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iPad Why did you choose an iPad rather than a Laptop?
- Thread starter romanof
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As it stands today, you can have a great laptop or have a great tablet, but you can’t have a great tablet that is also a great laptop. You are going to make compromises, and that might work for some people, but it will leave others frustrated.
Those are, actually, two major flaws then.
Just saying, fair points of course.
Yeah, I fixed that
Yes, though having an Apple Magic Keyboard/trackpad makes it a little easier.
A better windowing system would help. It is too limited now to multitask "easy" (there's that word again), when you have only a few options on how windows are arranged. Resizing app windows and re-arranging them flexibly would help a lot. But then I guess you are getting into MacOS territory.
The truth is that, as I had said in another post a few months ago, extremely few people use an iPad as their main/only device for their (main) paid job, other than maybe some artists and similar... or if their job require a computing device to a very limited extent (for instance to replace pen and paper, to to replace a machine to take paiements etc, not a full laptop). And the answers here confirm it...
Having said that:
1. many more people can use their iPad as their main (or even only) computing device outside work
2. quite a few people use an iPad as secondary/complementary device for their paid work (to replace pen and paper, as a second monitor etc.)
Finally there is the case of remote desktop, does it count as using the iPad instead of a laptop if one uses it mainly to remote into a Mac or Windows device? Maybe... but it's probably not what the OP was thinking about...
Having said that:
1. many more people can use their iPad as their main (or even only) computing device outside work
2. quite a few people use an iPad as secondary/complementary device for their paid work (to replace pen and paper, as a second monitor etc.)
Finally there is the case of remote desktop, does it count as using the iPad instead of a laptop if one uses it mainly to remote into a Mac or Windows device? Maybe... but it's probably not what the OP was thinking about...
I'm a number 2.
HA!
Basically, I have "all-day" apps up on the iPad, like email or Teams - apps that you tend to use and monitor all day long. That leaves my Mac to do other, more primary stuff.
I originally bought an M1 MacBook Pro to replace my iPad Pro 10.5” after not owning a Mac computer for 5 years. I really just wanted to try out macOS and use it for lightweight computer tasks.
Well, we’re a few months later, I’ve returned it for an iPad, and to be honest, the iPad Pro 11” is what I should’ve had to begin with.
There’s nothing my MacBook Pro could do that I need to do, and a lot of the tasks I was using it for (web browsing, Affinity Photo editing, YouTube), the iPad just does better.
iPad Pro + Magic Keyboard beats any laptop available, for my Workflow, at least.
Well, we’re a few months later, I’ve returned it for an iPad, and to be honest, the iPad Pro 11” is what I should’ve had to begin with.
There’s nothing my MacBook Pro could do that I need to do, and a lot of the tasks I was using it for (web browsing, Affinity Photo editing, YouTube), the iPad just does better.
iPad Pro + Magic Keyboard beats any laptop available, for my Workflow, at least.
I've been wondering for years, what does "OP" stand for (surely not "operator"). I was going to swallow my pride and ask, then it dawned on me: "original poster." Ah, so!
(Provided as a public service for those who were afraid to ask.)
(Provided as a public service for those who were afraid to ask.)
I am nevertheless thankful that there was a product like the iPad back when I started out teaching in 2012. It really allowed me to conduct my lessons on my terms, at a time when the alternatives (namely windows laptop / tablet hybrids) really sucked for the sort of work that I was doing. Yeah, iOS had its share of limitations, and I was willing to work around them just for the experience of being able to manipulate a giant touchscreen while standing in class.
I also remembered when I accompanied my students on an overseas excursion and was tasked with blogging about their experiences everyday. I brought only my iPhone and iPad along and left my school laptop at home to cut down on bulk. It was my iPad 3 with inbuilt 3g (at the time), the Wordpress app and the all-day battery life which made the whole blogging experience possible. I would be taking photos with my iPad (don't knock the 5mp camera!), stitching them together with some collage app, inserting it into the Wordpress app, type out the post, then post it online, all while sitting in the bus with the iPad resting on my lap waiting to go to the next destination.
While the underlying technology has improved over the years, I find that neither android nor windows has really managed to capture the magic and the essence of what make an iPad uniquely an iPad. The iPad really is the perfect blend of portability, ease of use, and battery life for me. ?
