iPad Pro iPad Pro: Very Disappointing

[Alameda]

The weekly “iPad Pro needs MacOS” thread 🫠.

If you did any research at all before buying your iPad, then you would know whether or not it would fit your workflow. (If you didn’t and it was a gift? Why are you complaining, use it for what it does well and stick to your old workflow.)

Yes the iPad Pro and the whole iPad lineup in general has some flaws. Like some of the other comments I’ve seen, Apple’s limitations and restrictions are so frustrating and I’m excited to see how the DOJ lawsuit plays out.

You know there’s a reason why Apple doesn’t make the “What’s a computer” ads anymore right?

I did; I read that people use the iPad Pro for RAW photo editing and even video editing. I’ve tried, and it was very difficult to do, compared to my MacBook Pro. Using MS Word is also much worse. But I don’t think your “blame the customer” attitude is appropriate.

I have a disabled child, and I’ve bought her iPads for years. She’s happy with it, I’m happy that she enjoys it. I’m happy that there’s a platform my child can enjoy. My complaint is that a computer which has the same processor and memory as my MacBook Pro ought to perform a lot like my MacBook Pro, and this iPad doesn’t come close. Things like selecting text for copy/paste, the web browser, file management, controlling the sliders in Lightroom; it’s not a great productivity platform.

I recently bought an OWC Thunderbolt dock for my MacBook Pro. Now I’m very curious to see what happens when I plug the iPad Air into it… although I don’t intend to use the iPad that way, it will be interesting.

 

[G5isAlive]

I feel for you. This is an old conversation which polarises opinion and usually runs for dozens of pages. One one side we have the "I can do more with a ten year old laptop than an iPad Pro because the OS sucks and is holding the hardware back" camp, and on the other side we have the "I don't want a touchscreen macOS on my tablet, I like it just the way it is" camp. The two camps never ever agree.

I'm in the former camp, which is why I've only ever bought the cheapest iPads. iPad pros would for me be a complete waste of money that I could still only really use for content-consumption like the cheapest iPad, because the OS does not lend itself to tasks I would normally use a computer for.

well said...maybe I should try a cheaper iPad. I am mostly in the I am fine with iPad OS camp, or maybe I just accept it. I would NOT want a touch screen Mac if it meant giving up iPad OS. I do see the beauty of simplicity for a small screen. And to me anything less than 27 inches is small. I agree with those that want a middle ground though, iPad by day (detached), Mac by night (or when docked to a larger screen).

BTW, the iPad OS is getting better in the files department. just in case you havent tried it lately.

 

[owilderman]

I did; I read that people use the iPad Pro for RAW photo editing and even video editing. I’ve tried, and it was very difficult to do, compared to my MacBook Pro. Using MS Word is also much worse. But I don’t think your “blame the customer” attitude is appropriate.

I have a disabled child, and I’ve bought her iPads for years. She’s happy with it, I’m happy that she enjoys it. I’m happy that there’s a platform my child can enjoy. My complaint is that a computer which has the same processor and memory as my MacBook Pro ought to perform a lot like my MacBook Pro, and this iPad doesn’t come close. Things like selecting text for copy/paste, the web browser, file management, controlling the sliders in Lightroom; it’s not a great productivity platform.

I recently bought an OWC Thunderbolt dock for my MacBook Pro. Now I’m very curious to see what happens when I plug the iPad Air into it… although I don’t intend to use the iPad that way, it will be interesting.

I don’t blame you at all. I’m sorry if my original comment lead you to think that way. Apple’s deceptive marketing leads users to think that professionals can effectively use iPad Pro. In all actuality the iPad Pro is for professional iPad users.

Your complaints are valid. The iPad Pro can and should be able to reach the same level of performance that the Macs do with the same chip. Believe me, I understand, I’m writing this from my M2 iPad Pro and there are many use cases that it simply can’t fulfill. MS Word and even the Google Suite on iPad is genuinely awful, but I suspect that the problem with the devs at the mobile team for MS and Google, not the iPad itself.

I think you found the perfect use case for iPads with your daughter. At their current state, they are just glorified iPhones with keyboards. Users can either shape their workflow around the iPad or let the iPad slide into their workflow.

The problem is that there are so many of the same complaints that it’s getting to the point that nothing new is being added. Apple knows what we want, and likely won’t give it to us.

