My main issue (and I say this as an owner of the full iPad Pro experience) is that it is a more limited device that costs waaaaaaay more to buy as a package than a Mac does. I used an iPad as my only computer for a year and then got an m3 pro MacBook and I think the iPad for me is now mostly just an entertainment device.
I've tried going iPad only in my early uni days and I've owned a MacBook ever since. iPadOS is so clunky compared to MacOS, which by default is not great itself. Apps are what make a difference, a huge difference. I couldn't live without Raycast, without a window manager or without emotes on a Twitch livestream ahahah
I had replaced my MacBook with an iPad Pro for the past 8 years. I recently sold my M2 iPad Pro and bought an M3 MacBook Air and boy do I wish I had never tried to replace the mac on the first place. I do love the iPad, but for content consumption and note taking. In the end, I think having both is ideal but not everyone can afford that, including me lol. I do plan on buying one again sometime in the future, but I'll go for the 11" this time, which to me makes more sense for those use cases.
For me the iPad Pro is my main home computer and a work companion. MacBooks are more capable yes, but they’re also just boring laptops that I don’t enjoy using as a home device. And for work I need a windows laptop so the MacBook is the useless intermediate in my case. I do have a Mac at home but it’s an M1 iMac I sometimes use when working from home and the nice big screen is nicer than a laptop + it works great with universal control
This is why the best companion is the IPad mini because most people use it for content consumption and then leave the MacBook for actual work, just hoping to see the iPad mini with OLED in the future and that will be game over
Really wanting a mini (iPad Pro gen1 & M1 owner here) but am just holding out for OLED & 120Hz screen! If they add the M1 too that's a huge bonus but not a dealbreaker for me, as I just want it to be the device I leave laying around for some media consumption rather than being a workhorse like the two Pros I already own.
This is where I finally landed. I’ve had them since the beginning and when I had my 12.9 M2 with 1TB and a Magic Keyboard and all these accessories I finally realized it was never going to be a Mac. So I sold it all. And i went without for a few months. I missed it for a few things so I waited until the M4 was announced. I bought an 11” Pro, a Smart Folio case, and the new Pencil. Now I only use it for drawing, editing in Lightroom, and media consumption.
Ok, but if all you need is to draw a little and use those apps. The regular ipad gives you pretty much the same experience why pay 3 times as much for an complimentary device?
I think we need to shift the conversation about iPads towards the fact that for 85% of all iPad users, the 10th gen iPad will do everything they could ever want to do with the the iPad. And for the remaining 15%, an M1 iPad Air would do the rest. The iPad pros are what keep the conversation centered on the iPad as a laptop replacement, with its vastly overpowered hardware for what the software supports. Probably 1% of users would actually ever need an iPad Pro, even users in the “iPad Nirvana” group.
The iPad Pro, like the iPhone Pros, are not de facto for professionals; they are simply monikers stating that the Pro is the best in the line. So, people who buy the Pro rarely look at it for more performance; it is for the OLED, 120Hz, better speakers, greater future-proofing, etc. They are aimed at people who can afford the best or want to have a device for 5+ years and want the luxury features. If people can understand this and stop taking "Pro" literally, then, they may stop whining. All those complainers should not bother looking at it if it is not for them. Apple, as you say, offers lower-priced alternatives.
I agree that objectively speaking nearly everyone could do what they do on a tablet on a 10th gen iPad. I'd say it would be way higher than 85%, closer to 99%. Do you think even 1 in 100 current iPad users or prospective iPad buyers in 2024 would need more than what the iPad 10th gen offers? I sure don't. That said the Pro moniker should not be taken literally as Professional as in FOR "professionals", as others have already stated, Pro just means top of line, not just for the iPad but all sorts of things. Finally, the M4 is overkill here. The M1, the M2, and the M4 will all be future proofed through their End of Life dates from Apple. The reason to buy the Pro is for the screen. Once you see it in person you can't unsee it.
That’s an excellent video. Me as an artist, I use the iPad pretty much every day. I do have a Mac because I still need it for some specific tasks but the iPad is pretty much everything I need today
I really appreciate your illuminating discussion! I'm a visual artist & writer-both verbal & nonverbal in my creativity. I also do a lot of pnline political activism. I would say that since getting the 2024 13" M4, I'm definitely sliding into iPad Nirvana. I am blown away by the deep blacks & vivid true colors of the OLED screen, the Apple Pencil Pro is an astonishingly well-designed device, & there are so many software innovations for multitasking, multiple windows, shortcuts, accessibility... the list goes on & on. I'm an older gal, nearly 70, but I have so much creative work ahead of me now that I have the right tools. My journey with computers started all the way back in the mid-1960s. I was a computer geek before that term existed, learned to code in multiple languages, etc., etc. I got my first desktop computer in 1987. I've had desktops & laptops running MS-DOS, Windows, Linux & MacOS operating systems. (Unix, then Linux, then Ubuntu, were my faves. They are the most flexible by far & best supported by a dynamic community that shares oodles of free software.) For me the huge inflection point was in 2011, when I got my first iPad-the iPad 2. I got it sort of as a toy, to make non-serious art on (my serious art is not digital), but almost instantly, much to my surprise, it became all the computer I needed. After the iPad 2, I had two successive iPad Airs. I never needed or wanted an external keyboard, because I got so adept at writing with a stylus on the iPad on-screen keyboard, I wrote a whole fat book that way, on my very first iPad. I could rave on & on about how & why iPads have changed my life, but the key feature they've had from the get go is portability. I am totally addicted to being able to walk about with my iPad in my left hand, my stylus/pencil in my right hand, sit anywhere I want with a big fluffly cat in my lap, be utterly free of having to sit at a desk or a table. My iPad fits nto that delightful niche previously occupied by paper journals & sketch books. And my iPad was an absolute life saver 5 years ago, when I had severe trauma to my legs, necessitating multiple painful surgeries & a long stay in rehab. I was able to watch movies, make art & write up a storm while utterly immobilized for months in a hospital bed. I know that as I get older & begin to have vision &/or hearing issues, my iPad will be able to keep me happy & stimulated until the day I die. I fully expect to record my last words on Earth, to make my last doodles & photos, on my trusty iPad.
My ipad pro 12.9 has been my only device for the last 7 years. No keyboard, no stand. I type on the screen using the smart cover. I do have the pencil and the logi mouse. The “instant” adjective is wonderfully spot on, and also the flexibility one, I can work wherever never needing a desk. I think Its time we understand that just like a gaming pc wont be what the iphone is and viceversa, the ipad is its own device , not a laptop. Because I really want apple to take the ipad further instead of trying to make it into a clunky laptop. We have those, the air is wonderful. So I want a better ipad to continue having a great ipad experience. Thanks for the awesome video
Agree 💯, I want it to become a better tablet. But that will include things like better sharing between apps, better for manager, longer battery life, etc. But just as easily given the m4 processor runs laps around most laptops this could run a VM of Mac os when connected to an external display. One does not have to come at the expense of the other. I feel like things like stage manager etc are trying to build a desktop os within iPad OS and making the ipad a convulated mess instead of leaving desktop to the Mac and focusing on making this into a better tablet.
A Swiss Army knife is not supposed to replace a butcher knife. They are tools for different purposes. If you can only buy one, get the one that fits your needs the best. Personally, I have an iPad and a Mac. Apple said that half of the Mac owners also have an iPad, so this is fairly common. It should be mentioned that iPad sells somewhere between double and triple the number of Macs in a given period, so more people are reaching for iPads than Macs. Of course, a good deal of people use Windows with iPads, so it fills more roles than the Mac.
When you get a PC, you can install both Windows and Linux in double-boot mode. Even on Android you can run Termux and install a Linux virtual machine there and connect to it via VNC. With iPad, you don't even get processes being able to run in background.
You absolutely nailed it. You simply have to stop thinking replacing your mac with an iPad and baaaaam you are really enjoying the experience... But then you are maybe thinking of switching to the 11‘‘. This is what I will do now. Do you also have those thoughts?
Probably one of your most thoughtful and conceptually accurate videos I've seen. If one compares the iPad to a Macbook then the stand-out benefits of the iPad are: 1. Smaller more "pick-me-up" size = more convenient to use and carry around ie more portable and more ergonomic eg it extends use-cases: I never used to read books on laptop and now my iPad is full of my kindle library (cookbooks, manga, novels, manuals and more). This is in reference to 11"/460g. 2. Responsiveness is critical to reducing inertia and "getting things done" as you pointed out: The Instant Apps on/off wake-up device switch apps means it's really breezy to do simple tasks and switch tasks. 3. Your funnel diagram captured 100% my own concept of the benefit of the iPad vs it's limitations: - 80% of general or useful computing can be done on iPad eg email, phone, view media, web surf, look-up (AI apps), maps or even gaming with controller and cloud service etc - +10% of extended use eg writing, drawing, reading books you'd not normally do on a laptop - -10% Specialist Uses for Productivity you CANNOT do on the iPad and resort to full desktop-OS for is equivalent to the Thorn In The Lion's Paw: It's excruciating despite how "apparently" small a problem it may appear to be! This was my own thoughts before your superior representation of the funnel-diagram with equally accurate Christopher Langley in iPad Nirvana (lol). So far I've found, the best extensibility software for iPad for Productivity = REMOTE DESKTOP Using RDP/VNC + iPad + Network + Computer + External monitor and keyboard/mouse you can effectively run productive stuff using spare peripherals if available or just your iPad screen if commuting and internet connection. Not ideal but does work. And atm battery life is a bit of a limitation with this set-up for longer than 6-8 hours. Until that gap in the funnel is resolved eg new iPad Category by Apple, then this is the current last piece in the iPad jigsaw that takes the Thorn out of the Lion's Paw so to speak and provides some relief.
The instant thing is so true, I find myself grabbing my (genuinely great) iPad mini 6 for basically *everything* at school or when needing to note take seriously
Not even once I heard on all reviews of IPads before I bought my m2 last year, about file app and audio files. My plan was to get external monitor and use only iPad, but as with my purchases of CDs and vinyls I receive digital versions I realised I can not even make a playlist and listen whole album. I need to click every song separately once selected song is finish… that’s the problem for me, I can’t plug in cd player (even from Apple) and to add my music from files to music app i need laptop (Windows or Mac) and iTunes. Disaster.
I’ve heard from other creators that the iPad isn’t about replacing your laptop, it’s about doing a lot of things in one thine ‘piece of glass’, or the *versatility* of the iPad. You can type away on a script on and iPad and Mac with ease, you can edit a video on iPad, Mac and iPhone, you can also do prototyping on a Mac or iPad, and you can draw on iPad and iPhone. Notice that in all of the examples, the iPad is mentioned in all of them. That’s how versatile the iPad is. And it can even get your ideas quicker. You can prototype an app on both iPad and Mac (on Figma or Sketch), but you can put down your idea on iPad easily compared to the Mac, where you need to think about the nitty gritty details (think iPad’s Freeform as Figma but you draw out your ideas, and that’s just one part of Freeform!) As for how the iPad can get Mac-y features, honesty I couldn’t find any significant parts where features from the Mac need to be ported to iPad (pre WWDC thought, windows snapping should be on iPad though) And as for the graph on 8:20, I wonder how we can widen up the funnel bottleneck. iPads aside, this is another great video from Tom! Thanks, you’re the best!
