{"id":8505,"date":"2021-04-21T12:28:10","date_gmt":"2021-04-21T16:28:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/adamchandler.me\/blog\/?p=8505"},"modified":"2021-04-21T12:28:10","modified_gmt":"2021-04-21T16:28:10","slug":"technology-ipad-pro-or-macbook-pro-pick-one","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/adamchandler.me\/blog\/2021\/04\/21\/technology-ipad-pro-or-macbook-pro-pick-one\/","title":{"rendered":"Technology: iPad Pro or MacBook Pro? Pick One"},"content":{"rendered":"

Prior to this post, I went down memory lane to see what I had written about iPad over the years. That was a LOT of fun. From my first post about iPad on January 29th, 2010<\/a> to surviving without an iPad in March of 2012<\/a> and finally in September of 2020<\/a> I exclusively work on an iPad for 2 weeks away from any product with \u201cMac\u201d in the name. I\u2019ve spilled a lot of ink over the years on iPad it it was Microsoft and Adobe\u2019s commitment to iPad paired with Apple\u2019s commitment to multi-tasking & external devices that helped push me forward but the Magic Keyboard with trackpad is what finally pushed me over the edge where an iPad is a device I can work on for most of the day.<\/p>\n

What does that really mean?\u00a0<\/p>\n

I can be mobile with iPad between meetings, in workshops and on the road. I can do minor creative work on the iPad plugging in SD cards and external storage devices and hooking up a USB-C headset and conducting meetings while editing a photo or two. I can casually grab the iPad from the bed or couch to reply to an email and do it faster and more accurately than on an iPhone.<\/p>\n

What can I not do on an iPad? To be honest, I probably wouldn\u2019t choose to work on an iPad all day, every day, FOREVER. I could get by, make money, be productive but it would be nowhere close to my productivity and possibilities that Macintosh allows.\u00a0<\/p>\n

I\u2019m returning to an office in just under 2 months. When I do, the M1X MacBookPro and iMac Pro won\u2019t be available. I would probably \u2018get by\u2019 with a MacBook Air for that but then Apple released a new 12.9\u201d iPad Pro yesterday at their Spring Forward event and, can you believe this geek is having second thoughts about where to spend $1500 in May?\u00a0<\/p>\n

The good news is, I have a 2018 11-inch iPad Pro with magic keyboard that was replaced under AppleCare just before the warranty ran out in October so it\u2019s brand new and has a very healthy battery and is functionally perfect. \u201cNeeding\u201d a 2021 version of this is unnecessary. I don\u2019t need Thunderbolt or USB-4, a camera that follows me during calls, better speakers or microphones, a white keyboard, a faster processor or more storage. Even with only 256GB of storage on my iPad Pro, I haven\u2019t needed more although for future proofing, I\u2019d probably jump to 512GB if I was using it for more media creation which is what my iPhone 12 Pro has and it\u2019 about 75% full.\u00a0<\/p>\n

My Core i9 2020 iMac will stay home. My heavy lifting is all done at home. This is the place, post-COVID where I import hundreds of 4K HEVC files after a trip, thousands of RAW camera images and edit podcasts. The full Apple Creative Suite and Adobe CS workflows all happen on my iMac and that won\u2019t change. I need a portable Mac for the office that plugs into an external display and supports a keyboard and mouse.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u2026and I\u2019m considering that machine to be a 12.9\u201d iPad Pro.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The truth is, I can\u2019t buy both. I need only one of these and while I can\u2019t imagine working all day on an iPad Pro, I also can\u2019t imagine traveling to work or on a motorcycle trip without my iPad Pro. It\u2019s been my reading machine and note taking machine since the before-times when I had a MacBook Pro, iMac and iPad Pro at my disposal.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The responsible person in me thinks what is best is to pretend the new iPad Pro isn\u2019t available and keep saving my pennies for an iPhone 13 Pro this year since I skipped the 12th generation devices and spend my money on a well-equipped but off the shelf (not configure to order) MacBook Air. Then, use that MBA until a professional 16\u201d machine arrives from Apple sometime this Fall and sell the MBA. In the meantime, my current 11\u201d Pro would still go with me everywhere and be my meeting-notes-taking machine.<\/p>\n

Then, maybe at WWDC we\u2019ll find out that iPad OS is getting even more supercharged and I can start saving up for a replacement 11\u201d model in the Fall.<\/p>\n

Then we\u2019re in real deep-doo-doo though. A MacBook Pro, iPad Pro and iPhone Pro all in the Fall? I can\u2019t swing that either without tapping into savings.\u00a0<\/p>\n

