20 characters…? What does that mean (for us ignorati) 
I thought the new M3 MBP Pro supported dual monitors?
Geoff’s comment was about the MacBook Air not supporting multiple external displays, not the MacBook Pro. It’s one of the reasons listed here for why someone might buy a Pro even though they don’t need the processing power.
(I am still pondering whether this is reason for me to buy the MBP next time. I hadn’t realised this limitation in the Air.)
I’m glad this thread popped up again. Now that I’m settled with my 12.9” iPad I’ve been using it more and more for work. I’d say I’m about half and half now for deep work on iPad v. deep work on my MBP (the iPad is my main non-work digital device so it is the device that gets the most use generally).
It was the bigger screen that made most the difference for me and my relationship with working on an iPad. Alongside learning how to use Stage Manager it’s made a lot of difference (Stage Manager didn’t require much learning, I just hadn’t liked it when I tried it once and I’d never bothered again). I set defined tasks on the iPad though which I think helps - I don’t just pick it up for work without planning what task to complete. My Mac is still my primary work device, but there are tasks I know can be completed on an iPad, and the experience will be more pleasant. This was always true of reading papers, etc. (I did this on my old smaller iPad too), but now it includes editing Google Docs, drafting new text (I’m using Drafts now before moving it where I need it), dealing with Slack messages, and other tasks I’d mentioned previously like updating my task manager, replying to some emails (not all). Often, the iPad is where I go when I want to think about something. I find it too easy to get distracted on my MBP.
I would never be able to switch fully to an iPad, but that’s because of my work not because of a failing with the iPad. I need GIS, literature searches are generally preferable on a computer (in my view), I have a lot of meetings and prefer a computer for them, and various little niggles like that, but none of that is the iPad’s fault. Some of it is my personal preference, and some of it is simply not what an iPad is designed to do. The stuff it is designed to do I think it’s doing really well, and I’m glad for the developers who make their apps iPad-worthy.
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You cannot submit a post or response on this forum unless it contains at least 20 characters.
So if someone wishes to post a short response sometimes they also type in “20 Characters” to help meet the requirement.
Yes
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Whether or not an iPad is a computer or not is less important than whether or not iPadOS is a desktop operating system like macOS, Windows, and desktop Linux distros, and it quite clearly is not. It’s basically a mobile phone OS with a few tweaks to take advantage of a larger touch screen.
That’s not to say that an iPad is useless or shouldn’t exist. It’s clearly better for productivity tasks that involve drawing or handwriting with a stylus. And as others have pointed out, it’s great for content consumption.
But a MacBook is vastly superior for keyboard-centric productivity and multitasking, and a MacBook Air is thinner and lighter than an iPad with a Magic keyboard. (I know some people say they like an iPad with a keyboard, somewhat like a Freewrite Traveler, for focused writing, but I don’t think that negates my larger point here.)
And there’s something delightful about the freedom that comes with an OS that isn’t locked down to an app store under the control of a single corporation.
I seldom draw, and I can type faster than I can write by hand, so between a max-sized iPhone (which I sometimes use with a bluetooth keyboard) and a MacBook, I don’t have much need for an iPad.
The base MBP doesn’t directly support multiple monitors either, though iirc it and the Airs can do so with an adapter.
isn’t important, IMO. What is important is can an iPad do the job that I need it to do. If I need to run macOS programs an iPad won’t work for me. And neither will a Vision Pro because it cannot run Mac programs either.
I learned a long time ago that the job to be done determines the software that is needed. And the software determines the hardware that can be used.
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I find this a strange observation. There is no “desktop OS” definition in which iPadOS does or does not fit. iPadOS is a capable OS that is different—in some ways substantially—from macOS, Windows, and Linux. It’s locked down. You can’t run a terminal or compile native code and run it [Playgrounds is challenging that part, but in a very narrow way]. Blah. Blah. Blah.
The OS is mostly not the problem with the iPad at the end of 2023. It does get in the way on occasion. I’m not denying that. The larger problem is that, at least some, software developers are not developing iPad apps to be as fully functional as their desktop counterparts. (I’m looking at you, MS Word.)
There are things you can’t do on an iPad, of course. I’d love to have Hazel for iPad, for example. (Indeed, there are things that I can now do on an iPad that I can’t do on macOS.)
We are still in a world where the iPad works great for some people’s work, and not at all for other people’s. That gap seems to get narrower and narrower as the years go by, and one day it may disappear altogether.
Everyone of us is entitled to her or his own opinion on what machine (or combination of machines) works best for their computing tasks. I love reading posts like this to see why people choose one machine over another.
But this is not 2010. The iPad is grown up and capable. The OS is different from the PC OSes in ways that are an annoyance to some, and a breath of fresh air to others. Either way, iPadOS is not some powerless half baked OS.
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iPadOS is not some powerless half baked OS.
I wouldn’t say it’s half-baked, but it’s baked into a very different dish than a full-power desktop OS. The result is something that’s closer to a computing appliance than a computer in the traditional sense, and I think that’s what @macsorcery meant by saying it’s not a computer. The not very distant roots of iPadOS as a phone OS—I’d also consider my iPhone a computing appliance—continue to determine what it is and is not capable of.
Access to the file system remains extremely limited compared to a desktop OS. Cloud storage solutions other than iCloud remain second-class citizens at best.
There’s a whole range of software for customizing and extending macOS and getting past its default limitations, most of it from outside the Mac App Store, that simply don’t and can’t exist on iPadOS due to its limitations. Window managers are a good example—on macOS there’s everything from simple ones like Rectangle and Magnet to Linux-style tiling WMs such as Amethyst and Yabai to Hammerspoon. There’s nothing like analogous to Bartender and similar menu bar managers and nothing as powerful as macOS launchers like Alfred and Raycast.
