iPad or Macbook Air?

I am thinking of upgrading my old iPad Pro but since I purchased it 3 years ago, I have started doing much more photography. I know the new iPad Pro has a USB-c port but apparently only to upload, you can not download to a thumbnail drive or similar. Given that, would it make more sense to go with the Macbook Air and upgrade the RAM? Not a lot of size difference between the two. My wife has a Macbook Air and likes it very much. Right now I do most of my photos on the desktop Mac or an older Macbook Pro, (about 5 years old)

Thoughts?

IMO the sweet spot for used Mac pros is 3-5 years old. I use mine till the inability to load the latest OS impedes installing/updating the software I need/use/rely on. There’s a lot of great value in Mac mini’s if you don’t need portability. My current MBP is a late 2011 and apparently can’t load the latest Mac OS so the countdown is on. I’ve had it for 6 years and paid less than half of retail for it. It’s been a great value (knocks wood).

As for iPad file transfer. You can transfer to it quite easily. Downloading to a USB device seems to be problematic. I get around that by syncing my iPad to amazon cloud, then fetch it from there anywhere. I’m using cloud a lot more lately...Super convenient.

I would personally find a tablet too restrictive as my only compute option for photo work.

I have a Mac Air 11 inch (2014 version) with i7 1.7 GHz CPU, 8GB RAM and Intel HD graphics with 500 GB SSD. Maxed out for the year. I bought it for work and portability but ended up becoming my favorite mac. I can run Aperture on it no problem as well as Photoshop. Don't skimp on the processor as the i7 is MUCH better than the i5. The thing has full size keyboard. Battery life is fine. Has thunderbolt and USB 3. I was using an iPad briefly but I need a proper keyboard. Adding a keyboard to an iPad is not the same.

My main computer is a 27inch iMac (also maxed out for the year) and I have a Mac Display also. Great setup for photography, just not much time to do it LOL. But I can plug the Mac Air into the Mac Display and get full resolution on both screens. Amazing little notebook.

My 2 cents.

Mike

Overall I prefer editing on my older 2011 high-spec Macbook Pro+Wacom tablet (or my 5k iMac) vs my iPad Pro+Apple Pencil. I just like the experience much better on the MBP, since the “feel” of editing on an iPad just doesn’t feel right to me yet. The iPad Pro is great for quick global adjustments and culling though, I just don’t find it so great for more detailed editing.

I think you can upgrade the MacBook Air with more RAM, like 16 instead of 8 and a 512 GB hard drive. I am not sure what year my MacBook Pro is but I think at least 5 years old.

duckster wrote in post #18779245
I think you can upgrade the MacBook Air with more RAM, like 16 instead of 8 and a 512 GB hard drive. I am not sure what year my MacBook Pro is but I think at least 5 years old.

Not sure about that, the year I have is all soldered on board. So there is no 'upgrade' path for the Mac Air, I got mine maxed out. I think the newer ones option out with a little more RAM. Either way the key is the CPU. You can overcome some of the issues with SSD drive with externals but you can't spice up the CPU after the fact. The thing has dedicated video memory which is key, despite it being only 1.5 GB. I think that is why it can run the Mac Display at full resolution and the native screen at full resolution at the same time. The first time I connected it I expected it to run at lower resolution.

Also the 11 in Mac Air lacks a SD card slot so adding storage in a low profile way is out. Mine has two USB plugs and one Thunderbolt plug. If I recall the 13 had the SD card slot in that year (2014).

Mike

Sorry, I was not clear, I meant to purchase with the upgrade for 16 GB of RAM and the larger hard drive

duckster wrote in post #18779928
Sorry, I was not clear, I meant to purchase with the upgrade for 16 GB of RAM and the larger hard drive

Oh.

LOL

There is always a better mac to buy LMAO!

Mike

(Begin Rant: But at risk of hell fire, Apple has been slipping significantly and if you go onto the Apple forums to complain about their product they delete your post.
1. Home Pod - complete failure. I have two and about every time I try to use them I have to resend to my iPhone or to the Apple TV because of some update. What No Direct Connect with Bluetooth or I don't know a FRIGGEN WIRE? And they are not loud enough when you are watching movies, ok for music. Reply from Apple - delete the posts complaining about.
2. New update of Safari nukes the use of Citrix on a Mac. I think, maybe I am wrong, but I think I am not the only one using a mac with Citrix. Now it is not usable at all for work from home. Currently my iMac is doing a complete restore from my September Time Machine backup, before the safari update. My office system is full functionally only because I turned off auto updates when I noticed my Mac Air and home iMac were no longer useful with Citrix. That was pure LUCK. I don't have a time capsule backup of my Mac Air since I don't keep much data on it and what is on it is on the iCloud Drive. But it's OS is SCREWED. I tried going to Mohave on the iMac but that did not fix the issue. Reinstalled JAVA, no dice, reinstalled Citrix Workspace 6 times, no dice, can't go on the Citrix forums as those forums are private. Have to have an official Citrix account which my hospital has but we don't have access to. PITA PITA.
3. Older iPhones are being slowed down by software. Deliberate ploy to get you to buy the next iPhone.
4. Drop support for Aperture and try to force the Photo program down your throat.
5. Change the connectors again (all the computer companies like that BS), newer MacBooks have one connector for everything. How does that work out for such devices as the iPhone as those connectors get worn with use. I assume the same will be an issue for the all-for-one connector getting over use.

End Rant.)

I have been lucky, I guess. Of course, I don't do a lot of "heavy lifting" computer use so have been OK with the family iMac, MacBook Pro and iPad Pro with iPhones so far. Not really familiar at all with the Windows systems.