The 2017 iPad Pros
daringfireball.net
daringfireball.net
I posit that while the iPad remains a closed platform, it will never become the computer of the future, no matter how many pro features Apple adds. In a few years, I expect Apple pundits to be making the same "how were we so wrong on the iPad" articles that they were in 2016.
No doubt, the hardware here is certainly exciting. Many people can make full use of it for their careers. But it won't send ripples through the fabric of society like the humble PC does every 5-10 years.
Not a single one of these apps was primarily developed on the phone itself.
Fortunately, it looks like the open-ish Android model is winning out. Maybe Apple will change their mind at some point.
Simple spreadsheets were available everywhere, while tools like Mathematica and Quantrix were only available on NeXT.
Those powerful system libraries from NeXTStep were key, and they're still an advantage today,
Games?
I have a hard time envisioning what would require a GPU beyond what's available on an iPad.
<oldfart>
My NeXT cube had a 25 MHz single core CPU, no GPU and a megapixel display and was pretty darn "desktop grade" or rather "workstation grade". OK, higher resolution, color. But also a 2+ GHz dual core (later: hexacore) 64 bit CPU and a pretty darn powerful GPU. Where are all these cycles going?
http://blog.metaobject.com/2011/02/only-1-ghz.html
</oldfart>
It is also expensive as hell.
But back to OP, he clearly stated that he wanted to run desktop grade software. I think SurfaceBook fits his requirements.
If you're going to use these things with a keyboard and like it then why was Microsoft so roundly mocked for championing touch screen laptops in the first place?
I was skeptical a few years ago, but I think iOS's productivity potential is growing faster than Windows "Cool Factor", efficiency, and portability are improving.
But aren't they effectively building the same toaster/fridge they mocked just a few years ago?
I was listening to a recent ATP podcast and they were going on about how nobody really wants to touch their laptop screen, but in order for an iPad to be a "pro" device you will realistically have to use it with a keyboard and...touch your screen.
The two companies are converging on the exact same thing yet one is considered ingenious and the other clueless.
I used a succession of iPads as my main productivity computing devices between 20013 and 2016 and despite my general satisfaction I found I really needed a ’proper’ computer (a much-derided but perfectly adequate ”single port MacBook") last year for the sake of writing a business plan. Right after that Apple released the iPad Pro and I've been using that intensively (but no longer exclusively) since April last year. I'll be upgrading to the 10.5 inch because iOS11 seems to deserve top-level hardware. I'm really convinced that for non-development use an iPad is an extraordinarily capable device.
(although I am not aware of any 12" Android tablet)