My iPad actually replaced my laptop
Sent from my iPad.
In 2017, the iPad can’t catch a break.
For the better part of the last seven years, Apple’s hope has been for iPad to replace the PCs a vast majority of people own – the ungainly laptops of the world that sell for around $500, weigh a relative ton, do basic 2017 computer-y things, and carry around decades of PC complexity.
The problem is, most people don’t use their iPads to replace their workhorse machines. Normal people, we’re told, have an iPad around their house to do things that feel cramped on some smartphones, and that would be sluggish on their laptops. They’re a go-between for the two Big Boy Computers in most people’s lives, and are becoming an increasing irrelevance. Add that to the fact that the iPad has spent most of its life being thought of as a consumption-only device because of that lack of keyboard, and you find a fair few people questioning who the iPad is actually for – if not actively scratching their heads when Apple tries to sell its tablet as a laptop-class productivity powerhouse.
So, both out of stubborn curiosity and the sudden need to replace an ageing 2010 MacBook Air, I got an iPad Air 2, and got to answer the all-important question – just what can an iPad really do in 2017? Can Apple’s tablet really replace your laptop?
Use cases
I’ll be the first to admit that the core of my computer use is fairly lightweight stuff – if you were expecting an article on doing pro-level stuff exclusively on iOS, I’m afraid you’re going to be disappointed – but just to frame the rest of this article, I’ll run you through what I used my MacBook Air for:
- The absolute basics – So, basically Safari, and by extension Facebook, YouTube, and other social media platforms; the stuff we’d expect from pretty much any computer in the 2010s.
- Microsoft Office – still the gold standard in productivity software, the way I bashed out my dissertation, and surprisingly good on macOS these days. I’m very aware that Google Docs is just as competent and is free, but there’s something nice about having native apps on desktop platforms and I already pay for Office 365, if only for the 1TB of OneDrive storage.
- (Very light) Gaming – I tend to get most of my gaming done on my PS4 and 3DS, and I’ve never been overwhelmingly fond of Steam, but Mini Metro and FTL are bloody good, and they can run on basically anything.
Nothing really taxing, then. If anything, I stood to benefit from an iPad replacing my MacBook – in my new, post-University life, I probably didn’t need to have a keyboard bolted on to my Facebook-first, work-second life machine.
So, how’d it all work out? Well, let’s start with the good stuff.
Dem #Gainz
First and foremost, the best thing about my iPad has been its sheer mobility. My MacBook Air wasn’t exactly a lead weight in my bag, but the difference in size and weight is obviously noticeable. Where I could always feel the weight of my MacBook in my bag, the iPad is feather-light – it’s there, but it’s not trying to be imposing.
Then there’s the battery life. My god, the battery life. My late-2010 MacBook Air was made well before Intel made processors that could give laptops all-day battery power, so I’ve been used to my workhorse PC needing fresh juice after around four or five hours. Of course, I was expecting great things – Apple’s been claiming ten hours of battery life from every iPad it’s ever sold, after all – but I frequently get between twelve and fifteen hours of screen time doing the things I normally do. Where I’d have to plug my MacBook in every time I was finished with it, I can safely leave my iPad off the charger for the better part of a week and know that it’ll still be working when I wake up.
Moving away from iPad’s hardware, iOS on a bigger screen is still just as good as it was when the first iPads were hitting shops. The sheer number of great apps that are iPad-optimised inspires a lot of confidence in the iPad’s usefulness, and it’s great I don’t have to give up on things like desktop-class Safari and Microsoft Office just because my primary computer doesn’t run a Big Boy Computer’s OS.
Of course, iOS’ Big Boy Computer credentials got a boost with the advent of iOS 9 back in 2015, and the iPad’s computer capabilities are now pretty solid. Attaching a Bluetooth keyboard means you get a few shortcuts that macOS users will have committed to muscle memory, like Cmd-Space for Spotlight and Cmd-Tab for an app switcher. (If you want to grab a Bluetooth keyboard for your iPad, there’s obviously a dearth of options, but I’m very fond of Microsoft’s Universal Mobile keyboard.) Of course, there’s Split View for proper side-by-side app multitasking, and while power users may find only two apps on screen at once restricting, I’m pretty happy to have Tweetbot or Facebook Messenger running side-by-side with Word or the Medium app.
As for those fairly light games? Well, the App Store’s home to a fairly decent spread of the games I was playing on my MacBook, and some of them feel more at home on iOS than they did on macOS. Take Mini Metro, for example – it’s a game that’s just fine on regular computers, but there’s something just great about being able to reach out and manipulate the lines directly. The same’ true of titles like Papers, Please, which is also a joy on iPad.
In short, it feels like a machine with very few compromises. That’s not to say that there aren’t little annoyances, however.
The not-so-great stuff
I’m not going to lie – when my iPad’s in laptop mode, with its keyboard attached and with me whacking away at its keys, I sometimes miss my MacBook’s trackpad. Having a precise little pointer ready to go is super useful when you’re in the middle of editing something, and while I can just reach out and touch things on the screen it’s just not as precise as a trackpad can be. But hey, computers came without mice or trackpads in the past, and it’s entirely possible to live without it on an iPad.
Perhaps the thing I have the most trouble living with, however, is the way iOS handles notifications. On my iPhone, I’m totally fine with notifications coming down from the top of the screen, ready to either be interacted with or for me to ignore at my leisure. The thing is, that’s not the best way for them to appear on my iPad, where they’ll get in the way of the key controls for an app. While it’s fairly straightforward to swipe them away, I do wish there was a toggle in settings that let me see notifications in a more macOS style – sliding in from the side of the display, rather than dropping down from the top.
Of course, these are all very small issues, and that’s the thing that’s honestly surprised me in my time with the iPad so far; I’ve not really needed to adjust the way I work, or the way I do everyday things, to make this a viable everyday computer.
That’s actually the biggest thing I’ve taken away from this whole endeavour. Far from feeling held back by the things my iPad couldn’t do, I felt empowered to spend more time with the stuff I enjoy doing. I felt encouraged to just do things, rather than spending time figuring how to make stuff work for me. I get to stay productive without dealing with a lot of frustration or jabbing at menus, and I get to do it on a device that doesn’t weigh me down.
Honestly, it’s great; my iPad is a small, lightweight powerhouse machine that can do everything I want it to do, multitask competently, and entertain me on a whim. While I understand it’s not the best way of working for everyone, it’s an impressive device, and perhaps the best computer I’ve ever owned.
