iPad as a laptop replacement

[Kal Madda]

I have finally accepted after multiple trials and attempts, that an iPad will never be a replacement for a laptop. Many have warned its not nor what it was designed for. Fair. But ultimately, if you want to do work, pick up a MacBook, never been a better time to get one really.

Sorry to hear that’s been your experience. For me, my iPad has completely replaced my MacBook, I’m about 5-6 years in using an iPad in place of a MacBook, and I don’t see myself ever going back to a MacBook over an iPad. There’s too many areas where a MacBook couldn’t replace an iPad for me. I think this is just a matter of personal preference and needs. Definitely the MacBook is a better option for some people and some things. For others, the iPad is a better option. YMMV. 🙂👍🏻

 

[eltoslightfoot]

My wife’s iPad is a 95 replacement for here windows surface. She has an IPP m1 with the MKB and it is her go to. There is only a small subset of things the surface is needed for.

This means she gets the efficiency and reliability of the iPad most of the time, without dealing with windows idiosyncrasies.

I can see that, but for me that last 5 percent is really important. There are also issues with background syncing (since I have my own cloud server) and some other things. In the end, I think it was silly to me to think that it could work the way I wish. Apple is fantastic if you do things the way they want you to. If you try to do things another way, it doesn't work as well.

I am really glad that is working for her, though. In the end that's all a person can ask.

 

[eltoslightfoot]

I have finally accepted after multiple trials and attempts, that an iPad will never be a replacement for a laptop. Many have warned its not nor what it was designed for. Fair. But ultimately, if you want to do work, pick up a MacBook, never been a better time to get one really.

I agree. I can freely admit that I may be in the minority, but I really do need a full computer on the go. It's just the way it is.

 

[Kal Madda]

That's my point. A "fan" of iWork will clearly not think things are headed in the wrong direction. I disagree. Apple used to really care about adding value for the hardware through the software. Now it is like the equation is reversed. They want you to buy the hardware and then accept that the subscriptions will be needed to get the "premium" experience.

When a corporation begins to stratify every experience in this fashion, it is not good. Apple used to give you more--we know what to expect from Microsoft, so that is not a great comparison. Basically, as the saying goes, Apple used to be the chosen one.

A. off-topic, so let’s no go roundy roundy on this…

B. Apple is a business, not a charity… Software costs money to develop. Offering all core features for free, with a handful of incredibly optional add-ons that are paid for is perfectly reasonable…

C. Off-topic, please take this elsewhere respectfully…

 

[iwtunx]

I've have a MacBook Pro Retina for a year now, and quite frankly, it’s simply overkill for what I use the computer for on a daily basis. I would have been fine with a MacBook Air but elected to spend the extra cash for a nice screen.

I use writing intensive programs (Final Draft, Pages, etc), but outside from that, just do regular web browsing, music, etc.

I was curious if anyone on here had replaced their laptop with an iPad, because I am considering doing that. I'm just curious about how the keyboards work with the iPad.

I have an ergonomic keyboard I use and I bought an adapter to let it connect to my iPad. I can’t remember if I got it at Amazon or a local store since it was quite a while ago. I even improvised a ceiling rack above my elliptical and exercycle so I could put the ipad there and keep doing things. I did continue to use a PC for my job since I needed 2 monitors (UNIX/LINUX engineer), but my laptop wasn’t used much.

 

[xxFoxtail]

You can customize the toolbar for the iWork apps on iPadOS by selecting “View” in the iPad Menu Bar. “Customize Toolbar” should be the bottom option, just as on the Mac. 🙂👍🏻

I think that's the one button I can’t figure out how to remove. Again, not as big of a deal as I made it sound (after re-reading my original comment), it's easy enough to just ignore that button.

Ok, that makes sense. Sorry if I came off as too strong, I think I misunderstood you a bit. I’m all for using the tool that suits needs best. 👍🏻. For me, the iWork apps meet my needs better than the MS ones, though, I still do use OneDrive and OneNote for some things. 👍🏻.

