In the quest to use iPad as a laptop, I rediscovered its original purpose, and I’m extremely glad that it happened.
In My Journey to Use iPad as a Laptop, I Rediscovered its True Purpose – A Device that Fits Between iPhone and a Mac
Anything can be a computer as long as it has a web browser. Just turn on your smart TV, launch the web browser, and get work done, that too in the slowest possible way.
But it is possible!
For me, iPad has been a secondary laptop, with the Magic Keyboard and Apple Pencil connected to it all the time. Eventually, things started to fall apart when I realized I’m following marketing like a sheep over a device that’s not quite a laptop in the first place.
Remember this ad that started it all?
In short, the iPad is a slow computer compared to a Mac, and that will never change because being a laptop is not iPad’s primary purpose.
When things did fall apart, I decided to start from scratch. In order to do that, I took my iPad Pro off the Magic Keyboard, pulled off the Apple Pencil, and started using it the way its primarily meant to be – as a device that sits between a phone and a computer.
At this point, I realized how much I missed using the iPad as an iPad. From browsing the web in Safari to using apps with your fingers on a thin slab of glass feels phenomenal and far more satisfying compared to a trackpad or mouse.
And the freedom to just rotate the iPad around however you like is icing on the cake, something you wouldn’t even do with the keyboard on.
If you have been defeated by iPad as a laptop too, just take off that keyboard case and start using it how it’s meant to be instead of letting it rot for the sake of forced aesthetic.
Enjoy that Retina display, a bigger and better iOS experience, and more importantly, the louder and better speakers that are perfect for watching movies and TV shows.
Having said that, I’m officially closing the ‘iPad as a laptop’ chapter and going back to using it as a touch-first device. And believe it or not, I’m secretly happy that my journey failed, because the iPad is back into my life as a meaningful and fun device, right in between an iPhone and a Mac.