Christopher Lawly made a massive video about iPad keyboard. And it got me. I have seen a level of emptiness that cannot be recaptured. It's so bad, yet so wonderful.
Your thoughts are the same as mine. Truly disappointed in iPadOS 18 (running the beta). The hardware is amazing, but you'd be fine with a M1 iPad Pro. There's literally no advantage to getting the M4 like we had hoped there might be.
Isn't that the same with technology everywhere, from smartphones to laptops? Mature markets mean year-on-year improvements are minor. I'm curious what else iPadOS could add as Apple has already stated 100% that it will never run macOS or port macOS apps? And even if it did, these would also be supported on the M1. So you say: "There's literally no advantage to getting the M4 like we had hoped there might be"--which is a misnomer as M1 would do anything an M4 could do, just a bit slower! So, I don't know what your point is, TBH!
You'd be fine with a base ipad from 3-4 years ago. It's not a mature market. It's a market that has lost competition because there is no tablet competitor.
That bottle funneling is the best explanation to end this endless debate of "can ipad replace MacBook".. From the steve job first ipad presentation it was clearly stated that ipad sit between iphone and mac..so it's really depends on how each people daily use and how far they can "tolerate" less convenient usage or alternative apps if the want to blend iphone and mac into single device ipad..
Your views are spot on! I would love to use the iPad as my only computing device, but it really frustrates me that even though it has a more powerful processor than my Mac, some of the main apps I use (Notion, Word, Excel) don’t offer the same functionality as the laptop version
That is a business decision by developers and you buy an iPad knowing these bumps in the road. I suspect devs do not want to risk their business model by giving iPads the full app at a lower cost.
there are two types of ipad users: artists and everyone else. everyone else doesn't need the latest and greatest. and most artists don't even need the latest.
You forgot grandmothers. iPads are great for people who don't want or need a computer, no longer work, and want to look at pictures of their grandkids or facetime with the family.
That’s a pretty fair review. As I have stated before, I run a law firm. I use my iPad Pro M4 for all my administrative tasks. And my MacBook Air mostly for Microsoft office.
I’m in a similar boat and mainly using the iPad as a smart monitor these days which I find quite sad sometimes. I’m still hoping that if regulators force Apple to open up alternative app stores and side-loading etc, someone will find a way to get a Mac-style OS running on it
Hey Tom, thank you so much for the video. I think you have nailed it with the diagram. For a long time I’ve been trying to replace my MBP for an iPad Pro, but I’ve realized that the iPad still has that friction for creators (video editor’s mainly), that I prefer to stick with a Mac. Anyway, since the iPad Pro M4 has come out, I’ve been using it more and more, and now I only use the Mac for editing and the rest of my workflow I do it naturally with the iPad. This thing has “that something” that you you want to invest more time into it, or at least is how I’m feeling it lately. Anyway, good video Tom (as always!)
Appreciate the shoutout to Lumafusion, I edit videos for a channel with 50k+ subs entirely on that software and it only gets better. Love your content Tom, keep it up!
Another great video! You hit the nail on the head. I do love being able to go wherever I want and still be able to use FCP on my iPad. While I would love it if I could replace my MacBook I can’t, but that’s ok. Each device has its own purpose.
Just discovered you on UA-cam. Great vid, content - my MacBook Air got to old so replaced it with my iPad M4 - I don’t own a laptop at this point and honestly it’s working well.
I am a student and I love my iPad! Its great for taking notes. Buuuut as a Student I have to write a lot of scientific essays. And that is not possible on the iPad because writing programs are so bad. Now you can say try it and get used to it. But even then I need special apps for citation. I need apps to do statistic tests and so on. If you just write a literature based paper it would work but it would be a pain. But if you have to do your own research you cant write a paper just with your iPad. And then you need a second device as a student which comes with extra costs.
@@ByteReview For citation you can use for example zetero and connect it with docs or word. It works like a second brain for the literature you collect and creats perfect citations in the style you need for your paper direct in word or google docs. There is a zetero app whichs works really good on the iPad. But as always it is limited 😅. For statistics you often need desktop programs like spss oder r studio. And this is something you definitely can not do on the iPad. As I said I love my iPad! But even as a student at one point you will need a laptop. PS: maybe in safari I could use google docs like the desktop version and sync it with zetero. I could try this.
@@ByteReview For citation you can use zotero and citavi. There is a zotero app which is really good but as always on ipadOS it is limited compared to the desktop version. The thing is you can link these programs with word or google docs and that is a game changer. Because now you have a second brain for your literature and you can cite in the style you need direct from the programs. On iPadOS this is not possible because even word and google docs are not the same like on desktop. For statistics you need programs like spss or r studio which calculate different statistic tests for you. And of course you have to handle a big amount of data in spread sheets for that. Overall the iPad is perfect for notetaking, brainstorming and maybe writing a short essay with a few papers to cite. The thing is at a certain point in university you need a laptop. Nevertheless I love my iPad and it is such a great tool. But as I said it feels like you are always limited. Keep up the great work I enjoy your content so much!
Great video. I believe labeling the iPads as “instant machines” is on point. Since touch is the primary interface for the devices, things responding as soon as you interact with them is a very important part of the experience. Due to this, it is important for the iPads to be “overpowered” so they can continue to perform tasks quickly for years. This also means that apps will have to consider snappiness and may need to reduce complexity to run according to that expectation. MacBooks are a bit different since we are used to (or at least tolerate) having loading times. The M series was a game changer in that regard, but factors like RAM and memory speed are still very important between SKUs. The suggested RAM amount for MacBooks these days is at least 16GB, for example, with 8GB machines getting severely hindered if you push them hard enough. In contrast, even professionals can work on base-level 8GB iPad Pros with barely any differences from the 16GB variant. I believe Apple knows and embraces this distinction, which is why the MacBook doesn’t have Face ID, a camera, and other “instant” features that the iPad has. If you want more “instant” experiences, Apple sells the iPad. TLDR: Awesome video. I believe your perspective will remain relevant as long as Apple continues to sell both iPad and MacBook devices.
I was tempted to buy an M4 iPad but I only use my 2021 iPad Pro for UA-cam, browsing and email. So, I bought a new case for my old device and now I feel good!
being an entrepreneur as well as a college student, my iPad Pro has been the ultimate versatile multitasker ever since the launch of iPad Pro 3rd gen in 2018 I can definitely say that I belong to one of the few iPad nirvanas out there
The iPad Pro in general is overextending its main purpose as a device that only really tailors to artists (even in that case, the air is a great device even glancing over the refresh rate) and people with a specific workflow. Imo, Apple should really focus really on the IPad Air and bring in a broader audience if they don’t even want to bulge over bringing over the laptop experience while having touch and Apple Pencil support.
Great point about how MacBooks have improved since the first two iPad Pros came out. The shift to M1 moved more of my work from iPad and onto the MacBook as well. Hadn’t thought about that…
This title 🔥 very interested in this perspective right now. Feel like we are at a bit of an important point in time for the iPad but still nothing happened with the software in terms of using all the powers…. Watching now 🤓☕️
I own a macbook air and an iPad and love both, but definetly the macbook is AWESOME. Even for media consumption, I prefer use the macbook: super light, better quality image, bigger, mindbloqing battery life, etc. But, I ABSOLUTELY love to take notes and to study in my iPad
Apple uses sandboxed apps to fulfil its privacy and security functionalities, so a "Finder-like" file management system will never exist unless Apple changes its background policies. You will have to accept that, but hopefully, Apple can improve the Files app. For instance, on iPadOS 18, you can now format external drives. As for Stage Manager, what else does it need to match DeX? And I do not mean to use a copycat Windows desktop design, as that would go against Apple's philosophy of making iPadOS stand up on its own as a new tablet OS and UI.
@@Tech4YourNeeds That is how tech works in a mature market. OEMs copy other features like customization but not against the philosophy of the OS. DeX is a cheap way to get a desktop on a tablet. It worked but it is copy and paste Windows UI. At least Apple has attempted to be different although it needs some refining, but Rome wasn’t built in a day, so patience is needed.
I think Apple was banking on applications to focus more on the mobile experience and less on the desktop and laptop experience. it's slowly starting to happen but unfortunately, isn't there yet. One big hurdle is definitely how much of a % apple gets from App Store downloads so it's a bit of a weird double edge sword. keep iPad OS and reduce the % intake so developers can focus on that transition or keep things the same and have users and developers stay on Mac because of the limitations.
What is the best way to mirror my iPad screen onto a Mac monitor? I want to use my iPad as my main computer and use a Mac display as my monitor/TV screen.
Question - If you were the creator of a tool like Lumafusion which is better than the Apple alternatives, would you continue investing knowing that Apple has a track record of taking those ideas and putting it into their own apps? I’m trying to understand the upside for the software creators in the app ecosystem. I’d be interested to hear your thoughts! Thanks 🙏
Microsoft bought wunderlist and the team just released another app. So if theres money in it go for your thing, apple releases always will be based on a different timeline than an indepent comoany
In regards to something like Lumafusion, I think you could because it often takes apple a long time to bring features in, so you could be first a lot of the time. You could also compete on pricing structure too. With other apps it's tricky to say, Apple Notes is a good example of an app being so good you don't need an alternative. Interesting question!
Really like your videos and specifically your perspective in this one! I am currently trying to handle my private use cases solely on the new iPad 13“ (I am a hobby photographer and as you mentioned, LR is quite good on the iPad). Really curious whether I need to add a MacBook later but would love to stick just to this device and maybe a studio display! The good thing I still have access to my work MacBook if in doubt 😅
At home I use my iPad for sidecar and as access point to the internet when I am using my playstation on my monitor instead of the mac mini. When away from home, i use my ipad for netflix etc.
Great Vid as always Tom. What folio case were you using on the iPad? (The green one) I had one from ESR which was so poor and started separating so had to return! Would love a recommendation!
I never think iPad Pro for video editing or mere media consumption. As a doctor, I find that using iPad Pro is very helpful for teaching residents, medical students, and technicians, and also have long and continuous zoom meeting while I do my job at the lab, and even in satellite locations. Using the 13’ gives me more space to do editing excel or word files while reading materials and having zoom meeting minimized. It’s very light compared to my Macbook Pro. It lasts almost two days, too. I also use it to sign digital documents on the go. I also use it to draw illustration, mind map, and read e-textbooks in my spare time.. I don’t really get it about the video editing side. I tried doing this in my Samsung Tab S9 Ultra but found it was much heavier and not as intuitive doing it in my iPad Pro.
You can do all that on the iPad Air and any M-series iPad Pro. The point is that there is no point to a new iPad Pro being released every year with a new chip, when the iPad Pro's hardware has already been very overpowered since the M1 while its mobile OS still remains very limited by Apple (as limited as not being able to listen to more than one audio source at the same time). It is extremely overpriced because of that, and a waste of money to buy any new iPad Pro. There is no reason to buy the recent M4 iPad Pro when you can do the same things with an M1 iPad Pro.
