Define general use. Work for many it is one app only and that is the browser. In fact any user can only interact with one program at a time so the multitasking is a moot point. True multitasking is when processes runs simultaneously like a long renders, simulation and compilations. iPad is not good at that. If your are in fields requiring these apps you likely use a Mac/PC anyway for better compute.
Rapid app switching is only better on MacOS/Windows due to larger screen so it easier to have many readable windows open at the same time.
iOS has a file system but the access is different from a Mac. When I look in the Files app: I can put a files wherever I like, I can delete files, move files around and rename files. You can do all the basics and lets do back to "Define general use."
If a computer is mostly used on a desk (and laptops are), does the form factor matter? It is a desktop device. The distinction between a laptop and desktop has furthermore vanished with the Mx SoCs as they appear unmodified in all kinds of devices.
What is stopping me for using iPad only are the small screen and a few key 3D modelling apps.
I have 8 programmes open on a general work day all in windows I can resize as I see fit on my big screen. I can click on each Window to use them and they all update life in the background one in particular. I also use a file system that's fully capable and even lets me right click on ANY file to rename it.
None of that is possible on iPad purely due to its software.
General user is anyone who uses a computer. Because iPad OS is so restrictive in its use, you can't use a file system, you can't right click on files, can you have 7 windows on screen all at once in an external monitor on an iPad all live updating?
Please stop with the claim, that 'for many it is the browser', as that's just plain wrong. Their is a plethora of programmes and apps out in the business world that don't run in browser windows on computers.
Your attempt to define a desktop computer is hilarious too, people have laptops so they can grab it and go and use it anywhere, including their 'laps', but to suite your argument you keep on defending that. If someone uses an iPad at a desk if they have a keyboard attached, using your logic that also makes it a desktop computer.
If you showed the majority of office workers an iPad next to their PC's and told them to use an iPad instead, I think in a day or less most would go back to using a PC.
In the workplace an iPad has limited use scenarios, yes it works in some areas, but it does not work in all as stated in your last comment even, so to try and claim otherwise is just wrong. Generally you will find a computer of some sort being used and not an iPad.
