All iPads Should I buy an iPad if I already have a MacBook?

[rui no onna]

Wow! Impressed and staggered by what's being spent every 5 years on Apple products. I know several people who are scrapping by and would love to have $8,000 in disposable income.

Here's a frugal budget for comparison. That is, a DNTLG approach, “Don't Need the Latest Greatest”.

Let's see, in the past 7 years, I’ve spent

$100 on an iPhone SE​

$540 on an iPad Air 2​

$700 on a used 2015 13” MacBook Air.​

A whopping $1,340. I put the remaining $6,660 into an index fund. Over the past 5 years, the NASDAQ composite has nearly tripled. So, that’s about $19,300.

I can foresee spending in the next year or two:

$350 on an iPhone SE 2​

$330 on a new iPad​

$1,200 on a MacBook Air​

and to try it out

$400 on an Apple Watch​

Or, about $2,300, leaving $17,000 to put into a tax-free Roth IRA.

Oh, and since I’ll save nearly $6,000 going frugal for this next 5-year cycle, make that about $23,000 in my Roth IRA. Compounding interest and adding more savings going forward will produce a good nest egg — or, a good college education fund — or, a hefty accumulation for a new car or hobbies.

Just another approach for those who want their Apple “cake and eat it, too” — in future years or retirement!

If you'd invested in AAPL, you would've made around double the NASDAQ composite. Alas, no diversification.

As for a new car, I'm fine with my 12 year old one. Tech is my hobby and I prefer iPads to cars. No kids so don't need to save for a college fund.

Yes, a retirement nest egg is essential. Still, we all die eventually and there's no predicting when your time will be. It's a balancing act between enjoying the fruits of your labor now versus in the future.

 

[adamjackson]

Hindsight is a pain in the butt, too. There are loads of things, had I done differently would have put me in a much better position not just financially but it is what it is.

 

[FMRWin10Boy]

I recently purchased an 11” iPad Pro WiFi+ Cellular 256gb. I mainly got it because I like taking breaks on my couch throughout the day and figured I could get some work done on the iPad. I’ve determined that I can do 40% of my job on the iPad. I used Salesforce Data Loader on my Mac each day for work. Those files are handled in Excel CSV. Unfortunately, iPad doesn’t support that file type. However, if they eventually support it, I’d be able to run my entire business on an iPad.

 

[Mainsail]

I recently bought an iPad Air 4 on sale for $520. I think you can find them for $500 now. It is a nice complement to my 2020 base MBA, which cost about $900 on sale. You can get them for less than $850 now. Having an iPad + MacBook does not have to be an expensive proposition. Also, the iPad provides a portable secondary screen, so you might not need to buy a monitor....depends on what type of work you do. Anyway, I figure 4 years useful life for the iPad and 5 years useful life for the MBA. That's an annual expense of: $130 iPad +$180 MBA = $310 per year. About $25 per month. Or, $6 per week = small coffee and scone at Starbucks once per week. That seems like a reasonable expense to have two devices for productivity and consumption.

I didn't include the cost of a phone, since just about everyone has a smartphone these days so the only decision on the bubble is how much you will be willing to spend on your phone. Some folks will spend well north of a $1,000 and that might make sense for these people. I got a new iPhone SE2 for $250 last year, and it meets all of my needs. I don't need a giant iPhone screen because I have the iPad.

 

[rdavis41]

I would say the iPad is not essential, but if you utilize sidecar a lot when working and need the additional screen it can come in handy. Again all depends on what you plan to do with it.

 

[M5RahuL]

nevermind..

 

[saturnotaku]

I would say the iPad is not essential, but if you utilize sidecar a lot when working and need the additional screen it can come in handy. Again all depends on what you plan to do with it.

I'm having this debate myself. Having used my current iPP 10.5 with Sidecar on my MBA, the extra real estate is nice. I was able to pick up a brand new M1 iPP 11 for less than $800. The hardware is way overkill just for sidecar, while I would be using it for a bit more than that, I'm not entirely sure I can justify the spend despite getting a good deal on it.

 

[Mainsail]

I think there is value in owning both devices, and you can get a new base iPad for under $300. Apple may be releasing an updated version of this iPad in September. Anyway, here is how it breaks down for me:

• iPad: Primarily for reading (books and PDFs) and mark-ups (documents and images). Also, useful as a portable secondary monitor with Side-Car and soon Universal Control
• MacBook: Primarily for productivity and multi-tasking

Overlap: These are Apps that work well for me on both devices:

• Mail
• Messages
• Safari
• Contacts
• Calendars
• Reminders
• Notes
• Photos
• Files/Finder
• FaceTime and Zoom
• Social Media Apps
• TV/Movies/Video

Some folks might argue about these overlapping Apps above. For example, the Files app has some limitations for people that move large files between storage devices etc.. I sync and backup everything to iCloud, so the Files app generally works well for me on iPad. YMMV.

