iMac Owner. iPad or MBP 13? Please read.

First post, sorry if this is in the wrong place...

I bought a 27 inch iMac in Feb of 2012. I upgraded the RAM to 16gb and have since fell in love with my first Mac. I use it for many different applications. I host a podcast and use it every week to edit our latest episode, I play in a band and have used it to record demos, I use Photoshop for graphic design work, have written several college papers on it (part time student)... The list goes on and on. I also bought a 1.5 TB drive for time machine and external storage.

I paid it off late last year and now I am faced with a new situation. My VERY old Gateway laptop was about to die, so I started to look for a replacement. I decided on a 11 inch MacBook Air. I went to Best Buy and did the same thing I did in 2012, I financed it with 18 mo. 0% interest. I intended to pay off about half of it with some of my tax return and then have it paid off in full within 6-8 months.

I brought the Air home and really liked it. However, being used to the 27 inch screen and upgraded RAM, I decided to return it the next day and get the MacBook Pro 13. I felt that it was a good decision at the time. I planned on updating the RAM to 16gb as well.

Fast forward 2 weeks. I have been using the Pro every day and I really enjoy it. However, I have a feeling that it may be a bit of overkill. I feel bad neglecting my machine in the office just because I have a Pro on the coffee table.

So.. I am thinking about returning it and getting an iPad. My girlfriend has the iPad 2 and absolutely loves it. I went to Best Buy today and was really blown away by the iPad with Retina display. I really enjoy the MBP, but honestly I am only using it for web surfing, note taking, Spotify, Stitcher, and watching Netflix and YouTube. I would get a bluetooth keyboard / case for note taking at school.

The MBP is a fantastic machine, but considering the cost, would the iPad be enough for what I need as far as school / day to day use? Is there anything I am missing out on? I did some google searches but came up short finding something that fits my situation. Most posts didn't mention having a home computer, it was more of a "would an iPad replace a primary computer?".

I'm sure this sounds like a 'first world problem', but I come here seeking advice. Any insightful criticism would be greatly appreciated. I have a couple more days to make up my mind.

Thanks in advance!

If all you are doing is consuming rather than creating on it, the iPad is the obvious choice.

RavingMac said:

If all you are doing is consuming rather than creating on it, the iPad is the obvious choice.

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That's exactly what brought me to write this out. It's nice to have the ability to use GB or Photoshop on the go, but do I really need it? Maybe it's just a personal preference. Figured it couldn't hurt to ask. I can't be the first person with this question.

Thanks for the response. Any other advice would be welcome.

I have a 15 in MBP and Mac Mini desktop, but use my iPad Mini 90% of the time (as in for this post).

I have all three and I use them all. The iPad gets used at my bedside mostly. The Macbook Pro when I'm out and about and need to bring work with me. The iMac stays at home but I use it for work and school stuff. Also for watching movies and TV shows.

I have Photoshop on my iPad and it not as good as the original one. I have two stylus for my iPad as well. One is pressure sensitive the other is just a normal one. I can't really get any serious or polished work done on the Photoshop app on the iPad. I can start it on the iPad but it just seems way too gimmicky.

iPad mini probably get the most usage since I'm out and about for most of the day. Along with my iPhone of course.

I only use my iPads for gaming, reading, web surfing, email, youtube, and watching netflix. That's pretty much everything I use to do on my Macbook Pro but now I use it exclusively now for work. iPad is for downtime or breaks from work.

Everyone has different computing needs just need to find what works for you.

To be fair to Adobe, they don't make Photoshop for the iPad. What you are actually using is either Photoshop Touch -- a different program -- or Photoshop Express, again a different program. Neither of them are intended to be Photoshop.

It's not your fault; it's Adobe's. They really should splash the word Photoshop all over every remotely pixel-oriented program they make, but it's their "Samsung Galaxy" I guess.

Just to be clear.. I don't expect to do any heavy photo editing on the iPad. Simple stuff, sure. Social media, craigslist, etc. But I plan on using my iMac for any heavy lifting.

I've been running with an iMac/iPad combination for a while now, and it has worked out great for me. I do the "heavy lifting" on the iMac -- things like photo editing, managing my media collection, working on spread sheets, and word processing. The iPad mostly gets used for web surfing, email, social networking, games, and reading.

While I can certainly do all of that on the iMac as well, I spend much more time on the iPad. I used to have a laptop and a desktop computer, but when the iPad arrived, I found the laptop was redundant and unnecessary.

If all you are doing is consuming rather than creating on it, the iPad is the obvious choice.

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Yes, because no one has ever created anything on an iPad.

Thanks, J.Fo!

That's exactly what I am thinking. Sure I'd love to have both, but do I need both?

I feel bad neglecting my iMac. It's such a great machine.

hand amputation said:

Thanks, J.Fo!

That's exactly what I am thinking. Sure I'd love to have both, but do I need both?

I feel bad neglecting my iMac. It's such a great machine.

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Whether you need it is up to you. Don't feel bad about "neglecting" the iMac though. I wouldn't call it that. As long as both devices fill a need and serve a purpose, that's all you need to justify having both in my opinion.

hand amputation said:

I really enjoy the MBP, but honestly I am only using it for web surfing, note taking, Spotify, Stitcher, and watching Netflix and YouTube. I would get a bluetooth keyboard / case for note taking at school.

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This comment leads me to believe you wouldn't be doing any photo editing or work on any machine other than your iMac. If that's the case, the iMac is great for "work" and the iPad is perfect for "play". The MBP would probably be more like a mobile version of your iMac so you could do the same kind of work on both. But again, it doesn't soundl ike you want to do your photo editing, etc. on the couch or in the coffee shop.

In praise of iPad photo editing

That said, I do nearly all my photo editing on my iPad now, thanks to Snapseed, iPhoto for iOS and/or Photogene. Photoshop or even Aperture they are not, but for some quite impressive but limited photo-editing purposes they are fantastic and fun, and do everything I need to do to 90 percent of the pictures I take. Naturally I still have Photoshop for better retouching, but as I say most of my photos don't require it.

a quick example, edited entirely in Snapseed on the iPad:

chas_m said:

That said, I do nearly all my photo editing on my iPad now, thanks to Snapseed, iPhoto for iOS and/or Photogene. Photoshop or even Aperture they are not, but for some quite impressive but limited photo-editing purposes they are fantastic and fun, and do everything I need to do to 90 percent of the pictures I take. Naturally I still have Photoshop for better retouching, but as I say most of my photos don't require it.

a quick example, edited entirely in Snapseed on the iPad:

View attachment 18857

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Looks nice but that crane in the background is really distracting. Fixed it. XD

I have no idea why that didn't occur to me to do that. Thanks!