Umm my full tower has 5 swappable bay's...Front loading 3.5" hot swap drive bays. I have no desire to go back to a Full ATX tower with internal drive bays.
I've got Plex Media Server running on the desktop but use the Synology NAS for bulk storage.
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
iPad as a laptop replacement
- Thread starter Omar Comin' Yo
- WikiPost WikiPost
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
- Status
Sure but a 5-bay Synology (or other commercial NAS) is a fraction of the size. Plus, it's turn-key. I've got a crap ton of computer hardware that I never got around to building due to lack of time and energy.
True but it's not as powerful and flexible as a custom desktop tower.
Maybe not but I've got an E-ATX motherboard, Xeon CPU and HBA controller cards still in their box that I was planning on using for an unRAID server that I never got around to building. They're pretty much outclassed by 15W TDP CPUs now. With higher drive densities, I no longer need 8-15-bay setups.
I'm not quite at the point of simplifying where I'm willing to be totally reliant on Apple for repairs for soldered everything Apple Silicon Macs. However, I've foregone completely custom ATX/mATX/M-ITX builds for Intel NUCs. Now, I just pop in RAM + SSD, install the OS and it's good to go.
I have an unraid but have never bothered updating to v6 and each time there is an issue it’s a pain to administer and family I just don’t want to invest the time anymore. Combined with the low performance I need a separate tiny PC as a Plex server for transcoding
seriously considering buying a Nas with enough power to be a server and simplify my setup dramatically
Bringing it to the topic - what *is* a laptop? For many it’s still windows/OS X/Linux and file system access and command line tool etc. For many many others it has become more of an appliance. You do things with it and those things are increasingly prepackaged apps or even browser based. For a lot of people an iPad does that well and can totally be a full computer/laptop. I’m already 99% there with only occasional edge cases needing access to my windows pc
seriously considering buying a Nas with enough power to be a server and simplify my setup dramatically
Bringing it to the topic - what *is* a laptop? For many it’s still windows/OS X/Linux and file system access and command line tool etc. For many many others it has become more of an appliance. You do things with it and those things are increasingly prepackaged apps or even browser based. For a lot of people an iPad does that well and can totally be a full computer/laptop. I’m already 99% there with only occasional edge cases needing access to my windows pc
I have no use for a laptop after using the iPP with the MKB. I tried a bunch of Windows machines and image quality was crappy on 99.9% of them and the only one that was anywhere close to the iPP was a 4K laptop that cost me nearly $1,000 anyways. I’ve never owned a MacBook, but I’m not familiar with MacOS for one thing, and I have found the iPP to be suitable for everything I need to do on a laptop.
That’s not the case for everybody, but I’m glad I can say it’s the case for me because I love the iPP. When I first got my 2018 iPP I was blown away with the utter quality of everything, but I thought for years I needed a Windows laptop for my graphic design and I figured out recently with the iPad Air 4 that wasn’t true whatsoever. I can do better, easier work on the iPad platform.
That’s not the case for everybody, but I’m glad I can say it’s the case for me because I love the iPP. When I first got my 2018 iPP I was blown away with the utter quality of everything, but I thought for years I needed a Windows laptop for my graphic design and I figured out recently with the iPad Air 4 that wasn’t true whatsoever. I can do better, easier work on the iPad platform.
So good to hear that! I have a high-performance Win desktop to run all the instructional design/graphic design/whatnot apps. Now, that I'm waiting for my first iPad Pro, the M1 one, I am thinking of installing the apps on it too. Will see how they all work, especially when multitasking. Been an iPad person for a long time but somehow, this will be my first iPP
Cannot wait for it to arrive. So excited!
I used to have an 11.8-inch MBA and 10.5-inch iPad Pro, but now the 11-inch iPad Pro w/ Magic Keyboard has replaced them both. I am a minimalist at heart and can’t tell you how nice it is to only have 1 device that I carry around which can double as both a laptop and a tablet.
I’m not a content creator (only a consumer) so my laptop uses are pretty basic: Youtube / Netflix watching, browsing the web via Safari, Reddit browsing via Apollo, Kindle e-book reading, Word / Excel documents, etc. The great thing about having an iPad, is that the YouTube & Netflix apps allow you to download videos for offline viewing while I’m at work and don‘t have a great internet connection. Also while the Kindle app on the MacBook is god awful, on the iPad it is amazing due to the Audible integration where you can have the audio portion of the e-book play while visually reading it on the the Kindle app.
