I Tried Replacing My MacBook with An iPad Again

iPads have gotten better and better. And now they sometimes cost more than their laptop counterparts. I tried to switch from my MacBook to an iPad before. But that was 3 years ago! A LOT has changed. So let’s talk about how much things have really changed and if I’d consider switching to just an iPad.

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Timestamps:
0:00 Introduction
0:30 Form Factor
2:29 Software Differences
5:33 Accessories
7:23 Day-To-Day Experience
10:48 Conclusion

Macs with M chips can run iPhone and iPad apps by directly downloading them from the App store, and iPads have been getting more and more desktop quality apps. An iPad can connect to servers, plug in external webcams, storage, and other accessories. There’s even better multi-tasking capabilities now when you plug the iPad into a monitor, letting you have different windows on the external monitor like a computer. And you can actually do cool stuff like turn your ipad into a display for a game console. You can use google drive, and all your different google docs, sheets and presentations. You can save files to external drives, or to a server. But the problem with the ipad is, once you’re more of an advanced user in some of these apps, doing things can take a little longer, is more difficult to do, or can’t be done at all. Like, in Microsoft Excel, you can do formulas but can’t run excel macros. In Final Cut Pro for iPad. You can’t edit directly off external storage. You’ll have to move your footage off the drive, onto the ipad, taking up all the capacity there, to edit it. Basically. When it comes to how similar an ipad app is to it’s windows or mac os equivalent, you have to know what you’re doing with it, and figure out if it can do it, before you fully jump to just an iPad.

When you buy a laptop, you’re buying a complete package, you got everything you need for it to be a laptop. But with an ipad, there’s added costs if you’re trying to make it more laptop-like. Apple however sells a magic keyboard for their ipad air and pro lineups. That gives you laptop-like levels of tiling, and a 65% keyboard, a trackpad, and a usb-c port that can only be used for charging, but that frees up your iPad’s remaining USB-C port for any other accessories, or you can use a dongle to add even more ports. There are 3rd party keyboards, but those don’t elevate the ipad higher, or provide another port that charges your ipad. In my opinion, the Magic Keyboard makes iPads feel the most laptop like out of all the other offerings. There’s just a ton more unique accessories for a tablet vs a laptop as a whole. Like this Lab22 ipad stand created by fellow YouTuber Sara Dietschy, which is pricey but gives you full control over the positioning of your ipad, it’s built well, and feels nice too. It’s nice to have if you want to use your ipad with an external display for a desktop with a drawing tablet type smaller screen, you can do that, angled to any position you want.

What makes the ipad feel the most like a computer is when it’s plugged into a monitor. You can do this with either an hdmi cable connected to a USB-C dongle, or directly to a monitor that supports USB-C. And it will charge directly off the cable if the monitor or dongle supports it. Then, on the external monitor, you can have up to 4 apps on the screen at once, add any more and it just slaps it into the stage manager sidebar, which contains all your active apps. I can have youtube, my script, and two instances of safari open so I have everything I need, on my screen at once for easy reference. So when the external display works, it works great. When it doesn’t you get weird stuff happening.

For me personally, I don’t think an ipad can replace a laptop but when I talked to some more non-techy people, it seems like most of them use ipads or other tablets as their primary machine at home for all their computing needs. The iPad air or iPad Pro will be all the computer you ever need. If you want to do more than that, It can’t really replace your computer just yet. Even if it does have a chip used in Apple’s laptops and desktops.

[arvinsim]

The biggest strike against the iPad is that an iPad + Magic Keyboard is more expensive than a base M1 Macbook Air

[galiem]

My dad needed a new computer and I adviced him to get an iPad, the experience for 98% of the tasks he needs to do is amazing, but the issue is that there sometimes he needs information from an old government website that struggles with safari even on chrome for iPad, some specific features from Word or Excel that for some reason are not available on iPad and other things like the confusing files app (he never seems to understand where a downloaded file goes because it changes directory based on the application you download it from). This little 2% of the tasks leaves him frustrated and brings the need to still have an old windows machine that can do those tasks

[CodyNorris]

For a bit in the past, I wanted to switch fully to iPad for most of my tasks but couldn’t do it and felt iPad had no place in my ecosystem/workflow. Now, I view the iPad Pro as a device that compliments my Mac and iPhone. I am able to watch content such as this video while eating breakfast, control my smart home and speakers, and do basic email, web-browsing, and document editing on it, etc and leave heavier tasks like video editing to my Mac. I only opted for a Pro over the Air because of the better speakers and ProMotion display. Really enjoyed this video Jimmy!

