The iPad is becoming more and more powerful and therefore a real competitor for your laptop. Especially thanks to the special operating system iPadOS and the accessories that Apple has recently released, the boundaries between Apple’s tablet and the MacBook line are blurring. Suppose you indeed want to use an iPad as a laptop, how do you proceed?
It is of course a big advantage if you can also use your iPad as a main computer. Instead of two devices, you only need one. Still, there are things you need to think about before you sell your laptop for good.
An iPad comes in different flavors, the differences between the models are quite large. Not only in size and price, but also in terms of options and processor power. Before we look at that, first a word about iPadOS.
What is iPadOS?
To have as much laptop experience as possible on your iPad, it is necessary to install iOS 13 on your Apple tablet. For the iPad, a special version of iOS is automatically installed on the tablet: iPadOS.
This version is available for all iPad Pro models: the normal iPad from the fifth (2017) to the seventh (2019) generation, the iPad mini models from the fourth (2015) generation and the iPad Air models from the second ( 2014) generation.
If you have a supported iPad, you can find it in the settings menu General, About the option to install iOS 13. iPadOS is a huge difference from the normal version of the operating system iOS, which was on the iPad up to and including iOS 12. This version makes your iPad behave more like a computer.
This makes it easier to use two or more applications at the same time with Multitasking. Safari also shows standard desktop versions of websites instead of mobile versions. And iPadOS can read and write data from external media, such as SSDs and flash drives.
It is also possible from iPadOS 13.4 to operate your iPad with a mouse and trackpad. Later in this article, we’ll take a closer look at peripherals that are useful to buy.
Which iPad?
In addition to running iPadOS, you also have to check which model of iPad you choose as a laptop replacement. Not all iPad models are equally suitable for this. At the moment the iPad has four options: the normal iPad, the iPad Air, the iPad mini and the iPad Pro.
The normal iPad is really intended as a tablet for home, garden and kitchen use. This model still has a fairly old processor: the A10 chip. It’s powerful enough to surf, watch Netflix, or send emails, but not enough to serve as a full-fledged laptop replacement. The normal iPad also has only 3 GB of memory.
The iPad Air is more powerful and has an A12 bionic chip on board. This is almost the same chip that we find in big brother iPad Pro: it has a so-called A12Z processor and is a lot faster than the chip in the normal iPad. Please note, we make all these comparisons based on the recent models. Older generations of iPad have weaker processors and often less memory.
The latest iPad mini has almost the same specifications as the iPad Air and is therefore a lot more powerful than the normal iPad, despite its size. The best option for a laptop replacement is of course the iPad Pro. The processor isn’t very different from the ones in the iPad Air and iPad mini, but the iPad Pro does use eight processor cores instead of six. In addition, the iPad Pro has 4 GB of memory on board.
Indispensable iPad accessories
An important difference between the iPad Pro and the other iPad models is also that the top model supports other accessories. This may not seem very important at first glance, but if you want to use the iPad as a computer replacement, this is certainly an important fact.
First of all, the iPad Pro is the only iPad that can handle the second-generation Apple Pencil. You charge this pencil via a magnetic strip on the side of the iPad Pro instead of with a cable. In addition, you can tap the Apple Pencil twice for a kind of right-click function.
A bigger difference is that the iPad Pro has a USB-C connection instead of the lightning connector that we know from other Apple smartphones and tablets. This means that you can easily connect an external drive to it. This is indeed a big difference from other models of the iPad. So you don’t necessarily have to choose the iPad Pro with the largest storage capacity, which traditionally costs a fortune at Apple.
Another difference between the iPad Pro and the other iPad models is that the iPad Pro supports the two keyboards Magic Keyboard and Smart Keyboard Folio. The iPad Air, normal iPad and iPad mini only support the normal Smart Keyboard, more on this later.
Screen sizes
Also not unimportant, the normal iPad and iPad Air have a 10.5 inch and 10.2 inch retina display respectively. The iPad Pro comes in two versions: one with an 11 inch and one with a 12.9 inch display. The latter is thus almost comparable to the 13.3-inch display of the MacBook Air or MacBook Pro.
The display of the iPad Pro is also brighter and better than that of the other iPad models. Furthermore, the iPad Pro has a great camera, something that does not have to be very important as a laptop replacement.
Keyboard and mouse on iPad
A tablet only becomes a real replacement for the PC if you can operate it with a keyboard and mouse. You can connect all kinds of accessories to your iPad via Bluetooth, but for the iPad Pro, Apple also has two smart accessories in its range.
First, the Smart Keyboard Folio, a cover with a built-in keyboard. You do not have to connect the Smart Keyboard Folio to the iPad via Bluetooth or to connect it to the only USB-C port. The iPad Pro has a special connector for the keyboard.
If you want a real MacBook experience, then you prefer the Magic Keyboard. This is a real keyboard as you know it from Apple’s laptops with a trackpad at the bottom. That way you don’t even need a bluetooth mouse or trackpad anymore. The Magic Keyboard also functions as a cover and stand for the iPad Pro, so your set-up even resembles a MacBook.
The only drawback: A Magic Keyboard costs 339 euros for the 11-inch iPad Pro and 399 euros for the 12.9-inch iPad Pro. There are of course also cheaper options, although you have to connect them via bluetooth. Good choices are, for example, the Logitech Slim Folio Keyboard Case or the Brydge Keyboard, both of which are available for around 150 euros.
Software replacements
The biggest problem when it comes to whether you can get rid of your computer is whether you can run all the software you need. This is a very personal matter. If you normally only use your computer for e-mail, browsing and programs such as Word and Excel, we can answer this with a resounding yes.
The built-in mail program of iPadOS is perfectly capable of fulfilling all your mail needs. You can easily manage multiple accounts, including POP and IMAP accounts.
Browsing with Safari is a breeze and runs smoothly on all models. You can have multiple windows open and if you still want to use a different browser, know that you can download Chrome, Opera or Mercury Browser from the App Store.
Versions for iPadOS are available of Word, PowerPoint and Excel. These are less extensive than the versions for macOS or Windows. If you occasionally need a Windows program, there is no option yet to do this via a virtualization app like Parallels.
What is also possible: control your Windows computer via an app on your iPad. This can be done with LogMeIn, VNC Viewer or Microsoft Remote Desktop. You notice: enough reasons to get rid of that old laptop and embrace the iPad as a fully-fledged notebook replacement!
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