New iPad Pro’s Hobbled?

myphotoyear

MobiStarter
Device
iPhone 11
Is it me or does the new iPad Pro’s not make much sense? The cost and the limitations of the platform still, no useable file system, no multiuser experience (surely the next version will add this), even the Photos app is completely inferior compared to Mac, with fewer options, check the latest PhotoActive podcast for details. In theory you get the best of both worlds with Mac being able to use iPad and iPhone apps except most devs seemed to have opted out, so that is a shame. They may address some of this in the upcoming WWDC in a big way but otherwise the iPad Pro makes less sense than ever now they both use M1. Also, iPadOS seems quick to close background apps as part their resource management, getting a Mac which I gather is less prone to doing this might be reason enough to go Mac!

£1,428.00 for a new iPad Pro 12.9 with magic keyboard or £999.00 for Mac Air both with 256GB storage, if I have my sums right. Add an ordinary iPad and you get both for the cost of the spec above! The Mini LED screen of the new large iPad Pro and Pencil support are just two reasons still to get an iPad Pro, as well as it’s form factor but when will Apple actually improve the OS to make better use of the hardware, which reviewers have been saying for a long time already?
 
Well, I have to say I find the new file system much more useable than it used to be! I link a SD card reader to it now and back up my stuff. I also keep all my brushes, textures and other files on an SD card so that I can access them easily. I’ve used the Documents app since the beginning of time which I have always found a great file manager for pdfs and other non-image files. I can link it to a PC through a web link which shows the Documents file structure and I back up from there.

But yes, when it comes to cost, the price is ridiculous and is a massive bugbear for me. As a PC person I still stick to Microsoft. Never took to Mac. Software becomes obsolete too quickly and too much hidden. As I started off with MS Dos I just understand a PC much better so I would never contemplate a Mac unless PCs no longer existed.
 
It depends on what you want to do, don't you think? I use my MacBook Pro and its various programs less and less these days, and my iPad more and more, but I've never been concerned with the iPad being a complete replacement for the MBP.

Shortcomings of the iPad? I do all my printing (and I print a fair amount) from the Mac because the iPad only supports the AirPrint driver, which doesn't give access to things like ICC profiles. I also wish that Photos had real folders, but as ImageArt said, the situation has improved some with the introduction of the Files app.

Multiuser experience? I'm sure some people have a reason for wanting multiuser iPads, but I don't see any future in which that's something I'd want. And it seems to clash more than a little with the idea of a personal mobile device.

Photos on iPad "completely inferior" to Photos on Mac? Bit of hyperbole with the "completely" but yes, the iPad version doesn't do all the Mac version does. But I already have iPad apps that offer more for editing than Photos on either the Mac or iPad. If you're mainly talking about file management, then Photos/Mac is better than Photos/iPad, but still not good enough at that task to be my default Mac photo manager.

The M1 chip in the new iPad Pro? I'm looking forward to that, actually. I'm hoping the extra computing muscle will bring us versions of the various AI/ML/whateveryoucallit upsizing, noise reduction, and other photo processing options that have appeared in desktop apps. Right now, Pixelmator Photo on the iPad offers a version of its ML resizing, but it's not as powerful or flexible as the same option in the Pixelmator Pro desktop app.
 
It depends on what you want to do, don't you think? I use my MacBook Pro and its various programs less and less these days, and my iPad more and more, but I've never been concerned with the iPad being a complete replacement for the MBP.

Shortcomings of the iPad? I do all my printing (and I print a fair amount) from the Mac because the iPad only supports the AirPrint driver, which doesn't give access to things like ICC profiles. I also wish that Photos had real folders, but as ImageArt said, the situation has improved some with the introduction of the Files app.

Multiuser experience? I'm sure some people have a reason for wanting multiuser iPads, but I don't see any future in which that's something I'd want. And it seems to clash more than a little with the idea of a personal mobile device.

Photos on iPad "completely inferior" to Photos on Mac? Bit of hyperbole with the "completely" but yes, the iPad version doesn't do all the Mac version does. But I already have iPad apps that offer more for editing than Photos on either the Mac or iPad. If you're mainly talking about file management, then Photos/Mac is better than Photos/iPad, but still not good enough at that task to be my default Mac photo manager.

