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iPad as a laptop replacement
- Thread starter Omar Comin' Yo
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I use FileBrowser for Business (more server related features and extra PDF functions), but the regular one is sufficient for regular users:
FileBrowser: Documents Manager
Use your iPad or iPhone to connect to your home computers, network drives and cloud storage. Easily upload/download/copy files and folders from one location to another, and browse your content using a variety of built-in viewers. *** FileBrowser remains the best option if you're looking for a...
apps.apple.com
Can you provide some details, e.g., storage format, iOS version, how copies are made, etc.? I ask as I had a long thread on this issue and tests I did -
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/file-corruption-on-copy-to-external-storage.2235171/
I also only use FileBrowser for external storage work but in re-running my tests on Files in 14.2, the corruption problem looked fixed.
I select multiple photos or files and send them to the external hard drive through the files app which is formatted as FAT32. IOS is the latest version.
After the transfer is complete some of the photos are corrupt, it does not matter how many times i try the results are always the same.
I understand the attraction to going iPad only. It might feel like a minimalist or simplifying solution. But, for me, it's hard to beat a MBA plus iPhone for simplicity and economy.
For example, you can find the M1 MBA on sale for $900. An iPad Pro 12.9 (for similar screen real estate) with 256 GB is $1,100, plus the Apple Magic Keyboard for $350. That's $1,450. And, we haven't added the pencil for $130. Sure, you might be able to shave $100-$200 off the price on sale. But, it is still going to be much more expensive than the M1 MBA. You could probably add a new iPhone SE with the difference. Then, you are set with a great new MacBook and iPhone.
I am not saying that this is the right answer for everyone. I am sure there are people that would prefer the iPad Pro. However, I do agree with others who point out the M1 MBA really does make the iPad only option a bit more difficult to justify.
For example, you can find the M1 MBA on sale for $900. An iPad Pro 12.9 (for similar screen real estate) with 256 GB is $1,100, plus the Apple Magic Keyboard for $350. That's $1,450. And, we haven't added the pencil for $130. Sure, you might be able to shave $100-$200 off the price on sale. But, it is still going to be much more expensive than the M1 MBA. You could probably add a new iPhone SE with the difference. Then, you are set with a great new MacBook and iPhone.
I am not saying that this is the right answer for everyone. I am sure there are people that would prefer the iPad Pro. However, I do agree with others who point out the M1 MBA really does make the iPad only option a bit more difficult to justify.
iPad Pro is where the exciting things are happening. New apps and experiences are being developed all the time. macOS is a legacy platform with very little happening in terms of software development. The indie dev scene for macOS is still more vibrant than Windows, which is basically a graveyard now, but the future of Mac is undoubtedly iPad Pro.
A month or two ago, I would have agreed with this. But now that I have some time with M1 and Big Sur, I no longer do. The Mac is finally exciting again, in my opinion. I think developers are going to agree.
We'll see. I don't expect much to change on the Mac in terms of software. All the interesting and innovative stuff will continue happening on iOS/iPadOS. The Mac getting a new M1 processor doesn't change much.
I've definitely seen a bunch of iPad users in here getting overexcited about the new M1 Macs. I believe that's just trying to justify to themselves the need to buy a shiny new Apple product. There's nothing wrong with this, but the Mac hasn't suddenly become a relevant platform again for anything more than a tiny niche audience.
I'll happily admit I got this completely wrong if in 2021-2022 Mac adoption soars and iPad sales slump.
I don’t think it needs to be either/or though. iPad sales are going to continue to improve because that new iPad Air 4 is a beast, and the A14z iPad Pro is going to excite people as well.
At the same time, the Mac can now pick up the pace again now that it’s not limited by Intel’s lack of progress. Apple would not have gone to all this trouble if there weren’t big plans for the Mac on the horizon.
The growth could just be because Mac is a mature platform and iPad is still an adolescent. It could easily just be coming into its own rather than replacing Mac. But it also depends on what one means by replacing Mac. Steve’s original vision was to replace Macs and PCs for personal use for most people. Not for everyone, and not for enterprise. I think that is still the goal. We’ll see if it is ever reached.