Yeah, I don't think I was as clear as I intended anyway. To be honest, I'm slowly moving back to the iPad for this work. I know how to address my problems with Excel on the iPad, though it would be nice if those issues just weren't there. But I still prefer using the iPad over the Mac. The iWork apps just feel and seem more premium than MS Office especially on the iPad. If there was a way I can open and easily save files as an Excel or Word document from them (without importing and exporting anyway), I'd certainly prefer using them. Maybe there is? Since I share a lot of these files on a network with Windows PCs, it's important that they can be opened on those machines too.

 

[Kal Madda]

I think that's the one button I can’t figure out how to remove. Again, not as big of a deal as I made it sound (after re-reading my original comment), it's easy enough to just ignore that button.


Yeah, I don't think I was as clear as I intended anyway. To be honest, I'm slowly moving back to the iPad for this work. I know how to address my problems with Excel on the iPad, though it would be nice if those issues just weren't there. But I still prefer using the iPad over the Mac. The iWork apps just feel and seem more premium than MS Office especially on the iPad. If there was a way I can open and easily save files as an Excel or Word document from them (without importing and exporting anyway), I'd certainly prefer using them. Maybe there is? Since I share a lot of these files on a network with Windows PCs, it's important that they can be opened on those machines too.

Unfortunately there isn’t an in-app way of auto-saving documents as .docx for MS Word (or the format Excel uses), but there might still be a solution that may work. I think you could possibly create a Siri Shortcut that would duplicate a file from a folder and change its file extension which would allow you to have automatic MS Office compatible copies of your documents. I’ll have to look into it and see what options are available and see if I can find anything that may help you out. 🙂👍🏻

 

[xxFoxtail]

Unfortunately there isn’t an in-app way of auto-saving documents as .docx for MS Word (or the format Excel uses), but there might still be a solution that may work. I think you could possibly create a Siri Shortcut that would duplicate a file from a folder and change its file extension which would allow you to have automatic MS Office compatible copies of your documents. I’ll have to look into it and see what options are available and see if I can find anything that may help you out. 🙂👍🏻

That'll be great, thank you 🙆‍♀️! I guess it's still easy enough to just export the file as a .docx or .xlsx file from Pages and Numbers. Though as I do daily bank and sales reports, having a .numbers file plus a .xlsx file will get very crowded pretty fast in those folders. If it could be automated to quickly change a .numbers file to a .xlsx file or even just delete the .numbers file when done exporting, that would work I think.

 

[Kal Madda]

That'll be great, thank you 🙆‍♀️! I guess it's still easy enough to just export the file as a .docx or .xlsx file from Pages and Numbers. Though as I do daily bank and sales reports, having a .numbers file plus a .xlsx file will get very crowded pretty fast in those folders. If it could be automated to quickly change a .numbers file to a .xlsx file or even just delete the .numbers file when done exporting, that would work I think.

I’ve been experimenting, and Pages even has a dedicated Siri Shortcuts action for background export. So it looks promising. And I may be able to have it source files from one folder (Pages) and create a duplicate with the new extension in a different folder. So that may help with keeping things cleaner. 👍🏻. I’ll report back when I’ve had a chance to fully test it out. 👍🏻

 

[Kal Madda]

That'll be great, thank you 🙆‍♀️! I guess it's still easy enough to just export the file as a .docx or .xlsx file from Pages and Numbers. Though as I do daily bank and sales reports, having a .numbers file plus a .xlsx file will get very crowded pretty fast in those folders. If it could be automated to quickly change a .numbers file to a .xlsx file or even just delete the .numbers file when done exporting, that would work I think.

