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I turned my iPad Pro into my main computer (2021)

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Re: I turned my iPad Pro into my main computer (2021)

#31

Post by poulsbohemian »

Zafira wrote: post #9

Who is the iPad Pro catering to exactly? I've struggled to figure this out.

There are a lot of workers out there in the world that need a lightweight way to enter data into forms while they are in the field. They may be interacting with clients / customers in a living room, front porch, etc. Likewise, the lidar features are handy for people like real estate agents who need a cheap / easy way to map spaces in houses / buildings (and I'm sure there are tradespeople, etc who need similar).

There are lots of types of workers who basically look up stuff on the web, respond to email, and maybe answer some kind of chat program. A full on laptop is really more than they need and probably has worse battery life.

Re: I turned my iPad Pro into my main computer (2021)

#32

Post by woojoo666 »

nso95 wrote: post #8

I once idealistically believed that tablets were the PC of the future. The iPad pro is definitely within the top 5 most disappointing hardware purchases I've made. Terrible UX. Trying to be both a laptop and a tablet has made it bad at being both of those things.

I tried switching from Surface to iPad Pro, and was woefully underwhelmed. Just felt like I couldn't get anything done. A big one was the lack of browser extensions (at the time) which I needed to organize my tabs and sessions, and while they are slowly closing the gap, it's still far from a daily driver in my eyes

Re: I turned my iPad Pro into my main computer (2021)

#33

Post by _alex_ »

rewgs wrote: post #24
imiric wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're right, that ends up being the main workflow. Though instead of connecting to a remote VM, I've found it better to carry with me a small Linux device running an SSH server. This can even be a Raspberry Pi. As long as it has a NIC, with a USB-C adapter hooked to the iPad you can just use an Ethernet cable, and have an entirely local setup. It defeats the purpose of carrying two devices around, but I find the iPa…

You don't even need the ethernet cable. A single USB-C cable (assuming your Pi has a port) is sufficient. A buddy of mine has a Pi velcro'd to the back of his iPad Pro and just ssh's in to/from the USB-C network ports. It's honestly pretty elegant, as long as you never look at the back of the iPad :p

Does your friend also have a Battery pack for the raspberry pi?

Re: I turned my iPad Pro into my main computer (2021)

#34

Post by _alex_ »

enos_feedler wrote: post #14

I use a similar setup for slightly different workflows. Ipad air instead of pro Tailscale VPN + raspberry pi instead of GCP Code-server and git on the rpi I am using terminus but will check out the recommendation in this article Constraining myself to be productive from an ipad air has been an interesting exercise. A lot of fighting along the way but its possible to smooth things out. The best feeling though is getti…

Tailscale + rpi is a great idea

Re: I turned my iPad Pro into my main computer (2021)

#35

Post by n_ary »

ja27 wrote: post #21
tluyben2 wrote: post #16

> Blink shell… expensive… build yourself It would be good if people would be neutral on buying not buying of open source software instead of blatantly pushing for not paying anything.

Yeah I hit: > It is quite pricey if you purchase it from the store and stopped reading. A one-time payment of $19.99 for an app you use all day every day is not 'quite pricey'.

> payment of $19.99

Are we looking at the same one? For me, “Blink Shell 14” appears to be €139,99 in App Store. Which is really pricey.

For the normal one, there is €21,49/year subscription fee applicable, which is indeed expensive as well, as I can use iSH for free :]

Re: I turned my iPad Pro into my main computer (2021)

#36

Post by yjftsjthsd-h »

imiric wrote: post #12
thaw13579 wrote: post #6

It seems like these “main computer” solutions always depend on ssh-ing into some other machine with a proper command line and disk access. It seems like that defeats the point though, because the advantage of a tablet is mobility, but that also brings along less reliable network connectivity to those remote servers. Really wish we could just install macOS…

You're right, that ends up being the main workflow. Though instead of connecting to a remote VM, I've found it better to carry with me a small Linux device running an SSH server. This can even be a Raspberry Pi. As long as it has a NIC, with a USB-C adapter hooked to the iPad you can just use an Ethernet cable, and have an entirely local setup. It defeats the purpose of carrying two devices around, but I find the iPa…

> I've found it better to carry with me a small Linux device running an SSH server. This can even be a Raspberry Pi.

