Can an iPad Replace My Laptop or Desktop Computer?

Lifewire ^ | Jan 2 2019 | Daniel Nations

[rintintin]

Did you know the iPad Pro is more powerful than the entry-level laptops lining the shelves at Best Buy? The iPad earns that "Pro" name with a processor that is on par with a mid-level PC. This is in addition to a screen resolution that exceeds many of those same laptops and the graphics power of an XBOX 360. And when you combine this with an operating system that supports slide-over and split-screen multitasking and a virtual touchpad, it's about time to reevaluate the iPad as a laptop killer.

[Pikachu_Dad]

I haven’t used the iTunes Store in ... a decade? Next

[Pikachu_Dad]

I don’t do Fb directly on the iPad. I go through safari or brave.

[TheBattman]

The “pro” version, combined with a keyboard likely could suffice for most laptop computing needs for the majority of people.

[TheBattman]

What an IT guy...

[rollo tomasi]

"Data from Tom’s Guide Geek bench comparison article and Laptop Magazine, updated November 5, 2018, using latest model competitor’s equipment: I.e. a Microsoft Surface Pro 6 with a Core i5 CPU ($997) and even the Core i7 version of the Dell XPS 13 ($1130), and an Apple MacBook Pro 13" with Intel i5 ($1299), so contrary to your snide hints, this is comparing current laptops as of today in similar price ranges from Microsoft, Dell, and Apple."

Using Geekbench benchmarks, lol.

Again, can this maxi-pad run Skyrim (8 year old game) in 4k at 60fps while running mods that require extensions (A lot of RAM too) which of course needs open source?

Can this pad even run Final Cut Pro (For the Apple MacBook fan boys). What are the 3d benchmarks? What is the rendering quality, not just the speed, I would rather have high quality rendering and not disingenuous "tricks" that render 1080p to 1080p in a few seconds, lol.

Does this pad run a FULL version of Photoshop with PLUGINS and Lightroom with PLUGINS/Presets?

Does the hard drive have at least 3 terabytes? Plenty more, article titles, especially the one you link to, are just as bas as democrats saying socialism blows away the free market.

Maxi-pad is ok, however will never replace the options AND power (Which the full spectrum of benchmarks are obviously missing) of desktops and laptops (Storage space kills everything by default) priced the same.

[Swordmaker]

Does this pad run a FULL version of Photoshop with PLUGINS and Lightroom with PLUGINS/Presets?

Adobe is releasing a full version of Photoshop for the IPad Pro, announced with the introduction of the 2018 iPad Pro.

Again, can this maxi-pad run Skyrim (8 year old game) in 4k at 60fps while running mods that require extensions (A lot of RAM too) which of course needs open source?

No, because Skyrim has not been released for the iPad, but there are games that have equivalent graphics or better at those frame rates for the iPad. . . Are you at all aware that the iPad Pro contains a Neural Net Processor capable of FIVE TRILLION decisions per second? Thought not. . .

Can this pad even run Final Cut Pro (For the Apple MacBook fan boys). What are the 3d benchmarks? What is the rendering quality, not just the speed, I would rather have high quality rendering and not disingenuous "tricks" that render 1080p to 1080p in a few seconds, lol.

The quality is superb. Are you at all aware that several full length professional feature films have been shot on iPhones and edited on iPads? Again, I thought not. You really don’t know what you are talking about, do you?

Does the hard drive have at least 3 terabytes? Plenty more, article titles, especially the one you link to, are just as bas as democrats saying socialism blows away the free market.

As a matter of fact, an IPad can connect to numerous hard drives/ storage devices. Mine has direct connection to my main Mac’s multiple terabytes of storage, and to my iCloud’s two Terabytes of storage. I have five terabytes of local storage available to my iPad Pro on my home WIFI, and my office WIFI has 12 terabytes. So your point is worthless besides being ignorant.

Using Geekbench benchmarks, lol.

Geek bench IS the GOLDSTANDARD in comparison between unlike platforms or even similar platforms. It avoids the subjectivity of the differences in applications and goes directly to the hardware capabilities and cuts out observer bias. Your denigration of Geekbench is just more of your ignorance on parade.

Geekbench result for the iPad Pro with Apple A12X Bionic processor.

What are the 3d benchmarks?

