All iPads What Do You Do on Your iPad That Your Mac Can't Do?

[AndrewMRiv]

Hello, all.

I am a bit new to the iPad world.

I have been using MacBooks for a lot of my tasks since 2010 and I recently just got an iPad. My my uses her iPad as a substitute for a laptop very often and my dad keeps telling me that I didn't need an iPad since I had a MacBook.

What do you do exclusively on your iPad that you cannot (or choose not to) do on your MacBook?

Also, visa verse. Also, what do you do on your MacBook that cannot (or you choose not to) be done on your iPad?

I personally mostly use my MacBook for web browsing, programming homework, watching videos, email, reading books for school, and iMessage. I also do all of that on my iPad as well (except for the programming homework). My desktop does the crazy load work including video editing, photoshop, gaming (booted into windows), recording music, etc.

Thank you.

 

[GGJstudios]

You can run iOS apps on the iPad, many of which don't have OS X versions. However, there is more you can do with a Mac that you can't do with an iPad. On a Mac you can download and upload many more file types, rip DVDs and CDs, access external hard drives, run more processor and RAM-intensive apps, easily edit MS Office documents, and much more. I've been able to replace my Mac with an iPad for 85-90% of functions, but I still need a Mac for many things. If I could only have one, it would be a Mac.

 

[Kendo]

Hello, all.

I am a bit new to the iPad world.

I have been using MacBooks for a lot of my tasks since 2010 and I recently just got an iPad. My my uses her iPad as a substitute for a laptop very often and my dad keeps telling me that I didn't need an iPad since I had a MacBook.

What do you do exclusively on your iPad that you cannot (or choose not to) do on your MacBook?

Also, visa verse. Also, what do you do on your MacBook that cannot (or you choose not to) be done on your iPad?

I personally mostly use my MacBook for web browsing, programming homework, watching videos, email, reading books for school, and iMessage. I also do all of that on my iPad as well (except for the programming homework). My desktop does the crazy load work including video editing, photoshop, gaming (booted into windows), recording music, etc.

Thank you.

Lie down comfortably while browsing the web or watching Netflix.

Sometimes I am not in the mood to sit in an upright position at a desk in order to browse the net.

 

[nixiemaiden]

touch the screen

 

[master-ceo]

Finger it

 

[nStyle]

You can't do anything on an iPad that you can't with a Mac. You may do it differently, but they are accomplishing the same task. That said, your Mac will do much more than an iPad likely ever will.

The iPad is a lightweight, luxury, mostly consumption device. Or, it may even serve as the best picture frame or alarm clock on the market for some at times.

Ultimately, it is a luxury device and won't necessarily fill any computing gaps you currently have. The only gap it will fill is the ease of use and comfort level you experience. If it's your dad buying it for you, you can't really argue since he's right. He may tell you that the need to lay down and watch Netflix or browse the web or slip it into smaller areas where a laptop won't go may be arbitrary wants and not necessarily needs, that which I would agree with.

 

[Chupa Chupa]

Use it on an airplane from the moment I get on to the moment I prepare to get off. (New FCC rule that relaxes portable device use). You can't do that w/ a laptop b/c it must be stored during taxi/takeoff and landing due to weight.

 

[AndrewMRiv]

Thank you for all of your responses. Even the sarcastic ones.

 

[PDFierro]

There are a few things. There are certain apps that are not available on the Mac, or would otherwise be a pain to do. The iPad is great for things like checking your bank account and other services through an app, or finding out information. All this is easier than going through a web browser.

I also read screenplays daily, and this is so much easier to do on the iPad than on a laptop screen. It's also great for watching video from Netflix/Showtime Anytime.

I just got my iPad mini last night, and I previously didn't see where an iPad would fit in my life and if I would even use it. But I'm loving it.

However there is nothing an iPad can do that a Mac cannot. It just makes things easier. Oh, the iPad looks like a much better experience for gaming as well.

 

[HeyGreggie]

To piggyback off of Chupa Chupa, you dont have to take it out of your bag to be scanned and put in a bin in an airport.

 

[ZBoater]

Catalog my DVD collection using DVD Profiler.

Carry it with me to places I wouldn't take or use my laptop (shopping, etc)

Use it at night to catch up on email and news while lying in bed.

 

[tmanto02]

Clash of clans

 

[lk400]

You can't do anything on an iPad that you can't with a Mac. You may do it differently, but they are accomplishing the same task. That said, your Mac will do much more than an iPad likely ever will.

