iPad as a laptop replacement

[JamesMay82]

Copy from the Mac to an external SSD such as a Samsung T7 and then connect to the iPad to view and or copy.
I keep a T7 in my iPad (Waterfield Executive Leather Messenger) travel bag for viewing tv shows and it works well.

I’ve found this really difficult to do as I need to click on each individual folder and import and because I have these by year, month and day it will take forever to load into Apple photos la

I’m just in the process of loading apple photos to the cloud so I can sync and download to the iPad..

Then I’ll probably turn off iCloud in the cloud… it’s but long winded but at least it’s zero effort from me as it does it all in background..

 

[Apple_Robert]

I’ve found this really difficult to do as I need to click on each individual folder and import and because I have these by year, month and day it will take forever to load into Apple photos la

I’m just in the process of loading apple photos to the cloud so I can sync and download to the iPad..

Then I’ll probably turn off iCloud in the cloud… it’s but long winded but at least it’s zero effort from me as it does it all in background..

Have you tried doing Command A (select all) and then dragging the entire contents to the external SSD? I have transferred almost 4TB to the SSD this way in less than an hour.

 

[JamesMay82]

Have you tried doing Command A (select all) and then dragging the entire contents to the external SSD? I have transferred almost 4TB to the SSD this way in less than an hour.

I’ve got them all on the external SSD saved as year and month etc… but It’s not letting me select all photos to import into apple photos. It’s making me open each folder and the click on indivividual image to import to photos. This will take forever as there are loads of folders for each year, month and day etc…

See screenshot for 2010 as an example… any other ideas?

 

[PandaPunch]

So, I got my case for my iPad Air. I got this one, I got the darker purple one, there was no green option, much like the current iPad Air, lol.

ESR for iPad Air 11 Inch Case M3/M2 (2025/2024), iPad Air 5th/4th Gen Case (2022/2020) 10.9 Inch, Removable Magnetic Cover, Adjustable Portrait/Landscape Stand, 9 Standing Angles, Black

ESR for iPad Air 11 Inch Case (M3, 2025/M2, 2024), iPad Air 6th/5th/4th Generation Case, Removable Magnetic Cover, Adjustable Portrait/Landscape Stand with Raised Screen View, 9 Standing Angles, Black

www.amazon.com

I'm hungry and need to eat, so I can post pictures later. But I do like the use of magnets, it's pretty sturdy in all of the configurations shown in the pictures and video. Unlike some cases I've used in the past where the "stand" part was kinda iffy, I think the magnets help with keeping everything in place. I feel pretty confident with using it in landscape or portrait on a table or desk. I might challenge my brother to a game of lichess tonight or tomorrow and see how I feel about the stand. But I'm usually really gentle with tapping on tablets so maybe that won't matter too much.

 

[eltoslightfoot]

So, I got my case for my iPad Air. I got this one, I got the darker purple one, there was no green option, much like the current iPad Air, lol.

ESR for iPad Air 11 Inch Case M3/M2 (2025/2024), iPad Air 5th/4th Gen Case (2022/2020) 10.9 Inch, Removable Magnetic Cover, Adjustable Portrait/Landscape Stand, 9 Standing Angles, Black

ESR for iPad Air 11 Inch Case (M3, 2025/M2, 2024), iPad Air 6th/5th/4th Generation Case, Removable Magnetic Cover, Adjustable Portrait/Landscape Stand with Raised Screen View, 9 Standing Angles, Black

www.amazon.com

I'm hungry and need to eat, so I can post pictures later. But I do like the use of magnets, it's pretty sturdy in all of the configurations shown in the pictures and video. Unlike some cases I've used in the past where the "stand" part was kinda iffy, I think the magnets help with keeping everything in place. I feel pretty confident with using it in landscape or portrait on a table or desk. I might challenge my brother to a game of lichess tonight or tomorrow and see how I feel about the stand. But I'm usually really gentle with tapping on tablets so maybe that won't matter too much.

I have this case for my M1 iPad Pro 12.9", and it is quite nice.

