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I can't understand how you have problems with MBA and you're ok with iPad
Imagine you have been hammering nails with a screwdriver and then someone comes along and passes you a hammer.

It just means that whatever the OP was doing prior, a laptop running a desktop OS wasn't really the most optimal tool for the job. As someone using his iPad pretty heavily, I can empathise with that.
 
Something to do with the keyboard and trackpad positions being low and centered relative to my body. My wrists really don’t like that for some reason even when I’m being super conscious of my posture.

My desktop setup includes a Magic Trackpad put it doesn’t bother me cuz the spacing is much further apart and elevated

When on iPad my hand is at a different angle and I tend to do the hunt-n-peck with one finger most of the time.
I know it's not ideal in most situations, but in bed/home have you considered using the voice to text? It takes a little getting used to but for quality of life pressing one button to start a mic might be easier than using a tactile keyboard.

I grew up with an aunt who suffered from carpal tunnel in both wrists and had multiple surgeries, so I know how difficult it can be to deal with inflamed wrists. It's definitely has a learning curve, but even a 20% reduction in typing might be worth it for you? Also, I think I saw someone else mention accompanying a bluetooth keyboard, which could allow you to sit it in a more comfortable position.

I can't say much though, I have a horrible habit of sitting with my laptop in the worst positions, and I know it cant be ergonomically good for my wrists, yet I persist. I need to break the habit before it causes injury.

That's one thing I've felt Apple was good at, making accessibility more than just an afterthought.
 
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I know it's not ideal in most situations, but in bed/home have you considered using the voice to text? It takes a little getting used to but for quality of life pressing one button to start a mic might be easier than using a tactile keyboard.

I grew up with an aunt who suffered from carpal tunnel in both wrists and had multiple surgeries, so I know how difficult it can be to deal with inflamed wrists. It's definitely has a learning curve, but even a 20% reduction in typing might be worth it for you? Also, I think I saw someone else mention accompanying a bluetooth keyboard, which could allow you to sit it in a more comfortable position.

I can't say much though, I have a horrible habit of sitting with my laptop in the worst positions, and I know it cant be ergonomically good for my wrists, yet I persist. I need to break the habit before it causes injury.

That's one thing I've felt Apple was good at, making accessibility more than just an afterthought.

It’s more the trackpad that gives me issues for some reason. Seems to be the side-to-side motion of the hand that irritates my tendons.

Then in order to bring the trackpad more to the right so it doesn’t totally piss off my hand I have to turn the laptop slightly, which then puts my left hand at more of an angle on the keyboard.

Since the iPad is almost completely vertical motions and one-finger poking, even the brief spurts of typing don’t aggravate the tendons.

Quirks of my genetics or whatever.
 
I’ve advocated for macOS on the iPad multiple times here, and will continue to do so despite the consistent backlash…

And I sold my iPad 5th-gen 9.7 last year because it was just so slow and glitchy and unreliable…

I swore I would never buy an iPad again until macOS was allowed to run on them.

Then last week I remembered why I stopped using laptops three years ago. My beloved M1 MacBook Air was aggravating my carpal tunnel again. As a person who depends entirely on functional hands for everything I do in life, I simply cannot have any injury. This pissed me off. I love that M1 machine. Best hardware I’ve ever used. But I have to sell it.

So I went and tried the M1 iPad Pro 12.9 at the local tech store…

And now I‘m typing this post on it from my bed. The 256GB Wi-Fi-only followed me home and I love it. The screen is unbelievable. Everything is so fast. It appears all the unreliability of my old A9-powered iPad was due to the ancient chip.

And Stage Manager. I absolutely despise it on Mac. But on iPad, I never turn it off. It has its quirks, and I don’t quite use it as Apple probably intends, but it has absolutely changed the iPad game. I even have one Stage dedicated to my four business apps and with all of them on screen at once I can very comfortably work from home on this thing. That was never possible before.

And now FINALLY I can read music PDFs on the go.

I still think iPadOS really prevents it from reaching its full potential, but I totally love this iPad Pro. And my wrists are already settling down. Worth it.

Let the “I told you so” commence.
For me, the iPad was the perfect computer for the masses: easy to use, intuitive and perfect for what most people do: consume media and the occasional writing/drawing. In my view, the iPad morphed into something nobody likes: pros don't like it because it doesn't have MacOS, or the software does not take advantage of the powerful hardware, and regular people dislike it because it lost its simplicity (no home button, lots of different un-intuitive gestures, app complexity, etc.). In addition, by the time you add all the accessories to make it work like a laptop, you passed through the price of a comparable laptop running MacOS. I am just curious, why do you prefer the iPad for work and not your desktop/laptop? Do you think a touchscreen Mac would be better than an iPad?
 