Is the iPad really where exciting things are happening? I’d actually say that its the opposite.
The concept of a “Pro iPad” had potential but in 5 years of iPad Pro then progress has become so stagnant that even the most basic $299 iPad has reached feature parity with the “Pro” version. And that is mostly due to minimal effort from Apple and an over-reliance on 3rd party software to push the platform forward or to clone the missing 1st party software. Despite the amazing processor leaps, the iPad Pro has been a neglected platform.
And that is most evident when you look at the M1 Mac launch where Apple has clearly been putting its effort. On Day1 the M1 Mac got optimized versions of Pro Apple as well as the roots for future iOS Apps on Mac. While iPad reviews show off iPad power with Geekbench scores and made up stories of "potential", M1 reviews show off power with full featured apps doing real world tasks on fully developed software that exist right now.
As a huge iPad fan then I hate to say it but the Mac future seems to have a roadmap while the iPad seems to be stuck where it's been. (Note: That isn't a bad thing. Being in a comfortable place just isn't "exciting")
I mean......yeah, pretty much. It's not to say iPads aren't awesome. I love iPads and still think they're great productivity options, especially for artists. I doubt I'll go forever without owning one again. The iPad has really brought itself out of the doldrums in the last few years with new Pro models, new accessories, and new functionality. It truly is a modular computer that can be whatever you need it to be.
But after a few months of owning the 12.9" iPad Pro, which is the minimum screen size I really need for a lot of the creativity apps I use, I started to realize that the modularity comes with a price. And I don't just mean that it's more expensive than the entry level M1 MBA. You also pay a price in thermal envelope, weight, thickness, and general portability once you add all the accessories that make it into a laptop style device. That didn't feel like a sustainable way to work once I found out what these new Macs were all about, and I decided to switch back to full time Mac for productivity.
I did this once before, and regretted it within a week. That has not happened so far this time. To me, the M1 MBA is a much more streamlined and powerful productivity device than my 12.9" iPad Pro was just due to the new silicon as well as the vast improvements I feel have been made in Big Sur. Heck, it's even making my 2019 15" MacBook Pro from work run better and boot up faster than it was, even without the new Apple Silicon.
I thought I needed the biggest iPad Pro because I thought my workload would benefit from the big screen. But the more I tried to do the “iPad as a computer replacement” thing the more I started seeing an issue with having laptop size/weight/price but not full laptop functionality.
That all changed when I downgraded to an Pro11/Magic Keyboard and I absolutely love this combo and it has finally found it’s spot in my workflow. The iPad is no longer responsible for replacing a laptop and now it partners with it. I still am willing to pay the price for modularity so that the iPad could fully replace my Mac, but I just dont think Apple is willing to go there.
Arguably, this has always been the design intent of the iPad. Folks, of course, try innovative ways to use the iPad to replace their laptops, but their efforts - for the most part - remain sub-optimal not because of any lack of trying on their parts, but because of the intent of the iPad design.
That said, it is also true that the computational requirements of many people is quite rudimentary. For them, an iPad and phone could serve well. So, for this group, the iPad can indeed serve as a primary computing device.
I think the difference between 2010 and now though is that in 2010 the biggest screen iPhone was the iPhone 4. In 2020 the biggest screen iPhone isn’t a ton smaller than the iPad mini. So you have devices like the iPad getting squeezed on both sides. Not everyone likes the huge phones of course, but I always get the biggest one, and it makes it the much more tempting couch surfing device.
I would say the iPad was introduced as a supplemental device with the hope that it would eventually become the primary device for most people’s personal computing needs. But it’s been a slow and rocky road.
Apple does their fair share of muddying the waters in this regard. And rightly so--they put a lot of effort into both the Mac and the iPad. Some years have felt like the iPad just gained a bunch of features that the Mac used to have to itself, and some years it feels like the Mac takes big steps toward the user friendliness of the iPad.
