iPad as a laptop replacement

[Jackbequickly]

The quicken is a “companion app”. Not stand alone.

I got too many years of experience in Photoshop to change. It is hard to beat on RAW.

 

[eltoslightfoot]

The quicken is a “companion app”. Not stand alone.

I got too many years of experience in Photoshop to change. It is hard to beat on RAW.

This is the one problem with the iPad experience. It really is getting fairly close, but there is way too much companion app nonsense. I’m looking at you Scrivener…

 

[Kal Madda]

This is the one problem with the iPad experience. It really is getting fairly close, but there is way too much companion app nonsense. I’m looking at you Scrivener…

Interesting, I’ve never used Scrivener before, but was considering trying the iPad version. The desktop version looks like Windows XP era from what I heard, and was very unintuitive and difficult to use (at least based on what a relative of mine told me), where the iPad version looks like it has a more modern UI judging from the App Store photos and such. I’m guessing there’s some tools in the desktop version missing from the iPad version?

To be honest, I’m not really sure I would buy Scrivener anyway, as I have a system that works for me currently. This is going to sound hilarious, but I actually use Apple Notes as my primary writing app. And I do a LOT of writing…. I write software reviews and articles for a tech SubStack I write, and I am also working on a sci-fi fiction novel. Plus I do other writing duties for other projects as well. For business documents for my business use, I use Apple Pages, since that supports custom document templates. And when it comes time to compile my writing for my novel, I will do that in Apple Pages as well. But all of my SubStack articles and the chapters of my novel and such, I have been writing in Apple Notes. It feels so much simpler, I don’t have to worry about page formatting, and the UI is less distracting. I know it’s kind of funny that I’m using Apple Notes rather than a dedicated writing app considering all of the writing I’m doing, but I haven’t found a dedicated writing app to replace it with yet, lol. 😂 👍🏻

I would be completely open to suggestions though, as I was thinking about trying some out. 👍🏻

But yeah, totally agree with you, it’s so annoying that some apps choose to go the “companion app” route on the iPad. It’s just so obvious that many of these apps could be much better, and many of them could be improved quite a bit with pretty minimal effort on the developer’s part if they actually cared to do it. Luckily most of the apps I use are fully featured on the iPad. 👍🏻

 

[max2]

The quicken is a “companion app”. Not stand alone.

I got too many years of experience in Photoshop to change. It is hard to beat on RAW.

That why iPad can not ever fully be a replacement. Still it is fine. If you use them as a extension it works.

 

[eltoslightfoot]

Interesting, I’ve never used Scrivener before, but was considering trying the iPad version. The desktop version looks like Windows XP era from what I heard, and was very unintuitive and difficult to use (at least based on what a relative of mine told me), where the iPad version looks like it has a more modern UI judging from the App Store photos and such. I’m guessing there’s some tools in the desktop version missing from the iPad version?

To be honest, I’m not really sure I would buy Scrivener anyway, as I have a system that works for me currently. This is going to sound hilarious, but I actually use Apple Notes as my primary writing app. And I do a LOT of writing…. I write software reviews and articles for a tech SubStack I write, and I am also working on a sci-fi fiction novel. Plus I do other writing duties for other projects as well. For business documents for my business use, I use Apple Pages, since that supports custom document templates. And when it comes time to compile my writing for my novel, I will do that in Apple Pages as well. But all of my SubStack articles and the chapters of my novel and such, I have been writing in Apple Notes. It feels so much simpler, I don’t have to worry about page formatting, and the UI is less distracting. I know it’s kind of funny that I’m using Apple Notes rather than a dedicated writing app considering all of the writing I’m doing, but I haven’t found a dedicated writing app to replace it with yet, lol. 😂 👍🏻

I would be completely open to suggestions though, as I was thinking about trying some out. 👍🏻

But yeah, totally agree with you, it’s so annoying that some apps choose to go the “companion app” route on the iPad. It’s just so obvious that many of these apps could be much better, and many of them could be improved quite a bit with pretty minimal effort on the developer’s part if they actually cared to do it. Luckily most of the apps I use are fully featured on the iPad. 👍🏻

Interesting. I went with Ulysses as the experience is the same on all platforms, and it includes a grammar checker that is halfway decent.

