When it comes to the iPad, Apple loves to make a controversial statement or two. Remember when CEO Tim Cook said, “Why would you buy a PC anymore? No really, why would you buy one?” Or the commercial with the iPad-toting kid that sparked rage in the PC world with the question “What’s a computer?”
Thanks to the iPad Pro’snew Magic Keyboard, you may find yourself agreeing with Mr. Cook and friends. It has all sorts of advantages over a MacBook, and its floating magnetic design is downright cool.
But when it comes to being a great computer for getting work done, there are still numerous reasons why the iPad Pro is not yet ready to replace your MacBook. It’s a fantastic 2-in-1 tablet, but here are the prime reasons why the humble laptop is still a better option for some people.
Typing and extended working
The Magic Keyboard is a big leap forward for the iPad. The improved keyboard and the inclusion of a trackpad bring it closer than ever to replicating a real laptop experience. The physical feeling of the keypresses is better than any other keyboard cover out there, and matches what you get on a MacBook. And yet, when it comes to the pure typing experience, MacBooks still have the upper hand for a couple reasons.
First off, everything on a MacBook is spacious and more comfortable. The keyboard layout is wider, the trackpad is broad, and the wrist rests are taller. The Magic Keyboard is good enough in these areas, but if you had to pick a better typing experience, you’d choose the MacBook every time. The Magic Keyboard also doesn’t have a function row, which is pretty useful when it comes to quickly adjusting settings or accessingShortcuts.
The bigger issue at this moment in time is software. Cursor support for the iPad Pro was a big improvement, however, not all applications are up to speed. Apple’s own apps fluidly switch between contextual cursor types and vastly improve text selection. But useful apps such as Google Docs and OneNote still use the old iOS-style text selection, which is clumsy. That’ll hopefully get ironed out over time, but currently the experience is hit-or-miss.
Multitasking apps and workflows
Apple has put a lot of effort to enhance the multitasking experience on the iPad Pro. It now includes Split View and mouse support, and Apple has forkediPadOS away from iOS to deal with iPad-centric workflows. And still, it cannot compete with MacOS.
Let’s look at Split View. It is fantastic however, it allows you to use just two apps side-by-side. On a MacBook (with a little help from third-party apps like the excellent BetterSnapTool), you can snap windows to the corners of your screen and have four apps on the go simultaneously. simply drag the windows to your screen corners — or even better, use some keyboard shortcuts — and you have an endless more flexible workspace than you get on the iPad Pro.
Even without third-party apps, the Mac has got an upper hand here. for example, there is no way to have multiple virtual desktops on the iPad, but there is on the Mac. While the iPad Pro does some multitasking things well, it’s got nothing on the Mac.
Connectivity
Take a look at your MacBook. How many devices do you usually connect to it? perhaps you raise it up on a stand and hook up a keyboard and mouse. maybe you also use an external monitor with your laptop for a better viewing experience. There are many instances we need to connect more than one peripheral at a time, but the iPad Pro’s single USB-C port puts paid to that.
Worse, the iPad Pro’s Single port means that even if you only want to pair your device with a single peripheral, you cannot do that as you charge your iPad at the same time. although both the iPad Pro and MacBook includes USB-C ports, those on modern MacBook models are much faster thanks to being Thunderbolt 3 compatibility, — the MacBook’s ports can rock speeds of up to 40Gbps, while the iPad Pro can only reach a quarter of that. all that combined means the iPad Pro is far less flexible as far as connectivity is concerned.
The Magic Keyboard does include an extra USB-C port in its base, however you can only use it for charging.
File management
not so long ago, Apple has belatedly added some sort of file management and external hard drive support to the iPad Pro. That’s awesome for travel photographers who want to manage files on the go, however, in case you have a huge library of documents that you need to get under control, it still falls short of what you can do on the Mac.
for instance, when we tried substituting a MacBook for an iPad Pro: “Selecting a thousand photos to add to an album is hectic, as there is no equivalent to a Command-A shortcut to select all. Instead, you have to slide a finger over every image.”
The Mac has a wealth of third-party file-management apps, including those that modify or even completely replace the Finder. But even a fraction of that level of customization is not available on the iPad Pro. You can sort your documents in the Files app by date, for example, but on the Mac you can sort by date modified, date created, date last opened, and date added. If you handle dozens of files every day, Mac has got an edge over iPad Pro.
Content creation
If you engage inserious, pro-level tasks in the Apple ecosystem, there is still only one option, The Mac. Sure, you can use some professional apps like Photoshop on the iPad Pro, but if you were thinking that means it can replace the MacBook, there are some serious shortcomings, both in terms of hardware and software.
Let’s look at apps first. While Adobe promised “real Photoshop” on the iPad, the mobile version still does not have feature parity with the equivalent Mac app despite the fact that Adobe is releasing new features each month). But Photoshop is an outlier. Looking for apps like Logic Pro X, Adobe Premiere Pro, or Final Cut Pro X on the iPad Pro? Tough luck.
Even for those pro-level apps you can get on the iPad Pro, you’ll encounter a limitation. Sure, the Apple A-series processor in the iPad Pro is surprisingly powerful, but you will find yourself Limited in other ways. For tasks like video rendering and machine learning, a dedicated graphics card is compulsory, yet the iPad Pro is devoid of options in this area. If you want to engage in high-end, serious tasks, you are best off sticking with a MacBook Pro,specifically the 16-inch model