My experience with iPad Pro (M1) at work as a MacBook Pro Replacement
Summary:
The iPad has a severe operating system functionality limitation. One may consider buying it as a laptop/desktop replacement if -
1. This is not your primary laptop. You have a backup laptop/ desktop to fall back on.
2. You have the ability to buy a magic keyboard along with apple pencil to go with it.
3. Most of your work flow consists of web based apps/ email, reviewing documents and taking notes, drawing with a pencil. Creating data has it’s limitations but not impossible.
Here’s my honest review:
Apple network: My work flow is web optimised since I anyways have to switch between my work pc and a work mac. I also use an iphone now which makes getting all your stuff on ipad quick. my work flow mostly consists of Whatsapp (web), email (use gmail), google sheets (maximum time on in), excel (with macros), occasional signing / filling pdfs acrobat, some image editing, note taking, scribbling work stuff, mind maps/ ideation with my team, showing work on bigger screen etc
Screen size is appropriate for all day work, I used a bluetooth logitech keyboard with a silent mouse (which is used before my iPad ) then switched to an apple magic keyboard and pencil. Both logictech and magic keyboard work fine and as expected. I like the experience of a mouse more than the limited sized track pad on magic keyboard. However, the trackpad is very handy and convenient.
Speed and battery— iPad is fast and never furious, probably much faster than a pre M1 mac or any other windows computer. However my iPad runs out of battery quickly (the capacity is less than a mac, it lasts about 5–6 hours on one charge). So you may have to invest in an additional 20000 Mah power bank, if you crave that all day battery on your long trip to the hills.
Lapability — It’s not fully lapable. Opening this laptop with one hand is difficult and limited, and because it is so top heavy (weight is on the screen) the ability to use it in a car with a Magic keyboard wasn’t easy. However using it on a office desk is more than comfortable, but I would suggest you get a car-table/ Stand or use without the keyboard in a moving car. I love the ability to snap the ipad away from the keyboard stand and just view something.
Cameras/Video: I was suprised at how much i actually enjoying using the camera on the bigger screen. I was always trying to snap pictures at my office/ factory to explain how to make changes in design for the machines or parts. It was very intuitive to draw over things while you took photos. The ultra wide camera also is great for video calls, used to hack my iphone 12 camera (there is an app that converts iphone camera into a webcam) and rig it to my mac for video/zoom calls earlier, but this solution is way more intuitive and easy.
Safari — Safari is the star of the whole operating system, ipadOS would have been a mess if not for it. However, it has it’s own limitations such as it has no option to zoom-out in google drive, whatsapp-web keeps refreshing, can’t open all websites in desktop mode (most web based platforms are usable but not perfect). Safari shows more ads than on computer in iOS (even after paid adGaurd pro extension active)
Chrome — Limited functionality as it does not default to desktop website. Also, it does not let me use many google sheet functionalities. I recommend using safari on iPad.
Whatsapp — Acceptable over all but all native apps have its limits. It keeps refreshing / re-loading on safari tab (doesnt work in chrome properly, on safari have to hit ‘minimise keyboard’ again and again (after connecting magic keyboard )
Excel — The office apps are costly and also limited in functionality. The shortcuts that are available in mac / windows are also changed a little, other are not available at all. Macros don’t work on excel in iPad. If you work flow is excel heavy, dont even think about replacing your work computer for any ipad.
Sheets app: limited functionality compared to web version. Lacks access to sheet extensions and also pivot table functionality in app. Google sheets work fine in safari but the google sheets experience in Chrome+ mac is much better. In iPadOS larger sheets keeps refreshing (maybe to save energy / ram). I keep a few sheets in incognito also open (I have to sign-in every time it refreshes the screen)
Casting your screen to firestick using airscreen (an app in firstick) is easy, I also use a thunderbolt (usb-c) to HDMI cable for my office presentation on Large Tvs and Projectors (works well).
I used both gmail app and gmail for web (taking my time to get adjusted to the Gmail app experience). However the gmail app experience in ipad is very very good, some might say even better than the web experience. I dont use too many advanced options anyways (in mac) except for pixel tracking (a software tech that stops others from tracking if you have read the email, and allows you to track when the receiver has read the email), which Imissed in the Gmail app. But its a fair tradeoff for the experience.
PDF- I side-loaded (using altstore.io) some hacked apps to draw on pdfs but the pdf capability and image editing is no where close to the preview app in mac os. However some features in the default pdf app like drawing and colouring are very good. So both preview app (mac os) and iPadOS default app has ups and downs. Have to probably purchase the abode subscriptions which is quite expensive.
Photos app/ Youtube- Viewing photos on an iPad is a great experience, photos look crisp and sharp, thanks to the great screen. Google photos and apple photos apps work great (had both apple plus and google drive subscriptions). Editing photos is limited compared to the default apps in mac but i am sure if I buy a photoshop subscription the problem can be solved. Youtube for some reason wasnt as good as expected, i think they will fix it in coming updates. But the overall viewing experience is very very good on iPad.
Pencil — The plus side is keeping your notes and work in the same system (iPadOS). I use an apple pencil 2 but apple pencil 1 works pretty much the same way(except for sticking to the ipad top, which I anyways have to remove while putting my ipad in my bag because it falls off). I use an app called — ‘notability’ (paid subcription) for scribbling and mind maps, it works very well. It takes time to get used to and make use of all functionality, but since I had an ipad before I am well versed with the app.
Magic Keyboard — magic keyboard has beautiful keys, its hard to describe in words how much I love these keys (coming from the shit butterfly keys of the 2017–2019 gen macbook pros).
Cost and weight : iPad is not cheap, its not a desktop replacement, but it can do many things better than a desktop would. Its a peice of luxury and you have to use it like one. There is a lot of support system costs associated with taking on the apple ecosystem and if you are willing to pay that then you can fully take advantage of an awesome hardware limited severely by the software experience.
I pay for following:
1. youtube premium
2. notability
3. Surfshark (for VPN)
4. Google drive
5. Google drive for Work
6. Adgaurd Pro (for blocking adds)
… and still have to probabily have to pay for pdf signer/ editor and a photoshop kind of app to make full use of my ipad.