The only reason I bought an ipad pro is for illustration purposes. Mac can't do that. Other than that, I mostly use it as an overpriced entertainment device, and I still do most of my editing work on a computer. Great video Tom, new sub!
After buying the OG iPad Pro in 2015 alongside the keyboard cover and Apple Pencil, I've always thought that I'll only be using this as my sole computer for the next couple of years. Fast forward 9 years later, I've made peace with myself as I realized that the reason I actually buy the iPad Pros were for the better screens, 4 speakers and always connected cellular connection (hence why I never bought any of the keyboard covers past the first one) lol
I hate it when people say something like „the iPad is not a real computer“ or „iPadOS is a limited operating system“ because that’s just so stupidly wrong. iPadOS is just very different. For some people it’s perfect and for others not. But that’s the same with all Operating Systems. For some people macOS is perfect, for other it’s very bad. The same with Windows, Linux, Android and ChromeOS. But that’s nice. We have different kinds of PCs for different kinds of people and anyone can buy the one that works best for them. People should stop complaining about iPadOS and instead just get a Computer that works for them.
Yes, spot on. Apple is investing in creating a mobile OS that will be relevant in 50 years. Rome was not built in a day, as Windows wasn't. Developing a new OS from the ground up shows the world how it should be done. Just look at Microsoft; what many comments suggest is the way to go with a hybrid device. They failed miserably and now are nobody in the tablet market, making up
I love my ipad and I accept what it is and isn’t. It helped me find my ideal setup which is the iPad with magic keyboard for all daily computing use. A desktop Mac for more complicated stuff. My Macbook is just collecting dust at this point and I use it maybe twice a month.
Let's not kid ourselves, however "media" spins this such as here, ipad was media consumption machine for most and maybe a art device too now. that's really it. People argue over this because it could be much more. I mean look at the disaster that is file management...
@@moumitareads3738 yes I am an iphone & windows laptop user. My work requires me to take photos/vids (often with my iphone) and file/archive them to synology for centralized archive. In iphone, you could save photos to files (it won’t appear in photos), or save photos to photos app (it won’t appear in files). You are constantly forced to make copies if you wish to transfer media between photos app & files (be it iOS files, gdrive, onedrive…) which I found to be odd. IMO, much better for photos app to have a linked folder in iOS files that allows versatility from a files management standpoint. I say this because with iOS photos app, you are limited to phone 1TB max storage or iCloud 2TB maxed out plan. With file management method, you unlock synology’s capability of 10+TB centralized archive.
You are seriously living in your own bubble. Tablets came into existence for media consumption and digital artists and with time have become more useful. What are you on about?
This is a great video. I have gone back and forth on my setup so many times. As of now though, I use an M2 Pro Mac Mini paired with a Studio Display for video editing and intensive tasks at home. I use the 11 inch M4 iPad Pro for lounging around the house, gaming, content consumption, etc. and it also serves as my travel “laptop” with the new Magic Keyboard pro. I used to have a MacBook Pro and iPad Mini 6, but found that the iPad was often relegated to use just before bed, and the MacBook was hardly ever opened unless I needed a laptop for a few days where I wouldn’t be home. I have found now that I am getting so much more use out of the iPad/Mac Mini setup. Both devices truly feel like they are meeting my needs. Still, fascinating discussion about the limitations of iPad OS and the versatility of the iPad hardware.
Nice video and to the point. I have an M1 11” iPad Pro and an iPad Mini 6 and they are my computers 99% of the time. I only use our M1 MacBook Pro for one task, stacking my Astrophotography Data, in an app Like SIRIL or PixInsight. I think Apple will continue to inhance iPadOS over time as it has done with MacOS.
I need After Effects so going iPad only is a no go, although for every other task I tend to gravitate towards my iPad because when things work on the iPad they are more enjoyable to do. And I wouldn't want After Effects on the iPad, what I want is an app that does most of what AE does but in an iPad way, leveraging multitouch, gestures and the pencil... much like how I prefer editing podcasts on Ferrite on the iPad than with something far more powerful like Audition on a Mac. Having said that Files app overhaul and background task are something absolutely needed!
I am not an iPad nirvana person. I paid a boatload of money for an iPad Pro 4 and Magic Keyboard to do the same things I used to do on an Android tablet that cost one fifth as much (and had many problems), on the off chance that there might be some killer app in the future that needs the power. Still, I don’t regret the purchase. To me, all the nice little things about using the iPad add up to justify the cost and the hassles of switching from Android.
I have the new iPad Pro M4 13” with a terabyte of memory. I also have the cheapest Mac Mini I could find with 512k. It has two principle purposes; the big screen attached to it makes Zoom and faceTime calls really nice, and when I need to use parts of MS Office that don’t run on my iPad, I can access them on the Mac. And oh yes, I got nice speakers for it and occasionally use it to watch a movie. However the iPad is usually handier. If necessary, I could probably live without the Mac. It’s been something like this for almost 2 years, first during a multi-month stay in a hospital with an 11” iPad Air. With no other machine, I quickly found all kinds of ways to use it. The Pro has now spoiled me, and it’s unlikely I’ll ever get a conventional desktop or laptop as my principle machine - unless Apple collapses.
I fully share the opinion with you. I am an architects student and a hobby-artist and the iPad Pro (M1, 11") is great for doing artsy stuff and is even possible to esit some social media videos. But at some point i got stuck. I never had a MacBook before but since last November i purchased the m3 Pro MacBook Pro and it's a beast. I do also have the howl affinity suite and it is somehow better on mac, maybe because the toolbars aren't hidden/in layers. Now my iPad is more of an drawing and notetaking machine so i am glad that I didn't bought the Magic Keyboard.
Considering a new iPad Pro to replace my 2019 MBP 16". I never considered switching to an iPad for everything but if I'm honest, I can do pretty much everything on the iPad. Awesome hardware on the iPad but I'm wondering if the experience would annoy me ;-)
I was just thinking the same thing. iPads (not including the Mini) are amazing HW in search of use cases. For 10% of people, an iPad is irreplaceable: architects, designers, grandmothers... But for the rest of us, an iPad is an inferior device for getting things done, no matter how hard we force it. And that's because for some reason (Apple marketing?), we are looking at iPads as laptop replacements. But better is just to accept it's never going to replace a laptop, and focus on use cases that actually work with iPads. That's why I think the Mini is the future of the iPad. It's a simple, lower-cost (relatively) device to consume content and do some niche things. It can fit into a complete workflow, but never as a full laptop replacement. At least not for me, and imo most users.
You know, I was going to skip this video but then I started watching it and it really (like really) got me thinking.. I bought my Air Gen 4 with the Apple Pencil 2 as I really wanted to use it instead of the bulky laptops I was used to. But then I actually started working a proper corporate remote job that required a lot of switching between G-Suite and Slack and tons of copy/pasting and Sheets work...and that's where the iPad failed me so I bought an M1 MBA and I couldn't be happier. I have been debating on whether I should get a magic keyboard or not but I always decide against it, because the iPad will simply never going to be the thing I want it to be - a Mac laptop with a touchscreen. What I really use the iPad for (like literally these 3 things) is drawing; writing notes and reading Kindle books. If Apple could make some sort of symbiosis on the Macs that can make them work with the Pencil then I would be a happy user, because taking notes digitally on my laptop directly?! HECK YES! So, to sum it up - I am considering of moving away from the Air and getting a Mini at some point, just to keep as a notepad/sketchbook.
I'm glad you didn't skip the video haha, and I know what you mean, the macbook air has eaten into a lot of my iPad use because it's just so good! Still love my iPad but Im starting to look at it differently again now
I’m a photographer who has a beautiful desktop but I need a device to take on the go and from my research, getting a MacBook Pro that can run all of the photo editing apps long term without aging out within 3 years is freakin expensive. So for me, the iPad Pro is great. I love Lightroom and photoshop AND I can do all of my business stuff and website editing on it. It’s great.
I still need both. I have the mini the 10th the M2 Pro 12.9, the MacBook Pro. I'll probably get the m3 MacBook soon. I won't get this iPad for a long time. My 12.9 is still too new.
Wow. I’m the exact opposite. I ditched my macbook for an iPad Pro in 2018 and haven’t looked back. I’m a professional artist and for me, the iPad does everything better than a laptop ever could. I not only draw on it, i edit photos & videos on it. I surf the web, write on it and consume media on it. For me the iPad does everything better & more enjoyably than my laptop ever could. I have totally transitioned to an iOS only workflow. Are there some things an iPad can’t do than a macbook can? Sure. But I also feel that the majority of those that always complain about the iPad not being able to run MacOS. To me, i think they are just too used to using MacOS and resist change. I resisted at first, but once I got used to it, I realized the iPad could do everything my macbook could…and better. Not everyone will agree, and thats fine. I’m not here to convince anyone what they are doing is wrong. I’m just saying that I am a professional, and want to dispute the myth that the iPad is somehow not sufficient for serious work. Me and many professionals have switched. Yes, I am an artist and the iPad is obviously great for drawing on. Much better than a laptop. But i also edit heavy 4K video & photos professionally. So to say professionals cant use an iPad exclusively is so false. I really take offense to that. There will be legit areas where both devices are better for certain programs & people for sure. But I also feel that there are a vast number of people who could easily do everything on an iPad they currently do on their computers…but just aren’t willing to change or adapt to a new way of doing things. And thats fine too. It’s all good. I think there will be some people that will never be happy until the iPad runs MacOS. To them that is what they want.
i’d love my ipad to be the 1 device i use but ignoring the ipados limitations it’s like you said with the magic keyboard the ipad is thicker and heavier than a macbook air, the macbook air can do more as well as costs cheaper than an ipad pro/magic keyboard combo and the air has better battery life. For those reasons alone i could never recommend an ipad to a general user who doesn’t own any laptop/macbook or wants an ipad as a main device.
As an artist I recently up graded my M1 Pro to the M2 …. I’m kinda annoyed that the new pencil pro can’t be used on my iPad … I would love to upgrade again but I don’t see it in the cards till later.
For 75% of the SD8G3 smartphone users, the chip is far more powerful than the software, so should we abandon faster chips because most people do not max out that performance? We have more powerful chips than software for headroom and future-proofing, and I am shocked that comments like yours still litter the internet. These devices are not throw-away; they can last 7+ years, so having headroom and future-proofing is 100% what we should have, and to want less is a depressing opinion.
Other than pro apps (adobe premiere and the real Final Cut Pro) and a better files app I think the iPad is great. Idk what else I need to do on my iPad
I love the versatility of the iPad - I take it off the keyboard and touch it - using it like a book - I take me pencil and write on it - ideas - thoughts or even draw a bit - I open books and read - I switch to UA-cam and watch something - while on the side writing some messages… all this is not on my MacBook… and that’s why I use the iPad more than the Mac… considering selling my Mac and getting the m4 :)
The iPad is an entertainment device first & foremost. Look at the lineup from the bottom-up. Regular streaming, searching, & note taking use. The Pro are for specific users like artists & that’s it. Anything more is a hilariously bad way of looking at this type of device 😅
I've been saying for a long time, the iPad Pro is the most frustrating thing ever. They made this incredibly beautiful and extremely powerful computer, and then they put iPadOS in it.
