The macbook air screen is ok, its webcam is horrible, it doesn't have a touch screen, so you can't use it as a "digital blackboard" for remote work, and it can't use multiple monitors.
The iPad has a great front camera, great screen, great touch screen and Apple Pen, yet is software-handicapped to prevent professional use.
I guess Apples' goal is for people to buy both, but I've been on the market for a new "work device" for a while and this messed product lineup just means I'll wait till they get their s** together and produce a decent work machine with:
- support for multiple monitors
- reasonable webcam
- touchscreen and apple pen support
Until then, I'm out. Neither the Macbook nor the iPad are good work machines for me, and I'm not going to buy both to compensate for bad product management. I mean, the title says it all, iPads now have "Macbook Pro CPUs" in them. That's a super mixed message to send if they are not suitable for professional work.
> Also the macbook air can only drive 1 external monitor.
That's the limitation of the GPU in the current-gen M1. It has two display encoders, one of them is connected to eDP for the internal display - except for the M1, which doesn't have an internal display, so it can be wired to external connector.
So unless they redid this part, this iPad and the new iMac will have the same limitation.
Hmm, for the laptop I'd be happy if I could turn off the built in display to get a second external display. That would literally be a big enough change that I would have already bought one instead of not having done so.
I guess I'd be happy with an ipad-m1-computer if
- It could run desktop software.
- It could do that.
Unfortunately, having a feature that requires turning off the built in display doesn't seem like Apple's style.
An external camera will blow away the quality of the ipad camera and work better under a variety of situations. In truth, by the time zoom is done compressing my video, I'm not completely convinced that higher-res input makes a difference.
The macbook air gets higher performance (I doubt they can fit that large heatsink in the ipad) and has better battery life too.
In any case, it's academic because I can't run the software I actually need on an ipad.
In the last year of remote work I have not missed whiteboard collaboration at all. My team just got better at writing docs and generating diagrams with dedicated tooling.
I use it every day. A 10 second drawings saves me 5 minutes of talking every time.
Colleagues that don't have this capability at home give the impression that they are wasting everbody elses time, to the point that they draw on a piece of paper and hang it infront of the camera instead.
Also, this pretty much completely disqualifies them for doing things like, e.g., "interviews", which restricts their career development.
Yeah we just have a totally different workflow where you provide a doc and that has all the material already included. There’s no adhoc sketching stuff because we think that through before taking anyone’s time.
It’s just a different way of working. But it pays dividends when you have people spread across time zones. Plus none of it is throw-away work. The docs are there for anyone to reference any time in the future.
The iPad has a great front camera, great screen, great touch screen and Apple Pen, yet is software-handicapped to prevent professional use.
I guess Apples' goal is for people to buy both, but I've been on the market for a new "work device" for a while and this messed product lineup just means I'll wait till they get their s** together and produce a decent work machine with:
- support for multiple monitors
- reasonable webcam
- touchscreen and apple pen support
Until then, I'm out. Neither the Macbook nor the iPad are good work machines for me, and I'm not going to buy both to compensate for bad product management. I mean, the title says it all, iPads now have "Macbook Pro CPUs" in them. That's a super mixed message to send if they are not suitable for professional work.