I was on vacation recently I had time to mess around with iPad options and I was thinking could use an iPad Pro to replace my MacBook Pro. My first thought was why not try this to save money as iPad Pro is $899 and a new MacBook Pro can range from $1500 -$2500. I started looking at what I do with my MacBook Pro daily I surf the web, listen to Spotify, use Office365, Email, Gimp, Facetime, and exec. The iPad Pro has Apples huge app store I should be able to just adjust my workflow from a PC to Tablet so I figured this would be an easy switch. I could actually see cost savings in my head.
I started looking at the size of iPads first before anything. The iPad mini was too small for me to use every day when you are used to a 15-inch MacBook Pro screen. I checked out the regular iPad and liked it but decided on iPad Pro because of the size and keyboard. The one thing I will say is the iPad Mini is a great size for content consumption but too small to be my everyday driver for the eight to ten hours I work a day. The iPad Pro was great for me as the size was fine for my eyes but I found it a bit big to be sitting in bed watching movies on every day but again it was for work primarily. I do think Apple was right with the size of the original iPad it’s the perfect size for both work and play.
I could see the iPad Pro as a replacement for writers, salesmen, and office workers as out of the box the iPad Pro has by far a large enough app echo system for everything those people would need to work on daily basis.
Office365 on iPad Pro worked great I did find the keyboard kind small at times for distance typing but a basic Bluetooth keyboard could fix that issue no problem. Spotify just like on iPhone worked fine and email again worked out of the box. I did notice some of these things are easier on the MacBook Pro like posting to WordPress or writing Python code and just went easier on the laptop and the switching between interfaces was smoother even with the iPad hotkeys.
Recording my podcast was very difficult and garage band on iPad Pro is too limited to work with and hard to use without a mouse. The same went for gimp it’s tough for you to use with just a finger. I did decide to hook up a Bluetooth keyboard and mouse which made using these programs easier. The podcast was difficult because the mixing board had to be hooked up so I had to make sure the iPad Pro was fully charged before I started recording since I needed the port and an adapter to make everything work correctly.
The MacBook Pro comes with a great video card to edit videos in all formats HD and 4k. The iPad Pro video editing apps were ok but some of the apps I used I found cumbersome at times but that’s not Apple fault. I did like LumaFusion very much and it works very well. I did notice at times the iPad Pro seemed to be struggling for resources a bit when editing videos but overall, I had no issues.
Using some of the Google services like AdWords, Webmaster Tools and Analytics was fine because of the great apps Google makes. I did notice I had to use the web browser at times because the app was missing some of the google analytics and webmaster tool features. The Google Adwords app is not a viable replacement and with the app, you can’t use the Google Adwords bulk word upload tool which really was a major productivity slow down when doing an ad campaign.
Then the kicker came when I had to use Dreamweaver there is no way to use it on iPad. Now granted I don’t use it much but once and a while it is needed. I have to say that Adobes Creative Cloud is amazing and works flawlessly on the iPad Pro the same as Office 365 does you can tell these are major selling points for this product.
I have to give Apple credit the iPad Pro is the great device for the office but not a great replacement for my MacBook Pro. For me as someone who needs versatility the iPad Pro is too limited, there were other software packages and things I needed, for example, Apple Server Software, terminal, ethernet port and USB port for configuring networking equipment. These are things that cannot be fixed just with a work flow change these are physical software and hardware limitations. Plus for me using an iPad Pro would require caring not only the iPad but the keyboard and mouse around where my laptop is all self-contained. For a content creator or professional writer, I would suggest an iPad Pro it has everything you would need to work. I would even suggest it for some office environments where users would really benefit from this device. I think it’s a great product by Apple for the right users but for me, it can’t replace my MacBook Pro that I use every day.
Tips, an all-in-one iPad manager will help you edit/organize/sync/delete contents on iPad.