So I got a Siri shortcut put together that will get all the files in the Pages folder, and will export them as Word documents into another folder. And it will replace duplicate files, so you don’t have to worry about it creating multiple duplicates of the same files. I attached the iCloud link for it. My Apple Pages folder is in iCloud, and the “Pages to Word” folder I created in “On My iPad”. You can edit these folder destinations if you like as well. I believe you should be able to replicate this for Numbers by duplicating the Shortcut in the Shortcuts app and renaming the duplicate “Numbers to Excel” and replacing the Pages “Export Document in Background” action with Numbers version, but I haven’t tried that. I also believe you should be able to pair this with an automation that will run this shortcut whenever a new file is saved into the Pages folder, so you may not even have to manually trigger it. Actually, just looked it up, and looks like you’d have to do it on a scheduled interval, there’s no automation triggers for saving files in a folder. But you can set up an automation that will automatically run this shortcut at different times of the day. I hope that helps you out! 🙂👍🏻

Pages to Word

I made the Numbers to Excel version as well! 👍🏻

Numbers to Excel

 

[clarencek]

I have finally accepted after multiple trials and attempts, that an iPad will never be a replacement for a laptop. Many have warned its not nor what it was designed for. Fair. But ultimately, if you want to do work, pick up a MacBook, never been a better time to get one really.

I’ve been using an 11” iPad Pro with MKB as my only Mac for the past two month and yea agree.
For single threaded tasks and workflows it’s great. Fast performance and such a nice streamlined UI.
But when you have to multitask with multiple apps and multiple docs within apps it’s pretty bad. The windowing system is really inconsistent and I never know when my setting will stay or they randomly become windowed or full screen.
There’s just too much copying and pasting and switching apps to really feel productive. You’re not just fighting the OS you’re fighting the apps as well.
And the apps are so inconsistent in how they’ve implemented their touch interfaces.
But I can certainly see how this can be someone’s only machine… but once you need a certain level of flexibility it’s just not there yet.

I’m waiting on the low cost MacBook as my next step as I need something small and light for computing.

 

[xxFoxtail]

So I got a Siri shortcut put together that will get all the files in the Pages folder, and will export them as Word documents into another folder. And it will replace duplicate files, so you don’t have to worry about it creating multiple duplicates of the same files. I attached the iCloud link for it. My Apple Pages folder is in iCloud, and the “Pages to Word” folder I created in “On My iPad”. You can edit these folder destinations if you like as well. I believe you should be able to replicate this for Numbers by duplicating the Shortcut in the Shortcuts app and renaming the duplicate “Numbers to Excel” and replacing the Pages “Export Document in Background” action with Numbers version, but I haven’t tried that. I also believe you should be able to pair this with an automation that will run this shortcut whenever a new file is saved into the Pages folder, so you may not even have to manually trigger it. Actually, just looked it up, and looks like you’d have to do it on a scheduled interval, there’s no automation triggers for saving files in a folder. But you can set up an automation that will automatically run this shortcut at different times of the day. I hope that helps you out! 🙂👍🏻

Pages to Word

I made the Numbers to Excel version as well! 👍🏻

Numbers to Excel

Thank you so much for putting those together. I’ll try them out later and see if I can integrate them into my workflows.

 

[Kal Madda]

Thank you so much for putting those together. I’ll try them out later and see if I can integrate them into my workflows.

Also, do you run the shortcut directly from Numbers/Pages?

You’re welcome, I’m glad I can be helpful! 🙂👍🏻

It depends on how you want to do it. With Shortcuts, you can add them in the Share Sheet, so that way you could run it directly in Numbers/Pages if you wanted by selecting them from the Share Sheet. You can also run them using Siri. You could add them to the Control Center if you wanted, or you could create a scheduled automation in the Shortcuts app that could run them at scheduled times automatically for you. You can also add them to the Home Screen. There are many different ways to run them. If you want direct in-app access to them, I would recommend either the Share Sheet option or the Control Center (not directly in the app UI, but always accessible). You can add them to the Share Sheet by tapping the 3-dot button on the shortcut’s card in the Shortcuts app, selecting the “i” button in the upper right corner of the editing page, and selecting “Show in Share Sheet”. also in that “i” menu is the option to add it to the Home Screen if you wanted to go that route. They can be added to the Control Center by tapping the little plus symbol in the top left corner of the Control Center and adding a “Run Shortcut” control, and selecting the shortcut you want it to run.

