Obviously we’ve all been discussing the iPad Pro announcement yesterday, and I posed the following question to the Gear Diary team: You have $1,000, and you must spend it on either an iPad Pro or a Microsoft Surface. Which do you choose, and why?
Mike: Buy a real laptop that outpaces both, and still be able to buy a OnePlus Two. ;). I know that was flippant, but at $1,000 you aren’t in the market for either one.
Carly: Here’s my answer-Surface all the way. Windows 10, a mouse pad, and the overall power of Windows apps. I have no doubts that in 1-2 generations the iPad Pro will be great. But asking greatness prices for an untested product that’s literally a giant iPad is not cool.
Joel: Surface (any variation). You can do more with a Surface than an iPad. Or like Mike said. The iPad Pro has the same issue as the Surface…it should come WITH the keyboard and Pencil.
Greg: I’d just save my $1,000 and wait until March when the “iPad Pro 2” comes out. Not to mention, Microsoft includes the stylus, it’s not an optional $100 to spend. Also, I get the whole idea of a rechargable pen, but I have enough things to charge, man! Apple watch, iPhone, Battery pack, laptop…no.
Sounds like no one here is too excited for the iPad Pro OR the Microsoft Surface…what’s your take on these in-between devices?
This will sound crazy coming from me, but I would buy the Surface Pro or more likely an iPad Mini and decent laptop for the same price!
The only thing that is slightly intriguing, after i have thought about it, is that I DO love to draw….the stylus is VERY attractive. However, I can get the same on a Surface Pro and draw directly in Photoshop! With an iPad, I am stuck using their apps.
Neither, honestly. I don’t draw at all (unlike Joel!), so the whole stylus thing is a non-issue for me. Nor do I have any desire whatsoever to write notes by hand. I recognize that I’m somewhat unusual in that, but if I can’t type my notes, I’m in big trouble.
I’m actually having trouble finding a good balance of gadgetry, but I’ve definitely found one thing for sure: Until the larger tablets become as powerful as laptops, I’m going to hang on to my MacBook Pro, which I adore. The question is: What additional daily driver to I carry with me?
For a while I tried an iPad mini along with my iPhone. I *love* the mini, I really do, and it makes a great portable adjunct to my Mac when I don’t want to lug the Mac around. But then I’m carrying a 6+ and a mini, which seemed redundant. So I’ve been trying a 6+ only, no mini, and I’m finding that has some definite drawbacks, but it cuts down on the crap I lug by a lot. When I have hard-core remote editing or writing, I default to my 6+ and my Bluetooth keyboard (with a little stand I carry around) and, while it’s not perfect, it’s definitely workable and precludes carrying around the mini too.
So personally, I wouldn’t get either one of them. If you put a gun to my head I’d get the iPad Pro, but that’s only because my family has invested heavily in the Apple infrastructure and it behooves us to stay within that. And also, I despise Windows machines–just hate ’em. But functionally? I don’t see a whole lot of difference.
I actually have a Surface Pro 3 and its good, but it’s not all it’s cracked up to be. Windows offers very poor support for the convenient typing of foreign characters compared to OS X and iOS, for example. The iPad will be far more “lappable” than the SP3 which is difficult to use on a lap, or on a plane for that matter (it requires too much “depth” compared to a laptop).
Windows 10 really screwed up many things that were good about the SP3. The OS isn’t nearly as touch friendly, and there are many inconsistencies and anomalies that still need to be fixed – Windows 10 was rushed to market, in my opinion. Palm rejection no longer works very well, there are problems with disappearing ink in OneNote, and there is noticeable lag in the pen.
If the iPad Pro does any of these things better, I am likely to try it. The version of Office for iPad is really pretty good now and most of the tools I use for work are available in some form on the iPad. There is even a flavor of Photoshop (of sorts) coming for the iPad Pro, so it potentially has a lot going for it. Don’t dismiss it so easily. Convenience means a LOT to a business user.
In June, I bought a the new MacBook 12″ Retina (and wrote about it here) and, although I had concerns about potential performance, the little thing has become my daily driver. Why? Convenience. The performance hits are truly minimal (virtually non-existent)unless you are driving 4K video edits or some high-end game, yet it is so small it easily rides on the plane even when the idiot in front of you puts their seat back without asking you first. It is so light and convenient it slips into any bag easily with my client notes. And the screen is gorgeous. If the iPad Pro does what it claims and offers most of what I need, then I have to give it a strong look if not a tryout. The Surface Pro 3, while very cool in many ways has disappointed in almost as many ways, especially under Windows 10.
Well there’s always the Surface Pro 4 announcement due soon! 🙂