And btw, I use a dock with my iPad and it helps with my productivity so much. External monitors are great, especially if your iPad is equipped with a Mx chip.

I wish iPad were a good fit for you, but it’s okay that they aren’t. There are many times I have to break out my old Macbook Pro or complete a task on my desktop PC because there simply isn’t a way to complete those tasks on my iPad.

 

[G5isAlive]

I did; I read that people use the iPad Pro for RAW photo editing and even video editing. I’ve tried, and it was very difficult to do, compared to my MacBook Pro. Using MS Word is also much worse. But I don’t think your “blame the customer” attitude is appropriate.

The only complaint I see here is you apparently did not do your homework before buying because you really aren't saying anything remotely new. That is surprising for a person that has been with MR for over 10 years, like others have said this is almost a weekly topic. There were plenty of threads for you to jump on to add your 2 cents worth. So maybe that some of the attitude you perceive.

Personally, I don’t see much future for the iPad Pro if they’re only going to be large screen iPhones.

This sorta flies in the face of the fact it has done well in the last 7 years since the pro was introduced, or 14 since the original iPad. One day it will end, but not this day.

Value really is subjective and somewhat independent of price, whats worth it to some will be different to others. shrugs.

But your opinion on what is value for you has been noted. You really shouldn't have a problem selling it. They hold their value fairly well.

 

[Turfschipper]

I am still stunned to see people buy an expensive ipad and than are disappointed they got an ipad instead of a laptop.

 

[Alameda]

The only complaint I see here is you apparently did not do your homework before buying because you really aren't saying anything remotely new. That is surprising for a person that has been with MR for over 10 years, like others have said this is almost a weekly topic. There were plenty of threads for you to jump on to add your 2 cents worth. So maybe that some of the attitude you perceive.



This sorta flies in the face of the fact it has done well in the last 7 years since the pro was introduced, or 14 since the original iPad. One day it will end, but not this day.

Value really is subjective and somewhat independent of price, whats worth it to some will be different to others. shrugs.

But your opinion on what is value for you has been noted. You really shouldn't have a problem selling it. They hold their value fairly well.

Astonishing performance. Incredibly advanced displays. Superfast wireless connectivity. Next-level Apple Pencil capabilities. Powerful new features in iPadOS. The ultimate iPad experience.​

Next‑generation performance.​

Next‑generation capabilities.​

​

My fault that I didn’t “do my research” and figure out that this is all a bunch of bulls**t? Cause it just plain is.
I was hoping for a lightweight, solid platform for editing my photos in the field. It doesn’t have to replace everything my MacBook does at home (my MacBook doesn’t either!), but having a lightweight system that I can use to upload all of my RAW photos and cull through them at a decent clip, edit a few and export them quickly… that would be nice. Maybe I’ll get this worked out well enough, but it’s far from straightforward.

 

[257Loner]

OP, you're completely right. At the price point of a $1,000, the iPad "Pro" should help users be very "Pro"ductive! And like you said, it has the hardware. It's the software that's the problem.

 

[Alameda]

OP, you're completely right. At the price point of a $1,000, the iPad "Pro" should help users be very "Pro"ductive! And like you said, it has the hardware. It's the software that's the problem.

Maybe I’ll figure out how to make this a productive solution, but it sure is difficult. File management and sluggish software performance seem to be the biggest problems. I’m not going to give up just yet.

 

[G5isAlive]

My fault that I didn’t “do my research” and figure out that this is all a bunch of bulls**t? Cause it just plain is.

My fault for thinking research meant something beyond marketing materials. shrugs. But yes, before I spend more than a few bucks I do research independent sources including MR. Tons of threads on this topic. Marketers and lawyers, how do you know they are lying?

I run Lightroom on my pro to preview photos in the field and for that it works fine (for me). It opens raw files fast enough and I shoot at 61 mp on my Sony A7R V. But I wouldn't use it for heavy photo processing because there are more tools available on my Mac and when I pixel peep I like a larger screen. I absolutely agree for some things a laptop are better. But I tend to figure out what my tools are good for and use accordingly rather than complain what they don't do.

Speaking of which, I also find my iPad Pro to act as a good monitor when filming with my camera. Would the Air do as well? Possibly. But I find the screen colors to be better on the Pro and thats important to me for photographic and video work. Folks are impressed when I show them.

