4 ms·

I'm struggling to see why I'd buy this over a Macbook Air. I have an iPad Air. I use it a lot but generally just to watch Netflix or Youtube. I don't enjoy typ

by cletus 2y ago

I'm struggling to see why I'd buy this over a Macbook Air. I have an iPad Air. I use it a lot but generally just to watch Netflix or Youtube. I don't enjoy typing on it at all. I have the Air specifically because it's TouchID. I hate FaceID with a passion. But this update has pushed up the iPad Pro price well into the Macbook territory and that's a much more capable and flexible device.

cjk2 2y ago
Tha main reasons I own an (11") iPad Pro are, you can write on it, which is really damn useful, you can wedge it places like tables on planes easier, it weighs hardly anything and you can charge it off a phone charger. Plus being TB based I can suck stuff off my camera without a dongle or any of that faff. But yeah an MBA is more powerful, but it doesn't have those attributes. If I was to start again I'd buy a bottom end Mac Studio for the 32Gb RAM baseline config, hang some TB drives off it and use the iPad as my "portable" computer.
D13Fd 2y ago
The MacBook Air is better for sure, and if you only buy one, buy that one -- full stop. But I use both, every day, at the same time. They are designed to work together. With universal control, my iPad sits next to my screen at work, and I do some things on the iPad, some on the MacBook. I also use my iPad on its own around the house. It's also incredibly nice for CAD work (Shapr3d) and photo processing (Lightroom). The iPad is much more resilient to water, food, and dust. I design things in Shapr3d on the iPad and take the iPad to the garage to build them -- a little sawdust does not hurt it and it's easy to clean. It's also much better if you want to read while eating, especially with kids around. The keyboard doesn't get in the way and spilled water won't hurt it either. I use it while cooking and to watch TV while washing dishes. The other thing the iPad can do that the MBA can't is that it's easily shareable. If you work with others, it's easy to pull up a PDF on an iPad and hand it to someone to look at or even annotate with the pencil. There is no awkward standing over your shoulder or handing off a laptop. Everyone instantly knows how to work with you on the iPad, and to review whatever you want them to review and hand it back. Overall I still use my MacBook Air more, and it's more capable. You can't do serious coding or development work on the iPad, for example. But it's very much worth having the iPad as well, at least for me.
- gumby 2y ago
  Those are almost exactly my use cases too; my difference is that I don't watch video but I do take my notes on the ipad, writing with the pencil. This works great because documents seamlessly work between the two devices. By far I use the MBA the most, but the ipad is much better for a small number of use cases that are worth my spending on. And for those use cases the ipad air is sufficient, especially as I can now get a larger one. That's similar to the macbook air: I'm clearly a "pro" or "power user" and it has more than sufficient oomph (note: when I type 'make' the compilation doesn't happen locally)
  - D13Fd 2y ago
    Agreed about the iPad Air. The Pro is really a splurge upgrade over the Air. It's worth it for me personally, because I use it so much for photo editing, but I think for the vast majority of people who are smarter with their money the Air adds just as much practical value as the Pro.
  - catbird 2y ago
    Could you elaborate a bit more on your note taking workflow? I have an ipad and a macbook but I haven't figured out the best way to use them together that doesn't involve connecting with a cable and manually dragging files around in the finder. (The corporate admin has disabled icloud, which doesn't help). I have a lot of pdfs on the laptop. I'd like to send one to the ipad, jot some notes, and send it back in a seamless way. Or generate a quick drawing on the ipad and easily add it to a document on the laptop.
    - gumby 2y ago
      I use notes and notability, each of which syncs using icloud. I also use the feature (I don't know the name) of the shared clipboard which also I think uses icloud for authentication. Finally, if I, say, download a PDF from my computer, I can open it from the ipad because my downloads folder is in iCloud. This one, at least, you could use use if your company permits a different cloud provider.
ein0p 2y ago
iPad is better for consuming content and reading pdfs. That’s what I use it for, at any rate. There is no better device to plop atop my stationary bike while I pedal to watch shows, and there is arguably no better device to read scientific papers. And it lasts (and receives updates!) for years and years, thus becoming “inexpensive” over time even though the initial outlay is without a doubt eye watering.