I hope that helps with setting things up. If you have any more questions about it, feel free to ask. 🙂👍🏻

 

[DeepSix]

I just bought another 11" iPad Pro two days because the sale at Best Buy was too good to pass up. Also bought the Pencil Pro as I want the full experience and amazon had it for $30 off. Immediately fell in love again with the 11 form factor, it's just too good. iPads are best used as handheld devices. When I set it up, I immediately tried the other two modes and stage manager and I dont like it. Multitasking on the iPad is inferior to Samsung One UI. Having minimize and maximize buttons are not needed and it seems clumsy compared to just using a MacBook.

Why can't you snap apps to the left or right like on Samsungs? So I went back to the first mode and I dont mind as I won't be adding a keyboard to it and I didn't buy a 11" tablet to multitask on it. Also it's completely unessecary to attach keyboards and plus you're going to put excessive wear on the Magic Keyboard every time you remove and attach the keyboard.

iPads file system is better compared to when I last had an iPad in 2024 but still not as good as Samsungs. And that's okay, just have to live with it. I'll have to take screenshots each time I want to save a picture as unless you save your photos to the Google Photos app each time, it won't show up in the iPads file system. I tried it like 15 times and it doesn't work. What the heck Apple? Something so simple and still can't do on iPad OS 26 in 2026.

A use case I have for the iPad Pro is being able to edit and export videos on the go and not have to bring my MacBook too with me every time. I installed Adobe Premiere on it and was impressed how smooth it was on the iPad. I could not do this on my Samsung S10 FE and it's one reason why I tossed that tablet out my apartment window.

 

[bondr006]

I just bought another 11" iPad Pro two days because the sale at Best Buy was too good to pass up. Also bought the Pencil Pro as I want the full experience and amazon had it for $30 off. Immediately fell in love again with the 11 form factor, it's just too good. iPads are best used as handheld devices. When I set it up, I immediately tried the other two modes and stage manager and I dont like it. Multitasking on the iPad is inferior to Samsung One UI. Having minimize and maximize buttons are not needed and it seems clumsy compared to just using a MacBook.

Why can't you snap apps to the left or right like on Samsungs? So I went back to the first mode and I dont mind as I won't be adding a keyboard to it and I didn't buy a 11" tablet to multitask on it. Also it's completely unessecary to attach keyboards and plus you're going to put excessive wear on the Magic Keyboard every time you remove and attach the keyboard.

iPads file system is better compared to when I last had an iPad in 2024 but still not as good as Samsungs. And that's okay, just have to live with it. I'll have to take screenshots each time I want to save a picture as unless you save your photos to the Google Photos app each time, it won't show up in the iPads file system. I tried it like 15 times and it doesn't work. What the hell Apple? Something so simple and still can't do on iPad OS 26.

A use case I have for the iPad Pro is being able to edit and export videos on the go and not have to bring my MacBook with me everytime. I installed Adobe Premiere on it and was impressed how smooth it was on the iPad. I could not do this on my Samsung S10 FE and it's one reason why I tossed that tablet out my apartment window.

Hey DS!😊 Could you please give more detail on what you mean about saving pictures? Where are you saving them from? Within the file app/system, from camera roll/photo library, or from the camera when taking a picture? I just need a little clarification. Good to see you. Thanks!

BTW...Congrats on the new iPad Pro!

 

[DeepSix]

Hey DS!😊 Could you please give more detail on what you mean about saving pictures? Where are you saving them from? Within the file system, from camera roll/photo library, or from the camera when taking a picture? I just need a little clarification. Good to see you. Thanks!

Im always saving photos from either Chrome or Safari or from email. I go save as, and save as a photo, or save in the files app. Then I check through the files app and it doesn't show anywhere, not even in most recent. But if I save to Google, then it will show up in the Google Photos app.

