About to buy a M2 Air - last questions (maybe to teachers)

[Cattiy19]

Hello,

I am considering to buy an M2 Air 16 GB as a replacment for my M1 iPad Pro 11 with Apple Keyboard.

First and foremost I am a teacher, and as our school now is equipped either with a large TV or digital board in every classroom the day I have been waiting for the last 5 years has arrived.
I own an iPhone 12 Mini and had at least 3 iPads for school over the last 10 years. Beside my private use on the couch etc, I used the iPad exclusively in school to keep record of the grades my students with the fabulous TeacherTool app for iPad.

Since we have the displays in our classrooms, I find myself using the display more and more as a second screen for my iPad Pro. But Stage Manager on iPadOS totally s**** in my opinion. I really find myself more and more in situations were I need to display something fullscreen on the display, but need to continue to work on something else on the iPad. Something like Win+P on Windows were I can fast switch between different display output configurations would be a killer feature for me. The iPad cannot do it in my opinion. A also own a Apple Pencil, but in 99% of the year I use it as an extension of my fingers to reach to the screen.
I rely on the Office365 suite for my workflow. OneDrive on iPad is okay for file management cases, but nothing compared to how fast I can work on my desktop Win10 PC.

Long story short, I am thinking about selling the iPad 11 Pro.

I have some concerns about the durabiltiy of the M2 Macbook Air compared to my iPads that have never failed my in day to day school usage with a glass screen protector and sleeve for transportation in the laptop compartement of my backpack. The backpack sometimes gets really packed up with school books, a lunch box, waterbottle or some class tests. I fear that the screen of the Air is more prone to destcruction compared to the iPad screen?

Of course the M2 would be a huge downgrade in display quality comapered to my iPad 11 Pro but at this point I am so fed up with iPadOS after all the years that I willing to give a notebook with a full operation system a new try.

 

[1BadManVan]

Hello,

I am considering to buy an M2 Air 16 GB as a replacment for my M1 iPad Pro 11 with Apple Keyboard.

First and foremost I am a teacher, and as our school now is equipped either with a large TV or digital board in every classroom the day I have been waiting for the last 5 years has arrived.
I own an iPhone 12 Mini and had at least 3 iPads for school over the last 10 years. Beside my private use on the couch etc, I used the iPad exclusively in school to keep record of the grades my students with the fabulous TeacherTool app for iPad.

Since we have the displays in our classrooms, I find myself using the display more and more as a second screen for my iPad Pro. But Stage Manager on iPadOS totally s**** in my opinion. I really find myself more and more in situations were I need to display something fullscreen on the display, but need to continue to work on something else on the iPad. Something like Win+P on Windows were I can fast switch between different display output configurations would be a killer feature for me. The iPad cannot do it in my opinion. A also own a Apple Pencil, but in 99% of the year I use it as an extension of my fingers to reach to the screen.
I rely on the Office365 suite for my workflow. OneDrive on iPad is okay for file management cases, but nothing compared to how fast I can work on my desktop Win10 PC.

Long story short, I am thinking about selling the iPad 11 Pro.

I have some concerns about the durabiltiy of the M2 Macbook Air compared to my iPads that have never failed my in day to day school usage with a glass screen protector and sleeve for transportation in the laptop compartement of my backpack. The backpack sometimes gets really packed up with school books, a lunch box, waterbottle or some class tests. I fear that the screen of the Air is more prone to destcruction compared to the iPad screen?

Of course the M2 would be a huge downgrade in display quality comapered to my iPad 11 Pro but at this point I am so fed up with iPadOS after all the years that I willing to give a notebook with a full operation system a new try.

its really not a big downgrade to be honest with you in terms of the screen quality, promotion is nice but the actual quality of the display on the m2 air Is fantastic

As someone who owns an 11" M1 Pro and a M2 MacBook Air. The m2 MacBook takes the win all day long. I was in a similar situation as you in regards of making the choice to fully try to use the iPad as the laptop replacement or finally take the plunge for the MacBook. The MacBook is by far my favourite device, my first MacBook but i've owned many iPads and iPhones over the years

I still own my 11" M1 for the hell of it, it's paid for and I still like to use it as my portable tv lol. But my iPad mostly now lives in my house to use to stream shows in the kitchen while im cooking. But if I had to get rid of one, it's a no brainer, the iPad goes. Everyones usage and preferences will obviously be very different and I still love my iPad and think its a fantastic device, but the M2 MacBook is just a much more pleasurable experience.

For reference, I own a silver 8/10/16gb/1tb model, cost a pretty penny in Canada but I want to keep this until its dead lol

 

[Technerd108]

The M2 MBA would be a much better device for school than the iPad. You could have your M2 MBA plugged in and have two ports available to use for display on your projector.

MacOS will multitask much better and is just a more fully functional OS compared to iPadOS and I agree Stage Manager is a joke. I actually think Samsung Dex is much more capable.

If you are using an iPad you only have one port for power, and display. Over time that port will wear out. Having MagSafe to charge means that the two ports you have are only used for display and if one fails you have another and if you need to use your iPad for school but for some reason are low on battery you can still charge and use a display port.

In terms of transportation it is no more delicate than any laptop with a glass screen. The display lid is sturdy but like anything with a large thin glass surface it is delicate. So I would buy a small sleeve type case with a handle and don't put it in your backpack. It is light enough it should be doable to carry your backpack and the sleeve separately. This way there is little chance a book or other heavy object cracks the screen. I have heard a lot of stories of people keeping their laptops in a backpack with a bunch of other stuff and something happens.

However I would suggest this with any laptop with a glass screen and the M2 MBA is very easy to carry around.

Actually you will have a bigger screen to see documents and type on with essentially the same technology that is in your 11" and it is just about as bright. The only real difference is ProMotion which one a regular IPS screen is not a huge difference. On a OLED or Mini led touch screen device you can notice more than on a laptop. The color and vibrance of the M2 MBA is really nice.

For you as a Teacher you will be much more productive with a laptop and dedicated keyboard with the full functionality of MacOS.

 

[fatpolomanjr]

I use a Dash Sleeve from sfbags and it is more than enough protection for daily transport and even 13 hour flights. If you plan to connect an m2 air to an external monitor while teaching, just beware that battery drain can be pretty high relative to normal use. Keep it plugged in to mitigate this.

 

[jdb8167]

MacOS will multitask much better and is just a more fully functional OS compared to iPadOS and I agree Stage Manager is a joke.

I actually like using Stage Manager in macOS when I'm using the 13.6" built-in display. I haven't tried it on iPadOS since I have an iPad mini 6 and an 2020 A12Z 11" iPad Pro neither of which can use Stage Manager. I don't find Stage Manager as useful when using a larger external display though.

 

[Technerd108]

I actually like using Stage Manager in macOS when I'm using the 13.6" built-in display. I haven't tried it on iPadOS since I have an iPad mini 6 and an 2020 A12Z 11" iPad Pro neither of which can use Stage Manager. I don't find Stage Manager as useful when using a larger external display though.

I have tried it on my iPad and M2 MBA and I don't really see any advantage to using it. It looks nice but in terms of functionality it doesn't do much.

But if you like it and it works for you that is great. Still between using an iPad as your only and main device for work I think the MacBook Air is much more useful and you have a nice keyboard included.