Apple WWDC 2021 Keynote will Take place June 7 at 10am PST

[OtinG]

BTW, developers are now saying the new M1 iPad Pros are limited by the current iPadOS to using only 5GB RAM for an app. Even the 16GB iPad Pros apparently cannot currently use more than 5GB of that for any app. It is things like this that Apple really needs to address with iPadOS.

[Almamida]

Originally Posted by OtinG

I had already figured out that you are in a rare classification of iPad Pro purchaser. You can afford to buy a top of the line Pro when you really don't need one other than wanting it for entertainment. There is certainly nothing wrong with that, an Apple will appreciate your purchase. However, I think most people who are willing to shell out $2,000+ for a tricked out Pro 12.9" and essential accessories will do so because they NEED that power and capabilities to accomplish work of some kind. Most other people will likely buy a non-Pro model at a fraction of the cost for entertainment and what not. Apple could, probably won't, but could even release a large 12.9" non-Pro iPad for those like you who want a larger, better screen but keep it less powerful and sell it for less too so as to make more sales.

The "Pro" in iPad Pro really shouldn't mean "top of the line." It should mean "the iPad for professionals who need the most powerful iPad available to use as a tool." Right now it looks like the M1 iPad Pros have the power and electronic guts to be professional tools, but they lack an OS which fully supports that usage.

I disagree.

First, I spent $1,200 not $2000.
Second, as of now, Apple has been very consistent in separating the iPad line with its personal computer line. They've been adding more features year after year, but never promised to merge the 2 product lines.

Apple has a very consistent use of the marketing term "Pro". You can disagree as much as you want with it, but so far, Pro means more powerful, more features for them. It does not really mean different line for professionals.

AirPods -> AirPods Pro
iPhone -> iPhone Pro
iPad -> iPad Pro
iMac -> iMac Pro
MacBook -> MacBook Pro

I've assessed my needs and went with the iPad 12.9" for the bigger and better screen and also because I keep my devices for a really long time. I'm upgrading from an iPad mini 2 (2013) that was not allowing me to do as much. My needs are a mix of professional and entertainment at the end.

If they decide to take another angle with iPad OS and change the direction ( it's been 10 years of iOS /iPadOS slowly evolving, so why not ) I would be happy for the people waiting for it, but that never was the promise, just people fantasying about it.

And last, Professionals are already using the iPad Pro in their workflow. They might not have replaced their primary workstation with it, but it's part of it.

[pwalker8]

Originally Posted by Almamida

I disagree.

First, I spent $1,200 not $2000.
Second, as of now, Apple has been very consistent in separating the iPad line with its personal computer line. They've been adding more features year after year, but never promised to merge the 2 product lines.

Apple has a very consistent use of the marketing term "Pro". You can disagree as much as you want with it, but so far, Pro means more powerful, more features for them. It does not really mean different line for professionals.

AirPods -> AirPods Pro
iPhone -> iPhone Pro
iPad -> iPad Pro
iMac -> iMac Pro
MacBook -> MacBook Pro

I've assessed my needs and went with the iPad 12.9" for the bigger and better screen and also because I keep my devices for a really long time. I'm upgrading from an iPad mini 2 (2013) that was not allowing me to do as much. My needs are a mix of professional and entertainment at the end.

If they decide to take another angle with iPad OS and change the direction ( it's been 10 years of iOS /iPadOS slowly evolving, so why not ) I would be happy for the people waiting for it, but that never was the promise, just people fantasying about it.

And last, Professionals are already using the iPad Pro in their workflow. They might not have replaced their primary workstation with it, but it's part of it.

My understanding is that Apple is working towards making iPad apps run on the mac, but not making mac apps run on iPad. I have the iPad Pro 12.9 for two reasons, screen size and storage. Yes, I can use it for 95% of what I do, but my MacBook Pro and iMac are my preferred platform for a number of things. For one thing, Calibre doesn't run on the iPad!

You are correct, Apple has been very consistent in using Pro to denote higher capabilities rather than for use by professionals, i.e. the iPhone 12 verses the iPhone 12 Pro.

[pwalker8]

I'm not sure what new capabilities they are going to announce for the next version of MacOS/iOS, but I sure wish they would fix some of the inconsistencies. One example is the Books app on the Mac won't let you change the library location, while all the other apps (Music and TV) will. Another example is dropping support for categories in CarPlay for Books.

