iPad as a laptop replacement

[Kal Madda]

I have the DragonTouch 4k portable monitor… one of the reason I chose it for the VESA compatibility. I have this adapter that I use with the monitor, helps to take it on and off when I need to travel with it. And I can plug my iPad to the monitor and it’s good to go. No additional cables necessary (but I often use a USB dock with it).

I actually had UPerfect Touch Screen monitor… it was 1080p and I was displeased with the fact that I couldn’t get “More Space” option on it when plugging the iPad into it. So, that was a compelling reason to upgrade.


Nice find! I didn’t know that existed… that will definitely help when it’s time to upgrade my portable monitor. I’ve had it for over a year.. it will be 2 years next year in May.

I’m going to try to get at least 3 years out of it before upgrading.


Agree! I have a super ultrawide monitor 49” that I use for my MBP and with Better Display tool, it helps to get some nice pixel quality out of my monitor

Don’t get me wrong, I wouldn’t mind having a 5k display… but I personally prefer 120hz+ display (helps for gaming as Federico pointed out in his article). When shifting through windows using Stage Manager… there’s a difference I see in the movement (buttery smooth).

I’m hopeful that we get 120hz support for external monitor support on iPadOS in the near future… maybe that would give me a reason to upgrade my portable monitor.

Thanks, I’ll have to look into that! 👍🏻. I do use the More Space setting on my iPad’s display, so that would be kind of a bummer to not have on a portable monitor. Though I don’t know if it would make too much difference for my 3D workflow and such. 👍🏻

Nice! That’s quite a bit of screen real-estate! Mine is a 27” monitor, it fits about perfectly on my desk with the way I have it set up. A larger monitor wouldn’t fit. I have a cabinet for my 3D printer up on one end of my desk for easy access, so that somewhat limits the space I have on the rest of my desk. I don’t think my monitor is 120hz, but I forget whether it is or not.

I’m glad that adapter could be helpful! 👍🏻. You can find more by searching for adhesive VESA mount adapters. There are several different brands, that one I linked was just the top one and had good reviews. I’ve considered getting one of those for either attaching on a portable monitor like what you’re talking about, or attaching to a cheap magnetic folio case for the iPad, so I could have a magnetic VESA mount setup for my iPad. But I’m not sure I’ll end up going that route at this point, because I don’t have any VESA mounts, and my ideas for my rework of my desk space have changed. 👍🏻

 

[Ludatyk]

I’ve considered getting one of those for either attaching on a portable monitor like what you’re talking about, or attaching to a cheap magnetic folio case for the iPad, so I could have a magnetic VESA mount setup for my iPad. But I’m not sure I’ll end up going that route at this point, because I don’t have any VESA mounts, and my ideas for my rework of my desk space have changed. 👍🏻

Yeah, I experimented doing this before. I had a tablet stand holder… that I completely removed the “holder” and bought a cheap magnetic folio case to cut off it in half. So, I can use the magnetic side of it.

It was meh. I used it for awhile, but ultimately didn’t like the look of it… wanted something more aesthetically appealing. That’s why I’m waiting for the VESA mount adapter by Charjen… I probably won’t use it much, but it will at least provide me some options if I ever want to rearrange my desk setup.

 

[Kal Madda]

Yeah, I experimented doing this before. I had a tablet stand holder… that I completely removed the “holder” and bought a cheap magnetic folio case to cut off it in half. So, I can use the magnetic side of it.

It was meh. I used it for awhile, but ultimately didn’t like the look of it… wanted something more aesthetically appealing. That’s why I’m waiting for the VESA mount adapter by Charjen… I probably won’t use it much, but it will at least provide me some options if I ever want to rearrange my desk setup.

