What does iPad do? - Apple haters stay out

Something Awful

Something Awful

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I'm thinking about buying an iPad, but I don't think I really need one. I'd like to try messing around with the Apple Pencil, but I'm not an artist or anything, so it's hard to justify it for that alone. Are there any other cool things I could do with an iPad that I can't do with my smartphone or laptop? If you have a tablet, what do you use it for?
 
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It does exactly the same things a £40 tablet from Tesco does.

(As to what I use it for - usually not much. It's there if I need it to look up shit when the laptop dies. Other than that, I've a few books on it and I'll call up game wikis on it if I hit a puzzle I'm stumped on in whatever I'm playing on the laptop.)
 
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Shig O'nella said:
It does exactly the same things a £40 tablet from Tesco does.
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I've tried using cheap tablets, and the touchscreen was really janky, making them unpleasant to use. Not saying there aren't any good options at a lower price, especially if you just use it for reading books, but like I said I'd like to try the Apple Pencil. I doubt drawing on a $40 tablet would work well.
 
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Fair enough. I don't draw on it much, never got into using computers for my odd daubs at art. Doesn't feel as right as paper and brushes. Bearing in mind I'm heavily biased towards tools that do one job well, it might be worth looking at a dedicated drawing pad if you really do a lot.
 
I use an Android tablet for internet browsing and reading. Used to use it for watching stuff, but the speakers get robotic at random. Ever heard Cruel Angel's Thesis in tinny robot? It sounds cool.
 
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It lets me shitpost online with a huge screen in relative comfort from my backyard. I also use mine a lot for reading PDFs, it’s a god tier device for bringing up data sheets and schematics.

Theres no strong argument to be made for owning one unless you want one for note taking or art though, the iPad excels at both of those tasks in a way other devices and cheap tablets don’t.

Its a luxury device really, there’s nothing you can’t do on another type of device that you can do on an iPad.
 
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I only use mine for browsing the internet, Twitter, email etc. The cheaper tablets I used before it are substantially less responsive, the ipad is just so nice to use with a great screen. I only got it because it had a nice discount on it, but if you don't care about the screen or speed and responsiveness then you can save $200/300 and just buy a cheap tablet.
 
Are there any other cool things I could do with an iPad that I can't do with my smartphone or laptop?
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Nope. It's a complementary device if you have both.
If you have a tablet, what do you use it for?
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Read books and watch videos on the bed, accessory for table top games.

It's a good "computer" for boomers who are computer retarded. Cheap Android tablets will break down fast, have a lack of repairable parts, and will become a security risk within a couple years of purchase. The base shit-tier iPad I bought for my parents is still going strong almost 5 years later.
 
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Are there any other cool things I could do with an iPad that I can't do with my smartphone or laptop
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I sometimes use my tablet to comfortably read magazines/manga as well. Just feels a little better while lounging on the couch compared to having the laptop on my chest or squinting at the phone screen. But that's not a real justification to buy a pretty pricy iPad imo.

If you plan on getting into digital art - you could always look into getting an older model ipad pro + pencil to see if the whole thing suits you at all before going for the newest & priciest model.
 
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Shig O'nella said:
Fair enough. I don't draw on it much, never got into using computers for my odd daubs at art. Doesn't feel as right as paper and brushes. Bearing in mind I'm heavily biased towards tools that do one job well, it might be worth looking at a dedicated drawing pad if you really do a lot.
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The iPad will have a smooth surface to draw on while older Wacom's have some texture to it, I don't know anything about Cintiq's though.
 
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An iPad will allow you to use software created for the iPhone or iPad in the least bad possible form factor.

While not all iOS apps actually had UI/UX designers involved in their creation, many iOS developers did at least read Apple's Human Interface Guidelines, something that Android and Windows devs would kill themselves before doing.

Is it worth it if you're not someone who describes themselves to women they are trying to have sex with as 'a creative'? Eh, probably not.

I especially don't really see the point if you already have a laptop. There are, finally, some cool developments in e-Ink tablets with the Amazon Kindle Scribe coming along to take the market reMarkable created to the masses (and with a massive increase in display revolutions). It'll be interesting to see what happens in the next couple years with that market.
 
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It's great for reading books, and the app 'Documents' allows for bypassing restrictions and has a built in file manager you can download to. I use it primarily to read books, I type on there sometimes with a bluetooth keyboard and watch videos.
 
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I've got a ipad pro I've been using for about 2 years now and I like it, It's great for what limited digital art I do, photo editing and loading up with ebooks, ebay, etsy and banking.

For me it's a axillary device to my laptop that's more flexible than a laptop and a e-reader (can't use my phone as one even a iphone max size is just to small for my tastes), I will say for a lot of people it can replace there desktop or laptop if they don't game or game on a console and don't do anything other than web, email and other light tasks from time to time especially when paired with a keyboard.

If the way things are going keeps up and laptops and tablets merge I could see myself replacing my laptop with a top end ipad but I'm not young any-more and nearly totally disinterested in doing anything high tech that the ipad can't already do - the only thing I miss is plug-ins on Firefox but that's going to change one way or another.
 
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I only ever used mine for reading e-books, and an iPad is bad for this purpose because it doesn't take SD cards.
 
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