If I screenshot, that file always shows up in the recent tab. I love the recent tab and it's about time Apple finally integrated it. This is one of my favourite things I like about Samsung One UI. Ive never once saved any type of file on Samsung tablets and not have it show up right away.

 

[bondr006]

Im always saving photos from either Chrome or Safari or from email. I go save as, and save as a photo, or save in the files app. Then I check through the files app and it doesn't show anywhere, not even in most recent. But if I save to Google, then it will show up in the Google Photos app.

If I screenshot, that file always shows up in the recent tab. I love the recent tab and it's about time Apple finally integrated it. This is one of my favourite things I like about Samsung One UI. Ive never once saved any type of file on Samsung tablets and not have it show up right away.

Yeah, I don't like this either. There should be a "Save Image To" or "Save Image As", but neither exist in Safari or Chrome....at least not in any meaningful way. That is annoying to say the least. I have always just saved photos from the web to "Photos" and then do what I want to with it from there. It would be nice to send them directly to "Files" or anywhere else you want to though. Just one of the things you take for granted when using a full desktop/laptop OS. I imagine eventually we will get this and others in iPad OS.

You can pull a photo right off a page and insert it directly in a document or other project.

 

[Kal Madda]

Thank you so much for putting those together. I’ll try them out later and see if I can integrate them into my workflows.

Hey, I just wanted to check in with you and see how it’s going. Have the shortcuts helped? Are there any improvements that would make it better? I hope you’ve been doing well. 🙂👍🏻

 

[Kal Madda]

Im always saving photos from either Chrome or Safari or from email. I go save as, and save as a photo, or save in the files app. Then I check through the files app and it doesn't show anywhere, not even in most recent. But if I save to Google, then it will show up in the Google Photos app.

If I screenshot, that file always shows up in the recent tab. I love the recent tab and it's about time Apple finally integrated it. This is one of my favourite things I like about Samsung One UI. Ive never once saved any type of file on Samsung tablets and not have it show up right away.

I’ve always saved images in Safari to Photos, and then managed them from there. But yeah, more options for that would be good. 👍🏻. I’ve never seen a “Save As” option, just a “Save to Photos” option.

By a “Recents” tab, are you meaning in Photos? Because there is one in Photos. I guess I’m probably not correctly understanding what you’re meaning. 👍🏻

My files always show up fine for me in Photos and Files, so I also don’t know what’s going on there. 🙂👍🏻

 

[xxFoxtail]

Hey, I just wanted to check in with you and see how it’s going. Have the shortcuts helped? Are there any improvements that would make it better? I hope you’ve been doing well. 🙂👍🏻

Thank you again for taking the time to make them! I only managed to play around with it briefly. I liked the idea of it, but I was hoping for something more I could use in Numbers itself. Like I can open an Excel file in Numbers, do whatever I need to do, then run the shortcut that saves it as a .xlsx file and deletes the autosaved .numbers file.

My workflow involves a lot of duplicated Excel files, which are separated into different monthly folders, which then are separated into years. I have a daily bank deposit. What I do is duplicate the previous day's Excel file and modify that with the new checks and cash. And also daily sales reports, so I’m working with a lot of duplicated files in lots of different folders.

I know I can do this manually as Numbers can export as an Excel file, and then I can just delete the Numbers file after. Or I can just use the Excel app despite all of its issues. I'm not great with Shortcuts, but I sort of looked into it, not really sure if it's possible to do what I want or not? I'm sure it's possible to modify the shortcut you made and let me select the file, convert it and delete the Numbers file after. Though I'm not sure if that will really end up being faster than just manually doing it anyway.

 

[DeepSix]

Yeah, I don't like this either. There should be a "Save Image To" or "Save Image As", but neither exist in Safari or Chrome....at least not in any meaningful way. That is annoying to say the least. I have always just saved photos from the web to "Photos" and then do what I want to with it from there. It would be nice to send them directly to "Files" or anywhere else you want to though. Just one of the things you take for granted when using a full desktop/laptop OS. I imagine eventually we will get this and others in iPad OS.View attachment 2611294

You can pull a photo right off a page and insert it directly in a document or other project.

