iPad as a laptop replacement

[iPadified]

It was never thought to be or ever will be a MacOS replacement. It can however replace many common, and for some, all computer tasks just like the iPhone has done.

Did not Apple state :“ your next computer might not be a computer” or similar. How that can be translated to laptop replacement is beyond my understanding.

The OP first argument is price, which is a complete fail.

 

[cupcakes2000]

This argument has existed all across computing history, from the very beginning of home micros. More recently, laptops verse desktops, now we have people using phones as their main devices.

It’s a moot point. You just use what you need to get the job done. If you can’t use it, then use something you can.

It doesn’t matter what other people think or use. It doesn’t matter how Apple advertise or promote an iPad, for example.

The fact is that it IS, clearly, a computer. If it doesn’t do what you want, then don’t use it.

A MacBook Air is far less suited to some things than a Mac Pro. Do any users in that space care? Nope. They buy what they need or want.

This argument in the iPad space has taken on a whole new dimension of random propositions, accusations and general internet nonsense.

This latest wwdc has proved that. Apple essentially adressed four of the main points on contention of (so called) pros wishes for iPadOS. Multitasking without backgrounding apps. Resizable windows. Background downloading. Proper external monitor support.

It’s pretty big for the iPad, and yet… here we still are with these threads. SMH.

 

[RRC]

As many have mentioned, for a large percentage of people the iPad has replaced their laptops and home computers.

My parents for example just want email, web browser and other basic stuff, the iPad is perfect for their needs. This will be the same for millions.

The Pro is a little on the pricey side compared to even a MacBook but when you think of the form factor and the tech crammed into it, it’s a very impressive device IMO.

 

[jdb8167]

Curious, did you or someone you know have access to the DTK Mac mini with A12Z to confidently and decisively say that it didn’t have any issues or bugs when running MacOS?

Use of the DTK was under a non-disclosure agreement. No one should answer that question.

 

[turbineseaplane]

My parents for example just want email, web browser and other basic stuff, the iPad is perfect for their needs. This will be the same for millions.

Well said

I really wish we could even more optionality in preferences to really lock things down to a simplistic, older styled, iPad experience

Multitasking and swipes are constantly screwing with my older relatives on iPads

 

[BhaveshUK]

With rising prices (e.g. M2 MBA) I have no doubt the new iPad Pro’s will receive another price increase or at a minimum the 11”. The current 12.9” sits at $1100 and doesn’t compete with a computer unless you start adding pricey accessories. Additionally, iPadOS 16 just gate kept anything that wasn’t an M1 Pro model so any new multi tasking isn’t coming to the rest of the lineup including the M1 iPad Air to my knowledge.

That said, as Apple users can we finally admit iPad Pro models are extremely overpriced, require too many accessories, and NOW functionality is either withheld due to your chip which you’ll never know before hand or everything is so cramped the OS doesn’t let you do much regardless.

If you like iPad Pro’s then cool but you’re still overpaying for what you get and the new iPadOS looks so confusing with all the gestures and hoops you need to perform its exhausting. Seriously, what will it take for iPad Pro users to show Apple they aren’t happy and stop buying $2500 iPads?

I’m not sure why you need others on a forum to finally agree with you for your own perspective to be validated 🤔

I’m in the camp of iPad doesn’t fully replace all my computing needs. I’m currently considering replacing iPad as my travel companion because I’ve come across a few limitations in my workflow, especially with the lack of app feature parity compared to Mac apps. But for many people it does replace their needs — that doesn’t invalidate your experience of iPad Pro, but please stop trying to invalidate theirs to make yourself feel objectively right.

Yes, the iPad Pro is pricey. But here’s how I see it:

It’s replaced my need for a drawing tablet. With the high resolution screen and colour accuracy iPad offers, plus the wonderful feeling of the Apple Pencil, I’d be looking to be spending well over £500 for anything similar. And that’s me being generous. The drawing experience is unrivalled imo.

iPad has replaced my need for a second monitor with sidecar. It is always sitting beside my iMac when I’m working from home. Once again, the screen quality and colour accuracy mean a lot to me as a graphic designer. I’d value this also at around £500. But I’m again being generous, the market is flooded with monitors that have poor colour accuracy, and I think I’d easily have to spend more than that to get something which meets my needs.

The iPad for the last 2 years has been my travel companion rather than a MacBook. The pandemic did prevent this use case for a majority of my iPad Pro 2020 ownership however, I’ll give you that. In addition, it’s been a lovely tablet to use and arguably the best tablet on the market from a user experience perspective. I value that at around £700+.

