Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

iPad as a laptop replacement

Status
The first post of this thread is a WikiPost and can be edited by anyone with the appropiate permissions. Your edits will be public.
I don't know what PITA means (English is not my main language), but as someone who has a Samsung phone, and not an iPhone, using the Mac with the Samsung is a real pain. And I have no doubt that Macs are not used only by iPhone users. Personally I have 2 extra SIM cards. One is $5 a month for 5GB of data. I only use for one of my businesses (a dance school) where the iPad replaces pen and paper (with everything synced to dropbox). And another goes either in my 11in pro with Magic Keyboard as my on the go device or on a Windows PC with cellular, when the iPad is not enough. This one is $10/month and it replicates my unlimited data on my smartphone plan (plus 40GB roaming per month). This is some of the money best spent in my opinion.... (Previously I was only using the $10 card but I was tired of switching it so I got the 5GB, which is more than enough for what I need from that iPad).
If Apple made a cellular Mac, I'd definitely consider buying it.
 
Digitalguy said:
I don't know what PITA means (English is not my main language), but as someone who has a Samsung phone, and not an iPhone, using the Mac with the Samsung is a real pain. And I have no doubt that Macs are not used only by iPhone users. Personally I have 2 extra SIM cards. One is $5 a month for 5GB of data. I only use for one of my businesses (a dance school) where the iPad replaces pen and paper (with everything synced to dropbox). And another goes either in my 11in pro with Magic Keyboard as my on the go device or on a Windows PC with cellular, when the iPad is not enough. This one is $10/month and it replicates my unlimited data on my smartphone plan (plus 40GB roaming per month). This is some of the money best spent in my opinion.... (Previously I was only using the $10 card but I was tired of switching it so I got the 5GB, which is more than enough for what I need from that iPad).
If Apple made a cellular Mac, I'd definitely consider buying it.
Click to expand...
Pain in the rear end (ass/butt) aka - significant inconvenience.
 
  • Haha
  • Like
Reactions: DeepIn2U, Digitalguy and bondr006
jav6454 said:
My Mac auto-connects to my iPhone automatically when there is no Wi-Fi. Also, it takes like 5 seconds to do the process manually. I would assume that PITA is a process that is painstakingly necessary but not worth it and aggravating. That process I described is far from it. So not sure how you can complain on a simple 3-step process.
Click to expand...
Yeah. My MacBook doesn’t do that. Not sure how i can get it to auto-connect. It’s annoying af.
 
  • Sad
Reactions: bondr006
jav6454 said:
Go to System Settings in the Network tab, you can pretty much have it configured on a per network basis.
Click to expand...
I did all of that, but for some reason it does not automatically connect to the MacBook. iOS devices yes. My mac no. I wish i could figure it out. But thanks for trying to help.
 
  • Sad
Reactions: bondr006
I love my iPad Pro 12.9. However, as a technical support manager it cannot replace my laptop. There are too many things I cannot do. So, My M1 14 MacBook Pro is my main driver. My M1 12.9 iPad Pro is my very able assistant.
 
  • Like
Reactions: bondr006
rillrill said:
Its the lack of an auto-connection that makes it so frustrating for me. I’m opening and closing the macbook all day at work and I always have to go to the wifi icon, find my hotspot, sometimes its not there, go to the setting on the iphone, then it shows up, PITA.
Click to expand...

Hard agree. Sometimes it works. Often it does not. It almost seems Microsoftian in its ability to appear to work randomly.

PITA indeed.

I have eight data SIMs in my household, I would get a ninth for my MacBook in a heartbeat.

DeepIn2U said:
PITA, really?!? You must’ve never experienced days OG gprs data cards or Bluetooth 2.0 with phone as modem era!
Click to expand...

I remember the wireless revolution of using an infrared connection instead of a serial cable between my Ericsson 888 and PowerBook Wallstreet, years before GPRS, maxing out at a theoretical (but never achievable) 9.6 kbit/s.

(I especially remember sitting at a picnic table waiting for a huge file transfer to complete when some guy walks up, picks up my phone and tells me I shouldn't just leave it on the table because someone could steal it. Of course this upset the precise placement required for IR to work, breaking the connection, so I had to start over.)
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: alecgold and DeepIn2U
Arctic Moose said:
Hard agree. Sometimes it works. Often it does not. It almost seems Microsoftian in its ability to appear to work randomly.
Click to expand...

