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iPad as a laptop replacement

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Beanoir said:
I know you want to be correct, but you are wrong.

I have learnt enough in life that some keyboard warriors just will never admit, despite the facts, to their being wrong.

A fully (or even close to) functional version of MS Excel is architecturally impossible in iPadOS - that is not my opinion, it is fact.
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Saying I’m wrong doesn’t make it so… And you have failed to address all of the issues with said claims, such as the web versions being just as gimped, and even the Mac versions being gimped…

Nothing in iPadOS prevent Microsoft from delivering BASIC features like custom document templates, inserting images from Files or OneDrive, etc…. Not even close… But go ahead, keep on trying to make excuses for Microsoft’s anti-customer policies…
 
Beanoir said:
I know you want to be correct, but you are wrong.

I have learnt enough in life that some keyboard warriors just will never admit, despite the facts, to their being wrong.

A fully (or even close to) functional version of MS Excel is architecturally impossible in iPadOS - that is not my opinion, it is fact.
Click to expand...
Not 100% feature equivalence, no, but you’re using that as a straw-man to avoid admitting that Microsoft is withholding BASIC features SOME OF WHICH EXIST IN OTHER MICROSOFT IPAD APPS for no good reason.
 
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Meedoss said:
Horrible connected to a studio display v my MacBook, square box lol fisher price toy
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iPad Air and iPad Pro support extended display (which fills the display and is an additional display space just like a Mac). Any iPad with an M-series chip has supported this for several years now…
 
So, basically since the original iPad Pro was released, I saw the iPad as the future of computing and dreamed of replacing my laptop with it. I made half-hearted attempts with my iPad Pro 10.5, but I felt it was too small and the software was too lacking at the time. There wasn’t even mouse support then.

Finally, when the M1 iPad Pro came out, I bought my first 12.9” with Magic Keyboard and Apple Pencil. I managed to go iPad-only for over a year. But I came to dislike the experience so much that I went iPad-less for another year or so until the M4 iPad Pro came (I had wanted OLED for years). I went back to the 11” size and swore I’d stop trying to force my iPad to be what it wasn’t meant to be. No more large size, keyboard, or trackpad, just the pure iPad + Pencil experience.

Fast forward to iPadOS 26. I hated it during the beta. I hated that my decade of muscle memory for simple multitasking (dragging and dropping an app from dock to split screen, and swipe from side for slide over) was now gone and I was being forced to manage a bunch of floating windows I didn’t want. Or take a bunch of extra steps to do things that used to take me much fewer steps. I felt like Apple succumbed to the keyboard users at the expense of pure iPad users.

With iPadOS 26 being out for a month and the M5 iPad Pro being released, I felt like I needed to just get with the times and upgrade to 26 since it was inevitable anyways. Going in knowing what to expect and with an open mind made me appreciate it more than when I was on the beta, but I felt this nagging curiosity about what it’d be like with the Magic Keyboard.

I got an open box Magic Keyboard at Best Buy for 40% off yet indistinguishable from brand new. And, in summary, I think this 11” M4 iPad Pro + Magic Keyboard + Apple Pencil + iPadOS 26 combination might just be my favorite Apple product ever (though it’s hard to compete with the once groundbreaking iPhone).

I think it’s been a combination of things. First, the 12.9” size ruined what I loved about the iPad because it was too big to be an enjoyable tablet for me, yet it was a much worse laptop. Second, the software improvements since 2021-2022 and especially iPadOS 26 have made a huge difference. Third, my needs have changed where I don’t need as large as a laptop screen as I used to.

It is so amazing to have a device that is so portable and lightweight, yet so powerful and fast and with a gorgeous OLED screen. It can handle pretty much everything I need to do daily, and I can plug it into my monitor if I really need to multitask. I think I can officially say that this has fully replaced my laptop. And I’m so much more delighted than I ever even thought I could be. I almost feel like a kid again or like when the iPad was a new product where I want to explore all the things I can do with it and try out new hobbies just to see what’s possible. It feels fun. I will keep my MacBook around for those obscure things that I need MacOS for once in a blue moon, but I don’t know that I will need to buy a Mac again after this. And if I do, it will likely just be a low-end Mac Mini.
 
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Meedoss said:
try it on a 27" Studio Display. looks so bad.
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This doesn’t “look so bad”… 🙄 I use mine quite frequently with a 27” desktop display, and it’s a great experience.
 

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Kal Madda said:
I will point out though, AI often gets this stuff wrong, often I’ve had to basically argue with it on basics like which version of iOS is current. I’ve been told by several AI models that the current version is a very old version like iOS 15, 13, etc… So we should take such AI answers with a heavy dose of salt…

Also, some of the claims made here by the AI don’t pass muster. For example, it claims “App multitasking, file system access, and memory management are more restricted.”. And? Even if this were true (it isn’t really because multitasking is basically literally the same as macOS with iPadOS 26, and has been similar enough to macOS for many years, file system access is only really different in terms of OS system-level files, not user-generated files, etc.), none of these alleged limitations would have any impact on probably around at least 90% of the missing features in MS Office on the iPad… The OS’s multitasking system has zero to do with custom document templates, for example… Heck, I can’t think of a single MS Office feature that relies on OS multitasking in the first place…

Microsoft has even said that they want to keep the iPad Office experience a “light, viewer primary” experience… So, in other words, artificially kneecapped…

And this still doesn’t account for their similar gimping of their web version with nearly the exact same set of limitations. Hmmm, maybe that isn’t a coincidence that it’s also limited in about all the same ways…

Also, this would be one thing if the native versions were limited, but the web versions were fully functional (or at the very least FAR closer), as many in a work environment could use the web app. In fact, that would be near ideal, as it could be used on ANY platform of choice with full or near full feature parity. But Microsoft very purposefully does not do that. And they could just about do whatever they wanted with the web version…

This clearly is an intentional tactic of Microsoft to push sales of Windows and Surface Pro… The facts simply don’t support the idea that “Microsoft would really love to give us iPad users full MS Office, but mean old Apple just won’t let them”…. Because Microsoft doesn’t want to give ANYONE on ANY platform other than Windows full MS Office, including Mac and Web users…
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Totally agree, that AI summary wasn't good. It was too vague and didn't define any of its terms. It just throws some vague assumptions that are a combination of blindingly obvious or nebulous.
 
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Meedoss said:
I must be doing something wrong then with display settings then
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When connected to an external display, go to “Display & Brightness” in Settings. There should be options for the connected external display. You’ll want extended display, not mirrored, so make sure that the display is set as extended. Hopefully that will help! 👍🏻
 
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