Apple says the iPad can replace your Mac for productivity, but, for some users, that can be a big change. AppleInsider on Friday offers apps and tips can help make your iPad into a productivity machine that can replace your Mac.
Darryl Boxberger for AppleInsider:
All files are centralized inside the Files app on iPadOS, which is similar to the Finder on Mac. Users can access files that are saved locally to the iPad, stored on external drives, available in iCloud, or saved within specific app folders.
The most significant difference between Files and Finder is the inaccessibility of the filesystem of the underlying OS. There is no way to modify iPadOS or app files directly since they are not accessible within the Files app.
Document management can feel very different on an iPad since most apps continuously autosave documents as they are edited. Many of the functions typically found in the Mac Menu Bar can be located in the iPadOS Share Sheet, which is filled with social sharing options, app suggestions, and even user-created Shortcuts.
Once a file is saved to the Files app using the Share Sheet, managing the file is relatively straightforward. It can be interacted with using a long press or right click, which exposes options like renaming the file, sharing it, or deleting it.
MacDailyNews Take: Tons more in the full article here.
Obviously, it depends on what you do with your Mac, but iPad continues to become a viable option for more and more users, especially those who have a mac on their desk, but choose and iPad (and/or various iPad accessories) when on the road.
We find that there are many older users longing to make iPad work like a laptop, because that’s what they know.
Take a look at a twelve-year-old who’s only really ever used an iPad for personal computing. It’s an eyeopener. It’s like looking into the future.
The answer isn’t to try to make the iPad into a MacBook. The answer is to provide all the tools possible in iOS for developers to make robust apps that can take advantage of the multi-touch paradigm. — MacDailyNews, May 16, 2017
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Mac is great. iPad is great. Different devices for different purposes. By the way: IPad is a terrible Mac. And Mac is a terrible iPad. Get what you need for the task you want to do.
Depends on one’s needs. The Mac excels for creative and productive activities. In comparison, the iPad is a luxury toy.
Can one write and test code efficiently on an iPad? Manage files efficiently? Edit text efficiently? Work with PC files, 4K video, multitrack audio, or large data seamlessly? Can it communicate with the non-Apple infrastructure you encounter out in the real world? There are simply too many fundamental capabilities that the canned iPad can’t do well. Moreover, the apps designed for it are clearly not designed for efficiency, since all tools and options are always buried in menus to make up for lack of screen space. For even the most simple tasks, it is vastly inferior to even old Macs and PCs tasks even after one accessorizes it to be as costly as a Mac. You invariably lose a lot of productivity to go to a finger-pointing ultramobile tablet.
While many people add it to their electronic quiver as a handy media tool or entertainment device or light travel backup, most everyone I know would agree it’s a fool’s errand to try to replace a Mac with an iPad.
For all the reasons you mentioned, yes iPads are a poor substitute for Macs. Anymore than a snazzy sports car are an equal substitute to a four-wheel drive king truck…
The Mac was never claimed to be like iPad, it is much more useful than one though. It’s iPad that was presented to us by Apple as a Mac replacement, it’s a poorer replacement at best. It’s more accurate to say the iPad is a terrible iPhone. The Mac+iPhone combo accomplishes everything I need, the iPad Pro has been a failed experiment. The iPhones biggest advantage of course is that it’s actually a phone, even the Max is pocketable and iOS receives certain features at least a year ahead of iPad.
Stage Manager won’t even be out for months, we’ll see how it works in practice, but knowing Apple the iPad will continue to be hobbled in frustrating ways because they want you to own many devices.
So tell me again why MacBooks don’t offer 5G wireless connectivity….Oh?….
….
Because they would cannibalize iPads into oblivion??
Got it!
Stupid headline. You might partially substitute, approximate, or limp along with an iPad. You will never replace a Mac with one.