Lol, my Windows laptop actually connects to the iPhone/iPad automatically every time. Of course, I do need to manually enable hotspot on the iPhone/iPad. However, I find it's more reliable than the automated personal hotspot linked through iCloud account.
 
  • Like
Reactions: bondr006
Arctic Moose said:
Hard agree. Sometimes it works. Often it does not. It almost seems Microsoftian in its ability to appear to work randomly.

PITA indeed.

I have eight data SIMs in my household, I would get a ninth for my MacBook in a heartbeat.



I remember the wireless revolution of using an infrared connection instead of a serial cable between my Ericsson 888 and PowerBook Wallstreet, years before GPRS, maxing out at a theoretical (but never achievable) 9.6 kbit/s.

(I especially remember sitting at a picnic table waiting for a huge file transfer to complete when some guy walks up, picks up my phone and tells me I shouldn't just leave it on the table because someone could steal it. Of course this upset the precise placement required for IR to work, breaking the connection, so I had to start over.)
Click to expand...

Damn that blows. I recall IrDa days. That Ericsson was a beast in its day. You really pushed life on the mobile edge then. Yes I did the same too with a T-28World, T-39 also with Bluetooth on the latter.

Wi-Fi SSID’s by nature don’t consistently broadcast, it’s usually every 10:30 seconds, typically. Maybe with more being available that may delay hotspot from iPhone showing up, conflicts of channels and iPhone having to auto change to compensate being the reason for the delay?
 
  • Like
Reactions: TheYayAreaLiving 🎗️ and bondr006
DeepIn2U said:
Damn that blows. I recall IrDa days. That Ericsson was a beast in its day. You really pushed life on the mobile edge then. Yes I did the same too with a T-28World, T-39 also with Bluetooth on the latter.
Click to expand...

I had a T28 after the SH 888, paired with an MC 12 that was being cleared for practically nothing:
ericssoners.wordpress.com

Mobile Companion

Mobile Companion MC 12 » Ericsson Type: » xxx » Based on: » HP 320LX » Release Date: » December, 1996 » Dimensions: » 182.8 x 93.9 x 27.94 mm » Operating System: » Microsoft Handheld PC 1.0 Mobile …
ericssoners.wordpress.com ericssoners.wordpress.com

Terrible product, but it did convince me to shell out for a Palm III, which I loved.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: DeepIn2U and bondr006
Aww Maps on iPad isn’t able to plan multi stop routes? It seems only on Mac, then send to iPhone, according to the WWDC keynote.
 
I'm surprised that Federico Viticci's story Rediscovering the Mac: An iPad User’s Journey into macOS with the M1 Max MacBook Pro hasn't been mentioned in this thread:

www.macstories.net

Rediscovering the Mac: An iPad User’s Journey into macOS with the M1 Max MacBook Pro

For the past few months, I’ve been living a double life. Most of you probably know me as “the iPad guy”. And rightfully so: the iPad – more specifically, the iPad Pro – is my favorite computer Apple’s ever made; my coverage of iPad, iPad apps, and, later, iPadOS has far exceeded everything else on
www.macstories.net www.macstories.net

Mister iPad himself concludes:

It’s been a long journey, but the conclusion of the story so far is clear to me. macOS is Apple’s friendliest, most powerful platform for power users. Can iPadOS become as intuitive and versatile for power users, even in new, iPad-only ways that I can’t imagine right now?

Sure, there were some very welcome updates presented during the WWDC keynote:

www.macstories.net

iOS and iPadOS 16: The MacStories Overview

At its keynote held earlier today online and, for a limited audience of developers and media, in Cupertino, Apple unveiled the next major versions of iOS and iPadOS: iOS 16 and iPadOS 16. Both OSes will be released for free this fall, with developer betas available today and a public beta to...
www.macstories.net www.macstories.net

Although decent external monitor support and Stage Manager will massage several sore points, there are still so many things missing.

This is the final nail in the "can an iPad replace a Mac for almost anyone" discussion for at least another year.
 
I was cautiously excited when they started talking about "desktop class" apps. Just to be back in reality, when I realized it's just another "the devs get new tools" kind of announcement that will do nothing in the end.

