Is it worth replacing the MacBook Pro with an iPad Air?

Question

Is it worth replacing the MacBook Pro with an iPad Air?

I've been sat in the realms of contemplation for some time now. Since the release of the iPad Air it looks as though it is now possibly a viable option for me to replace my aging MacBook Pro. I essentially only use my laptop for photographs and music. My photo collection is about 11GB in size when they are in their original format outside of iPhoto. (iPhoto bloats it up to 33GB). My music collection is miniscule and we're talking only about 2GB in size, as it's only stuff I have purchased from the iTunes Store, so I know I can listen to this whenever I want to by re-downloading specific albums or tracks with "Purchases in the Cloud." At the moment I think the Macbook Pro is more than I actually need for what I use it for. Things like document creation etc. isn't an issue for me as I've used pages previously on my laptop and my documents are iCloud synced.

For me, I'd be looking at 64GB or 128GB capacity, as I use a Sony NEX-6 DSLR so the files as JPEG are large. I'm not one to keep every single photo I have taken, I'm kind of "minimalist" so out of say 400 photos I'd only keep 100 of the best ones.

I have read that some people have used services such as Dropbox for additional cloud storage, but I'm looking at using a networked hard drive that supports iOS so I can back up my photos to a physical drive at home should anything detrimental happen to the iPad (if I did get one).

I'm curious to hear if anyone has gone down the route of replacing their laptop or even desktop with a high-capacity iPad, and hear how they've got on with it. This is becoming a more frequently asked question after researching the vast spaces of the Internet, but there are no answers specific for my needs!

Message was edited by: C.Moore - Spelling & grammar corrections.

Posted on Mar 24, 2014 3:55 AM

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Answer 1

Jun 21, 2018 1:04 AM in response to Skydiver119

I definitely know what you mean! I had looked into this when the iPad 3 was launched and WD had an iOS compatible networked HDD, but after reading reviews it was extremely slow and virtually unusable due to no inter-app permissions. I've now seen a Seagate Plus which looks like it may be the ticket, as my main usage is for photos and movie clips, the app allows files to be written/read on the HDD, but also for the iPad's camera roll / photos app and the iWork suite. The only downside as of now, is it has to use the Seagate app to read and copy files from the wireless HDD. If only there was an iOS equivalent of Finder!

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Answer 2

Skydiver119

Level 9

53,399 points

Mar 24, 2014 5:35 AM in response to Community User

An iPad is a great device, but it's no computer replacement. It lacks the file sharing/structure that comptuers have and the ability to easily get files onto/off it without the internet.

That said, if you still have your desktop and use it for most of the computing work and basically just want a photo viewer, check your e-mail device, then it may work for you.

The networked harddrive will be the hard part. Since the iPad lacks a file manager anything you use on it must have an app so that you can access it. And that app also must be allowed to 'send' your files to another app. So that may be what you really need to research. The ability and ease of using a network drive to do the file sharing you want.

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