Apple always has to make things more complicated than they need to be. I think screenshotting it every time makes the most sense even though its more work than just saving as.

 

[DeepSix]

I’ve always saved images in Safari to Photos, and then managed them from there. But yeah, more options for that would be good. 👍🏻. I’ve never seen a “Save As” option, just a “Save to Photos” option.

By a “Recents” tab, are you meaning in Photos? Because there is one in Photos. I guess I’m probably not correctly understanding what you’re meaning. 👍🏻

My files always show up fine for me in Photos and Files, so I also don’t know what’s going on there. 🙂👍🏻

The most recent tab on Samsung tablets is the most recent files saved to any folder on that tablet. It's a very handy folder to have. Like if its a file that isnt standard like a photo or video, maybe something like an Android install file (APK), it will show up in the most recent tab.

 

[Cassandle]

I’ve been running a 12.9” iPad Pro (A12z model) with Magic Keyboard and Pencil and M1 Mac Mini since 2020. The iPad is essentially a laptop that I sometimes undock from the keyboard for writing notes with the Pencil. Before that I had a 2011 MBP and an iPad 4. The iPad was solely a tablet and e-reader and so the MBP did everything.

I suppose it all depends on what you need to do on the go (on the go being anywhere away from a desk). I could live without a MacBook now as I don’t do my actual work on a Mac (I have to use a company-issued Windows laptop). But I couldn’t live without the Mini as there’s a few things that it can do that the iPad can’t.

I might be in the minority but I prefer using iPad OS - it’s ’multitasking’ isn’t great but then when did anyone do anything effectively when multitasking? Two apps side by side works great and is usually all I need.

For my use case, a desktop Mac and an iPad (as a laptop) is perfect. But the current iPad line-up is a convoluted mess of expensive, compromised devices (Pro machines aside, which are just expensive!) which makes the MacBook Air or even the Neo a more compelling option for me now.

 

[Kal Madda]

The most recent tab on Samsung tablets is the most recent files saved to any folder on that tablet. It's a very handy folder to have. Like if its a file that isnt standard like a photo or video, maybe something like an Android install file (APK), it will show up in the most recent tab.

Ok, but iPadOS has a Recent tab as well in Files, and that does the same thing? Or am I misunderstanding something?

 

[Kal Madda]

Thank you again for taking the time to make them! I only managed to play around with it briefly. I liked the idea of it, but I was hoping for something more I could use in Numbers itself. Like I can open an Excel file in Numbers, do whatever I need to do, then run the shortcut that saves it as a .xlsx file and deletes the autosaved .numbers file.

Oh, that makes sense. I may see what I can put together more like that. 👍🏻

My workflow involves a lot of duplicated Excel files, which are separated into different monthly folders, which then are separated into years. I have a daily bank deposit. What I do is duplicate the previous day's Excel file and modify that with the new checks and cash. And also daily sales reports, so I’m working with a lot of duplicated files in lots of different folders.

I know I can do this manually as Numbers can export as an Excel file, and then I can just delete the Numbers file after. Or I can just use the Excel app despite all of its issues. I'm not great with Shortcuts, but I sort of looked into it, not really sure if it's possible to do what I want or not? I'm sure it's possible to modify the shortcut you made and let me select the file, convert it and delete the Numbers file after. Though I'm not sure if that will really end up being faster than just manually doing it anyway.

Yeah, that makes sense. 👍🏻. I think it should be possible to set up a shortcut more like what you’re talking about, where it converts the Numbers file to Excel and then deletes the Numbers version. A shortcut like this could be added into the Share Sheet, so you could access it directly in Numbers via the Share Sheet. It may streamline things a bit. I’ll have to look into it. 🙂👍🏻