My iMac had been getting slower and slower. The issue was that I had run out of room on the internal drive. Using Disk Drill, I determined that I had 200 GB of old iOS device backups and 300 GB of audiobooks in books. Once I wiped those two out, everything ran much faster. I didn't need the old iOS device backups and I'm not using Books for my audiobooks (except for the 20 or so non audible books that I have)

[salamanderjuice]

Originally Posted by OtinG

The Apple WWDC 2021 Keynote presentation will Take place June 7 at 10am PST.

Now that M1 iPad Pros have arrived, I surely hope they announce meaningful updates to the iPadOS to bring it fully into the 21st century. It is past time for a true laptop replacement in the form of an iPad, but iPadOS has to improve greatly to take advantage of the new chips and technology. It takes more than a new iPad Pro with lots of horsepower, it also take a much more capable and usable iPadOS.

As far as macOS goes, I’m finding it more and more difficult to get excited by their annual updates that just don't wow me any more. Maybe they will have something this year to make the M1 chips really shine.

I doubt it. It's been rumored I think every year since the iPad Pro's were introduced that we'd see "pro" features like the ability to run Xcode on the iPad. I even stupidly bought a 10.5" Pro partly based on that. I feel like it runs the M1 because that's the only chip they have that makes sense as the A14 wouldn't seem very "pro" and they can recycle parts from all the M1 Macs. And an A14X would basically be an M1 anyways. The last several generations of iPad Pro were already faster than most laptops.

I think unless they are forced via. regulations or something to pry open iOS/iPadOS they are gonna leave it like this. I'm sure for some professional workflows like graphic designer, photographer, journalist, etc. an iPad Pro can completely replace a laptop or even be a better option. For my use case I can ironically get more done with a $100 Android tablet than a $2000 iPad Pro with 16GB of RAM.

[Almamida]

Originally Posted by pwalker8

My understanding is that Apple is working towards making iPad apps run on the mac, but not making mac apps run on iPad. I have the iPad Pro 12.9 for two reasons, screen size and storage. Yes, I can use it for 95% of what I do, but my MacBook Pro and iMac are my preferred platform for a number of things. For one thing, Calibre doesn't run on the iPad!

You are correct, Apple has been very consistent in using Pro to denote higher capabilities rather than for use by professionals, i.e. the iPhone 12 verses the iPhone 12 Pro.

iPad apps can already run on M1 Mac. Developers have to permit it though and not all them want their iPad apps running on Macs.

For Calibre, I think it could run on the iPad if it was ported.
I just plugged my Kindle, it's recognized in Files and I was able to browse the folders.
For some reason, my Kobo doesn't let me connect it to the iPad though.It will charge without the prompt to connect to the computer.

Originally Posted by zx`uy

I doubt it. It's been rumored I think every year since the iPad Pro's were introduced that we'd see "pro" features like the ability to run Xcode on the iPad. I even stupidly bought a 10.5" Pro partly based on that. I feel like it runs the M1 because that's the only chip they have that makes sense as the A14 wouldn't seem very "pro" and they can recycle parts from all the M1 Macs. And an A14X would basically be an M1 anyways. The last several generations of iPad Pro were already faster than most laptops.

I think unless they are forced via. regulations or something to pry open iOS/iPadOS they are gonna leave it like this. I'm sure for some professional workflows like graphic designer, photographer, journalist, etc. an iPad Pro can completely replace a laptop or even be a better option. For my use case I can ironically get more done with a $100 Android tablet than a $2000 iPad Pro with 16GB of RAM.

I see the appeal for a more open iOS/iPadOS and I would love to have an option to install software from outside the store, like I can on my Mac (less and less easily out of the box though, but it's not necessarily a bad thing).
As you said, this won't likely happen unless Apple is forced to do so.

[OtinG]

The sad fact is this. If you want to create powerful spreadsheets on an iPad, which is a fairly easy task on a Mac, regardless of whether the iPad has a keyboard and/or trackpad and/or mouse attached, it will take much longer to accomplish than using a Mac because of the lackluster and glitchy OS. iPadOS just isn't designed for office work or professional level work. iPadOS is designed for entertainment and social media.

If a person wants nothing but entertainment and social media, and perhaps some very simple productivity capability, then iPadOS works for them. If a person wants a professional level workhorse of a tool, then iPadOS is NOT going to adequately deliver that capability--probably not ever.

Last night I took some photos with one of my Sony cameras. I then loaded a few images from the SDcard to my iPad Air 2020. Next I tried to use Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop to edit the RAW images in order to get accurate colors and clean up the photos. I spent probably an hour on my iPad Air 2020 doing what I could have done on my MacBook Pro in PS in 10 minutes or less. Why? The iPad Air 2020 has way more horsepower than is needed for that task. But iPadOS is so lackluster and glitchy that it makes using the interfaces of production apps like LR and PS a nightmare. I never did get the histogram and curves tool to work like they do in macOS. I kept having to redo steps because the touch interface caused all sorts of false entries. Overall the experience was not only disappointing but very frustrating. I got tasks completed, but was rather angered by the whole crappy experience. How in the hell can a photographer use an iPad in the field to get their post processing work done? The answer is they really cannot, not without a lot of frustration and wasting of valuable time. Admittedly some of the problem lies with lazy developers who only give their iPad apps a small subset of the features and functionality of their Mac apps. However, most of the problem lies with the iPadOS which was never designed to address the needs of production level apps like office tools, graphics design tools, photo and video post production tools, etc.

I too doubt Apple will ever make iPadOS into a professional tool for professionals, but they damn sure try to market it that way. They certainly emphasize the entertainment value more, but they still market the iPad Pros as a professional tool for professionals who currently use Macs and Windows computers. My dad, who would get tired of us kids dragging our feet to get something done, used to say, "Either sh*t or get off the pot!" IMO Apple should either make iPadOS truly capable of professional level workloads, or they should stop marketing it as such.

[Almamida]

It doesn't work well because you didn't buy the iPad Pro.

(I'm kidding )

[tomsem]

I’ll be surprised if iOS 15 does not remove the 5GB limit for apps (at least for M series). That should really help with ‘professional’ (photo/video, audio production, data analysis apps, etc).

And I don’t think we’ll see any more A series chips on new iPhones and iPads.

[pwalker8]

Originally Posted by OtinG

The sad fact is this. If you want to create powerful spreadsheets on an iPad, which is a fairly easy task on a Mac, regardless of whether the iPad has a keyboard and/or trackpad and/or mouse attached, it will take much longer to accomplish than using a Mac because of the lackluster and glitchy OS. iPadOS just isn't designed for office work or professional level work. iPadOS is designed for entertainment and social media.

If a person wants nothing but entertainment and social media, and perhaps some very simple productivity capability, then iPadOS works for them. If a person wants a professional level workhorse of a tool, then iPadOS is NOT going to adequately deliver that capability--probably not ever.

Last night I took some photos with one of my Sony cameras. I then loaded a few images from the SDcard to my iPad Air 2020. Next I tried to use Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop to edit the RAW images in order to get accurate colors and clean up the photos. I spent probably an hour on my iPad Air 2020 doing what I could have done on my MacBook Pro in PS in 10 minutes or less. Why? The iPad Air 2020 has way more horsepower than is needed for that task. But iPadOS is so lackluster and glitchy that it makes using the interfaces of production apps like LR and PS a nightmare. I never did get the histogram and curves tool to work like they do in macOS. I kept having to redo steps because the touch interface caused all sorts of false entries. Overall the experience was not only disappointing but very frustrating. I got tasks completed, but was rather angered by the whole crappy experience. How in the hell can a photographer use an iPad in the field to get their post processing work done? The answer is they really cannot, not without a lot of frustration and wasting of valuable time. Admittedly some of the problem lies with lazy developers who only give their iPad apps a small subset of the features and functionality of their Mac apps. However, most of the problem lies with the iPadOS which was never designed to address the needs of production level apps like office tools, graphics design tools, photo and video post production tools, etc.

I too doubt Apple will ever make iPadOS into a professional tool for professionals, but they damn sure try to market it that way. They certainly emphasize the entertainment value more, but they still market the iPad Pros as a professional tool for professionals who currently use Macs and Windows computers. My dad, who would get tired of us kids dragging our feet to get something done, used to say, "Either sh*t or get off the pot!" IMO Apple should either make iPadOS truly capable of professional level workloads, or they should stop marketing it as such.

My father had another saying - "Use the right tools for the right job". If you could do the job on your macbook in 5 minutes and spent an hour doing it on your iPad, my question is why? An iPad simply isn't the right tool for that job. Life is too short to try to hammer nails with a screwdriver.

[Almamida]

Originally Posted by tomsem

And I don’t think we’ll see any more A series chips on new iPhones and iPads.

I think A series are here to stay.
The M series so far is only replacing the X/Z versions of the A processors in this new iPad Pro.

Originally Posted by pwalker8

My father had another saying - "Use the right tools for the right job". If you could do the job on your macbook in 5 minutes and spent an hour doing it on your iPad, my question is why? An iPad simply isn't the right tool for that job. Life is too short to try to hammer nails with a screwdriver.

Totally agree with that.

