iPad Pro iPad as a programming student… Hear me out!

[Hooyah]

Conventional wisdom addresses my problem with a very clear answer: hell no.

I bought an iPad Pro M4 last week with the Magic Keyboard. I love the device. The screen is amazing, it’s snappy and iOS 26 takes it to new levels. The iPad is no longer a toy. I have an M4 iMac at home for anything it can’t do.

I’m a student studying programming / software development currently. My old M1 MacBook couldn’t natively (or by Parallels) run old things like SQL SMSS and other legacy ancient x86 windows apps. And since Apple Intelligence it got dirt slow for things like Xcode. The iMac is crippled by 256GB storage and I can’t take it to college anyway. So the solution last semester was rent an OVH cloud server running Windows and work with no limits. It overcame all limitations really.

The iPad is intended to be my main device. Although I can’t fire up Visual Studio or Xcode… I can log into a remote machine and use native mouse pointer / keyboard input fairly reliably. So with that being the case, I am thinking it’s not a bad device after all for programming practice.

I have also found a lot of online content on YouTube to be fairly pointless / long winded and am now resorting to buying textbooks to read at my leisure, then when/if they give tasks, remote into a VM and get to grips with proper desktop software strictly when needed. Something I strongly believe I would need to do on a Mac anyway with them being on ARM and the programming world being dominated by legacy Microsoft and others programmes / platforms. The pencil for annotating, making diagrams and reference notes on the iPad - and it being so light weight seems more ideal and no Mac can do that. This is the first time I’ve understood Apple making things thinner or lighter, usually that is an annoyance but I can hold this in the air one handed for ages!

Then I realised that no real employer is going to want me to use my own machine anyway to access or build things for them - they usually issue machines or logins for security. Unless I go freelance or run my own business which I don’t think I will. So in any case is a heavyweight developer spec machine ever really needed if you plan to be in employment other than for enthusiast purposes?

My return window for the iPad runs out next week. I am genuinely tore between keeping this as it’s such a joy to use and lightweight and more agile than a fragile laptop. iOS is a bit glitchy to be honest and I don’t like that the beautiful 144hz display I have can’t be fully utilised or that I can’t have the iPad screen off when it’s connected. I’m not sure how much of this is Beta instability or just iPad OS lacking decades of details MacOS has been through. I do have the iMac for the times when the iPad won’t cut it. If it weren’t for iOS 26 being such a huge step in the right direction I never would have attempted this.

Would you return it or go for the adventure of making it work? Do you have a similar use case?

 

[theluggage]

I bought an iPad Pro M4 last week with the Magic Keyboard. I love the device.

If you love the device and it is doing what you need to do, there's no need to go seeking affirmation.

So the solution last semester was rent an OVH cloud server running Windows and work with no limits. It overcame all limitations really.

Perfect solution unless you're doing high-end games/video editing/3D on Windows - which even a bootcamped Mac would only be so-so for. Which is why I always thought that the wailing and gnashing of teeth over no x86 Windows/Linux on Apple Silicon was pointless. Most work & play these times relies on broadband access anyway.

Something I strongly believe I would need to do on a Mac anyway with them being on ARM and the programming world being dominated by legacy Microsoft and others programmes / platforms.

I think it's a lot more diverse now, with Android and iOS being key delivery platforms and Linux increasingly important server-side. The Mac is a pretty good web development platform, a lot of web dev stuff is platform-agnostic and with web dev stuff it's even easier to spin up a cloud server if you need x86 for some reason. I think we're well over "peak Windows" now, although it's going to take decades for something that got so huge to disappear. I'd worry more if your software development course is completely dominated by legacy Windows stuff.

Decide what hardware you need for your jiob when you get a job!

Unless I go freelance or run my own business which I don’t think I will.

...in which case, getting the hardware you need will be a business expense which you recoup from your fees. If you don't have enough upfront cash (or affordable credit) to get the hardware you need to start working then you're probably not ready to start a business. The cost of computer hardware is a drop in the ocean compared to the value of your time and other business expenses.

I’m not sure how much of this is Beta instability or just iPad OS lacking decades of details MacOS has been through.

Well, it is "Beta" which these days seems to mean "alpha" in old money.
...and even MacOS releases don't seem to get stable and reliable until a few minor versions down the road.

