I was reminded that I haven’t blogged for a while since starting up again by reading a blog post here: sixcolors.com/post/2023… where a chap called Jason Snell has given up trying to depend solely on the iPad when travelling.
I bought the original yuge 12.9" iPad Pro when it was first launched back in late 2015, and was always excited to read about what Apple might add to the OS to make it more of a laptop replacement. But after a while they just kept moving things about instead of making improvements. The multiple window management is now on its third or fourth iteration. It’s still nowhere near as useful as a desktop OS.
By the time it drops off the supported list (this year I believe) it will only have barely more functionality than when I bought it (two apps, side by side plus a floating video window). I can’t fault the longevity, but I’ve given up hoping the iPad will ever be a laptop killer. As I mentioned in a previous post, I gave up any consideration of directly replacing it and instead purchased a MacBook Pro M2.
As Jason rightly points out, the Arm-based Apple laptops have effectively neutralised any particular advantage that the iPad had in battery life or portability due to not needing elaborate cooling mechanisms due to components that absolutely sip power.
I guess there’s no getting around the significant extra cost of getting an M series laptop, but for my money, assuming you ultimately can’t do without one (I certainly can’t) then any money you’re thinking about spending on an iPad is definitely worth putting towards a better laptop instead. I can’t personally recall a single computer that’s been as fully satisfying to use as this one. I’ve ditched my Windows desktop too. It’s utterly redundant.
