There are always these questions about Mac vs iPad (Pro) and I felt like sharing my experience.
I decided to switch to iPad back in 2016 after the original (1st gen) iPad Pro hit the market. I ditched my 13” MacBook Pro and never looked back. I always used my private devices for work and switching to iPad also made sense as you could natively use work email on the iOS (but not on a Mac OS).
Sure, the first months were a bit difficult. Note that back in 2016 there was no trackpad and the iOS was still very basic. Lots of files, webpages, etc would not open optimally and there was lack of some much needed apps/software. Still, I never felt like switching back to MacBook. Granted, for my work, I don’t need video editing software; I mostly work with documents.
Now, almost 8 years later, I am on my second iPad Pro (bought in 2019) + the Smart Cover which is slowly disintegrating. But I love working on iPad more than ever, as I can now compare. Late last year I bought a 15” MacBook Air — only because it had a bigger screen than my iPad — but the experience on a MBP didn’t feel natural at all. I know there has allegedly been tons of progress for MacOS, but it just doesn’t feel that way. The whole experience is quite cumbersome and quite dated. I had already forgotten the dreaded pop-ups on the top right corner of MacOS and the bouncy icons on the dock. And you still have to Save Changes? Come on. .. I also didn’t realise there is so much software missing — there is no ChatGPT app, no Netflix, no apps or authenticators for my banks, etc. So whereas I can use my iPad without my iPhone, I could not do the same with a Mac. Long story short, I sold the MB Air after 3 weeks of trying hard to like it.
To clarify for those debating the iPad’s suitability for serious work, its capabilities should not be underestimated. I have produced hundreds of serious written materials on it, including dozens of studies over 10k words. iOS has never failed me (I prefer Pages to Word — more stable). For research, writing, reading, whatever. For most office jobs iPad is not only not worse, but is much better than a MacBook. The touchscreen + Pencil are very useful features. The iPad’s versatility allows (detaching it from the cover) me document reading away from the confinement of a desk.
The minuses? A few. Mostly iOS. One thing — which I am surprised nobody mentions — is the ongoing issue with Copy-Paste. This dates back to the beginnings of iPad OS. Essentially, every here and then when you use a hardware keyboard (Smart Cover or a Bluetooth keyboard), the cmd+V does not do anything. So you have to go back and use “Copy” on the touchscreen. I cannot understand why this is so hard to fix, but I guess most people are just not such iPad power users as me and just don’t care.
The other thing is the document organisation. It is still a bit cumbersome. I also still wish there was a dedicated Preview-like app for the iPad so that all my PDF documents could be saved and viewed there. The “best” document management apps like GoodReads, Documents, etc feel to me underwhelming or outright disappointing. If the developers cannot do a better job, Apple should.
There may be some other small things which I am already failing to notice, but truthfully I can point to way more many annoyances of MacOS. It is also quite clear that Apple is really pushing iPad as an alternative, rather than a complement to a Mac. Hence the pace of innovation for iPad OS is also much more noticeable. And this will only continue this way.
Would love to hear what others think.
