CR CRUISER

I've always had Microsoft hardware. PC's, Surface Pro and lately an Android based tablet. I kept seeing all the hype about the iPad and thought that I would give it a go. I spent almost $3k for the tablet, keyboard and other accessories. I've had it for a month now and just can't get it to work for me.

The first problem is battery life. I can put my Surface Pro in standby and it's good for 3-4 days. The iPad is dead after 8 hours. I don't know if it's because I can't figure out how to shut down apps when I'm finished with them. They always seem to be running in the background.

My biggest complaint is the lack of a back button. I do a lot of forum surfing and to back out of a thread I have to find the back arrow up in the top left corner. I bought a new Bluetooth mouse with forward and back buttons. Then found out that the iPad doesn't support the forward and back buttons. I also bought the new magic keyboard which has the super duper touch pad. My arthritic fingers are not capable of doing the many dance steps required to get it to work. That's why I got the mouse. When I close the tablet on to the keyboard, I just about need a prybar to get it back open.

I have a bunch of software on CD/DVD's that I want to load. They are supposed to be Apple compatible. As far as I can tell, they cannot be loaded onto the iPad. I would gladly buy the apps for them but they are not available.

Maybe I just need some more time and experience on it. Or maybe it's going in the cupboard and I'll just get a new Surface Pro.

RMSail

I think I've come to a realization in life: There are MS people and there are Apple people. I find Apple simple and intuitive, but some don't.

The battery life thing is odd to me, though. I go days without charging my iPad and never shut down apps.

CR CRUISER

I don't know how this wound up in this Topic. It was supposed to be in Dockside Chat.

FASTFJR

Their is no way the pad is dead in 8 hours unless its running apps in the background. I can leave mine on for a week in standby and the battery will drop 25%

usernamewastaken

I love my iPad pro

getthenetmontauk

Check you brightness setting. if its high it will eat your battery.

Shipwreck1

Anything using GPS eats the battery. You might need to go in the settings and turn off the gps on most apps. The default is on.

Lorne Greene

I am an Apple user, laptop, phone, watch, tablet, everything. With that said go with what you know. We all get to a point in life where we just want to use the stupid device not have a six month learning curve. Good news is Apple gear holds its value so you can dump it on ebay with minimal loss.

cdrhoek

$3,000 for a new iPad Pro? Must be in Canadian dollars. I don't know why you don't have a back arrow, mine does, top left corner of the screen. Have you tried tapping at the top of the safari screen?

Running software from CDs on your iPad? Are you sure this software isn't intended for a Mac computer instead of an iPad? The only software you can load on the iPad should be coming from the App Store.

Marlin009

No issues with battery life on mine. It charges much faster than my old one too.

Flatout71

You need to visit an Apple store and sit with one of their folks for 30 mins or so.

An iPad does not have a CD drive so you are SOL on that one, but you can get a subscription to the Music Store App and play whatever you want from millions of CD's etc.

FASTFJR

Most expensive one is $1699 US, that works out to about $2000 CDC unless I'm missing something.

And yes, iPad owner needs to spend some time at the Apple Store. Its free and you can schedule it online

chainsaw42

I have a couple surfaces and a couple ipads. totally different machines with different purposes. I like them both...they have different strengths/weaknesses. sounds like you're trying to use the ipad as a laptop which it is not. yes they sell the keyboard etc to try to compete with laptops but that is not what it is.

your battery life indicates something is wrong. either a defective battery or you're leaving something running...something that is drawing an unusual amount of power (like someone mentioned, could be an app that is using GPS or something)

Boat Hound

Just go back to what you know. By almost all measures, Apple knows what they are doing. I'd bet there is a good deal of operator error going on here, but why change?

deadhead1

I'll give you $100.00 for it.

Esuomm1

Blame the iPad Pro

jobowker

It has to do with philosophy. In the Android world, you are given choices. It's all about flexibility and helping you do whatever you want to do. Apple is the complete opposite. They will tell you what you are allowed to do, and you must do it that way. This isn't meant to be a slam on Apple - it's just the direction they took. They decide what your choices are, and you pick one of them. Once you can accept that, Apple stuff doesn't seem nearly as "difficult". Take this example:
I have an Android phone. I wanted to copy songs from my old PC to my phone, so I plugged it in using any old USB cable, opened file explorer, and did a simple copy/paste. Later I used the same method to copy from my phone to another PC.
Apple wants to control everything, so they don't allow you to do this. You use their software to buy songs, and then itunes allows you to sync your phone. Good luck moving songs from your phone to another pc.
There are advantages [for Apple] in keeping things this locked down. When you try and fight it, you'll easily become frustrated.
Instead, figure out what they allow, and choose one. You need to replace your "How do I..." thinking with "What are my options?" if that makes sense. I like to be able to "go back" when I want, not when Apple wants. That's why we have very few Apple devices. Nothing wrong with their philosophy, but it doesn't work for me. Different strokes for different folks.

CR CRUISER

The iPad Pro 12.9 cellular, magic keyboard, apple pen, extended warranty and some other accessories were $2900cdn plus shipping.
Unfortunately, the nearest Apple store to me is about 6 hours away. I've ordered iPad Pro for Dummies as a far second best alternative. Online assistance won't work for me as I'm the world's slowest keyboarder.

Yes, I do have the GPS turned on. I will turn it off until I need it and try some other power saving tricks.

The main reason that I went with the iPad was the built in GPS which is not available in a Surface Pro. I use it on my boat as a backup chart plotter. I do have a Samsung 8" tablet with GPS but I wanted the 12.9 inch screen.

I'll continue to try and figure this thing out. Thanks for the suggestions.

budbrande

Simple enough to figure out what is using the battery up. Go in to settings, scroll down to battery, touch it. You will see the last charge and which apps are using the most battery power. And to close an app, swipe from the corner in slightly and the app will minimize. Then swipe up and it disappears closing the app.

Yacht Huckleberry

Seems like you might just be a PC person. Also, you are trying to use a tablet as a computer, which it is not. Your PC software is not going to load on an apple machine, and definitely not on an ipad. Even on actual computers, I haven't handled a CD/DVD in over a decade. That software is probably outdated by now anyway, but either way, whatever you need will come from the App Store.