iPad as a laptop replacement

[SenorWhyMe]

from my experience now with 2 years of ipad as laptop to now having a macbook, the ipad is great for writing but it’s just not there yet for work to be done. It can be done but it’s extremely held back by IOS , until they make a new ipad or at least support m1 ipad to actually use macos it would still be held back

 

[ericwn]

from my experience now with 2 years of ipad as laptop to now having a macbook, the ipad is great for writing but it’s just not there yet for work to be done. It can be done but it’s extremely held back by IOS , until they make a new ipad or at least support m1 ipad to actually use macos it would still be held back

When you refer to “work to be done”- what is missing for your workflow in particular?

 

[sparksd]

Gosh you made it way to easy to de-mystify yourself there.

$25/year? Over on Groupon there's a deal for a Lord or Lady of England Title for a flat $12. Or for $40 get a star named after you. Seem like better deals to me.

 

[ericwn]

$25/year? Over on Groupon there's a deal for a Lord or Lady of England Title for a flat $12. Or for $40 get a star named after you. Seem like better deals to me.

Now this is intriguing stuff! Can I get these from my iPad or will I be needing one of them “real computers“ that I keep reading about?

 

[SenorWhyMe]

When you refer to “work to be done”- what is missing for your workflow in particular?

mainly coding, at least for me no Xcode. and occasionally just the multitasking aspect of using multiple screens. For example when I plug in my MacBook to my monitors I get 3 screens; when doing with an iPad Pro its just a 4:3 but bigger mirrored. iPad Pro is good; but when you need to do lots of multitasking work its not so great. Another example lets say you had a video project needed to be done and rendered; and a summary paper. you can not render videos in the background with the iPad. now I believe you semi can; but its in a half screen format and from my experience with Lumafusion it would sometimes crash the rendering. I spent 2 years on my first ever apple product which was my iPad Pro 2018; and I can say for work it was ok but the limitations of multitasking is a bit too much for the iPad and that is mainly because of IOS. Now 15.1 is out I will test it out again. I just wished they release a iPad Pro with magic keyboard that is also has macOS with baked in IOS which the m1 MacBooks have just without the touchscreen. once this happens I will fully leave MacBook for a IPAD; but until then my iPad is now just used for writing notes; and photo editing. Also the lack of ability of using external programs not from the App Store. I have used alt store; but not to much. Like I mentioned Its good for basics; taking notes, keynote, pages, numbers, Lumafusion, Lightroom and also shapr3d; but for my work I have to design products 3d print them, make a presentation of my products or teams products, write analysis, and actually connect to the 3d printer; which the iPad can't do either. plus a lot of these apps don't support background running because of IOS so you literally need to leave apps running fullscreen making it a literally brick for just that app alone until its finished.

 

[ericwn]

mainly coding, at least for me no Xcode. and occasionally just the multitasking aspect of using multiple screens. For example when I plug in my MacBook to my monitors I get 3 screens; when doing with an iPad Pro its just a 4:3 but bigger mirrored. iPad Pro is good; but when you need to do lots of multitasking work its not so great. Another example lets say you had a video project needed to be done and rendered; and a summary paper. you can not render videos in the background with the iPad. now I believe you semi can; but its in a half screen format and from my experience with Lumafusion it would sometimes crash the rendering. I spent 2 years on my first ever apple product which was my iPad Pro 2018; and I can say for work it was ok but the limitations of multitasking is a bit too much for the iPad and that is mainly because of IOS. Now 15.1 is out I will test it out again. I just wished they release a iPad Pro with magic keyboard that is also has macOS with baked in IOS which the m1 MacBooks have just without the touchscreen. once this happens I will fully leave MacBook for a IPAD; but until then my iPad is now just used for writing notes; and photo editing. Also the lack of ability of using external programs not from the App Store. I have used alt store; but not to much. Like I mentioned Its good for basics; taking notes, keynote, pages, numbers, Lumafusion, Lightroom and also shapr3d; but for my work I have to design products 3d print them, make a presentation of my products or teams products, write analysis, and actually connect to the 3d printer; which the iPad can't do either. plus a lot of these apps don't support background running because of IOS so you literally need to leave apps running fullscreen making it a literally brick for just that app alone until its finished.

