iPad Pro: why it's not right for pro artists and designers

[GreyFox7]

Ref: Apple's iPad Pro: why it's not right for pro artists and designers (yet) - News

Straight to the point...

Apple's iPad Pro is real. It has a lot of creative potential, but it's pro-grade apps - or a lack of - that will make or break it.

There aren't' any...

Is the iPad Pro a glorified sketchbook or a professional-level creative tool like Microsoft's Surface Pro 3?

The Surface Pro 3 is a brilliant tool because it has a reasonably powerful processor from Intel's Core i5 or i7 range and a full version of Windows - so it's quite capable in Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, Corel Painter and even Premiere Pro (though not so much in After Effects, Maya or anything else that needs a lot of 3D oomph).

The choice of laptop processor (and operating system) is the reason why you might by a Surface Pro 3, but not a standard Surface 3 or one of Lenovo's Surface clones that are aimed at Office users who don't need much power.

An iPad Pro might not be for creative pros

Apple's Phil Schiller describes the iPad Pro's A9X chip as "desktop class", having twice the memory of and 1.8x the performance of the A8X in iPad Air 2. The company has also called the iPad Pro's 3D performance as 'console class', which will help boost the power of creative apps that generally tap graphics power to boost overall app performance as much as the main chip.

However, as someone who tried to use Photoshop on a Lenovo Yoga to see if it was possible - the answer being a resounding 'no' - just because a tablet is much more powerful than others or even other laptops, doesn't mean it's powerful enough for our needs as designers, artists, editors and the like.

And if the iPad Pro can match - or even beat - the Surface Pro 3's performance,... It can't ... what are you going to use to create professional works on it?

When I reviewed the Surface Pro 3 last year I edited videos on it in Premiere Pro, retouched photos in Photoshop and Lightroom and even did a bit of print-based graphic design in InDesign. There is nothing available for iOS that deserves to mentioned in the same sentence as these applications. There are brilliant creating tools for sketching, roughing, storyboarding, writing pitches and beginning the retouch process (hello Lightroom Mobile) - but nothing to complete your projects.

Adobe got up on stage with Apple and showed its Comp layout tool and the new Photoshop Fix retouching tool. These are well-designed, beautifully executed applications - but limited in functionality. Adobe says in a blog post that 'with the iPad Pro, iOS9, and Adobe’s Creative Cloud mobile apps, professional creativity is coming of age' but it's going to have to go higher and wider if it wants to make Apple's big tablet something you'd choose to put in your bag rather than a Macbook Pro or Surface Pro 3. It's not out of reach and Adobe has hired some very talented people in this area recently.

Before the iPad Pro comes out in November, we need to see serious, grown-up, professional applications for creative pros - or it'll end up in a limbo between tablet and laptop like Wacom's Android-based Cintiq Companion Hybrid, which only lasted a single generation before being killed off in favour of a proper tablet PC.

 

[Moonsurface]

To be honest the "pencil" looks nice - but at least they did somethign productive in the long time since Microsoft proved to them that Stylus's aren't necessarily for losers

Wouldn't mind a play but I'm not giving up my SP3 for anything -well maybe SP4 but even then I'm not that bothered my SP3 does everything I ask and more - at least now Win 10 has settled down..lol!

 

[leeshor]

I think it;s funny that everyone is calling it a stylus, except Apple. Maybe because Jobs said there would never be a stylus, so, pencil it is.

 

[GreyFox7]

I think it;s funny that everyone is calling it a stylus, except Apple. Maybe because Jobs said there would never be a stylus, so, pencil it is.

I finally gave up trying to change/correct people on the usage of stylus vs Pen or whatever... but you can be sure Apple will get bent, over calling their Pencil a stylus. stylus stylus stylus stylus

 

[InspectHerGadget]

I think that the MaxiPad, even though, it sounds like a feminine hygiene product, is a great step forward.

Sure it isn't as integrated, as fast, as stylish, as the Surface Pro. It isn't as functional either.

The positives are there though such as the name 'Pro' part which is a tip of the hat to the SP3.

Overall a suitable candidate for winning the GOLDEN RASPBERRY AWARD.

 

[hughlle]

Real artists will be using real software. As simple as that. Autodesk express is not the same as photoshop.

And while I do not know how this tablet will compare to say the S3 (4gb), trying to run the likes of photoshop on the S3 was not a very pleasing experience. She needs more power captain!