As far as Scrivener, it is a really good UI, and the key is to simply use the parts of it you need and ignore the rest. The big problems are I need to use Dropbox to sync and the fact that the iPad version is extremely nerfed. It does the basics okay, but I really don't like using Dropbox.

 

[Kal Madda]

That why iPad can not ever fully be a replacement. Still it is fine. If you use them as an extension it works.

I think that really depends. For some who rely on such apps, then yes, the iPad likely can’t currently act as a full replacement. But if you don’t use or rely on such apps, then it can. I think it really depends on a users needs and preferences ultimately. 👍🏻🙂

But I do hope developers of such apps will get their act together and improve their iPad versions. I think at least some will. 👍🏻🙂

 

[Kal Madda]

Interesting. I went with Ulysses as the experience is the same on all platforms, and it includes a grammar checker that is halfway decent.

As far as Scrivener, it is a really good UI, and the key is to simply use the parts of it you need and ignore the rest. The big problems are I need to use Dropbox to sync and the fact that the iPad version is extremely nerfed. It does the basics okay, but I really don't like using Dropbox.

Nice. 👍🏻. I’ll have to look into Ulysses, sounds interesting. 👍🏻. I’ve heard people reference it as a popular writing app.

And yeah, Dropbox would suck for syncing stuff, I’m surprised they don’t support iCloud sync.

But thanks for the info, I’ll have to look into Ulysses and consider trying that. 👍🏻🙂

 

[arfung]

Interesting. I went with Ulysses as the experience is the same on all platforms, and it includes a grammar checker that is halfway decent.

As far as Scrivener, it is a really good UI, and the key is to simply use the parts of it you need and ignore the rest. The big problems are I need to use Dropbox to sync and the fact that the iPad version is extremely nerfed. It does the basics okay, but I really don't like using Dropbox.

I’m a long time Ulysses user. I write in it almost daily. It’s great to have the focus, and then all of your writing in one place and easily accessible. The cross-platform syncing is terrific also.

 

[ctg7w6]

I’m a long time Ulysses user. I write in it almost daily. It’s great to have the focus, and then all of your writing in one place and easily accessible. The cross-platform syncing is terrific also.

I switched from scrivener to Ulysses because of Dropbox sync. I love Ulysses, I’ve written two books in it so far and it works on all my devices and syncs like a dream!

 

[JTK Awesome]

The moment i heard about the 120hz on external, i instantly hit the order button on the m5 IPP. Since i use 120 and 240hz 4K monitors for several years now, I can’t stand working on 60 hz anymore.

…

Good monitors (4K 120hz OLED and 4k 240hz OLED) and the iPad Pro m5 is the best setup I’ve ever had.

For 4K I’m torn between 16x9 @ 120Hz or 16x10 @ 60Hz. This unfortunately is the state of the display market, you can have Apple-friendly AR or higher refresh rate but not both. 16x9 is too weird relative to the iPP and after years of iMac’s and the ASD, but like you, I’m spoiled by 120Hz.

 

[Beefbowl]

…



For 4K I’m torn between 16x9 @ 120Hz or 16x10 @ 60Hz. This unfortunately is the state of the display market, you can have Apple-friendly AR or higher refresh rate but not both. 16x9 is too weird relative to the iPP and after years of iMac’s and the ASD, but like you, I’m spoiled by 120Hz.

? I'm sitting at an ASD right now and it's a 16:9 panel.

But I agree that it's not a great aspect ratio for iPad apps. Though in iPadOS 26 they finally made "full screen" fixed-ratio apps properly pillar boxed on an external display. Game changer for, well, games.

 

[flobach]

I really like my iPad (pro, M2 128GB 11“) and Magic keyboard, and would love to use it as my main device. Just tried again for two weeks, but constantly ran in to bugs using it with my external display (tern setups 16“ portable monitor).