Yeah, I’m unsure at this point whether I’ll bother with a stand like that, since I like to have a drawing surface horizontal, I generally end up either keeping my iPad connected to the Magic Keyboard Case, or I lay it flat. A stand may be handy for holding it up and out of the way if I’m doing something I don’t care about drawing input for I could put it up and out of the way. But other than that, I’m not sure how much I would end up using something like that. 👍🏻

Eventually what I would like to figure out is a switch or dual input hub or something so that I can easily switch all of my desktop accessories from being connected to the Mac Mini to being connected to my iPad. For the monitor it’s fairly simple because I can just switch the input source similar to what Federico Vittici was talking about in that “iPad For Everything” article. What I’d like to do is also easily switch the connection for my external storage drives. Currently I just have a couple USB SATA adapters and enclosures I’m using, eventually I’d like to set up a nicer looking drive cabinet that I could possibly use a single cable connection for. But I’d like to find some kind of dual computer switch type setup that would allow me to dock my iPad, flip a switch, and then have all of my desktop accessories connected automatically to my iPad. When I upgrade my keyboard and mouse setup to the Magic Keyboard and Magic Trackpad, I think those should automatically pair with my iPad from what I can tell. So it would mainly be pairing my monitor, drives, and headphones. So far I haven’t found something like that yet, but I’m pretty sure they exist.

 

[Ludatyk]

Yeah, I’m unsure at this point whether I’ll bother with a stand like that, since I like to have a drawing surface horizontal, I generally end up either keeping my iPad connected to the Magic Keyboard Case, or I lay it flat. A stand may be handy for holding it up and out of the way if I’m doing something I don’t care about drawing input for I could put it up and out of the way. But other than that, I’m not sure how much I would end up using something like that. 👍🏻

Yeah, I also have this as well... but oddly it's priced excessively high. I think I paid no nore than $30 for it.

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For the monitor it’s fairly simple because I can just switch the input source similar to what Federico Vittici was talking about in that “iPad For Everything” article. What I’d like to do is also easily switch the connection for my external storage drives. Currently I just have a couple USB SATA adapters and enclosures I’m using, eventually I’d like to set up a nicer looking drive cabinet that I could possibly use a single cable connection for. But I’d like to find some kind of dual computer switch type setup that would allow me to dock my iPad, flip a switch, and then have all of my desktop accessories connected automatically to my iPad.

But I believe your situation is different from Federico, he's not using a Mac Mini. His input sources are between iPad and PS5/Switch.

Yeah, you are on the right track by getting a hub (but you should really look into getting a dock).. plug in all your adapters and drives into that. Given you have a Mac Mini... are you not a fan of Universal Control?

That way you can plug your Mac Mini into the monitor and use the iPad+Magic Keyboard combo to control everything. And from personal experience, I did this... but I enjoy using my Keychron machanical keyboard to fully embrace that kind of setup.

 

[Kal Madda]

Yeah, I also have this as well... but oddly it's priced excessively high. I think I paid no nore than $30 for it.

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This laptop stand fits all tablets and laptops models and sizes from , Multi-use on office, meeting room, library, kitchen and music playing house to hold the laptops, tablets, projectors, menu, music books, magazines etc.. An excellent useful gift for your friends and family. Name: Laptop Stand ...

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But I believe your situation is different from Federico, he's not using a Mac Mini. His input sources are between iPad and PS5/Switch.

Yeah, you are on the right track by getting a hub (but you should really look into getting a dock).. plug in all your adapters and drives into that. Given you have a Mac Mini... are you not a fan of Universal Control?

That way you can plug your Mac Mini into the monitor and use the iPad+Magic Keyboard combo to control everything. And from personal experience, I did this... but I enjoy using my Keychron machanical keyboard to fully embrace that kind of setup.

Sorry, a dock is what I was meaning, I keep mixing up those two words, lol! 😂🤪👍🏻.

I’m not sure if I just haven’t set things up correctly yet, or if my desktop keyboard and mouse setup are incompatible, but I don’t recall Universal Control working with my current setup. Maybe it’s due to the keyboard and mouse I’m using for my Mac Mini. My keyboard is an old Anker Bluetooth keyboard that’s on its last legs. It doesn’t even support several macOS keyboard shortcuts correctly, so it’s kind of convoluted, but it works for now. My mouse is a USB mouse. I’m hoping to upgrade those to the Magic Keyboard and Trackpad soon. Maybe those would work better with Universal Control. I don’t have anything against using Universal Control, I just haven’t gotten around to really setting it up. Also, sometimes using the iPad with Stage Manager on the desktop monitor is better for some of the things I am doing. There are several apps I use that aren’t available on the Mac yet (mainly Nomad Sculpt), but there are also some that I just prefer the iPad version of (like the Affinity apps). So I like to be able to use the monitor for my iPad sometimes to have more workspace in those apps. For that, I’ve thought about just getting an HDMI to USB-C cable, and just plug my iPad in and change input source on the monitor. 👍🏻.