 

[bondr006]

Wow, that’s cool! The iPad has come such a far way! 👍🏻. Also, great app organization with the app folders. 👍🏻

Thanks! A little OCD goes a long way...😏😉

 

[JD2015]

I’ve got them all on the external SSD saved as year and month etc… but It’s not letting me select all photos to import into apple photos. It’s making me open each folder and the click on indivividual image to import to photos. This will take forever as there are loads of folders for each year, month and day etc…

See screenshot for 2010 as an example… any other ideas?

View attachment 2590875
View attachment 2590874

You cannot directly transfer an entire folder from the Files app to the Photos app or another photos app like google photos on an iPad. The Photos app is meant to keep all your media files together in one place, rather than trying to copy the way your computer’s folders are organised. The Photos app organizes content by metadata (date, location, faces, etc.) and albums, rather than a hierarchical folder system. It is a frustrating limit of the ipad as can do this on macOS no problems.

 

[Kal Madda]

You cannot directly transfer an entire folder from the Files app to the Photos app or another photos app like google photos on an iPad. The Photos app is meant to keep all your media files together in one place, rather than trying to copy the way your computer’s folders are organised. The Photos app organizes content by metadata (date, location, faces, etc.) and albums, rather than a hierarchical folder system. It is a frustrating limit of the ipad as can do this on macOS no problems.

You actually can transfer a folder of images at once to Photos. Open the folder, “Select All”, and in Share Sheet, select “Save x images” (x is a substitute as it will display the number of selected images there). I hope that helps. 👍🏻

 

[sparksd]

You cannot directly transfer an entire folder from the Files app to the Photos app or another photos app like google photos on an iPad. The Photos app is meant to keep all your media files together in one place, rather than trying to copy the way your computer’s folders are organised. The Photos app organizes content by metadata (date, location, faces, etc.) and albums, rather than a hierarchical folder system. It is a frustrating limit of the ipad as can do this on macOS no problems.

Yeah, to store/view photos in a folder-oriented way, I use Photo Manager Pro on my iPads & iPhone. One of my favorite apps.

Photo Manager Pro App - App Store

Download Photo Manager Pro by Skyjos Co., Ltd. on the App Store. See screenshots, ratings and reviews, user tips, and more games like Photo Manager Pro.

apps.apple.com

 

[JD2015]

You actually can transfer a folder of images at once to Photos. Open the folder, “Select All”, and in Share Sheet, select “Save x images” (x is a substitute as it will display the number of selected images there). I hope that helps. 👍🏻

Your right, though i think this individual was talking about transferring folders full of images, which cannot be done unless you go in and do what you said.

 

[JamesMay82]

Your right, though i think this individual was talking about transferring folders full of images, which cannot be done unless you go in and do what you said.

Correct… because i have by year and I had 25-30 folders in each year it was becoming a nightmare having to do it with 20 years of data.

I’ve now given it up and switched on iCloud and I’m not going to fight it anymore… I’ll let the convenience win!

Plus across all my devices the photo library’s were all out of syncs to some degree.

I’m now using photos for my main library but doing a manual export each month or after a key event to keep storing them In my finder layout of year, month and day etc..

 

[Kal Madda]

Correct… because i have by year and I had 25-30 folders in each year it was becoming a nightmare having to do it with 20 years of data.

I’ve now given it up and switched on iCloud and I’m not going to fight it anymore… I’ll let the convenience win!

Plus across all my devices the photo library’s were all out of syncs to some degree.

I’m now using photos for my main library but doing a manual export each month or after a key event to keep storing them In my finder layout of year, month and day etc..

Oh, that makes sense. 👍🏻

Yeah, I use iCloud sync for my Photos usually, and then occasionally offload older photos into a folder system similar to what you’re talking about. 👍🏻

 

[Kal Madda]

I don’t know if it’s only me or not, but the integration between Files and Photos seems to be a bit better now than between Finder and Photos. I’m sure not in every aspect, but there’s a few of note.