The iPad replaced those things for me in one package. Yes, it’s expensive, but when added up, it’s paid for itself in the work it’s empowered me to achieve. It’s helped bring me income.

But I also understand the frustration. If your just consuming content rather than using it as a professional tool to generate income, you’ll have to consider if it is worth it for you. For everyone that answer will be entirely subjective.

 

[cupcakes2000]

I’m not sure why you need others on a forum to finally agree with you for your own perspective to be validated 🤔

I’m in the camp of iPad doesn’t fully replace all my computing needs. I’m currently considering replacing iPad as my travel companion because I’ve come across a few limitations in my workflow, especially with the lack of app feature parity compared to Mac apps. But for many people it does replace their needs — that doesn’t invalidate your experience of iPad Pro, but please stop trying to invalidate theirs to make yourself feel objectively right.

Yes, the iPad Pro is pricey. But here’s how I see it:

It’s replaced my need for a drawing tablet. With the high resolution screen and colour accuracy iPad offers, plus the wonderful feeling of the Apple Pencil, I’d be looking to be spending well over £500 for anything similar. And that’s me being generous. The drawing experience is unrivalled imo.

iPad has replaced my need for a second monitor with sidecar. It is always sitting beside my iMac when I’m working from home. Once again, the screen quality and colour accuracy mean a lot to me as a graphic designer. I’d value this also at around £500. But I’m again being generous, the market is flooded with monitors that have poor colour accuracy, and I think I’d easily have to spend more than that to get something which meets my needs.

The iPad for the last 2 years has been my travel companion rather than a MacBook. In addition, it’s been a lovely tablet to use. I value that at around £700+.

The iPad replaced those things for me in one package. Yes, it’s expensive, but when added up, it’s paid for itself in the work it’s empowered me to achieve. It’s helped bring me income.

But I also understand the frustration. If your just consuming content rather than using it as a professional tool to generate income, you’ll have to consider if it is worth it for you. For everyone that answer will be entirely subjective.

Bolded point exactly accurate. It’s a shame that people can’t see in front of their own faces here.

 

[Tyler O'Bannon]

If you need a computer, iPadOS 16 does not change anything for you.

 

[Digitalguy]

im just curious... do you ever think the iPad could or should be usable in this manner?

Id suggest... no... it was never designed to do so.

There is today, and will be for a long time a very clear differentiable use case for each device until such time as they do merge into one - but to fans of the multi windowed environment then a laptop is still the device for you.

Many users of iPads im sure actually value its simplicity and the full screen app experience you get from it and have no real need or intention to start juggling multiple open apps to do what they set out to do.

In theory it could, if all those apps were ported (assuming Apple allowed the features necessary to do it) but it has nothing to do with multiple windows. I never use split screen, multi windwows or ovelapping windows on... Windows... or Mac. I just use stuff full screen. I have tons of things open at the same time, but only 1 is in the foreground. For me multitasking is the taskbar and browser tabs, that's all, and if I need more than one thing at a time, I send it to one of my iPads or Android tablets as wireless secondary monitors or to some other monitor.
Whether it "should" it's a more of philosophical question... Personally I don't use iPads like Jobs intended, I use them as tools.
Whether it will ever be possible. Clearly not.

 

[Arctic Moose]

The same A12Z was used in 2020 iPad Pro and the DTK Mac mini precursor to the M1. The DTK used swap virtual memory with no issues. It's not a technical limitation.

FWIW:

Here's why Stage Manager only works on M1 iPads | Digital Trends

Stage Manager is one of the best features in iPadOS 16. But why does it only work on M1 iPads?

www.digitaltrends.com

 

[bcortens]

FWIW:

Here's why Stage Manager only works on M1 iPads | Digital Trends

Stage Manager is one of the best features in iPadOS 16. But why does it only work on M1 iPads?

www.digitaltrends.com

This isn’t all that informative. Other than mentioning the RAM use it doesn’t give many details. We know the A12X/Z series supported virtual memory (how well it worked is another question but since we don’t know either way and there are suspicions that even the standard A series supports virtual memory but only the system can use it). He mentions that 8 apps can each ask for 16 GB of RAM now, given that macs with 4GB of memory and 128GB of flash storage can easily open8 windows without running out of ram I think this is a made up excuse. He also claims that M1 is magically more capable than older chips, without ever specifying how, other than the standard improvements that come from year over year SoC changes the M1 isn’t really magic. It is an enhanced A14X, it has some extra goodies to bring it to the mac but otherwise it is what we would have expected that SoC to look like had it existed. Apple’s marketing has convinced people that the M1 is revolution rather than evolution when if you look at the A10X and A12X/Z and then the A12, A13, and A14 you can clearly trace its lineage.
The A12X/Z are quite high performance - nearly as much as Core series of intel chips of a slightly older vintage - the argument that somehow these older chips are just not good enough is ludicrous.
I assume Apple might have a good reason but until we have more detailed examinations of stage manager we wont know.

