Re:iPad 9.7‑inch
by chipotle_coyote on Tuesday March 21, 2017 @02:06PM
(#13924636)
The list of things I absolutely can't do on an iPad is fairly small these days. (This is distinct from things that I would prefer to do on a Mac/PC, but there are things that I would prefer to do on the iPad, too.) I think Apple may need to do a better job of showing, well, more utilitarian tasks that can be done pretty easily on the iPad.
Having said that, I do wonder if one of the unspoken stumbling blocks is that even if an iPad is a great portable computer in many respects, it's only a portable computer. A lot of people "dock" their laptops to get work done. (Or to write comments on Hacker News when they should be getting work done.) I love traveling with my 9.7" iPad Pro and keyboard, but even if future releases of iOS address all the nitpicks I have with it, there are times I want to be sitting at a desk in front of a big monitor. I don't see that coming to iOS any time soon.
The ability to add the keyboard and the pencil illustrates the distinction Apple is trying to make between the Pro and the vanilla 9.7 -- creation vs. consumption.
After all these years, they are still persistently trying to position the iPad as a creation tool. Maybe it will work.