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2018 iPad Pro
Over the years, the iPad has significantly improved both on hardware and on iOS. The fact that the iPad is my main device for most use cases has evolved so much that I have spent more time using it than my iPhone and my Mac, both in my professional life as personal.
As Apple has repeatedly repeated on the iPad Pro, we continue to get so temptingly close that I can really use my iPad rather than my Mac for all my tasks.
It acts as a list of shots, a note-taking device and an occasional teleprompter when shooting. During photo shoots, I quickly put photos on them to preview and process them. When I work with photos after a shot, I fall back on the couch with my iPad and Apple Pencil to edit. When traveling, it's a big screen to relax with movies or TV. Rather than watching movies, it's also great for reading or relaxing with a game. I even do lightweight web development on my iPad. Of course, it's also a good way to write for almost all of my articles and videos here on AppleInsider.
When Apple announced the batch of iPad this year, I sat down, filled with anticipation. Apple has unveiled a host of new features, including connecting to external 5K displays, using USB-C to connect directly to a professional camera, uncompromising Photoshop, and, of course, the improved Apple pencil.
There is very little iPad can not do what I need. Despite all the new features of the iPad, I knew that it would still not replace my MacBook Pro. At least not yet.
Gross omissions
If you have not noticed the screaming hole in my iPad workflow, the biggest limitation of the iPad for me is video.
This does not mean that the iPad does not have video capabilities. I have used from time to time several high-performance video editing applications, specific to the iPad. Even in this case, they do not replace Final Cut Pro X, where all my AppleInsider and other professional videos pass through.
It will also take much more than FCPX to appear on iPad so that I can actually use iPad Pro as a real device. The interface alone would be extremely heavy on iOS.
Chronology of Final Cut Pro X
From the basics of interfacing with the timeline to animation with keyframes, without the mouse, these tasks would be difficult. Looking only at the timeline, for an audio track, you have the audio level, the fades in and out, and the cut-outs of start and end. These aspects of the user interface can become extremely tiny and narrow and implore the use of a mouse. Moving some of these elements into popups or modals would work, but it would slow down the workflow considerably.
To go with FCPX and support for the mouse, I would also need support for external storage. I have terabytes of storage occupied by hundreds or even thousands of videos over the years and their backups. It just would not be possible for me to use local embedded storage for all my video production. I might be enough on the road, but to give up my Mac, I need to be able to connect more external storage.
At the moment, developers can create applications that communicate with external storage, but iOS makes it very difficult, making it almost unusable for this scenario.
Finally, I also want better monitoring support. Of course, I can connect to a 4K or 5K screen, but it just reflects the iPad or the preview media instead of being used as a real display. Mouse support can play an important role in this operation, allowing you to interact with the items displayed, but it will undoubtedly require work and adjustments.
Performance
That being said, it's not as if the iPad was unable to do what I needed. The benchmarks for the new 2018 2018 iPad are outstanding, easily surpassing my late 2016 MacBook Pro.
By running the test multiple times myself, my Mac pulls 15696 from the multicore test. The new iPads, on the other hand, are capable of timing 17995. A pretty substantial gain. Of course, Geekbench is not the overall measure of actual performance and does not always represent a given workflow with 100% accuracy.
That's why we can take a look at the actual export times in 4K to get an even clearer picture. Laptop Mag did that and the results were crazy. The Apple 12.9-inch iPad Pro has exported a 12-minute 4K video in 7:47, nearly a quarter of the 25:53 that the 13-inch MacBook Pro has squandered.
This leaves me confident in the power of the iPad, and also convinced that he just needs to be able to To take advantage of of this power.
The cost of the upgrade
Where it leaves me now, it's a bit in a hole. I really push the boundaries of the iPad by editing massive RAW photos and other workflows. It is therefore worth improving for new Pros.
This year's iPad Pro has been redesigned. So, instead of just buying an iPad, I will also choose a new Apple pencil and a new Smart Keyboard keyboard, which allows me to significantly reduce my cost of ownership.
At the same time, I can not give up my Mac. I can not even opt for a cheap Mac, like the new Air or MacBook Retina, because I need a little energy to handle these 4K videos.
This leaves me with an absurdly expensive configuration, a configuration that could be significantly lower if my iPad could handle the video properly.
I would not leave the Mac completely behind, it still works as a home server, among other things, but I would not need the high end model I need now.
The largest image
Assuming everything is not all about me, if we take a step back and look at the big picture, it is clear that the iPad should be the main device of more people.
This brings us back to an old Steve Jobs interview in which he discusses parallels between computers and tablets and trucks and cars.
In the agrarian era, trucks were ubiquitous and occupied 100% of vehicle owners. Over time, vehicles evolved and people switched to cars as trucks were no longer needed for the majority of consumers. Jobs has described this as a similar transition from the computer to tablet market. Everyone had a personal computer because that was what was available and needed.
To this day, most people still consider the iPad as a mere consumer device and not as a device that can actually replace their computer. Apple faces a difficult battle while trying to change the perception of its tablet holder.
Even more so when the iPad has been launched, the tablets are ready to take over. Computers will always be there and fill a niche, but tablets can fill the need to tell most people.
The hope is not lost
Fortunately, I have never felt so good about the future of the iPad.
2018 iPad
Apple has positioned the iPad Pro this year as a direct computer replacement rather than as a mobile consumer device. It is clear that Apple wants the iPad to be used for creation and productivity rather than for games, movies and reading.
We see the first signs with iOS 11 and 12. They have acquired several new productivity features for business users. Multitasking, even though it's not as robust as on a Mac, has been improved. Between the split view, drag on and PiP, I can run multiple applications simultaneously. Particularly fruitful for me, the import of photos / videos was revised, which had a considerable impact on the processing of images on my tablet.
Next summer, we will have a first look at iOS 13 and new features from Apple. For years, Apple has been asked to open the file system / support external storage, improve multitasking and add support for a mouse.
Hoping that iOS 13 brings us this latest step forward to make the iPad Pro a complete replacement of the computer. I will wait patiently.
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