The iPad will be an iPad, forever it seems. I'm sure they could easily run arm MacOS apps on an iPad, but they just don't want to. And the third party devs? Just look at the crap we get with apps like Capture One...


But I'm happy what I saw there. I connect my iPad to my external monitor from time to time and an extended screen is long overdue. We will also be finally allowed to change the UI scaling, which is awesome. So for me it's a good update, even though Stage Manager looks incredibly stupid with so much wasted space. I hope external monitors work as well without using it.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Arctic Moose
Abazigal said:
I find the real issue with this is still the lack of desktop quality apps for the iPad, and that's something no amount of multitasking or external monitor support can fix. Just look at zoom on the iPad vs the PC as an example.
Click to expand...

Hopefully improved Desktop Apps are coming - I'm not a developer but they seemed to list a fair amount of new things being made available to developers to aid with that
 
Arctic Moose said:
This is the final nail in the "can an iPad replace a Mac for almost anyone" discussion for at least another year.
Click to expand...
The iPad will replace a Mac for almost anyone when it gets full MacOS, that is Never.
Meanwhile some people can make it work as their main work device already and maybe a few more will be able to after this update. But without desktop software most people will continue to need Macs and Windows devices (tons of professionals and businesses need Windows only software and you can have them on Macs thanks to Parallels, but not on iPad) and for them the iPad will be a complement to their laptop/desktop
 
  • Like
Reactions: bondr006 and Arctic Moose
chrism_scotland said:
Hopefully improved Desktop Apps are coming - I'm not a developer but they seemed to list a fair amount of new things being made available to developers to aid with that
Click to expand...
companies like Adobe could have already built a full version of Lightroom Classic for example, but they didn't. We got the somewhat capable wannabe iteration for iPads instead, which sucks so much.

The only app I know and used that feels more or less like the desktop counterpart is Affinity Photo.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Arctic Moose
Digitalguy said:
The iPad will replace a Mac for almost anyone when it gets full MacOS, that is Never.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I do not expect iPadOS to replace macOS until macOS is retired, hopefully not until after I can no longer use computers.

However, the experiment I have tried a few times is going to the office, or on a shorter trip, with only an iPad. More often than not I end up regretting it for some reason, so now I always take my Mac with me.

The M2 MacBook Air looks nice, but it is still no replacement for the 11" MacBook Air or the 12" MacBook. It is also twice as thick as an iPad Pro, and about 20% wider and higher. I will still probably get one, leave it in my bag, and treat the 14" more or less as a desktop.

I really wish the iPad could handle more use cases, as it would be much less of a compromise, and I wouldn't be carrying two fairly bulky devices so often.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Digitalguy
Arctic Moose said:
Yeah, I do not expect iPadOS to replace macOS until macOS is retired, hopefully not until after I can no longer use computers.

However, the experiment I have tried a few times is going to the office, or on a shorter trip, with only an iPad. More often than not I end up regretting it for some reason, so now I always take my Mac with me.

The M2 MacBook Air looks nice, but it is still no replacement for the 11" MacBook Air or the 12" MacBook. It is also twice as thick as an iPad Pro, and about 20% wider and higher. I will still probably get one, leave it in my bag, and treat the 14" more or less as a desktop.

I really wish the iPad could handle more use cases, as it would be much less of a compromise, and I wouldn't be carrying two fairly bulky devices so often.
Click to expand...
Agreed. I was using my 11in pro as my on the go device because of cellular (using remote desktop to remedy the lack of features and apps on iPadOS). But a laptop is still a better solution for me (I need dropbox and onedrive background sync, I need whatsapp to communicate daily with my clients). And I was thinking about the M2, hoping it would be at least as light as my old 11.6in Macbook if not as the 12in Macbook and have cellular. But none of that happened. It's a beautiful device, but I am glad I decided to go with the 2 pound Thinkpad X1 Nano with cellular. As someone who does not have an iPhone, tethering is hit or miss and destroys my phone battery (I prefer small phones so it also means smaller batteries). I still love both my 11in and 12.9in pro but I have to be real, I can do so much more on a laptop on the go.... I still often take the iPad as a second monitor though.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Arctic Moose and bondr006
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back