[OtinG]

Originally Posted by pwalker8

My father had another saying - "Use the right tools for the right job". If you could do the job on your macbook in 5 minutes and spent an hour doing it on your iPad, my question is why? An iPad simply isn't the right tool for that job. Life is too short to try to hammer nails with a screwdriver.

I'm guessing your father wasn't a photographer or a professional who travelled about where a laptop was not very convenient to have in the field.

While using the right tool for the job is often the best, it is not always the wisest or most convenient choice. Apparently I'm conversing with Apple fanboys here, who think Apple never does anything wrong. However, ask most any photographer, videographer, etc. which device they would prefer in the field and they will likely say a tablet. Laptops are just too cumbersome to use.

I'm sad that people who just want an expensive toy to watch videos and play games on cannot see past their own limited usage to understand the need for a real professional tool which if properly equipped with a usable, capable OS could make their professional work and hobbies so much easier to accomplish in the field. I think some of you here lack the imagination and the desire to push beyond the entertainment value of iPad Pros and be innovative. The status quo is just fine for you. But it is not fine with me. Apple has finally produce a fairly powerful iPad as far as hardware goes, but the OS simply won't allow it to be implemented easily into a work environment. It is as though someone put a rusty old Yugo engine in a Ferrari. It might look good with the hood closed, but it isn't going to perform very well on a race track or even a city street.

[Almamida]

Originally Posted by OtinG

I'm guessing your father wasn't a photographer or a professional who travelled about where a laptop was not very convenient to have in the field.

Well, a MacBook Air is an incredible tool on the field if the iPad can't keep up with needed tasks.

Originally Posted by OtinG

While using the right tool for the job is often the best, it is not always the wisest or most convenient choice. Apparently I'm conversing with Apple fanboys here, who think Apple never does anything wrong. However, ask most any photographer, videographer, etc. which device they would prefer in the field and they will likely say a tablet. Laptops are just too cumbersome to use.

Now, knowing the limitations of a tablet. I think everybody can make a choice of what's best for them.
And the fact we're more pragmatic on the situation does not give you a free pass to call us Apple fanboys.

As I already mentioned, I would gladly see the iPad fit more needs, but mine are already filled. I bought it knowing it would be a perfect addition to my workflow.

Originally Posted by OtinG

I'm sad that people who just want an expensive toy to watch videos and play games on cannot see past their own limited usage to understand the need for a real professional tool which if properly equipped with a usable, capable OS could make their professional work and hobbies so much easier to accomplish in the field.

You repeat the same thing, but the iPad in its actual form is an incredible professional tool for me : textbooks, notes, second display on the go...

Different professional needs than yours are perfectly valid. It does not make the iPad a toy.

Originally Posted by OtinG

I think some of you here lack the imagination and the desire to push beyond the entertainment value of iPad Pros and be innovative. The status quo is just fine for you. But it is not fine with me. Apple has finally produce a fairly powerful iPad as far as hardware goes, but the OS simply won't allow it to be implemented easily into a work environment. It is as though someone put a rusty old Yugo engine in a Ferrari. It might look good with the hood closed, but it isn't going to perform very well on a race track or even a city street.

Well at the end of the day your more likely the one that is going to be disappointed.

[ilovejedd]

Originally Posted by OtinG

Last night I took some photos with one of my Sony cameras. I then loaded a few images from the SDcard to my iPad Air 2020. Next I tried to use Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop to edit the RAW images in order to get accurate colors and clean up the photos. I spent probably an hour on my iPad Air 2020 doing what I could have done on my MacBook Pro in PS in 10 minutes or less. Why? The iPad Air 2020 has way more horsepower than is needed for that task. But iPadOS is so lackluster and glitchy that it makes using the interfaces of production apps like LR and PS a nightmare. I never did get the histogram and curves tool to work like they do in macOS. I kept having to redo steps because the touch interface caused all sorts of false entries. Overall the experience was not only disappointing but very frustrating. I got tasks completed, but was rather angered by the whole crappy experience.

Were you using an Apple Pencil or just your fingers?

[tomsem]

Originally Posted by Almamida

I think A series are here to stay.
I think A series are here to stay.
The M series so far is only replacing the X/Z versions of the A process

Perhaps, but why wouldn’t they offer the benefits of M architecture across the line? It’s obviously superior (significant space and performance gains, fewer parts to assemble). It’s not clear it costs more to produce, either. Whereas continuing development of A in parallel seems pointless

A-series will continue with HomePod and Apple TV, but these don’t need more than A12 (same as iPhone) for the foreseeable future..