The New iPad Pro Review (twitter.com)

An anonymous reader writes: As tech reviewers across the United States and Europe sing praises of Apple's new iPad Pro, here's what Joshua Topolsky, former editor-in-chief of The Verge and Engadget (and now with The Outline) had to say: "It [10.5-inch iPad Pro] is inferior to a laptop in almost every way, unless you like to draw. If you think you can replace you laptop with this setup: you cannot. Imagine a computer, but everything works worse than you expect. That is the new iPad. Now, I know the software is in beta, but I also know how Apple betas work. They don't massively change. I have no doubt it's a very powerful piece of hardware, and the screen is gorgeous. Garageband is a lot of fun to play with. But this doesn't COME CLOSE to replacing your laptop, even for simple things you do, like email. AND one other thing. Apple's keyboard cover is a fucking atrocity. A terrible piece of hardware. Awkward to use, poor as a cover. Okay in a pinch if you need something LIKE a keyboard. Anyhow good to know there are still Apple fanboys who get mad if you insult their products. But I don't think it's a very good product. Finally, iOS 11 is definitely a STEP in the right direction. But guys the iPad has been around forever and it still feels half-assed. I think a lot of people are willing to contort themselves around a bad UX because marketing is powerful."

Comments

Was going to be snarky, but then

[chispito]

If you think you can replace you [sic] laptop with this setup: you cannot. Imagine a computer, but everything works worse than you expect. That is the new iPad.

Okay so I was going to get all snarky about how, "duh, it's an iPad, what did you expect?" and then I saw Apple's marketing.

No matter the task, the new iPad Pro is up to it — and then some. It offers far more power than most PC laptops, yet is delightfully simple to use. The redesigned Retina display is as stunning to look at as it is to touch. And it all comes together with iOS, the world’s most advanced mobile operating system. iPad Pro. Everything you want modern computing to be. Now even, well, better.

So kudos to someone previously associated with Engadget, of all places, to take Apple's marketing to task.

Re:Was going to be snarky, but then

[El Cubano]

So kudos to someone previously associated with Engadget, of all places, to take Apple's marketing to task.

Personally, I would have preferred that it read like an actual "review" instead of a "rant". I get that the marketing made some exaggerations and that the product is less than stellar. However, the tone of the whole thing is rather offputting. I don't need for someone to yell at me to convince me.

Missing the point

[TheRaven64]

A review that's complaining that an iPad Pro is a bad laptop makes as much sense as one complaining it's a bad smartphone. It is not a laptop. It is not a replacement for a laptop, it is intended as a companion to a Mac. It's the more portable thing that you use when you want to be able to quickly take notes or reply to emails, but don't want a full laptop. I have an older iPad Pro and previously had an ASUS TransformerPad: I actually use the iPad (the Android tablet mostly sat on a shelf) because it isn't trying to replace my laptop and feeling like an inadequate replacement, it's a device that I use when my laptop would be inconvenient.

Re:Missing the point

[techno_dan]

But Apple advertises it as a replacement for your laptop. If they didn't, then the article is garbage, but Apple did, so fair game.

Re:oh lord it leads to a twitter page

[TWX]

Given the way that I use electronics (and I suspect a lot of the IT professionals on Slashdot for whom "Pro" equipment would normally be marketed) the "one stupid tool" probably has a review more along the lines of what I need anyway.

The new Apple Macbook and Macbook Pro differences annoy me. I want the ports of the Macbook Pro, but I want a physical escape key like the Macbook. I've had enough late nights in server-rooms where I want both the ability to charge and the ability to use peripherals like console cables and ethernet cables where having a single port and an even more complex series of adapters is much more cumbersome, so the regular Macbook is flat-out out of the question, but the lack of real escape key that is as intuitive as the rest of the keyboard is also out of the question.

So this idea that a tablet could be a "Pro" machine is laughable when they can't even manage to keep their proper laptops "pro". When we talk about Apple starting to deviate from its generally reliable course as far as design goes, this is generally the kinds of things we're talking about. Perhaps we wouldn't have gotten multiple USB-C ports at all if Jobs hadn't died, but we probably also wouldn't have gotten the weird strip under the monitor in-lieu of the escape and function keys either.

I suppose I could try to get work to buy me an XPS-13 Developer Edition but they'd probably want to put Windows 10 on it in order to join it to the domain.