I hope that helps make better sense of what I’m talking about doing. 👍🏻

 

[Webcat86]

At the risk of sounding like a broken record…

I’ve been thoroughly enjoying my M4 and it’s helped me drastically clear out my email inbox for the first time in a few years, but…

It blows my mind that Apple does not allow smart folders in Photos. My Photos app is using close to 80gb of iCloud storage and I’m in the process of deleting unnecessary items. Smart folders are crucial for this, to help me batch photos and videos and delete them in an orderly manner. This is a task I literally cannot attempt on the iPad and it’s maddening.

My work recently let me buy an MBA for cheap, and I took them up on the offer almost solely so I could sort my photos from a laptop instead of being tethered to my desk (iMac)

 

[Kal Madda]

At the risk of sounding like a broken record…

I’ve been thoroughly enjoying my M4 and it’s helped me drastically clear out my email inbox for the first time in a few years, but…

It blows my mind that Apple does not allow smart folders in Photos. My Photos app is using close to 80gb of iCloud storage and I’m in the process of deleting unnecessary items. Smart folders are crucial for this, to help me batch photos and videos and delete them in an orderly manner. This is a task I literally cannot attempt on the iPad and it’s maddening.

My work recently let me buy an MBA for cheap, and I took them up on the offer almost solely so I could sort my photos from a laptop instead of being tethered to my desk (iMac)

Yeah, I’m hoping that Smart Folders integration within system apps will be part of the Apple Intelligence push. I think it would make sense. 👍🏻. I don’t few use any Smart Folders, but I know that some use them heavily. 👍🏻

 

[Webcat86]

Yeah, I’m hoping that Smart Folders integration within system apps will be part of the Apple Intelligence push. I think it would make sense. 👍🏻. I don’t few use any Smart Folders, but I know that some use them heavily. 👍🏻

I currently have no optimism, because smart folders for other apps are already supported on the iPad and there is no (obvious) limitation that they need to find a workaround for. So it seems an obvious omission. I think in their mind, they’re unnecessary because Photos itself creates memories and albums etc.

I’d never used them until this year, but even the simple one of showing photos and videos that aren’t in folders is immensely useful for organising the unwieldy library.

 

[bondr006]

Hey all...

Just came back from visiting my parents in Florida. Both mom and dad are in their late 80's and bed ridden in Hospice care. I got mom an iPad 6 some years back and an iPad 9 and iPhone SE2 a couple years ago. She had never used a computer or smartphone before and she took right to the iPad and iPhone. They both gave her new found joy having access to the world, friends, and family at her fingertips.

Mom is in hospice now, very weak, can’t see well, and the iPad is now too heavy for her to hold and use. She still is able to answer her iPhone but not much else. Her iPad was sitting in a stack of books not being used, so I brought it home with me.

As you all know, I have an M1 iPad Pro 11 that I use as my laptop replacement. Now I need to figure out what to use this iPad 9 for. I have factory reset it, set it up with a new Apple ID, and updated to iPad OS 18.2. It looks brand new and is in the case I got for it when I got the iPad for mom. I will not be giving it away, selling it, or trading it in. It will be used by my wife or me until it no longer updates or works anymore, and then it will sit in the closet and collect dust. I believe the iPad 9 has several more good years to go, so I'd like to get some use out of it. I am in the process of tweaking the settings to my liking, customizing the home screens, and installing some apps. Any suggestions?

I started a thread here if you'd like to respond. Thanks everyone!

Just getting started

 

[elmoss]

It's just another iPad they all do the same.

 

[Ludatyk]

Sorry, a dock is what I was meaning, I keep mixing up those two words, lol! 😂🤪👍🏻.

