No. I didnāt do this, but it gave me a thought on the perennial iPad-vs-Mac debate we like to have here, and especially in light of @Bmosbackerās Homeric-length threads on his 30-day experiment to see if his iPad could become his sole/primary computing device and the wonderful discussion about WWDC 24, and @jcarucciās recently started thread with his thoughts on the 2024 iPad Pro. It strikes me that the iPad-is-not-a-Mac-replacement adherents start from the reasonable assumption that the Mac does everything, iPadOS only can do a subset of everything; so, why would one want to chose to give up a machine that does everything for a machine that does not? Equally, why wouldnāt Apple just enable iPadOS to do everything that a Mac can do and eliminate the debate on at least this one issue?
The question I have for us is why do we even want the iPad to be able to stand alone and serve as a replacement to our Macs?
Letās put aside the question of cost. Obviously, having one machine to rule them all results in a monetary savings. Equally obvious is that having a less expensive machine that can ādo everythingā (the user needs it to do) is ideal. Because I donāt think price concerns drive the level of passion we see on the subject of the iPad.
What is it about the iPad that makes people want it so much?
For me, there are 5 characteristics of the iPad that have this effect on me. All five of them together sum up to one result: iPad is a more personal personal-computing experience for me. Here are those five components:
- iPad is an extension of me;
- iPad seamlessly integrates real life around me with the digital life in front of me;
- iPad becomes whatever my content is.
- iPad can go everywhere.
- iPad is fun to interact with.
Iām going to draw contrasts between iPads and laptops, but none of this is meant to denigrate the laptop. Iāve been a laptop user for 31 years and an iPad user for 12. The comparison is only to highlight what I see as the distinctions between the two systems that have drawn me to the iPad.
First, an iPad becomes an extension of the user rather than a distinct tool. One can get too carried away with this point, of course, an iPad is just a device you hold in your hand. But the mode of interaction with it brings it closer than any other device to something thatās a part of you. You directly connect with an iPad, but connect only indirectlyāmore remotelyāto a laptop. I feel physically closer to the iPad than I do my MacBook Pro. (Even great touchscreen laptops do not achieve the same closeness. To me, it still feels like I am distant from the machine, which makes me understand why Apple does not want to make touchscreen Macs.) The iPad is physically nearer my face, my fingers reach out and experience the content.
Letās go the other way. What about an iPhone? Isnāt that an extension of your person? An iPhone may be more intimate, but itās oddly intrusive and less of an extension of the user. A phone seems like a gadget in a way that an iPad does not. For example, Iāve watched people giving speeches using their iPhones for notes. It seems weird. When I see someone give a speech from an iPad, it seems more natural. One reason might be that with an iPad, the speaker can make the text so large that he is looking less frequently at his iPad than he would look at his phone. An iPad is more of a community device, an iPhone more an individual device, which brings me to my next point.
Second, an iPad has an amazing ability to bring real world and digital world into the same space and time. A laptop creates a barrier between the user and the world around him or her. An iPad brings these two worlds together by eliminating the barrier. A laptop is a machine that you manipulate to obtain various results and outputs. An iPad is a gateway that connects one environment to another. On that score, iPad is even better than a virtual reality device where the box on oneās face acts as just another barrier between user and real world. In addition to being a gateway, an iPad is at the same time non-intrusive. It can sit on a table in a meeting, or be held in the userās hand without interfering with the human-to-human communication taking place.
Third, iPad makes content/information king. Look at nearly every iPad app and you will see this. The content of the appānot the tools that manipulate that contentāis the focus. This was further emphasized in this yearās WWDC with the changes to the menu bar and sidebar. This change elevates content.
Appleās own Human Interface Guidelines emphasize this, too:
Take advantage of the large display to elevate the content people care about, minimizing modal interfaces and full-screen transitions, and positioning onscreen controls where theyāre easy to reach, but not in the way.
The iPad is, again, a gateway into the userās content. It puts that content front and center. A laptopās design prioritizes the desktop; menu bars; programs; tools, commands, and the UI elements needed to access them; and files. Clearly, we users were acting on content with our laptops long before iPads existed. Yet, the content is less prominent, unless the user executes commands to make it more prominent: think going into slideshow view in Powerpoint, or making a video go full screen. iPad, like an octopus blending into her surroundings, disappears becoming the userās content. Only a virtual reality headset can offer a more immersive experience, and while that level of immersion is delightful it has some serious drawbacks, in my view. Primarily, the drawback results from the way it creates such a hard separation between real world and virtual world.
Fourth, this flat piece of glass that is an iPad, is portable and flexible to the extreme. Itās also more unobtrusive. Itās great to take notes on it in places where a laptop might be out-of place. Like sitting in a church pew, in a small-size meeting, or when interviewing people. Iāve never been asked to put my 12.9ā (now 13ā) iPad away during plane take offs and landings.
Itās a matter of degree, for sure, as many of us have been taking our laptops around with us everywhere for years. But to me, the iPad is a little lighter (which isnāt huge, my laptop is not that heavy), and at the same time, feels less fragile than my laptop. My iPadās been covered in goop in the kitchen, covered in sand at the beach, covered in french-fry grease after Iāve taken my kids to the golden arches (ahh, McDonaldās if that expression is not understood by my international friends), Iāve thrown it in a tiny backpack and ridden 26 miles on my bike with it on my sweaty back. I may have written about this before, Iāve even run over an iPad (after forgetting I left my briefcase by the rear wheel of my car) and it worked perfectly fine other than that it was warped and wouldnāt sit flat on the desk. It didnāt even scratch the screen. iPad is far easier to integrate into every aspect of life than a laptop is. And, honestly, thatās saying something because laptops have been the pinnacle of portability.
Fifth, one of the things that we talk about a lot here on the MPU forum is the ādelightā factor. Many of us were drawn to tech because of this delight factor. iPadās are fun to interact with. I find it satisfying when I can fling several apps around with my fingersāwhether that be in Stage Manager (my preference) or the old Split View / Slide Over methodāwhile pulling information from those apps and Spotlight and assembling them into something somewhere else, with a video playing in picture-in-picture, and all the while accomplishing some task that should be impossible to accomplish on a sheet of glass. When Iām at trial, I have my trial presentation app (TrialPad) open and instead of having a hotseat operator with me in the courtroom, I can directly access, present, call out, highlight, and markup exhibits right as Iām examining a witness. I never have to break eye contact with the witness or jury. At the same time, I have Word open in a narrow window (using Mobile View mode) with my examination outline or speaking notes. I couldnāt do that with Word on Mac (or PC) because there is so much window chrome, Iād never be able to see my text. Itās fun. Itās serious work, but it adds to the pleasure you derive from doing something you love.
Maybe there are more factors that Iām overlooking, but these five seem to sum it up. Okay, youāre turn.
BUT, I always have a couple of pillows on my lap and/or a lap desk - then the iPad/Combo Touch on top of that. I work from home, often from my futon so Iāve got all sorts of arrangements.