 

[kamalds]

As someone who owns both M1 powered Macbook Air and iPad Pro 12.9, I think I can answer this pretty nicely.

Macbook Pro is a proper computer - no restrictions on what you can install. You get full versions of applications unlike watered down versions which you get on iPad.

On a Mac, there are apps that will allow you to use full potential of M1 chip. On iPad, there are little to no apps to take full advantage of powerful M1 chip. iPad is still a media consumption device first, unless you do very simple stuff. iOS has a lot of limitations. There are none on a Mactintosh OS.

 

[Ludatyk]

iPad is still a media consumption device first, unless you do very simple stuff. iOS has a lot of limitations. There are none on a Mactintosh OS.

I don’t agree with it being a media consumption device first, if anything.. I view it as a creation device first due to Apple Pencil support. Does the Mac have Apple Pencil support? I could argue that the MacBook Air is a media consumption device first compared to the iPad.

I agree that iPadOS is limited to what you can do compared to macOS, but I recall someone mentioning in this forum.. the problem with iPadOS is that people lack imagination when it comes to doing task with it.

 

[mrLucas]

You get full versions of applications unlike watered down versions which you get on iPad.

On a Mac, there are apps that will allow you to use full potential of M1 chip. On iPad, there are little to no apps to take full advantage of powerful M1 chip. iPad is still a media consumption device first, unless you do very simple stuff. iOS has a lot of limitations. There are none on a Mactintosh OS.

this is fundamentally untrue.

iPad is basically ‘more Apple’. If you like Apple you might like the ‘iPad way’.
so more simple, easier, just works.., less tehnical, and so on. ease of use is the primary driver, whereas with a pc its customizability. mac is allready in between. this is more mac, compared fo a pc.

 

[mrLucas]

but to answer your question - you probbably wont use both … I use iPad mostly. I do owna MBpro, but use iPad 99,9999999999999% of the time

 

[Amplelink]

I’m here with my iPad propped up and paired to a Bluetooth Magic Keyboard (not the case) and a Bluetooth mouse. And I’m using this in lieu of the MBA M1 I have. There’s just something about this experience that’s more, I don’t know, fun?

I can’t do this for 100% of my work though, because of the OS limitations. Purely OS limitations. But, for those limited instances, I just use Jump Desktop and login to a remote computer. That solves the 5% (maybe closer to 1%, to be frank) of the time when I need a “full” computer.

And then when I’m ready to put work aside and read, I just turn on the Kindle app, put away my keyboard/mouse. It’s the perfect combo.

 

[Ubele]

I just replaced my 2015 13” MBP and 2017 standard iPad with a 12.9” iPad Pro, Magic Keyboard, Magic Mouse, and Apple Pencil. My MBP was a backup to my 27” iMac, which I need for some of my Mac apps and the screen real estate, but the iPad Pro with accessories is extremely versatile for my needs and wants. It also was cheaper than getting a new M1 MacBook Air and standard iPad, and of course the 12.9” iPad Pro blows away the standard iPad. It helps that I found an open-box iPad Pro for $200 off, got the Magic Keyboard on sale for $107 off, and already had the Magic Mouse.

 

[mrLucas]

I’m here with my iPad propped up and paired to a Bluetooth Magic Keyboard (not the case) and a Bluetooth mouse. And I’m using this in lieu of the MBA M1 I have. There’s just something about this experience that’s more, I don’t know, fun?

I can’t do this for 100% of my work though, because of the OS limitations. Purely OS limitations. But, for those limited instances, I just use Jump Desktop and login to a remote computer. That solves the 5% (maybe closer to 1%, to be frank) of the time when I need a “full” computer.

And then when I’m ready to put work aside and read, I just turn on the Kindle app, put away my keyboard/mouse. It’s the perfect combo.

are you sure those are OS limitations and not apps? I find some nieche things are hard to find in an app

 

[Amplelink]

are you sure those are OS limitations and not apps? I find some nieche things are hard to find in an app

Yes, in most instances it’s an app limitation, you’re correct. Like, for example, the Files app. It’s so woefully under featured. If they made it even half as versatile as Finder on Mac, that would be huge.