Thread by @mattsheffield

One thing I'd like to see tech journalists declare independence from is their blatant pro-Apple bias.

I'm going to review this iPad pro review to show you what I mean, and why most tech sites' star ratings are utterly worthless laptopmag.com/reviews/ipad-p…

The iPad Pro 12.9 has some nice aspects, but it has a lot of negatives. But you never see tech sites ding Apple for the negatives.

The biggest negative of iPads is that they are drastically overpriced for what they can do. You have to pay a minimum of $1,000 US for...

A tablet that comes with none of the following:
-Storage card slots
-Upgradeable internal storage
-Keyboard
-Stylus
-A headphone jack
-More than a single port
-An OS that can actually open files
-An ability to boot third-party OSes

Tech website reviews of the iPad never subtract stars from iPads for these drastic failings. They need to if they want credibility, especially because every single one of them is a deliberate choice by Apple to screw customers over.

Now you can buy an Apple keyboard for an iPad but if you do, your options are pathetic. You could buy the so-called "Smart Keyboard" for $200. That name is a lie though because the supposedly smart keyboard doesn't even have a trackpad

Your other option is the "Magic Keyboard." This keyboard costs $350, wtf!

And it has major flaws: You get a trackpad but bc iPadOS sucks, you don't get an arrow to move around. Instead, you get an imprecise blob.

You also can't use the iPad as a tablet if it's attached.

Then we have the Apple Pencil stylus. It's a nice device, much better by comparison than the keyboards (still not as good as Wacom stuff though).

But it costs $129. More expensive than anyone else's. And it has no safe storage place. So easy to lose.

Whenever you read a tech website's review of the Microsoft Surface Pro 7or Pro X, they always, always, always whine that the tablets never come with the keyboard or stylus.

They never say this about the iPads. Even though the kbd and stylus are more expensive and worse.

Literally the only advantage of iPads over a PC tablet is the processor, which also gives better battery life. That's it.

If you want sexy design, the HP Elite Folio just destroys the iPad

If you want value and portability, the Lenovo Thinkpad Tablet X12 gives you the best tablet keyboard ever plus a stylus and a place to safely store it

And if you want sexy design plus expandability and are willing to pay more, then the Surface Pro 7 gives you upgradeable SSD, three fast data ports, magnetic cable charging, and a headphone jack:

There are plenty of other interesting and innovative PC tablets out there. With the exception of the HP Elite Folio, they all cost significantly less than the iPad. You can get a Surface Pro 7 with keyboard and stylus for $1,100. I just checked.

Unless you've purchased a lot of iPadOS software, there's no reason to buy a new iPad. Beyond the deliberately bad and expensive hardware, the OS sucks massively. It's restrictive.

Big thumbs down to @laptopmag for such a biased and terrible review /end

PS: While the iPad Pro is a complete ripoff, I do think the cheaper iPads are fairly good as consumption devices. And since the Apple stylus now works with some of them, they can be nice sketch devices for artists. They're still overpriced, however.