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I have a 2018 iPad Pro that is due for replacement but I cannot bring myself to spend the money on a new iPad. No matter how much I think I'll use it, it become
by sylens 1y ago
I have a 2018 iPad Pro that is due for replacement but I cannot bring myself to spend the money on a new iPad. No matter how much I think I'll use it, it becomes a web browsing and YouTube machine on the couch. It's a shame because I think the hardware design is quite good, but the OS itself is so limiting, even with the "improvements" iPadOS 26 introduced.
- bombcar 1y agoEvery iPad I've bought was going to be "the one where I find a use case that uses it" but every time it ends up being a YouTube machine.
- nkotov 1y agoSame but just entertainment device. I still don't understand where the iPad Pro makes sense.
- coldtea 1y agoIt's great for image retouching and illustration, especially on the go. It's also very handy for running VSTs (well, AUs really) and jamming with keyboards or guitars (with something like iRig)
- bluescrn 1y agoiOS doesn't even make for a very good YouTube machine, you need uBlock Origin for that.
- rg3 1y agoSide comment: when I watch YouTube content on my iPad, I normally use the Brave browser instead of the app. It has a built-in ad blocker that works well on YouTube.
- neckro23 1y agoPsst, you can get uBlock Origin (lite) for Safari now. Works pretty well.
- asimovDev 1y agoi don't think it works with youtube. i am too lazy to sideload personally, so I just use an albanian vpn in mullvad.
- cyberpunk 1y agoGot a vpn subscription? Try exiting in albania, no ads.
- rafram 1y agoYou could also subscribe to YouTube Premium. It pays creators better than ads do (versus an ad blocker, which pays them nothing), and it includes YouTube Music, so you can ditch Spotify.
- apples_oranges 1y agoGarageband and Books for me.. iPad 1 or 2 would suffice..
- recursive 1y agoI bought one just to run Loopy Pro. It has never run anything but the app store, the system settings, and Loopy Pro. But I had the use case before I bought it. If not for that, I wouldn't own one.
- threetonesun 1y agoLoopy Pro is as compelling an argument for buying one on the audio side as Procreate is on the graphics side.
- SSLy 1y agoTry Drambo, haha
- polynomial 1y agoI literally use mine for the Books app and to play chess.
- gh0stcat 1y agoYou could consider getting into drawing/design. They compete incredibly well against the display-based tablets made by wacom, especially these days where you can also do 3d and animation in procreate.
- sylens 1y agoIf I was starting this as a hobby, my first step would not be to spend several hundred dollars on a tablet and pen. I'd probably grab some sketchbooks and pencils first for <$50 and see if it sticks for more than a month.
- gh0stcat 1y agoI mean yes, but if you have an incredibly impressive machine compared to SOTA 10 years ago just lying around, I'd have fun with that too. :) Plus you can use it for more "practical" stuff like logo design or editing or even just note taking... I wanted to provide some examples of not just youtube machine.
- drcongo 1y agoBut then they wouldn't have anything to moan about on HN.
- criddell 1y agoIf you aren't into drawing, what about music? You can download GarageBand for free and it's pretty great once you figure it out. Or if you aren't a music person, are you into making movies? Final Cut Pro does have a subscription, but it's only $5 / month and the subscription is easy to start and stop. If your needs are simple, the free iMovie is pretty good. Or maybe video isn't your thing. Are you a writer or poet? There are a lot of great choices for writing apps and the battery life of the iPad means you can work away from your desk all day. Or if you like writing software, Swift Playground is fun. I found this to be a great resource: https://github.com/uraimo/Awesome-Swift-Playgrounds https://github.com/uraimo/Awesome-Swift-Playgrounds If you are into photography, Affinity Photo is fun. It doesn't have the AI features that Photoshop has, but for amateurs, it can get you pretty far. Plug in an external drive to your iPad and you can use it with a huge photo library.
- stormed 1y agoI use my iPad solely for just artwork at this point. I don't respect the App Store and needing to pay subscriptions for things you can get for free on a computer. That, and having to rely on web apps
- drcongo 1y agoI've produced two albums and done quite a few remixes on mine. Trying hard not to sound like a dick here, but if you pick up an iPad and all you can think to do with it is watch YouTube it seems weird to blame the iPad for that.
- whycome 1y agoCan you share your stack? What hardware are you using if you're doing vocal/instrument inputs?
- drcongo 1y agoI don't do vocals, so hardware is a TD-3, a Roland T-8, TB-03, Arturia MiniFuse 4 as the audio interface, Arturia MiniLab keyboard / controller and various Intech controllers (highly recommended). I believe the MiniFuse would do your vocal inputs pretty well. Even with all that though, I do 99% of it directly in Logic on the iPad, sometimes 100%.
- runjake 1y agoPoint noted. For me, I find too much friction and distraction using the iPad for creative. Sure, I'll do something in a pinch, but there's just something about it where I can't focus on non-consumption activities. I'm not sure what it is about the iPad -- maybe the physical ergonomics? It's kinda hard to position comfortably for focus.