Great video buddy and I definitely agree with you that the iPad is what the iPad is and it’s never never gonna be some magical macOS or a laptop replacement
Always enjoy your videos! My day job is mostly run on my iPad and if I didn't have a MBP I could make that part of my life 100% iPad. The photo and video editing hasn't made that transition yet, only because I haven't taken the time to figure it out.
iPads is an awesome invention. However I think a keyboard is must for them. iPads only are expensive for me, therefore I use Android version of iPad as Amazon Fire Max 11. Highly recommend.
Hey man, I really appreciate the content on this channel and tech UA-cam as a whole, but I’ve noticed a lot of repetition in the discussions. One important aspect that’s consistently overlooked is how essential iPads (and tablets in general) are for musicians. From students to seasoned professionals, every musician I know relies on an iPad for daily tasks like music creation, practice, and performance. Somehow, this crucial topic has flown under the radar in tech reviews. The problem is that tech reviewers often fall into an echo chamber-focusing on the same popular topics and missing out on everyday realities for many people. For musicians, using an iPad isn't a unique or niche application; it’s a fundamental part of their workflow. Let’s break out of this cycle and start discussing how tech truly impacts various fields, including music! Thanks for all your great content, and I hope to see this topic covered in future videos.
Although I'm not an apple user, i feel that If they had announced some better software updates for the iPad OS during the whole Apple intelligence stuff, it would have added to the whole experience of the event and would not have taken away from it.
Olá do Brasil!!! Olha eu passei dois anos usando somente o iPad como meu computador é apenas ele. Acho um aparelho incrível. Versátil. O que complica é o iPadOS… você tem uma máquina absurda porém sem total uso do que ela pode oferecer. A três meses eu tive de comprar um MacBook e nossa aí acabei entendendo o quão o iPadOS limita o iPad. Sinceramente. Eu preferia que a Apple acabasse com o MacBook Air. E deixasse somente o iPad com o macOS no lugar.
Good video. Frankly so many UA-cam reviews of iPad are bad b/c they are made by video creators who can think of nothing else but how a device handles video editing compared to their mac and they often find it wanting because they have years of muscle memory using Mac video editing workflow. Their opinions are valid for that niche but that niche is really, Really, REALLY small. A very small percentage of people do that on a regular basis. We need fewer reviews of devices from the standpoint of how they work for video creators. That skews the reviews b/c the only video creators out there all have their own UA-cam channels and are making the same reviews. I’d really like to see reviews about how real people with non-UA-cam creator jobs might use devices. I’m a lawyer myself and a huge iPad Pro user. I am on the go all day from office to court to client visits and back to the office. The combination of the Apple pencil and always on internet makes the iPad Pro a killer device for my profession. I imagine there are others who like it for similar reasons in other businesses. So, to all the UA-cam reviewers out there, please stop focusing solely on how the iPad works for UA-camrs. We have way too many of those reviews for what amounts to a very small percentage of the working world.
After using an iPad and eventually switching to a MacBook, I only remember and kinda miss the iPad experience solely related to the Pencil - drawing, writing notes, annotating when reading... It honestly feels like it's worse at pretty much everything that ISN'T related to Pencil usage, so without it it's just a... bigger second phone which is completely unnecessary and which is useless nowadays due to how big iPhones Pro Max'es are. Generally, it's great if you use the Pencil and it's could be more handy as media consumtion center and gaming only if you have some spare money to spend on it, which not many people find reasonable. Honestly, all these semi-pro features/apps that they're trying to push seem unneeded and make the iPad such a weird middleground, that people like your channel are getting lost in trying to understand and explain to people what it is and who it's for.
I finally jumped to a 12.9 inch iPad Pro and I love it! But! I also paired it with a m2 Mac mini pro which I think is a kind of perfect Frankenstein monster 😂
Sure you can use the ipad as a separate (instant machine) but you can use your phone for much of the same. The ipad has the power but not the brains. You've still got a files app that makes windows explorer look like a masterpiece of software engineering. It's really time to stop making excuses for Apple's horrible software engineering within iPad OS. The apps are great, the hardware is great, the OS blows in a lot of ways. It's settings menu is convulated. It's become buggy as hell especially with stage manager. It feels like Apple really needs to go back to the basics with a major OS rewrite. I'm not arguing for the ipad to replace your MacBook I'm arguing that the iPad is severely hampered by it's OS in being a great tablet. What makes it even more frustrating is the hardware is just getting better and better. All Apple needs to do is allow the ipad to run a VM of Mac os when docked to an external display (all of those people that want this to be their only device would be able to use this as their one device). Apple will not do that because they need to sell you a MacBook as well. Apple keeps on selling this iPad as a computer replacement but goes out of it's way to hamper it really replacing your computer because they need to sell one of those as well.
I’ve been looking forward to this video, ever since your last one. When you said something along the lines of “this maybe isn’t designed for yours or my needs, but for users of the future brought up on smartphones” - I had a hunch you’ve been cooking something like this. I’m very happy to be right, I was so excited to see this drop. Great video as always, man!
Apple gave up on a hybrid because Microsoft showed that it could be a destroyer of dreams rather than something to aspire to. W8 and Windows Tablets, a hybrid monster of cataclysmic proportions, destroyed a billion-dollar revenue stream for MS, and now they are duds in the tablet market with about a 3% share. On the other hand, Apple, with its tablet-dedicated OS, has sold 800 million and is rising. In business, you keep a winning formula, especially for a niche vocal group. You try to help them with added functionality, but you stay with the program of two OSes, macOS and iPadOS, which, in 50 years, will get better and better.
Great video. I hear the complaints about iPadOS so often but I struggle to understand what people want. If it’s missing software, that’s not an OS thing that’s for developers to fix. All I can think of is Stage Manager, as mentioned, could use some improvements.
Having 2 audio streams going at once so videos would stop cutting off mid-play because another app is opened would be nice. It’s bizarre an m4 device cannot do this because of Apple.
iPadOS is super disappointing. Stage manager on external ultra widescreen is so clunky and apps crash. Throwing a video stream to a tv results in massive borders, whereas on a MacBook it’s flawless. It can’t chromecast because it’s not got a real chrome browser. It should be able to do more, the hardware is better than my MacBook Air, but so many basic things are missing. Yes, the pencil is great, the snappy app loading is great, but please fix multitasking and screen scaling and audio streams. Then it could replace my MacBook more often, and save me carrying 2 devices. I don’t want to stop it being a great iPad, I want it to do the newer features like external displays, keyboard, mouse support BETTER. Then it might justify the huge price tag.
Nothing is perfect. Intel laptops have had trash battery life for a decade, and people still live and die by them. Expecting perfection is unreasonable, especially as iPadOS has existed for a relatively short time versus, say, Windows. You marry the pros and cons and, as a consumer, decide if it fits your needs.
@@andyH_England Why are you giving Apple a pass? Who asked for perfection? I just want useable. iPadOS is 5 years old, Stage manager is not new, Apple are one of the wealthiest corporations on the planet. They could very quickly fix the issues with the iPad Pro, and make it work much better with keyboard, mouse, external display. Sadly right now for me it's completely unusable for my day job due to crashes/bugs, and that sucks because I love it, I want to use it. There is zero problem with the hardware. Look at Samsung DEX, and then look at what Apple serve up to us. Its embarrassing.
@@paulwoodward8265 Maybe you need to buy a Galaxy Book Ultra then? Even DeX is niche. I saw a poll that showed less than 15% of users run it more than once a week. You are the consumer with the money and if Stage Manager is not doing for you, then logic dictates you should use something else and revisit next year to see if it works better for you. It is a very niche feature. For example, if I need to multitask with multiple windows I would always use my laptop even ahead of DeX as that is still just running Android apps. Look at the iPad Pro as 90% tablet and 10% desktop for some use cases. But buying something that you know does not work well for you is not Apple’s fault, it is your decision. It is like buying a Ferrari to go off-road and then complaining to Ferrari that it is not as good as a Land Rover! Apple does not want to be another Android wannabe as product differentiation is vital to survival let alone success. Anyway facts speak for themselves and iPad Pros are expected to sell 9 million this year as total iPad sales head towards a billion sales worldwide.
My main issue (and I say this as an owner of the full iPad Pro experience) is that it is a more limited device that costs waaaaaaay more to buy as a package than a Mac does. I used an iPad as my only computer for a year and then got an m3 pro MacBook and I think the iPad for me is now mostly just an entertainment device.
I've tried going iPad only in my early uni days and I've owned a MacBook ever since. iPadOS is so clunky compared to MacOS, which by default is not great itself. Apps are what make a difference, a huge difference. I couldn't live without Raycast, without a window manager or without emotes on a Twitch livestream ahahah
I had replaced my MacBook with an iPad Pro for the past 8 years. I recently sold my M2 iPad Pro and bought an M3 MacBook Air and boy do I wish I had never tried to replace the mac on the first place. I do love the iPad, but for content consumption and note taking. In the end, I think having both is ideal but not everyone can afford that, including me lol. I do plan on buying one again sometime in the future, but I'll go for the 11" this time, which to me makes more sense for those use cases.
Yeah the iPad pro is the most powerful youtube-watching tablet out there
The iPad is cheaper than any comparable Mac and far more flexible
For me the iPad Pro is my main home computer and a work companion. MacBooks are more capable yes, but they’re also just boring laptops that I don’t enjoy using as a home device.
And for work I need a windows laptop so the MacBook is the useless intermediate in my case.
I do have a Mac at home but it’s an M1 iMac I sometimes use when working from home and the nice big screen is nicer than a laptop + it works great with universal control
This is why the best companion is the IPad mini because most people use it for content consumption and then leave the MacBook for actual work, just hoping to see the iPad mini with OLED in the future and that will be game over
got a mini and it been great!! OLED & M1 would be solid
Really wanting a mini (iPad Pro gen1 & M1 owner here) but am just holding out for OLED & 120Hz screen! If they add the M1 too that's a huge bonus but not a dealbreaker for me, as I just want it to be the device I leave laying around for some media consumption rather than being a workhorse like the two Pros I already own.
This is where I finally landed. I’ve had them since the beginning and when I had my 12.9 M2 with 1TB and a Magic Keyboard and all these accessories I finally realized it was never going to be a Mac. So I sold it all. And i went without for a few months. I missed it for a few things so I waited until the M4 was announced. I bought an 11” Pro, a Smart Folio case, and the new Pencil. Now I only use it for drawing, editing in Lightroom, and media consumption.
finding the right use for it defo helps, I'm never going to edit full videos on the iPad even though I technically can
Yes, it is astonishing how many people need help understanding an iPad is a complimentary device for many, that is, if it cannot be your only device!
Ok, but if all you need is to draw a little and use those apps. The regular ipad gives you pretty much the same experience why pay 3 times as much for an complimentary device?