The iPad is a lightweight, luxury, mostly consumption device. Or, it may even serve as the best picture frame or alarm clock on the market for some at times.

Ultimately, it is a luxury device and won't necessarily fill any computing gaps you currently have. The only gap it will fill is the ease of use and comfort level you experience. If it's your dad buying it for you, you can't really argue since he's right. He may tell you that the need to lay down and watch Netflix or browse the web or slip it into smaller areas where a laptop won't go may be arbitrary wants and not necessarily needs, that which I would agree with.

I listen to music from my ipad while its in my bag, and browse the internet on the bus. I have even run with an ipad (although I dont recommend it).

Those are things I would never want to try with my iMac.

----------

To piggyback off of Chupa Chupa, you dont have to take it out of your bag to be scanned and put in a bin in an airport.

Unless you go through a country that requires scanning of tablets (many do).

 

[mcdj]

My MacBook can't do a single thing my iPad Mini can do 99.9% of the time, because my iPad is with me, at work, at home, on the road, in the air, 99.9% of the time, and my MacBook is not.

 

[FSMBP]

You can have Messages open on your Mac while you're watching a rerun of a TV show on Netflix at the same time. You can't do that on the iPad (if your sending you iMessages you have to constantly switch apps). Or say if you want to have a notepad open while you browse a several websites (a lot easier on a Mac).

You can upgrade things on certain Macs (RAM, SSD).

Print easily to non-Airplay printers with a Mac.

Watch movies on a Mac in your bed without a stand/case and easily adjust angles.

Programs are a lot more powerful on the Mac than iPad (Photoshop, the whole iWork suite, iLife before Apple dumbed them down).

 

[Lyn2012]

To piggyback off of Chupa Chupa, you dont have to take it out of your bag to be scanned and put in a bin in an airport.

When I flew last year I had to take out all electronic equipment to be scanned separately, including my phone, iPad and Kindle Paperwhite.

 

[Capt T]

When I flew last year I had to take out all electronic equipment to be scanned separately, including my phone, iPad and Kindle Paperwhite.

At which airport? Or was it after they had already scanned it first?

I fly quite a bit. Only the laptop has to be pulled out of the bag, and only if you don't have one of the special bags for traveling with a laptop.

 

[eggersj]

You can run iOS apps on the iPad, many of which don't have OS X versions. However, there is more you can do with a Mac that you can't do with an iPad. On a Mac you can download and upload many more file types, rip DVDs and CDs, access external hard drives, run more processor and RAM-intensive apps, easily edit MS Office documents, and much more. I've been able to replace my Mac with an iPad for 85-90% of functions, but I still need a Mac for many things. If I could only have one, it would be a Mac.

+1...Very well written.

 

[Cyloncat]

As a software developer, there are a number of things that require a laptop or desktop machine. Build, run, and debug applications. Set up a web server to install and test web apps and services. Install a database (server as well as management tools) to build schemas, provide a test environment for app development, etc. In addition, most developers want both large screens and multiple screens to do this kind of work. Even with a keyboard and development software (or remote desktop), I can't see a tablet serving this function in any circumstance other than quick fixes or emergencies.

Are there analogs in other professions? Probably; CAD/CAM comes to mind. Again, large screen and very precise pointing, plus lots of compute power, are minimal requirements.

Apps are always a constraint. Maybe an app exists in one environment, and not in another. If you're a developer, you could write the app you need, but that takes time and it may be time that you don't have. (It's becoming an attractive option to write an alternative to the iOS 7 music app, though...)

But the final decision of what you need, or what you want, or what you can live with, is up to you.

 

[AudiA3]

Getting cheap games from the app store

 

[ifudge]

Good question.

I can use my fingers to manipulate photographs on my iPad, and I can't do that on my MacBook or iMac. It's gives me a sense of creative freedom. (Some of my pics are at http://tiny.cc/cdul6w.)

It's a lot more fun than using a mouse and keyboard. I almost never use my other computers, unless I need Aperture or Photoshop for something I can't do on my iPad. That's rare.

 

[comatose81]

Snapchat some plumpers.

 

[darngooddesign]

My Mac is notoriously bad at having a multi-touch screen.

 

[luckysob]

Sit on the toilet and read the news with one hand.

 

[iPhone1]

I can't use LTE on my MacBook Pro but it's always ready to go on my iPad Air.