Thanks much for the detailed post, appreciate it!

 

[Zazoh]

I just edited this in, let me post it again

”
I think, to conclude, for the purpose of this discussion, a ‘real computer’ is any device that is not LIMITING you in whatever you want to do from the digital realm.
”

Then ... You are defining yourself out of a computer.

I think it comes down to the apps you need. But iPad comes with the following hardware features not available on the current computer-like devices apple offers.

Need pencil?
Need to hold in bed?
Need Touch Screen?
Need accelerometer?
Need portrait mode?
Need a camera that faces the user and away from the device?
Need Lidar?
Need Pro Motion?
Need Cellular?
Need Face ID?

 

[sparksd]

mainly coding, at least for me no Xcode. and occasionally just the multitasking aspect of using multiple screens. For example when I plug in my MacBook to my monitors I get 3 screens; when doing with an iPad Pro its just a 4:3 but bigger mirrored. iPad Pro is good; but when you need to do lots of multitasking work its not so great. Another example lets say you had a video project needed to be done and rendered; and a summary paper. you can not render videos in the background with the iPad. now I believe you semi can; but its in a half screen format and from my experience with Lumafusion it would sometimes crash the rendering. I spent 2 years on my first ever apple product which was my iPad Pro 2018; and I can say for work it was ok but the limitations of multitasking is a bit too much for the iPad and that is mainly because of IOS. Now 15.1 is out I will test it out again. I just wished they release a iPad Pro with magic keyboard that is also has macOS with baked in IOS which the m1 MacBooks have just without the touchscreen. once this happens I will fully leave MacBook for a IPAD; but until then my iPad is now just used for writing notes; and photo editing. Also the lack of ability of using external programs not from the App Store. I have used alt store; but not to much. Like I mentioned Its good for basics; taking notes, keynote, pages, numbers, Lumafusion, Lightroom and also shapr3d; but for my work I have to design products 3d print them, make a presentation of my products or teams products, write analysis, and actually connect to the 3d printer; which the iPad can't do either. plus a lot of these apps don't support background running because of IOS so you literally need to leave apps running fullscreen making it a literally brick for just that app alone until its finished.

Good writeup and it gets back to the original subject of this thread - whether an iPad can replace your laptop given your particular needs or desires for particular functionality. For many people it can, for many it can't.

 

[mrLucas]

Then ... You are defining yourself out of a computer.

I think it comes down to the apps you need. But iPad comes with the following hardware features not available on the current computer-like devices apple offers.

Need pencil?
Need to hold in bed?
Need Touch Screen?
Need accelerometer?
Need portrait mode?
Need a camera that faces the user and away from the device?
Need Lidar?
Need Pro Motion?
Need Cellular?
Need Face ID?

good post!

why do you say defining yourself out of a computer?
As for hardware features, thats not quite right

you can have pencil on PC
you can have touch screen on PC
you can definatley hold laptop in bed (I do it)
you can add an accelerometer
you can have portrait mode (there are pivoting displays)
you can definatley have a camera, or any number of cameras for that matter
you can have a lidar
you can have 120Hz display, even more
you can have GSM modem if you want
you cant have face ID since its apples thing, but you can have a simmilar thing from some other company

Basically, I still think my definition is pretty on point. with a self built PC you can do pretty much ANYTHING from the digital realm, and I think the main question here is - how much is iPad really limiting this in a meaningfull and usefull way

 

[pdaholic]

It’s interesting how you guys are defining a computer primarily by its hardware. You can have the most sophisticated hardware in the world, but it’s worthless without the appropriate software/OS. Which goes back to the point of this thread, the iPad replacing the laptop (in my case, my MacBook). The hardware of my iPad is superior/more functional than my (admittedly older) MacBook, but limited by iPadOS. Thankfully Apple has let up on its restrictions over the years.

