Currently Using:
Surface Studio 2 as desktop
Surface Pro 8 for long travel with heavy-duty word-processing laptop (or)
Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Fold 16 (don't ask why; I got it stupid cheap)
iPad Air 5 M1 3-day travel
iPad Mini 6 weekend travel, out and about, and couch surfing
iPhone 15 Pro
Realizations:
I've given up on the unicorn single device solution.
For video/audio editing and some content creation, I am highly likely to keep a Windows "desktop" equivalent no matter what
Other than heavy-duty file management and a few PowerPoint features, the iOS apps do 90% of anything I would be doing away from a desktop
I'm doing almost of my digital inking/notetaking on the iPads
Siri meets my needs for automation in the car
I can handle being dual OS, but I really don't want to re-introduce Android back into my ecosystem
Plan?
Ditch the Windows laptop(s)
Get the M4 iPad Pro 11"
Depending on what iOS 18 does, swap the iPhone 15 Pro for 16 Pro Max
Rationale:
The M4 has enough power for almost any need while traveling, including remoting into a Windows machine (or using a virtual service)
I'll always be back to desktop Windows in a day/few days
Worst case is carry 2 not 3 devices, chargers, cords, etc.
Caveat:
FUD - Should I wait to see if WOA or Lunar Lake results in a Surface Go 11-inch device in an iPad chassis with 10(+) hours of battery life?
I'm thinking... 🤔
Just got back from a week-long trip where I had to have some light-ish word processing, spreadsheet and PowerPoint editing on existing files. So, I only carried the iPhone 15 Pro and the M1 iPad Air 5 with the Magic Keyboard. First time I'd flown with the iPad Air in the Magic Keyboard (MK).
TLDR: I survived, and I'm too picky.
Observations:
No problem with processing power
Slight nits with file management (that's just iOS)
Taking the iPad out of the MK to use as a slate is annoying
Having no place to put the MK other than to stack it under the slate and hold them both while inking is suboptimal (spoiled, huh?)
Weight-wise it wasn't that much more than the Surface Pro 8
the iPad on MK was perfect for going through the board meetings
Found myself wishing I had the iPad Mini 6 for the plane and down time
Safari STILL needs pinch to zoom capabilities
Conclusions:
I still want the Courier/Surface Neo form factor MS promised (perilously close to realizing the reality thereof is somewhere between the Thunderball/James Bond jet pack that never came and the Jetson's car)
Beginning to wish Apple's foldable work was on an iPad device that folded to iPad Mini size @Dale Strauss
WOW - how did I miss this gem of a post? I thought I had a lot of devices; where to start...
Unfortunately for me, I guess I'll never be able to give up the quest for the unicorn device...that said...
I'm down to one "real computer" - a M1 Max MBP 14 - so that takes the rotation of two laptops and a desktop to a minimum (haven't used a pure desktop since 98). The "middle device" is a problem for me as well. If only there was an iPhone Fold Pro (OMG - now I have TWO unicorns to chase!)
To top it all off, even if there is a Surface Pro 11" later this year, I don't know that I will EVER be able to go back to Windows after last weekend - MS "updated" her Win10 laptop and it took me a full day to unscramble teh mess it made reinstalling OneDrive and ending up with THREE Document folder pointers in File Explorer and all of her files moved to the OneDrive cloud (an angry/frustrated - "Why are all my files opening so slowly?").
I like the M4 iPad Pro move, but for me it doesn't bring enough to the table to upgrade from my M1 iPad Pro. Joz and Craigy both TRIPLED DOWN at WWDC that they WILL NOT build a Windows 8 machine (aka MacPad). So in effect I tend to hate MS and Apple for different reasons.
PLAN (for this week 🤣)
Stay with the M1 Max MBP14/M1 iPP/iPhone 15 Max for now
Mulling over replacing the MBP with MBA (M3 or wait for M4?) and an iPad Mini (current or wait to see if they ever release an iPad Mini 7)
Like Bishop, consider iphone 16 Pro Max next year
I am so glad to see that getting a Surface Studio 2+ was not listed in your plans. I returned my Surface Studio 2+ to the seller within 24 hours of receiving it, because I could not adjust the brightness on it. Absolute madness. I'm still shaking my head about it.
Ok, 1, I'm really late to the scene here cause I didn't see this. 2. I personally think the M4 is way overpriced for what it delivers and I'd recommend an M2 Pro or M2 Air, depending on if you want promotion, or a landscape camera and fancier pen more. My M2 Pro does fine with my work VPN, actually quite a bit better than my Intel MBP in a lot of ways, especially if I have a second screen to use. But also, I'm somewhat in a similar boat of thinking how to downgrade. When I travel, I usually take my work laptop, because it's better than using the VDI, my MBP, because it's the only thing I can develop personal projects on, and my IPP 11" for art and everything else. I am thinking of ditching the MBP and getting a Mac Mini M2 Pro to have at my desk and remoting in to it from my IPP 11" if I want to do some development for personal projects while away. I would also probably change my mind on all of this if Samsung were to release an 11 ish inch Wacom EMR Windows tablet pc, which is the main reason I'm holding off on selling the MBP and getting a Mac Mini Pro right now. I don't need the most powerful desktop for development though, and in fact, I prefer more middle of the road, because then if it works on my machine well, it should work on 90% of the people who will use what I build.
What would the M4 give you over the M1 air you have now? Is the M1 not enough for some tasks?
Apparently this came in as pending and I had to manually approve it. I'll see if I can turn that off.