What a beautiful demonstration of the utter failure of both parts: The iPad is so useless that people end up carrying around an entire second computer just to remote into locally so they can run useful work. And the hardware ecosystem outside of Apple and parts of the software ecosystem on Linux are so bad that people are willing to carry around an entire separate device just to be the user interface to all that power.

Re: I turned my iPad Pro into my main computer (2021)

#37

Post by anakaine »

andrewmackrodt wrote: post #11
VoidWhisperer wrote: post #4

One thing the author glosses over that I'm curious about that he said he got working was cloud gaming on the ipad to replace a computer for gaming. I'm curious what cloud gaming setup/provider he used and what the experience was like. I've personally tried various cloud gaming setups before (stadia, geforce now, etc) and the experience ends up being less than ideal even with a stable, gig down / 40 Mbps connection.

Xbox Cloud is quite useable, Dirt 5 for example impressed me in regards to latency but I found it to be too high for Forza Horizon 5 to be enjoyable. I've found RPGs to be a good fit, e.g Dragon Age Inquisition and Yakuza 0.

Halo Infinite has been quite decent, most of the time. Some screen pixellation and tearing occasionally. Apparently the very latest version when played via a Web browser (not the app) on PCs is far better than the last few releases.

That said, the performance was crappy enough that I just upgraded to having a console. I was able to download Halo and the campaign synced right up to where I left off in the cloud version automatically.

Re: I turned my iPad Pro into my main computer (2021)

#38

Post by anakaine »

ulfw wrote: post #22
phyalow wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In my case, someone who needed extra screen real estate when travelling with my MacBook Pro M1 16”. I set the iPad up on a stand, open sidecar and voila! I have (almost) doubled my screen/work area.

Or you could have bought one of a myriad of cheap portable 15" HD or 4K screens for that for 1/4th the cost of an iPad Pro 12.9"

But then lost the option of having a tablet you can take around when you don't need a laptop. Also, if you're developing for ipadOS you've lost access to that. And any apps you may have had in your Apple ecosystem if you were replacing an old tablet.

Not everything is purely price driven.

Re: I turned my iPad Pro into my main computer (2021)

#39

Post by anakaine »

imiric wrote: post #13
Zafira wrote: post #9

Who is the iPad Pro catering to exactly? I've struggled to figure this out.

Content consumers with cash to spare, and professionals who can work around iPadOS' limitations, or whose workflow isn't affected by them. Think digital artists, graphic designers, photographers, writers, some video editors, etc.

Don't forget students. Heading to university as a professional who is employed full time, but I want my own device with minimal maintenance and headaches, as well as minimal distractions. Ipad pro has been a great answer.

Initial notes, drafts, watching lectures, etc is a good use case. Full document drafting in Word is pretty poor compared to the desktop application where I can insert tables of contents, references, bibliographies and integrate with endnote.

The reason it frustrates me is because it doesn't run macOS and I can thus do far fewer things with it. I bought it with that in mind, knowing that the trade-off was that it would go some way to improving my time-on-task with uni. It's been a success in that regard.

Re: I turned my iPad Pro into my main computer (2021)

#40

Post by imiric »

yjftsjthsd-h wrote: post #36
imiric wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're right, that ends up being the main workflow. Though instead of connecting to a remote VM, I've found it better to carry with me a small Linux device running an SSH server. This can even be a Raspberry Pi. As long as it has a NIC, with a USB-C adapter hooked to the iPad you can just use an Ethernet cable, and have an entirely local setup. It defeats the purpose of carrying two devices around, but I find the iPa…

> I've found it better to carry with me a small Linux device running an SSH server. This can even be a Raspberry Pi. What a beautiful demonstration of the utter failure of both parts: The iPad is so useless that people end up carrying around an entire second computer just to remote into locally so they can run useful work. And the hardware ecosystem outside of Apple and parts of the software ecosystem on Linux are so…

Touché. But I don't see it as failure of either side; rather as using the strengths of both systems in unison.

The iPad(OS) is optimized for content consumption, is very portable, but has a restrictive environment that doesn't allow some of the low-level features required by _some_ professionals and hobbyists. While Linux is optimized for the latter, and though there are obviously good quality hardware and software that runs it, I like the iPad form factor.

Do I wish the iPad or Linux was more usable for my particular use case, so that I could just use one or the other? Sure. But I think that would satisfy a very niche intersection of users, so neither side has much incentive to build such a product. I'm more hopeful of a Linux tablet being good than Apple ever budging though. Some future iteration of the PineTab might be such a device. The JingPad also looks interesting.

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