I’m absolutely in love with the Magic Keyboard which has finally tied the whole experience together and was 100% worth the $199 I paid for it. It’s also fantastic finally having a laptop with FaceID for seamless unlocking and password auto-filling. This is basically everything I’ve wanted in a laptop / tablet combo since the iPad was first introduced. I can see myself keeping this combination for a long LONG time in the future ?
I’m not a content creator (only a consumer) so my laptop uses are pretty basic: Youtube / Netflix watching, browsing the web via Safari, Reddit browsing via Apollo, Kindle e-book reading, Word / Excel documents, etc. The great thing about having an iPad, is that the YouTube & Netflix apps allow you to download videos for offline viewing while I’m at work and don‘t have a great internet connection. Also while the Kindle app on the MacBook is god awful, on the iPad it is amazing due to the Audible integration where you can have the audio portion of the e-book play while visually reading it on the the Kindle app.
I’m absolutely in love with the Magic Keyboard which has finally tied the whole experience together and was 100% worth the $199 I paid for it. It’s also fantastic finally having a laptop with FaceID for seamless unlocking and password auto-filling. This is basically everything I’ve wanted in a laptop / tablet combo since the iPad was first introduced. I can see myself keeping this combination for a long LONG time in the future ?
Last edited:
A couple of years ago, I started to take a preference to tablets for portability and versatility, so I bought the iPad Pro and started to use it as my daily driver. I left my MacBook Pro 16 in the drawer to see how far I could go without it. It wasn’t easy at first as I had to do things a little differently on the iPad Pro. After a while though, I was able to work out my work flow and things started to become smoother from there on.
In short, the iPad Pro has been able to replace my MacBook Pro, albeit with some compromises. I didn’t see the iPad Pro as a direct replacement for my MacBook Pro but as a portable and versatile device that offered other benefits while still allowing me to do the work I did with my MacBook Pro. I eventually sold my MacBook Pro.
The iPad can’t or won’t be a laptop replacement for everyone. It really depends on one’s use case and will also require changes in one’s work flow. More importantly, there will be some compromises to make. In my case, those compromises weren’t too much, so it worked out for me.
In short, the iPad Pro has been able to replace my MacBook Pro, albeit with some compromises. I didn’t see the iPad Pro as a direct replacement for my MacBook Pro but as a portable and versatile device that offered other benefits while still allowing me to do the work I did with my MacBook Pro. I eventually sold my MacBook Pro.
The iPad can’t or won’t be a laptop replacement for everyone. It really depends on one’s use case and will also require changes in one’s work flow. More importantly, there will be some compromises to make. In my case, those compromises weren’t too much, so it worked out for me.
I love the Audible/Kindle Whispersync feature across my devices! Coming from Kindle to S5e to iPad Pro 12.9, it will be interesting to see how well it performs as an oversized eBook reader. No one hand use for sure. Really recommend pillow stand for bed/lap reading/viewing, surprisingly fast shipping (actually the first accessory I got for the new iPP).
Last edited:
Outside of the enthusiast world? Not a chance. The fact that we’re still having this dialogue is proof that it’s not quite there. Are there professionals that use this as a supplemental device? Yup. Maybe even some that *only* use an iPad Pro? Sure… (although I’d argue that those who do content creation for a living are not)
I dislike how we’re so eager to label it a laptop replacement, yet give the iPad such a pass on obvious workarounds because “it’s still an iPad.”
Put it next to a MacBook or a decent Windows laptop and see who gets more work done in an efficient manner..
For me, it’s a glorious consumption device and great at very light word processing etc. It’s an an amazing supplemental device IMO.
Every year we get the same “Look what it can do!!,” and people seem to intentionally gloss over all the things it can’t do or the work arounds required to “show what it can do.”
I also think there’s a decent amount of “iPad Pro warriors” desperate to convince everyone it’s a computer. It may be for you, the rest of the world? Nope.
WWDC better deliver. A decked out iPad Pro (with keyboard and pencil) cost 5-600$ MORE than a decked out M1 MacBook Pro. Confusing times.
