buy a "Pro" device for productivity. Ironically, the idea that people shouldn't read or listen (consume), and instead just build build build, also strikes me as a very Silicon Valley idea. I really don't know what it is about the iPad that makes it the target of this discussion. I have never heard anyone say the same things about e-book readers, or headphones that don't come with a mic for content creation.
  - thawaya3113 5y ago
    It’s about being more than …. A consumption device is nothing more than something designed to extract money out of a person. And no, being productive is not a SV idea. In fact, it’s only recently (in the past 50 or so years) that buying something that doesn’t have a productive purpose is even considered. But I’m not surprised that SV douches have convinced themselves that they’ve created the concept of being productive.

asdff 5y ago

I think even today there are probably a lot more creatives using cheap wacom tablets than iPads and developing music on actual computers. Apple hasn't even bothered getting logic pro on the ipad.

leviathant 5y ago
And to your point, the iPad I bought isn't a replacement for my computer. For music, it serves as a playable instrument. On the visual side of things, I draw in Procreate, and then export to PDF, to complete the work in Photoshop. It's not a replacement, but it finally serves well as augmentation. I even bring it along on work trips to function as a 'second monitor' for my Macbook. I would get on just fine without an iPad, but getting one last year was one of the most satisfying tech purchases I've made in a long time.