I’ve been using my M1-powered iPad Pro as my main computer for years now and I have no complaints. This however, isn’t the kind of article that you’re going to see written in the Apple blogosphere. It’s boring and doesn’t have an “angle”.
But with the recent release of the next generation iPad Pro, the Apple blogosphere is now awash in posts about how the iPad is “great hardware let down by weak software”. I don’t see it that way at all.
Those types of articles say more about the writer than the iPad itself. Because the vast majority of iPad users use their iPads way more than their MacBooks. They’ve become de facto iPad-first people without even realizing it. Why? Because the iPad is much more capable than the MacBook. They have better screens, more capable cameras, and cellular connectivity. Plus, you can use it as a writing tablet with a pencil or add a keyboard and use it like a laptop.
I can’t get my work done with a Macbook because I need both a rear facing camera and an Apple Pencil. Two things that MacBooks are sorely lacking in. Plus, the inability to remove the keyboard precludes the MacBook from being used in the driver’s seat of your car. How you view either the iPad or Macbook as a “computer” all depends on your perspective. I find the MacBook to be too handicapped to be taken seriously as my main computer.
If you were to ask 100 iPad users if they already, or could, use an iPad as their main computer over 90 would say “yes”. However, the blogosphere is dominated by the 10 who would say “no”. These are content creators doing heavy duty video multi-tasking. Of course they can’t make an iPad their main computer! That’s like asking a long-haul truck driver if he could get his job done in a Honda Civic. Wrong tool for the job. But no one would argue that the Honda Civic is a good candidate to be your main vehicle.
I continue to believe that the Apple MacBook as we know it now will cease to exist in the near future. Oh sure, it’ll exist in name but it will essentially be replaced by a more robust version of the future iPad Pro which is heavier and includes big upgrades to the keyboard paradigm.
And there won’t be separate operating systems in the future. iPad OS and macOS will continue to grow more alike until they merge into one. That is why iPad OS was broken off from iOS.
Those types of articles say more about the writer than the iPad itself. Because the vast majority of iPad users use their iPads way more than their MacBooks. They’ve become de facto iPad-first people without even realizing it. Why? Because the iPad is much more capable than the MacBook. They have better screens, more capable cameras, and cellular connectivity. Plus, you can use it as a writing tablet with a pencil or add a keyboard and use it like a laptop.
I can’t get my work done with a Macbook because I need both a rear facing camera and an Apple Pencil. Two things that MacBooks are sorely lacking in. Plus, the inability to remove the keyboard precludes the MacBook from being used in the driver’s seat of your car. How you view either the iPad or Macbook as a “computer” all depends on your perspective. I find the MacBook to be too handicapped to be taken seriously as my main computer.
If you were to ask 100 iPad users if they already, or could, use an iPad as their main computer over 90 would say “yes”. However, the blogosphere is dominated by the 10 who would say “no”. These are content creators doing heavy duty video multi-tasking. Of course they can’t make an iPad their main computer! That’s like asking a long-haul truck driver if he could get his job done in a Honda Civic. Wrong tool for the job. But no one would argue that the Honda Civic is a good candidate to be your main vehicle.
I continue to believe that the Apple MacBook as we know it now will cease to exist in the near future. Oh sure, it’ll exist in name but it will essentially be replaced by a more robust version of the future iPad Pro which is heavier and includes big upgrades to the keyboard paradigm.
And there won’t be separate operating systems in the future. iPad OS and macOS will continue to grow more alike until they merge into one. That is why iPad OS was broken off from iOS.
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