Anyway, mine should be here in the next week or two.
I dislike how we’re so eager to label it a laptop replacement, yet give the iPad such a pass on obvious workarounds because “it’s still an iPad.”
Put it next to a MacBook or a decent Windows laptop and see who gets more work done in an efficient manner..
For me, it’s a glorious consumption device and great at very light word processing etc. It’s an an amazing supplemental device IMO.
Every year we get the same “Look what it can do!!,” and people seem to intentionally gloss over all the things it can’t do or the work arounds required to “show what it can do.”
I also think there’s a decent amount of “iPad Pro warriors” desperate to convince everyone it’s a computer. It may be for you, the rest of the world? Nope.
WWDC better deliver. A decked out iPad Pro (with keyboard and pencil) cost 5-600$ MORE than a decked out M1 MacBook Pro. Confusing times.
Anyway, mine should be here in the next week or two.
That last line though ??
A very good post, it echoes my sentiment. If an iPad is able to run a full fledged computer OS then it's a true replacement. It's as simple as that. The ONLY tablets I have seen which are true desktop replacements are from Microsoft and Lenovo.
With the M1 chips in the Pro I feel confident there will be a way to put full fledged Mac OS on the iPad then we can revisit this conversation.
Honestly see many more people trying to say it’s not a ‘real’ computer than those saying it is.
And the expensive is related to the form factor. A MacBook Air is also more expensive than a Mac Mini.
Speaking of which, looking at American prices, a maxed iPad Pro with 16GBs, 2TB storage, and 5G is $100 more than a maxed M1 MacBook Pro 13” with the same storage and RAM.
I would disagree a little. I think a certain group of people are trying to bring a reality check to the table in regards to it being a laptop replacement. I don’t get the form form factor aspect, my point was MacOS and a “full fledged computer” cost less than an iPad. Also, let’s not act like the keyboard and pencil aren’t “required” for the iPad Pro. That’s where my 500$ more comment came from.
If someone says it replaced their laptop, it’s a laptop replacement. Just let it be instead of Mac-splaining how they’re wrong.
The ‘full fledged’ OS argument was used against people who went all in on Linux and Macs when the third party software support was lacking. There are plenty of long term Mac users who were told to get a ‘real OS’ like Windows.
And accessories from Apple are not mandatory. You have much cheaper third party mouse and keyboard options, easily skipping the Pencil and still have a laptop experience and a tablet.
Right, never said it wasn’t. I’m speaking towards this idea that it’s an “obvious laptop replacement.” It’s not, severe workarounds and severe limitations.
- Virtualization
- Format external drives
- Non-crappy Files app
- Better multimonitor support
- Background processing
- Multiple apps on screen
- Vertical split
- 3 apps split in iPhone size
- A floating mini player for audio like in the old iTunes
- xCode and Pro apps
- Multiple audio inputs and outputs
Then you live in a different world than I do, because the vast majority of the people I know do fine without most of the things you listed, even if they are on a traditional computer.
And most iPad enthusiasts say it works for themselves and acknowledge limitations. No thread here or elsewhere pushes this ‘obvious laptop replacement’ agenda you state without pushback from all sides.
Anecdotes aside, nothing I said was anything too crazy, mostly rudimentary tasks. “Enthusiast” aren’t a good representation of the average person. I see a lot of “I know someone” or “I do this and that, therefore it must be a computer for everyone!” Of commentary. We’re changing the definition of “computer” so the iPad can’t fit in. Not how that works.
The iPad replaced my home laptop but has a huge way to go before it’s powerful enough to replace my work laptop. At home I generally surf the internet and consume media, so an iPad is perfect. I’ve been using an iPad instead of a laptop at home since 2013.
I can’t ever see an iPad completely replacing a laptop to be honest. It’s a complimentary sort of device.
I can’t ever see an iPad completely replacing a laptop to be honest. It’s a complimentary sort of device.
I’d be curious if you could point out a thread where anyone said the bolded statement.
And as for changing the definition of what’s a computer, I respectfully disagree. People are gatekeeping the term, trying to own it for their use cases (the list in your previous post is an example).
Computers range from very narrow use cases, to very broad. The iPad is a computer. It may or may not be a laptop or desktop replacement depending on your needs. And that is exactly how that works.
