Like its predecessor, the iPad Air 4, the new slate contains a lot of power within its slim, elegant frame. This is due in no small part to it packing the M1 chip, which helps the tablet zip between multiple open windows, watch streaming content and play games without a hitch. Our own Kelly Woo tried to use the iPad Air 4 for work while at the airport last year and found it lacking.
It works well for short typing sessions, but its small size becomes a factor if you try to use it for longer periods of time. 10.9 inches is great for watching videos, but it’s far too small if you want to have multiple windows on the display – even if you have perfect vision. The Magic Keyboard’s trackpad is fairly accurate, but using it for photo manipulation isn’t as precise as using a mouse cursor. However, if you get an Apple Pencil 2 ($99) it’s not a bad option for editing photos, even if you aren’t artistically inclined. Still, if you’re used to cropping photos on a Windows laptop or desktop, you’ll find trying to do the same job on the iPad Air less than ideal.
Though apps like Chrome and Photoshop technically function on the slate, these mobile iterations are awkward to work with compared to their Windows/macOS counterparts. There’s also the fact that you can buy laptops (such as the best Chromebooks) for far less than $950, which is the minimum you’ll pay for an iPad Air (2022) and Magic Keyboard together.
At best, the iPad Air can do double duty as a spare laptop when you don’t have access to your primary notebook.
iPad vs Laptop Pros and Cons: Replacing a Laptop with iPad [2022]
If you make a purchase through links from this website, we may get a small share of the sale from Amazon and other similar affiliate programs. Having an iPad or tablet in your car as a second device to your smartphone is extremely convent and fun to use.
Unless you’re getting a touchscreen laptop, then an iPad or tablet will provide a number of benefits and disadvantages that are to be considered.
In this post I’ll go over the pros and cons, compare the differences, and provide alternative and in-depth knowledge on choosing an iPad versus a laptop. iPads had apparent advantages over laptops since their appearance, but the number of things they can do better has been enlarged significantly by technology over the years. Many models of the iPad are 4x lighter, 3x thinner, and almost half as big as MacBooks; allowing you not only to carry, but also use them almost everywhere. Any action that you can do on your phone such a shopping on Amazon or writing notes down on a girl can be done in an iPad instantaneously. Being able to use an iPad on the couch or at the dinner table or in social gatherings to display a YouTube video, Instagram feed, tick tock and other social apps is extremely convenient because can see the screen on the fly (And you won’t have to use a Bulky laptop or MacBook Pro to do so) The iPad environment is intuitive, which makes it easy to be used by everyone, no matter their age or tech expertise. Previous models of the iPad was roughly half that; we can be agreed that we technology advancing tablets are catching up to the usefulness in power of laptops, but its not quite complete there just yet. Apple has developed a vast number of free and paid apps to control all of your regular tasks like safari browser, mails, calendar, alarm clock, notepad, word processors, etc. After all, what’s more hilarious than watching your cat messing with fish mimicking games or jumping on the screen to grab different graphics.
However if you’re using it only for reading you could consider the Amazon fire HD versus the kindle paper white and weigh out the pros and cons. Having access to Apple’s digital assistant is another important advantage of iPads over laptops, as Siri helps you keep track of your schedule, set alarms, text people, and much more without touching the screen of your device.
The iPads’ advantage of having a cellular data connection makes it a great stand-alone, alternative GPS device for your trips. The ability to write and draw visual notes, and the rest designing capabilities of the apple pencil, is another big advantage of iPads over Laptops. The latest iPads support extensions that help to transform them into laptops, from keyboards with trackpads and mouses, to multi-port hubs for the connection with external devices. There is an enormous amount of laptops developed for you to play high-end, modern PC games like PUBG, which are unplayable on an iPad. Although iPads have been improved a lot, laptops still have the advantage of effortless multitasking, especially when you need to open more than 3 windows (two applications + browser for example) at the same time. The amount of storage a laptop offers is on average larger than a tablet, in most cases upgradable, and thus can’t be compared with the iPad’s smaller SSDs.
However, many people don’t need the high-end CPU and GPU performance of a laptop in their everyday life. – (Modern, Bazel-free, minimalist design) Battery Life – (up to 10 hours of surfing the web and watching videos) – (up to 10 hours of surfing the web and watching videos) Unique features – (E-reader, Siri, GPS, Apple pencil) The iPad Air offers a high-quality, 10.9-inch Liquid Retina display, which might be smaller than most laptop screens but has stunning details and vibrant colors.