Would you return it or go for the adventure of making it work?

Sounds like you have a solution that works for you.

The rest is really a personal finance "can you afford the adventure" question - if, a few months down the line, it all goes pear shaped and you have to panic-buy a cheap laptop good enough to get your work done, would that break the bank? That's not something that has to be discussed here.

From what you've said about your work, sounds like it's a Microsoft-heavy course and a Windows laptop would be the safe-but-boring bet.

 

[hovscorpion12]

While iPadOS does not support native terminal app, I have been using a-Shell for the last 2-years for running run Unix commands. [Not sure if it would fit your programing needs, but maybe].

 

[cupcakes2000]

I’m a heavy iPad user, I use it with jump desktop and Luna display to access my Mac mini. It works a treat but even with the new ios26 features you will still struggle in some ways if you expect it to operate like a ‘normal’ computer. I’m a photographer so it’s nothing very similar to you. Proceed with caution but it’s definitely doable if you’re going to use cloud platforms for software that iPadOS can’t use. Your classmates will probably rinse you for it though 😀

 

[Ctrlos]

A computer that requires the internet to do anything is a kiosk. If this works for you, great 👍

But for me the measure of a device is what it can do without the internet. What can I do with it on a 3-hour train ride with no signal? That's my use case.

In the case of the iPad Pro that is actually a heck of a lot. But I've found a Surface to have more utility given I can play Dawn of War on it.

 

[maflynn]

Would you return it or go for the adventure of making it work? Do you have a similar use case?

I'm a big fan of using the right tools for the job.
Does the iPad run all of the development software you need? No, then maybe its not a good fit.
Do you need to remote into another computer just to use that software? That seems risky at best. What happens if you're trying to complete a project and you only have a few hours to turn it in, but your wifi in the dorm is acting up, or you're having connectivity issues getting to the remote system.

Tbh, it sounds like you're trying to justify the purchase, with talk about companies providing you with laptops, and not needing anything right now. In my life the more someone tries to justify a decision, with going over a lot of work arounds, excuses and what if scenarios, then that same person is trying to force a decision that may not be the best.

No matter how you slice it, the iPad, while a fantastic device, is not the best tool for code development. Can you do it, yes, should you do it? I question that.

Ultimately, its your decision and we strangers on the internet have no real say.

 

[Hooyah]

This has been a terrible dilemma… I started the returns process with Apple (via courier) but in the process of ‘what do I replace it with’ I cannot decide between the MacBook Air or Pro, do I go for the 2TB I desperately need / want (so I can run virtual machines locally and not depend on iCloud) plus good RAM, but give up the ports /bright screen/active cooling of the Pro… or a Pro tipping £2,000+ with only 1TB and 16GB RAM yet not the M4 Pro improvements like memory speed.

And when I look at what I’m spending, I look around at the flexibility and specs I can get with a Windows or Linux laptop, but those lack the apple ecosystem tie in I enjoy too for my personal life stuff. None of them have the delightful build quality or feel of Apple be it the iPad or MacBooks. Most compromise on screen or battery and that, or come in at more when I compare CPU power versus even the basic M4. Although storage and RAM 50% of the time are flexible. Most comparable Windows machines are also on the gaming laptop side of heftyness.

Ubuntu doesn’t really play well with anything Apple like iCloud / iPhone. Or am I misinformed there?

I am quite limited by my desire to have everything nice and neat in line with Apple marketing you know, all on iCloud and synced etc. It’s why the iPad is so appealing.

I will give it a few more days thought. The iPad limitations are real though, and yes I’m feeling them. My post might be a bit of justifying like @maflynn said.

At this rate I might end up going a few weeks with nothing until something becomes a clear winner.

Rumours seem to be the next generation of iPhone… iPad and Macs will take a step up in price as they have stayed fairly the same even through the high inflation year of 2022… So waiting for something better, it will come, but education pricing will end before that and even so, the prices might be a few hundred more again.

As I type this on the iPad Pro Magic Keyboard though, this thing is sweeeet :’-) I am truly truly confused / lost on this

 

[Cheffy Dave]

Conventional wisdom addresses my problem with a very clear answer: hell no.