I’m not sure if I just haven’t set things up correctly yet, or if my desktop keyboard and mouse setup are incompatible, but I don’t recall Universal Control working with my current setup. Maybe it’s due to the keyboard and mouse I’m using for my Mac Mini. My keyboard is an old Anker Bluetooth keyboard that’s on its last legs. It doesn’t even support several macOS keyboard shortcuts correctly, so it’s kind of convoluted, but it works for now. My mouse is a USB mouse. I’m hoping to upgrade those to the Magic Keyboard and Trackpad soon. Maybe those would work better with Universal Control. I don’t have anything against using Universal Control, I just haven’t gotten around to really setting it up. Also, sometimes using the iPad with Stage Manager on the desktop monitor is better for some of the things I am doing. There are several apps I use that aren’t available on the Mac yet (mainly Nomad Sculpt), but there are also some that I just prefer the iPad version of (like the Affinity apps). So I like to be able to use the monitor for my iPad sometimes to have more workspace in those apps. For that, I’ve thought about just getting an HDMI to USB-C cable, and just plug my iPad in and change input source on the monitor. 👍🏻.

I hope that helps make better sense of what I’m talking about doing. 👍🏻

But your periperal devices (keyboard and mouse) have nothing to do with supporting Universal Control... I was thinking perhaps you have an intel Mac Mini, but apparently Universal Control works on 2018 Mac Mini.

I enjoy using it with my setup. And I'm not advocating casting aside the use of your iPad, but using it in conjunction with the Mac.

 

[bondr006]

It's just another iPad they all do the same.

Boy, after 14 years of owning and using iPads, why didn't I think of that?😏 Not what I was asking though. I know full well what can be done with an iPad. Was just asking the people who know me here what they might do with an extra iPad. And BTW, they all may run iPad OS but they all can't do the same things.😉

 

[Kal Madda]

But your periperal devices (keyboard and mouse) have nothing to do with supporting Universal Control... I was thinking perhaps you have an intel Mac Mini, but apparently Universal Control works on 2018 Mac Mini.

I enjoy using it with my setup. And I'm not advocating casting aside the use of your iPad, but using it in conjunction with the Mac.

Oh, I know my Mac Mini should support it, it’s an M1. I thought Universal Control is where you can use one keyboard and mouse to control both your iPad and Mac. Maybe I misunderstood? I’ll have to look more into it and try some things out. 👍🏻.

PS, also, part of things is that my old MacBook that I replace with my iPad didn’t support Universal Control when it came out, so that may be part of why I don’t fully understand it and haven’t used it out of habit. I’ll look more into it and see if I can do what I’m wanting to do with it. 👍🏻

 

[Kal Madda]

But your periperal devices (keyboard and mouse) have nothing to do with supporting Universal Control... I was thinking perhaps you have an intel Mac Mini, but apparently Universal Control works on 2018 Mac Mini.

I enjoy using it with my setup. And I'm not advocating casting aside the use of your iPad, but using it in conjunction with the Mac.

I just looked it up, and according to Apple’s website it is about controlling your iPad and Mac with the same keyboard and trackpad. 👍🏻. You can drag and drop files and such between them, but I don’t think you can drag an iPad app window onto the Mac display. With SideCar you can extend the Mac’s display on the iPad, but it doesn’t work in the opposite direction (extending the iPad’s display on the Mac’s monitor), so I would want to switch input source on the monitor when I want to extend my iPad’s display on the desktop monitor, at least as far as I can tell. 👍🏻.

Universal Control does look like it would be handy for transferring files between my iPad and Mac Mini though. 👍🏻. I’ve been using AirDrop to transfer files, where a direct connection would be faster. And I have a Thunderbolt 3 cable I use to connect my iPad to my Mac Mini when I save local backups of my iPad on the Mac Mini. 👍🏻.

 

[Kal Madda]

It's just another iPad they all do the same.

Guy posts: “hey I got a hand-me-down Mac, what do you think I should do with it?”

Your answer: “It’s just another Mac, they all do the same.”

