iPad Pro as main computer

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chriiiish

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#273208 10-Aug-2020 12:16

Just posting to see if anyone has replaced their laptop with an iPad Pro? I see a few videos on YouTube and things, but I'm curious to see if anyone who's a bit more of a power-user has done this and what it's been like.

The new iPads have USB-C and can connect mice and keyboard and screens which would be useful if I need a bigger screen and want a bit more of a desk. And my laptop no longer gets a whole lot of use, but my iPad sure does.

Wondering if it's worth the upgrade :P

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#2537838 10-Aug-2020 12:25

I am about 5 months in to using my 12.9" iPad pro + Magic Keyboard as my daily driver for all "general" computing:

Emails
Chat/Messaging
Video conferencing
Photo viewing and editing
occasional movie making/editing
browsing
general media consumption - video, music (as a Roon client for my headphones and DAC etc

Previously I had a Macbook Pro for this and so far, it is working perfectly.

I do still have a Windows PC which is acting as a "workstation" and server for the house - running Plex, Roon, 3D printing and games on occasion.

chriiiish

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#2537844 10-Aug-2020 12:40

Thanks! I'm currently on a Macbook Pro too.

The only thing that I used to do that might be a pain is some of the coding stuff:

Playing around AWS CDK
Javascript
Node.js
Cloudformation

Also some previous projects involved a lot of Raspberry Pis and such.

But I've got a NUC if I want to do any of that (not that I do any of this stuff these days anyway)

Have you tried connecting it to an external display?

alasta

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#2537845 10-Aug-2020 12:41

I have seriously considered it, but I use Time Machine on the Mac and the lack of any temporal backup functionality on the iPad would probably be a deal breaker. Yes, you can put all your stuff on iCloud but I still want Time Machine as an extra safety net.

chriiiish

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#2537846 10-Aug-2020 12:46

Good point. All my stuff is already stored on the cloud (I do have a time machine backup for my macbook too). I found that when I upgraded my macbook I didn't restore the time machine backup because I'd rather start fresh. All my important stuff is cloud based anyway so I may not have the same issue.

Handsomedan

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#2538009 10-Aug-2020 16:12

My only beef with connecting an iPad to an external display is the 4:3 aspect ratio...I find that annoying.

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chriiiish

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#2538357 11-Aug-2020 08:10

Oh yeah, that would annoy me. I guess they haven’t got it to the point where you could make an external display the primary one. I wonder if that’s a feature they’re working on...

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Handsomedan

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#2538363 11-Aug-2020 08:33

chriiiish: Oh yeah, that would annoy me. I guess they haven’t got it to the point where you could make an external display the primary one. I wonder if that’s a feature they’re working on...

If they truly believe that an iPad can replace a laptop (as they claim on occasion) then this has to be a feature they will enable at some point.

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Handsomedan

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#2538364 11-Aug-2020 08:34

alasta:

I have seriously considered it, but I use Time Machine on the Mac and the lack of any temporal backup functionality on the iPad would probably be a deal breaker. Yes, you can put all your stuff on iCloud but I still want Time Machine as an extra safety net.

Can you not put an external HDD via USB-C on as a Time Machine back up vehicle?

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alasta

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#2538369 11-Aug-2020 08:42

Handsomedan:

alasta:

I have seriously considered it, but I use Time Machine on the Mac and the lack of any temporal backup functionality on the iPad would probably be a deal breaker. Yes, you can put all your stuff on iCloud but I still want Time Machine as an extra safety net.

Can you not put an external HDD via USB-C on as a Time Machine back up vehicle?

iPad OS doesn't feature Time Machine, does it? I thought it was just a Mac OS thing.