I bought an iPad Pro M4 last week with the Magic Keyboard. I love the device. The screen is amazing, it’s snappy and iOS 26 takes it to new levels. The iPad is no longer a toy. I have an M4 iMac at home for anything it can’t do.

I’m a student studying programming / software development currently. My old M1 MacBook couldn’t natively (or by Parallels) run old things like SQL SMSS and other legacy ancient x86 windows apps. And since Apple Intelligence it got dirt slow for things like Xcode. The iMac is crippled by 256GB storage and I can’t take it to college anyway. So the solution last semester was rent an OVH cloud server running Windows and work with no limits. It overcame all limitations really.

The iPad is intended to be my main device. Although I can’t fire up Visual Studio or Xcode… I can log into a remote machine and use native mouse pointer / keyboard input fairly reliably. So with that being the case, I am thinking it’s not a bad device after all for programming practice.

I have also found a lot of online content on YouTube to be fairly pointless / long winded and am now resorting to buying textbooks to read at my leisure, then when/if they give tasks, remote into a VM and get to grips with proper desktop software strictly when needed. Something I strongly believe I would need to do on a Mac anyway with them being on ARM and the programming world being dominated by legacy Microsoft and others programmes / platforms. The pencil for annotating, making diagrams and reference notes on the iPad - and it being so light weight seems more ideal and no Mac can do that. This is the first time I’ve understood Apple making things thinner or lighter, usually that is an annoyance but I can hold this in the air one handed for ages!

Then I realised that no real employer is going to want me to use my own machine anyway to access or build things for them - they usually issue machines or logins for security. Unless I go freelance or run my own business which I don’t think I will. So in any case is a heavyweight developer spec machine ever really needed if you plan to be in employment other than for enthusiast purposes?

My return window for the iPad runs out next week. I am genuinely tore between keeping this as it’s such a joy to use and lightweight and more agile than a fragile laptop. iOS is a bit glitchy to be honest and I don’t like that the beautiful 144hz display I have can’t be fully utilised or that I can’t have the iPad screen off when it’s connected. I’m not sure how much of this is Beta instability or just iPad OS lacking decades of details MacOS has been through. I do have the iMac for the times when the iPad won’t cut it. If it weren’t for iOS 26 being such a huge step in the right direction I never would have attempted this.

Would you return it or go for the adventure of making it work? Do you have a similar use case?

Keep it and rock on!

 

[BigBlur]

I have to agree with most of the above. Personally, I wouldn't go with something that would essentially be useless without an internet connection, not to mention requiring a subscription when there are other alternatives. What if your internet goes down...or you're riding in a car/train/plane and want to get some work done...or staying at a hotel with slow Wi-Fi...or the cloud service is down...etc. Also, as you mentioned, multi-display on an iPad isn't all that great compared to a Mac/PC.

The other thing is cost. I'm going to assume you got the 13" iPad Pro ('cuz who wants to program on a small screen). That is US$1,500 and a Magic Keyboard is US$350, so the total is at least US$1,850. Is that worth it to you when you could be getting a MacBook Air or even MacBook Pro for the same cost or less AND be able to do more since you wouldn't be limited to iPadOS? Also, if you're just going to remote into another system, do you really need the Pro when something like the Air can do the exact same job?

I’m a student studying programming / software development currently. My old M1 MacBook couldn’t natively (or by Parallels) run old things like SQL SMSS and other legacy ancient x86 windows apps. And since Apple Intelligence it got dirt slow for things like Xcode.

Be honest with yourself here. Are these types of programs actually needed for school, or are you just trying to come up with excuses to justify the purchase? Generally, at least where I'm from, schools teach in platform-agnostic languages (C++, Java, Python, MySQL, etc.), so it doesn't really matter which system you have unless you're taking some advanced/specialized course. Even then, I think it would be odd if they required you to use "legacy" or "ancient" apps. They should be keeping up with the times.

As for SSMS, it's on Microsoft's road map to add support for Arm64, but only time will tell when that's completed. On the Mac, you can use VS Code to connect to SQL servers as well as creating database projects.

What about Xcode? I didn't see that OVHcloud offers macOS instances (unless I missed it), so that problem is still unsolved.

At the end of the day, only you will know if you can make this work.

