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Giving up the iPad-only travel dream

sixcolors.com

521–530 of 630 posts

Re: Giving up the iPad-only travel dream

#521

The iPad software has been lagging behind its hardware for so long now. My iPad and laptop both have an M1; the laptop has more RAM but they are effectively equally capable on paper. And yet, due to a series of entirely artificial restrictions, my iPad is useless for entire categories of applications. That power sits unavailable for me to ever utilise. I’m sure the iPad Pro can live up to its name if you’re an artist…

I'm in the market for a tablet upgrade because my Galaxy S3 Tab is feeling quite laggy and is years out of support. I was excited to give the iPad Air a shot as I've heard so many good things about about the M1 chip. But the locked down nature of iOS made it impossible to recreate my workflows and seemingly failed to really take advantage of the M1, so I returned the Air and am currently looking into the S9 Tab.

Re: Giving up the iPad-only travel dream

#522
post #149

The key sentence here is: > This is the fundamental difference between the Mac (a platform that basically lets developers and users do anything they want) and the iPad (where if Apple doesn’t specifically allow it, it can’t be done). Apple (since Lisa/Mac, after Apple II, which had an open architecture) likes appliances and to control the user experience, so the iPad is "more Apple" than Macs are. Whenever I am waiti…

Depends on what you want you want to use it for.

An iPad + Apple Pencil is amazing for jotting math or CS problems brainstorming, sketching, messing with music ideas, etc. Also great for reading, watching video content on the go, etc.

A laptop is much better at anything typing intensive or coding related.

Re: Giving up the iPad-only travel dream

#523

Earlier quoted context omitted.

looks at beardyman's insane live music setup running a mix of open source and commercial software on a six iPad matrix deck I would argue that some form factors are better for some use cases, others for other use cases, and we are still figuring out how to best take advantage of each particular form factor. Despite how popular it seems to be, I think framing it as "it's bad for certain use cases because Apple is evil…

Beardyman still uses a laptop running Ableton as the central hub for his rig. It's 5 ipads and a laptop. The iPads are all just controllers. You can see it in this short explanation video at the very start. And when he goes into the explanation, the very first thing he says is that the iPads control Ableton. https://youtube.com/watch?v=yp5ICEWmtuQ

You're right, five iPads, drum pad(?) and laptop - I just remembered the two-by-six grid off the top of my head. Thanks for clarifying!

Re: Giving up the iPad-only travel dream

#524

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Having worked in many graphics roles for 20 years, I have never heard of a professional wanting to use an iPad for their work, yet this thread is full of people claiming the iPad is some artist dream tool. It is not even close to true.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Procreate_(software)#Notable_u...

People do like that software but nobody wants to work on an iPad. They would much prefer use it with a Wacom or Xenselabs device.

Re: Giving up the iPad-only travel dream

#525
post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And in the case of the iPad, try to sell you them individually for each family member... It's 2023, and you still can't have multiple user accounts on any model of iPad, "Pro" or otherwise. This is a feature you can just take for-granted on virtually any other "computer" too.

The thing is: I can't even do media consumptions and web browsing on iPad. Browsing the web without uBlock and a few other extensions is a battle I'm not willing to fight. And so many video codecs not supported on iPad makes it unusable for media consumption. And have you tried opening your videos in other apps? Guess what? The file gets copied to the other app, meaning that now you have two versions of the same movi…

You can even! Just gotta put a little leg work in.

AdGuard and Hush for ad blocking, both free.

VLC for video, has built in ftp server which makes loading your pirated videos on super easy.

foobar2000 for music. Hands down the best music player, also has ftp support for easily loading all your favorite pirated music.

Bitwarden for password/totp management.