Come on, this is completely not helpful. And btw, as @bondr006 pointed out, not all iPads can do the same things. The iPad Pro’s can do many things that the base-model iPad’s can’t do, and things that Macs can’t even do…

 

[Ludatyk]

With SideCar you can extend the Mac’s display on the iPad, but it doesn’t work in the opposite direction (extending the iPad’s display on the Mac’s monitor), so I would want to switch input source on the monitor when I want to extend my iPad’s display on the desktop monitor, at least as far as I can tell. 👍🏻.

Yeah, I don't mess with SideCar... I actually prefer to use the iPad than to have it as a monitor.

Universal Control does look like it would be handy for transferring files between my iPad and Mac Mini though. 👍🏻. I’ve been using AirDrop to transfer files, where a direct connection would be faster. And I have a Thunderbolt 3 cable I use to connect my iPad to my Mac Mini when I save local backups of my iPad on the Mac Mini. 👍🏻.

Yeah, I was against Universal Control initially... this was on the heels of Apple announcing the M1 iPad Pro. And it was a lot of hype surrounding what will Apple do now that they placed the "Mac" chip into the iPad.

But once I started using it... I couldn't stop!

 

[Kal Madda]

Yeah, I don't mess with SideCar... I actually prefer to use the iPad than to have it as a monitor.


Yeah, I was against Universal Control initially... this was on the heels of Apple announcing the M1 iPad Pro. And it was a lot of hype surrounding what will Apple do now that they placed the "Mac" chip into the iPad.

But once I started using it... I couldn't stop!

Yeah, I don’t really use SideCar either.

I think Universal Control will definitely be useful for file transfers and some of those things. 👍🏻.

I did some more research, and I think I found what I’m looking for to easily switch the computers connected to my accessories like my monitor and drives. It’s called a KVM switch. Several of the KVM switches I’ve been looking at also function as a dock for connecting some drives and other accessories as well, so it would serve two purposes. I think it may be interesting to try a setup like that, that way I could more readily switch the device I’m using with my accessories. 👍🏻

 

[Silvestru Hosszu]

My last significant issue remains a desktop class browser.
I live in Europe, so in theory I should be able to use all kind of 3rd party stuff.
As much as I looked for a chromium based browser, I was not able to find one.
Do any of you know about one? Or for that matter any browser not built on webkit?

 

[Webcat86]

Sidecar is really useful…

It’s not about being a monitor, you can use the Pencil to draw/annotate on iPad and it appears on Mac (so if you’re on the Mac and want to sign something, Sidecar is great).

It has all sorts of use cases, well worth exploring.

 

[Kal Madda]

Sidecar is really useful…

It’s not about being a monitor, you can use the Pencil to draw/annotate on iPad and it appears on Mac (so if you’re on the Mac and want to sign something, Sidecar is great).

It has all sorts of use cases, well worth exploring.

Oh yeah, I’m not saying anything against SideCar, I just don’t have much use for it in my workflow because I use my iPad as my primary computer rather than a Mac. So I just draw or sign things directly on my iPad’s display. Really, the main things I end up using my Mac Mini for at this point are saving native backups of my iPad, managing some external drives so I can remote access them with my iPad like my own NAS/private cloud, and emulating some Windows games. I also have occasionally used the desktop Affinity apps on it, as well as blender and some other apps, but I don’t use them as often anymore, I generally find myself more productive on the iPad with the iPad versions and alternatives to these apps.

 

[Kal Madda]

My last significant issue remains a desktop class browser.
I live in Europe, so in theory I should be able to use all kind of 3rd party stuff.
As much as I looked for a chromium based browser, I was not able to find one.
Do any of you know about one? Or for that matter any browser not built on webkit?

I don’t, but I also live in the US, and I prefer Safari, so I don’t really know much about any chromium-based iPad browsers.

I’m not sure I’d say that Safari on iPadOS isn’t a desktop-class browser. I have a friend of mine who’s a web developer, and he used to exclusively use Chrome or chromium-based browsers, but now he’s using Safari on iPadOS for his web-development work. 👍🏻

But I do understand some people just prefer Chrome or chromium-based browsers. Not saying anything against anyone’s preferences.