But that's just talking about the software stuff. This year I feel like the Mac one-upped the iPad in both software AND hardware. The user experience of Big Sur running on the M1 Mac is something really special. I don't know how else to describe it. I haven't been this excited about the Mac in a very long time, and it has been enough to take me away from the iPad Pro for the foreseeable future.
I can’t agree that the iPad is stagnant of development when only this year Apple has added trackpad support and Scribble and made various improvements to the interface. Not to talk of introducing the Magic Keyboard.
I think if an iPad can be a laptop replacement mainly depends on what the user requires. I think for most people using for web browsing, video watching, emailing, document creating, use of simple spreadsheets, photo editing, gaming, etc the iPad is quite sufficient and is a realistic laptop replacement. Obviously there are people that require to carry out more complex tasks for which the iPad (or at least iPadOS) is not sufficient, but as Jobs presented they are the truck drivers, while most people only require cars.
Dont forget the iPad can also be used in ways the laptop cannot in tablet mode, with Apple Pencil, to scan documents, access the internet via LTE, etc. I use mine to play music and video of concerts for which a laptop would not be suitable.
The new M1 MacBook is simply taking the more advanced chips of the iPad and iPhone and applying to the laptop - but for me unless Apple adds touch to the MacBook I am sticking firmly with the iPad Pro as my main computer device. Touch to me feels instinctive and the future and the iPad does 99% of what I require in a more direct and enjoyable way.
I think if an iPad can be a laptop replacement mainly depends on what the user requires. I think for most people using for web browsing, video watching, emailing, document creating, use of simple spreadsheets, photo editing, gaming, etc the iPad is quite sufficient and is a realistic laptop replacement. Obviously there are people that require to carry out more complex tasks for which the iPad (or at least iPadOS) is not sufficient, but as Jobs presented they are the truck drivers, while most people only require cars.
Dont forget the iPad can also be used in ways the laptop cannot in tablet mode, with Apple Pencil, to scan documents, access the internet via LTE, etc. I use mine to play music and video of concerts for which a laptop would not be suitable.
The new M1 MacBook is simply taking the more advanced chips of the iPad and iPhone and applying to the laptop - but for me unless Apple adds touch to the MacBook I am sticking firmly with the iPad Pro as my main computer device. Touch to me feels instinctive and the future and the iPad does 99% of what I require in a more direct and enjoyable way.
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Chalk up an experience where had a weird iPad problem (more of Microsoft's though) not able to "replace" my laptop.
For work, I had to fill out an HR training form that's a Microsoft Word document. I opened up the document from Outlook and sent it to Microsoft Word app. I have Office 365 account so I proceeded to try to edit the document, but couldn't get some thing like the checkboxes "checked". I said "screw it" and used my Apple Pencil clone to handwrite and fill out the form. Sent it back to HR, who said the form I sent back was blank on her side. I checked the attachment I sent back in Microsoft Outlook app, and the formatting was all wrong (compared to the Microsoft Word app)... Luckily in the end, HR said I didn't need to refill out the form.. I was about to take out my laptop. This should be more of a Microsoft problem..but not sure why this problem even happened..
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For work, I had to fill out an HR training form that's a Microsoft Word document. I opened up the document from Outlook and sent it to Microsoft Word app. I have Office 365 account so I proceeded to try to edit the document, but couldn't get some thing like the checkboxes "checked". I said "screw it" and used my Apple Pencil clone to handwrite and fill out the form. Sent it back to HR, who said the form I sent back was blank on her side. I checked the attachment I sent back in Microsoft Outlook app, and the formatting was all wrong (compared to the Microsoft Word app)... Luckily in the end, HR said I didn't need to refill out the form.. I was about to take out my laptop. This should be more of a Microsoft problem..but not sure why this problem even happened..
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I like this Macstories article where the writer likens the iPad to a naked robotic core.