To sum up, the new iPad Air is a great option for those in need of an ultimately portable, inexpensive (compared to an iPad Pro and most laptops), and powerful device that will easily cope with all basic everyday tasks like browsing or video streaming, while offering unique features and apps such as apple pencil and Siri, that prove to be really useful. High-end performance – (Except for demanding software and games, iPad Pro is faster than most laptops of the market) This build, combined with 6GB RAM, makes the iPad Pro more powerful than all entry-level but also some high-level laptops. If you will use the iPad, then getting one is beneficial – it will provide a portability and convenience factor that can’t be beaten by a MacBook Air or standard Laptop.
As mentioned, it’s easier to slip your iPad into a purse or briefcase when you’re on the go because they are light and more compact than laptops. Although the iPads are, for the first time, really closed to be called real computers, Apple’s iPadOS remind us of their primary use. By being a tablet, an iPad provides the ultimate portability a laptop will never have, a multi-touch display on which we can draw or write, cellular data and other useful mobile features like Siri or GPS. Accordingly, iPads are the best Hybrid Devices, as you can transform them to laptops, by adding a keyboard with trackpad and a mouse.
For instance, a MacBook Pro will always be the winner when it comes to handling computing software, music or video editing and other complicated programs that many people use daily. Some advanced apps run a bit more slow compared to a laptop, yet iPhoto and iMovie are easy to navigate and can be a very useful tool for editing picture when the need arises. Apps can also be downloaded, which allow users to expand their iPad’s capabilities to closer match that of a laptop
Apple iPad Pro 2021 review: It can replace the laptop, but we don’t want it to
The new Apple iPad Pro 2021 is a solid alternative to a laptop, but you might still want to hold on to your bigger machine. Which means that Apple has suited the iPad to offer as much power as its laptops and PCs, at least on paper. It aligns with Apple’s plan of essentially making its iPads replacements for real laptops.
On the 2021 iPad the M1 improves performance, making it buttery smooth to use, delivering great battery life, etc.
However, the exact improvement in performance (where it really matters) is hard to spot unless the tasks you engage in require that kind of power. For example, my daily work involves mostly dealing with Google Docs, a proprietary Content Management System (CMS), some rudimentary photo editing, web browsing, and social media.
Apple also has its developers adapting their apps to the M1, which is good for iPad users — particularly those who are actually looking to replace their laptops with the tablet. I can and have edited and written content on the iPad as well and it works flawlessly, but if I have to stare at a screen for 9 hours a day, it’s more comfortable if it’s a bigger one. If it really came down to picking one out of the two, the iPad would make much more economic sense without compromising on what it can deliver as compared to the MacBook – and that matters.
The problem areas on the 2021 iPad Pro are a slight heating issue and its front camera placement that Apple REALLY needs to change. If you are holding the iPad in your hand, you are going to end up covering the camera which interferes with the face unlocking feature unless it’s placed on the keyboard.
Apple iPad Pro WiFi + Cellular vs HP Pavilion 11 x2: What is the difference?
Designed to operate in all frequency bands between 1 and 6 GHz, it offers higher data rates and lower latency compared to previous Wi-Fi technologies. 3. has Mail Privacy Protection ✖ Apple iPad Pro WiFi + Cellular ✖ HP Pavilion 11 x2 Mail Privacy Protection is a feature built into the default email app that blocks senders from using “tracking pixels” to see when you’ve read an email. 7. has camera/microphone privacy options ✖ Apple iPad Pro WiFi + Cellular ✖ HP Pavilion 11 x2 You can enable or disable an app’s access to the camera or microphone on your device.
7 Reasons to Buy an iPad Over a PC
The iPad Pro is a powerful tablet, and starting with iOS 10, Apple opened up the operating system and allowed third-party apps access to features like Siri. As the iPad continues to grow in processing power and versatility, are we ready to ditch the PC? The architecture of iPadOS puts a wall around each app, which prevents one piece of software from overwriting a portion of another.
On a PC, malware can do things like record all of the keys you press and let someone remotely control your computer. Apple, however, maintains full control over the App Store, which is the only way to add software to the tablet (unless you’ve chosen to jailbreak your device). With the company checking every piece of software people submit for the iPad, it’s much more difficult for malware to find its way onto the App Store, and when it does, it doesn’t stay there long.
You can get better hardware in an iPad Pro than you’ll find in an entry-level laptop, and comparable builds to standard-issue ones. The iPad and a PC are similar in terms of the prices you’ll see at the store, but you’re probably going to pay more for something powerful enough to do more than browse the web and with a life expectancy of more than a year or two.
