For that requirement then yes - in fact an IPP would better than a MBA (I have both IPP and MBA). I rarely reach for my MBA over my IPP, I just much prefer the way you interact with an iPad over a laptop.
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iPad as a laptop replacement
- Thread starter Omar Comin' Yo
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This is exactly what the iPad is designed for. Indeed, for what you describe, it’s generally superior to the MacBook.
There are a great many use cases where not only is the MacBook the better choice, but the only choice. Yours is not one of them.
b&
Yes but you don’t have the ability to back up your photos with a iPad like you can with a mac.
For me iPad was great when macs didn’t have the instant on of an SSD but now they do i find the iPad a little redundant.
This is hugely dependant on specific workflows you need. In my case I run a business off a 12.9 IPP and my laptop has been collecting dust in a drawer.
Sure can. My iPad Pro replaced my Macbook Pro years ago! I am an artist who draws on my ipad pro as well as editing all my photos & videos on. I also write on it & consume all my media on it. It may not be a solution for everyone, but for me and many others it can be.
Or copy to connected storage - hard-wired or wireless.
You can plug any USB storage device into an iPad just as you can a Mac. It’ll show up in the “Files” app exactly as you’d expect it.
You can’t do Time Machine backups, granted, but that’s not the only backup option.
Besides … almost everybody has photos stored in iCloud, which, while not a true backup, is a thousand times a better backup than what almost everybody did before iCloud.
(Note: “almost.” Those who made real backups, such as to tape that got sent offsite, are a practically non-existent minority. Even those who just made copies on Zip drives to stash in a closet … within rounding, didn’t exist.)
b&
Same….I regret getting caught up in the Apple silicon Macbook hype.
I have recently integrated the M1 12.9 in to my photography workflow beautifully. I just spent 9 days in Alaska and for the first time ever, left my laptop behind as we have very strict weight considerations for the float plane. I used the iPad to backup 45mp RAW files to two external drives, and Lightroom to edit the important shots to get me ahead of editing when I got back, plus send out some edits to a client whilst there. I was then able to cloud sync those RAW files and edits on the iPad to my master catalogue and hard drive in Lightroom Classic back home.
I travel a lot for work, and it was so efficient I may well not bother lugging my 16 MBP M1 overseas anymore. Of course the iPad was also great for emails etc too. I’d potentially say, if my MBP wasn’t my only other machine, and I had a Studio, I’d seriously consider not bothering with a laptop again.
So yes, I could in theory replace my laptop. But only if I had a desktop.
As incredibly useful as it is, and is really is for me, it’s still not quite fully functioning enough for all my needs. Lightroom mobile isn’t quite as fully featured as Classic. The iPad won’t let you edit from external drives. The ease and flexibility of rebuilding my website recently whilst having multiple windows open, from Lightroom and Photoshop, to Pages and YouTube in the background. That can’t be beat. And my laptop lets me do that very efficiently.
So it really does come down to workflow. I think the iPad is ultimately amazing at replicating some impressive workflow requirements, but they are, for me at least, still dumbed down a little too much for it to be my only device.
Edit for typos (wrote it on the iPad, without a bluetooth keyboard 😅)
I travel a lot for work, and it was so efficient I may well not bother lugging my 16 MBP M1 overseas anymore. Of course the iPad was also great for emails etc too. I’d potentially say, if my MBP wasn’t my only other machine, and I had a Studio, I’d seriously consider not bothering with a laptop again.
So yes, I could in theory replace my laptop. But only if I had a desktop.
As incredibly useful as it is, and is really is for me, it’s still not quite fully functioning enough for all my needs. Lightroom mobile isn’t quite as fully featured as Classic. The iPad won’t let you edit from external drives. The ease and flexibility of rebuilding my website recently whilst having multiple windows open, from Lightroom and Photoshop, to Pages and YouTube in the background. That can’t be beat. And my laptop lets me do that very efficiently.
So it really does come down to workflow. I think the iPad is ultimately amazing at replicating some impressive workflow requirements, but they are, for me at least, still dumbed down a little too much for it to be my only device.
Edit for typos (wrote it on the iPad, without a bluetooth keyboard 😅)
Interesting. I have much the same workflow for my M1 12.9 and RAW image processing with Lightroom on the iPad. I don't use the cloud, either, as my travels can take me to places where Internet access is sketchy or non-existent (e.g., northern Alaska), so I synch back at home. I've recently gotten into more video work and the iPP with LumaFusion is really quite good (and it supports working from media on external drives).
IMO it is personal preference about what OS one likes, perhaps with users who grew up on iPads more likely to prefer iOS versions over Mac OS.
Personally I grew up on decades of Mac OS before getting a v1 iPad, and today I find doing real work on an iPad Pro to be hella more difficult than on Mac OS - - regardless of what the task is. The only thing I actually prefer on the iPad is reading books.
Personally I grew up on decades of Mac OS before getting a v1 iPad, and today I find doing real work on an iPad Pro to be hella more difficult than on Mac OS - - regardless of what the task is. The only thing I actually prefer on the iPad is reading books.
In part, exactly that. I spend a fair bit of working time in places with bad WiFi. In part, I don’t like cloud solutions as primary and Classic is just fuller featured with amazing cataloguing.
But without a doubt, I’m hugely impressed with what the iPad can let us do now. It may not be a full workflow (for me) but it’s enough to be virtually the perfect lightweight travel solution!
Respectfully I’d disagree.
For work I have an HP laptop, which is heavily crippled by security and a corporate iPad (Gen9) which is only lightly blighted by security. Usage is easily 70/30 in favour of the iPad with keyboard and a Magic Mouse. I do a lot of writing and research using it. A handful of corporate services don’t run on it (we have MS365 but some legacy applications are terrible even on the laptop).
On my personal iPad, I do video editing and GarageBand goofing.
Even browsing the web while listening to music can be a pain on an iPad. You put on the music in the background. Then you browse the web. Some site contains auto-playing video with audio. You immediately stop the video, but not before your music was automatically paused. You go to control center to press play, but that's linked to the most recent media, the video on the website, not your music! You open the music app to unpause and switch back to the browser. Now you can browse with music again. Until the next video starts playing...
Sure, let me back up my iPad with Time Machine. Or with rsync(1) in Terminal.app. Wait...
It depends on how individual’s workflow and lifestyle needs. I have to use MacBook or iMac to do majority of my works leaving iPad for consumption device and completing some light tasks.
Those things are outside of what the OP said their usage entails.
I seldom encounter auto playing videos, probably because I have an ad blocker and I don’t visit sites like the Daily Mail. But I really wish Apple would allow simultaneous multimedia sources; its a hold-over from early iOS days.
One more thought,. It sounds like an iPad can do all of the things you say you use a computer for, but if you are concerned there might be a rare task just keep an old MacBook around. This way the iPad can be your main machine without any ‘what if’ worries.
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