 

[sparksd]

It’s interesting how you guys are defining a computer primarily by its hardware. You can have the most sophisticated hardware in the world, but it’s worthless without the appropriate software/OS. Which goes back to the point of this thread, the iPad replacing the laptop (in my case, my MacBook). The hardware of my iPad is superior/more functional than my (admittedly older) MacBook, but limited by iPadOS. Thankfully Apple has let up on its restrictions over the years.

Yes, the definition of "computer" is not all-inclusive and not really germane to the original subject of this thread. Historically, a computer was a person, going back to the 19th century and women who did long and tedious calculations. Can an iPad replace your laptop? - a subjective question, with differing needs for h/w and s/w capabilities. The limitations of iPadOS may or may not make a difference to different users regarding replacing a laptop - for me it does, for my sister it does not.

 

[mrLucas]

you know… theres something I really really like about the ipad.. I just cant wrap my head around what it is precisely… I think, mostly it kinda reminds me of simpler times when computers were simpler as well.. For some reason and somehow it reminds me of windows 95 or 98, of MSN messenger, of HTML webistes, and MS FrontPage, and so on… OutlookExpress…. It just reminds me of theese simpler times when computers were simpler as well, but kinda worked better, for what they coudl do at least. I guess, iPad , has some of the simmilar reminescence of the past, and of theese simpler systems. For some reason, it just feels, very simmilar to how computers felt to me, the first time I was introduced to them and started exploring. Maybe - iPad is acctually keeping a promise of a truly smart device that just works, somoething I expected from computers, but they didnt completely deliver so far… I guess… maybe that has something to do with it..

theres something Honest about iPads.

 

[jeremiah256]

It’s interesting how you guys are defining a computer primarily by its hardware. You can have the most sophisticated hardware in the world, but it’s worthless without the appropriate software/OS. Which goes back to the point of this thread, the iPad replacing the laptop (in my case, my MacBook). The hardware of my iPad is superior/more functional than my (admittedly older) MacBook, but limited by iPadOS. Thankfully Apple has let up on its restrictions over the years.

IMHO, the issue is that the iPad, or more specifically, Apple's approach to tablet computing, is very different from how new form factors were introduced to consumers in the past.

My migration from having a desktop be my main computer to a laptop, was easier because in a pinch, I could use my laptop as my desktop by adding a few peripherals. It may not have been as good as a desktop with regard to internal expandability or power, but the ports on my laptop and the fact it used the same OS as my desktop, made it a pretty straight forward transition for my and many other's use case.

With the tablet form factor, the same is largely true if you're going for a Windows, Android, or ChromeOS tablet. Peripherals and services are much more supported by those OSes across form factors. They tried to follow the traditional model of attempting to allow at least some additional level of use of their tablets as a laptop and desktop out of the box.

Not so with Apple's approach to iOS/iPadOS. Their focus on the iPad as a laptop replacement is a fairly recent pitch. It was years after the iPad was released before they came out with the Smart Keyboard. Up until fairly recently, even mouse support was missing. And monitor, browser, and file support are still lacking.

Consequently, many people look at the iPad as not being a computer because it didn't follow the path others took, and Apple isn't helping the situation by confusing customers with their 'What's a Computer?' and then 'Your next laptop will be an iPad' ads.

A friend of mine once told a girl in high school, that she was 110% a woman, but she was no lady. The iPad is a computer, but it's not a laptop or a desktop. Could be a good or bad thing depending what you want, but it's definitely something customers need to understand.

 

[secretk]

IMHO, the issue is that the iPad, or more specifically, Apple's approach to tablet computing, is very different from how new form factors were introduced to consumers in the past.

My migration from having a desktop be my main computer to a laptop, was easier because in a pinch, I could use my laptop as my desktop by adding a few peripherals. It may not have been as good as a desktop with regard to internal expandability or power, but the ports on my laptop and the fact it used the same OS as my desktop, made it a pretty straight forward transition for my and many other's use case.

This is a very good point. Indeed for me also transitioning from desktop to laptop worked because I was not that much of a power user to be affected hugely by the fact that laptops don't offer the sustained power of the desktop.