A real professional would buy the tool for the job, not the brand for the image. It's a big ipad with a pen (sorry apple fans, microsoft jumped in there with pen instead of stylus, and like hoover, ipad, ipod etc, I have decided that i shall just call your pencil a pen because MS kicked ass at it first). Professional artists are not sat in their studio on an ipad

It will do just great in an office environment, people have managed to cinvince themselves that ipads are fine in that scenario already, but i would not call that professional useage. Professional to me means media creation (not colour by numbers) or say the kind of work sharpcolorado is doing. Real work.

 

[Athol Hill]

You guys can rant on about how awesome the Surface Pro is for "pro artists" but lets look at the numbers:

Number of pro artists vs wannabe/hobby artists is actually about 1%

The number Apple is aiming for? The 99%

You can go on about the SP3 being a technical tool, but even with Windows 10 in its current form, the Surface Pro 3 is a worse tablet than the iPad and a worse desktop than the Macbook Air. That's the problem with Hybrid devices, they are a compromise.

I have all 3. I have the SP3 at the same spec as the MBA and the performance in Windows is worse, more stuttering, more spinning wheels at random times. etc.

I'll also be honest while Windows 10 is a big improvement, if Apple produced a MBA with a pull off screen that switched into IOS mode and had a stylus, I'd walk away from the SP3 tomorrow and not miss it.

 

[kundas1]

well your the 10% (or less) that has this stuttering or spinning or whatever you call it, others SP3 (like mine) are running just fine and running circles around Ipads and macbooks... its pretty obvious in your post your more biased towards apple products... maybe the new maxipads are more for you? and also how do YOU know which/what artists use the SP3? because I know some serious artists who use the SP3 as a design and work tablet and wouldn't touch an ipad/MacBook to do their work on and then the others ON HERE who dabble in art drawings ect ect are quit a bit just from the 10 pages that wannabe/hobby artists that have contributed! so again where do you come with these % numbers?

 

[ScottyS]

Haven't heard any complaints yet that it doesn't have a silo to house the stylus pen pencil.

 

[InspectHerGadget]

I see the iPad Pro as a fail to be honest. It highlights trying to extend the iPhone iOS and keep extending it into something that just doesn't seem quite right. Apple have an awful big catch up game to do here just as Microsoft have a catch up in the tablet area where the iPad reigns supreme. Apple are running out of ideas basically and are tied to the past with iOS, inasmuch, as trying to turn it into something it was never designed to be.

I have a MBA 11, the iPad and SP3. The iPad I use every day as a tablet. The SP3 gets used every day in my work. The MBA not much at all these days. The software is the defining thing for me. I just got sick of trying to find software to run on the MacBook and paying more in many cases where I got it. I do like having a touch screen too. The MBA does have a lovely keyboard but it isn't enough to make up for the software issues. I think too the OS X is old fashioned and needs a major redesign. Overall Windows seems more intuitive and easy to use, better thought out. This shouldn't be surprising seeing how Microsoft have sunk huge resources into making it so.

 

[Athol Hill]

well your the 10% (or less) that has this stuttering or spinning or whatever you call it, others SP3 (like mine) are running just fine and running circles around Ipads and macbooks... its pretty obvious in your post your more biased towards apple products... maybe the new maxipads are more for you? and also how do YOU know which/what artists use the SP3? because I know some serious artists who use the SP3 as a design and work tablet and wouldn't touch an ipad/MacBook to do their work on and then the others ON HERE who dabble in art drawings ect ect are quit a bit just from the 10 pages that wannabe/hobby artists that have contributed! so again where do you come with these % numbers?

So because I posted about a known issue with others posted about, which isn't an issue on Mac, and shouldn't be an issue with the SP3 because they designed it to work with a docking station, I'm biased? And you figure that how?

Or have you drunk too much of the windows coolaid you complain about the Apple users drinking that you consider a bug on something that effects people daily like plugging in an external display to be a non-issue?

 

[InspectHerGadget]

So because I posted about a known issue with others posted about, which isn't an issue on Mac, and shouldn't be an issue with the SP3 because they designed it to work with a docking station, I'm biased? And you figure that how?

Or have you drunk too much of the windows coolaid you complain about the Apple users drinking that you consider a bug on something that effects people daily like plugging in an external display to be a non-issue?

I smell troll here..., new poster and going on about a non-issue that might affect a small percentage, if any, of dock users while spruiking the merits of the oversize Maxipad on a Surface Forum.