It can browse the web, but if you want to play games, type a term paper, or balance your budget with a spreadsheet, you will probably need to buy some software.
Microsoft now offers Office for iOS, which combines Word, Excel, and Powerpoint into one app. One expense many people find on the Windows side is virus protection, which can also add to the cost. However, if you want to go with added protection with another bit of software from Norton or McAfee, you’ll have to pay extra to pick it up.
Along with the Touch ID fingerprint sensor, the newest iPads have good cameras built into them. The bigger Pro and the iPad Air 2 both have an 8 MP back-facing camera, which can still take pretty good pictures. You can get some of the same versatility with a Windows-based tablet, but when compared to a laptop or desktop PC, the iPad certainly has an advantage.
While it has a chance to become slower or experience strange bugs over time, you can generally clear these up by simply rebooting the iPad.
The two things the iPad needs before it can replace my laptop
I’ve had my current Samsung Notebook 9 for a few years now and the idea that I could make the switch to relying entirely on Apple’s tablet for my portable PC needs isn’t as outlandish as it once was. The added support for better multitasking, faster app-switching and a full-scale desktop web browsing experience made it much easier to get the most out of the iPad Pro’s nimble hardware.
Obviously, this is hardly a universal shortcoming but if the website that ties together my entire workflow isn’t recognising Apple’s substitute for traditional mouse inputs then it’s not going to work as a realistic replacement for me. To be clear, I would be less surprised to see the iPad Pro grow a new headphone jack than I would be for Apple to put an SD card on the next version of this device. Dragging my files over from my camera onto the tablet via a direct cable proved futile and connecting the two devices using Bluetooth or an image sharing app was similarly frustrating. Directly cabling my phone into the iPad via USB Type-C did not result in the former being treated as a potential file directory – which was disappointing to discover.
For as much as CES 2020 showed me how close the iPad Pro is to becoming my portable PC of choice, it also showcased the critical areas where the fantasy breaks down. Some of these things might seem innocuous but, if you can’t complete your entire workflow within iPadOS, then the fantasy that Apple’s tablet is as much a tool for content creation as it is consumption falls apart fast.
Windows Surface vs. Apple iPad: The Best Pro Tablets
Professional tablets reimagine the laptop as an even more hands-on device, letting you scribble notes, create stunning digital illustrations, or flip the screen on its side to page through a long document. Microsoft’s Surface Pro 8 is a great laptop replacement for productivity work such as dealing with Excel spreadsheets and marking up PDFs. But if you already have a notebook you like, Apple’s 11-inch iPad Pro (3rd generation) is also a great choice, as it excels at creative work such as digital illustration and has a large stable of touch-friendly apps.
It ticks all the boxes and offers everything we look for in a great computer, including a fast, high-resolution display, a capable processor that can handle a bunch of applications at once, and enough ports for you to charge and attach peripherals.
All iPads work seamlessly with Macs and iPhones in an Apple-centric workplace, and iPadOS is easy to use and simple to update, back up, and restore. It has a huge library of touch-friendly tablet apps, including lots of options for drawing, writing, and editing photos, audio, and video.
Laptop vs tablet: which should you buy?
There are some cheaper tablets on the market with leading-edge tech, for example read our Huawei Matepad 11 review, but again, this comes with caveats – no Google Play support, so it can feel like you’re always making compromises. iPad changed how we viewed tablets, these simple screens have replaced laptops for many people (Image credit: Apple)
Along with this lightness and portability, their touchscreens also make them the obvious choice for creating digital art.
Tablets are also nicer to hold when you’re reading or watching movies whilst lying in bed, or lounging on the sofa.
Laptops, in contrast, usually just have a front-facing webcam; fine for Zoom, but no good for photography or capturing video. For instance, if you spent a full day writing reports or essays, creating spreadsheets, or filling in forms, you’d find using a tablet’s digital keyboard very slow and tiresome by comparison.
The same applies to hardcore gaming: while you can run, say, World of Warcraft on an iPad, it’s much more enjoyable when you’re using a proper laptop keyboard. Tablets, such as the iPad, now come with excellent keyboards and mice to turn them into small laptops (Image credit: Apple)
Popular examples include the Dell XPS 13 2-in-1, the HP Spectre x360 and Microsoft’s Surface Studio.