3D real time rendering on an Apple iPad Pro 2018 in AR real-time environment.

[Swordmaker]

I prefer a desktop with a full size keyboard and decent size monitor...and decent speakers to play my tunes while i surf or do other tasks.

iPad Pro (late 2018) Review – Audio
Ars Technica iPad Pro 2018 Review excerpt.—SAMUEL AXON - 11/7/2018.

Because the previous iPad Pro’s speaker system would not fit in the new chassis, Apple redesigned the speakers for this iPad Pro. There are now four sets—a woofer and a tweeter in each corner.

In keeping with the notion that there is no “correct” orientation for the iPad Pro, the speakers work regardless of how you’re holding it. Mid and high frequencies always come from whatever two speakers are oriented at the top, and bass always comes through all four.

I was surprised by how full the sound from the speakers sounded. With mobile devices, speakers are often good enough for speakerphone Skype conversations, or to share a funny YouTube video with your friends. But I would listen to music or watch a movie on these speakers. They’re obviously not as good as something audio-centric like a HomePod or Sonos One, but they’re great for a mobile device.

[rollo tomasi]

You are correct, a lot of PC games are NOT available to Apple because of "freedom and stuff" along with lack of power/openness to modification of drivers by 3rd party (Cough *Nvidia* Cough) the corporate Cult.

Plugins for Photoshop/everything? (Requires more memory/storage space)

Open source?

Presets?

Storage space? (LOL)

3DMark is the gold standard, dealing with a cult follower or nervous shareholder here. Expandable memory?

Dedicated graphics card? The AMOUNT of Software/integration that rivals desktops/laptops? (Hint: A lot is very useful NON-proprietary stuff).

Final Cut Pro? (Throwing a bone to you Apple fan boys).

Is that software cued up for the maxi-pad yet? A lot of plugins for that that requires ever more memory/resources to use. Freedom? (LOL)

TERABYTES...again, TERABYTES...again TERABYTES...needing proprietary peripherals...needing proprietary peripherals...needing proprietary peripherals

I could go on and on....

[Swordmaker]

Thanks for the additional and useful information, but what part of " entry-level laptops" can you not comprehend?

What part of the fact that among 92% of the actual competing laptop and notebook computers bested in Geekbench scores by the Apple iPad Pro 2018 are many that are not by any stretch of description "entry-level laptops," including the exemplar 2018 Apple MacBook Pro 13" with Intel i5 at $1299.00, the 2018 13" Dell XPS with an Intel i7 at $1130.00, and a 2018 Microsoft Surface Pro 6 with a Core i5 CPU $997.00, all compared to an Apple 2018 iPad Pro with an A12X at $779.00 to $999.00?

Not one of those Geekbench compared and slower test scoring machine was as fast as the Apple iPad Pro 2018, and they were all among the 92% of the set of laptops that tested slower, and, PAR35, none of those, and many more are "entry-level laptop" computers, in fact, they are by definition, mid-range to high-end laptops.

Entry-level laptops run from $179 to $500, max. So much for your specious argument. . . it’s not even a good try. You are trying to deny reality because you are an ideologue, where if the facts don’t comport with your preconceived opinions, you’ll ignore them, or you’ll attempt to reject and change reality until they do.

[rollo tomasi]

To be fair, I have an I-Pad Pro (Prefer that miles more than Surface Pro or Android Galaxy), however, I will never compare that device to my PC laptop or Desktop. All are computers, just like my smartphone, but they function differently and never “blow away” each other.

[Swordmaker]

Not if you’re taking the online course I am currently teaching. You need MS Office

MS Office is available for iOS and iPads. . . And Apple Pages, Numbers, and Keynote all open/save in Microsoft’s formats.

Do you really think IBM would have shifted 400,000 employees to Mac and iPads if they were not productive devices?

Not only are they productive devices, they save IBM $41 million per year in IT services by fewer trouble ticket calls than when they were a Windows PC shop.

[PAR35]

So you didn’t even bother to read the excerpt at the top of the thread, fanboy?

[Swordmaker]

Still ignoring facts such as those I enumerated . . . Several feature length films shot on iPhone and completed on iPads. . . But you stick with :

"Final Cut Pro?”

Those films were award winning. At least one garnered Academy Award nominations. . .