 

[Allen_Wentz]

This has been a terrible dilemma… I started the returns process with Apple (via courier) but in the process of ‘what do I replace it with’ I cannot decide between the MacBook Air or Pro, do I go for the 2TB I desperately need / want (so I can run virtual machines locally and not depend on iCloud) plus good RAM, but give up the ports /bright screen/active cooling of the Pro… or a Pro tipping £2,000+ with only 1TB and 16GB RAM yet not the M4 Pro improvements like memory speed.

And when I look at what I’m spending, I look around at the flexibility and specs I can get with a Windows or Linux laptop, but those lack the apple ecosystem tie in I enjoy too for my personal life stuff. None of them have the delightful build quality or feel of Apple be it the iPad or MacBooks. Most compromise on screen or battery and that, or come in at more when I compare CPU power versus even the basic M4. Although storage and RAM 50% of the time are flexible. Most comparable Windows machines are also on the gaming laptop side of heftyness.

Ubuntu doesn’t really play well with anything Apple like iCloud / iPhone. Or am I misinformed there?

I am quite limited by my desire to have everything nice and neat in line with Apple marketing you know, all on iCloud and synced etc. It’s why the iPad is so appealing.

I will give it a few more days thought. The iPad limitations are real though, and yes I’m feeling them. My post might be a bit of justifying like @maflynn said.

At this rate I might end up going a few weeks with nothing until something becomes a clear winner.

Rumours seem to be the next generation of iPhone… iPad and Macs will take a step up in price as they have stayed fairly the same even through the high inflation year of 2022… So waiting for something better, it will come, but education pricing will end before that and even so, the prices might be a few hundred more again.

As I type this on the iPad Pro Magic Keyboard though, this thing is sweeeet :’-) I am truly truly confused / lost on this

Sorry, but as you are finding out, life often does not offer up "something becomes a clear winner." We all are forced to make choices among alternatives that all have pros and cons, no "clear winner."

Me, I would buy an MBP with plenty of RAM and add a cheap external display and backup SSD storage at my fixed location. But that is just me, and I have a strong bias in favor of Mac OS over iOS..

 

[GioGiusi]

Here's the thing, and you know this. That isn't the best device for the job. All you're doing is trying to get away with using it, for some odd reason. Maybe its because you want the iPad for being an iPad when you're not doing work, or you're one of these people who insists on forcing the iPad to be something that it's not.

All you're doing is using the wrong device for the job.

 

[iPadified]

Which type of computer are you likely going to work with after Uni? Perhaps prepare yourself for that.

 

[Hooyah]

Yeah, budget wise, around £2,000 is the highest I can go. Air or Pro - Air 2TB / 32GB RAM but no nice screen or ports which I can live with, but passive cooling - will it suffer running Windows via Parallels here? The only intensive gaming I do is Minecraft which I’m sure doesn’t count as intensive.

Yes, this came out to £1,388 (including AppleCare and the keyboard) with student pricing. For not much more I could have got a MacBook Air with more RAM but also 512GB… that sort of made me think about the amounts involved. Though the tandem OLED, the portability, being able to sit back on a couch with it seemed a nice trade off if everything else could work well enough.

Our course database module has had Java, SQL / SMSS, weird testing applications and web driven things (some looked very 2000s Windows basic software) and things like Visual Studio for C++ .NET apps, then some weird ASP.NET web thing which seemed very proprietary Microsoft… This next (final year) focuses on data science and networking so I doubt much technically, but my focus outside of college this year is building a very basic but varied portfolio on Github of the following:

(didn’t realise the table would copy here from Apple Notes)

Data Science (Structures & Algorithms)

Networking

Databases

Compiler Design

System Design

Python

JavaScript

Rust

C#

Java

React JS

Node JS / Express JS (Django / Flask)

Nest JS / Rest API

HTTP Networking / Fetch / REST APIs in JavaScript

GraphQL

Git

Docker

50 Linux Commands

DevOps / Gitlab CI (Pipelines / Deploy to AWS)

Jenkins (Deploy Test Server with Docker and Linux)

SQL

CRUD API (Node, Express, MongoDB)

Operating Systems

Originally I had varying length YouTube beginner courses but some of these were a bit… time consuming and not as project driven as others. So for important ones I’m planning to buy a textbook and follow through (an hour of reading per evening 3 days a week - so that’ll be reading but where necessary, maybe installing something or following along with a tutorial and ideally something I can put on GitHub or make my own variant of). The goal is… not to be an expert in any one field, but to say ‘hey, look, I’ve had my hands on and have a basic understanding of all this, so what does your job need me to continue with?’ - if that makes any sense!