The M1 chip in the new iPad Pro? I'm looking forward to that, actually. I'm hoping the extra computing muscle will bring us versions of the various AI/ML/whateveryoucallit upsizing, noise reduction, and other photo processing options that have appeared in desktop apps. Right now, Pixelmator Photo on the iPad offers a version of its ML resizing, but it's not as powerful or flexible as the same option in the Pixelmator Pro desktop app.
Agreed. Just love all the iPad apps. Just couldn’t do without them. Yes, lack of physical folders in the Photos app still a big want for me. I finally have an AirPrint Laser Printer and find myself using it a fair bit now for printing directly from my iPad for everything but serious photography prints.
 
Well, I have to say I find the new file system much more useable than it used to be! I link a SD card reader to it now and back up my stuff. I also keep all my brushes, textures and other files on an SD card so that I can access them easily. I’ve used the Documents app since the beginning of time which I have always found a great file manager for pdfs and other non-image files. I can link it to a PC through a web link which shows the Documents file structure and I back up from there.

I’d just like a better way to organise my photos, for starters, it’s so limited on iPadOS, with missing basic features as well as more advanced ones too, I’m thinking of Album folders and not being able to move an existing album into them, let alone Smart Albums, which have been around in macOS for ages. The features Apple include on iPad seem arbitrary at times, no calculator, Low Power mode, weather app, so forth just seems strange. I‘ve never really got on with the Files app and how it might help my workflow. But your right, things have improved, its just how much further they go at this point, I’m interested in.

It depends on what you want to do, don't you think? I use my MacBook Pro and its various programs less and less these days, and my iPad more and more, but I've never been concerned with the iPad being a complete replacement for the MBP.

Shortcomings of the iPad? I do all my printing (and I print a fair amount) from the Mac because the iPad only supports the AirPrint driver, which doesn't give access to things like ICC profiles. I also wish that Photos had real folders, but as ImageArt said, the situation has improved some with the introduction of the Files app.

Multiuser experience? I'm sure some people have a reason for wanting multiuser iPads, but I don't see any future in which that's something I'd want. And it seems to clash more than a little with the idea of a personal mobile device.

Photos on iPad "completely inferior" to Photos on Mac? Bit of hyperbole with the "completely" but yes, the iPad version doesn't do all the Mac version does. But I already have iPad apps that offer more for editing than Photos on either the Mac or iPad. If you're mainly talking about file management, then Photos/Mac is better than Photos/iPad, but still not good enough at that task to be my default Mac photo manager.

The M1 chip in the new iPad Pro? I'm looking forward to that, actually. I'm hoping the extra computing muscle will bring us versions of the various AI/ML/whateveryoucallit upsizing, noise reduction, and other photo processing options that have appeared in desktop apps. Right now, Pixelmator Photo on the iPad offers a version of its ML resizing, but it's not as powerful or flexible as the same option in the Pixelmator Pro desktop app.

Agreed, very much dependant on what you want to do, multiuser was just an example, it’s available in edu and enterprise settings on iPad I believe but for consumers I think would also be useful in some cases. Photos app iPad vs Mac is a good discussion on how you treat each platform, PhotoActive podcast were going over the options and whether iPad needs an advanced mode to bring in some of these missing features, while still keeping the simplicity for everyone else.

The M1 is very exciting, details are flying around indicating (review embargo is still in place) that the M1 is a big improvement over the Ax chips in the old iPad Pro’s. I imagine devs like Pixelmator will really tap into this power, especially the RAM, which I understand constrained features like ML resizing on iPad but now with 8GB or 16GB if your flush should be a big improvement.

I think still though for lots of content creation (unless WWDC changes things dramatically, Final Cut Pro for example on iPad, that would be a big statement of intent), Mac is still best, that base M1 Air model is a beast and is actually good value, I’d have one if I could!
 
I gave up my iMac about 3 years ago. I used my iPads exclusively. I’m with ImageArt Ann, I can’t live without Procreate, iColorama and a few others. I don’t understand exactly what you mean by no folders in Photos. I have several folders. My folders are circled.
ED1ED8EB-3028-4C99-9A26-9FA42566CA07.jpeg

Inside my Collage Catalog I have 5 Folders.
B5B360DF-F302-4FFF-B613-A63E07B285B7.png

Inside my Background, Overlays and Textures I have 5 albums.
8FE244DF-84E7-4991-9A4E-3B62556657F1.png

To sort my images into folders and albums I use Slidebox.
Most apps allow me to choose my folders, then album, then image. As far as printing goes, since my images are usually painterly, I guess the air print thing doesn’t bother me. If I want something printed for display, I usually send it to a lab.

