iPad Pro Diray, Day One: Instead of writing a long and boring product review, I’m going to try something new with the iPad Pro. I’m pulling a Tim Cook: I’m using it as my main and only machine for a while. I’ll be keeping a diary of how it goes.
In fact, I’m typing this on it.
The question everyone is asking — and it’s Apple’s pitch for the Pro — is that this a bone fide computer. It’s not a silly tablet any more. It’s a heavy duty tool for Pros — a jackhammer for creatives.
I’m going to find out…
Not just for liking cat videos
Of course, we’ve heard this before. From the get-go, lots of people have argued that at the iPad isn’t just for consumption. And, in fact, plenty of people I know use only an iPad: my wife for instance.
But every time I tried to use an iPad for work, I gave up. I’ve made half-arsed efforts to use it for work but inevitably I came up against some roadblock. I couldn’t upload a picture to WordPress, or edit some file. So instead of finding a workaround, I tossed the iPad aside and turned to a computer instead.
I think a lot of people have had the same experience. But this time Apple says it’s different. It’s the magical combination of powerful hardware, a ginormous screen, a mature OS with split-screen multitasking, and a range of productivity-enhancing accessories, that makes the Pro and real pro tool.
We’ll see.
No cheating
I’ll be using the iPad Pro for the time being as my one and only machine. No cheating. I’ve shut down the iMac I use at work and stuck my MacBook in a sock drawer.
The iPad Pro certainly has a lot of interesting potential. Take TouchID. One of my least favorite things about computers is the string of passwords I have to deal with all day. I use the 1Password password manager, but I still have to type a lot of passwords — mostly the 1Password password to unlock it.
Not so with the iPad Pro. Just hold your thumb to the TouchID sensor, and it opens right up. TouchID also unlocks the 1Password app, and a bunch of others like bank apps and Amazon. Using TouchID as a password replacement is not yet universal, but its increasing and it makes a huge difference. It’s a big difference in the experience of using the thing, and it makes me think, yeah, this is the computer of the future.
Leander Kahney is the editor and publisher of Cult of Mac.
Leander is a longtime technology reporter and the author of six acclaimed books about Apple, including two New York Times bestsellers: Jony Ive: The Genius Behind Apple’s Greatest Products and Inside Steve’s Brain, a biography of Steve Jobs.
He’s also written a top-selling biography of Apple CEO Tim Cook and authored Cult of Mac and Cult of iPod, which both won prestigious design awards. Most recently, he was co-author of Cult of Mac, 2nd Edition.
Leander has been reporting about Apple and technology for nearly 30 years.
Before founding Cult of Mac as an independent publication, Leander was news editor at Wired.com, where he was responsible for the day-to-day running of the Wired.com website. He headed up a team of six section editors, a dozen reporters and a large pool of freelancers. Together the team produced a daily digest of stories about the impact of science and technology, and won several awards, including several Webby Awards, 2X Knight-Batten Awards for Innovation in Journalism and the 2010 MIN (Magazine Industry Newsletter) award for best blog, among others.
Before being promoted to news editor, Leander was Wired.com’s senior reporter, primarily covering Apple. During that time, Leander published a ton of scoops, including the first in-depth report about the development of the iPod. Leander attended almost every keynote speech and special product launch presented by Steve Jobs, including the historic launches of the iPhone and iPad. He also reported from almost every Macworld Expo in the late ’90s and early ‘2000s, including, sadly, the last shows in Boston, San Francisco and Tokyo. His reporting for Wired.com formed the basis of the first Cult of Mac book, and subsequently this website.
Before joining Wired, Leander was a senior reporter at the legendary MacWeek, the storied and long-running weekly that documented Apple and its community in the 1980s and ’90s.
Leander has written for Wired magazine (including the Issue 16.04 cover story about Steve Jobs’ leadership at Apple, entitled Evil/Genius), Scientific American, The Guardian, The Observer, The San Francisco Chronicle and many other publications.
Leander is an expert on:
Apple and Apple history
Steve Jobs, Jony Ive, Tim Cook and Apple leadership
Apple community
iPhone and iOS
iPad and iPadOS
Mac and macOS
Apple Watch and watchOS
Apple TV and tvOS
AirPods
Leander has a postgrad diploma in artificial intelligence from the University of Aberdeen, and a BSc (Hons) in experimental psychology from the University of Sussex.
He has a diploma in journalism from the UK’s National Council for the Training of Journalists.
Leander lives in San Francisco, California, and is married with four children. He’s an avid biker and has ridden in many long-distance bike events, including California’s legendary Death Ride.
You can find out more about Leander on LinkedIn and Facebook. You can follow him on X at @lkahney or Instagram.
