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Buying an iPad Pro for coding was a mistake

technicallychallenged.substack.com

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Re: Buying an iPad Pro for coding was a mistake

#381

Post by gloryjulio »

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 was expecting an ipad as a working power house many years ago but that changed when m1 MBA come out.

It seemed apple doesn't intend to improve ipad to be on par with Mac os. Arm MBA is the one that I'm looking for without the touchscreen. That's good enough for me.

This still holds true today. Apple doesn't care about the ipados for professionals.

Re: Buying an iPad Pro for coding was a mistake

#382

Post by smoldesu »

scarface_74 wrote: post #270
Donckele wrote: post #135

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nah. I have older netbooks (remember them?) and they are still more usable (with linux) than my old ipad.

Does your old Netbook have only 256MB of RAM and 500Mhz processor?

Because if so, that's enough to run 4 simultaneous instances of Linux!

Re: Buying an iPad Pro for coding was a mistake

#384

Post by sofixa »

wkat4242 wrote: post #196
sofixa wrote: post #157

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Google Nexus 7 is from 2012, so 11 years ago, and is still perfectly usable with a battery upgrade (possible because it's not glued/soldered) and a custom ROM (possible because the bootloader is open).

Hmm I would beg to differ. I have some N7s and they are too slow to even run as a panel for home assistant. Apps have really got much heavier since then. Of course they are running only a mid-range SoC from 2012 so that makes sense.

From what I've read, it's mostly a battery issue (the battery is so dead the CPU gets heavily throttled).

Re: Buying an iPad Pro for coding was a mistake

#385

Post by vel0city »

caeril wrote: post #330
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…

> how good the M1 MacBook is The primary deficiency of the macbook, and about 95% of all modern laptops, is the keyboard. Primarily the height reduction of the up/down arrows in the arrow key cluster. Nothing is more maddening for code navigation than these terrible, terrible keyboards. Same with the Esc key on many laptop keyboards, in which they are either size-reduced or eliminated entirely. (yes, I know I'm "supp…

> The market has largely failed to address the needs of developers

I'm a developer, and small arrow keys are perfectly usable to me.

Re: Buying an iPad Pro for coding was a mistake

#386

Post by ubermonkey »

dogleash wrote: post #350
ubermonkey wrote: post #325

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

> iPad Pro is a GREAT tool for things far beyond writing. [...] Further, the iPad is pretty GREAT at remote access for Linux or Windows hosts. I try and I try and I try because lots of tasks can be done and I want to like it. But I run into this certain problem that I also get with a laptop. I’m going along fine getting shit done then hit a stretch of work with a cognitive load/interaction balance where I start think…

I mean, if you're going to do things like remote access with Windows, you'll need to either get a pencil or get a trackpad case. It definitely would be painful with JUST the device, but I don't see this as a problem.

I definitely AM more comfortable with a traditional OS -- I mean, I've been using computers since the 80s -- and prefer MacOS by a wide margin. Working in iOS is different, so there definitely IS a cognitive load there. But in terms of portability and usability on the go, a beefy iPad has SO MUCH going for it that I'm willing to adapt.

I definitely also hear you about how a certain set of people are entirely supportive of the argument "you just have to get used to it; you can be productive" if the subject is vim or emacs, and then 100% reverse themselves when the subject is an iPad. Weird, right?

Re: Buying an iPad Pro for coding was a mistake

#387

Post by ubermonkey »

lazide wrote: post #329
ubermonkey wrote: post #325

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

Every time I tried to import/copy large photo sets (hundreds of gigs), the tablet would end up being useless for a long time and often even crashing. Which is ridiculous, I just wanted to copy the files. This is with a first gen iPad Pro. I literally got it for copying photogrammetry data sets, so it was useless for the one basic task that I got it for. :(

Weird. I copy cardfulls of photos into Lightroom on the regular when I'm traveling, and it's fine. You DO have to leave LR running to do it, but I mostly do this overnight anyway.

Re: Buying an iPad Pro for coding was a mistake

#388

Post by ubermonkey »

diffeomorphism wrote: post #354
ubermonkey wrote: post #325

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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".

Even if what you said was true -- that an iPad + keyboard is heavier and more expensive -- an Air is less flexible, has only one usable form factor, and has drastically less battery life than the iPad solution.

Re: Buying an iPad Pro for coding was a mistake

#389

Post by pjmlp »

lazide wrote: post #327
pjmlp wrote: 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.

Many professionals beg otherwise, and are perfectly fine with documents as central concept of work unit, similar to Xerox Workstations.

Re: Buying an iPad Pro for coding was a mistake

#390

Post by smodo »

galleywest200 wrote: post #326
BiteCode_dev wrote: post #279

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Managing multiple windows, copy/pasting, using shortcuts from muscle memory and things like instant middle mouse click are terrible experiences on any tablet or phone. Just opening a new tab on a browser is tedious, and if you deal with a lot of intranet tools, this is the very basics of productivity.

> using shortcuts from muscle memory This statement is true if you use any machine other than the one you are used to, so this makes little sense. My Windows shortcuts and Linux shortcuts do not match my MacOS shortcuts. I have to use all three OSes at my job.

Well yeah, but consider that Apple has complete control over both systems. I also bought into the ‘iPad for days full of meetings’ idea and found that if I can’t reliably cmd-tab and browse through some files in a non-iCloud folder the whole experience is garbage. The fact that they bolted on some MacOS features afterwards only makes it all the more ludicrous that they didn’t go for parity from the moment they started with those shitty plastic keyboards.
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