 

[symphony]

I have M1 iPads. I find the iPad displays are too small for multiple windows though.

On 11", I prefer just using a single app fullscreen. On 12.9", Display Scaling should be useful for 1/2 splitview to view more content.

Mind, even on my 15.6" ThinkPad, I tend to use apps fullscreen and even use the iPad as external display. Actually, even at work, I tend to have one program/window per monitor (2x 24" 1080p).

If I were using iPads with a large external monitor (32-40" 4K?), then yeah, I'd probably find Stage Manager more useful.

While I agree that iPad is a bit too small for windows.

The thing I like about my MacBook Air is that apps are smaller than the full display. ExpressVPN is a small app on Mac, on my iPad Pro it’s unnecessarily humongous.

Not all apps need to stretch out to the full size of the 12.9” iPad Pro. Imagine a calculator app like that! Apps that don’t need to use the full screen for me is Weather, Home, Reminders, Notes, Messages, etc.

Why I love the iPad mini is because apps are so small, you can glance two apps on splitview because I can see an overview of both without losing focus.

Whenever I use my 12.9” iPad Pro, the apps are too wide and the content is too far apart. Now I can put two iPhone sized apps side to side.

 

[iPadified]

The key is the quality of apps and the swap and 16 Gb limit is crucial for that. This is even more important for the 8gb devices. I expect better like Desktop apps at some point.

Stage manager is great when using the iPad in desktop top mode with a monitor. It is likely less useful for small screen devices with the possible exception of calculator apps. Even MacOS support full screen mode to maximize the working space on laptops.

For someone that uses a iPad as pen and paper replacement rather than traditional computer replacement due to lack of apps - this does not change much. Home usage - iPad is sufficient.

 

[Arctic Moose]

Can we finally agree this topic is like everything else today - you’re dug in on whatever side you stand on and no matter what, nothing can change your mind

No, there are many of us in this thread that desperately WANT to use the iPad for more, and not have to carry a laptop at all, but CANNOT due to the iPad's (in many cases artificial) limitations.

 

[stocklen]

In theory it could, if all those apps were ported (assuming Apple allowed the features necessary to do it) but it has nothing to do with multiple windows. I never use split screen, multi windwows or ovelapping windows on... Windows... or Mac. I just use stuff full screen. I have tons of things open at the same time, but only 1 is in the foreground. For me multitasking is the taskbar and browser tabs, that's all, and if I need more than one thing at a time, I send it to one of my iPads or Android tablets as wireless secondary monitors or to some other monitor.
Whether it "should" it's a more of philosophical question... Personally I don't use iPads like Jobs intended, I use them as tools.
Whether it will ever be possible. Clearly not.

its actually an interesting point.

Since MacOS introduced the concept of full screen mode in apps... you have been able to use MacOS almost the same as an iPad in that you run all apps full screen, and swipe back and forth between apps/spaces.. and use mission control...
To all intents and purposes MacOS can kindof emulate iPadOS. Of course the same cannot be said about iPadOS emulating MacOS but I really believe that it shouldn't.

 

[sonicrobby]

Doubtful, unless there are features hidden in the update I didnt see.
Smart Albums in Photos
Manual Face/Person addition in Photos
Adding keywords & tags in Photos
Opening .mp3 files in Apple Music app (most basic of basic functions…)

They made improvements to the contacts app that I was hoping for. But for the most part, Im still disappointed by the lack of progress in iPadOS containing some pretty standard Mac features.

 

[deuxani]

I actually bought the iPad Pro 12.9” 2020 model with the Magic Keyboard as an experiment as a laptop replacement. It’s doable but very claustrophobic and multitasking and file management was always a pain. But I managed (in some cases painfully).

I like new tech so I enjoy being part of a new experience and seeing the improvements from nearby. I had good hope that the iPad Pro could turn into the perfect laptop / tablet, that’s why I dealt with its shortcomings.