Occasional lag and stutter, regular app freezes and/or crashes (Claude, MS Office apps), poor scrolling using my Logitech MX4 (wrist issues mean I can’t use the Magic Trackpad). Then strange things like Word not allowing copy/paste (apparently a not so uncommon issue). So I’ve dug out my MacBook again, as it was really getting in the way of me getting stuff done. I’m a neurodiversity coach, just setting my business up. I prefer iPadOS to macOS, happy to use some workarounds for some things, but these bugs are more than bugging me, they’re slowing me right down

Anybody else experiencing these issues as well?

 

[Ultracyclist]

I really like my iPad (pro, M2 128GB 11“) and Magic keyboard, and would love to use it as my main device. Just tried again for two weeks, but constantly ran in to bugs using it with my external display (tern setups 16“ portable monitor).

Occasional lag and stutter, regular app freezes and/or crashes (Claude, MS Office apps), poor scrolling using my Logitech MX4 (wrist issues mean I can’t use the Magic Trackpad). Then strange things like Word not allowing copy/paste (apparently a not so uncommon issue). So I’ve dug out my MacBook again, as it was really getting in the way of me getting stuff done. I’m a neurodiversity coach, just setting my business up. I prefer iPadOS to macOS, happy to use some workarounds for some things, but these bugs are more than bugging me, they’re slowing me right down

Anybody else experiencing these issues as well?

No, not really. But I do recognize the copy and paste problem, though I think this is more due to the app developers than your iPad. I have no issues with my external displays. Your iPad is touch-based, so a mouse doesn’t work as well compared to a trackpad. But if that really isn’t an option, that is inconvenient. Working with the iPad has a bit of a learning curve, but it’s quite manageable.

 

[JamesMay82]

I really like my iPad (pro, M2 128GB 11“) and Magic keyboard, and would love to use it as my main device. Just tried again for two weeks, but constantly ran in to bugs using it with my external display (tern setups 16“ portable monitor).

Occasional lag and stutter, regular app freezes and/or crashes (Claude, MS Office apps), poor scrolling using my Logitech MX4 (wrist issues mean I can’t use the Magic Trackpad). Then strange things like Word not allowing copy/paste (apparently a not so uncommon issue). So I’ve dug out my MacBook again, as it was really getting in the way of me getting stuff done. I’m a neurodiversity coach, just setting my business up. I prefer iPadOS to macOS, happy to use some workarounds for some things, but these bugs are more than bugging me, they’re slowing me right down

Anybody else experiencing these issues as well?

Yeah I have all those issues! I had a first gen Magic Mouse and it wouldn’t work with that which really annoyed me!

I find Microsoft office pretty unusable as it’s lags so much, more so for excel.

Maybe one day!

 

[flobach]

No, not really. But I do recognize the copy and paste problem, though I think this is more due to the app developers than your iPad. I have no issues with my external displays. Your iPad is touch-based, so a mouse doesn’t work as well compared to a trackpad. But if that really isn’t an option, that is inconvenient. Working with the iPad has a bit of a learning curve, but it’s quite manageable.

It’s not the learning curve, I’ve been using the iPad since the iPad 2 came out, I really like iPadOS. It’s the constant buggyness :-/
Used a trackpad for a few years, but my wrist needed a change, so only switched to a mouse a few months back. Trackpad is better, but at least the MX4 has a vertical scroll shell (and the Magic Keyboard a trackpad i occasionally use

What external display do you use? How often do you use it, and with what apps? Maybe there a some apps that are dodgy, if I can weed them out I might be able to avoid some bugs.

 

[flobach]

Yeah I have all those issues! I had a first gen Magic Mouse and it wouldn’t work with that which really annoyed me!

I find Microsoft office pretty unusable as it’s lags so much, more so for excel.

Maybe one day!

Here’s hoping! I do find the browser based apps (word at least) is find, might try using that over the app and see how that goes.