It’s not the Ocean Pacific apparel brand that was popular in the 1980s?
As for the original poster, list your laptop use cases and we’ll let you know if it’s transferable to the iPad but in general there are more hurdles and it usually takes longer to accomplish the same things on the iPad if it can be done at all. For my use cases, the iPad can do about a quarter of the things a laptop can or less.
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For me it’s the perfect device for home that I can use as a companion device for my work laptop (a crappy Dell but what can you do)
- home : banking, gaming, YouTube, browsing, streaming services,… mostly consumption stuff
- work : teams meetings, outlook mail, office 365 apps, note taking, pdf signing, Report viewing + I can perform our group consolidation (web based software) on it
- dell laptop is mostly needed for excel reports that connect to databases (which a Mac isn’t great at too by the way - excel is still limited on the Mac, better than the iPad yes but still limited)
highly subjective but i much prefer using my iPad Pro than a laptop. Lots more fun to use.
For my job in accounting / reporting I need to use a traditional computer but to be honest I am better off with a desktop than a laptop. For me a laptop is always a second hand choice because I’ll always need a external keyboard with numeric pad and mouse and preferably a large screen to do my work properly. And when I’m on holiday, I follow up on things for my job but I’m not going to sit behind a desk working on excel spreadsheets with some rubbish WiFi connection. I can do my follow ups on my iPad Pro easily.
So I’d rather have an iMac, preferably with windows in bootcamp + my iPad Pro as a fully fledged system instead of a laptop. And the iPad Pro is my main computer because of the home stuff
- home : banking, gaming, YouTube, browsing, streaming services,… mostly consumption stuff
- work : teams meetings, outlook mail, office 365 apps, note taking, pdf signing, Report viewing + I can perform our group consolidation (web based software) on it
- dell laptop is mostly needed for excel reports that connect to databases (which a Mac isn’t great at too by the way - excel is still limited on the Mac, better than the iPad yes but still limited)
highly subjective but i much prefer using my iPad Pro than a laptop. Lots more fun to use.
For my job in accounting / reporting I need to use a traditional computer but to be honest I am better off with a desktop than a laptop. For me a laptop is always a second hand choice because I’ll always need a external keyboard with numeric pad and mouse and preferably a large screen to do my work properly. And when I’m on holiday, I follow up on things for my job but I’m not going to sit behind a desk working on excel spreadsheets with some rubbish WiFi connection. I can do my follow ups on my iPad Pro easily.
So I’d rather have an iMac, preferably with windows in bootcamp + my iPad Pro as a fully fledged system instead of a laptop. And the iPad Pro is my main computer because of the home stuff
I think the fun factor is something that can be easily underestimated and hard to understand for traditional laptop users. Let me draw a comparison.
I would compare an iPad to an electric scooter and a laptop to a car.
A lot of people using cars have a hard time understanding why some people are e-scooter enthusiasts, they see it as a much more limited experience, almost like a toy. Being one of the e-scooter enthusiasts (with several of them) I have so much fun with them that they do 90-95% of my trips. A car is something to be used when absolutely necessary, while a scooter is something I always look forward to use, even after 7 years.... and even if sometimes it means to make some compromises.
I feel the same with iPad and I guess many iPad enthusiasts enjoy using it more than a laptop unless they really need a laptop to do certain things
I am number 2 too. My iPad pro has always (since 2015) been on my desk for pdfs in portrait or ppt in landscape thanks to the aspect ratio, next to my laptop / desktop. Now that I have a mac mini it's even more...I'm a number 2.
HA!
Basically, I have "all-day" apps up on the iPad, like email or Teams - apps that you tend to use and monitor all day long. That leaves my Mac to do other, more primary stuff.
I actually drive the mac mini 100% with sidecar, so my iPad magic keyboard is my Mac mini magic keyboard and my 12.9 screen is my second screen (under the my 22in monitor), often displaying Windows via Parallels, while the monitor displays MacOS. Fortunately I still have my old 12.9 for portrait mode...