My course won’t need all of those but wouldn’t it be good to dip my feet into each and have something to show for it?

The iPad + textbooks seemed nice to me. Getting comfortable with it. Anywhere I find myself. But then I think now… a physical textbook on the table, beside a MacBook or something might be better in practice. Perhaps I won’t take the iPad to these places in my head that I idealise I will.

—-

I didn’t know Microsoft committed to SMSS and things like that, I did wonder how they thought it would fly just leaving it behind! Especially with Snapdragon dominating the big players you see on YouTube being compared to the Air these days… I thought their plan was keep x86 only for business and make em remote into big infrastructure. That’s awesome and it gives me some hope that the ARM future is more serious than I thought.

I went to set up OVH to give it a spin, but last time I used it it was something like £70 for 3 months. So I pulled out an old HP Pentium machine that can barely run W11 and RDP’d into it from the iPad. After a bit of hassle of login details from a local account using MS account for login, made a new one. Then the resolution was tiny.. I thought … hmm, how will I easily move files between these. FTP maybe but on a Mac, I could drag and drop or do some repeated exports of things and drag into a folder versus as you guys point out, internet dependency. So already my workarounds are being a bit of a PITA.

I think a Mac is probably the best tool for the job. I’ll pack this up tomorrow and get it returned.

Question now really is Air or Pro … 1TB 16GB on Pro 14”, versus 2TB and 32GB on the Air. What is likely to serve me better here? I could empty out the last £500 I have saved (meant to be an everyday fund) temporarily to get me a slightly better Pro config but that still barely gets it there and seems financially silly. I could go without for a few weeks. Next year starts end of September college wise.

 

[NeonNights]

My 2020 M1 MBA with 16GB RAM was phenomenal during my Computer Science Master's program. I am fairly certain an M4 MBA would more than suffice to handle a typical CS/CPE undergrad workload. You don't need a MacBook Pro unless you just want one.

I studied Computer Engineering and most programming/engineering courses at the undergraduate level are not compute intensive; you're learning development environments, different software/hardware languages, web design, scripting, database, CPU architecture design, and algorithm analysis...none of it is compute intensive (for school). Go to the university bookstore website to see what they sell, or look at the hardware specs recommended by the CS department, and I guarantee it doesn't require beefy specs to excel in the major. Also, the university should provide access to computer labs that have the requisite software you'll need. Coursework may also provide optional VMs that you can log into to complete projects, or Linux images you can load onto VirtualBox on PC/Mac. As alluded to by earlier posters, CS coursework is often designed to be platform agnostic so that any student can be successful.

In short, don't go overboard with a fancy spec'ed up laptop (or iPad, if you will). I would say any MacBook or Windows laptop within the past 5 years (with at least 16GB RAM and an SSD) will get you through the next four years of an undergraduate degree. Have fun and best of luck!

 

[123123123]

Why not keep the M1 MacBook and use your cloud setup for things you can’t do locally? You can always buy something in the future.

 

[williamofockham]

I wrote a combination of embedded system code (engineering) and scientific code, for those applications an iPad might work as long as you don't deal with large data structures., but only as a remote terminal device. the security aspect is moot - generally I was required to use client supplied equipment then the iPad would be a algorithm polishing tool. as a student tool it might be frustrating and educational at the same time. good luck

 

[cupcakes2000]

If you have a 2k budget why don’t you keep the iPad and spend the other 700ish on either a second hand MacBook or even another pc which you can load Linux on or even dual boot windows? You can remote in to your Mac at home easily with the iPad and also have a windows and or linux
machine. The best of all worlds.

 

[Tripps9000]

Why does all the strange questions come from all the newbie's🤣😂😆

 

[ddhhddhh2]

Looking at your course list, you’re clearly working toward full‑stack development.In reality, every solid project still starts at the keyboard.