- drcongo 1y agoI specifically use my iPad for the music because it's not the MBP I spend all day on for work. I'm sure there's music stuff that would be much easier to achieve on the laptop than the iPad, but the second I open my laptop I'm basically on-call and the distractions too great - the separation helps. Do agree with the ergonomics point though - it can be hard to spend a lot of time actually working on it.
- whalesalad 1y agoAgreed. I am forcing myself to start using my iPad Air more and more but it generally just collects dust. The 10Hz refresh rate has made me want to look at getting a proper one with a fast display - but then I remind myself that it will also probably collect dust most of the time.
- dialup_sounds 1y agoThis may be a controversial statement, but: you don't have to replace things that you're not using.
- sylens 1y agoThat’s the decision I’ve made here, I was merely using the framing as a way to talk about how my view on the iPad has changed in the intervening years
- calciphus 1y agoBut won't someone think of the shareholder value?
- 0x457 1y agoI can understand the reasoning behind - maybe new revision is more usable and make them use it more. I use my 2018 iPad Pro every day, though. Ironically, that's the reason why I'm not replacing it - it works just fine.
- w-m 1y agoThe A10X processor in my 2017 iPad Pro has always felt ridiculously overpowered for a couch machine. Recently it had gotten sluggish, hot, hung for times and lost battery quite quickly and I thought its time had finally come.. but no, after resetting the OS, it's as fast as ever. So hopefully it'll last me til Apple finally gives the iPad Air a 120Hz display.
- raw_anon_1111 1y agoWhat else does the OS need to do? There are real windows and real background processing.
- wlesieutre 1y agoIt's a useful device if you're an artist, if you're a developer the best thing you can do with it is buy the cellular model and use it as a very thin VNC client
- raw_anon_1111 1y agoYes and developers are a very small slice of the computer using consumers.
- fkyoureadthedoc 1y agoThere's a whole spectrum of use cases between artist and software developer. Honestly most people that I see at work just use Office software, web browser, and Teams.
- wlesieutre 1y agoOffice is a great use for a $350 regular iPad. Honestly the same one I'd recommend to developers, or worst case an $800 iPad Air for the 13" screen size. The $1000+ iPad Pro isn't helpful for any of that.
- fkyoureadthedoc 1y agoThat's true, and I would have gone for a 13" iPad Air when they were introduced, but ultimately went for the iPad Pro because I liked the OLED and 120Hz.
- pjmlp 1y agoNone of that requires the power of an M5.
- fuzzy2 1y agoWhat’s wrong with the iPad being a pure consumption device? It’s really great at this. Granted, you don’t need an iPad Pro for consumption, but you could always go for an iPad or iPad Air, no? I have a 2017 iPad Pro and once the battery finally dies will replace it with a non-Pro iPad.
- crims0n 1y agoI agree with this sentiment, but if you are using it primarily as a consumption device, the OLED screen is probably worth sticking with the Pro line.
- whimsicalism 1y agothe walled-garden completely destroys the ipads potential as a productivity device.
- walkabout 1y agoHow? I've never understood this. There's tons of good software for creating things in the App Store.
- sylens 1y agoI want to be able to write code in an editor or IDE and push that to source control from the device.
- 0x457 1y agoYou can do that. As long as you're okay with VSCode or a very specific build Vim: https://docs.blink.sh/advanced/code https://docs.blink.sh/advanced/code Please don't move the goal post to "I also want to compile and run code" because I got nothing for that. I just ssh to my home server and use my normal shell and neovim there.
- skinnymuch 1y agoA lot of extensions don’t work well with that. Like the UI is all messed up.
- whimsicalism 1y agoi don’t find the code-server experience particularly good. this “functionality” in blink is basically just safari also no local git
- 0x457 1y agoWhat do you mean, no local git? There is local git...it's just another app. I know it sucks. Also pretty sure code-server has working git functionality? I don't find that experience good either, but I mostly write rust, so not having rust tool chain and its component is a dealbreaker for me. I'm just saying you can write code and commit from iPad directly. I'd rather get the ability to use jetbrains IDEs via their remote client, but I don't think it will ever happen.
- fkyoureadthedoc 1y ago> it becomes a web browsing and YouTube machine on the couch My 4090 and m4 iPad Pro share this fate, with some occasional gaming.
