MacBook Air verses iPad Pro for on the go editing

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Neil Williams
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I'm in the market for a new travel companion i.e. laptop. I had kind of made my mind up on the new 2018 MBA but noticed someone on here is using a iPad Pro for for DNG processing........I currently have a 2015 MacBook Pro but nearly throw up everytime I pack it for traveling....... getting old I guess.

Thoughts and comments much appreciated

Neil

Another thought. If I ended up getting the MBA Is it necessary to get the one with 1.5TB SSD and 16 GB of memory or as its a travel thing could I get away with 128 SSD and 8 GB of ram?

Neil
 
What software are you using?

I've Lightroom Classic CC on my main iMac at home. I also have a new MacBook Pro and an iPad Pro (512gb).
  • If I use the iPad Pro, with Lightroom Mobile, I can import by raw files via the SD card reader, bring them into Lightroom Mobile and edit, and they sill sync back to the iMac at home. I have all 30,000 odd images synced between the iPad Pro and main Lightroom catalog, so I can work on any image (albeit a SmartPreview).
  • If I use the MacBook Pro, I create a new catalog, import the files into there, and when I get home, I import the catalog into the main one on the iMac. I have a hard disk with copies of my original photo's I can use if I want to work on an older image.
Pro's of the iPad Pro approach for me are, it's very light, very fast, and practically zero extra steps are needed for catalogue management. You can pick it up and tinker any time and it's quick, and you can continue to do so when back at home too in front of telly! Oh and the Pen - that's excellent!
Pro's of the MacBook Pro approach are mainly due to the fact I have my full library with me in RAW format if I need it (which I usually don't when I'm off travelling, and the screen is slightly bigger.

Con's of the iPad Pro approach are, sometimes the import of the photos can be a pain - you have to import into the Photos app and then from the Photos app into Lightroom (this last step can be automatic). It can crash when you're importing (not for a while though - may have been fixed, but it will carry on from where you left off). Feature wise, there are some features in Lightroom not available on the Mobile edition, but noting I use now.
Con's of the MacBook Pro approach are the extra faffing with the catalog merge - means you have to do it once and you can't tinker with the images after without extra catalogue management.

I personally prefer to use the iPad Pro more than MacBook Pro,

Spec wise - while a larger internal SSD would be useful, external SSD drives might be more flexible, especially if you're sharing catalogues across to a 'home' PC.

EDIT - should add that Lightroom CC would remove the sync issues, but my bandwidth (20 down/5 up) means this just isn't practical; tried it but it just kills the broadband when I try to upload after a trip out and the kids are not happy!
 
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I think that Furtim has given you an excellent insight into the pros and cons of a MacBook Pro vs iPad. However, from a usability standpoint I have other suggestions. As a processing computer for doing serious work etc. I much prefer using a MacBook Pro, it is much easer and faster to work on. Its connectivity etc. is much better and, I believe, that it is also much more robust. Also its longevity of useful life, I believe may be longer than an iPad. That said, I believe that an iPad is better for showing portfolios, results etc. I am fairly mobile at work and use both in the ways that I have described.
 
Ipad is a horrible closed crippled system that irritates and holds you back at every opportunity. You can't do this or that, and you only can do that in this awkward way. What a total POS. MBP is still a decent fully featured laptop so without a doubt I would go with that of the two. A sort of in between option would be MS Surface.
 
It’s a tricky one to answer really
I use my Ipad pro12.9 for all my photo editing but generally as my Fuji jpegs are so good they only need minimal tweaking etc
The Adobe CC works very well on this but of course its not full fat Lightroom I understand that the Ipad is a closed system but its much bettter now.
The import of 12mb jpegs into this beat my IMac every time (I had to do an experiment because it felt quicker) And I don’t really use the IMac much for editing any more.
I had a lovely MPB 15” when i was doing wedding photography and used to edit files on the go on that but it was so heavy and unwieldy this is so much better.
So for me with a Neuropathy condition this set up works very well for me.
 
I’m another one who prefers a MacBook for travel over an iPad.

The iPad may be more powerful spec wise, but the MacBook is more powerful for what you can do, especially Lightroom Classic vs CC.

FWIW I use a 256GB/8GB RAM MacBook as my travel machine, which works fine. I mainly use it for new photos, although I do sync some back through Lightroom CC.
 
Ipad is a horrible closed crippled system that irritates and holds you back at every opportunity. You can't do this or that, and you only can do that in this awkward way. What a total POS. MBP is still a decent fully featured laptop so without a doubt I would go with that of the two. A sort of in between option would be MS Surface.

Although a bit crude this is pretty much bang on from an "it is what it is" perspective.

I have the iPad pro 12.9 gen2 and it's great for like 90% of what you can do.

I also have the surface pro 2017 and it will do everything to 100% of what's needed rather than it being an in between option. Unlike my PC however it is slower and less functional due to its size more so than anything but with the pen, a mouse and KB is bang on like for like with the PC but as said, slower.

If you want portability on the go then the surface pro is better than the iPad pro. It's also a better form factory for showing the work to clients as a tablet rather than handing over a laptop a MacBook Pro for example.

Keeping it apple with the iPad pro for compatibility with a MacBook Pro or iMac at home is a pointless arguement as the OS isn't the same so would be like comparing apples to oranges.

Up until a few days ago the pen was better for MS too. Now with the apple pen 2 I can't really comment.
 
I'm in the market for a new travel companion i.e. laptop. I had kind of made my mind up on the new 2018 MBA but noticed someone on here is using a iPad Pro for for DNG processing........I currently have a 2015 MacBook Pro but nearly throw up everytime I pack it for traveling....... getting old I guess.

Thoughts and comments much appreciated

Neil

Another thought. If I ended up getting the MBA Is it necessary to get the one with 1.5TB SSD and 16 GB of memory or as its a travel thing could I get away with 128 SSD and 8 GB of ram?

Neil



I would suggest you should think about the handling of those two. How and where you are going to be using them. The pros and cons of the workplace you need for either one of them.

For example:

A laptop means you could put it on the desk in the hotel room, sit down in a proper sitting position, type on the keyboard. Whereabouts with an iPad, you would be holding it with one hand while working on it with the other hand. If you opt to put it on the desk, you would be bending your neck over just to type with the onscreen keyboard (unless you opt for a Bluetooth keyboard). A travel writer could be better off using a laptop than a tablet.

On the other hand...

If you were outdoors, a tablet like iPad is easier to take out of your bag, easier and quicker to work with, light enough to hold with one hand for a few minutes. But a laptop means a bit of a struggle taking out of the bag, you would need to open the lid, not easy to hold a bit weighty laptop with one hand while working on it, as you stand outside. A travel photographer could benefit the use of an iPad as it is easier to handle in the field.

I have no idea what kind of travel do you do. You could be a business person who travel as part of your work, or you mean you travel as in travelling around the UK or around the world. What kind of places do you stay for overnight, like do you use hotel, tent, camper van, etc.

You are the traveller, so you know where do you go, where do you stay, what kind of work you do. Also consider what kind of luggage gear do you use, ie: backpack vs camera bag, as it could affect how you carry the laptop/tablet.

This would be a better option than worrying about specs like 16GB vs 8GB or 1.5TB vs 128 SSD.
 
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