Yes, that was kind of vague. I meant doing something other than watching youtube or such. Definitely work for pay qualifies, but also, say, programming or writing as a hobby that can be just as intense, but not necessarily part of your normal job for income. A programmer (in my career) needs lots of desktop space and multiple sessions (and maybe even multiple monitors) - the editor, a run-time session, probably a browser for research, calculator, reference sheet, maybe a utility to watch the database(s), and nowadays a session of facetime or zoom because you aren't in an office and are having to gather with your fellow employees in talk-talk groups remotely.
A person who writes for a living or even a hobby has the word processor, dictionary, thesaurus, browser in place of encyclopedia and more open for his/her work. A max of two open windows will not cut it for a power user. (Again, my opinion).
So, what I meant was, use for more than merely sitting on the couch and watching MacBreak Weekly on an iPad. Which I do a lot to unwind - my Mini slab is great for that - but the idea of using it to do real work, well, I liken it to trying to do your income tax on the tray table of an airliner seat.
In these scenarios, is a standalone laptop with a limited screen size adequate or does it really need to be attached to a larger monitor for effective use? For a lot my own use, I find I really need/want the attached monitor to operate efficiently; and the iPad falls absolutely flat there.
Thanks for the clarification. In that case I qualify as I've run my personal life from an iPad for several years now.
I chose an iPad Pro over MacBooks because A) it's more versatile, B) I don't like keyboard marks on my screens and C) I didn't want to take my chances with the butterfly keyboards. And because it was sufficient for my needs, of course - I do understand that someone else might need something an iPad just isn't great at. I couldn't do my job solely on one, for instance.
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To expand on the above (which was my answer to the thread's original question) - I do still have an iMac because, as said, the iPad can't do everything. I use my iMac to take backups of my Photos library, for instance.
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same, I have noticed that some people do a lot of split screen, I never do that. I need 2 screens. Not necessarily big ones. On the go even an iPad pro 12.9 can act as a second screen but ideally 15.6in and above is fine. And my main screen is 22in, again because I don't split screen, I always have 2 monitors (including the laptop one, or if I use my mac mini, the iPad one in sidecar mode). I have a 27in monitor but rarely use it as I find it too unconfortable.... (can't even imagine anything bigger...)
At home, I use a 24" 4K monitor with my laptop and find that size works perfectly for me. I never attach the iPad to it - the experience is just too incredibly poor.
For me, it's part of my paying job. Teaching is interesting in that it gives the individual a lot of flexibility on how they want to go about their job, and a fair amount of my work involves tasks of low to moderate complexity that an iPad is more than capable of handling.
Heck, I remember filming my principal giving a speech using my iPad once many years ago, then editing that video using a green screen app for a school event. I have recorded and edited screencasts in lumafusion (the native upload to YouTube support is neat), I have used the camera as a visualiser, the iPad is just this swiss-army-knife device for me that I use to tackle numerous random occasions as they pop up.
24in is the max size I am comfortable with. I haven't managed to find a 4k screen at that size, at least not in my country and importing a monitor is pretty expensive....
I attach the iPad to one of my portable monitors (I have 2 15.6in, 1 14in and 1 17.3in) only for use with jump desktop (so remoting into a PC) or to my 22in one with sidecar, so basically MacOS on iPad. Never with just iPadOS itself...
Frankly, remote desktop is pretty much the only way we're allowed to do WFH.
I still use Windows, though. The display is too small on the iPad and all the keyboard shortcuts I'm used to and even just the keyboard layout are different on iPads/Macs.
For home use, almost everything I do can be accomplished with just the iPad. No physical keyboard necessary, onscreen works just fine.
I've even tried doing a pro-forma tax return (just standard deduction) and that worked OK. Interestingly, the TurboTax app allowed using the camera for scanning W-2s, etc. which made input a whole lot easier. I still did my taxes on PC for better backup options but in a pinch, the iPad works.
That's why I sometimes use a 16:9 monitor to remote desktop... (unless I remote into a 3:2 display)
I know that the keyboard is not always easy but I force myself, just like I do by alternating Windows and Mac (and iPadOS to some extent) at home, including for work, it's like forcing oneself to speak 2 different languages so that the body becomes more flexible and the muscle memory does not reject one as "too much effort" and it works, over time the body and mind gets used to switching from one system to the other....
I used to use the iPad only outside my house, but since getting the Magic Keyboard I enjoy using it with everything (iPadOS, MacOS in sidecar, Windows in RD)