- diamondfist25 1y agoI rented pcs from shadow game, cuz i know if i build a pc w gpu it’d face the same fate
- walkabout 1y agoI'm still on an older 12.9" Pro but will definitely upgrade at some point—and may not bother with another (personal—work-supplied is another matter) MacBook when my M1 starts to get long in the tooth in a couple years, now that Preview is available on iPads. It beats the hell out of either laptops or phones, for me, for these tasks: - Music. Excellent as a sheet music display; can record and edit midi quite well; play tutorial videos; act as a tuner, tone generator, or metronome (my phone beats it on that front due to portability, but still, if I already have the iPad out on the stand...); plenty good enough at audio recording and editing for my extremely-amateur purposes, plus its ability to play loops and beats and such. - Reading. It's especially amazing for comic books (in landscape mode a 12.9 incher is almost the same size as an open comic book! You can read two-page side-by-side on it, no problem) and PDFs. I prefer iPad mini sized devices for prose books in ordinary ebook formats, but the 12.9" pro is damn near perfect for those two things. Laptops and desktop computers also work for comic books and PDFs, but are a pretty big downgrade, UX-wise. - Drawing. Obviously. - Long-form writing. Laptops work great for this too, of course, but you still need a separate keyboard if you want decent ergonomics. iPad doesn't have an attached keyboard taking up space that I could instead use for a separate keyboard. It's also just as good as a laptop (to me) as a remote SSH terminal, VNC terminal, video/music player, web browser et c. I can't really think of much I do on my (personal! Not work-supplied) laptop that I can't do just as well on an iPad, maybe supplemented by a headless RPi hanging off my router, or a cheap VM rental (or just the Linux server in an old desktop workstation tower that I already have anyway).
- deleted 1y ago[deleted]
- Washuu 1y agoI have an iPad Mini. I got it mainly for studying and reading. However, it also has become great for being an instrumentalist. I can toss it in my bag, setup it up with the folding case for sheet music, tuning, and everything else. It saves me from having to carry my sheet music books, tuner, and other bits around.
- GeorgeTirebiter 1y agoI have an M1 12.9" iPP -- I find it's almost useless for reading because it weighs so much. I ended up buying a $ 90 Android 11" tablet which has a 'good enough' screen for reading. (Obv also does email, photos, AI, etc). If I could develop on the iPP, FOR the iPP --- build professional-quality apps on the iPP --- I would be happier. The Logitech detachable kbd is remarkably good, I have no complaints typing on it all day. iOS is a straightjacket.
- SkyPuncher 1y agoI follow largely the same path. I basically find that mine ends up used for only two things: 1. Reading technical papers where I use the pen to make notes 2. Sketching household projects (a few of the apps are very nice for this). Outside of that, I simply want a real, physical keyboard most of the time.
- ncphillips 1y agoI love my Kindle, but I have never been able to use my iPad for reading. I got HumbleBundle with a bunch of Pathfinder 2e PDFs cheap but I'm still tempted to buy the physical copies.
- ako 1y agoI really like using my iPad with the Nuphy air 75 Bluetooth mechanical low profile keyboard, physical keyboard is a solved problem.
- WillAdams 1y agoThis is why I replaced my Samsung Galaxy Book 12 w/ a Galaxy Book 3 Pro 360. I'd give my interest in Hell for there to be a tablet Mac w/ a Wacom stylus --- as it is, I'm seriously considering a Mac Mini and Wacom Movink 14 and a 3D printed shell.... (but first, I'm going to try out an rPi 5 w/ Wacom One 13 Gen 2 w/ touch).
- lolive 1y agoAs a synth, the iPad is a GODSENT !
- forgotoldacc 1y agoI use it professionally as an art machine. It's excellent for concept art and drawing in general.
- minimaxir 1y agoI have a M1 iPad Pro and I'm open to doing a trade-in for a new M5 iPad Pro: however the problem is the accessories. I rely on the Magic Keyboard and Apple Pencil and they would have to be repurchased since they are not compatable, which upps the total price too much.
- coldtea 1y agoSounds like you don't have a tablet specific use case though, you just want to use it as a glorified laptop, so why not just use a laptop? A tablet specific use case would be as portable writing machine on the go, for illustration, for audio units, or something like that, all the way to flight maps for recreational flying.
- ljlolel 1y agoIt’s the standard for musical notes
- bschne 1y agoThis. I've started thinking of it like this — the iPad, in my case, has an absolutely abysmal cost to usage ratio. On the far other end of the spectrum (and in a similar form factor if you squint) is probably my Kindle. That being said, _some_ people I know consistently seem to get lots of work use out of their tablets, and I can't quite put my finger on where we differ.
- stillworks 1y agoNote taking and Reading are my primary use cases. Goes without saying YMMV but it works for me. I had to hand down my iPad Pro 3rd Gen (the one with A12x Bionic chip) to my daughter for her school use. I got myself a 13" iPad Air (M2 chip) this time and Apple Pencil Pro (from Apple Refurbished store). The larger screen size isn't that much of a botheration as I thought it might be. On the flip side, the screen size is a lot closer to an A4 sheet and writing on it feels much better. I use Paperlike screen cover and pencil tips too. I don't have Netflix or YouTube installed on it. I only use it for Apple Books, Kindle, Notes and now Preview app is there as well. I might this time even use it as Sidekick and remote access IDEs running on my MBP but not sure if I want to do that yet on the iPad.