 

[Ludatyk]

Used a trackpad for a few years, but my wrist needed a change, so only switched to a mouse a few months back. Trackpad is better, but at least the MX4 has a vertical scroll shell (and the Magic Keyboard a trackpad i occasionally use

Have you tried picking up a wrist rest? But scrolling on 3rd party mouses for iPadOS will result in choppy scrolling (I believe it comes down to Apple has complete control of the system versus 3rd party mouses).

I have a MX3S and it's specifically used for Mac & PC (occasionally with the Galaxy Fold), don't care to use it for the iPad... built in trackpad with the Magic Keyboard provides a better scrolling experience. I originally started with a Magic Mouse 2... because I wanted to have a mouse with the iPad. Then switched up to the Magic Trackpad 2 for iPadOS gestures.

And when Apple introduced the newest Magic Keyboard with the M4 Pro iPads... we got a bigger trackpad, decided to move on from the Magic Trackpad 2.

 

[Ultracyclist]

It’s not the learning curve, I’ve been using the iPad since the iPad 2 came out, I really like iPadOS. It’s the constant buggyness :-/
Used a trackpad for a few years, but my wrist needed a change, so only switched to a mouse a few months back. Trackpad is better, but at least the MX4 has a vertical scroll shell (and the Magic Keyboard a trackpad i occasionally use

What external display do you use? How often do you use it, and with what apps? Maybe there a some apps that are dodgy, if I can weed them out I might be able to avoid some bugs.

I use a Dell Ultrasharp 25” QHD and an MSI 4K OLED daily. I have my ultrawide for sale because iPadOS doesn't scale well on that. In doing so, I use a desktop Magic Keyboard and Macie trackpad, both black versions. I actually use all Apple apps and a lot of my work goes with web applications.

 

[bondr006]

Ik gebruik een dell ultrasharp 25” HD en een MSI 4K OLED dagelijks. Mijn ultrawide heb ik te koop staan omdat iPadOS daar niet goed op schaalt. Daarbij gebruik ik een desktop Magic Keyboard en Macie trackpad beide zwarte uitvoering. Ik gebruik eigenlijk alle apps van apple en veel van mijn werk gaat met webapplicaties.

For some reason came through in Dutch...

Edit: Fixed🙂

 

[Ultracyclist]

For some reason came through in Dutch...

Edit: Fixed🙂

Yeah, since a while I stopped using English for longer responses. As iOS can translate my Dutch to English so well, I don’t want to bother myself with the translation in my head. This makes for a better response because I don’t have to translate my response while typing.
*this reply was typed in English 😅

 

[Basic75]

Ok, but you said the iPad is just a big iPhone, and that it has the same apps as the iPhone. Which isn’t really true, as the iPad runs iPadOS with more functionality than the iPhone, and has many apps the iPhone doesn’t have in addition to iPhone apps. Nobody’s faulting you for not liking the iPad, or not wanting to use it, but saying it’s “just a big iPhone” isn’t really true or fair… 🤷🏼‍♂️

I think you're both right.

Technically the iPad is "just" a bigger iPhone, and it does run the same operating system.

(Slapping a new label on the existing iOS when it's used on an iPad doesn't make it a different operating system, and neither do a couple of user interface features that are not available on the iPhone because they don't make sense on the small screen.)

However the iPad does have some unique features, and a lot of apps that are either iPad specific, or work so much better on an iPad and its larger display, that it does often feel and behave like its own separate thing.

 

[vanilla_prison]

I think you're both right.

Technically the iPad is "just" a bigger iPhone, and it does run the same operating system.

(Slapping a new label on the existing iOS when it's used on an iPad doesn't make it a different operating system, and neither do a couple of user interface features that are not available on the iPhone because they don't make sense on the small screen.)

However the iPad does have some unique features, and a lot of apps that are either iPad specific, or work so much better on an iPad and its larger display, that it does often feel and behave like its own separate thing.

Just like the video of the guy who recently put iPadOS onto an iPhone. Because of how small the screen was, it was definitely a bad experience. But the only difference between the “two” operating systems is just flags being turned on or off.