 

[iPadified]

Apple’s marketing team has deceived many a man!

A laptop replacement is not the same thing as 1 to 1 feature parity. For most people doing mail, browsing, bit of gaming and other “home stuff”, iPad is replacing laptops, which fits strait into “perhaps you next computer is not a computer” slogan. It seems that the advanced user were more fooled than the ordinary user. Ironic.

Read what it says on the package and never buy based the assumption of future software capabilities.

 

[sparksd]

Astonishing performance. Incredibly advanced displays. Superfast wireless connectivity. Next-level Apple Pencil capabilities. Powerful new features in iPadOS. The ultimate iPad experience.​

Next‑generation performance.​

Next‑generation capabilities.​

View attachment 2364868
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My fault that I didn’t “do my research” and figure out that this is all a bunch of bulls**t? Cause it just plain is.
I was hoping for a lightweight, solid platform for editing my photos in the field. It doesn’t have to replace everything my MacBook does at home (my MacBook doesn’t either!), but having a lightweight system that I can use to upload all of my RAW photos and cull through them at a decent clip, edit a few and export them quickly… that would be nice. Maybe I’ll get this worked out well enough, but it’s far from straightforward.

If I want to do a quick and dirty, I'll put my camera card in a USB-C card reader, attach it to the iPad, open the card in Files and go through the RAW images (Canon CR3), culling them, open Lightroom and import from the card, process, and then export to wherever I want to save to.

 

[iPadified]

I thought that a “Pro” machine with the same specs as my laptop would be able to perform as well as my laptop. And I don’t think it’s even close.

iPads needs a large performance overhead to feel natural during usage. You know, the M1 in an iPad get warm during usage - it means it is used more than you think. Don’t blame lack of app quality on iPadOS, blame the app developers and the reluctance to pay for high quality apps.

 

[TechnoMonk]

You need a Mac buy a mac. I don’t need iPad Pro to run Mac OS. Microsoft 2 in 1 tablets are a disaster.

 

[TechnoMonk]

Astonishing performance. Incredibly advanced displays. Superfast wireless connectivity. Next-level Apple Pencil capabilities. Powerful new features in iPadOS. The ultimate iPad experience.​

Next‑generation performance.​

Next‑generation capabilities.​

View attachment 2364868
​

My fault that I didn’t “do my research” and figure out that this is all a bunch of bulls**t? Cause it just plain is.
I was hoping for a lightweight, solid platform for editing my photos in the field. It doesn’t have to replace everything my MacBook does at home (my MacBook doesn’t either!), but having a lightweight system that I can use to upload all of my RAW photos and cull through them at a decent clip, edit a few and export them quickly… that would be nice. Maybe I’ll get this worked out well enough, but it’s far from straightforward.

It says iPad experience not mac. Seriously, you need to evaluate all devices with in the the return window. I test my work flows/scenarios on all devices, Apple or others to see if it fits my needs. If it doesn’t, I send it back.

 

[TechnoMonk]

iPads needs a large performance overhead to feel natural during usage. You know, the M1 in an iPad get warm during usage - it means it is used more than you think. Don’t blame lack of app quality on iPadOS, blame the app developers and the reluctance to pay for high quality apps.

This is true, my iPad M1 runs warm when I am coding or running my test bench. I can’t imagine running a Mac OS, oddly enough my MBA M2 runs hotter than my iPad Pro for same use cases. iPad Pro won’t be able to dissipate heat like Mac.

 

[Clockerjohn]

Here’s another way that I look at it, other than filling out PDFs, 100% of what I do on my computer is through the browser. Because of that, I’m able to also do it on my iPhone, and I will be able to do it once I buy an iPad.

If what you need to do requires programs, even if those are available on the iPad, it doesn’t mean that they are going to work as well as they would on a computer.

I think part of the issue is that you could read many people on this forum saying that they use their iPad for everything, so other people think that’s the intention. But it’s not, the iPad is not made to replace a computer. It can for some people, but not all.

 

[RLRabb]

The iPad Pro can and should be able to reach the same level of performance that the Macs do with the same chip

Not to necessarily address you personally, but I’m wondering if this is really true. The form factor of the iPad would seem to place some constraints on performance not present with a laptop. Specifically, the cpu/gpu in the iPad are in an enclosure with no real internal airflow to dissipate heat, and the heat-producing components are right next to the screen. Even in the fan-less design of the MacBook Air, there are holes (including the keyboard cutout) that allow for some internal airflow, and the screen is not right next to the processors.
But I don’t claim to be an engineer.