It’s not very difficult to imagine a tablet OS based on macOS, but adapted and optimized for touch input. If the iPad were based on that, or if MacBooks based on it were available with removable touch screens, things would be very different, but we don’t live in that world.
As I made clear above, I’m not saying that iPads are never the right tool for the job. They’re absolutely a better tool for some jobs than Macs are.
But they’re not the right tools for keyboard-centric jobs and workflows that demand the full power and the multitasking chops of a desktop operating system like macOS. A writing job that requires constant switching between multiple documents, reference materials, and browser windows and tabs is a good example.
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Try the iPad Mini. Once you get used to the size and limitations of that size, You will love the iPad once again.
How is the file system extremely limited?
I can open up Files to local files stored on the iPad. I can use those files where they are, copy or move them to iCloud, Dropbox, One Drive, Google Drive or one of my ftp accounts. All of those are available in the sidebar so it’s a simple drag and drop. I do it fairly often. I can also drag and drop files to and from an external drive or to my Mac or any drive attached to my Mac.
Or I can open any of those cloud locations and drag a file to the iPad or any location to copy. I use the Files app exactly as I use the Finder. I can use it in a list view, column view or icon view.
How are you using it that it seems limited?
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Now, the AppStore is a limitation but it’s been a problem for me ZERO times. I’ve never had a problem getting an app I needed. In fact, I’ve always found far more options than I wanted to bother with. I don’t use my Mac anymore but when I did I didn’t bother with any of the things you’ve mentioned.
As for launchers on both Mac and iPad I’m happy with Spotlight. In the past when I used the Mac I’d sometimes used Quicksilver, and Launchbar. Tried Raycast a couple years ago after I upgraded my Mini to an M1 but ended up deleting it.
As for your last assertion, somehow I manage to use the iPad to multitask all day long between Affinity Publisher while using a keyboard, trackpad and a mouse. Bouncing between Publisher, Mail, Safari, Notes, Messages, Files and other apps in exactly the process you describe. Hours with no problem.
Honestly, when was the last time you used an iPad and what were its specs? I suspect that people who suggest that these kinds of workflows have not used an M1 or M2 iPad with 8+GB of RAM and Apple’s virtual memory system brought to the iPad last year.
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Same here, albeit with a different mix of apps! Connected to an external display, I sometimes forget that I’m not using a Mac.
Just to add on to Denny’s comment. For a while, I thought things were faster and more efficient if I did them on the Mac as compared to the iPad. So, in the interest of science, I conducted an experiment, maybe a year ago, to test this. I made a list of things that I do, and I did them on the Mac and on the iPad, and I timed myself doing them. I posted about this on this site somewhere, so I’ll not bore any of you with the details.
My discovery was that the iPad was generally as efficient as the Mac, but I had to do things differently. There is an iPad way of doing things. I think some of the friction people experience has to do with trying to perform a task on iPad exactly the way they’d perform the task on Mac. That often leads to inefficiencies, and then frustration. Additionally, people are so used to doing things the keyboard-mouse-desktop method that, I suppose, it can feel alien to get used to the (still) new paradigm of the iPad. For many of us who were willing to work through that, we find ourselves equally efficient on iPad as on Mac. There is no criticism intended by this. It’s just an observation.
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I feel like a broken record with this, but I feel like the browser is one of the biggest limitations of iPad that I continue to run into. I wish Apple would either enable Safari to operate like on the Mac (or sites wouldn’t be able to tell the difference) or let other browsers use their own rendering engines. It would be a nice way to let the iPad operate like a Mac for me.
Add a terminal and local IDEs and we are in business!
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+1
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Install the Mac and the iPadOS or iOS versions of an app like iA Writer, Obsidian, or Logseq, and then try to use Dropbox, OneDrive, Sync.com, or any cloud service other than iCloud.
Unlike with iCloud folders, in iPadOS/iOS you can’t pin folders from those other cloud providers in such apps’ file libraries. With iA Writer, you can only open files in those other cloud services one at a time by navigating to them each time and using the slow and buggy “open in place,” and even that doesn’t work in Obsidian and Logseq because their functionality requires full folder access.
In iPadOS/iOS, you also can’t access system folders and files or hit cmd-shift-. to show hidden folders and files as you can with the Mac finder.
BTW, I’m not trying to convince you or anyone else that you shouldn’t buy, use, and be happy with your iPads. Nor am I saying they’re bad or useless or shouldn’t exist. I’m just sharing my personal preferences and explaining my reasons for them.
But ultimately I believe that everyone should use what works best for them, regardless of what anyone else (including me) does or
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The M3 MacBook Pro line comes with a M3 Pro chip and a M3 Max chip. The latter allows up to four external displays. The former just two.
Often the value for me of high end configurations is not so much speed, but it is ports.
Re. multitasking, can you hit alt-tab to switch between apps and alt-backtick to switch between open windows of the same app?
Can you stack and tile windows and resize them to any dimensions you want and spread them across multiple virtual desktops?
The most recent iPad I’ve used was the Air from just before the switch to M1 (same body, different processor), but afaik that didn’t change the underlying experience of the OS much beyond a boost in speed. As I said, I’d probably find them more compelling if I had a compelling use for the Apple Pencil, but I really don’t, and when I’m using a keyboard, a touchscreen just means it’s more likely to have fingerprints on it.
Can you share one or more examples of things you do and how you do them on the iPad vs. on a Mac?