The iPad Pro is still running a mobile OS that doesn't support things like USB devices or pointing devices like mice and trackpads. The iPad Pro still has the same limitations for peripherals as the non-Pro iPad. Yes, the iOS ecosystem is rich and mature. But this thing is going up against the Surface Pro and it falls short in the "Pro" dept.
Processor speeds and feeds are not in and of themselves important to me. I don't stare at spec sheets but use devices to get things done. So I don't particularly care what the clock speeds are of things but how they perform in everyday tasks.
The Apple Pencil is twice as expensive as active styli for Windows tablets.
I've been a pretty vocal advocate for an iPad Pro device on this forum. If Apple had included support for mice/trackpads and kept the price of the device ($800 for 64GB) and peripherals ($50 pencil, $100 keyboard) in line with the competition, I would've been all over it.
Ultimately, the iPad Pro brings only a larger screen and a stylus.
I'm with you, as far as specs. But not when it comes to peripheral connectivity. All situations I mentioned aren't looking to 'add' to their slate. Surgeons are busy 'cutting'. Artists, 'drawing'. Folks editing motion or stills aren't going to BLINK @ $99 for a pencil 'twice as much' as the SPro when they find out it's also twice as good!
Active styli and Wacom tabs (that still mandate a computer to function) are/were twice this price just a couple years ago!
In the 'pit, I'm flying. I don't want a mouse and since switching to OS X in 2007 as my primary, home and business OS ...I've enjoyed not needing a mouse. The rMBP trackpad blows everything from every OEM making Windows Rigs out of the water.
And I still always own a dedicated Win rig for proprietary software. I mentioned it earlier
I have a feeling we're about the same age. No need to respond to this as its a bit off topic - though not totally. I'm 44 and was coding on an Apple IIe in '83. Carrying my floppies (5 ¼") to & from school as we were using DOS. No HDD or 'internal' storage back then, playing MS's Flight simulator lol. Twenty years of Windows only in office was enough for me and I've learned. Possibly because of my job, to adapt to change and 'forward thinking'. I love and welcome the cloud as my new 'Finder' or file system as much a Terminal junkie as I am and lover of OSX - it is always humorous to me when someone complains they're a 'power user' and iOS won't 'cut it' for their use. Makes ZERO sense. iOS developers have a single development platform. And if you're using the latest, or even second to latest models, iOS 'apps' (I consider software as I was productive when Offoce was measured in double digit megabytes too!) are absolutely, 100% optimized for ONE phone or tablet. The Surface pro (I own the third model) is an excellent computer. For maybe Word, PP and surfing
I won't be using it to batch convert a hundred raw CS1 files or manipulating Photoshop layers in the dozens without bringing it to its knees. AE is a joke in my SP - not my rMBP
BUT Adobe and MS and Autodesk and Pinnacle are ALL developing and commiting more resources to mobile development than the desk or lap today. And they're releasing FIRST on iOS! Took forever for an Android version of Office to appear
And when it comes to the uses I've outlined above, you're absolutely correct. The App Store is a rich treasure trove of software at better prices than ever. Including aggregate and integrate software for your lap or desktop from the same developer at significantly reduced prices BECAUSE of this mobile transition.
Change is happening --- and even our Mac Pro and iMacs are equipped with Apple's trackpad. (I've got mice too, but seriously prefer the pad). Have you seen the prices of removable external storage? Even SS cards, thumb drives and SD, micro SD, CF and proprietary storage from vendors like Sony are dropping for the 'masses'. I used to have a ½ dozen USB sticks - today I've got one and it's home most of the time
Like I said --- my flight bag has gone from 50 pounds to one. My doc checks me in and sees my records on a tablet these days. Not a massive file folder filled with papers. Newspapers are going away. So is 'dialing' a number and writing letter and connecting a bunch of shtuff to your lap or desktop. IF it's so necessary it's with you, I'm not aware of many occupations that can't keep their data on a 128 GB foundation.
If it's not for you, it's not for you. For education and beyond I think it's a genuine killer product. But what do I know. I also fall sucker each year for the new iPad with its updates and speed increases as well as connectivity ...whether cellular or Wifi, and being in Alaska ...I've a hard time believing there are a whole helluva lot more locations on our planet you can work with 'less' connectivity and yet, I do just fine
Not trying to pick on you speedracer, but what you're looking for is indeed available... But it's NOT the Surface Pro. Which is indeed X86 and TDP constrained ...twice as heavy and not nearly as fortified with software TODAY, not talking heritage software all X86 machines can run. The App Store has what you need, and if it doesn't I'd like to know what you're doing that an iPad wouldn't be more convenient than a machine that runs slower, runs legacy software that's parodied in the App Store and lasts half as long, weighs twice as much and doesn't do anything 'Great'. Just about everything it'll run ...sure, but well? No.
Whereas the iPad and iOS you're aware of the constraints or what I've found to be the release of --- and its ability to integrate and aggregate both vertically and horizontally within your worlflow. iPad and iPhone and iMac and rMBP and Handoff/Continuity and ....
Are you just being Grumpy?
J