01-10-2013, 09:44 PM
I'll offer the contrary opinion.
It's biased, because I've been using an iPad exclusively, as a laptop substitute, for over a year. In that regard, I'm the ideal test-case for such a question.
I didn't end up here voluntarily. My MacBook Pro is crippled (it's a 2006 model, and I can't justify repairing it, can't currently afford to replace it) and I happened to have just gotten an iPad 2 around the same time my MacBook Pro ran into trouble and became unusable. So what I have is a desktop Mac, an iPhone, and an iPad. No laptop.
If I could choose, by a slight inclination, I'd definitely want a laptop, particularly a MacBook Air, rather than an iPad. I can say that because of my situation. I've had to live this way for a while. I don't like it. The grass is definitely greener, as they say, on the other side. If it were reversed, to be fair, I might be really longing for an iPad, it's a luxury I have that I probably take for granted.
Here's the thing. I can't stand those moments, using my iPad, when I want to use it the ways we take for granted we can use a laptop. When typing text, for example, and I wish I could navigate a cursor via a trackpad, or reach for a mouse, and there isn't one.
The competing platforms (the Surface, for example) are smart to make a hybrid product that responds to mouse gestures. Even if you sync a bluetooth keyboard to an iPad, you still have to touch the screen, there's no choice. It's mandatory.
Normally, I prefer Apple's design and Apple's wisdom in such matters, but as a consumer, with no laptop option, I find it vexing. My impulses are limited by the design. And I think it's aimed more at protecting Apple's product categories (not cannibalizing potential sales of its own products) than it is at serving the user's needs, frankly.
Do I enjoy my iPad? Absolutely. I particularly am impressed by the pleasure of reading books on it. Light web browsing, purchasing items on eBay, playing games, lots of great apps. As a mostly passive device, it's reputation as the most-loved tablet is well-deserved.
But there are times when I would kill to be able satisfy the occasional need to kick into power-user mode, like one can effortlessly on a full-featured laptop. Type fast, edit, browse, move data around, copy/paste/process/correct, manage larger writing tasks, at normal speeds, without sticking my finger on the damned screen, trying to compensate for the missing cursor/mouse advantages. At those moments, the iPad feels too limited, and extremely frustrating, and I have to suppress the urge to hurl it across the room.
Plus, I think the MacBook Airs are beautiful. They've gotten better over the last few years, and are affordable, too, compared to that first overpriced one that introduced the model. I covet the MacBook Air, in a deeply Biblical, sinful way. Gnashing of teeth, burning lakes of fire, dogs and cats, sleeping together...
I haven't sold my wife's jewelry, or her car, or cashed in our retirement funds, to buy one, yet, so..if I"m patient, maybe I can survive one more year without a MacBook Air. But I'm not making any promises!
In conclusion, I think an iPad is ideal for someone who already has a Mac laptop, a portable Mac. Or someone who simply never writes or edits anything longer than 50 words, and will have no need to, ever.
It's biased, because I've been using an iPad exclusively, as a laptop substitute, for over a year. In that regard, I'm the ideal test-case for such a question.
I didn't end up here voluntarily. My MacBook Pro is crippled (it's a 2006 model, and I can't justify repairing it, can't currently afford to replace it) and I happened to have just gotten an iPad 2 around the same time my MacBook Pro ran into trouble and became unusable. So what I have is a desktop Mac, an iPhone, and an iPad. No laptop.
If I could choose, by a slight inclination, I'd definitely want a laptop, particularly a MacBook Air, rather than an iPad. I can say that because of my situation. I've had to live this way for a while. I don't like it. The grass is definitely greener, as they say, on the other side. If it were reversed, to be fair, I might be really longing for an iPad, it's a luxury I have that I probably take for granted.
Here's the thing. I can't stand those moments, using my iPad, when I want to use it the ways we take for granted we can use a laptop. When typing text, for example, and I wish I could navigate a cursor via a trackpad, or reach for a mouse, and there isn't one.
The competing platforms (the Surface, for example) are smart to make a hybrid product that responds to mouse gestures. Even if you sync a bluetooth keyboard to an iPad, you still have to touch the screen, there's no choice. It's mandatory.
Normally, I prefer Apple's design and Apple's wisdom in such matters, but as a consumer, with no laptop option, I find it vexing. My impulses are limited by the design. And I think it's aimed more at protecting Apple's product categories (not cannibalizing potential sales of its own products) than it is at serving the user's needs, frankly.
Do I enjoy my iPad? Absolutely. I particularly am impressed by the pleasure of reading books on it. Light web browsing, purchasing items on eBay, playing games, lots of great apps. As a mostly passive device, it's reputation as the most-loved tablet is well-deserved.
But there are times when I would kill to be able satisfy the occasional need to kick into power-user mode, like one can effortlessly on a full-featured laptop. Type fast, edit, browse, move data around, copy/paste/process/correct, manage larger writing tasks, at normal speeds, without sticking my finger on the damned screen, trying to compensate for the missing cursor/mouse advantages. At those moments, the iPad feels too limited, and extremely frustrating, and I have to suppress the urge to hurl it across the room.
Plus, I think the MacBook Airs are beautiful. They've gotten better over the last few years, and are affordable, too, compared to that first overpriced one that introduced the model. I covet the MacBook Air, in a deeply Biblical, sinful way. Gnashing of teeth, burning lakes of fire, dogs and cats, sleeping together...
I haven't sold my wife's jewelry, or her car, or cashed in our retirement funds, to buy one, yet, so..if I"m patient, maybe I can survive one more year without a MacBook Air. But I'm not making any promises!
In conclusion, I think an iPad is ideal for someone who already has a Mac laptop, a portable Mac. Or someone who simply never writes or edits anything longer than 50 words, and will have no need to, ever.