Modular Computer: iPad Pro as a Tablet, Laptop, and Desktop Workstation
When I started my iPad-only journey in 2012, I was stuck in a hospital bed and couldn’t use my Mac. It’s a story I’ve told many times before: I had to figure out a way to get work done without a Mac, and I realized the iPad – despite its limited ecosystem of apps and
www.macstories.net
The value of the iPad continues to be that it is this naked slab of glass that can be made into whatever you want it to be by connecting to the right peripherals. What other MacBook allows you to swap out the keyboards on a whim, or even remove the keyboard altogether and use it in portrait mode? Or walk around with inbuilt cellular connectivity, or create shortcuts, or annotate with a stylus?
The Mac got a much needed boost with the M1 chip, and I am not complaining (I am typing this from my M1 MBA right now), but I believe that when Steve Jobs said the iPad would be the car and the Mac would be the pickup truck, I think he too envisioned a future where it was 90% iOS and 10% OS X (as he called it then).
Getting there is only a matter of time. And probably sooner than later.
I still believe.
In a sense, I agree. It is also one reason why I consider the iPad futuristic. It’s because, it can operate as a thin client quite like what we see in good sci fi movies. Of course, the presumes a ubiquitous computing environment which we don’t have yet, but we are getting there.I like this Macstories article where the writer likens the iPad to a naked robotic core.
Modular Computer: iPad Pro as a Tablet, Laptop, and Desktop Workstation
When I started my iPad-only journey in 2012, I was stuck in a hospital bed and couldn’t use my Mac. It’s a story I’ve told many times before: I had to figure out a way to get work done without a Mac, and I realized the iPad – despite its limited ecosystem of apps and
The value of the iPad continues to be that it is this naked slab of glass that can be made into whatever you want it to be by connecting to the right peripherals. What other MacBook allows you to swap out the keyboards on a whim, or even remove the keyboard altogether and use it in portrait mode? Or walk around with inbuilt cellular connectivity, or create shortcuts, or annotate with a stylus?
The Mac got a much needed boost with the M1 chip, and I am not complaining (I am typing this from my M1 MBA right now), but I believe that when Steve Jobs said the iPad would be the car and the Mac would be the pickup truck, I think he too envisioned a future where it was 90% iOS and 10% OS X (as he called it then).
Getting there is only a matter of time. And probably sooner than later.
I still believe.
With the M1, what is very clear for me now is that the iPad is just a different device. Now with the M1, the iPad cannot be a better traditional laptop as it has now lost its advantage on thermals, battery life, instant-on or the performance per watt. The M1 Air really feels like an iPad as a daily carry.
But even with the M1, the iPad still feels faster because of its OS. Touch is instinctive and the direct input of the finger still beats a large trackpad in terms of interacting with the computer. The Apple Pencil is something a Mac laptop will never have.
The M1 really showed a faster, better, implementation of a traditional computer which is still very fun but not really as compelling as an iPad.
And actually the M1 made it clearer that the iPad is the main candidate replacement for the modern computer, whatever that will look like in 5 years.
But even with the M1, the iPad still feels faster because of its OS. Touch is instinctive and the direct input of the finger still beats a large trackpad in terms of interacting with the computer. The Apple Pencil is something a Mac laptop will never have.
The M1 really showed a faster, better, implementation of a traditional computer which is still very fun but not really as compelling as an iPad.
And actually the M1 made it clearer that the iPad is the main candidate replacement for the modern computer, whatever that will look like in 5 years.
Well said.
I want to add that there will be no more laptop for my use case.
Used to be MacBook Pro for home, office and mobile computer (meetings with clients). Now, the iPad Pro is my mobile computer (occasional offline meetings with clients). As for home usage, I will be adding a Mac Mini or future M1 iMac for more power.
Been using iPad Pro only as my main computer for 4 months now, and the iPad OS intuitive UI sometimes eerily brought along with my muscle memory whenever I need to open up my Macbook Pro, such as tapping the upper edge of the screen to access top page on numerous of apps, slideover to access my spotify and messenger app, swipe three fingers up on the trackpad to go to home screen, etc.