Can an iPad Replace a Laptop

 So I have the original M1 iPad Pro. It’s a 12.9 inch. I’ve been using it to surf the web, watch videos, write in my journal, check email, and now go to school. It’s been very good at doing all of these things. Of course my M1 iPad Pro isn’t a MacBook. It’s more of a tablet than a laptop. It is considered Apple’s convertible device. It can be used as both a tablet and then add a keyboard and trackpad and you have a laptop-like device. 

Some people don’t think that the iPad can actually do what a laptop can. Maybe there’s a few things that the iPad can’t do but it can do most everything. I’ve been using my iPad as my main device for years now. There was only one time that I absolutely had to use my MacBook and that was for a textbook for school. It was only available on “Bookshelf” for a real full fledged operating system. The iPad unfortunately runs on iPadOS which is a spinoff from iOS used on the iPhone. These are both mobile operating systems. 

I’ve been reading that you can now write code on the iPad. I know for a fact that multitasking is now available on the iPad. For my needs, it’s been available for a long time with Split View. Now there is a thing called Stage Manager that allows you to open multiple windows and resize them according to your needs. Apple has brought their Pro apps like Logic Pro and Final Cut Pro to the iPad so creatives can use their iPad for work. All of the Office 365 apps are available on the iPad as well as Zoom and Teams. If that isn’t good enough, Apple gives you iWork to take care of whatever Office can’t, and this is free. 

During the pandemic when everyone was working from home laptops were sold out everywhere and people started buying up iPads to work from home on. They did just fine. Apple makes a solid device in the iPad. Every year they make a newer and better device. The chip is now the M4 and it’s supposed to be more powerful than the M1 and M2. Imagine a tablet that is more powerful than most laptops and desktops for sale today. The iPad is exactly that. The hardware is phenomenal, it’s the OS that is holding it back. But as I said earlier it isn’t holding it back as much as people claim it is. 

I would venture to say that 99% of people today could get by with just an iPad. Can the iPad be my only computer? Can the iPad replace my laptop? These questions are asked everyday on sites like Reddit. Of course there are a mixed bag of answers. Some say yes and some say no. I lean more toward the yes side of the argument. It took me a lot of reading and research to come to an answer like this. Truly the iPad can be a great stand alone device and truly it can be all the computer that most people need. 

Now there are some holdouts that prefer Linux over anything else. I can’t respond to those pleas since I have no idea about Linux. It is an OS that I have never used. And of course there are those who hold onto Windows and MacOS too. There is no reason to say that an iPad can’t replace a computer because of these people. They are simply sticking with what they like and know. 

I believe this way. The older generation has grown with traditional laptops and desktops as their computing systems. The younger generation has grown or is growing with smart phones and tablets as their main computing devices. These kids and young adults have found work arounds for most of the things that people say an iPad cannot do. They have mastered the mobile OS that stumps some of the older generation, and for this reason I believe that the iPad is truly the future of computing. Apple was right all along. One day people will say “What’s a computer?”