My summer project: Going all-in with iPad Pro

Can I really live without the Mac in 2024? Let’s find out.

I’m typing this to you on my brand new 13-inch iPad Pro (M4). This morning I unboxed it along with the new Magic Keyboard. My goal: Live entirely on the iPad Pro this summer to find out if an iPad Pro can really replace the Mac for me. By day I’m an IT administrator managing a large fleet of Macs, iPads, Apple TVs, and iPhones, so of course there will be things I’ll need to do on a Mac: build installer packages, test configuration changes, etc. But in terms of my day-to-day computing, I’m going to try to be as exclusively iPad as possible.

For years, I’ve been passionate about the iPad and iPadOS, and the potential of that hardware/software combination to truly be a new paradigm for daily computing. Several years ago I likened working on the iPad to jogging in waste deep water. Things that I could do on a Mac were either not possible or required more tedious steps to accomplish. Over the last several years, Apple has been slowly lowering the water level, and “running” has gotten more and more effortless.

Still, I know that I’m generally faster on a Mac than I currently am on an iPad. There are two reasons for this: First, as a quarter-century-long Mac user, my muscle memory for working on a Mac is second nature. Even in areas where the iPad can accomplish the same tasks as a Mac can, there’s a mental model adjustment that has to be made on the fly to translate that Mac second nature to iPadOS. Secondly, there are still key areas where Apple needs to improve the capabilities of iPadOS to make it more of a true Mac replacement for more working people. How much of the frustrations that we hear about iPadOS stem from the former concerns versus the latter? That’s one thing I intend to find out.

Of course it hasn’t escaped my notice that we’re just a few short weeks away from WWDC, where Apple will debut the new features coming to all of its operating systems this Fall, including iPadOS. I’m not expecting radical changes, but I’m hopeful they’ve put thoughtful consideration into how iPadOS can continue to mature this year. Before we get to WWDC, I’m going to release a list of things I’d like to see Apple add to (or change about) iPadOS. And in a few days I’ll be writing a review of the new iPad Pro and Magic Keyboard. But don’t worry, there’ll be plenty to discuss about all of Apple’s other platforms and devices as well.

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