The iPad is known to be a useful tool for creativity, entertainment and productivity. But can it be used as a complete working tool? Discover, I decided to work exclusively with my iPad Pro for a week to see if I could handle all my daily tasks without a Mac.
And after seven days, I can confidently say that the iPad Pro is more than enough for my daily needs. A pleasant surprise that actually made me prefer the iPad to the Mac for certain tasks and which, without considering a question of screen size too much, made me see the iPad with one eye different.
An operating system that helps me focus
As an editor, my job involves a lot of working time. writing and layout of articles, consultation of sources and reading on the internet, email management and some basic photo editing. While my workteam is a 16-inch MacBook Pro with M1 Pro, I’ve enjoyed various iPad and iPad Pro models for years, but using them as my primary work tool has been sporadic. I don’t always take my Mac with me on vacation, but vacation is not a work environment, so my usage changes.
To judge whether or not I can work with the iPad Pro sustainably, I looked at two fundamental questions: can I do the same thing as on the Mac and can I do it as quickly?. I know I can do the same, using iA Writer to write the articles is the same on Mac as it is on iPad. Online layout tools work the same way. And photo editing is fully covered by the Affinity Photo app for iPad. Now can I do everything at the same speed? I have to say yes.
One of the best things about working on the iPad Pro for me is, oddly enough, the multitasking. The iPad Pro lets us work in two different apps at the same time, which is enough to copy and paste information from one app to another or read something while typing, but it doesn’t go beyond that. And I say that as a good thing. It is true that we can activate Stage Manager, but if we want simplicity, basic multitasking is a great idea. For years on Mac I worked with a single full-screen application, maximum two. More isn’t always better, and I’ve noticed that I focus better and enjoy what I’m doing more with just one app on the screen.
With multitasking, more is not always better.
In this sense, the options offered by the iPad, in which I do not have to resize windows or enter full screen, seem more natural to me. I know this is a matter of opinion and would be the sticking point for others, but in my case, I count it as a point in favor
From there, moving between Safari, iA Writer, Slack, and Affinity Photo is pretty straightforward. It’s true that we have to do a little bullet change when the concept of the desktop as a space in which to “support” files disappears, images and the like on the upload path to an article or similar, but when adapted, it feels most natural to me. Saying here that a few shortcuts well suited for this Mac-iPad hybrid scenario are a big help when quickly resizing images or similar tasks.
And an extremely comfortable keyboard
The simplicity of the system is something I like, but that’s not the only thing: there’s the keyboard. It’s a very personal thing, totally true, but the Magic Keyboard for iPad Pro I think the most comfortable keyboard in the world. Even more than that of the Mac which, because of the size of the computer, rises quite a bit from the plane of the table. And then there is the dictation. For some reason that’s still unclear to me, the dictation feature is infinitely better on the iPad.
I’m not just talking about being able to make corrections to the text or write while dictating without interrupting it, which is essential to write a few words that over time you see the system will not understand, I’m talking about reliability . Transcribe better, grade better, make fewer mistakes. I I rely heavily on dictation to produce texts and being able to do this on the iPad is always wonderful
That said, one thing remains key: screen size. Going from a 16 inch to an 11 inch is a big change. On the one hand, it’s really comfortable to be able to write almost anywhere and to be able to carry everything I need in a single fairly light device (the Magic Keyboard weighs more than the iPad). The other, five inches shorter is a lot of difference.
My Mac is safe, it breathes well, I’m not going to replace it with the iPad, but it’s true that I like knowing that when traveling I can rely exclusively on the iPad. A great option for those of us who travel a lot or that we need a portable work tool. This is without taking into account the enormous autonomy of its battery.
In short, after my week of exclusive use of the iPad Pro, I can say that I no longer need anything else to work. A surprise, even though I already had my suspicions, and something I had wanted to check for a long time. Will I prefer the Mac? Yes Can I still work on the iPad? Also.
In Applesphere | An entire Mac can fit on the Magic Keyboard, and Apple already has a patent where it can prove it