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by jijijijij 789 days ago
Same. Don't buy an iPad! For real. It's a ridiculous device. Effectively no more useful than any other cheap tablet. Those tempting hardware features, you won't be able to use them in the end anyway, because of software limitations. You just can't do serious work with the iPad in practice. Trust me, after a short honeymoon period, and another few weeks of frustration, it will end up collecting dust and you will only ever rarely use it to watch movies at most.

If you buy one still, don't forget to turn it off completely, or you will find it someday, the battery completely drained and you realize it must have been months. Not good for battery health.
2 comments
galleywest200 789 days ago
An iPad for drawing vs a cheap tablet for drawing are a mile apart in capability.

Maybe for technical work your statement is true, but for artistic work an iPad with Procreate/Dreams is absolutely a viable primary workstation.

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jijijijij 789 days ago
Yes, of course if you have a concrete, specific significant use case for the pencil it may be more appealing. But the pre M1 iPad with the pencil did the job as well, for drawing and pure handwriting. Obviously the iPad is marketed to be more than a single purpose device. The processing power is completely wasted. Most people probably won't use the pencil much in the long term.

It's file management, app limitations and interoperability which kill usefulness.

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seanmcdirmid 789 days ago
I love the iPad for its stylus, it’s a great device for brainstorming even with just notes. I wish there was more creative software they took advantage of the form factor however, like a touch/stylus based programming environment.
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jijijijij 789 days ago
It is marketed to be more than a drawing device tho. It fails at anything but being a glorified scratchpad. Very narrow usefulness.

I got the first iPad (2016?) with pencil, for 400€, I think. It still does completely fulfill my needs for brainstorming. For anything else, the app ecosystem and locked down system are useless.

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seanmcdirmid 789 days ago
I bought the iPad to do mostly three things: browse web, send emails, watch video, and take notes.

I also wish there were better more inventive apps.

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