A moment of silence for the guys working on the MS Surface devices.
There are still reasons to get the Surface instead of an iPad, but the M1 in an iPad sounds like a hit.
There are still reasons to get the Surface instead of an iPad, but the M1 in an iPad sounds like a hit.
I have an older iPad Pro and I like it better than any laptop I've had. It doesn't have any configuration to tune, it doesn't require a 2 hour update every time you turn it on (like my Surface Pro did). But, you can't deny that it is limited; you have to SSH somewhere to do real work, and its hardware isn't exposed to web applications. (For example, it has a 120Hz display, but web apps can't use it.)
Even with these limitations, it's still my favorite mobile device. For $20/month I have unlimited 4G anywhere in the country, and so sshing somewhere to do real work is no problem. (The whole pandemic thing really killed my desire to travel, though, so it just sits on a table until I use it to read a book or something.) But, there's no need to upgrade it; it's fast and the battery lasts forever. Only better software would make me want to upgrade, and it's not there yet. People still treat the iPad like a toy. I'm willing to treat it as a computer, but people that make software I use aren't quite there yet ;)
The surface can run JetBrains, Godot, Blender, a bunch of IDEs that make it useful as productivity device for a person in tech. Most people don't need that, so I am sure the iPad will sell great. But there is still a need for laptops/ tablets (whatever weird hybrid that is becoming) that are not locked down.
I love my iPad, but it is very, very far from a good computer interface right now.
But you don't have to use (and pay extra for) a Surface for that. I'm not saying the iPad is a computer. I'm saying that iPad is a touch+ink device superior to the Surface (most models of which are kinda mediocre computers IMO).