by cletus 2y ago

cjk2 2y ago

Tha main reasons I own an (11") iPad Pro are, you can write on it, which is really damn useful, you can wedge it places like tables on planes easier, it weighs hardly anything and you can charge it off a phone charger. Plus being TB based I can suck stuff off my camera without a dongle or any of that faff. But yeah an MBA is more powerful, but it doesn't have those attributes. If I was to start again I'd buy a bottom end Mac Studio for the 32Gb RAM baseline config, hang some TB drives off it and use the iPad as my "portable" computer.

D13Fd 2y ago

The MacBook Air is better for sure, and if you only buy one, buy that one -- full stop. But I use both, every day, at the same time. They are designed to work together. With universal control, my iPad sits next to my screen at work, and I do some things on the iPad, some on the MacBook. I also use my iPad on its own around the house. It's also incredibly nice for CAD work (Shapr3d) and photo processing (Lightroom). The iPad is much more resilient to water, food, and dust. I design things in Shapr3d on the iPad and take the iPad to the garage to build them -- a little sawdust does not hurt it and it's easy to clean. It's also much better if you want to read while eating, especially with kids around. The keyboard doesn't get in the way and spilled water won't hurt it either. I use it while cooking and to watch TV while washing dishes. The other thing the iPad can do that the MBA can't is that it's easily shareable. If you work with others, it's easy to pull up a PDF on an iPad and hand it to someone to look at or even annotate with the pencil. There is no awkward standing over your shoulder or handing off a laptop. Everyone instantly knows how to work with you on the iPad, and to review whatever you want them to review and hand it back. Overall I still use my MacBook Air more, and it's more capable. You can't do serious coding or development work on the iPad, for example. But it's very much worth having the iPad as well, at least for me.

gumby 2y ago
Those are almost exactly my use cases too; my difference is that I don't watch video but I do take my notes on the ipad, writing with the pencil. This works great because documents seamlessly work between the two devices. By far I use the MBA the most, but the ipad is much better for a small number of use cases that are worth my spending on. And for those use cases the ipad air is sufficient, especially as I can now get a larger one. That's similar to the macbook air: I'm clearly a "pro" or "power user" and it has more than sufficient oomph (note: when I type 'make' the compilation doesn't happen locally)
- D13Fd 2y ago
  Agreed about the iPad Air. The Pro is really a splurge upgrade over the Air. It's worth it for me personally, because I use it so much for photo editing, but I think for the vast majority of people who are smarter with their money the Air adds just as much practical value as the Pro.
- catbird 2y ago
  Could you elaborate a bit more on your note taking workflow? I have an ipad and a macbook but I haven't figured out the best way to use them together that doesn't involve connecting with a cable and manually dragging files around in the finder. (The corporate admin has disabled icloud, which doesn't help). I have a lot of pdfs on the laptop. I'd like to send one to the ipad, jot some notes, and send it back in a seamless way. Or generate a quick drawing on the ipad and easily add it to a document on the laptop.
  - gumby 2y ago
    I use notes and notability, each of which syncs using icloud. I also use the feature (I don't know the name) of the shared clipboard which also I think uses icloud for authentication. Finally, if I, say, download a PDF from my computer, I can open it from the ipad because my downloads folder is in iCloud. This one, at least, you could use use if your company permits a different cloud provider.

ein0p 2y ago

iPad is better for consuming content and reading pdfs. That’s what I use it for, at any rate. There is no better device to plop atop my stationary bike while I pedal to watch shows, and there is arguably no better device to read scientific papers. And it lasts (and receives updates!) for years and years, thus becoming “inexpensive” over time even though the initial outlay is without a doubt eye watering.