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For me, the iPad was the perfect computer for the masses: easy to use, intuitive and perfect for what most people do: consume media and the occasional writing/drawing. In my view, the iPad morphed into something nobody likes: pros don't like it because it doesn't have MacOS, or the software does not take advantage of the powerful hardware, and regular people dislike it because it lost its simplicity (no home button, lots of different un-intuitive gestures, app complexity, etc.). In addition, by the time you add all the accessories to make it work like a laptop, you passed through the price of a comparable laptop running MacOS. I am just curious, why do you prefer the iPad for work and not your desktop/laptop? Do you think a touchscreen Mac would be better than an iPad?
Huh? Something nobody likes?? You might peruse some other posts in this forum ...
 
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That’s totally what it is. Ever since you pointed it out I’ve been consciously trying not to and then I realize I’m doing it again out of nowhere. The phone feels like it’s slipping out of my hand if I don’t but I’m gonna kick this habit!
You might try a loopy case.
 
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I am just curious, why do you prefer the iPad for work and not your desktop/laptop? Do you think a touchscreen Mac would be better than an iPad?

My desktop is my maximum-business machine that I use for peak productivity and specialized tasks, but most of the time I don’t need the big screen or pro-grade audio setup. A portable web browser on a 13” screen works for me most of the time. Casual tasks include lots of web reading, PDFs, YouTube videos, basic document processing. I want the touchscreen-only aspect for reading from a music stand which I do often.
 
I’ve advocated for macOS on the iPad multiple times here, and will continue to do so despite the consistent backlash…

And I sold my iPad 5th-gen 9.7 last year because it was just so slow and glitchy and unreliable…

I swore I would never buy an iPad again until macOS was allowed to run on them.

Then last week I remembered why I stopped using laptops three years ago. My beloved M1 MacBook Air was aggravating my carpal tunnel again. As a person who depends entirely on functional hands for everything I do in life, I simply cannot have any injury. This pissed me off. I love that M1 machine. Best hardware I’ve ever used. But I have to sell it.

So I went and tried the M1 iPad Pro 12.9 at the local tech store…

And now I‘m typing this post on it from my bed. The 256GB Wi-Fi-only followed me home and I love it. The screen is unbelievable. Everything is so fast. It appears all the unreliability of my old A9-powered iPad was due to the ancient chip.

And Stage Manager. I absolutely despise it on Mac. But on iPad, I never turn it off. It has its quirks, and I don’t quite use it as Apple probably intends, but it has absolutely changed the iPad game. I even have one Stage dedicated to my four business apps and with all of them on screen at once I can very comfortably work from home on this thing. That was never possible before.

And now FINALLY I can read music PDFs on the go.

I still think iPadOS really prevents it from reaching its full potential, but I totally love this iPad Pro. And my wrists are already settling down. Worth it.

Let the “I told you so” commence.
I agree. iPads are great devices.
 
If Apple would just fix the stupid safari search bar being unresponsive bug, that would be amazing. It pissed me off with ios14 on my old 9.7 and it pisses me off now. No I didn’t set my new iPad up from a backup.
 
Something to do with the keyboard and trackpad positions being low and centered relative to my body. My wrists really don’t like that for some reason even when I’m being super conscious of my posture.

My desktop setup includes a Magic Trackpad put it doesn’t bother me cuz the spacing is much further apart and elevated

When on iPad my hand is at a different angle and I tend to do the hunt-n-peck with one finger most of the time.
Happy that you like your iPad but my main question is why not just get a magic trackpad for your MacBook?
Certainly wouldn’t have been as expensive as an iPad.
Or maybe an absolutely level computer like the new M2 Air that doesn’t taper towards the trackpad?
Idk, again i’m happy you found something you enjoy, but if you truly like macOS more I’m not entirely understanding What’s that much different about the iPad.
 
For me, the iPad was the perfect computer for the masses: easy to use, intuitive and perfect for what most people do: consume media and the occasional writing/drawing. In my view, the iPad morphed into something nobody likes: pros don't like it because it doesn't have MacOS, or the software does not take advantage of the powerful hardware, and regular people dislike it because it lost its simplicity (no home button, lots of different un-intuitive gestures, app complexity, etc.).
Really?
In my experience, I found the exact opposite.
As pros hate it more and more, regular consumers enjoy it more and more.
The two best selling iPads of last year were the two cheapest iPads last year, the ninth GEN and the iPad mini.
Both are also the simplest, one still has a home button and a big thick boarder, the other is only slightly bigger than a modern iPhone.
But I don’t think most regular consumers are finding the iPads too complicated these days.
Flick up to go home isn’t exactly a hard gesture to remember, especially since it’s been the default on the iPhone and even home button packing iPads for going on six years now.
If anything, i’d say the only thing that’s making the iPad complicated is the fact that the Mac is so good that most people looking to get an iPad Air or pro are better off getting a MacBook Air or pro.
 
