Ipad 12.9 Pro 2017-Best apps to use it as Laptop?

[twerppoet]

. . . since I will be working with the Ipad mostly in a fixed place it makes sense to use Ethernet, more secure and less battery drain.

On the other hand, if you are working in a fixed place, you could just keep the power plugged in and not worry about the battery at all. Or plug in whenever you see the iPad getting low.

As for security, it's always a balancing act. There is no such thing a being 100% secure.The questions to ask are:

How likley are you to be targeted? Is there something about you, your position, or your activities that might single you out for individual attention; or is your major risk getting swept up in large scale hacks and random targets? Do you look like an easy target for some easy gain?

How hard is it to atack you? Are you wide open, or using secure practices and computers?

How much damage could an attacker do if you were compromized? Are you going to lose a fortune, this months pay, all your accounts, all your work; or just be hugely inconvinienced?

When you have a clear understanding of the answers to these questions, any changes to your current practices and measures will be easier to address.

There is always something else you could do, one more layer of protection. While you want to be secure you also don't want to spend huge amounts of unnecessary time and money.

 

[Diane B]

I want to like the Notes app but I can’t seem to change the size of pencil tips like OneNote or Notibility and various others.

And @twerpoet. I find I use the Notes app for just quick reference things--digital library number, quick lists that I want to keep or add to, etc. I use Noteability for everything else--PDFs with annotations--or to create my own PDFs, scanned info, all kinds of notes and tutes, etc. It immediately updates backup with Dropbox if you connect with it. I like the fact that I can type info, add handwritten notes maybe add photos or scanned info or even print screens. I use both often (Noteability actually daily)

I was a long long time MS Office user but have found that Pages, Numbers work fine, I use both for our business purposes--and use MS Office (I have the 12.9) to check formatting. I generally send Word docs in PDF and they will maintain correct formatting. I did use WPS Office too--works pretty well, but if you are going to do a great number of docs or spreadsheets, probably better to go the subscription route for MS Office.

I used to use GoodReader all the time but generally use Ibooks, Kindle and Noteability and deleted GoodReader. I would recommend Documents And/or Icloud Drive but the new File app in IOS 11 may work fine. I have used Dropbox for a long time, not only for backup but to have the ability to access files from all my devices (Macbook, Iphone and Ipad).

I would definitely recommend the Pencil--use it every day. I recently bought the Logitech Combo keyboard case and like it a lot--and the fact I can quickly detach and attach the keyboard is one of the reasons plus the very good kickstand for about any angle--it also is backlit. I would probably recommend a good keyboard--I have a Logitech with a good angle to it for nice typing but there are many--bought it very reasonably when there was a good discount through 9-5 Toys.

There are quite a number of apps that I use often but each is fairly specific to things I do--you will find what you need and can ask for specific app recommendations when you get your Ipad. Unless you are a photographer you will find Snapseed in conjunction with the Photo app to fill your needs--I'm now using Affinity Photo but unless you need a Photoshop style app I wouldn't recommend it-quite complex. I use Readdle's Calendar 5 and would recommend you consider a PDF converter if you find the need to convert things to PDF but understand there is a converter in IOS 11 as well as being able to scan with the Notes app--I use Readdle versiosn of both of these.

Just as a note--I was a Windows user since Win3.1. I gradually moved to all Apple since Ipad 1. I have a 15" Macbook and upgraded to the Ipad Pro 12.9 about 18 mos ago. Over the years with Ipad I learned with workarounds I could do a great deal with them and with each IOS upgrade it got better-and at times I would use the Ipad as a second monitor when I needed that. I really look forward to IOS 11--my only issue which I don't expect to change--maybe ever--is I can't access my external drives (I have photo files from 1999 forward on them). I do carry a portable BT drive when I travel that does work fairly well with its app and I can transfer to my externals via my Macbook. If you need to transfer files between Win and Apple devices, consider Dropbox or similar-I use it to backup all our business data and my own data as well.

 

[davidalan99]

As for the Apple Pencil, live without it for a while. If you get frustrated with the presission of your finger, or a cheap stylus, then consider working the Pencil into yoru budget. But I warn you, if you spend even a little time using the Pencil you'll never be really satisfied with lesser styluses.

Truer words never spoke. Prior to my iPad Pro I basically collected styluses. I have a ton of them. Once I picked up the Apple Pencil I have yet to put it down.

 

[perseid]

Hi everyone, I'm back again, this time with my new Ipad Pro 12.9 2nd Gen iOS 10.3.3 . I've been playing with it for about a week already, and my main concern is the fact that I cannot transfer files to the Ipad as easy as I thought, in fact I found out that any file transferred to the Ipad is only accessible to the specific App that was used to import the file. This is a really big minus for this device.
My main need, and the reason I bought the Ipad, is to be able to use it as a textbook reader for study. I have many textbooks in various formats (PDF, Djvu, Epub, Mobi) that I have stored in my home NAS (Synology DS1815+). I can use DS File which is a free Synology App, to access ny NAS files, but it will only open PDF with limited functions.
What would be the best iOS app that you would recommend that will enable me to access my NAS books in my local LAN (both wired and WiFi), display them with richer funcions (tap for next page, note capability, etc etc) browse my book collection and also if need be import any book to the Ipad for offline use? Thanks

 

[davidalan99]

For PDF's try iBooks, it should work for you, the page flips if the PDF is formatted that way. The pencil for markup and highlite will work as well.
For books, confirm the format first as what will read them.
To move them to the ipad there are several ways.
Email the book to yourself and use the open with command
Use a file transfer program with a corsponding devise such as the
IXPAND FLASH DRIVE FOR IPHONE AND IPAD From Sandisk. There are many others including wireless.
Also enable iCloud Drive and use that to open the files and either save them to your ipad or use them from there in iBooks or other PDF or book apps.