I think we need to shift the conversation about iPads towards the fact that for 85% of all iPad users, the 10th gen iPad will do everything they could ever want to do with the the iPad. And for the remaining 15%, an M1 iPad Air would do the rest. The iPad pros are what keep the conversation centered on the iPad as a laptop replacement, with its vastly overpowered hardware for what the software supports. Probably 1% of users would actually ever need an iPad Pro, even users in the “iPad Nirvana” group.
Rightly Said..
The iPad Pro, like the iPhone Pros, are not de facto for professionals; they are simply monikers stating that the Pro is the best in the line. So, people who buy the Pro rarely look at it for more performance; it is for the OLED, 120Hz, better speakers, greater future-proofing, etc. They are aimed at people who can afford the best or want to have a device for 5+ years and want the luxury features.
If people can understand this and stop taking "Pro" literally, then, they may stop whining. All those complainers should not bother looking at it if it is not for them. Apple, as you say, offers lower-priced alternatives.
This would be true if the Air had 120hz screens. 60hz these days is abysmal and the only real reason I opted for the “pro” version
I agree that objectively speaking nearly everyone could do what they do on a tablet on a 10th gen iPad. I'd say it would be way higher than 85%, closer to 99%. Do you think even 1 in 100 current iPad users or prospective iPad buyers in 2024 would need more than what the iPad 10th gen offers? I sure don't.
That said the Pro moniker should not be taken literally as Professional as in FOR "professionals", as others have already stated, Pro just means top of line, not just for the iPad but all sorts of things.
Finally, the M4 is overkill here. The M1, the M2, and the M4 will all be future proofed through their End of Life dates from Apple. The reason to buy the Pro is for the screen. Once you see it in person you can't unsee it.
@@jessechristman1471 this right here. I want 120hz on all my screens 😭
That’s an excellent video. Me as an artist, I use the iPad pretty much every day. I do have a Mac because I still need it for some specific tasks but the iPad is pretty much everything I need today
I really appreciate your illuminating discussion! I'm a visual artist & writer-both verbal & nonverbal in my creativity. I also do a lot of pnline political activism. I would say that since getting the 2024 13" M4, I'm definitely sliding into iPad Nirvana. I am blown away by the deep blacks & vivid true colors of the OLED screen, the Apple Pencil Pro is an astonishingly well-designed device, & there are so many software innovations for multitasking, multiple windows, shortcuts, accessibility... the list goes on & on.
I'm an older gal, nearly 70, but I have so much creative work ahead of me now that I have the right tools. My journey with computers started all the way back in the mid-1960s. I was a computer geek before that term existed, learned to code in multiple languages, etc., etc. I got my first desktop computer in 1987. I've had desktops & laptops running MS-DOS, Windows, Linux & MacOS operating systems. (Unix, then Linux, then Ubuntu, were my faves. They are the most flexible by far & best supported by a dynamic community that shares oodles of free software.)
For me the huge inflection point was in 2011, when I got my first iPad-the iPad 2. I got it sort of as a toy, to make non-serious art on (my serious art is not digital), but almost instantly, much to my surprise, it became all the computer I needed. After the iPad 2, I had two successive iPad Airs. I never needed or wanted an external keyboard, because I got so adept at writing with a stylus on the iPad on-screen keyboard, I wrote a whole fat book that way, on my very first iPad.
I could rave on & on about how & why iPads have changed my life, but the key feature they've had from the get go is portability. I am totally addicted to being able to walk about with my iPad in my left hand, my stylus/pencil in my right hand, sit anywhere I want with a big fluffly cat in my lap, be utterly free of having to sit at a desk or a table. My iPad fits nto that delightful niche previously occupied by paper journals & sketch books. And my iPad was an absolute life saver 5 years ago, when I had severe trauma to my legs, necessitating multiple painful surgeries & a long stay in rehab. I was able to watch movies, make art & write up a storm while utterly immobilized for months in a hospital bed. I know that as I get older & begin to have vision &/or hearing issues, my iPad will be able to keep me happy & stimulated until the day I die. I fully expect to record my last words on Earth, to make my last doodles & photos, on my trusty iPad.
I appreciate your candid thoughts. For me my iPad will always be a companion device to my M3 Pro MBP 14.
Agreed, it's a great companion device and that's how I've always seen it!
Yep. And that's exactly what Apple wants you to do, buy both.
@@mulasien Yep.
I lost it when I saw Christopher Lawley among the nouns 🤣
Same 😂
Yes!! 🤣😂🤣
had the same reaction😂
Same LOL
My ipad pro 12.9 has been my only device for the last 7 years. No keyboard, no stand. I type on the screen using the smart cover. I do have the pencil and the logi mouse. The “instant” adjective is wonderfully spot on, and also the flexibility one, I can work wherever never needing a desk. I think Its time we understand that just like a gaming pc wont be what the iphone is and viceversa, the ipad is its own device , not a laptop. Because I really want apple to take the ipad further instead of trying to make it into a clunky laptop. We have those, the air is wonderful. So I want a better ipad to continue having a great ipad experience. Thanks for the awesome video
glad you enjoyed!
Agree 💯, I want it to become a better tablet. But that will include things like better sharing between apps, better for manager, longer battery life, etc. But just as easily given the m4 processor runs laps around most laptops this could run a VM of Mac os when connected to an external display. One does not have to come at the expense of the other. I feel like things like stage manager etc are trying to build a desktop os within iPad OS and making the ipad a convulated mess instead of leaving desktop to the Mac and focusing on making this into a better tablet.
Video was BANG on Tom. The "Instant" factor is 100% my go-to ipad use haha. My ipad is keeping my channel afloat haha. Happy to be featured.
it was a great video, showed real use case which SO many videos don't!
"Artists
Specific Users
Students
Christopher Lawley"
If CL doesn't make a shirt, he's missing a massive opportunity
he has my blessing to do so 🤣
A Swiss Army knife is not supposed to replace a butcher knife. They are tools for different purposes. If you can only buy one, get the one that fits your needs the best. Personally, I have an iPad and a Mac. Apple said that half of the Mac owners also have an iPad, so this is fairly common. It should be mentioned that iPad sells somewhere between double and triple the number of Macs in a given period, so more people are reaching for iPads than Macs. Of course, a good deal of people use Windows with iPads, so it fills more roles than the Mac.
When you get a PC, you can install both Windows and Linux in double-boot mode. Even on Android you can run Termux and install a Linux virtual machine there and connect to it via VNC. With iPad, you don't even get processes being able to run in background.
@@pahomstreams An iPad is a tablet running one OS and of course, not going to dual-boot another OS. You buy a desktop OS for that.
You absolutely nailed it. You simply have to stop thinking replacing your mac with an iPad and baaaaam you are really enjoying the experience... But then you are maybe thinking of switching to the 11‘‘. This is what I will do now. Do you also have those thoughts?
Probably one of your most thoughtful and conceptually accurate videos I've seen. If one compares the iPad to a Macbook then the stand-out benefits of the iPad are:
1. Smaller more "pick-me-up" size = more convenient to use and carry around ie more portable and more ergonomic eg it extends use-cases: I never used to read books on laptop and now my iPad is full of my kindle library (cookbooks, manga, novels, manuals and more). This is in reference to 11"/460g.
2. Responsiveness is critical to reducing inertia and "getting things done" as you pointed out: The Instant Apps on/off wake-up device switch apps means it's really breezy to do simple tasks and switch tasks.
3. Your funnel diagram captured 100% my own concept of the benefit of the iPad vs it's limitations:
- 80% of general or useful computing can be done on iPad eg email, phone, view media, web surf, look-up (AI apps), maps or even gaming with controller and cloud service etc
- +10% of extended use eg writing, drawing, reading books you'd not normally do on a laptop
- -10% Specialist Uses for Productivity you CANNOT do on the iPad and resort to full desktop-OS for is equivalent to the Thorn In The Lion's Paw: It's excruciating despite how "apparently" small a problem it may appear to be!
This was my own thoughts before your superior representation of the funnel-diagram with equally accurate Christopher Langley in iPad Nirvana (lol).
So far I've found, the best extensibility software for iPad for Productivity = REMOTE DESKTOP
Using RDP/VNC + iPad + Network + Computer + External monitor and keyboard/mouse you can effectively run productive stuff using spare peripherals if available or just your iPad screen if commuting and internet connection. Not ideal but does work. And atm battery life is a bit of a limitation with this set-up for longer than 6-8 hours.
Until that gap in the funnel is resolved eg new iPad Category by Apple, then this is the current last piece in the iPad jigsaw that takes the Thorn out of the Lion's Paw so to speak and provides some relief.
The instant thing is so true, I find myself grabbing my (genuinely great) iPad mini 6 for basically *everything* at school or when needing to note take seriously
Yeah, totally felt this recently!
Not even once I heard on all reviews of IPads before I bought my m2 last year, about file app and audio files. My plan was to get external monitor and use only iPad, but as with my purchases of CDs and vinyls I receive digital versions I realised I can not even make a playlist and listen whole album. I need to click every song separately once selected song is finish… that’s the problem for me, I can’t plug in cd player (even from Apple) and to add my music from files to music app i need laptop (Windows or Mac) and iTunes. Disaster.
I’ve heard from other creators that the iPad isn’t about replacing your laptop, it’s about doing a lot of things in one thine ‘piece of glass’, or the *versatility* of the iPad.
You can type away on a script on and iPad and Mac with ease, you can edit a video on iPad, Mac and iPhone, you can also do prototyping on a Mac or iPad, and you can draw on iPad and iPhone. Notice that in all of the examples, the iPad is mentioned in all of them. That’s how versatile the iPad is.
And it can even get your ideas quicker. You can prototype an app on both iPad and Mac (on Figma or Sketch), but you can put down your idea on iPad easily compared to the Mac, where you need to think about the nitty gritty details (think iPad’s Freeform as Figma but you draw out your ideas, and that’s just one part of Freeform!)
As for how the iPad can get Mac-y features, honesty I couldn’t find any significant parts where features from the Mac need to be ported to iPad (pre WWDC thought, windows snapping should be on iPad though)
And as for the graph on 8:20, I wonder how we can widen up the funnel bottleneck.
iPads aside, this is another great video from Tom! Thanks, you’re the best!
Christopher Lawly made a massive video about iPad keyboard. And it got me.
I have seen a level of emptiness that cannot be recaptured.
It's so bad, yet so wonderful.
He is the biggest apple sheep I have ever seen
Your thoughts are the same as mine. Truly disappointed in iPadOS 18 (running the beta). The hardware is amazing, but you'd be fine with a M1 iPad Pro. There's literally no advantage to getting the M4 like we had hoped there might be.
Isn't that the same with technology everywhere, from smartphones to laptops? Mature markets mean year-on-year improvements are minor. I'm curious what else iPadOS could add as Apple has already stated 100% that it will never run macOS or port macOS apps? And even if it did, these would also be supported on the M1. So you say: "There's literally no advantage to getting the M4 like we had hoped there might be"--which is a misnomer as M1 would do anything an M4 could do, just a bit slower! So, I don't know what your point is, TBH!
You'd be fine with a base ipad from 3-4 years ago. It's not a mature market. It's a market that has lost competition because there is no tablet competitor.
That bottle funneling is the best explanation to end this endless debate of "can ipad replace MacBook"..