On one hand (this isn’t really an advantage but an area they’ve become the same in the last couple years), in the last few major macOS versions, the Photos library isn’t an accessible location in Finder, just like it isn’t an accessible location in Files. I would like to see them both improve in this regard and be able to access it as a location, but the Mac no longer has that advantage, which was basically the only main advantage I ever noticed on the Mac vs iPad in terms of the integration between Finder and Photos vs Files and Photos.

As to an advantage I noticed just the other day, I was shocked at how much of a pain in the neck it is to transfer a photo from Photos to Finder on the Mac. There’s no Share Sheet option for it like “Save to Files”. You have to go to “Export” and then select a bunch of stuff and click through popups for things like format and preserving original metadata or whatever, and then you finally get to the option to pick a folder location and export it. Whereas, on the iPad, it’s an extremely simple click of the Share Sheet, click “Save to Files”, and then choose where you want to save it. Just so much more streamlined, intuitive, and efficient than the way the Mac does it…

It had been a while since I’d moved a photo out of Photos on a Mac, since I do all that kind of work on my iPad usually. But I was tinkering with the desktop version of the new Affinity app (which is amazing btw, and free, so definitely would recommend trying it to anyone interested in a good alternative to Photoshop, Illustrator, or Indesign). The gradient mesh feature and image trace are going to be revolutionary for my workflow when it comes to the iPad! 👍🏻 I’m really looking forward to the iPad version dropping, I heard it should be coming early next year. 👍🏻

 

[JamesMay82]

I don’t know if it’s only me or not, but the integration between Files and Photos seems to be a bit better now than between Finder and Photos. I’m sure not in every aspect, but there’s a few of note.

On one hand (this isn’t really an advantage but an area they’ve become the same in the last couple years), in the last few major macOS versions, the Photos library isn’t an accessible location in Finder, just like it isn’t an accessible location in Files. I would like to see them both improve in this regard and be able to access it as a location, but the Mac no longer has that advantage, which was basically the only main advantage I ever noticed on the Mac vs iPad in terms of the integration between Finder and Photos vs Files and Photos.

As to an advantage I noticed just the other day, I was shocked at how much of a pain in the neck it is to transfer a photo from Photos to Finder on the Mac. There’s no Share Sheet option for it like “Save to Files”. You have to go to “Export” and then select a bunch of stuff and click through popups for things like format and preserving original metadata or whatever, and then you finally get to the option to pick a folder location and export it. Whereas, on the iPad, it’s an extremely simple click of the Share Sheet, click “Save to Files”, and then choose where you want to save it. Just so much more streamlined, intuitive, and efficient than the way the Mac does it…

It had been a while since I’d moved a photo out of Photos on a Mac, since I do all that kind of work on my iPad usually. But I was tinkering with the desktop version of the new Affinity app (which is amazing btw, and free, so definitely would recommend trying it to anyone interested in a good alternative to Photoshop, Illustrator, or Indesign). The gradient mesh feature and image trace are going to be revolutionary for my workflow when it comes to the iPad! 👍🏻 I’m really looking forward to the iPad version dropping, I heard it should be coming early next year. 👍🏻

Well you can always click on show package files on the mac to get in to see the originals but its not laid out very well once you get there.

It’s a bit over kill but I also use lightroom cc mainly as another backup option for my photos plus if I select local copies it organises them very logically by year, month & day.

My big worry is a package file like the photos library becoming corrupt and me losing access to my photos which are my most important things.

Just to bore you… its taken 1 day to upload my 200 gig photo library to the cloud from my iPhone.. and now I’m downloading it to my iPad and its done 100 gigs in 4 hours.. its all a bit of pain but I oddly quite enjoy it.. going to take time while I’m off to do a big photo declutter to make sure no duplicates etc.

 

[Meedoss]

Another annoyance with iPad and studio display, with 2 safari pages can’t play video on both at same time. And can’t use iPad as a 3rd display for video.
Don’t really think apple want people to have iPads only lol

 

[Kal Madda]

Another annoyance with iPad and studio display, with 2 safari pages can’t play video on both at same time. And can’t use iPad as a 3rd display for video.
Don’t really think apple want people to have iPads only lol

That’s actually more because iPadOS doesn’t support multiple simultaneous audio streams yet. This may come in a future update, as it’s been pretty heavily rumored the past couple years. To be honest though, trying to watch 3 videos simultaneously would drive me batty, I have no idea how anyone could keep 3 separate videos straight. 😳👍🏻. It kind of gives me anxiety just thinking about it, lol! 😂 👍🏻.

