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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

#351

Post by bartq »

Until recently I owned both MacBook Pro 16 M1 Max and iPad Pro 12.9 with magic keyboard. I love MacBook Pro 16 for work either on desk with connected big display or on laptop stand. Occasionally I use it as a notebook flat on the desk, but don't really like it long term, it forces you to look down which is not comfortable. But I HATE MBP16 to use as a LAPtop, it's too big, I can stand it maybe for 30min, max 1h.

So here comes iPad Pro 12.9 - lightweight (maybe not that light including Magic Keyboard), but it's great to use in laptop way, on chair, in bed etc. Great to browse web, scroll through videos and write notes or emails. I liked this form factor so much that I started to figure out how to make it a coding machine. That's problematic of course, so I ended up buying paid terminal App in App Store to connect over ssh/mosh to some server/other machine and use terminal with tmux/nvim etc. Installed nerdfonds, started using TUIs and it was working pretty well. But, I hate terminals for long term real work. I want to use heavy UI debuggers, click around/browse, move etc, my work is not only inserting text. I considered buying Asus Zenbook s13 OLED and install Linux on it to have two devices to use depending on my mood and physical position I wanna have. But, first, Zenbook is on Intel/Ryzen which means heat and fan noise, two, there are high risks my linux setup will require tweaks and care which I'm not interested in.

In summary: I bought base MacBook Air 13 M2 and use it as couch/cafe machine as alternative to MPB 16. So I have 3 Apple devices. Which is... fine?

Re: Buying an iPad Pro for coding was a mistake

#352

Post by kibwen »

scarface_74 wrote: post #261
redeeman wrote: post #201

Earlier quoted context omitted.

i like how we are talking about an OS that initially released in 2007, and only got support for "opening files in place" in 2015. What a time to be alive, we can open files in place and all.. gotta give apple credit, while the rest of the world is reduced to lowly CopyOnWrite, they took it one step further, with CopyOnRead.

What next? Are you going to complain about Windows not supporting more than 8.3 character filenames until 1995?

In 2001 people were still complaining about the pervasive usage of 8.3 filenames due to the legacy of Windows: https://slashdot.org/story/01/03/12/210202/why-are-we-still-...

If a given iPad app is still using a legacy API eight years later, that seems worth complaining about. It might not be Apple's fault so much as it is the app developer's fault, although it is at least indirectly Apple's fault for not introducing a proper file management API from the very outset.

Re: Buying an iPad Pro for coding was a mistake

#353

Post by Cupprum »

divbzero wrote: post #31

In my experience, iPad + keyboard works okay for coding if you SSH into a remote machine [1] and use a terminal-based text editor like emacs or vim. Alternatively, you can use a Git client [2] to code locally but that prevents you from using your preferred text editor or the command line. In theory, Visual Studio Code for the Web [3] could work too though I haven’t tried that approach personally. I first experimented…

I am surprised many people write about ssh into a server. Mosh[1] feels more responsive and it also supports longer sessions.

[1] - https://mosh.org/

Re: Buying an iPad Pro for coding was a mistake

#354

Post by diffeomorphism »

ubermonkey wrote: post #325
whywhywhywhy wrote: post #204

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…

Boggles the mind why people still don't see how an iPad Pro is a GREAT tool for things far beyond writing. I shifted my photography workflow to the iPad, and it's been an unalloyed success, for example. I no longer travel with a laptop unless it's explicitly a work trip. Further, the iPad is pretty GREAT at remote access for Linux or Windows hosts. If you need to do remote admin work, and you want to travel light, it…

How so? An iPad pro plus keyboard is heavier, bulkier and much more expensive than a macbook air. That is the comparison, not "lugging your dell".

Re: Buying an iPad Pro for coding was a mistake

#355

Post by chunk_waffle »

> If you're a sysadmin working mainly in SSH terminals, or if you have access to a browser-based cloud development environment, then I could see the iPad fitting into a workflow, especially if you want to pair it with an external monitor of USB-C to HDMI.

Honestly, if that's your workflow just get a Chromebook with LTE

Re: Buying an iPad Pro for coding was a mistake

#356

Post by Syzygies »

planb wrote: post #39

I don't see what people expect. The iPad is a portable touch-first device with a small screen and a locked-down operating system. The first two are by-design for the tablet form factor, so this will never change. And I don't expect Apple to open up the system, but it does not sound as if this was the main concern in this article. So why not simply get a MacBook Air, which is a completely capable, awesome coding devic…

Or get both? As a research mathematician, my iPad Pro is for drawing mathematics and reading papers, to get me away from a 32" screen when I'm not coding. The MacBook Air is for when I can't be at my 32" screen.

Coding intricate data structures is like teaching the computer chess. It helps if you understand chess. I can't imagine understanding what I want my code to do, without an involved process of drawing everything repeatedly in many variations.

Someday there will be an iPad drawing editor like Emacs, arbitrarily scriptable using further drawings, never putting down the Apple Pencil. We're still at the earliest stages of "word processing" technical art; this evolution is still to come.

Re: Buying an iPad Pro for coding was a mistake

#357

Post by alistairSH »

whywhywhywhy wrote: post #204

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…

I bought an 11" M1 Pro when they were released. But not for coding. It was a splurge and I justified it as "home laptop replacement" with a heavy side of "M1 should mean it'll be supported for a LONG time." Similar theory as maxing the RAM on a new MacBook, etc.

Now that the Air has that same hardware, my wife bought that instead of a Pro, and that's what I'd recommend to most people. The extra camera features are pretty worthless IMO (I have an iPhone Pro and a mirrorless for photography).

I have the Magic Keyboard. It wasn't cheap, but it's really good. My wife didn't bother, but she also has an M1 MacBook Air for laptop stuff.

Re: Buying an iPad Pro for coding was a mistake

#358

Post by kaba0 »

thefz wrote: post #143
Donckele wrote: post #104

I think I have the first or second gen ipad. For some years now the OS and apps are frozen in time. I have basically some old games and the old safari browser. The old safari is slow and, can you believe it, HN does not fully function! Now, we all know the hardware is premium and this device would probably run linux very smoothly and the touch interface would be a dream. But we can only dream right? WTF? Apple won’t…

> This also mostly applies to android devices as well - which is another shit show. Totally not true, I am at my second "out of support" device on which I install LineageOS and enjoy current Android. Just unlock the bootloader. If you are tired of Apple selling basically hardware-as-a-service with strong planned obsolescence, don't buy their products, problem solved.

So which devices actually support LineageOS, though? The one that wipes its proprietary firmware for the camera, leaving you with one that is orders of magnitude worse than the day you bought it?

This may not matter as much for a tablet, but let’s not give the impression as if the android side of things were better. Especially that that ipad will have insane lifetime. That android tablet may not in the first place.

Re: Buying an iPad Pro for coding was a mistake

#359

Post by eterevsky »

chunk_waffle wrote: post #355

> If you're a sysadmin working mainly in SSH terminals, or if you have access to a browser-based cloud development environment, then I could see the iPad fitting into a workflow, especially if you want to pair it with an external monitor of USB-C to HDMI. Honestly, if that's your workflow just get a Chromebook with LTE

Well, if you also want to use it in your spare time and you like iOS apps, it could theoretically work.
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