Not so with Apple's approach to iOS/iPadOS. Their focus on the iPad as a laptop replacement is a fairly recent pitch. It was years after the iPad was released before they came out with the Smart Keyboard. Up until fairly recently, even mouse support was missing. And monitor, browser, and file support are still lacking.

Yes and it is also the nature of tablet vs laptop/desktop. Your entry point of interaction with tablet is via touch, your main point of interaction with laptop is the mouse/trackpad. Now yes you can have touch screen laptops and you can hook up mouse to an iPad but still you can sense that iPadOS is made for touch input and Windows touch input laptops are created for mouse. One factor for me is just the time I use the devices. I am not power user (minus opening like 100 tabs) but I do spend around 10 hours every day around a computer. I do not want to spend 10 hours touching a screen. I do not find it good experience. It is taxing on my hands (wrist and fingers). Touch input for me makes sense as it is more natural to navigate through the screen but once you want to use it for long periods of time I prefer the mouse/trackpad.

Consequently, many people look at the iPad as not being a computer because it didn't follow the path others took, and Apple isn't helping the situation by confusing customers with their 'What's a Computer?' and then 'Your next laptop will be an iPad' ads.

A friend of mine once told a girl in high school, that she was 110% a woman, but she was no lady. The iPad is a computer, but it's not a laptop or a desktop. Could be a good or bad thing depending what you want, but it's definitely something customers need to understand.

True that. I agree. An iPad is a computer, but it is definitely not a desktop. For some people it can be a laptop once you add a keyboard to it, but here it depends on the details. For my case where multitasking is a thing for me (in the sense of running multiple processes in the same time and not wanting to focus only on one app) the iPad is a not a laptop replacement.

My mother on the other hand does not have my needs in terms of multitasking. She spends most of her time on her phone in terms of computing needs. She can technically work on an iPad for the most part. That being said she still hit a small roadblock few months ago. We are doing renovation on our place and we are working with interior designer. Said designer would provide both visuals in terms of the furniture, colors and designs as well as lots of detailed calculation about the sizes. Naturally she sent all of this as an archive file that was uploaded in the cloud.

My mother had to:

1. Download the archive
2. Unzip it
3. Store the files in one place/folder
4. Check all of the images and rotate some of them

That workflow turned out to be impossible for her on a phone and we had to do it on the laptop. I can safely say that on the iPad it is a bit easier but still not good enough and still would be slower to do it on the iPad than on the laptop. Also my mother is not technically advanced person. She won't be the type of person to go on forums to ask which iPadOS app can offer her the file management she needs.

So while it is true that the iPad would work for her in 99,99 % cases of the time, it is the rest 0,01 that bears a problem because she won't know how to handle those cases. With a laptop she will know as those 0,01 cases are still considered regular use cases there.

 

[trey_apple_guy]

I could see it in the future, but not yet. The iPad's OS still probably is not ready for laptop capability, but might become available in later updates. WWDC 22???

 

[Ludatyk]

My mother on the other hand does not have my needs in terms of multitasking. She spends most of her time on her phone in terms of computing needs. She can technically work on an iPad for the most part. That being said she still hit a small roadblock few months ago. We are doing renovation on our place and we are working with interior designer. Said designer would provide both visuals in terms of the furniture, colors and designs as well as lots of detailed calculation about the sizes. Naturally she sent all of this as an archive file that was uploaded in the cloud.

My mother had to:

1. Download the archive
2. Unzip it
3. Store the files in one place/folder
4. Check all of the images and rotate some of them

That workflow turned out to be impossible for her on a phone and we had to do it on the laptop. I can safely say that on the iPad it is a bit easier but still not good enough and still would be slower to do it on the iPad than on the laptop. Also my mother is not technically advanced person. She won't be the type of person to go on forums to ask which iPadOS app can offer her the file management she needs.

So while it is true that the iPad would work for her in 99,99 % cases of the time, it is the rest 0,01 that bears a problem because she won't know how to handle those cases. With a laptop she will know as those 0,01 cases are still considered regular use cases there.

Its always about context. Your mother might not be technically advanced.. but she knows her way around a laptop. IMO, it’s more about familiarity. She’s been around a laptop, therefore she knows her way around the OS. Doing the four task you listed.. I would argue is probably just as simple on an iPad.

