A few days ago, in an online conversation with a friend, I said:
I was a heavy, heavy iPad user through the 2010s to about three years ago. Now I barely use it. My MacBook Air is my desk computer, my travel computer and my secondary couch computer. My phone is my main couch computer. Indeed, the iPad lives right next to my couch, and usually I don’t bother picking it up — I just get out my phone instead.
I’ve made this point multiple times over the past few months, maybe years. I’ve gone from using the ipad daily, to rarely, to never. I’ve thought about donating it. I’m a little surprised people are buying them.
Today I said:
My iPad lives in a keyboard case. Tonight I glanced at it while sitting on the couch and reaching for my phone, and I said to myself, “Maybe if I took it out of the keyboard case I might like using it?” And I did and I do.
Ten years of iPad use taught me the mini is the best iPad. It’s light enough to be held in my hands for extended periods. That is the single most important thing for a couch computer. Everything else in the spec sheet is expendable.
The 11 and 13-inch iPads have to be perpetually attached to a case, or a stand, or both. They are supposed to be “mobile” devices.
I moved from the 13” to the 11” and love this form factor the most for the Pro. Although I have the keyboard case, I mostly use the 11” in the OG brown Apple leather sleeve, which I bought secondhand in pristine condition, as it makes it very portable, and there is even a built-in slot at the top of the sleeve for the pencil.
I am not a fan of the mini’s screen or keyboard for getting work done.
I use my mini without a case or keyboard. Dictation is good enough for getting a few paragraphs of text onto the screen. For work requiring a ⌘ key, I reach for my Mac.
I don’t buy Apple’s brag that the iPad could be one’s “next computer”. To me, the iPad mini is the perfect ebook reader and web browsing device. Neither kind of “work” demands a ProMotion screen, or a physical keyboard.
You would perhaps want a bigger screen than the mini for watching videos. But, if there are a Mac and an iPad in the house, there probably is a TV as well…
@meowky — I find the 10"-ish iPaid Air very comfortable to hold for any amount of time, and I can thumb-type on it in portrait mode well enough for a quick paragraph or two. I wrote the initial post in this topic that way.
I do like the iPad mini. It is a nice machine. I had one of those as well as the iPad Air and I gave it to my brother. I miss it a little. And yes it is fantastic for reading ebooks, though I prefer the Kobo a little.
It can be your next computer if your primary computer is your phone, which is the case for many, many people. Perhaps the Neo will supplant the iPad in that regard.
It’s interesting to hear different people’s opinions on which is the “right” iPad. I use my iPad primarily as either:
A wireless monitor for video calls, usually about 6 ft from my face
Working out, where I place the iPad in my rowing machine and leave it there while watching a show or a Fitness+ routine
Sketching for client work
As a recipe viewer while cooking (we use Mela for this in my household)
Once in a blue moon, I use it to process or respond to email. Generally, I dislike using it with the Magic Keyboard or a case.
On rare occasion, my wife will use it to make a presentation.
For all my primary use cases, the 13" is a much better experience. My only wish is that I got nano-texture instead of glossy, because the reflections drive me nuts while I’m rowing and the glassy feel drives me nuts when I’m sketching.
That all being said, when I used the iPad as a “couch computer,” the 11" size was a better fit. These days, I am far, far, far too attached to macOS to bother with the iPad on the couch most of the time.
I’ve been frustrated with the iPad of late as well. Partly not the iPad’s fault. My work treats the iPad like a phone and severely limits what can be done on it (ie, no cut-and-paste). Your list mirrors mine:
working out - put it on the exercise bike
Cooking - don’t need juices getting on the laptop keyboard
None of this justifies an iPad Pro. I’ll be switching to the mini, too.
@MitchWagner: These are things I can’t easily do with my laptop. I had tried to force other uses for the iPad.
More or less. I’ll just unplug my MacBook Pro in my studio and bring it around the house. There are too many Mac-exclusive programs and workflows that I have to make it worth using the iPad.
Two examples that often happen when I’m just reading my RSS feed:
I’ll stumble on a cool design I want to put in my swipe file. My swipe file is Eagle, which is one of my favourite apps ever, but it’s Mac-only. It saves metadata if I use the browser extension to take a screenshot, so I lose out on a lot of value if I just take a screenshot in Safari on the iPad.
I’ll read something and want to add it to a blog post or write about it, in general. Even with the Magic Keyboard on the iPad, it is faster for me (and more comfortable ergonomically) to just do it on the Mac.
I’ll use the iPad on the couch if I want to watch a TV show or something, but we are fortunate enough to have a proper home theatre, so chances are slim that I wouldn’t watch it on the big screen.
(I’m typing this on my iPad with Magic Keyboard now because I’ve been using it all afternoon for sketching out logos for a client, but this is the exception that proves the rule. It’s not that I dislike the iPad; it’s that I am much faster on macOS.)
I’ve owned 4 iPads, a 2?, 6, 2020 11" Pro, and an M2 11" Air. But I’ve never been tempted to purchase a keyboard case. Mine have lived in smart covers and have been used with whatever bluetooth keyboard I had laying around.
I purchased a raised stand for the 2020 IPP. Today it holds a 15.6" ASUS ZenScreen that I use with my iPad Air when I’m working on a spreadsheet, or watching the occasion movie. I don’t own a TV.
Most of the time I use my iPad Air hand held. That’s what I did last week when I was having my taxes done. I pulled it out of my messenger bag a couple of times, once to check some files, then later to log into my bank to answer a question. IMO it was the perfect computer for that situation.
I make substantial use of my 11" Pro (from before the iPads got M-series chips) to study and mark up PDFs. It is often my “take to meeting” device if I will need to reference notes, calendars, to-dos, or limited documents. I have the keyboard case and LOVE it, but honestly, I hardly ever use it.
I ended up creating a series of Focus Modes with different home screens for it to “reconfigure” it into either a “study” device (GoodNotes, a Bible app, OmniOutliner, iA Writer), a “reading” device (Kindle, RSS, a few news magazines), a “watching” device (various streaming apps), a “productivity” device (OmniFocus, Calendars, office-y apps), or a “chill out” device (games).
I made a similar transition; the keyboard case had become less necessary, and there is plenty I can do that is reading or spatially/touch-oriented, and that lets me stay busy with keyboard+mouse/trackpad work on my laptop.