I’ve advocated for macOS on the iPad multiple times here, and will continue to do so despite the consistent backlash…

And I sold my iPad 5th-gen 9.7 last year because it was just so slow and glitchy and unreliable…

I swore I would never buy an iPad again until macOS was allowed to run on them.

Then last week I remembered why I stopped using laptops three years ago. My beloved M1 MacBook Air was aggravating my carpal tunnel again. As a person who depends entirely on functional hands for everything I do in life, I simply cannot have any injury. This pissed me off. I love that M1 machine. Best hardware I’ve ever used. But I have to sell it.

So I went and tried the M1 iPad Pro 12.9 at the local tech store…

And now I‘m typing this post on it from my bed. The 256GB Wi-Fi-only followed me home and I love it. The screen is unbelievable. Everything is so fast. It appears all the unreliability of my old A9-powered iPad was due to the ancient chip.

And Stage Manager. I absolutely despise it on Mac. But on iPad, I never turn it off. It has its quirks, and I don’t quite use it as Apple probably intends, but it has absolutely changed the iPad game. I even have one Stage dedicated to my four business apps and with all of them on screen at once I can very comfortably work from home on this thing. That was never possible before.

And now FINALLY I can read music PDFs on the go.

I still think iPadOS really prevents it from reaching its full potential, but I totally love this iPad Pro. And my wrists are already settling down. Worth it.

Let the “I told you so” commence.
An interesting and honest viewpoint.

Of course you now realise that with recent changes to iPadOS its more suitable to your personal requirements and thats great.

I dont think many would argue that iPadOS still, even at iPadOS 16, somewhat stifles the machines capabilities especially given the M chip raw power thats being squandered.
Of course it really comes into its own when using stage manager on an external display - to me... this is the future of computing when a device as small as an iPhone can be docked with a monitor to give a desktop class OS (and no we are nowhere near there yet but heading there slowly).

However, to pick up your earlier point that you wouldnt buy an iPad unless or until it ran MacOS... well I think personally that will never happen - ever - for many and varied reasons. Maybe in the future MacOS and iPadOS will merge in a device as described above... but simply to have MacOS running on a touch-first distinctly separate machine to a MacBook is really not happening. As many have said if you want portability and MacOS there are many great laptops for you. If you want a tablet experience with its portability etc then iPadOS has to be for you.
 
If Apple would just fix the stupid safari search bar being unresponsive bug, that would be amazing. It pissed me off with ios14 on my old 9.7 and it pisses me off now. No I didn’t set my new iPad up from a backup.
seems like a you and backup problem
 
Can you describe this bug? Safari search works fine for me on all of my devices.
25% of the time when I open a new tab, I start typing and no suggestions pop up. The Enter key does nothing. It’s a functionless text box. I have to close the tab and start another one to get the URL box working.
 
25% of the time when I open a new tab, I start typing and no suggestions pop up. The Enter key does nothing. It’s a functionless text box. I have to close the tab and start another one to get the URL box working.
you might need to start new and not get backup test if safari works if it does you have a corrupted backup
 
25% of the time when I open a new tab, I start typing and no suggestions pop up. The Enter key does nothing. It’s a functionless text box. I have to close the tab and start another one to get the URL box working.
Odd one. I've never seen that on any of my devices.
 
Like I said, if you never try you never know. It went from being “completely useless” and “a glorified iOS slab” to “I totally love it” in five days. And… I love to see that! Glad you like it! Enjoy it☺️

Like the first comment said: nothing wrong with trying and learning, and there’s no valid “I told you so” for someone willing to learn!
 
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Like I said, if you never try you never know. It went from being “completely useless” and “a glorified iOS slab” to “I totally love it” in five days. And… I love to see that! Glad you like it! Enjoy it☺️

Like the first comment said: nothing wrong with trying and learning, and there’s no valid “I told you so” for someone willing to learn!
Oh don’t worry, I don’t “totally” love it yet ;) there are still several UX gripes and irritating bugs to keep me thinking macOS is superior…

But it is far better than my old iPad.
 
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