I’ll download the archive… unzip it with FileBrowser and if I need to rotate some images.. I can do so in the Photos app.

 

[secretk]

Its always about context. Your mother might not be technically advanced.. but she knows her way around a laptop. IMO, it’s more about familiarity. She’s been around a laptop, therefore she knows her way around the OS. Doing the four task you listed.. I would argue is probably just as simple on an iPad.

I’ll download the archive… unzip it with FileBrowser and if I need to rotate some images.. I can do so in the Photos app.

Yes, exactly. She would not go on forums to ask for an app like Filebrowser . She is not that type of person.

In terms of rotating them in Photos app I still find this slower on an iPad compared to laptop. I first would have to import the photos in the Photos to rotate them. On a laptop I can directly rotate them from their folder.

It is not the end of the world but for me personally it is a problem. There are photos that I do not want to have in the Photos app, but only in files. I do want to manipulate them though.

In the end of the day it is about personal preference.

 

[mrLucas]

In terms of rotating them in Photos app I still find this slower on an iPad compared to laptop. I first would have to import the photos in the Photos to rotate them. On a laptop I can directly rotate them from their folder.

It is not the end of the world but for me personally it is a problem. There are photos that I do not want to have in the Photos app, but only in files. I do want to manipulate them though.

In the end of the day it is about personal preference.

hey heres a tip

you can rotate them in a files App. You might wanna look into Darkroom and Pixelimator Photo, you might benefit from them . goodluck ??

 

[sparksd]

hey heres a tip

you can rotate them in a files App. You might wanna look into Darkroom and Pixelimator Photo, you might benefit from them . goodluck ??

I dislike the Photos app so for general photo storing and viewing on my iPads & iPhone I use Photo Manager Pro. It has a simple editor supporting easy rotation. It can also transfer photos over WiFi connections, do slide shows, and uses a named folder storage model.

 

[mrLucas]

I dislike the Photos app so for general photo storing and viewing on my iPads & iPhone I use Photo Manager Pro. It has a simple editor supporting easy rotation. It can also transfer photos over WiFi connections, do slide shows, and uses a named folder storage model.

I wouldnt go with this solution. Its a bit dated design wise, and seems to keep a separate library, right? not compatibile with files app? but.. I dont know why you quoted me btw.. thanks for the suggestion Im very happy with the photos app from apple.

 

[sparksd]

I wouldnt go with this solution. Its a bit dated design wise, and seems to keep a separate library, right? not compatibile with files app? but.. I dont know why you quoted me btw.. thanks for the suggestion Im very happy with the photos app from apple.

Quote wrt app ability to rotate photos. I just find that the Photos app sucks for management of large numbers of photos from external sources nor do I use the Files app (FileBrowser Pro which doesn't support image rotation).

 

[mrLucas]

Quote wrt app ability to rotate photos. I just find that the Photos app sucks for management of large numbers of photos from external sources nor do I use the Files app (FileBrowser Pro which doesn't support image rotation).

Cool man! I mean , again, dont know why you are telling me that, but happy you are happy

 

[Ubele]

After owning an 12.9” iPad Pro for over a week now, I’m confident that it can replace both my 2015 13” MBP and 2017 standard iPad — with the caveat that I have a 27” iMac for when I need to use Mac apps (e.g., Adobe CC and Logic Pro) and and/or want more screen real estate. My MBP has been my back-up computer for when I do stuff away from my home office. With the addition of a bluetooth keyboard and mouse (I have a Magic Keyboard on back order), using my iPad Pro feels very close to using my MBP. I love how the mouse cursor is contextual.

