Skip to main content

The Apple iPad Pro is not the ultimate PC replacement

If you have followed Apple's -- rather uninspiring -- event yesterday you may know that the company announced a new 9.7 inch iPad Pro, a smaller version of the IPad Pro released last year.

During the presentation, Phil Schiller, Apple Senior Vice President of Worldwide Marketing, made two statements in regards to PCs.

First, he stated that most new iPad Pro users were using a Windows PC previously and that it was the "ultimate PC replacement", and second, that it was sad that more than 600 million people were using PCs that were over five years old.

Let us take a look at the statements that he made during his presentation.

The ultimate PC replacement

ipad-pro

The iPad Pro, just like any Android or Chrome OS tablet, can be a a PC replacement under certain circumstances as it depends largely on what a user uses the machine for.

Web browsing, media consumption, light Office work or mobile games are all supported on tablets, and if that is all that is needed, then it can very well be a replacement.

But ultimate means that it is the non plus ultra replacement, and that is simply not the case. The iPad Pro cannot run Windows programs for one, and if you use your Windows machine to produce something, be it applications, websites, 3D models or videos, you will quickly realize that the machine is not suitable for that or not able to be used in that way at all.

Then there are games which some like to play, and there is a huge difference between games available for iOS and Windows as well. You simply cannot play games like The Division, World of Warcraft or Call of Duty on an iPad, and there is little chance that this will change anytime soon.

If you look at peripherals that are available for Windows PCs and for Apple's iPad, there is only so many that you can connect to an iPad Pro. Multi-monitor setups, external storage (extremely limited), or a computer mouse are not really an option.

Last but not least, Windows PCs give users more freedom in regards to what they can do on the system. They are not limiting users to installing apps from a store that one company has full control over, and users can make modifications to the operating system or programs running on it as well whereas the options to do so on an iOS device are fairly limited.

For desktop systems, it is easy to upgrade specific hardware, say computer memory or the video card, which may extend the lifespan of the device by several years.

Microsoft is heading Apple's way in some regards with Windows Store and Windows 10, but it is not there yet and is criticized for its course already by part of the Windows community.

Basically, the iPad Pro offers only some features that PCs, laptops or desktop systems, offer, and while that makes it a PC replacement, it will never be the "ultimate" PC replacement (that would be another PC).

Sad PC users

For a company that tries to win PC users over, it may not be the best strategy to state that it is sad that 600 million people are still using PCs that are over five years old.

First of, old does not necessarily mean inadequate. There is nothing wrong with using a five year old PC if it allows you to do what you do on your computer. Heck, some even use a good old C-64 or Amiga computer for certain tasks even though those machines have been produced more than 20 years ago.

Considering that Apple revealed all the company's advances in recycling, it should be something that the company values instead of mocks.

There are plenty of reasons why five year old PCs are still being used on top of the obvious one: from lack of money over hardware or software that won't run on newer versions or different operating systems, to upgrading select components of the computer to extend its lifespan.

Apple's obviously interested in selling you new stuff regularly and the advances in mobile technology have really opened the door for that up until now. Better processing and graphics power, new features like NFC or fingerprint readers, better displays, less battery use and a lot more.

On PCs, at least on the desktop, there is little need for upgrades unless you are a gamer or require as much processing power as possible for other applications. Even then, it may be enough to upgrade core components instead of buying a new device.

Now You: What's your take on this?

 

This article was first seen on ComTek's "TekBits" Technology News

HOME