Live data from Hacker News

Buying an iPad Pro for coding was a mistake

technicallychallenged.substack.com

361–370 of 533 posts

Re: Buying an iPad Pro for coding was a mistake

#361
post #190

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How do you see this being viable without completely compromising the security of people who, for whatever reason, still use those devices?

The pixel, for example, already has a secure yet user-unlockable bootloader. So do modern x86_64 PC's. Statements like these, claiming that only apple can properly secure a device (and hence that users deserve to be locked out), simply show astounding ignorance.

The M-series Macs also have similarly open, but secure bootloaders.

Re: Buying an iPad Pro for coding was a mistake

#362
post #351

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 h…

One more thing about iPad: I think it has the best on the market form factor, see pictures how magic keyboard elevates the iPad device which makes it's floating in the air a bit. I want to have the same for other laptops, because when you type on normal laptop in LAPTOP position, your fingers stand in your eyesight covering bottom part of the screen which is atrocious. AND: computer is in the screen which makes keyboard always cool. The same as in Surface Pro.

Re: Buying an iPad Pro for coding was a mistake

#364
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.

Except most people don't need a full-feature general purpose computer.

"I want to code on a tablet" is a pretty niche market.

The M1+ iPad Pros are pretty good digital creation devices. Lots of photographers use them in their workflows now. Doing a quick (but still high quality) edit at an event, so the customer has something to share immediately is a huge value add.

Re: Buying an iPad Pro for coding was a mistake

#365

> But if you need to run Xcode, VSCode, WebStorm, or Intellij than as far as I can tell the iPad is a no go. > It's expensive. After buying a powerful pro model, a decent keyboard, and a pencil the price ended up being MORE than a laptop I could have used for even more coding activities. 5m of research could have shown this... i think this product is only good for artists who needs a specific ipad app or someone who…

I think it's great as a large format ebook, especially if you want to read graphic novels.

Also it's great for a musicians to display sheet music.

Re: Buying an iPad Pro for coding was a mistake

#366

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Okay but now you are expecting them to manage another OS? Im with you on allowing more freedom, but to expect them to maintain linux for tablets?

Software for hardware components is not like maintaining a linux distro. I don’t want to ignite programming language wars but, seriously, would it be that hard to get the current software “compatible” with a linux setup? If it is that hard then fire the software “engineers” and hire ones who will do a better job.

Yes? Have you ever touched any code or wtf are you talking about? Literally every component’s driver has to be rewritten for a different operating system.

Re: Buying an iPad Pro for coding was a mistake

#367
post #327
post #324

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because not everyone is a coder, and there are lots of professional work scenarios where a tablet does perfectly fine.

The way files are managed on iPadOS is terrible for 90% of ‘work’ except web browsing or email. It’s really awkward and slow, and IMO essentially unusable.

And yet photographers are able to use various Adobe (or similar) products to do real-time edits/sharing of their work. Most people don't need 100% control over the file-system. As long as the particular type of file they manipulate is available in the app they want to use, an iPad works pretty well.

Re: Buying an iPad Pro for coding was a mistake

#368

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…

In my country there are a lot of people doing a ton of work with photos and video on iPhones. They are the generation who almost skipped the desktop. I think the M1 iPad is for these people, not us legacy desktop users. That said, why can't we simply have macOS on iPad right?

Re: Buying an iPad Pro for coding was a mistake

#369

Earlier quoted context omitted.

God I hope your wish never comes true. I don't understand why a device can't just be for consumption of media. Why is everyone trying to force this to become a computer with an annoyingly complicated navigation UX and the rest of the ceaveats when using a complete OS. If I ever have to worry about CPU usage or driver issues on my iPad I will be the one leaving. I bought an iPad NOT to work on it. It is my vacation de…

It’s called iPad PRO, if you want media consumption device iPad will do just fine.

12.9" pro's the best comic book reading device on the market, by a mile, AFAIK. Comfortable to hold, can display two-page spreads at very nearly full life-size.

It's great for PDFs and sheet music for similar reasons.

Gotta admit, though, if they made a 12.9" non-pro at least $200 cheaper than the 12.9" Pro, I'd have that instead. I don't need the horsepower.

Re: Buying an iPad Pro for coding was a mistake

#370

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For me, after doing a bunch of evaluation I went with buying an old (and very cheap) 2nd hard Surface Pro 3 on Ebay to see if that could possibly do the job. ... and yep, it does even with just Windows on it. Technically Linux can be loaded onto these things, and apparently works pretty well. But, I never got around to trying that out. About a year later I dropped the damn thing and completely shattered the screen. S…

My experience with Linux on on a SP wasn't great. The basic PC functionality is fine, but getting the pen and touch working required a custom kernel and a fair amount of effort. The input latency on the pen, combined with no good writing apps on Linux killed it for me.

Out of curiosity, what are the "good writing apps" on windows? When I last checked windows seemed to have exactly one note, android like 2 apps and iPad like 3 apps.
Post reply on HN