I recently went back to MacOS from about 15 years on an iPad exclusively. I'm finding the transition awkward to say the least. My attitude has always been any "real OS" is the one that works for you, whether MacOS or iPadOS. One thing that's really distracting (so much so that it’s making me question keeping my new Air) is reading longer articles. On a laptop it’s just very uncomfortable. My question is do YOU read long articles on your laptop? Are you just used to it, or do you feel you have to own another device and switch between the two depending on the task at hand? While I could afford another device, I'm also a sort of minimalist. My needs are met easily with an iPad Pro (even for things like video editing) but the Air was such a decent price that I went the laptop route. Now I'm "rediscovering" all the quirks of a 30+ design.
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Reading long articles on a MacBook
- Thread starter BB1970
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What makes it uncomfortable? I find Mac’s are nice cause I don’t have to hold anything and a 13” MBA is basically a toy at this point you can just put anywhere.
It’s not like you can just relax quite like a tablet. You're always in a propped up position. But moreover, it’s the horizontal screen. Reading long articles just seems like it’s weird for the format. Like you're constantly scrolling to get to the next paragraph. It might be okay enough for the standard net article here and there, but anything longer is clunky (to me).
I prefer my iPad Air for content consumption. Whether that’s for reading articles or watching YouTube videos I feel like it works best for me.
Where it struggles is for inputting information. I don’t have a keyboard for it so the onscreen keyboard can’t compete with a physical keyboard. Also, if I’m doing something like working with Excel or Word documents, I prefer the extra features I get in macOS. If I’m doing a lot of multitasking, such as budgeting where I need to go to multiple websites to check transactions then type all that into something else I feel it’s easier on the Mac. If I’m typing an email, it’s easier on the Mac.
I could use the iPad and then when I needed something closer to the Mac dock it into a Magic Keyboard. Maybe if something happened to my MacBook Air I would do that but right now I can’t figure out a reason why to get rid of it.
Fair points. I guess my thinking was in particular about long form reading. Do you find reading long form articles to be awkward on your Mac? I do. So much so, that it borderlines makes me angry. First world problems, I know. I'm one of those weirdos that actually prefers typing on glass. Im probably just used to it. The physical feedback isn't necessary to me as I seem to type with equal speed. If that iPad Pro 13 wasn't so expensive I probably would have stuck with it. The iPad Air is a non starter with Touch ID.
If anything I do because I hold at my iPad closer. I don’t read tons of long articles though. I would probably get something with an e-ink screen if I did.
No why make things harder for yourself. If the iPad works better for someone absolutely use it. I’m not a big fan of one tool does everything.
I wish I had that talent. I didn’t grow up with a touch screen so I adopted one as an adult. Maybe that’s why I’m not as good.
TouchID on an iPhone was so inferior for me. I unlocked my phone multiple times a day and if I had anything on my hands or just washed them it would fail. I was so happy when FaceID came out.
With my iPad it doesn’t feel the same way. I unlock it at most a few times in the evening and it works every time. I’m not sure if it’s because of a better sensor or by then my hands are clean.