Seeing Stage Manager I thought it was going in the right direction, though not perfect. But then…… it’s not going to be available on my previous gen model! A model that is easily capable to handle just a simple window management solution (it’s still overpowered for 99% of tasks you will ever use it for). It’s really a bad move by Apple to basically say that every pre-M1 iPad Pro (some of which are just over a year old) are not part of the future anymore.

For me it’s very clear, this is my first and last iPad Pro. It was a nice experiment but Apple just doesn’t take its iPad users seriously. If they are cutting off users with such recent hardware it’s very clear that the iPad Pro is nowhere near to being a serious device. They are just playing around still.

I will just use it as a glorified mobile TV and some casual web browsing, because that’s what a $2000 iPad Pro apparently is designed for.

 

[Spock]

I guess even the latest basic iPad does not get new fancy stuff like connecting to external monitor

It makes sense, they are doing the same thing with the MacBook Air, iMac and Mac mini only being able to support a single external display. Some say it is a hardware limitation on the base M1/M2 but I think it is Apple pushing to differentiate the Pro and consumer systems. The iBooks and the G3 iMacs could only mirror on an external display so it wouldn't be the first time they have done it.

 

[Mark Stone]

I actually bought the iPad Pro 12.9” 2020 model with the Magic Keyboard as an experiment as a laptop replacement. It’s doable but very claustrophobic and multitasking and file management was always a pain. But I managed (in some cases painfully).

I like new tech so I enjoy being part of a new experience and seeing the improvements from nearby. I had good hope that the iPad Pro could turn into the perfect laptop / tablet, that’s why I dealt with its shortcomings.

Seeing Stage Manager I thought it was going in the right direction, though not perfect. But then…… it’s not going to be available on my previous gen model! A model that is easily capable to handle just a simple window management solution (it’s still overpowered for 99% of tasks you will ever use it for). It’s really a bad move by Apple to basically say that every pre-M1 iPad Pro (some of which are just over a year old) are not part of the future anymore.

For me it’s very clear, this is my first and last iPad Pro. It was a nice experiment but Apple just doesn’t take its iPad users seriously. If they are cutting off users with such recent hardware it’s very clear that the iPad Pro is nowhere near to being a serious device. They are just playing around still.

I will just use it as a glorified mobile TV and some casual web browsing, because that’s what a $2000 iPad Pro apparently is designed for.

I agree with your sentiments. I’m “lucky” that my Air has the M1, but in your situation it looks like Apple is merely targeting you and others that bought recent non-M1 iPads to lure you into another purchase. Big Business at its best - profits above customers.

 

[subjonas]

I actually bought the iPad Pro 12.9” 2020 model with the Magic Keyboard as an experiment as a laptop replacement. It’s doable but very claustrophobic and multitasking and file management was always a pain. But I managed (in some cases painfully).

I like new tech so I enjoy being part of a new experience and seeing the improvements from nearby. I had good hope that the iPad Pro could turn into the perfect laptop / tablet, that’s why I dealt with its shortcomings.

Seeing Stage Manager I thought it was going in the right direction, though not perfect. But then…… it’s not going to be available on my previous gen model! A model that is easily capable to handle just a simple window management solution (it’s still overpowered for 99% of tasks you will ever use it for). It’s really a bad move by Apple to basically say that every pre-M1 iPad Pro (some of which are just over a year old) are not part of the future anymore.

For me it’s very clear, this is my first and last iPad Pro. It was a nice experiment but Apple just doesn’t take its iPad users seriously. If they are cutting off users with such recent hardware it’s very clear that the iPad Pro is nowhere near to being a serious device. They are just playing around still.

I will just use it as a glorified mobile TV and some casual web browsing, because that’s what a $2000 iPad Pro apparently is designed for.

I agree with your sentiments. I’m “lucky” that my Air has the M1, but in your situation it looks like Apple is merely targeting you and others that bought recent non-M1 iPads to lure you into another purchase. Big Business at its best - profits above customers.

I think A chips weren’t designed to handle memory swap, which Stage Manager relies upon.

 

[deuxani]

I agree with your sentiments. I’m “lucky” that my Air has the M1, but in your situation it looks like Apple is merely targeting you and others that bought recent non-M1 iPads to lure you into another purchase. Big Business at its best - profits above customers.

Yeah if you have the M1 it’s totally fine… for now. I do have a feeling the M1‘s will got a lot longer the full support it deserves, but you never know. It’s really a strange move. iPad Pro’s are definitely not devices that should need replacing every 1 or 2 years. I hope they don’t succeed in luring users to upgrade, because that would mean it worked.