Edit: Whoops. I should have finished reading the thread before i wrote this. Others beat me to it.

 

[Zdigital2015]

I’ve had my 11” iPad Pro since December — about four months now. Now that I’ve put it through its paces, I think I can say confidently that this is a very disappointing product.

I bought it with 512 GB of storage, the M2 processor, 8 GB of RAM, the cellular radio and the Magic Keyboard. For a product at this price point, it is a terrible laptop. I can definitely see the value of a $300 or $400 iPad as an entertainment toy. It’s great at downloading movies for playback while on long flights. But at the price of the iPad Pro, it’s well into laptop territory, as is the hardware capabilities… but it badly disappoints.

I’m not sure where to begin, but the Safari browser is very weak, and so is text selection and editing. Select/copy/paste works so-so on the iPhone, but on a platform like iPad Pro, I should have no difficulty selecting text for copy/paste. But it doesn’t work well on this platform. I downloaded Microsoft Office, and found its performance is fairly slow. I tried brining in RAW photos from my camera for editing with Adobe Lightroom, and it was close to unusable, especially compared to using my MacBook Pro. I tried using it as a slideshow player for my digital photos, and that hasn’t worked out too well. I tried using it with my Magic Mouse, but the scrolling feature of the mouse doesn’t work; I can’t slide my finger on top of the mouse to scroll a window.

I think this system needs to be MacOS with touchscreen support, instead of iPhone OS with keyboard support. As I said, i can see the attraction at the $300-$400 level, but in a $1,000-ish product, I should be able to get at least the same productivity as a laptop. MS Windows has plenty of touchscreen laptops; it’s basically Windows with a touchscreen mouse. Personally, I don’t see much future for the iPad Pro if they’re only going to be large screen iPhones.

The iPad Pro does a good job and is certainly capable of replacing a laptop based on the M1 and M2 hardware. The fact is that Apple has to “unleash” iPadOS in certain ways to be able to get it to the 80th-90th percentile of users who could use it as their primary. I’m afraid that Apple is reticent to do that because I think they just have a philosophical issue with it replacing a laptop for many of their users. Tim Cook said what he said, but who knows if he really believes it now.

 

[motorazr]

I’ve had my 11” iPad Pro since December — about four months now. Now that I’ve put it through its paces, I think I can say confidently that this is a very disappointing product.

I bought it with 512 GB of storage, the M2 processor, 8 GB of RAM, the cellular radio and the Magic Keyboard. For a product at this price point, it is a terrible laptop. I can definitely see the value of a $300 or $400 iPad as an entertainment toy. It’s great at downloading movies for playback while on long flights. But at the price of the iPad Pro, it’s well into laptop territory, as is the hardware capabilities… but it badly disappoints.

I’m not sure where to begin, but the Safari browser is very weak, and so is text selection and editing. Select/copy/paste works so-so on the iPhone, but on a platform like iPad Pro, I should have no difficulty selecting text for copy/paste. But it doesn’t work well on this platform. I downloaded Microsoft Office, and found its performance is fairly slow. I tried brining in RAW photos from my camera for editing with Adobe Lightroom, and it was close to unusable, especially compared to using my MacBook Pro. I tried using it as a slideshow player for my digital photos, and that hasn’t worked out too well. I tried using it with my Magic Mouse, but the scrolling feature of the mouse doesn’t work; I can’t slide my finger on top of the mouse to scroll a window.

I think this system needs to be MacOS with touchscreen support, instead of iPhone OS with keyboard support. As I said, i can see the attraction at the $300-$400 level, but in a $1,000-ish product, I should be able to get at least the same productivity as a laptop. MS Windows has plenty of touchscreen laptops; it’s basically Windows with a touchscreen mouse. Personally, I don’t see much future for the iPad Pro if they’re only going to be large screen iPhones.

I’ve had an 11” m1 512gb since November, and share similar frustration.

I intended to use it for photo editing but software on ipad just isn’t up to par with macOS overall, and file management is clunky.

