
iPadOS impressions: flexible and powerful, but is it intuitive? - Tomte
https://www.theverge.com/2019/6/6/18654314/apple-ipad-os-ipados-wwdc-first-look-windows-usb-user-interface-new-features
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simonh
I love my iPad, but I’m getting a bit concerned there’s just no viable
alternative anymore, and that’s worrying long term. I can’t really complain
that Apple are sitting on the platform and not innovating due to the lack of
competition – they’re pushing ahead aggressively with advanced features.
Presumably the devices are profitable enough to justify the investment, and
they see their technology advantage as a moat against competition that they
need to make as wide as possible.

Still, it’s disheartening to see the lack of other options. It might be nice
to have a cheap tablet running an open OS I can hack on as well as my beloved
10.5”, but there’s very little I could do on a cheap tablet that I can’t do on
an iPad anyway so there seems to be little point.

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IloveHN84
Well, I see iPad always a 2nd Choice comparing it to a Surface. With Surface
you have a real computer plus the simplified version with some apps. If you're
crazy enough, you can install docker or virtual machines on a Surface, or have
a full working Office suite for your needs. When I see people using their
iPads, they are always with the mail client opened, that's it. If you haven't
big pretending needs (e.g. surfing and email), iPad is a good choice. If you
need something more (editing documents, do some live demonstration, etc.),
Surface is the right one

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simonh
Fair enough, but I've got no real use for Docker. Almost all of my hobby
programming is done in Pythonista these days. Google Docs also works fine in
iOS, PureFlow is great for diagraming. It's reached the stage now where I'll
be sitting at my desktop browsing or playing a game, and I'll decide I want to
do something productive with those apps on the iPad and go to the couch to do
it.

I still work from a desktop and that's not going to change, but I haven't
personally owned a laptop in more than 5 years. At home I have a desktop and
an iPad, and the latter fulfils all my mobile computing needs, and most of my
productive or creative needs.