This sort of blog post never would have happened before iPad OS 13 OR before the Magic Keyboard. Now that the iPad Pro can be used for 2 weeks as a work machine and has an M1 chip, it\u2019s a very compelling offering and is not the machine for MOST people. iPhone in one hand, iPad in another, both connected to 5G cellular networks and both with a suite of powerful productivity tools that empower creators to do their best work.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Macintosh still has a place for anyone but it is looking more and more like the \u2018truck\u2019 to the iPad car and the iPhone motorcycle\/scooter.\u00a0<\/p>\n

What will I decide? Well, I have until April 30th to pre-order a new iPad or I risk allowing it to sell out for months and be backordered thanks to global supply constraints of various technology equipment. It would replace an 11\u201d iPad, then I\u2019d have to grab some sort of MacBook for my return to the office I think as I don\u2019t think I can do my office work on an iPad full time without some compromises and finally, this Fall a MacBook Pro + iPhone 13 Pro would be a combo purchase.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The home iMac will stick around for another year is my guess. The 2021 iMac is a lesser machine in storage, I\/O, even speed and screen real-estate so my iMac is safe until maybe the 2nd generation of the iMac Pro powered by M2X with a proper 6K, 30\u201d display. That should be in the next 18 months so we\u2019ll re-assess when the time comes. I have 12 more months of AppleCare on this iMac whereas my iPad doesn\u2019t and my iPhone won\u2019t come September.\u00a0<\/p>\n

AirTags, I don\u2019t need them.\u00a0<\/p>\n

AppleTV\u2019s new remote, yeah that\u2019s an instant buy from me.\u00a0<\/p>\n

This concludes my summary \/ recap of the Spring 2021 Apple Event. I hope you enjoyed the rambling.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Prior to this post, I went down memory lane to see what I had written about iPad over…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"apple_news_api_created_at":"2021-04-21T16:28:35Z","apple_news_api_id":"ac214bd0-001b-452e-8ca8-cb825d989356","apple_news_api_modified_at":"2021-04-21T16:28:35Z","apple_news_api_revision":"AAAAAAAAAAD\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/w==","apple_news_api_share_url":"https:\/\/apple.news\/ArCFL0AAbRS6MqMuCXZiTVg","apple_news_cover_media_provider":"image","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_cover_video_id":0,"apple_news_cover_video_url":"","apple_news_cover_embedwebvideo_url":"","apple_news_is_hidden":"","apple_news_is_paid":"","apple_news_is_preview":"","apple_news_is_sponsored":"","apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":[],"apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"csco_singular_sidebar":"","csco_page_header_type":"","csco_custom_appearance":"","csco_disable_excerpt_posts_layout":false,"csco_page_load_nextpost":"","csco_post_video_location":[],"csco_post_video_location_hash":"","csco_post_video_url":"","csco_post_video_bg_start_time":0,"csco_post_video_bg_end_time":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-8505","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-technology","7":"cs-entry","8":"cs-video-wrap"},"apple_news_notices":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pb3IC4-2db","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":12140,"url":"https:\/\/adamchandler.me\/blog\/2023\/10\/27\/technology-macbooks-are-getting-cheaper-and-why-do-we-have-the-ipad-again\/","url_meta":{"origin":8505,"position":0},"title":"Technology: MacBooks are getting Cheaper and Why do we have the iPad, again?","author":"Adam Chandler","date":"October 27, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Via Naver.com & Macrumors: Apple is actively developing new 12-inch and 13-inch MacBook models for sale at a planned price point of around $700 or less, claims a rumor out of Korea. 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I just paid $2450 for the same machine in 2024 albeit with double the storage (1 terabyte) and the updated keyboard. Maybe it lines up with inflation? I honestly don\u2019t know but I do know\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Technology"","block_context":{"text":"Technology","link":"https:\/\/adamchandler.me\/blog\/category\/technology\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"IPad Pro M4 13\" Nano-Textured Glass with Cellular.","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/53861901021_0ca18322b8_b.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/53861901021_0ca18322b8_b.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/53861901021_0ca18322b8_b.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/53861901021_0ca18322b8_b.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":8167,"url":"https:\/\/adamchandler.me\/blog\/2020\/01\/28\/technology-my-thoughts-on-ipad-ten-years-in\/","url_meta":{"origin":8505,"position":4},"title":"Technology: My Thoughts on iPad…Ten Years In","author":"Adam Chandler","date":"January 28, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"I began my march down memory lane by watching the iPad introduction which also happened to be Steve Jobs\u2019 last major product announcement before he passed away. 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