Dreaming of Tablets

ByMike Moffit

I have to admit that I was a little bit disappointed there were no new hardware announcements at or around WWDC. I didn’t really expect any at the actual conference itself, but I was hoping the MacBook Pro would get their expected refresh in the month of June. As much as I love it, I’m looking to get a little bit more horsepower for video editing than my 2014 MacBook Air can provide. I’m sure we’ll see the MacBook Pro refresh at some point over the next few months, so I guess I can wait.

Just for giggles, I did think a little bit this morning about whether or not I could feasibly replace my laptop with a tablet. The 12.9-inch iPad Pro is very impressive. The screen is about the same size as my 13-inch Air, but with Retina, the resolution is much higher. Combine a quality keyboard (either Apple’s own or one of the many 3rd-party options) with the Apple Pencil, and I almost think I could do it.

On my laptop, I’m always multitasking. I’ve got Safari open with dozens of tabs. I have a few terminal windows open. I probably have a few instances of Skype running. Messages, Photos, and any number of other apps are all available for me in an instant. This would’ve been the deal breaker for a tablet previously, but with the split screen and Picture-in-Picture options in the latest versions of iOS, I think I might be able to deal. Switching between running apps that aren’t in split-view is pretty smooth too.

Another big annoyance I have with tablets is the lack of trackpad and keyboard. A few months ago I put a keyboard case on my trusty iPad Air and I don’t know how I lived without it for so long. I do a lot of writing so a keyboard that’s functional massively increases the usefulness of a device for me. I tend to use my iPad a lot more now, and the small size means I can carry it all over the place and be much more productive wherever I end up with it. The lack of a trackpad mostly affects how I select, drag, etc. I think iOS has gotten a lot better at those types of actions, and with the addition of an Apple Pencil, there are further options even beyond what a trackpad can do. Might I find myself doing more handwritten diagrams and writing on an iPad Pro?

Sadly, I think I’ll still be holding out for the new MacBook Pro, but I was very surprised how close a tablet was to working for me. I guess if the new MacBook Pro live up to some rumors I’m not crazy about, like the new butterfly-hinge keyboards found on the Macbook line, I might have a really tough decision to make. Sure I could always get the previous generation MacBook Pro, but if I’m getting new hardware, I like to future-proof as much as possible. We shall see. Would a tablet really work for me and my work style?

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    Q: So, what do I use it for?

    A: ApplePay, sports scores, texts, answering my iPhone Dick Tracy-style, weather and a lot of other stuff like checking the time. 🙂

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  • _Dear Friends_,

    Hey, guess what? I am a Cubs fan and I have been for my entire life. When I was a very young child my family lived in Wrigleyville near the Cubs stadium. My mom would take my brother and I to games, especially on “Ladies’ Day” and we would wander around the field and got to know many of the players. My favorite player at the time was Hank Sauer who won the NL MVP but Mr. Cub, Ernie Banks was there, too. I once won tickets to a Cubs play-off game with my statement that “my Mom used Wrigley Field as a daycare center”. Okay, so that is all a lead-in to say that this might actually be THE YEAR! Go Cubbies! Grace and I are going to take a little tour of the midwest this year for a motorcycle trip with, of course, a stop at Wrigley!

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    Thank you for reading this issue of Kibbles & Bytes!

    Your Kibbles & Bytes Team,

    _Don, Emily, Hadley, Mike & Amy_