I think that Feredico’s conclusion is significant as Apple have mentioned in the past that they are pay attention to what he’s doing remember his interview with Craig F. (SVP of Apple software)? It has to sting when the no.1 proponent of your platform throws in the towel. This reminds me of back in the late 90’s (I think) when a then very well known Apple columnist announced to the world that he was abandoning the Mac for windows. Does anyone know what I’m referring to (the mind being the first thing to go and all…)
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@snelly - This is the world between worlds that I feel I live in. I get tremendous amount of professional use out of my iPad Pro. Still, there are contexts in which I could rely on the iPad more and think that the things that I want would not make iPadOs less iPad-like or jeopardize the simplicity that benefits others. The iPad’s modularity is what makes it so appealing.
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Very good point and one that we can too easily neglect.
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I think the “why not” is beause of the iPad’s much bigger problem than how it exposes multitasking: the fact that apps can be (and are agressively) killed when in the background. In my opinion this is the single biggest problem with iPadOS on the Pro devices and by far the greatest barrier to using it instead of a Mac even for things that it should be quite good at. There’s nothing like working in a web app, going to check an email, and returning to the browser to find the page reloading and your session gone. This is not a problem on the M1 MacBook Air (or any Mac) and it shouldn’t be a problem on the M1 iPad Pro.
(Thank you for the opening that let me rant about my biggest frustration with the iPad Pro 
)
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What do you think would be the impact on battery life were this to change?
Are you using an M1 iPad Pro and finding that kind of aggressive memory management? I’m using an M1 and it’s not uncommon for me to bounce between six or seven different apps including apps like Affinity Designer or Affinity Photo and come back quite sometime later to find everything still intact where I left it. I think the jump up to 8 GB of RAM at a minimum has made a huge difference.
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It depends on what your’e doing. I think it would be a good “pro” option in battery settings
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It’s happened at inopoortune times if not frequently. This is an example of the iPad falling off drastically when it’s pushed a little beyond what it’s very good at. I will also accept that it may just not be the device for this kind of work, but I think it’s the most “pro” affecting shortcoming.
I agree with this sentiment on the face of it, but actually having a hard think about Federico’s post (which I had read) I have come to this conclusion:
Federico was prepared to invest way more time than many (most?) of us are/were to make the iPad a primary device. We’ve all come to the same conclusions, pretty much. He just took longer because he tried harder. I applaud him for it, and it has worked well for him to do that in public.
In a way, it’s a shame he came to the same conclusion as me. For me, the final straw for the iPad came with M1 battery life in a Mac laptop. That was game over. I still have an iPad mini 5 (and lust after a 6) which I use for some reading and watching and a few other tasks, but my MacBook Pro (a lowly 13") is now my “iPad” in that I use it for most things and don’t bother taking the charger when I leave the house if I’m coming home the same day.
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I think what you’re saying about trying hard to make it work is a good point. I also think it’s hard to tell anybody an iPad should be their only computer.
For a long while, my wife didn’t have a personal laptop at home. She’d use mine or pick up our iPad. But after a few minutes of trying to do something on the iPad, she’d ask a question that started like this: “How do I…?”
And most people will have similar situations: “how do I connect to the campus P2P volume?” “How can I use my hard drive as my photo library in Lightroom?” “How do I record my mic during this Zoom call with a client?” We all have edge cases. The iPad does not encourage those.
I think somebody called the iPad a complement to the Mac many posts ago. That feels right to me these days.
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Since my job has changed to mostly research, writing, speaking and dealing with people, I could almost certainly make an iPad my main - but not only - computer.
A shout out for buying refurbished, particularly if you don’t need the most recently released Apple device.
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Correct. This entire discussion is about pounding a square peg in a round hole.
I worked with executives from small companies (300 employees) and large (60,000+). All needed to consume data, make decisions, and communicate those decisions to others. Before computers they used telephones and a stack of reports and charts. When computers came along they ditched most of their paper, but they mainly used the technology to consume data and send emails.
There is a reason Tim Cook can travel with nothing but his iPad and iPhone. His job isn’t crunching numbers or making slide decks.
And there are a lot of non-executives who have similar needs. Many have the option to use a laptop or just a smartphone. Or something in between.
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This is far, far bigger than battery life.
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Federico I believe started this journey when he was diagnosed with cancer and had to spend time both doctors surgeries and in hospital and he could take the iPad with him during protracted sessions.
My guess is that he perhaps identified his health fight with his determination to bend both cancer and the iPad to his will and credit to him he succeeded! Of course along the way he turned it into a business opportunity and again credit to him for that.
Having tried the iPad route it failed miserably, I came to the conclusion most things could be done but probably are better done using the Mac. Of course code compiling and the like is still a no no (unless you are using the iPad as a window into somewhere else). I now only use my iPad for some basic admin research etc in the coffee shop, when at home its my MacBook Pro with to a 32" external display.
Like many I was influenced by macstories but now find them too fickle (what is this weeks best app ever) but of course they get paid for testing/switching apps. I don’t.
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Yes, it is possible to do real work on an iPad.
But you can’t do all work on an iPad.
Nor can you on a Mac, Windows, Linux, etc.
Also, can we not stereotype grandmas?
I know plenty of “digital native” people under 20 who struggle with anything outside the Office suite.
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I don’t see many under 20s really caring about how a directory system works, except for coders and other technical users. They do not deal with traditional operating systems like I did coming up in the Windows 95 era. The future is iPad. It just needs time to advance. That doesn’t mean that Mac OS will go away, but I feel like the reliance of it will be less for everyday computing.
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You aren’t alone in seeing the newer generation overlooking file systems: Kids who grew up with search engines could change STEM education forever - The Verge
I see it as a bit like car engines. Once, very early on, to drive a car, you had to understand the engine. Then for a long time, a lot of people still did tinker with their cars. Today, at east in Western developed countries, very few people understand how car engines work, or can do basic maintenance or repairs.
I think there’s a lot of value in understanding and having some level of access to the inner workings of the devices you use. The iPhone and iPad have file systems – we just aren’t allowed to see or access them, except very indirectly (through an app like Files, which obscures a lot, or through a Mac and iCloud Drive). Is that enough? I’d like more, but I think like a lot of things, it depends on what you do with your devices, among other things.
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When I started out in computers a long time ago, there were not a lot of people who understood computers. We called that “job security.” 
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They will when they can’t find their files
Knowledge of files & folders was important but, IMO, the need for that skill is fading into history. I worked with people of all ages and the most of them are terrible at file organization. But those that are good still have problems. One accountant kept a very detailed filing system. Her email account had more than 250 folders organized by contact, vendor, year, etc. And the accounting share had many times that many files going back decades. She would sometimes spend hours looking for a particular email or file.
The system breaks down when someone misfiles a document or accidentally drags one folder into another. Or doesn’t use it. One executive kept hundreds of files on his desktop.
A story in the New York Times in 2004 described the problem: "The solution included eliminating physical media like CD’s, cassette tapes, videotapes and DVD’s. Everything . . . was digitized and stored on a hard drive in the apartment . . . But what the makeover failed to make clear . . . is how people will be able to retrieve precisely what they want, when they want, from such deep digital wells."
How is search. I use it almost exclusively these days and can find anything (if I haven’t deleted it 
) in a couple of minutes.
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