From the steve job first ipad presentation it was clearly stated that ipad sit between iphone and mac..so it's really depends on how each people daily use and how far they can "tolerate" less convenient usage or alternative apps if the want to blend iphone and mac into single device ipad..
Your views are spot on! I would love to use the iPad as my only computing device, but it really frustrates me that even though it has a more powerful processor than my Mac, some of the main apps I use (Notion, Word, Excel) don’t offer the same functionality as the laptop version
Have you tried the web version of ms office? It looks and feels a lot like the windows 11 version these days
Yeah there's just little things here and there (road bumps in the funnel) that make it tricky sometimes!
That is a business decision by developers and you buy an iPad knowing these bumps in the road. I suspect devs do not want to risk their business model by giving iPads the full app at a lower cost.
What game are you playing at 3:29 ?
there are two types of ipad users: artists and everyone else. everyone else doesn't need the latest and greatest. and most artists don't even need the latest.
Especially if you're already on an M powered iPad, upgrading would be silly
You forgot grandmothers. iPads are great for people who don't want or need a computer, no longer work, and want to look at pictures of their grandkids or facetime with the family.
That’s a pretty fair review. As I have stated before, I run a law firm. I use my iPad Pro M4 for all my administrative tasks. And my MacBook Air mostly for Microsoft office.
I’m in a similar boat and mainly using the iPad as a smart monitor these days which I find quite sad sometimes. I’m still hoping that if regulators force Apple to open up alternative app stores and side-loading etc, someone will find a way to get a Mac-style OS running on it
be interesting to see if anything like that does happen!
Hey Tom, thank you so much for the video. I think you have nailed it with the diagram. For a long time I’ve been trying to replace my MBP for an iPad Pro, but I’ve realized that the iPad still has that friction for creators (video editor’s mainly), that I prefer to stick with a Mac. Anyway, since the iPad Pro M4 has come out, I’ve been using it more and more, and now I only use the Mac for editing and the rest of my workflow I do it naturally with the iPad. This thing has “that something” that you you want to invest more time into it, or at least is how I’m feeling it lately. Anyway, good video Tom (as always!)
Thanks for watching! And yes, I compeltely agree about that 'something' so many apple products do it!
Appreciate the shoutout to Lumafusion, I edit videos for a channel with 50k+ subs entirely on that software and it only gets better. Love your content Tom, keep it up!
Lumafusion is so good! And thanks!
Another great video! You hit the nail on the head. I do love being able to go wherever I want and still be able to use FCP on my iPad. While I would love it if I could replace my MacBook I can’t, but that’s ok. Each device has its own purpose.
Just discovered you on UA-cam. Great vid, content - my MacBook Air got to old so replaced it with my iPad M4 - I don’t own a laptop at this point and honestly it’s working well.
Thanks! Glad the iPad its working out for you
I am a student and I love my iPad! Its great for taking notes. Buuuut as a Student I have to write a lot of scientific essays. And that is not possible on the iPad because writing programs are so bad. Now you can say try it and get used to it. But even then I need special apps for citation. I need apps to do statistic tests and so on. If you just write a literature based paper it would work but it would be a pain. But if you have to do your own research you cant write a paper just with your iPad. And then you need a second device as a student which comes with extra costs.
oooh that's a really interesting point, what sort of apps do you use on the laptop?
@@ByteReview For citation you can use for example zetero and connect it with docs or word. It works like a second brain for the literature you collect and creats perfect citations in the style you need for your paper direct in word or google docs. There is a zetero app whichs works really good on the iPad. But as always it is limited 😅. For statistics you often need desktop programs like spss oder r studio. And this is something you definitely can not do on the iPad.
As I said I love my iPad! But even as a student at one point you will need a laptop.
PS: maybe in safari I could use google docs like the desktop version and sync it with zetero. I could try this.
@@ByteReview For citation you can use zotero and citavi. There is a zotero app which is really good but as always on ipadOS it is limited compared to the desktop version. The thing is you can link these programs with word or google docs and that is a game changer. Because now you have a second brain for your literature and you can cite in the style you need direct from the programs. On iPadOS this is not possible because even word and google docs are not the same like on desktop. For statistics you need programs like spss or r studio which calculate different statistic tests for you. And of course you have to handle a big amount of data in spread sheets for that. Overall the iPad is perfect for notetaking, brainstorming and maybe writing a short essay with a few papers to cite. The thing is at a certain point in university you need a laptop.
Nevertheless I love my iPad and it is such a great tool. But as I said it feels like you are always limited.
Keep up the great work I enjoy your content so much!
Great video. I believe labeling the iPads as “instant machines” is on point. Since touch is the primary interface for the devices, things responding as soon as you interact with them is a very important part of the experience. Due to this, it is important for the iPads to be “overpowered” so they can continue to perform tasks quickly for years. This also means that apps will have to consider snappiness and may need to reduce complexity to run according to that expectation.
MacBooks are a bit different since we are used to (or at least tolerate) having loading times. The M series was a game changer in that regard, but factors like RAM and memory speed are still very important between SKUs. The suggested RAM amount for MacBooks these days is at least 16GB, for example, with 8GB machines getting severely hindered if you push them hard enough. In contrast, even professionals can work on base-level 8GB iPad Pros with barely any differences from the 16GB variant. I believe Apple knows and embraces this distinction, which is why the MacBook doesn’t have Face ID, a camera, and other “instant” features that the iPad has. If you want more “instant” experiences, Apple sells the iPad.
TLDR: Awesome video. I believe your perspective will remain relevant as long as Apple continues to sell both iPad and MacBook devices.
Thanks! Super interesting point about loading times on mac / pc we accept loading on there but with a touch device our patience is so slim!
I was tempted to buy an M4 iPad but I only use my 2021 iPad Pro for UA-cam, browsing and email. So, I bought a new case for my old device and now I feel good!
being an entrepreneur as well as a college student, my iPad Pro has been the ultimate versatile multitasker ever since the launch of iPad Pro 3rd gen in 2018 I can definitely say that I belong to one of the few iPad nirvanas out there
The iPad Pro in general is overextending its main purpose as a device that only really tailors to artists (even in that case, the air is a great device even glancing over the refresh rate) and people with a specific workflow. Imo, Apple should really focus really on the IPad Air and bring in a broader audience if they don’t even want to bulge over bringing over the laptop experience while having touch and Apple Pencil support.
Great point about how MacBooks have improved since the first two iPad Pros came out. The shift to M1 moved more of my work from iPad and onto the MacBook as well. Hadn’t thought about that…
This title 🔥 very interested in this perspective right now. Feel like we are at a bit of an important point in time for the iPad but still nothing happened with the software in terms of using all the powers…. Watching now 🤓☕️
I own a macbook air and an iPad and love both, but definetly the macbook is AWESOME. Even for media consumption, I prefer use the macbook: super light, better quality image, bigger, mindbloqing battery life, etc. But, I ABSOLUTELY love to take notes and to study in my iPad
What the iPad is missing two things a better file management and have something like Samsung DEX (Desktop Experience) meaning fix Stage Manager.
yep, those updates would help massively
Apple uses sandboxed apps to fulfil its privacy and security functionalities, so a "Finder-like" file management system will never exist unless Apple changes its background policies. You will have to accept that, but hopefully, Apple can improve the Files app. For instance, on iPadOS 18, you can now format external drives.
As for Stage Manager, what else does it need to match DeX? And I do not mean to use a copycat Windows desktop design, as that would go against Apple's philosophy of making iPadOS stand up on its own as a new tablet OS and UI.
@@andyH_England Apple is copying Android customization. Apple iPadOS 18 is not unique.
@@Tech4YourNeeds That is how tech works in a mature market. OEMs copy other features like customization but not against the philosophy of the OS. DeX is a cheap way to get a desktop on a tablet. It worked but it is copy and paste Windows UI. At least Apple has attempted to be different although it needs some refining, but Rome wasn’t built in a day, so patience is needed.
I think Apple was banking on applications to focus more on the mobile experience and less on the desktop and laptop experience. it's slowly starting to happen but unfortunately, isn't there yet. One big hurdle is definitely how much of a % apple gets from App Store downloads so it's a bit of a weird double edge sword. keep iPad OS and reduce the % intake so developers can focus on that transition or keep things the same and have users and developers stay on Mac because of the limitations.
What is the best way to mirror my iPad screen onto a Mac monitor? I want to use my iPad as my main computer and use a Mac display as my monitor/TV screen.
Question - If you were the creator of a tool like Lumafusion which is better than the Apple alternatives, would you continue investing knowing that Apple has a track record of taking those ideas and putting it into their own apps?
I’m trying to understand the upside for the software creators in the app ecosystem.
I’d be interested to hear your thoughts! Thanks 🙏
Microsoft bought wunderlist and the team just released another app. So if theres money in it go for your thing, apple releases always will be based on a different timeline than an indepent comoany
In regards to something like Lumafusion, I think you could because it often takes apple a long time to bring features in, so you could be first a lot of the time. You could also compete on pricing structure too. With other apps it's tricky to say, Apple Notes is a good example of an app being so good you don't need an alternative. Interesting question!
👀
Really like your videos and specifically your perspective in this one! I am currently trying to handle my private use cases solely on the new iPad 13“ (I am a hobby photographer and as you mentioned, LR is quite good on the iPad). Really curious whether I need to add a MacBook later but would love to stick just to this device and maybe a studio display! The good thing I still have access to my work MacBook if in doubt 😅
At home I use my iPad for sidecar and as access point to the internet when I am using my playstation on my monitor instead of the mac mini. When away from home, i use my ipad for netflix etc.
Great Vid as always Tom. What folio case were you using on the iPad? (The green one) I had one from ESR which was so poor and started separating so had to return! Would love a recommendation!
Just the apple smart folio!
i think i needed to hear this, i was so excited by the concept of doing everything on an ipad, but a laptop is just so much more capable.
You've just got to pick the right device for your needs!
I never think iPad Pro for video editing or mere media consumption. As a doctor, I find that using iPad Pro is very helpful for teaching residents, medical students, and technicians, and also have long and continuous zoom meeting while I do my job at the lab, and even in satellite locations. Using the 13’ gives me more space to do editing excel or word files while reading materials and having zoom meeting minimized. It’s very light compared to my Macbook Pro. It lasts almost two days, too. I also use it to sign digital documents on the go. I also use it to draw illustration, mind map, and read e-textbooks in my spare time.. I don’t really get it about the video editing side. I tried doing this in my Samsung Tab S9 Ultra but found it was much heavier and not as intuitive doing it in my iPad Pro.
I think it just goes to show how different everyone’s workflows are! Glad that it’s working well for you though, sounds pretty perfect!
You can do all that on the iPad Air and any M-series iPad Pro. The point is that there is no point to a new iPad Pro being released every year with a new chip, when the iPad Pro's hardware has already been very overpowered since the M1 while its mobile OS still remains very limited by Apple (as limited as not being able to listen to more than one audio source at the same time). It is extremely overpriced because of that, and a waste of money to buy any new iPad Pro. There is no reason to buy the recent M4 iPad Pro when you can do the same things with an M1 iPad Pro.
iPads are definitely very useful for beginners. I started my video editing and graphic design journey on an iPad.