Storage Space? (LOL)

You did not bother to read a word I wrote, did you? I thought not. You are so certain in your absolute ignorance. . . You don’t even know what the connector on the new iPad Pro is, do you? 3DMark is the gold standard, dealing with a cult follower or nervous shareholder here. Expandable memory? . . .

Needing proprietary peripherals. . . Needing proprietary peripherals. . .

3DMark is useful to test only one specific area of function, rollo. . . and it doesn’t cover all devices or uses. It is hardly a universal goldstandardExcept for that one thing that mostly gamers care about. You look at tech reviews around the world and they almost universally use Geekbench to compare devices’ speed and performance and 3DMark only in the one area where it excels.

So then like all anti-Apple ideologues who don’t have facts, you resort to ad hominem attack to denigrate your opponent who does know what he is talking about. You obvious don’t.

What "proprietary peripherals" do you, in your Apple Derangement Syndrome, think are necessary to connect to WIFI, Bluetooth, or to USB-C devices? Please enlighten us.

[Swordmaker]

Can’t use 365 with MyLab products. Very frustrating.

MyLab products work with iPads. They were originally developed for iPads. Pearson eText is universal. . . your problem is with Microsoft’s deliberate crippling.

[Swordmaker]

To be fair, I have an I-Pad Pro (Prefer that miles more than Surface Pro or Android Galaxy), however, I will never compare that device to my PC laptop or Desktop. All are computers, just like my smartphone, but they function differently and never “blow away” each other.

My experience is that any one who was referring to "maxi-pads" use a post or two ago, and now is claiming to own an "I-Pad (sic) Pro", doesn’t. . . they merely claim they own one to try and give themselves an "expertise" they aren’t entitled to.

[Swordmaker]

So you didn’t even bother to read the excerpt at the top of the thread, fanboy?

I read it. . . but the original article author ignored dozens of other real tech journal reviews and the technical tests and charts who got it right: that the iPad Pro 2018 bested all but the top end 8% of the off-the-shelf laptops on the market . . . This metric excludes those that are build to order custom laptops with far high-end components.

I posted links to those articles, charts, and facts. You ignore them. . . which prove my contention you’re an ideologue who will not accept facts that do agree with your delusionary opinions.

These articles, aside from this ignoramus’ article, included actual real-world examples, which I provided, showing such high-end laptops in to $1000 and up brackets, that were beaten by the iPad in both single and multi core tests.

This author denigrates the iPad Pro results by damning them with the faint praise because what he claims was actually accomplished three years ago with the A10X processor in the 2015 iPad Pro, which handily beats out even today’s "entry-level laptops." . . But then as now, it was about 30%. As for Android, the four year old Apple A9 is still faster than any Android mobile processor.

[PAR35]

You ignore them.

That's a falsehood. In fact, I thanked you for having provided that information.

But you continue to ignore the issue that I had with the article. The reporter was comparing steak to veggie burgers (or, if you prefer, Apples and oranges. Your continued defense of this article is incomprehensible, but if you won't deal with truth, then your insults, at least, are understandable.

[Swordmaker]

That's a falsehood. In fact, I thanked you for having provided that information.

Where am I defending this article? The author of this article misses the point entirely by claiming what he did and ignoring the level of what the REAL tests showed. . . That the iPad Pro 2018 beat out 92% of the off-the-shelf laptop computers on the market in 2018, NOT the entry-level, implied low-end priced laptops this article and YOU keep harping on. I was pointing out the truth with LINKS which seems to elude you!

You seem to suffer from reading comprehension, if you think I am defending THIS article. I am countering it’s and your misinformation.

You thanked me for the data, but continued to post the misinformation as if truth did not matter, and the misinformation from this article was ALL that mattered. That was not what I limit myself to. Truth matters and YOU ARE NOT SETTING THE AGENDA or the "facts" to be limited to just what was in the original falsehoods YOU PREFER.

[Ken Regis]

App Store, Search, “Microsoft Office”

Pay

Go

[trebb]

Interesting - I guess I'm also lazy when it comes to carrying extra stuff around with me - I have no need for constant access to a computer (my laptop only gets used when I go on vacation - or turn it on every few weeks to catch up on updates) other than what my phone offers.

I know some folks with Apple products and they seem fine but to me it's like buying Prime rib and using it as stew meat for the cost.