My suggestion is that any Apple Silicon Mac with 16 GB of RAM is enough. As long as it can run one or two dev containers, that will fully cover your needs — I’m genuinely trying to save you money here.

The iPad can be productive for multimedia work, drawing, or design, but for development, it’s still just a terminal, at least for now.

 

[cjsuk]

I have an M4 iPad Pro. It's absolutely useless for programming but it is my primary computer. My primary computer manages my life and I use it for taking notes on. As a (former professional but now part time) programmer, I also have a MBP and a desktop PC. Sometimes you just need everything! But you need a proper computer to do programming. And no working on a remote desktop or SSH terminal off an iPad doesn't really cut it. You will find a wall, hit it hard and spend hours or days trying to work around it.

 

[Hooyah]

So last night I restored the iPad back to iOS 18.6 and packed it up along with the keyboard. Had the label ready to print today but as I was working and planning out some of the textbooks I plan to buy (starting with data science, network fundamentals and GitHub) I realised that I do have an old HP laptop sitting at home, and college does have PCs along the edge of the labs. Plus I have the M4 iMac at home, so in terms of PC and Mac access, full utility etc - it’s all there.

Today I opened them back up and am currently restoring the iPad with the thinking that it can act as my primary device that I use most of the time for textbooks, note taking and keeping on the desk beside the college PC or iMac / Windows laptop.

The advice above was quite good though. That an iPad isn’t the right tool, and that’s gospel for sure. But since I have a Mac sitting there, I suppose this is just part of my toolkit. I do think I’ll spend hours upon hours reading more so than diving into projects - I’ve done that and tried to do that earlier this year on my old M1 MacBook Pro and to be honest I learnt a lot of little tips and tricks, but a lot of the tutorials to follow on YouTube are half baked, or end suddenly, or skipping steps - I spent a hell of a lot of time pausing, rewinding etc. Progressing only for the tutorial to be over and I found a lot of them build a basic UI and data model, and they don’t explain things or rather why they are doing it that way etc. And then comments revealing mistakes. It just didn’t seem a good use of time.

That’s why I think textbooks will be the way forward. They also won’t ask me to sign up for their course, or Discord or platforms. Had a good look at the contents for those three I mentioned: data science does use a lot of platforms and programmes, some accessible via the web others only on Mac/PC, though for that purpose I should be able to easily jump on. Networking fundamentals, it seems to be all quiz / multi choice / free text answers so the iPad might be useful in filling these in. The GitHub one, is mostly web based (naturally) but does have GitHub desktop / CLI bits to try but by no means seems extensive.

Last night I planned to return the iPad and wait a month or two at least before deciding which Mac to buy and ordering the physical textbooks in the meantime and using the iMac to do any practical, but then the thought of not having the books with me (they’re hefty enough ‘for Dummies’ books in this case) or lugging them around would be a nightmare. Particularly to the places I imagine sitting with the iPad to read them from time to time. Making it really really comfortable, easy and maybe enjoyable with a nice screen in my hands versus hunching over a laptop.

If I had to do it all on the iPad there would be local RDP or the likes of the OVH cloud, and FTP to move things between but I think I can manage without that for now. BTW, this is the 11” for maximum portability, the 13” looks sweet but for the extra cost I always feared it would lack a bit of the iPad ‘Take it out anywhere’ element and feel more like an awkward to angle or stand monitor. But I don’t need to (in my particular case) resort to this.

I can imagine it sitting on the table in front of or beside the iMac, windows laptop or college computers to be honest. I also checked, and this final year set of modules are networking and data science (as far as anything technical goes) so I think - although could be wrong - that there won’t be as much need to be spending hours in lab programming on VS as there was last year. Hoping if there is, I can do it on their machines or take notes then go do it on my own accord. Maybe the higher focus / listening to the content will do me good. Though they do love their legacy applications, or at least, old desktop Windows apps, we used Crystal Reports last semester which looks like it has been preserved from the Windows Vista / 7 era.

This original post was definitely trying to justify it to myself. The 14 day return window closes on Tuesday coming… It could change again but in conjunction with the above devices… I might not be making such a bad choice. If anybody is interested I can post updates on any major highs or lows with the experience.