And in my experience, these tablet-keyboard combinations can be a little wobbly, so I wouldn’t generally recommend them as your main work computer. iPad Pro (12.9 inch) vs MacBook Air comparison Tablet Laptop Device iPad Pro (12.9 inch) MacBook Air (M2, 2022) Display 12.9 inches (2732 x 2048 pixels) 13.6-inches (2,560 x 1,664 pixels) Processor Apple M1 Apple M2 Operating system iPadOS 12.5 macOS RAM 8-16GB 16GB Storage 128GB-2TB 1TB SSD Weight 682g 1.24kg Dimensions 280.6 x 214.9 x 6.4mm 304.1 x 215 x 11.3mm Connections 1 x USB-C 2x Thunderbolt 3 (USB-C), 3.5mm headphone jack, MagSafe 3 charging port Camera Rear: 12MP wide, 10MP ultra-wide; Front: 12MP 1080p FaceTime HD webcam Battery life Up to 10 hours Over 16 hours The new MacBook Air (M2, 2022) is a fantastic slim laptop that combines power and accessibility (Image credit: Future)
This new MacBook Air comes with a Full HD webcam for making you look on Zoom calls, the battery life is incredible, and the relatively affordable price means it’s great value overall. iPad Pro 12.9 inch (M1, 2021) is a powerful and adaptable tablet that can compete with laptops (Image credit: Future)
The inclusion of Apple’s own M1 processor means the iPad Pro 12.9 inch (M1, 2021) is fast and reliable, even when running complex software. To compare the design of the iPad Pro with the MacBook Air, you first have to point out the obvious: one’s a tablet, the other a laptop.
However, if you choose to add Apple’s Magic Keyboard to your purchase of the iPad Pro, then the comparison becomes a bit more complex. With the latest MacBook Air, Apple has brought back MagSafe charging, so you can connect your laptop to a wall socket and if you trip over the cable, it will pop out neatly and safely. The iPad Pro’s 12.9-inch mini LED display is slightly smaller, but in other respects it’s vastly superior. Featuring Apple’s Pro Display XDR, it offers incredible colour accuracy and contrast.
The iPad Pro comes with Center Stage built-in and this is a game-changer for tablets (Image credit: Apple) The new MacBook Air has a 1080p FaceTime webcam, which is a big upgrade on the previous version and makes for high-quality video calls. Plus it has a rear camera, featuring 12MP wide and 10MP ultra-wide sensors, with LiDAR allowing for faster focus and better image processing thanks to the M1 chip. The new M2 chip in this year’s MacBook Air makes all the difference in this debate (Image credit: Apple)
It aced both our Cinebench and Geekbench tests, and delivered results that rivalled even its more expensive sibling, the MacBook Pro. The iPad Pro contains a slightly older processor, the M1, and so as expected, it didn’t reach quite the same dizzy heights in our benchmark tests. But overall, for raw power and speed, the new M2 MacBook Air is my pick of this aptop vs tablet debate.
When pitting laptop vs tablet, the new MacBook Air (M2, 2022) just pips the existing iPad Pro 12.9 inch (Image credit: Future) In truth, Apple has done such a good job with both the MacBook Air (M2, 2022) and the iPad Pro 12.9 (M1, 2021) that it’s difficult to separate them. As a laptop, it’s going to provide a more comfortable and functional typing experience overall, even though the iPad Pro matched with Magic Keyboard is still pretty impressive.
Its screen offers a higher resolution picture, incredible brightness and a buttery-smooth refresh rate.
Apple iPad Pro 2021 review: It can replace the laptop, but we don’t want it to
The new Apple iPad Pro 2021 is a solid alternative to a laptop, but you might still want to hold on to your bigger machine. Which means that Apple has suited the iPad to offer as much power as its laptops and PCs, at least on paper. It aligns with Apple’s plan of essentially making its iPads replacements for real laptops. On the 2021 iPad the M1 improves performance, making it buttery smooth to use, delivering great battery life, etc. However, the exact improvement in performance (where it really matters) is hard to spot unless the tasks you engage in require that kind of power. For example, my daily work involves mostly dealing with Google Docs, a proprietary Content Management System (CMS), some rudimentary photo editing, web browsing, and social media.
Apple also has its developers adapting their apps to the M1, which is good for iPad users — particularly those who are actually looking to replace their laptops with the tablet. I can and have edited and written content on the iPad as well and it works flawlessly, but if I have to stare at a screen for 9 hours a day, it’s more comfortable if it’s a bigger one. If it really came down to picking one out of the two, the iPad would make much more economic sense without compromising on what it can deliver as compared to the MacBook – and that matters. The problem areas on the 2021 iPad Pro are a slight heating issue and its front camera placement that Apple REALLY needs to change. If you are holding the iPad in your hand, you are going to end up covering the camera which interferes with the face unlocking feature unless it’s placed on the keyboard.
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