The only reason I bought an ipad pro is for illustration purposes. Mac can't do that. Other than that, I mostly use it as an overpriced entertainment device, and I still do most of my editing work on a computer. Great video Tom, new sub!
After buying the OG iPad Pro in 2015 alongside the keyboard cover and Apple Pencil, I've always thought that I'll only be using this as my sole computer for the next couple of years. Fast forward 9 years later, I've made peace with myself as I realized that the reason I actually buy the iPad Pros were for the better screens, 4 speakers and always connected cellular connection (hence why I never bought any of the keyboard covers past the first one) lol
I hate it when people say something like „the iPad is not a real computer“ or „iPadOS is a limited operating system“ because that’s just so stupidly wrong. iPadOS is just very different. For some people it’s perfect and for others not. But that’s the same with all Operating Systems. For some people macOS is perfect, for other it’s very bad. The same with Windows, Linux, Android and ChromeOS. But that’s nice. We have different kinds of PCs for different kinds of people and anyone can buy the one that works best for them. People should stop complaining about iPadOS and instead just get a Computer that works for them.
Yes, spot on. Apple is investing in creating a mobile OS that will be relevant in 50 years. Rome was not built in a day, as Windows wasn't.
Developing a new OS from the ground up shows the world how it should be done. Just look at Microsoft; what many comments suggest is the way to go with a hybrid device. They failed miserably and now are nobody in the tablet market, making up
I love my ipad and I accept what it is and isn’t. It helped me find my ideal setup which is the iPad with magic keyboard for all daily computing use. A desktop Mac for more complicated stuff. My Macbook is just collecting dust at this point and I use it maybe twice a month.
I’m gladly in the iPad Nirvana for the last 3 years since I got my M1 iPad Pro!
iPad Nirvana was cool, it really looks like a good tablet with the M family chips, one day I hope to buy one.
Let's not kid ourselves, however "media" spins this such as here, ipad was media consumption machine for most and maybe a art device too now. that's really it.
People argue over this because it could be much more. I mean look at the disaster that is file management...
Are we best friends ? I was literally thinking that it was pitched as media machine and we’ve seen it evolve into something else now.
Those photos and videos not showing up in file systems is the deal breaker
Are u joking? Have u used an ipad before?
@@moumitareads3738 yes I am an iphone & windows laptop user. My work requires me to take photos/vids (often with my iphone) and file/archive them to synology for centralized archive. In iphone, you could save photos to files (it won’t appear in photos), or save photos to photos app (it won’t appear in files).
You are constantly forced to make copies if you wish to transfer media between photos app & files (be it iOS files, gdrive, onedrive…) which I found to be odd. IMO, much better for photos app to have a linked folder in iOS files that allows versatility from a files management standpoint.
I say this because with iOS photos app, you are limited to phone 1TB max storage or iCloud 2TB maxed out plan. With file management method, you unlock synology’s capability of 10+TB centralized archive.
You are seriously living in your own bubble. Tablets came into existence for media consumption and digital artists and with time have become more useful. What are you on about?
This is a great video. I have gone back and forth on my setup so many times. As of now though, I use an M2 Pro Mac Mini paired with a Studio Display for video editing and intensive tasks at home. I use the 11 inch M4 iPad Pro for lounging around the house, gaming, content consumption, etc. and it also serves as my travel “laptop” with the new Magic Keyboard pro. I used to have a MacBook Pro and iPad Mini 6, but found that the iPad was often relegated to use just before bed, and the MacBook was hardly ever opened unless I needed a laptop for a few days where I wouldn’t be home. I have found now that I am getting so much more use out of the iPad/Mac Mini setup. Both devices truly feel like they are meeting my needs. Still, fascinating discussion about the limitations of iPad OS and the versatility of the iPad hardware.
Glad you liked it! Sounds like you've got the setup dialed well!
Nice video and to the point. I have an M1 11” iPad Pro and an iPad Mini 6 and they are my computers 99% of the time. I only use our M1 MacBook Pro for one task, stacking my Astrophotography Data, in an app Like SIRIL or PixInsight. I think Apple will continue to inhance iPadOS over time as it has done with MacOS.
I need After Effects so going iPad only is a no go, although for every other task I tend to gravitate towards my iPad because when things work on the iPad they are more enjoyable to do. And I wouldn't want After Effects on the iPad, what I want is an app that does most of what AE does but in an iPad way, leveraging multitouch, gestures and the pencil... much like how I prefer editing podcasts on Ferrite on the iPad than with something far more powerful like Audition on a Mac.
Having said that Files app overhaul and background task are something absolutely needed!
files needs a big sort out for sure haha. And yes, working on an iPad is enjoyable and I think that can really help with productivity etc
I am not an iPad nirvana person. I paid a boatload of money for an iPad Pro 4 and Magic Keyboard to do the same things I used to do on an Android tablet that cost one fifth as much (and had many problems), on the off chance that there might be some killer app in the future that needs the power. Still, I don’t regret the purchase. To me, all the nice little things about using the iPad add up to justify the cost and the hassles of switching from Android.
I have the new iPad Pro M4 13” with a terabyte of memory. I also have the cheapest Mac Mini I could find with 512k. It has two principle purposes; the big screen attached to it makes Zoom and faceTime calls really nice, and when I need to use parts of MS Office that don’t run on my iPad, I can access them on the Mac. And oh yes, I got nice speakers for it and occasionally use it to watch a movie. However the iPad is usually handier. If necessary, I could probably live without the Mac. It’s been something like this for almost 2 years, first during a multi-month stay in a hospital with an 11” iPad Air. With no other machine, I quickly found all kinds of ways to use it. The Pro has now spoiled me, and it’s unlikely I’ll ever get a conventional desktop or laptop as my principle machine - unless Apple collapses.
I love how Christopher Lawley got mentioned in iPad Nirvana😂
He lives there I think 🤣
I fully share the opinion with you.
I am an architects student and a hobby-artist and the iPad Pro (M1, 11") is great for doing artsy stuff and is even possible to esit some social media videos.
But at some point i got stuck. I never had a MacBook before but since last November i purchased the m3 Pro MacBook Pro and it's a beast. I do also have the howl affinity suite and it is somehow better on mac, maybe because the toolbars aren't hidden/in layers. Now my iPad is more of an drawing and notetaking machine so i am glad that I didn't bought the Magic Keyboard.
Considering a new iPad Pro to replace my 2019 MBP 16". I never considered switching to an iPad for everything but if I'm honest, I can do pretty much everything on the iPad. Awesome hardware on the iPad but I'm wondering if the experience would annoy me ;-)
all I can say is try it out and use your returns period if you can!
I was just thinking the same thing. iPads (not including the Mini) are amazing HW in search of use cases. For 10% of people, an iPad is irreplaceable: architects, designers, grandmothers... But for the rest of us, an iPad is an inferior device for getting things done, no matter how hard we force it. And that's because for some reason (Apple marketing?), we are looking at iPads as laptop replacements. But better is just to accept it's never going to replace a laptop, and focus on use cases that actually work with iPads. That's why I think the Mini is the future of the iPad. It's a simple, lower-cost (relatively) device to consume content and do some niche things. It can fit into a complete workflow, but never as a full laptop replacement. At least not for me, and imo most users.
You know, I was going to skip this video but then I started watching it and it really (like really) got me thinking..
I bought my Air Gen 4 with the Apple Pencil 2 as I really wanted to use it instead of the bulky laptops I was used to. But then I actually started working a proper corporate remote job that required a lot of switching between G-Suite and Slack and tons of copy/pasting and Sheets work...and that's where the iPad failed me so I bought an M1 MBA and I couldn't be happier.
I have been debating on whether I should get a magic keyboard or not but I always decide against it, because the iPad will simply never going to be the thing I want it to be - a Mac laptop with a touchscreen.
What I really use the iPad for (like literally these 3 things) is drawing; writing notes and reading Kindle books.
If Apple could make some sort of symbiosis on the Macs that can make them work with the Pencil then I would be a happy user, because taking notes digitally on my laptop directly?! HECK YES!
So, to sum it up - I am considering of moving away from the Air and getting a Mini at some point, just to keep as a notepad/sketchbook.
I'm glad you didn't skip the video haha, and I know what you mean, the macbook air has eaten into a lot of my iPad use because it's just so good! Still love my iPad but Im starting to look at it differently again now
I believe we can finally format drives now a small win
I’m a photographer who has a beautiful desktop but I need a device to take on the go and from my research, getting a MacBook Pro that can run all of the photo editing apps long term without aging out within 3 years is freakin expensive. So for me, the iPad Pro is great. I love Lightroom and photoshop AND I can do all of my business stuff and website editing on it. It’s great.
Sounds perfect!
I still need both. I have the mini the 10th the M2 Pro 12.9, the MacBook Pro. I'll probably get the m3 MacBook soon. I won't get this iPad for a long time. My 12.9 is still too new.
Wow. I’m the exact opposite. I ditched my macbook for an iPad Pro in 2018 and haven’t looked back. I’m a professional artist and for me, the iPad does everything better than a laptop ever could. I not only draw on it, i edit photos & videos on it. I surf the web, write on it and consume media on it. For me the iPad does everything better & more enjoyably than my laptop ever could. I have totally transitioned to an iOS only workflow. Are there some things an iPad can’t do than a macbook can? Sure. But I also feel that the majority of those that always complain about the iPad not being able to run MacOS. To me, i think they are just too used to using MacOS and resist change. I resisted at first, but once I got used to it, I realized the iPad could do everything my macbook could…and better. Not everyone will agree, and thats fine. I’m not here to convince anyone what they are doing is wrong. I’m just saying that I am a professional, and want to dispute the myth that the iPad is somehow not sufficient for serious work. Me and many professionals have switched. Yes, I am an artist and the iPad is obviously great for drawing on. Much better than a laptop. But i also edit heavy 4K video & photos professionally. So to say professionals cant use an iPad exclusively is so false. I really take offense to that. There will be legit areas where both devices are better for certain programs & people for sure. But I also feel that there are a vast number of people who could easily do everything on an iPad they currently do on their computers…but just aren’t willing to change or adapt to a new way of doing things. And thats fine too. It’s all good. I think there will be some people that will never be happy until the iPad runs MacOS. To them that is what they want.
11:55 what video editing app is this?
resolve
@@ByteReview tq u look cute btw 😘
lol that Christopher Lawly reference got me 🤣
he is king iPad 👑
i’d love my ipad to be the 1 device i use but ignoring the ipados limitations it’s like you said with the magic keyboard the ipad is thicker and heavier than a macbook air, the macbook air can do more as well as costs cheaper than an ipad pro/magic keyboard combo and the air has better battery life. For those reasons alone i could never recommend an ipad to a general user who doesn’t own any laptop/macbook or wants an ipad as a main device.
As an artist I recently up graded my M1 Pro to the M2 …. I’m kinda annoyed that the new pencil pro can’t be used on my iPad … I would love to upgrade again but I don’t see it in the cards till later.
out of interest, why did you upgrade to the M2?
