And now, the iPad Pro

I bought an iPad Pro.  Yeah, I know.... but there was something in the back of my head that said this just might be the one.  That being said, it comes on the heals of trying to come to grips with the Surface Pro 3, with it's funky Windows 10 interface, the constant querying about whether I wanted to be in tablet mode or laptop mode, the sucky keyboard...  A couple years ago I missed using a stylus so much I bought a Wacom tablet - which was OK if I didn't mind packing a big piece of plastic around that connected to the computer with a USB cable.  Not what I'd call mobile.

Ever since I fell in love with a stylus on a laptop, back in the Dell Latitude XT days, it's been really hard for me to give up on the idea that using a stylus on a computer wasn't just the best of both worlds.  If I can sketch, annotate, and even write with a pen, then turn around and type, search, and view web pages with a keyboard, I'm a seriously happy camper.  And keeping notes in Evernote or OneNote (that one piece of software that Microsoft got right) is absolutely the best thing ever.  When the XT died, OneNote did too.  Using OneNote without a stylus, on a Windows machine, was not cool. Hence, Evernote, because it works on all platforms - a true cloud-based app.  When OneNote took that big step and started working across platforms, I went back to it, because I really like the feel and layout better.  Even on the Surface, using OneNote rocks. Nothing against Evernote - it, too, is awesome, and in Chrome, using Clearly (well, Clearly is gone - strike two against Evernote), there's a struggle in me for which one to use.  I'm working on it.  I have three years of work notes in Evernote, and one year in OneNote.   This isn't the best organizational arrangement, and I'll have to port one over to the other at some point, but learning is playing, right?

I've had the iPad Pro for a few weeks.  Without the pencil - it was backordered.  I just received it today, so naturally my productivity took a dive - unless I can call this evaluation (which is, happily, part of my job description).  Without the pencil, the Pro is just a big iPad.  And big isn't necessarily a good thing, except when I couple it with a keyboard.  (I bought the Logitech keyboard, which is infinitely better in every respect over the Apple keyboard, which is about as bad a typing experience as the Surface Pro 3.  Memo to Apple - what are you guys thinking?).

Using the keyboard, the iPad can almost replace my Macbook.  Combining the tactile experience of the tablet with a nice keyboard grows on you.  I've been a fan since I got my Acer P720 Touch Chromebook - scrolling and selecting via touch is, for me, better than using the trackpad.  That being said, highlighting is not.

The pencil, though,  Oh, the pencil!  With the Apple Pencil, it's game on.  It's the closest thing I've played with yet to a, well, pencil.  The harder you press, the darker / bigger the line.  You can shade, you can draw, you can write.  You can, to a point, control the device.  Although I've been using it for just a couple hours now, it's like the old Dell XT days - OneNote once again rocks (sort of...come on, MIcrosoft - get all the features cross-platform!), and I'm back in love with the experience of mixing a keyboard and a stylus in one environment.  Evernote, too, is a better experience.  Ultimately, the OneNote / Evernote issue will be settled by which one does a better job converting my handwriting to text.   There are other apps like Paper and LiquidText and uMake, and TouchCast and Astropad that are just plain awesome.  These apps (there are tons more, but these are the ones I've played with so far) turn the iPad Pro into a true productivity machine, primarily because of how they integrate with the Apple Pencil.  They make all the difference in the world with designing, outlining, brainstorming, and talking with folks and taking notes without having a big screen between you and them.  There's a learning curve with the pencil, to be sure.  But it's not a steep or long curve, and once you get the hang of it, the iPad may just become my go-to device for everything but photo and video editing, and other higher power applications.

It's not all ideal, however.  There's still this weird split personality thing with this iPad - is it a tablet or a laptop?  Using it as a tablet, with the keyboard wrapped underneath, it is clunky.  Clunky because this thing is big - darn near as big as my Macbook.  Which makes handling it less than optimal.  For reading, I'll still reach for the iPad Mini because I can hold it in one hand.  For watching videos or browsing the web or typing, though, this thing is pretty awesome.  Instagram on this thing is a whole new experience (I'm a hugh Jimmy Chin fan...)  Did I mention the display?  Better than my Mac Retina Display.  'Nuff said.

All in all, this is more laptop than tablet, even when you want it to be a tablet.  You're going to set this on a table, or balance it on your lap - you're not going to hold this in one hand and manipulate it with the other.  You're not going to carry this around the classroom to showcase student work over an AppleTV link.  You're not going to make videos with it.  It's just too big.

All said, I'm glad I bought this thing, but I say that as a laptop guy, not a tablet guy.  As a die-hard stylus advocate, it's the best thing going - better than the Surface 3 or 4, far better than the old iPad stylus, better than the Wacom tablet world, and far better than the old, old Dell XT.  If you're not into the myriad things you can do with a stylus, this might not be the device for you, but if you've had the need to combine the sorts of things we did with a pen and paper with the power of a laptop and keyboard, this thing rocks.