Or perhaps I don’t understand what you mean by folders. :oops:
 
I don’t understand exactly what you mean by no folders in Photos
I have two main problems with what Apple calls folders or albums in Photos on the iPad and iPhone:

* When I create an album and put photos into it, those photos still appear in what used to be called the Camera Roll (now Recents or Library or All Photos). The photos aren't actually moved to a new location; they're just tagged, as it were, so they also appear in the album. As a result, the Camera Roll remains a mess.

* When I use some app to open a photo from an album, make some changes, and save a new version, it doesn't go into the album it came from. Instead, it just appears in the Camera Roll. So if I want to keep a bunch of related pieces or variants together in a project album, I have to keep going to the Camera Roll, selecting them, and assigning them to the album I want.

These aren't killers for me, but they do may organizing images more awkward and less useful than it should be (especially for those of us who may have, say, 6000+ images in our Camera Roll :whistle: ).

There are third-party apps that provide true(ish) folders for managing images, but all the ones I've tried require duplicating images into the third-party app, which eats up storage space rapidly and isn't well-integrated into editing apps. (I haven't tried any of these for some time now, so it could be that something new has come along.)
 
And it could be I need to learn a new way of doing things :eek: rather than trying to make an iPad into an iMac. :D
 
As far as printing goes, since my images are usually painterly, I guess the air print thing doesn’t bother me. If I want something printed for display, I usually send it to a lab.
Unless you print a lot or you're some kind of fanatic, using a lab makes a lot of sense and is generally cheaper than doing it yourself, given the cost of paper and ink. Unfortunately for me, I fall into the "some kind of fanatic" category. Home printing is practically the definition of "rabbit hole."
 
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I have two main problems with what Apple calls folders or albums in Photos on the iPad and iPhone:

* When I create an album and put photos into it, those photos still appear in what used to be called the Camera Roll (now Recents or Library or All Photos). The photos aren't actually moved to a new location; they're just tagged, as it were, so they also appear in the album. As a result, the Camera Roll remains a mess.

* When I use some app to open a photo from an album, make some changes, and save a new version, it doesn't go into the album it came from. Instead, it just appears in the Camera Roll. So if I want to keep a bunch of related pieces or variants together in a project album, I have to keep going to the Camera Roll, selecting them, and assigning them to the album I want.

These aren't killers for me, but they do may organizing images more awkward and less useful than it should be (especially for those of us who may have, say, 6000+ images in our Camera Roll :whistle: ).

There are third-party apps that provide true(ish) folders for managing images, but all the ones I've tried require duplicating images into the third-party app, which eats up storage space rapidly and isn't well-integrated into editing apps. (I haven't tried any of these for some time now, so it could be that something new has come along.)
Yeah, the camera roll is a mess. I generally open from “All Albums” so I can immediately choose Recents or one of my folders. As far as projects, I have a folder for them, too, but I have to move the images into it. Since I usually work on a project in a sitting, I just move them all together. I guess it’s developing a habit. And to clarify, I get to organizing sort of bi-monthly. :oops:

I have 7000-ish images and I’m trying desperately with limited success to keep it an out there.
 
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Yeah, the camera roll is a mess. I generally open from “All Albums” so I can immediately choose Recents or one of my folders. As far as projects, I have a folder for them, too, but I have to move the images into it. Since I usually work on a project in a sitting, I just move them all together. I guess it’s developing a habit. And to clarify, I get to organizing sort of bi-monthly. :oops:

I have 7000-ish images and I’m trying desperately with limited success to keep it an out there.
Before the iPhone when I used an ordinary camera my photos were well organised. Same with any Photoshop stuff.

Now due to the camera roll they are far less organised. My photos are organised by date and often place if it’s a long holiday but not always and my arty stuff is all over the place! I really Hate that. All my computer files are well organised but it takes me ages to find anything from my iPhone/iPad stuff. And then I get in a panic and think I might not have backed it up from when I had to wipe clean both of my iPads because of issues.
 
* When I create an album and put photos into it, those photos still appear in what used to be called the Camera Roll (now Recents or Library or All Photos). The photos aren't actually moved to a new location; they're just tagged, as it were, so they also appear in the album. As a result, the Camera Roll remains a mess.
I. Hate. That. :mad:
You know Apple can fix this.

* When I use some app to open a photo from an album, make some changes, and save a new version, it doesn't go into the album it came from. Instead, it just appears in the Camera Roll. So if I want to keep a bunch of related pieces or variants together in a project album, I have to keep going to the Camera Roll, selecting them, and assigning them to the album I want.
Hate. This. Too!!!
 
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