 

[bondr006]

Just like the video of the guy who recently put iPadOS onto an iPhone. Because of how small the screen was, it was definitely a bad experience. But the only difference between the “two” operating systems is just flags being turned on or off.

I think you're both right.

Technically the iPad is "just" a bigger iPhone, and it does run the same operating system.

(Slapping a new label on the existing iOS when it's used on an iPad doesn't make it a different operating system, and neither do a couple of user interface features that are not available on the iPhone because they don't make sense on the small screen.)

However the iPad does have some unique features, and a lot of apps that are either iPad specific, or work so much better on an iPad and its larger display, that it does often feel and behave like its own separate thing.

Back in the day, this was the case but absolutely no longer true. iPad OS has evolved far past the capabilities of iOS. In fact, the only things the iPhone is better at now is portability, taking pictures, and always on connectivity. They are both touch interface os’s that have a common beginning so there is no denying they have similarities, but they are no longer the same os.

I am a Realtor and Property Manager, and my iPad Pro has completely replaced my MacBook Pro as my mobile business device since November 2021. And, with the release of iPad OS 26 the iPad Pro is literally even more the perfect mobile solution for what I do.

A brief list of the things the iPad (iPad Pro) can do the the iPhone simply cannot.

Productivity and multitasking

• More powerful and flexible workflow: The larger screen, combined with the ability to connect a keyboard and trackpad, and external display transforms the iPad Pro into a powerful device for writing, creating documents, editing spreadsheets, and managing projects.
• Multitasking: iPadOS 26's Stage Manager, Windowed Apps, and UI allows for a more Mac-like experience by enabling multiple, resizable apps, and a more Mac like user experience.
• External display support: You can use the iPad Pro with an external display, extending your desktop for more screen space.

Creativity and design

• Art and design: An iPad Pro is a superior tool for drawing, painting, and sketching using an Apple Pencil, thanks to its larger canvas and dedicated creative apps like Procreate.
• Professional creative work: It can handle demanding creative tasks like photo and video editing in professional software like Lightroom, Photoshop, and LumaFusion with much more screen real estate.

Content consumption and other uses

• Immersive media: The larger screen provides a much more immersive experience for watching movies, playing games, and browsing the web compared to a smartphone.
• Music production: Musicians can use the iPad Pro for creating and editing music with apps like Logic Pro and Staffpad, using their fingers on the screen to control virtual instruments and mixers.
• Home automation and control: Its large screen and app support make it a central hub for managing smart home devices, similar to a dedicated control panel.

Performance and storage

• More power: The iPad Pro often features more powerful processors than iPhones and offers significantly more storage space, making it capable of handling more demanding tasks.
• Longer battery life: Many users report that an iPad Pro has better battery life than an iPhone for tasks that require extensive screen use.

 

[Ludatyk]

I think you're both right.

Technically the iPad is "just" a bigger iPhone, and it does run the same operating system.

(Slapping a new label on the existing iOS when it's used on an iPad doesn't make it a different operating system, and neither do a couple of user interface features that are not available on the iPhone because they don't make sense on the small screen.)

However the iPad does have some unique features, and a lot of apps that are either iPad specific, or work so much better on an iPad and its larger display, that it does often feel and behave like its own separate thing.

It is true that the iPad started out from iOS... there's no refuting that. But from a user perspective... you get a different experience with the iPad vs iPhone.

That's why the idea that the iPad is just a bigger iPhone... just doesn't hold water, reason why Apple decided to separate iOS and gave iPad its own OS was because it evolved to it's "own separate thing."

Just like the video of the guy who recently put iPadOS onto an iPhone. Because of how small the screen was, it was definitely a bad experience. But the only difference between the “two” operating systems is just flags being turned on or off.

That even proves the point further... it was a bad experience because iPadOS is meant for the iPad. It's like putting iOS on the iPad... we will get blown up version of iPhone apps, the UI is a huge factor of an operating system.

 

[DeepSix]

How are file transfers from external drives on iOS 26? I hear it's exactly like on Android.