 

[Ludatyk]

Sidecar is really useful…

It’s not about being a monitor, you can use the Pencil to draw/annotate on iPad and it appears on Mac (so if you’re on the Mac and want to sign something, Sidecar is great).

It has all sorts of use cases, well worth exploring.

Ultimately you are using it as a monitor. The option exist to be useful, so... of course it can be helpful in certain cases.

But as @Kal Madda pointed out... i can draw and sign things on the iPad itself. And when I'm done I can drag the file over to the Mac if I need to make final touches on it. I find more value out of Universal Control than Sidecar... but that's just me.

Oh yeah, I’m not saying anything against SideCar, I just don’t have much use for it in my workflow because I use my iPad as my primary computer rather than a Mac.

The iPad is my primary computer as well, it's my essential device... travel with it. I don't have an iPhone... so, it gives me access to Apple Ecosystem on the go.

It serves as a laptop for when I need to edit photos, videos or some documents... I enjoy using it with the Apple Pencil. I tend to throw this word around a lot... but it's true, the versatility is what keeps me attached to the iPad. But I'd be remiss not to say... the Mac has better functionality in terms of apps. I enjoy using Final Cut Pro, Photoshop and it allows me to download YT vids much easier.

That's why I like using both the Mac and iPad in tandem. As the meme goes...

 

[StoneJack]

Ultimately you are using it as a monitor. The option exist to be useful, so... of course it can be helpful in certain cases.

But as @Kal Madda pointed out... i can draw and sign things on the iPad itself. And when I'm done I can drag the file over to the Mac if I need to make final touches on it. I find more value out of Universal Control than Sidecar... but that's just me.


The iPad is my primary computer as well, it's my essential device... travel with it. I don't have an iPhone... so, it gives me access to Apple Ecosystem on the go.

It serves as a laptop for when I need to edit photos, videos or some documents... I enjoy using it with the Apple Pencil. I tend to throw this word around a lot... but it's true, the versatility is what keeps me attached to the iPad. But I'd be remiss not to say... the Mac has better functionality in terms of apps. I enjoy using Final Cut Pro, Photoshop and it allows me to download YT vids much easier.

That's why I like using both the Mac and iPad in tandem. As the meme goes...

View attachment 2465387

ultimately that was Apple's goal

 

[Kal Madda]

ultimately that was Apple's goal

I disagree. Apple has made it very easy to use just an iPad or just a Mac if one wishes. While there are some slight differences in functionality between iPadOS and macOS, they’re increasingly niche. I think the main reason that iPadOS and macOS aren’t fully converged yet is that macOS is built on more legacy code while Apple wants to build iPadOS on a more modern and secure foundation, and that macOS is less secure than iPadOS. I think this also makes sense of why Apple keeps integrating newer iPadOS type security measures into macOS. I think eventually macOS will be more modernized and will fit better into the rest of the Apple ecosystem. I think the app ecosystem will become more unified, and Mac apps may even run natively on visionOS and iPadOS. Both macOS and iPadOS will remain separate platforms with separate optimizations, but I believe they’ll share most of the same features and functionality and app ecosystem.

Already this is mostly true. Mainly the differentiators at this point are more niche edge-cases.

 

[StoneJack]

I disagree. Apple has made it very easy to use just an iPad or just a Mac if one wishes. While there are some slight differences in functionality between iPadOS and macOS, they’re increasingly niche. I think the main reason that iPadOS and macOS aren’t fully converged yet is that macOS is built on more legacy code while Apple wants to build iPadOS on a more modern and secure foundation, and that macOS is less secure than iPadOS. I think this also makes sense of why Apple keeps integrating newer iPadOS type security measures into macOS. I think eventually macOS will be more modernized and will fit better into the rest of the Apple ecosystem. I think the app ecosystem will become more unified, and Mac apps may even run natively on visionOS and iPadOS. Both macOS and iPadOS will remain separate platforms with separate optimizations, but I believe they’ll share most of the same features and functionality and app ecosystem.

Already this is mostly true. Mainly the differentiators at this point are more niche edge-cases

business is to sell a device
business genius is to sell millions of devices
business genius at Earth's most expensive company is to sell almost same devices to a same person repeatedly over the years