Joplin for notes (free). GoodNotes for pdf/sketchnotes (not free but worth it imho)

Re: Giving up the iPad-only travel dream

#526

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Only Apple iPads as far as I could see, but by no means only the most expensive or newest. Non-Apple tablet devices really are not often seen in the UK (some convertible PCs, the occasional Samsung tablet). If you spend a lot of time on public transport, an iPad isn't really that much of a luxury item. It's a really pragmatic choice, and at least in the UK an entry-level or recent secondhand iPad is not much more exp…

>We really get crammed into trains. Sincerely, from someone in the third world who has taken UK public transport. You don't. I don't say this to disparage your message, but hopefully to give some gratitude for the nice things you do have over there. I found it most amusing how people would get antsy and annoyed when a train was more than 5 minutes late in the UK. For years of me taking South African trains, if there…

The UK is becoming a third world country at a rapid pace, don't you worry.

Re: Giving up the iPad-only travel dream

#527
post #149

The key sentence here is: > This is the fundamental difference between the Mac (a platform that basically lets developers and users do anything they want) and the iPad (where if Apple doesn’t specifically allow it, it can’t be done). Apple (since Lisa/Mac, after Apple II, which had an open architecture) likes appliances and to control the user experience, so the iPad is "more Apple" than Macs are. Whenever I am waiti…

Actually you need 2 phones as even dual sim is not enough. Uk only app vs USA only app say.

Re: Giving up the iPad-only travel dream

#528
I suppose the writer will have to wait a few more years before apple 'reinvents' the touch screen and convinces everyone they invented the touchscreen laptop. Notice how just about every other manufacture has a touch screen offering. The same was true for DVD writers back when apple called it the super drive. Many devices on the market came with DVD writers.

The ipad pro as great as it is, will not replace a Macbook. Sure it can do similar things, but for professionals who only need one app and email for work or for grandmas that don't need much it certainly can be the only device. But it cannot do everything that a laptop can do and that's why most people need both a (tablet and a computer)

The surface pro devices are on their 9th generation. This is what you want if you want to travel with a tablet only experience that you are able to do laptop stuff with. Sure the tablet experience is miserable but tolerable. The only things mac users are missing is IOS/MacOS. Which I admit is a big miss. Let's be honest, the Mac OS is great it's always been the hardware that has been lacking in other areas. But the surface device is a full blown computer that runs a full desktop OS and can virtualize others. If your workflow allows for a windows device,and if you like learning and trying new stuff, you will most likely enjoy your experience. Otherwise you will be as miserable as a die hard windows user who is angry that CTRL+V is CMD+V. If devtools are the only thing keeping you with macOS then you owe it to yourself to checkout WSL[1] and the new windows terminal app[2].

[1] https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wsl/install

[2] https://github.com/microsoft/terminal

Re: Giving up the iPad-only travel dream

#529

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You'd think depending on the person, they'd travel with EITHER their phone OR their iPad OR their laptop You're missing a few major scenarios. - The iPad works as a second monitor for a Mac laptop. Great for creative/tech people. - If people are traveling for work, they are bringing their work laptop which may have corporate lockdown/spyware software installed. Therefore using their work laptop for entertainment migh…

> The iPad works as a second monitor for a Mac laptop. Great for creative/tech people. You need to be logged into the same Apple ID, which is a huge hassle for everybody who has a different Apple ID for personal and work use. There’s tonnes of Apple features that break because of this. Apple’s view is that there’s a 1:1 correspondence between Apple IDs and people, and everything they do is designed around that fact.…

> There’s tonnes of Apple features that break because of this. Apple’s view is that there’s a 1:1 correspondence between Apple IDs and people, and everything they do is designed around that fact.

Ugh, yeah. Good point. Never had a company that made me have a separate AppleID so I didn't think of it.

It would, of course, be a non-issue if Apple allowed multiple users on iPad :-/

> The “oh no, everything is so complex because Apple refuses to use USB-C” hand wringing is massively overblown.

Yeah. It exclusively comes from non-Apple owners. They never seem to notice that it's not a big deal for people actually living it.

Re: Giving up the iPad-only travel dream

#530

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Ultimately why would you buy it if it's just an inferior laptop with a touchscreen that you can detach? Right now it’s inferior not-a-laptop with a touchscreen that you can detach and people still buy it.

Not really. It’s instead a different device offering an experience that doesn’t require a keyboard or mouse at all.

Why would it become worse if they add support for keyboard and mouse on top of it?
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