For years, Apple has been bombarding us with the message that the iPad Pro was not merely another computer; it was the only computer we will ever need. In 2016, the firm insisted that the iPad Pro was in fact a computer.
In 2017, it released an ad showing a young female iPad Pro fan who was unfamiliar with the term ‘computer’. And in 2018, it listed five reasons why we should regard the iPad Pro as a computer.
One of them was that it had – wait for it – a pencil. Another reason was that the iPad Pro ‘goes anywhere’, which referred to United Airlines banning laptops. It seems as if the company was deliberately steering people away from the MacBook to the iPad.
This theory is strengthened by the terrible butterfly keyboard that Apple gave the MacBook. A week ago, however, Apple finally realised that it wasn’t going to win this battle and launched a new 16-inch MacBook Pro with a rather old-fashioned keyboard.
The firm’s senior VP of global marketing Phil Schiller said in an interview with CNET that they believed that the iPad is the best tablet ‘computing device’, but added: “We believe the best personal computer is a Mac, and we want to keep going down that path.”
The news that Apple isn’t about to abandon the traditional laptop will be appreciated by millions of fans around the globe.
The iPad Pro is good in its own right, but it just can’t replace a laptop, particularly not for people who actually write on their laps, or in bed.
Its keyboard simply cannot compete with that of a MacBook, particularly if your work involves a lot of writing.
Strangely, it took Apple (and Schiller) years to understand the simple principle that a touchscreen perfectly meets our needs when we are relaxing and want entertainment, while a keyboard and mouse meets our needs when we have to work.