iPad Pro Rant

The iPad Pro just launched last week and like other powerful tablets, is now being marketed as a PC. During the British launch of the iPad Pro, Tim Cook, Apple CEO, questioned the purpose of PCs. He said “I think if you’re looking at a PC, why would you buy a PC anymore? No really, why would you buy one?” Tim Cook went on to say, “Yes, the iPad Pro is a replacement for a notebook or a desktop for many, many people. They will start using it and conclude they no longer need to use anything else other than their phones.” This really got to me. I have a question for Mr. Cook: in what world can a tablet perform better than a PC? It’s kind of funny how these tech companies like Apple and Microsoft are trying to market their tablets as PCs just by adding a type cover that costs $30 to make but is marketed at $150.

First of all, the reasons people buy tablets are not for work, not for portability, but for sheer convenience. I’d rather just grab my tablet to watch Netflix than my laptop but that’s the only reason I would use a tablet. Some people might say that tablets are portable but so are PCs, especially Ultrabook. Tablets are not what they used to be. People like to say that “PCs are dead,” but in my opinion, tablets are dead.

Going back to Tim Cook’s quote about what is the purpose of PCs. The last time I checked, Apple was pretty good at selling computers – especially with their Mac lineup. It seems everywhere I go, there’s a Mac. So, Tim Cook just made himself more of an idiot. To answer his question about “why would you buy a PC anymore,” PCs can do about everything. The iPad Pro runs iOS, not OS X. You are basically buying a powerful tablet that is restricted to the mobile version of your favorite app. You want to play Minecraft or type on Google Drive, have fun using a washdown version of it – or you can use a PC and have the full experience.

PCs will alway be better than tablets and tablets will always try to be like a PC. PCs can also be easily upgraded; you can add more RAM and storage. iPad Pro doesn’t support SD cards, so if you fill your storage in a matter of minutes, you have to buy a brand new iPad for more storage. With PCs, adding more storage is easy and the storage will have a higher capacity as well. The Pro only goes up to 128 GB while a PC can go up to 1 TB (1000 GB).

To finish off this rant, I would not recommend the iPad Pro. You are just buying a big iPad. The price begins at $800 for a 32 GB model which doesn’t include the keyboard or pen. If Tim Cook is going to stand by his quote, then he should put his money where his mouth is and stopping selling Macs, only iPhones and iPads. Personally, adding a couple of inches to the screen doesn’t make any difference for it to become a game-changing device.