As to Apple not wanting people to have iPads only, I’m sure they probably want people to buy more of their devices, but I don’t know I would say that’s the reason for this. I think it’s more that multiple simultaneous audio streams is a somewhat niche thing, and so probably hasn’t been a priority to implement. Especially since multi-windowing was more of an add-on before iPadOS 26. But with iPadOS 26 adding multi-windowing as a more system-level thing on more iPad models, I wouldn’t be surprised if they may add such a feature in a future update. 👍🏻

 

[Meedoss]

That’s actually more because iPadOS doesn’t support multiple simultaneous audio streams yet. This may come in a future update, as it’s been pretty heavily rumored the past couple years. To be honest though, trying to watch 3 videos simultaneously would drive me batty, I have no idea how anyone could keep 3 separate videos straight. 😳👍🏻. It kind of gives me anxiety just thinking about it, lol! 😂 👍🏻.

As to Apple not wanting people to have iPads only, I’m sure they probably want people to buy more of their devices, but I don’t know I would say that’s the reason for this. I think it’s more that multiple simultaneous audio streams is a somewhat niche thing, and so probably hasn’t been a priority to implement. Especially since multi-windowing was more of an add-on before iPadOS 26. But with iPadOS 26 adding multi-windowing as a more system-level thing on more iPad models, I wouldn’t be surprised if they may add such a feature in a future update. 👍🏻

My 15” M4 MBA is sold, will be iPad only for awhile, tossing up if to get the mini m4 24/512 or the same in m4 pro.
Another small annoyance with iPad only, whenever I want to show my wife something have to unplug the iPad in my home office then plug in again.
Instead of just grab and go lol

3 videos at once is good for sports, surf web cams and Netflix etc

 

[Kal Madda]

My 15” M4 MBA is sold, will be iPad only for awhile, tossing up if to get the mini m4 24/512 or the same in m4 pro.
Another small annoyance with iPad only, whenever I want to show my wife something have to unplug the iPad in my home office then plug in again.
Instead of just grab and go lol

3 videos at once is good for sports, surf web cams and Netflix etc

Awesome, I hope it works out well for you! 👍🏻

For me personally, I use my iPad so heavily I couldn’t really justify the costs of a higher than base spec Mac Mini. Obviously though, that may be different for you depending on what you want/need from it. For me, my base spec M1 Mac Mini is still running strong, and so I feel no need to upgrade yet. I can run quite heavy apps on it like Blender for 3D modeling and sculpting. If you don’t think you’re going to be doing really taxing workflows on it often, then the M4 base spec Mac Mini is probably better bang for buck in my opinion, though obviously needs and preferences will vary. 👍🏻

I don’t understand what you mean by unplugging and plugging in again? What do you have to plug in? For me, I can undock my iPad from my desk and carry it with me untethered like a laptop or as a tablet. So I guess I’m not quite following what you’re talking about plugging back in. Is the battery dying?

Ok, I’m sure that that works for you and others, wasn’t trying to say anything against your 3 video usecase or anything, I just definitely wouldn’t be able to keep up with that. 🙂👍🏻. For me, that would drive me batty trying to focus on all 3 at the same time. 🤪😉👍🏻. I envy your multitasking focus abilities! 👍🏻

 

[Ludatyk]

That’s actually more because iPadOS doesn’t support multiple simultaneous audio streams yet. This may come in a future update, as it’s been pretty heavily rumored the past couple years. To be honest though, trying to watch 3 videos simultaneously would drive me batty, I have no idea how anyone could keep 3 separate videos straight. 😳👍🏻. It kind of gives me anxiety just thinking about it, lol! 😂 👍🏻.