My problem with the iPad is that it’s treated as a tablet and not a keyboard-less MacBook. The hardware is much more powerful than the software.
For 75% of the SD8G3 smartphone users, the chip is far more powerful than the software, so should we abandon faster chips because most people do not max out that performance? We have more powerful chips than software for headroom and future-proofing, and I am shocked that comments like yours still litter the internet. These devices are not throw-away; they can last 7+ years, so having headroom and future-proofing is 100% what we should have, and to want less is a depressing opinion.
Other than pro apps (adobe premiere and the real Final Cut Pro) and a better files app I think the iPad is great. Idk what else I need to do on my iPad
I love the versatility of the iPad - I take it off the keyboard and touch it - using it like a book - I take me pencil and write on it - ideas - thoughts or even draw a bit - I open books and read - I switch to UA-cam and watch something - while on the side writing some messages… all this is not on my MacBook… and that’s why I use the iPad more than the Mac… considering selling my Mac and getting the m4 :)
The iPad is an entertainment device first & foremost.
Look at the lineup from the bottom-up.
Regular streaming, searching, & note taking use.
The Pro are for specific users like artists & that’s it.
Anything more is a hilariously bad way of looking at this type of device 😅
I've been saying for a long time, the iPad Pro is the most frustrating thing ever. They made this incredibly beautiful and extremely powerful computer, and then they put iPadOS in it.
Great video buddy and I definitely agree with you that the iPad is what the iPad is and it’s never never gonna be some magical macOS or a laptop replacement
Thanks! And yep, it's fine just being an iPad and that's cool!
Always enjoy your videos! My day job is mostly run on my iPad and if I didn't have a MBP I could make that part of my life 100% iPad. The photo and video editing hasn't made that transition yet, only because I haven't taken the time to figure it out.
Photo editing is great on there imo but not so much for the video editing I do!
@@ByteReview I'll give it a try for that!
iPadOS did get some unique handwriting features and also we finally got the ability to format external drives 🎉
iPads is an awesome invention. However I think a keyboard is must for them. iPads only are expensive for me, therefore I use Android version of iPad as Amazon Fire Max 11. Highly recommend.
LOL Christopher Lawley 🤣
👀
@@ByteReview He is the reference in using only iPad and I laughed when you mentioned him.
Hey man, I really appreciate the content on this channel and tech UA-cam as a whole, but I’ve noticed a lot of repetition in the discussions. One important aspect that’s consistently overlooked is how essential iPads (and tablets in general) are for musicians. From students to seasoned professionals, every musician I know relies on an iPad for daily tasks like music creation, practice, and performance. Somehow, this crucial topic has flown under the radar in tech reviews. The problem is that tech reviewers often fall into an echo chamber-focusing on the same popular topics and missing out on everyday realities for many people. For musicians, using an iPad isn't a unique or niche application; it’s a fundamental part of their workflow. Let’s break out of this cycle and start discussing how tech truly impacts various fields, including music! Thanks for all your great content, and I hope to see this topic covered in future videos.
There is a mention of that here : 9:54 but yes I totally understand - it makes so much sense for musicians!
Although I'm not an apple user, i feel that If they had announced some better software updates for the iPad OS during the whole Apple intelligence stuff, it would have added to the whole experience of the event and would not have taken away from it.
Perhaps they're saving it for next year, but I would have loved to see something more for sure this year
I waited for Christopher Lawley in the iPad nirvana, I got Christopher Lawley in the iPad nirvana 😂
Olá do Brasil!!! Olha eu passei dois anos usando somente o iPad como meu computador é apenas ele. Acho um aparelho incrível. Versátil. O que complica é o iPadOS… você tem uma máquina absurda porém sem total uso do que ela pode oferecer. A três meses eu tive de comprar um MacBook e nossa aí acabei entendendo o quão o iPadOS limita o iPad.
Sinceramente. Eu preferia que a Apple acabasse com o MacBook Air. E deixasse somente o iPad com o macOS no lugar.
Good video. Frankly so many UA-cam reviews of iPad are bad b/c they are made by video creators who can think of nothing else but how a device handles video editing compared to their mac and they often find it wanting because they have years of muscle memory using Mac video editing workflow. Their opinions are valid for that niche but that niche is really, Really, REALLY small. A very small percentage of people do that on a regular basis. We need fewer reviews of devices from the standpoint of how they work for video creators. That skews the reviews b/c the only video creators out there all have their own UA-cam channels and are making the same reviews. I’d really like to see reviews about how real people with non-UA-cam creator jobs might use devices. I’m a lawyer myself and a huge iPad Pro user. I am on the go all day from office to court to client visits and back to the office. The combination of the Apple pencil and always on internet makes the iPad Pro a killer device for my profession. I imagine there are others who like it for similar reasons in other businesses. So, to all the UA-cam reviewers out there, please stop focusing solely on how the iPad works for UA-camrs. We have way too many of those reviews for what amounts to a very small percentage of the working world.
Totally agree with this - it's so easy for 'creators' to rate a product on how good it is at video / photo work and not anything else
After using an iPad and eventually switching to a MacBook, I only remember and kinda miss the iPad experience solely related to the Pencil - drawing, writing notes, annotating when reading... It honestly feels like it's worse at pretty much everything that ISN'T related to Pencil usage, so without it it's just a... bigger second phone which is completely unnecessary and which is useless nowadays due to how big iPhones Pro Max'es are. Generally, it's great if you use the Pencil and it's could be more handy as media consumtion center and gaming only if you have some spare money to spend on it, which not many people find reasonable. Honestly, all these semi-pro features/apps that they're trying to push seem unneeded and make the iPad such a weird middleground, that people like your channel are getting lost in trying to understand and explain to people what it is and who it's for.
The pencil really is the best accessory for the iPad. And yeah totally get where you're coming from
5:01 sigh what’s taking them so long to make it able to take up the whole screen smh
literally
I finally jumped to a 12.9 inch iPad Pro and I love it! But! I also paired it with a m2 Mac mini pro which I think is a kind of perfect Frankenstein monster 😂
iPad Pro + Mac desktop is the ultimate setup
iPad afterlife?
Sure you can use the ipad as a separate (instant machine) but you can use your phone for much of the same. The ipad has the power but not the brains. You've still got a files app that makes windows explorer look like a masterpiece of software engineering. It's really time to stop making excuses for Apple's horrible software engineering within iPad OS. The apps are great, the hardware is great, the OS blows in a lot of ways. It's settings menu is convulated. It's become buggy as hell especially with stage manager. It feels like Apple really needs to go back to the basics with a major OS rewrite. I'm not arguing for the ipad to replace your MacBook I'm arguing that the iPad is severely hampered by it's OS in being a great tablet. What makes it even more frustrating is the hardware is just getting better and better. All Apple needs to do is allow the ipad to run a VM of Mac os when docked to an external display (all of those people that want this to be their only device would be able to use this as their one device). Apple will not do that because they need to sell you a MacBook as well. Apple keeps on selling this iPad as a computer replacement but goes out of it's way to hamper it really replacing your computer because they need to sell one of those as well.
Great hardware and performance but still too limited and expensive.
I’ve been looking forward to this video, ever since your last one. When you said something along the lines of “this maybe isn’t designed for yours or my needs, but for users of the future brought up on smartphones” - I had a hunch you’ve been cooking something like this. I’m very happy to be right, I was so excited to see this drop. Great video as always, man!
glad you enjoyed, and you're right - the cogs were turning back then for sure haha
Remember that iPad was on track to be Mac replacement -- a rebooted paradigm for general purpose computing (more or less). There's no reason why a
Apple gave up on a hybrid because Microsoft showed that it could be a destroyer of dreams rather than something to aspire to. W8 and Windows Tablets, a hybrid monster of cataclysmic proportions, destroyed a billion-dollar revenue stream for MS, and now they are duds in the tablet market with about a 3% share. On the other hand, Apple, with its tablet-dedicated OS, has sold 800 million and is rising. In business, you keep a winning formula, especially for a niche vocal group. You try to help them with added functionality, but you stay with the program of two OSes, macOS and iPadOS, which, in 50 years, will get better and better.
Great video. I hear the complaints about iPadOS so often but I struggle to understand what people want. If it’s missing software, that’s not an OS thing that’s for developers to fix. All I can think of is Stage Manager, as mentioned, could use some improvements.
Yep, some real simple stuff in stage manager would go a really long way imo!
Well, being able to export video in the background would also help a lot. Currently you have to keep the app open in the foreground, which sucks.
Having 2 audio streams going at once so videos would stop cutting off mid-play because another app is opened would be nice. It’s bizarre an m4 device cannot do this because of Apple.
iPadOS is super disappointing. Stage manager on external ultra widescreen is so clunky and apps crash. Throwing a video stream to a tv results in massive borders, whereas on a MacBook it’s flawless. It can’t chromecast because it’s not got a real chrome browser. It should be able to do more, the hardware is better than my MacBook Air, but so many basic things are missing. Yes, the pencil is great, the snappy app loading is great, but please fix multitasking and screen scaling and audio streams. Then it could replace my MacBook more often, and save me carrying 2 devices. I don’t want to stop it being a great iPad, I want it to do the newer features like external displays, keyboard, mouse support BETTER. Then it might justify the huge price tag.
Nothing is perfect. Intel laptops have had trash battery life for a decade, and people still live and die by them. Expecting perfection is unreasonable, especially as iPadOS has existed for a relatively short time versus, say, Windows. You marry the pros and cons and, as a consumer, decide if it fits your needs.
@@andyH_England Why are you giving Apple a pass? Who asked for perfection? I just want useable. iPadOS is 5 years old, Stage manager is not new, Apple are one of the wealthiest corporations on the planet. They could very quickly fix the issues with the iPad Pro, and make it work much better with keyboard, mouse, external display. Sadly right now for me it's completely unusable for my day job due to crashes/bugs, and that sucks because I love it, I want to use it. There is zero problem with the hardware. Look at Samsung DEX, and then look at what Apple serve up to us. Its embarrassing.
@@paulwoodward8265 Maybe you need to buy a Galaxy Book Ultra then? Even DeX is niche. I saw a poll that showed less than 15% of users run it more than once a week. You are the consumer with the money and if Stage Manager is not doing for you, then logic dictates you should use something else and revisit next year to see if it works better for you. It is a very niche feature. For example, if I need to multitask with multiple windows I would always use my laptop even ahead of DeX as that is still just running Android apps. Look at the iPad Pro as 90% tablet and 10% desktop for some use cases. But buying something that you know does not work well for you is not Apple’s fault, it is your decision. It is like buying a Ferrari to go off-road and then complaining to Ferrari that it is not as good as a Land Rover! Apple does not want to be another Android wannabe as product differentiation is vital to survival let alone success. Anyway facts speak for themselves and iPad Pros are expected to sell 9 million this year as total iPad sales head towards a billion sales worldwide.
You need a WiFi connection for your MacBook, whereas I can take my iPad with mobile connection anywhere.
I always find tethering is so good on apple products that I never opt for a cellular version! Have been tempted tho
Oh! Serious talk! I’m so nervous 😱 Nah, it’s just your opinion, we’re good 🤦🏻♂️