Could a laptop replace an iPad?
The device has way more features, but doesn’t support legacy tech. If you use legacy tech, you need a device designed for legacy tech.
The device has way more features, but doesn’t support legacy tech. If you use legacy tech, you need a device designed for legacy tech.
Huh? I don’t know many laptops that are attempting to dethrone the iPad lol So anything the iPad can’t do is now “legacy” tech? Let me know when the iPad can format an external drive or handle background tasks
Very well said. I think the iPad being a laptop replacement is something that is being pushed by people who are having the most first-world of all first-world problems - how to make an 800 dollar device do the work nearly as well as a 1000-dollar device. Apple did the "What's a computer" PR campaign and some people got on the bandwagon, most of those people being Youtubers who have an interest in pushing this nonsense. How many videos have been made about the iPad replacing a laptop? Youtubers have been milking that topic since 2018.
For me, the idea has always been ridiculous because what is usually ignored is the type of work a person does on a device. Whenever this topic comes up, it's mostly because the new iPad has gained in computing power instead of workflow improvements. I work in the field of law so you can probably imagine that I don't use LumaFusion or whatever those programmes are called. My needs are not great when it comes to computing power because I don't need 32GB of RAM, so my work is apparently not labelled "pro." And yet what I want to do, the iPad can't deliver. It's not even close.
This is why this discussion is always distorted in favor of people who have requirements focused on ports, transfer speeds and RAM, and this completely ignores the fact that the iPad is unfit to comfortably perform basic office work that revolves around editing word documents, viewing PDF files, working in Excel etc. It requires less raw power, and yet the iPad is found severely lacking because the software isn't there. This is why the iPad can't begin to replace my Macbook Pro. I realize it can be a laptop replacement for some, but I feel this happens in two cases: 1. a person has a simple workflow or 2. they are willing to jump through a lot of hoops to be able to push the idea of the iPad replacing their laptop.
In the first case, if you can work comfortably on an iPad without your workflow suffering, then sorry to say but you didn't have a need for a laptop to begin with, instead you needed a larger faster iPhone. That someone can do their work on a mobile OS tells me their workflow is so simplified that a laptop / desktop OS wasn't really a necessity (again, this is where people confuse raw computing power with workflow requirements and make the wrong assumption that a workflow is professional only if it requires a lot of RAM). In the second case, it isn't worth it if you have to compromise the way you work just to adapt to a different form factor. Maybe people do this because of the overall appeal of the device and to more easily justify its price, because I don't know why else someone would go out of their way to try and make the iPad replace a more capable machine.
I love my 10.5 inch iPad Pro, but it is either a fantastic media consumption device or a reliable companion to my Macbook Pro, where the actual work is done. If I had to work exclusively on my 10.5 or even a 12.9 inch iPad Pro, I would have very serious problems.
This is your selection of personal requirements to satisfy your definition of “replacement”.
As others pointed out, there is quite a large group of people who replaced their laptops or desktop with iPads who don’t need any of this or are completely fine with the options/solutions iPadOS offers.
While I personally would be interested in using XCode natively on my iPad Pro - the iPad offers me everything I need: RAW development&DAM, writing scientific articles (LaTeX or Word compatible), scientific illustrations, image processing, I/O and file ops depend on FileBrowser Professional, my background processing requirements are full filled - I can easily render/export a movie/video while surfing the web or continue writing.
I don’t format drives, I delete files and folders.
My ”pro” apps are “pro” because I am the professional ?.
And yes, I use web based services like GitHub code spaces - because I’m a professional.
Many want the iPad to be a universal classic computing device. It is simply not. Oh yes, you can use it like one. Go ahead. Prototyping shell scripts locally. Check. Graphing data with Jupiter and Python? Check. Prototyping user interfaces with Figma or XD? Check. I admit of course, that this is - just - a part of my personal needs.
Actually part of my personal fascination about iPads is rooted in what you can actually do with it… somewhere in the woods of northern Scandinavia… while far away from a charger… while admittedly there is always fast internet access, it’s Scandinavia ?
Wether you use a butter knife professional or unprofessional depends on you. Granted you might not have access to a butter knive and if they are required you then have to move to a place where they are available.
But luckily for many applications there is