It's starting to look like I might need a Mac laptop. The good news is I can wait until WWDC. The bad news is I don't think we'll get new keyboards... Eep.
@rosemaryorchard Nope. They're going to dig their heels in on this one. I'm actually going the iPad route (to bring in the lightness and pencil support) and extend the life of my current machine until I hear better things about the keyboard.
@kaa If I could go iPad only for this I would, but that's becoming more and more difficult - I would have to buy extra hardware to be able to make that work anyway, at which point it would seem to make sense to buy the all in one solution.
@rosemaryorchard how old is your current machine? Mine is 4 1/2 years old so I estimate another 1 to 1 1/2 years of software support. I’ve maxed the ram. The iPad provides the portability (that the new laptops achieve), power is good, and the pencil adds another dimension to production. The old machine can be there as the work horse for things too fiddly with the iPad...
@rosemaryorchard in fact I think I might never get an MacBook again and just go for an iMac and iPad Pro solution down the line...
@kaa I have a 2011 Mac Mini. I went with the 12.9" iPad Pro to replace an aging MacBook Pro which works out for almost all cases, just trying to decide what to do for those cases where it has to be a Mac.
@rosemaryorchard @kaa I’ve been playing with the iPad Pro as a laptop replacement - and it's maybe 90% of the way there - but there are still a few places that it's can't quite do what I need it to, mainly around photos. Maybe in 2 years.
@adders If I didn’t write software, I could use my iPad as my main computer. Than again, if I didn’t write iOS software, I could use Windows.
@adders Yup, same. It can do it for pretty much everything except one task. I'll have to see how important that is long term.
@rosemaryorchard Do you use an external keyboard with your iPad Pro? I still haven't found one that was portable that I really liked.
@matthilt I have the Smart Keyboard for my 10.5" and the logitech create for my 12.9". The latter is a beast but nice keys and not a kickstand :)
@rosemaryorchard I don't have the Pro so the Create is out for me. I wonder if the other Logitechs are similar in keyboard feel.
@matthilt They have some really nice ones! Back when I had an Air I used their their Ultrathin. The Canvas is something I'd be interested in nowadays if I needed one!
@rosemaryorchard FWIW, I have a late 2016 MBP w/TB, which I've had since Dec/2016, and I haven't had any problems with the keyboard yet at all. (Knock on wood!) I don't doubt those who have, but I figure it is worth noting that there are different experiences that the narrative.
@Lioncourt Good point. I've been looking at the non-touch bar models, not sure about that for my needs.
@rosemaryorchard I love the Touch Bar, but it wouldn't be worth it for a machine that isn't going to be heavily used. It's nice to have iOS-like features at my fingertips on my Mac that I use a lot on my iPad Pro. (e.g. quick type for Emoji, Safari tabs, etc.)
@rosemaryorchard Is it at all possible and productive to use VNC to access your Mini from the iPad Pro for those items where you need MacOS?