[namabeni]

as someone who's been saving for an iPad, I'm so thankful for this video because it just highlighted and pointed out everything I've been debating about this big purchase. Do I really need it and if I have it, how can it enhance my workflow etc etc. Now, I'm finally ready to invest on the new iPad that's gonna come out soon! Thank you, Jimmy!

[keifferjames]

Apple just needs to make a touch screen mac

[MichaelMcConville]

I love using the iPad Pro but my biggest annoyance is how third party apps behave with the trackpad and keyboard. I find Excel and Sheets can be buggy whereas Numbers works great. That support needs to improve before it’ll replace my laptop.

[kaischmidt]

I bought a used MS Surface Pro as my laptop gave up while traveling. Performance is limited, but I love the form factor, and more importantly the versatility that a full OS gives you.

[taylormaranda]

i personally think that the ipad is the best as an addition to having a computer or laptop (especially if they are from apple). i love using my ipad as a second screen with sidecar (i hate multitasking on one screen) and i also love being able to use my ipad for handwritten note taking (whether i have the textbook pdf on my mac screen or whether i leave all of my mac devices at home and just have my ipad in class). i also love being able to have my ipad for more leisurely activities like reading, gaming, or watching videos (especially if i'm traveling) and it's overall nice for any situations where you may want to take a macbook with you but you have less space

[Convctin]

I Think as an artist, a major key is having a mac mini when using the ipad, you can mirror the mac mini to the ipad and it works great.

[jacob-bedard]

After 10 years of been in the SEO industry, to me the best way is to having a iPad as travel and creativity workstation but to have a Mac Studio or something pro on your desk. Anyway for me is the perfect way. I have a 12 inch iPad with 5G in it so when I travel or show things to clients it work as a charm with out worrying about connecting to wifi or my phone and when I get back at my office my studio just do all my work in a smoother way. But creativity like music and video I rather do it on my iPad so I get my fingers right into the creative process with the touch screen instead of clicking on a Magic Mouse or trackpad. That’s is my humble opinion and experience.

[phillipgnau]

I’ve been using my iPad Pro as my daily computer for a while now, except when I lecture online. Zoom does not let me share my entire “desktop” or every app correctly. For example, I cannot share my PowerPoint. Also, the camera on the side makes me look weird as well. I ran out bought a base model MacBook Air just for this one use case. Everything else seems to work pretty well on the iPad. Occasionally the mouse pointer/ball hops around on its own but it’s rare. Also, there are still some websites that struggle with the iPad, which is strange since I’m using Safari. Sometimes drop downs don’t function properly or don’t exist at all on the iPad so I have to pull out my MacBook to finish what I was doing. Overall, it’s closer to a laptop replacement than it’s ever been but it’s still not there yet.

[davidrussell]

The only thing holding me back is the overall cost. Most games that I play are Mac native and the ones that are not Mac native I can use GForce now. Ipad, doesn't have those games yet. Ipad is part of my workflow and will continue to be. I do see myself switching to the Ipad permanently in the future as my needs/hobbies change.

[newetman]

I only have an iPad Pro M2 & a desktop PC. Simple but best of both worlds & works well for me.

[Everyday-man]

What I don’t understand, especially since iPad pros have m1-2 chips, why cant they have a feature like Samsung with Dex or even Windows how they can switch operating systems. I understand it’s likely money, people buy both a Mac laptop and a iPad. That’s ok for an air, but a pro model should be different. Add a feature where you can switch from iPad os to even a basic macOS

[Johnov]

I agree with your final thoughts. There are times when I run into the limitations of the software with my iPad Pro, but I still prefer working on it with the Magic Keyboard and pencil compared to the MBP ~95% of the time. I also have friends and family members that don’t like using my MBP at all (most would immediately try to touch the screen and get frustrated), but have no problems using my iPad Pro.

[davidern]

File manager is the real problem for me. I hate move photos and stuff around my ssd and external drives.

[MarkDC]

my ipad air 5 got stolen recently, and i didnt realise how much i wrote on it until i didnt have it any more. I think an ipad was good for drawing and writing and even some light typing, but i can't really see myself typing a whole 50 page report on that thing. But it's definitely not a sole laptop replacement if you're a student

[katiethompson]

I have replaced my work laptop with my personal iPad. This was mainly because the work laptop provided was HUGE and inconvenient to travel or even take to and from work. It took a bit of time to get used to (storing files, which apps work best for me etc) but since switching, I’m not looking back. It’s far more convenient, user friendly and faster. I use my IPad with the Magic Keyboard and it’s a total dream!

[DiveWithDev]

Thank you for this! I’m gonna make the switch to the new iPad Pro when it comes out. My MacBook is collecting dust I fully use my standard iPad as it is.

[gummibae]

You should have way more subscribers!! Great video! ✌🏼