Unfortunately there's a whole other group of insecure people here who's only "motivation" is to mock and belittle iPad and its fans. It doesn't fit them, so obviously it can't fit anyone else either - except babies and the elderly. These people like to use the phrase "real work" a lot.
And another issue is the people keep changing what "Real Work" means to change the parameters of the argument in their favor. There's no point in deliberating it any more past what you or other's have said: Real work depends upon the user's needs. The iPad is perfectly capable of "real work."
Below is not targeted at you, but at people who argue the iPad is incapable of work:
There are things the iPad can't do, yes. There are also things it can do which, but the experience may be better with another device. For instance, I can use Excel on my iPad, but I much prefer it with mouse and keyboard input on a 1440p display. Also, I do a significant amount of research. Having multiple Chrome windows with 5-15 tabs each, referencing 6-9 PDFs, and then Page/Word is a hearty load that often pushes my computer to use 11-13GB of RAM. While I
could do this research on the iPad, it would be tedious and time consuming. I much prefer to use multiple displays and a traditional OS for multitasking. No one is making the argument that the iPad is a flawless workhorse capable of meeting everyone's needs, but it gets irritating that there are still so many people that dismiss the iPad as consumption only contrary to solid evidence provided by the opposing side.
But why isn't Apple focusing on helping people be more productive with these IOS devices? There's a legitimate need for a file system, for instance. Why is Apple making people have to find "workarounds" to be productive on their iPad? If Apple made the iPad compatible with a mouse for doing things like highlighting text, and if they made the iPad capable of running on a large screen monitor, I'd give the device some serious consideration.
Problem is, they've been solid devices for years now, but they have features they mostly support consumption. Look at how powerful these devices are today! They could be powerhouses for getting work done, but Apple is refusing to evolve them
Apple
has focused on making the iPad more productive. iOS 9 was a massive update that dramatically changed the iPad's potential with real multitasking. iOS 10 was, admittedly, a disappointment for the iPad, but it has come a long way. Remember when you could only attach a photo to an email?
Again with the file system: there IS one, it just functions differently than it does on a traditional OS. The document picker IS the file system. Apps like Dropbox, Documents 5, or even iCloud Drive can host folders and subfolders. You can manage network files, cloud files, locals files, etc. What else are you missing from this file system?
While the thought of coming homing and hooking up the iPad to a large monitor via the smart connector is a nice idea, the execution is lacking. iOS is not optimized for mouse input: it would be clumsy and awkward. iOS also can't handle multiple windows. It isn't as simply as "convert to macOS" because macOS is not yet compatible with ARM and would require more power than the A9X can provide to do demanding tasks. Apple
could do this, but that is not their current vision. It doesn't inhibit the iPad's current productive possibilities and advantages.
