Six months ago I sold my 12-inch, space gray MacBook and bought a 12.7-inch iPad Pro with the intention of going all in on iOS as my primary operating system. For months I was thrilled with my decision. Weighing in at less than 2 pounds, the iPad Pro made my work bag lighter than ever and it was so easy to pull it out, set it up on my smart keyboard, and launch in to work without any lag time. I’ve been able to easily access dropbox, use Pages, Numbers, and Keynote, and even buy more digital books via Kindle (which I love). It wasn’t until the last 6 weeks that I began to be experience setbacks of any kind.
I’ve discovered a couple shortcomings with the iPad Pro that have led me to this point. I’m selling my iPad Pro and going back to a MacBook Pro. Let me explain.
With the expansion of Foojee’s marketing efforts, I’ve increasingly found myself jumping in to Adobe Photoshop to manipulate graphics and some of our branding materials. In the last month we’ve launched a YouTube Show and a Podcast. Manipulating audio and video files in iMovie on an iPad Pro isn’t impossible, but it’s not ideal. I’d rather be using professional software to ensure high-quality output and uploading these files is just not as straightforward on a mobile device as it is on a MacBook. With an iPad, I’ve had to constantly deal with mobile websites (which often have limited functionality) as opposed to the desktop version of the sites. All of these things have added up to my determination to transition back to OS X (soon to be macOS).
I love my iPad Pro. Love it. Yes, it has it’s shortcomings, but with a few minor improvements and the continued evolution of iOS, it is going to be a formidable device for years to come. I love the simplicity, the large (beautiful) screen, the fantastic speakers, the multi-tasking abilities (which are much easier to use on iOS than OS X), and more. Ultimately, this came down to utility and I have to be brutally honest with myself. For my current situation and my vision for life in the next few years, it makes more sense for me to make a MacBook Pro my primary device. I may end up with an iPad for leisure, recreation, and even travel, but for now I’m going back to old faithful.
I’d love to answer any questions you might have about the iPad Pro and my device transition! Just leave me a comment below or reach out to me on twitter! (@daniel_kosmala)
Have a great week!