My 2016 MacBook 12” is on it’s last legs and I have been using the iPad Pro for 1,5 year as my main device and only switching to the MacBook when I had to do a lot of file management and windowing. So I will probably get the new MacBook Air. With that being always-on like the iPad, I expect the iPad to be catching dust soon. Too bad, but I am not falling for it again (hopefully )

I think A chips weren’t designed to handle memory swap, which Stage Manager relies upon.

I can imagine the full fledged Stage Manager with multiple groups of apps open on the main screen and on the left hand side is a bit taxing, but they could have easily given the rest of the iPads a simpeler version, like the view with only the dock and obviously normal external monitor support. But even then, a limit on the app groups or something should be fine. This can never be so intense an iPad Pro from 2020 can’t handle It:

 

[bcortens]

Yeah if you have the M1 it’s totally fine… for now. I do have a feeling the M1‘s will got a lot longer the full support it deserves, but you never know. It’s really a strange move. iPad Pro’s are definitely not devices that should need replacing every 1 or 2 years. I hope they don’t succeed in luring users to upgrade, because that would mean it worked.

My 2016 MacBook 12” is on it’s last legs and I have been using the iPad Pro for 1,5 year as my main device and only switching to the MacBook when I had to do a lot of file management and windowing. So I will probably get the new MacBook Air. With that being always-on like the iPad, I expect the iPad to be catching dust soon. Too bad, but I am not falling for it again (hopefully )


I can imagine the full fledged Stage Manager with multiple groups of apps open on the main screen and on the left hand side is a bit taxing, but they could have easily given the rest of the iPads a simpeler version, like the view with only the dock and obviously normal external monitor support. But even then, a limit on the app groups or something should be fine. This can never be so intense an iPad Pro from 2020 can’t handle It:

View attachment 2016687

I think stage manager is poorly conceived - it doesn’t fit with the rest of iPadOS and give you a jarring experience of mode switching. It is quite badly thought out IMO and I think it would have been better just to give us something like a restricted more Mission Control.

 

[Mackilroy]

Keep in mind that the older iPads generally don’t have as much RAM either.

As for replacing iPads every 1-2 years, why would anyone do that, unless they had both the disposable income and some pressing need for it? Is Stage Manager so useful that older iPads are obsolete? If that’s the case, why buy an iPad at all?

That said, we don’t know if Apple will open it up to more models by release time, or if it will remain limited to M1-based devices.

 

[BacioiuC]

obviously normal external monitor support

This. Being able to run A different app on the external monitor or normal iPad OS multitasking on the external + 1 app on main iPad Display and it would have been glorious...

I can understand the memory and SSD limitations that require a iPad Pro 128gb+ or an iPad Air 256 gb but for external display and normal multitasking? Come on apple…

 

[rui no onna]

Keep in mind that the older iPads generally don’t have as much RAM either.

As for replacing iPads every 1-2 years, why would anyone do that, unless they had both the disposable income and some pressing need for it? Is Stage Manager so useful that older iPads are obsolete? If that’s the case, why buy an iPad at all?

That said, we don’t know if Apple will open it up to more models by release time, or if it will remain limited to M1-based devices.

I used to upgrade every generation from iPad 2 to 2017 iPad Pro. There were a lot of improvements back then to make frequent upgrades worth it to me. Nowadays I wait longer. The 2017 iPad Pro was the longest I kept (4 years) mostly because it didn’t seem worth it spending $2K on a 1TB LTE 2018 iPad Pro and the 2020 iPad Pro ended up being a disappointment.

Mind, the 2018 iPad Pro (A12X) is going on 4 years old at this point in time and the 2020 iPad Pro (A12Z) is sporting practically the same chipset under the hood. The 2020 Pro is just newer but it wasn’t really much better than the 2018 Pro.

Even Apple’s release schedule is more like ~1.5 years and it seems to me they expect customers to skip 1-2 generations or more. By the time iPadOS 16 is officially released, the expected M2 iPad Pros are probably just 1-2 months away. Apple’s not expecting 2020 iPad Pro users to buy the 2021 iPad Pro. They’re enticing them to buy the 2022 iPad Pro.

Personally, I have the M1 but Stage Manager doesn’t really interest me much given the small display. Granted, I’d need to see if display scaling changes that opinion. The two things that really interest me on iPadOS 16 are swap support and display scaling.