 

[mrLucas]

After owning an 12.9” iPad Pro for over a week now, I’m confident that it can replace both my 2015 13” MBP and 2017 standard iPad — with the caveat that I have a 27” iMac for when I need to use Mac apps (e.g., Adobe CC and Logic Pro) and and/or want more screen real estate. My MBP has been my back-up computer for when I do stuff away from my home office. With the addition of a bluetooth keyboard and mouse (I have a Magic Keyboard on back order), using my iPad Pro feels very close to using my MBP. I love how the mouse cursor is contextual.

my use case exactly ?
you might wanna check out affinity designer, instead of adobe cc. it’s not a step down, in many ways it’s a step up.
(basically it’s a mix of illustrator and photoshop, and even indesign. one app as adobes five. and a full mac version is avaliable on the ipad…)

I am realizing now, that when I say iPad I actually mean iPad the pen Magic Keyboard and also the mouse. Like you probably do as well. I feel that some people may be usually does that say that iPad is not a series device, actually think of iPad may be in the form factor of a classic iPad. where is I actually think of the iPad Pro or the iPad Air plus must have Apple pen Magic Keyboard and the mouse. It’s a completely different device and I actually think the Apple pen is maybe the most important thing that you need to get for the iPad if you want to use it. Innoway the Apple pen is basically a cursor. It’s a very precise pointing device so that’s exactly what a cursor is. Anyways I agree with you it’s a great Device especially if he use it with different peripherals, it’s a very nice experience and very very very close to the Mac experience.


By the way you mentioned that you like the contextual cursor. Do you mean by that the cursor that’s morphing or do you mean something else? Because I’m not using morphing cursor. but they say it’s an option so I’m wondering if somebody That’s prefers that way I can explain me what is it the day like in this way if using it. Maybe I might like it to

 

[Ubele]

my use case exactly ?
you might wanna check out affinity designer, instead of adobe cc. it’s not a step down, in many ways it’s a step up.
(basically it’s a mix of illustrator and photoshop, and even indesign. one app as adobes five. and a full mac version is avaliable on the ipad…)

I am realizing now, that when I say iPad I actually mean iPad the pen Magic Keyboard and also the mouse. Like you probably do as well. I feel that some people may be usually does that say that iPad is not a series device, actually think of iPad may be in the form factor of a classic iPad. where is I actually think of the iPad Pro or the iPad Air plus must have Apple pen Magic Keyboard and the mouse. It’s a completely different device and I actually think the Apple pen is maybe the most important thing that you need to get for the iPad if you want to use it. Innoway the Apple pen is basically a cursor. It’s a very precise pointing device so that’s exactly what a cursor is. Anyways I agree with you it’s a great Device especially if he use it with different peripherals, it’s a very nice experience and very very very close to the Mac experience.


By the way you mentioned that you like the contextual cursor. Do you mean by that the cursor that’s morphing or do you mean something else? Because I’m not using morphing cursor. but they say it’s an option so I’m wondering if somebody That’s prefers that way I can explain me what is it the day like in this way if using it. Maybe I might like it to

Yes, the Affinity apps are great, and I have the Mac an iPad versions. The company I work for uses Adobe CC, though, so I get the suite for free. My work computer is a Windows laptop, but Adobe lets you install the suite on two computers, so I have it on my 27” iMac, as well. My job primarily involves editing documents with InDesign and producing client training sessions with Adobe Connect, Zoom, and Microsoft Teams, but I also sometimes edit short client videos with Premiere, and very occasionally clean up audio files with Audition. I also work in Word and PowerPoint on a daily basis. For home use, I’m an amateur photographer, so I use a variety of photo-editing apps for that, and I also dabble in music with Logic Pro (although GarageBand would be adequate for what I do).

I, too, usually mean the iPad/keyboard/mouse/pencil combination when I say “iPad.” I was surprised how quickly I adapted to navigating with the combination. When I’m on the treadmill, I watch video on just the iPad itself. That’s also what I do before bed. I’m typing this in bed using the built-in keyboard. It’s an extremely versatile device. When I was younger, I dabbled in drawing and painting on physical media, so I’m interested in using the pencil and Procreate. If I had to, I probably could do my work stuff on my Windows laptop with an external monitor and my home stuff on my iPad setup, but there’s nothing like having the luxury of that 27” iMac screen.

By contextual cursor, I mean how it’s the standard vertical bar when you’re in a text document, a large gray dot when you’re navigating, and a long horizontal bar when you hover over the bar at the bottom of the screen to close an app.