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Is 11" iPad worth turning into a daily driver?

Hi,


I'm thinking if i should go minimalistic and trade-in my old devices (2015 12" MacBook retina, iPad Mini 2, iPhone 6) to get an 11" iPad Pro. I've had these devices for years now and they've become underpowered and I only use them separately for different cases. I'm thinking if getting an iPad Pro will help me declutter. I still have an iPhone X that I can use daily. I just want to know if there will be any problems if i switch.


Here are a list of my daily use cases:

  • 2015 MacBook 12" Retina - I use it with a wireless keyboard and mouse
    • MS Office 365 - spreadsheets and documents.
    • Adobe - PDF viewing
    • Netflix
    • GarageBand - simple multi-track recording and editing
    • Youtube
  • iPad Mini 2
    • Youtube
    • E-books
    • Music at home
    • Drawing storyboards using the Paper app.
  • iPhone 6
    • Spare/emergency phone
    • Music in the car - which i can do with my daily smartphone
  • iPhone X - to be retained as daily smartphone
    • Shoot videos via FiLMiC Pro
    • Edit videos via LumaFusion
    • Normal daily usage (calls, texts, work communications)
    • Navigation - Waze, Maps


Editing on my iPhone X can be a pain, literally. I've been having neck problems because the screen is too small and I have to lay it down on a desk when editing. I've tried using my MacBook with iMovie and DaVinci Resolve 16 but the device is too underpowered and cannot handle 4K footage. I normally shoot and edit one short video a month as a hobby and I really enjoy it.


With the iPad Pro, I think it can handle all of my daily use cases (though I won't use it for car music, navigation, and shooting video). But I do have a few concerns about switching everything:

  1. Will the iPad Pro be able to accommodate portable hard drives using a USB-C dongle (with or without connecting to the power adapter)? I store raw and edited footage in a hard drive.
  2. Will there be a big difference with the functions, interface, and capabilities of GarageBand and MS Office Apps?
  3. Given the iPad Pro's power, will it help me future-proof my workflow too? I think it can but I'm wondering if other people would think so too.
  4. Should I just save my money and trade all of these in (except my iPhone X) to get a refurbished 13" MacBook Pro? Then get FCPX, Adobe Premier, and DaVinci Resolve?


Thanks.


V

iPad Pro 11-inch Wi-Fi

Posted on May 9, 2020 9:45 PM

Reply
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on May 10, 2020 12:17 PM

Hello,


In the order you asked:



iPadOS 13 supports the following disk formats with a GUID partition scheme:

  • macOS Extended journaled — YES Read and Write
  • APFS - NO
  • FAT32 — SOME*
  • exFAT — SOME**
  • NTFS — NO


*iPadOS 13 supports solid state devices formatted as FAT32 such as a SD card. iPadOS 13 does not supports mechanical hard disks formatted as FAT32.

** iPadOS 13 supports disks formatted as exFAT as long as it was formatted with Disk Utility on a Macintosh. The disk cannot be formatted by Windows.


2. GarageBand for iPad is missing some of the features of GarageBand for Macintosh however I believe that it should work fine for what you need. From what I understand the Microsoft Office applications are nearly identical.


3. iPad Pro is a very capable device and should only improve with age.


4. You would be the only one who could make that decision. Macintosh software (at this time) is much more mature than iPad software however with each passing year software developers are releasing incredibly powerful applications for iPad especially now that iPad supports mouse and keyboard interactions.

Similar questions

1 reply
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

May 10, 2020 12:17 PM in response to vincemondi

Hello,


In the order you asked:



iPadOS 13 supports the following disk formats with a GUID partition scheme:

  • macOS Extended journaled — YES Read and Write
  • APFS - NO
  • FAT32 — SOME*
  • exFAT — SOME**
  • NTFS — NO


*iPadOS 13 supports solid state devices formatted as FAT32 such as a SD card. iPadOS 13 does not supports mechanical hard disks formatted as FAT32.

** iPadOS 13 supports disks formatted as exFAT as long as it was formatted with Disk Utility on a Macintosh. The disk cannot be formatted by Windows.


2. GarageBand for iPad is missing some of the features of GarageBand for Macintosh however I believe that it should work fine for what you need. From what I understand the Microsoft Office applications are nearly identical.


3. iPad Pro is a very capable device and should only improve with age.


4. You would be the only one who could make that decision. Macintosh software (at this time) is much more mature than iPad software however with each passing year software developers are releasing incredibly powerful applications for iPad especially now that iPad supports mouse and keyboard interactions.

Is 11" iPad worth turning into a daily driver?

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