Just wondering if the one or the other is a better purchase.
I’m all in the Apple ecosystem, but at the moment I can’t think to a use I could do with an iPad Pro, apart for running Dorico for iPad. With the main apps I use coming to the iPad, I could see a use for it, but at the same time I still miss the most important thing: being able to customize the internal and external keyboard layout.
Apple prevents this to happen. I could create something like it with TextMate, but if they decide to modify it, and remove the character replacement immediately after pressing a key, I’m lost.
So, I’m asking myself if a PC can be a viable alternative. I have my custom keyboard layout for Windows. And I would have a PC, for anything I could need it for. (Do I need a PC? Not really, at least at the moment).
I know something like a Microsoft Surface Pro 8 is much less powerful than an iPad Pro, and costs just marginally less. At the same time, it can run NotePerformer, while the iPad has practically no decent virtual sounds.
But I would like to ask, to whomever could use the one or the other, and even better both, which are the advantages of the ones or the other in actual use.
I’m all in the Windows world (well, some servers are Linux) and my main system is Lenovo Thinkpad P16S , connected to a Docking Station and two large monitors. I can use this system easily outside the docking station and carry it around, but that is of course a bit heavy.
So I was also looking for some smaller, tablet like system. My two choices were a Lenovo Yoga 7i and the Surface Pro 8, so getting the chance to have a look at both and playing with both devices I decided to go with the Surface. It is much easier to handle, it is pretty lightweight and it has enough power to run all the stuff I want. The screen is smaller than the Yoga (13" to 15"), but that is fine as it is not the main device.
What I haven’t really tested is the sound system of the Surface, but NotePerformer should run there and you can always connect a good Headset to it.
Of course you could mix both worlds, using Macbooks and Surface and exchange files via iCloud, etc. Dorico should not have any dependency on the Operating System. However, my experience in having both worlds was not good in the past, because the iCloud drivers for Windows were not really stable and I had all kinds of issues. That might have changed now, my experience here is at least five years old.
Another thing I’m wondering: with the iPad license there is no way to be always connected to the internet. Is it the same with Dorico Elements for PC? Wouldn’t the authorization system jump up as you get far from the net?
To make things even more complicate, I read about this 14" iPad. It seems it will not be a Pro model, so it could cost a reasonable price. Since Dorico seems to run perfectly fine on non-Pro iPads, this could become a real winner. Not for portability, but if you can carry an 11", you can do the same with a 14".
One thing you can consider is that on the iPad you can purchase a lifetime license, and that’s not the case for Dorico Elements. However, I asume you have a Dorico Pro license. If you choose a PC, why wouldn’t you use that license with the new licensing system?
As a happy owner of the iPad Pro, I use it also for composing with pen and paper, er, tablet. The bog screen is a big deal. Also, with iOS 16, you’ll be able to use Stage Manager on M1 iPads.
May I ask you how it behaves as a tablet, with Dorico? Can you use it with your fingers? Is the pen adding something to the usability? The fact that some utility overlays we can see on the iPsd are missing is a problem for using it on the Surface used as a tablet?
When I had the test device I mainly used the pen, that works great. Of course you can use fingers, but that isn’t really easy.
I can’t tell if everything in Dorico will be as easy as on my laptop, I don’t think so. For me the advantage simply is the same license, just a second computer and I don’t need to buy the extra iPad license.
I can open all projects without any difference and use it on the road. So this makes it the ideal device for me.
To be fair, a regular Dorico desktop license is a lifetime license. It just doesn’t entitle you to lifetime updates. However, when the iPad version was released the team stated, IIRC, that the lifetime version would entitle to all future updates, that is, it would work as a lifetime subscription, so to speak.
If it is like other apps, a lifetime purchase allows one to use the app for as long as it works. But when a new version is released, it is a new app, with a different purchase. Can’t say if this will be the same with Dorico for iPad.
I don’t like to have a software for free. My experience with free software is that it it usually not great. I would prefer to pay a reasonable amount from time to time, and have great software that I can actually use.