As to Apple not wanting people to have iPads only, I’m sure they probably want people to buy more of their devices, but I don’t know I would say that’s the reason for this. I think it’s more that multiple simultaneous audio streams is a somewhat niche thing, and so probably hasn’t been a priority to implement. Especially since multi-windowing was more of an add-on before iPadOS 26. But with iPadOS 26 adding multi-windowing as a more system-level thing on more iPad models, I wouldn’t be surprised if they may add such a feature in a future update. 👍🏻

I'm not up for what @Meedoss suggested with watching 3 videos at once (but then again this is done for sports betting.)

My example is watching sports and having some music/podcast playing in the background, because I don't really care for the sports commentary. This what I do often with my Galaxy Fold.

 

[Kal Madda]

I'm not up for what @Meedoss suggested with watching 3 videos at once (but then again this is done for sports betting.)

My example is watching sports and having some music/podcast playing in the background, because I don't really care for the sports commentary. This what I do often with my Galaxy Fold.

Oh yeah, and I wasn’t trying to come across as if I were against that or anything. I think it would be great if they add that feature. 👍🏻.

 

[Ludatyk]

Oh yeah, and I wasn’t trying to come across as if I were against that or anything. I think it would be great if they add that feature. 👍🏻.

I was simply giving you another example instead of going to the extreme... because it's not necessarily about watching multiple videos all at once. Because I think everyone could benefit in a feature like that including you.

 

[Meedoss]

Awesome, I hope it works out well for you! 👍🏻

For me personally, I use my iPad so heavily I couldn’t really justify the costs of a higher than base spec Mac Mini. Obviously though, that may be different for you depending on what you want/need from it. For me, my base spec M1 Mac Mini is still running strong, and so I feel no need to upgrade yet. I can run quite heavy apps on it like Blender for 3D modeling and sculpting. If you don’t think you’re going to be doing really taxing workflows on it often, then the M4 base spec Mac Mini is probably better bang for buck in my opinion, though obviously needs and preferences will vary. 👍🏻

I don’t understand what you mean by unplugging and plugging in again? What do you have to plug in? For me, I can undock my iPad from my desk and carry it with me untethered like a laptop or as a tablet. So I guess I’m not quite following what you’re talking about plugging back in. Is the battery dying?

Ok, I’m sure that that works for you and others, wasn’t trying to say anything against your 3 video usecase or anything, I just definitely wouldn’t be able to keep up with that. 🙂👍🏻. For me, that would drive me batty trying to focus on all 3 at the same time. 🤪😉👍🏻. I envy your multitasking focus abilities! 👍🏻

I meant plugging in to use the studio display.

 

[Kal Madda]

I meant plugging in to use the studio display.

Oh, that makes sense, so basically the hassle of having to take the iPad back with you to your home office and plug it in, vs already having something there if I’m understanding correctly. That makes sense. Same thing happens to me sometimes as well, and I have to then go back and grab my iPad from another part of the house if I want to use it at my desk. 👍🏻

 

[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?

Well, my iPad died last night Playing a game (bloons!) and the screen went all weird, stripy, then off. No amount of hard reset helping - just a black screen. So...maybe the issues I mentioned were partially hardware-related?

Got an appointment with the Genius Bar on the weekend...now to think what I will do when the likely verdict of DOA comes. Shame, I had hoped that the device would last a tad longer...

 

[bondr006]

Well, my iPad died last night Playing a game (bloons!) and the screen went all weird, stripy, then off. No amount of hard reset helping - just a black screen. So...maybe the issues I mentioned were partially hardware-related?

Got an appointment with the Genius Bar on the weekend...now to think what I will do when the likely verdict of DOA comes. Shame, I had hoped that the device would last a tad longer...

I am sorry to hear that. The thing is only 3 years old and should have many years left on it. My M1 iPP 11 is still thankfully going strong(knock on wood). I have never had an Apple device die before it was well out of support. I hope Apple has some good news for you. If you get the right Apple genius, he might take mercy on you and make things right. My iPhone 5 had an expanding battery problem and was out of warranty, but they replaced it when I took it to the genius bar. Good luck!