iPad Pro + Magic Keyboard
When Apple first introduced the iPad Pro it had one gimmick - the Apple Pencil, sure it had better screen, sound, but in reality it was the Pencil. This was to directly compete against Microsoft, who had been iterating the design of the Surface line bit by bit. Not to mention the ever present Samsung Note series (although I am not certain if that was the target).
Enter the Surface - Microsoft
When Microsoft introduced the Surface line refresh back in 2015-2016 Microsoft pulled an Apple style presentation with products that outdid Apple, the Surface desktop with knob and stylus was such a monster for people who did Art, aka the “Creatives”.
Microsoft for ages had been trying to make a tablet device (running Windows) and they were not great, expensive, low powered and with an UI that would make anybody furious using the device, they were not popular. For this reason, Microsoft took control of the hardware and decided to work on its vision and not depend on the hardware vendors to execute it. The Surface line was born, a full Windows machine in tablet form with a Wacom digitiser. This new line had a rough start but by 2015-2016 it had peaked.
Revenge of Apple
Apple introduced the iPad Pro - an attempt to move the iPad away from Steve Job's vision of a media consumption device that was not a phone - and not a phablet, and the idea of interactive magazines, books, movie viewing that was not restricted by the sizes and dimensions of a phone.
The idea that an iPad could be used by professionals as a lightweight alternative to a laptop. The first iterations had some clunky issues, for the most part they were more repurposed iPads with a digitiser and better “specs” but fundamentally it was still a mostly media consumption device. The pencil had to be awkwardly charged into the lightning port connector, keyboards where not really anything more than the mere keyboards already available for the iPad.
It was not until the 2018 refresh that things changed, the iPad Pro seemed more like a cohesive system, a pencil that attached magnetically and did not require awkward adaptors to charge. The Magic keyboard that finally transformed the device from a wanna-be netbook to a surface contender, converting the iPad from a pure consumption device to now a usable working device, or semi usable.
Applications from Adobe and other vendors started to make appearances
However, the OS is the biggest limitation, iPad devices, especially the M1 iPad Pro has enough computation power as equal to an Apple laptop. It is so hamstrung by the operating system iPadOS, in a way to prevent the iPad from cannibalising the sales of MacBook Air, or even the 13” MacBook Pro.
This is odd because the setup is more expensive, the iPad Pro is costly. Especially when the add-on’s such as the Apple Pencil and Magic Keyboard will set you back another 500-600 dollars depending on the size model of the iPad Pro. The above will more expensive than the MacBook Air, which has a built-in keyboard already, and it's not as versatile. To say that the iPad Pro has to be more limited due to the price point makes no sense. The only way it does is through market segmentation, something that Steve Jobs would normally be happy to disregard for disrupting the market.
Microsoft Fumbles
So after the peak in 2016 with their Surface Line up, Microsoft has made very little if any, but incremental improvements to the surface line up. It did make a dig at Apple about their laptops being more serviceable, while this is a wonderful point, the Surface Pro/Go line up I believe is still very much a glued product like the iPad Pro is.
As stated earlier in 2018 Apple had nailed the form factor in the iPad Pro, it is an oddly effective setup. One that Microsoft could've emulated in their Surface, but for the last 4 years it hasn’t. Now Apple has beat Microsoft in another way is CPU power, in the past the Intel CPU’s in the Surface where cutting edge now Apple’s customs SOC is very efficient and performant to do the tasks it is required. Sure the CPU’s do not have the RAW computing power however the M1 is an SOC with lots of hardware accelerators on it to provide a smooth experience.
Microsoft did introduce a Surface Laptop which does convert to a tablet, it has discrete graphics and a bigger battery, however it comes at a huge price disadvantage being that it almost competes a MacBook Pro 16” in the price range. It has shortfalls too, the device has to go through a “disconnection” process to undock the tablet from the laptop. While it is an awesome device it is flawed in the price and flexibility aspect, it caters to a very niche audience.
End of Line
So for the most part I think this device combination is what the Surface Line should aim for, given its current stagnation in design. It is the idea of a convertible Laptop/Tablet executed right, for the majority of people. It quickly converts from one to the other by attaching/detaching the keyboard quickly with out the need to reapply covers, or disconnecting the system.
I mainly use my iPad Pro as a notebook writing it to with a stylus, I can sync all that up to my laptop. If I need to do some spreadsheets sure, numbers is no Excel but I am not paying for a yearly sub for office and for the most part, it suffices. Using a word processor on it to type things, video chat with zoom, Facebook, and other video call options make this really a device for general purpose use.
I haven’t used it for video editing or photo editing, which it can easily do. I can see that being a use case when I am out somewhere and need to process photos without taking a larger laptop.
On top of that, this being LTE-Wireless lets me connect to the internet without having to pay an additional premium like LTE enabled laptops whose price points begin at the low 2000 mark.
This combination is what the consumer general purpose netbook should have been. It’s not a Chromebook, it doesn’t depend on always-on cloud connectivity to work. It has thunderbolt ports for expansion, allowing external storage and peripherals.
Is it perfect? No, it has flaws, the OS lets it down, but in many ways the strengths let it just cover most of the cases people need for a portable transformable computer. It is still too expensive for most to try, but if you can find a use case it works well.