undefined | Better HN

0 pointskmeisthax5y ago0 comments

Apple has specifically said that they don't hold features back from iPads for the sake of making you buy a Mac. And given their pricing model I'd believe it.

If you buy an M1 MacBook Air, you spend $1000 and you get pretty much an amazing laptop that does everything except flip over and let you draw on the screen.

If you buy an iPad Pro - the new one with the M1 chip - then you have to spend $1100 to get the 13" model, which has less storage than the MacBook. And that's just the tablet - you now have to spend $350 on a keyboard case to actually use it like a laptop. You can also use a pen input with the iPad, which you can't with the MacBook, but that's another $130 please. So you can really jack up the price of the iPad with accessories intended to give you laptop-like capabilities.

So I don't buy the idea that either device is held back so you have to buy both. The device they're clearly positioning as a do-everything machine is the most expensive one in their lineup.

0 comments

3 comments · 1 top-level

emsy5y ago· 2 in thread

It’s not a do everything machine: I can’t use it as a tablet. On the other hand what’s holding my iPad back from becoming a do-everything machine is

A) sandboxing, which they shouldn’t change or at best streamline to allow better app interoperability (the current share approach is laughably bad)

B) what is allowed on the AppStore. This is purely a policy issue. Why isn’t there an isolated XCode that at least lets me develop iPad apps? The MacBook Air is a $1000 work horse, the iPad is a pricey web browsing machine/toy. Save for, say artists and even they are extremely limited. Want to create a 3D model using several apps? Good luck with that

threeseed5y ago

> It’s not a do everything machine

For you. But for the majority of the population it is.

Office, Mail, Browser, Photo Editor etc is typically more than enough for most.

smoldesu5y ago

No, not really. Any direction you run in, you're going to come across sharp edges. The web is still terribly optimized for tablets, and it's even worse when you're forced to use Safari to interact with it all. I can't count the number of times one of my family members was filling out a form/buying something/doing anything on an iPad and had to go put it down to get a real computer to finish the job.

This myth that "the average consumer doesn't need x" is pretty pervasive, and it's a pretty diminutive way to look at computing. The user doesn't need a graphical interface, but we still give it to them anyways. They don't need excessive, timewasting animations cluttering their UI, but iPadOS provides in spades.

Either way, I'm expanding my blanket ban on recommending Macs to include iPads. After trying out one of the new iPad Pros, I honestly can't even say it's a better choice than a shitty 2014 Macbook Pro. The ecosystem still has a long ways to go before the iPad feels like a natural part.

1 more reply

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse