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Buying an iPad Pro for coding was a mistake

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Re: Buying an iPad Pro for coding was a mistake

#231
post #221

Boggles the mind why people still fall for the iPad Pro as a serious work machine beyond writing meme. The fact that Final Cut launched on it recently and while its exporting you have to sit there leaving the app open you can't go do something else is the punchline of the decade for the lie that this is a serious machine. This is before we get into the comical evolution from "You just need the touchscreen" to "Actual…

The form factor isn’t the problem. The software is. If they’d let it runMacOS it would be great.

I remember seeing an editorial about the rumored release of the iSlate (yes, that's what people thought it'd be called) circa 2010.

It said that if the iPad was a Macbook, all would be well. But if it was a large iPhone, it would set back tablet/mobile computing a decade.

I think it ended up being a little dramatic, but I agree that the iPad being as shackled as its been has been a net negative for computing.

Re: Buying an iPad Pro for coding was a mistake

#232

Boggles the mind why people still fall for the iPad Pro as a serious work machine beyond writing meme. The fact that Final Cut launched on it recently and while its exporting you have to sit there leaving the app open you can't go do something else is the punchline of the decade for the lie that this is a serious machine. This is before we get into the comical evolution from "You just need the touchscreen" to "Actual…

People are also using the iPad for running audio programs. There’s a ton, and they work together by routing audio from one app to another (so you don’t need a VST / AU host). Then there’s all the people running ProCreate or something similar. The horsepower is getting used.

Re: Buying an iPad Pro for coding was a mistake

#233
post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Remember the 'What's a computer Ad' of iPad Pro from 2017? I'm not saying that OP fell for that marketing and is gullible, but Apple marketed the iPad Pro as a replacement for a computer, so it may not be completely unreasonable to expect a reasonably similar experience on an iPad after 6 years and the n number of iPad generations that went by.

> Apple marketed the iPad Pro as a replacement for a computer Nah, they were using an extremely narrow definition of computer, one where you can buy and consume stuff and do "cool" social media with the device. If that's not your use case you want a different kind of computer.

The current marketing copy for the 10th gen iPad on Apple's website says

"Get things done — all on one device. Take notes, collaborate, and work seamlessly between apps. From pie charts to pie recipes, iPad is designed for all kinds of productivity."

and from the iPad Pro site:

"Enhanced ways to work. iPadOS 16 gives you powerful new ways to do more than ever. New desktop-class apps make your workday more productive. Resize and overlap apps to multitask like a pro with Stage Manager. And hook up an external display, with resolutions up to 6K, for even more room for all your apps"

They are clearly marketing these things as do everything productivity devices even though in practice it's pretty bogus especially if you need any sort of programming functionality. Heck they even show an image of Swift Playgrounds being used!

Re: Buying an iPad Pro for coding was a mistake

#234

Earlier quoted context omitted.

you can't even do social media on an ipad, it runs it in that small iphone emulator mode

That's the fault of the developer, not Apple. For example, Instagram hasn't ticked the box in Xcode to support the iPad screen sizes.

And, presumably, they're also only talking about native apps. You can still do whatever social media you want using Safari†.

†Apart from, I guess, any really bad social media things that only exist as apps. I think there's one or two.

Re: Buying an iPad Pro for coding was a mistake

#235
post #191

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why would you want to code lying in bed?

I don’t. That’s the point. I want to have device that adjusts to my needs instead of keeping a zoo of specialized devices. iPad Pro has powerful enough hardware to be a full blown productivity machine when connected to a keyboard, but convenient enough interface to be a media consumption device in bed.

"Zoo" is quite the exaggeration; we're talking two devices instead of one. I'd rather have an iPad Pro for the bedroom (!) and a high-powered desktop Mac for the office than something that tries to be both of those things and ends up failing at both.

Re: Buying an iPad Pro for coding was a mistake

#236
post #200

Wrong tool for the job ends up working poorly to nobody’s surprise

Can you blame the OP? Apple's marketing is best in class. We are animals who can't control most of the brain, only the frontal lobe(and determinists would debate that is just genetics + environment).

> Apple's marketing is best in class.

They don’t promote iPads as primary programming productivity device to my knowledge?

Re: Buying an iPad Pro for coding was a mistake

#237
post #236

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can you blame the OP? Apple's marketing is best in class. We are animals who can't control most of the brain, only the frontal lobe(and determinists would debate that is just genetics + environment).

> Apple's marketing is best in class. They don’t promote iPads as primary programming productivity device to my knowledge?

I rarely see Apple promoting computing in general.

I havn't watched TV since football season, but it appears they mostly focus on celebrities, the shape/color of the device spinning, and the words "Security" and "Privacy" with black backgrounds and white text.

(Which I take strong offense to, I know "Security" has no meaning, but to have worst in class security from Pegasus/0 clicks, it irks me that their marketing team did this.)

According to my 25 year marketer buddy, Apple sells a feeling or part of being in an 'in-group'. I wonder if OP is a victim of this.

Re: Buying an iPad Pro for coding was a mistake

#238

I’ve owned ipads for a long time and their productivity benefits compared to my Mac and iphone has never improved over the years. This year I’m selling my last ipad and won’t buy again until Apple throws a “real” OS at the thing. one of the worst things about ios is that files get copied for each app. Say I download a PDF in the Documents app and want to annotate it. As soon as I open it with NoteX, a copy of the PDF…

> until Apple throws a “real” OS at the thing

+ it still doesn't offer user profiles, so it fails to serve as a family device in the living room

Re: Buying an iPad Pro for coding was a mistake

#239
post #221

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The form factor isn’t the problem. The software is. If they’d let it runMacOS it would be great.

I remember seeing an editorial about the rumored release of the iSlate (yes, that's what people thought it'd be called) circa 2010. It said that if the iPad was a Macbook, all would be well. But if it was a large iPhone, it would set back tablet/mobile computing a decade. I think it ended up being a little dramatic, but I agree that the iPad being as shackled as its been has been a net negative for computing.

> I think it ended up being a little dramatic, but I agree that the iPad being as shackled as its been has been a net negative for computing.

...well the war on general purpose computing is on, so, unfortunately, the iOS/Android model is "the future". It won't be long until macOS and Windows are just as shackled. Things are definitely moving in that direction right now.

Re: Buying an iPad Pro for coding was a mistake

#240
If we look at Apple's quarterly earnings, the iPad brings in roughtly the same amount of revenue per quarter as the Mac. It's even better than the Mac because it brings even more recurring revenue through in-app purchases from App Store.

The problem is, the iPad is competing for talent and resources inside Apple. It's sandwiched between the iPhone, which is arguably the most successful business product of all time, and the Mac, which is necessary for making apps for all of Apple's platforms and it's the platform of choice of software developers in Silicon Valley. Mac gives Apple street cred in the tech world.

The iPad is poor at doing iPhone things and poor for doing Mac things. It's fantastic at note taking with the pencil, reading and annotating PDF's and watching content. For those things, it's much better than the other 2. The tablet form factor has it's strengths and weaknesses. Seems like Apple is happy where it sits in the line-up. It's serving its purpose as another product to protect the iPhone moat.

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