My iPad Only Desk Setup - Was It Worth It?

Welcome to my iPad Only Desk Setup. It's featuring an M1 iPad Air with the 5K Apple Studio Display. I discuss my experience over the past few months on how this went and if it's worth doing for your own workflow. I discuss in detail external monitor support and stage manager on iPad and the pros and cons of this experience.

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📱MY FAVOURITE TECH

📸 THE CAMERA GEAR I FILM WITH

💻 MY FAVOURITE MACBOOK SOFTWARE

📚 MY CLASS ON HOW TO MAKE A TECH REVIEW:

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🧑🏾‍💻MY OTHER SOCIALS:

[mattido]

When my MacBook was in for a repair, I used my iPad Pro only for a few weeks. It definitely grew on me and I realized it's almost possible to completely use it 100% of the time. With external display support, it makes it a reality.

[pabloarieu]

I recently sold my old laptop and got an 11’ M2 iPad Pro. I paired it with the Logitech combo case and keyboard, a wireless mouse and a 30’ ultra wide curved monitor and that’s it. It works amazing and I feel with every OS update it works even better. I would recommend it to anyone who doesn’t need specific desktop software in their daily tasks. It even recognized my Poly speaker for calls or just to consume media.

[danielschumacher]

I started to go iPad only a few weeks ago. It works quite fine. I can 90% of my work and entertainment stuff covered by the iPad.

[LuizSiqueira]

Just giving my contribution. Multitasking is not about cramming as many applications as possible on the screen by creating a mosaic. Multitasking is about switching swiftly between applications to complete a task. The stage manager helps to accelerate the application switching process by keeping the windows of the most recent applications visible and accessible. The application in focus can have the optimal window size for the task at hand, neither too large nor too small. The window size is determined by the balance between its content and the empty space around it. The empty space around the centered and focused window draws the user's attention to its content while allowing the background windows of the previous applications to be seen. This way of organizing the screen content reminds me of the importance of negative space to highlight what matters, similar to the concept of "MA" in Japanese culture. When needed, it is possible to have more than one window in the foreground following the same principles mentioned above. By the way, great video.

[NguyenTran-eqwg]

I was genuinely shocked to know that we can even have such a desktop-class experience on the iPad!

[ShaunaMorgan]

I have a 12.9" M1 iPad Pro, a Samsung Tab S7 FE and a Lenovo Chromebook Duet 5. Of those 3, the one I rate best at handling external displays is the Duet 5.

Not only can you choose where the sound comes from, but you can extend the display to the external (have dual displays), Turn off the display of the Duet and still use the external monitor and with multiple desktop, I can flip between desktops that focus on work, media, gaming etc. It even runs VS Code natively on my Linux partition. I paid $325+ tax for it, and I am always astonished it has more functionality with an external monitor, than my $1800+ tax iPad Pro, which didn't even have external display support 8 months ago.

[The_Linux_User]

0:37 the iPad air doesn't actually have thunderbolt support, which means that an way cheaper USB-C hub does the same thing. Of course a thunderbolt hub will work but you won't get all of the features and it costs more, only the iPad Pro has thunderbolt support

[saltedmaple]

I'm planning on this setup and just curious regarding the Ipad's battery. Will it affect if the Ipad is plugged in all the time?

[gianamajorbeats]

This video was very well put together, Terren!

[Oakcitymedia]

realistically an iPad Air does majority of the normal day work tasks. iPad Pro if people want to spend their money if they are not using a MacBook at all.. I use my M1 MacBook for my photography and to run Final Cut using the BENQ 27" 2705u... Using the USB-C very nice...

[toobvu]

I appreciate your comments about getting used to the iPad paradigm. Any new platform can be frustrating while learning its pros and cons. It seems that many issues you've discovered involve the external display; this suggests that a laptop user without a large display would be pretty happy switching to iPad for basic productivity.

[George__Costanza]

Thank you so much for first specifying that only M1 iPads get this feature. I am on iPad Pro first generation so I believe it won’t work for me. Please let me know if there is a workaround on this.

[j.d.]

Would love to see an update to this video in light of the recent addition of Final Cut Pro & Logic Coming to iPads.

[Manster]

that iPad being turned on all the time is the killer of this whole idea. I feel like it being off will make sense.

[JonZella]

My only worry is that iPads seem to go "obsolete" quicker than a computer. And with the price of an M1 and M2 MacMini, there's a really affordable way to use an iPad as a laptop and purchase a great desktop, which is what I've done. I even use my iPad for work calls so I could store my work laptop out of view and didn't need a camera.

[SKI]

With Final Cut Pro coming to iPad, this setup may actually have a point for some people!

[carlosherrera]

I am watching the set up. Have not finished the vid yet. Love it. I am a heavy apple user. However, I do outsource non apple tech like mouse and key board. I can relate to what you are demonstrating. Great job.

[mrmartywaring]

While I love my iPad & can use it for about 90% of what I do, there's a few main things in my workflow the iPad can't do. Overall, this is a great tutorial

[VitiateTheImmortal]

Got an M1 ipad air on friday. So far I used my studio display with a macbook pro M1 pro yet now I want to try this out lol

[theflightclubworldwide]

It’s crazy I was attempting this about 4 years ago. The lack of full screen was just a bummer. I have a 27 in monitor and the iPad crop killed the experience. With the new additions of type c support and the updates to the files app along with this I can see this truly being a thing!