 

[perseid]

Thanks David, but my preference is not to use emai, cloud or any internet dependent method, I want to be able to work within my LAN which as I mentioned it's both wired and Wifi. I bought the lightning to USB adaptor in the hope that I'd be able to import PDF's or any other book file with a pendrive, but it's not possible, it only works with phots and videos.

 

[davidalan99]

The ixpand from sandisk will allow you to import that directly to your iPad. One end is a USB connector, connect to your source and download, then the other end is a lighting connector, with the app installed on your iPad import the files.
Another choice is the LaCie Fuel it is a wifi drive:
With 1TB of wireless storage, the LaCie Fuel drive lets you store more than a thousand movies or thousands of photos, songs, and documents, and access them on your iPad, iPhone, or Mac. The LaCie Fuel's 10-hour battery life lets you experience that content all day, with no need for Internet or cables. Simply install the LaCie Media app on your iOS device in order to access files. Also, AirPlay compatibility even makes it possible to stream movies from the LaCie Fuel onto televisions via Apple TV.

 

[twerppoet]

With iOS 11, comming soon, you can use the Files app, which will let you brows files directly and open in them in various app. I like using Readdle's Documents app to store files. It will open most fomats, and those it won't can be opened in other apps using the iOS 11 sharing feature, or as I mentioned by using the Files app.

It's more complicated with iOS 10, but you can still use Document or annother general file storage/reading app.

Documents, and most of the other apps like it, have a wi-fi Drive transfer method that works over your local network. You turn on the mode, then go to the provided (local) URL on your desktop/laptop's browser. A javascript file browser/transfer page will load.

You should be able to use this on any computer that that has access to the files you need to transfer.

I believe I mentioned this before, but I'll say it again. While you can replace many, even most, of a laptop's functionality with an iPad, it's not going to duplicate how the laptop works. You'll need to find new apps and workflows. They are not more difficult than using a laptop, just different. But change always seems more trouble than what we already know, so be patient and flexible. It will feel natural soon enough.

One of the things you should consider is using cloud storage more, at least for your working files. I know it's hard to move away from the feeling of owning your files and the hardware they are on, but the greater flexibility (especially with mobile devices) is hard to duplicate with local hardware solutions.

 

[perseid]

Thanks Poet, I'm fine with having a different workflow, I can adapt and eventually feel comfortable with it. What I'm not at ease is with restrictions, not being able to have a file accessible by various apps or being able to transfer it to the Ipad the way I want is more related to freedom rather than with workflow. No wonder they call it "jailbreak" .
The best I could do so far after experimenting is transfer my files directly from my NAS to the Ipad with iTunes using either the USB cable connected to my PC (where iTunes is installed), or via Wifi.

 

[Atindra]

For me 3 apps if available on iOS, will make the devices like IPP an almost complete laptop replacement. 1. ChemDraw, this software is very powerful and popular in windows environment, owned by Perkin Elmer company. Alternative to ChemDraw on Mac and iOS is chemdoodle but I am very much used to ChemDraw interface since many years. 2. Second is origin Pro software, which for plotting multi-axis graphs, charts, converting raw data points from instruments to graphs or spectra etc. Excel and Numbers are too complicated for plotting exercises. I hope Origin on iOS, soon becomes reality. 3. And the third is reference management software such as endnote or similar, the functions like “cite while you write “ etc are just awesome to have while formatting a manuscript. These goodies are badly missed on iOS environment. If they are made available on iPad, I guess I will not be using my windows laptop anymore.

Atindra

 

[twerppoet]

Not really trying to convince you to switch to an iPad. But I got curious about how close the App Store could come to what you wanted, and decided to share what I found.

There are more chemical drawing apps in the App Store than I would have thought. I liked the look of Chirys Draw, but don’t have the experience to evaluate it. It’s the only one that shows up if you search for chemdraw; so that’s probably mentioned somewhere in the description.

There are a huge number of charting, plotting, and graphing apps in the App Store. There is probably at least one for every kind of graph you could want, but you might end up having to get more than one to get all the features you expect. What you probably can’t do (easily) is take direct input from instruments; though you can probably import the files they generate.

(I do remember reading about a few bluetooth sensor/devices that have iOS apps, but don’t know how capapble they are)

Looks like there is an EndNote app on the App Store. No idea if it is feature complete enough to meet your needs.

 

[Atindra]

Thanks for your time Andy help, Poet. No need to convince me to go for iPad, because I already did. My iPad Pro is coming with my friend from USA. There are some apps for structure drawing for molecules but none are close to ChemDraw, chem doodle is closest and not very expensive, I might go for it. There are many apps for plotting graphs but none is all inclusive like origin.
BTW thanks for endnote app, heads up. It seems the truncated version of the original one and might serve the purpose. I am eager to evaluate this when my IPP arrives.

Atindra

 

[scifan57]

Make sure you have the correct plug adaptor for your iPad as the one in the box probably won’t work in your country.

 

[Atindra]

I have universal socket adapter. So I guess it won’t be much problem. Thanks for heads up though.

 

[scifan57]

I have universal socket adapter. So I guess it won’t be much problem. Thanks for heads up though.

You’re welcome.