My biggest disappointment is the heat. Using the display at full brightness, it lasts around 10 minutes depending on the editing app— until dimming and throttling start to occur. I wondered if the m2 was better but I believe this answers my question.

I’ve had the best luck using capture one, but that isn’t full retouching on iPad. Battery life when using pencil is also remarkably short, same for Microsoft Remote Desktop— which surprised me, because I last used Remote Desktop with iPad mini 2nd gen, and it was excellent. No clue why it’s so intensive now.

I’ve kept the device since it’s the size I want and I enjoy using the pencil, but I’m frustrated it feels more like it’s meant to watch movies.

Alas, if the experience can’t be improved it’ll have to go but one can hope.

 

[motorazr]

I don’t think Windows is a better system, I was just pointing out that adding touch screen support to a desktop OS isn’t a big deal. I find that a lot of operations are far slower on the iPad than they are on my MacBook Pro, even though they use the same CPU.

macOS has had touch support for all of OS X, I believe. Or since 10.2? Regardless, the issue here is that Apple doesn’t believe macOS translates to a touch interface specifically.

If I had to make a wager, it’s more concern that iPad would eat Mac sales, and the 12” or smaller Mac hasn’t come back for the same reason (eat iPad sales).

Anywho- is what it is for now. Thermals on the 11” are a severe limitation in my experience, but so it goes.

 

[Portavoz]

I feel for you. This is an old conversation which polarises opinion and usually runs for dozens of pages. One one side we have the "I can do more with a ten year old laptop than an iPad Pro because the OS sucks and is holding the hardware back" camp, and on the other side we have the "I don't want a touchscreen macOS on my tablet, I like it just the way it is" camp. The two camps never ever agree.

I'm in the former camp, which is why I've only ever bought the cheapest iPads. iPad pros would for me be a complete waste of money that I could still only really use for content-consumption like the cheapest iPad, because the OS does not lend itself to tasks I would normally use a computer for.

I agree with you and the "iPad is fine the way it is" camp will insist we are vocal minority who won't go away, yet these threads keep getting created for a reason. The only thing I will add is the nearly EVERY iPad Pro review published since the 2018 model mentions that the iPad is beautiful, powerful, sleek hardware being held back by its OS. The reason for that is anyone's guess. The optimistic answer is that Apple is a purist and thinks any tablet/laptop hybrid device will be by definition an inferior device with compromises. The pessimistic answer is that Apple wants you to lug around 2 expensive devices instead of one for no reason other than profits. The answer is likely somewhere in the middle but I feel like folding devices will force their hand on this to some degree.

 

[eltoslightfoot]

With 50 years of s/w dev & mgmt experience, I cringe at the words "isn't a big deal" when applied to s/w projects. And I have not thought of adding touch support to a desktop OS as trivial (I have OS development experience).

Eh, I also have OS dev experience--but probably not as much as you do. And I think that it wouldn't be hard to slap Mac OS on to an iPad Pro 12.9" with Magic Keyboard, and still have iPad apps where needed. But we have both established our beliefs on this.

I mean, I am using iPad apps right now on my 13" M1 Macbook Pro...

 

[Clockerjohn]

I agree with you and the "iPad is fine the way it is" camp will insist we are vocal minority who won't go away, yet these threads keep getting created for a reason.

I think so many threads are created on this topic because so many people think the iPad is an alternative to a computer. And I think that’s a mistake. It’s not what the iPad is for, even if some people are able to get away with it.

As I mentioned earlier in the thread, I barely use a computer anymore, I use my iPhone for everything, including running my business. Someone else mentioned he does the same. And I’m sure many other people do as well. But that doesn’t mean that the iPhone is a computer replacement and that Mac OS X should be put onto iPhones. It’s the same with an iPad.

 

[Biro]

What many of us need is a MacBook (Air or Pro) with a touchscreen. Or an iPad with a more-capable OS. But that isn't likely to happen, is it? Apple wants us all to buy a Mac AND an iPad. Even if neither is quite what we need.

 

[Crow_Servo]

The great irony is that if you’re looking to use it just for content consumption, the iPad Pro still offers the best experience in that department, especially with the upcoming OLED versions. They have ProMotion, quad speakers and thinner bezels.

But if the screen and audio quality doesn’t matter to you, then the cheapest iPad in the lineup is just fine for content consumption (streaming video and audio content, not necessarily for gaming).