Who uses a laptop/desktop and who has taken the leap to an iPad with Magic Keyboard?

[Smugpugmug]

I exclusively use computers with Windows so I have no use for an ipad or one with a keyboard.

I'm already forced to use a Macbook for work and I'm not a huge fan of Apple products.

 

[BleuB]

Like @sky13 I have and use both. They have different applications especially when considering the software that each is optimized to support.

The iPad OS is at its heart a mobile operating system. You can run App Store versions of applications that are limited in some capacities when compared to their desktop OS counterpart. If you use the device for work or school, this can be a problem. One of the other problems that I run into with mobile OSs is banking. It is something to consider that many mobile OS bank Apps do not allow you to do all transaction types and may not be sufficient for your use case.

If you find you always use your phone but would like a device with a bigger screen and a keyboard that has more similar functionality to your phone than a laptop, then the iPad with MK will work great for you. If you want to replace a laptop and expect a full desktop operating system with the full safari browser and app functionality maybe a MacBook Air is the best option.

 

[bcla]

I have a couple of Macbooks (one is older and doesn't have much battery life left and lives as a desktop, the other gets used as a laptop) and an iPad Pro with Magic Keyboard that also gets used without the Magic Keyboard.

To me my devices are complementary and I use them all for completely different purposes.

Macbooks are used for multi-tasking, things that require a proper file storage system (synced to Onedrive so that it's available across all my devices), Microsoft Word/Excel/Powerpoint creation and editing, and other things that the iPad is terrible for.

iPad with the Magic Keyboard gets used in various places in the house. The Magic Keyboard on its own is a bit of an overkill (could do with cheaper keyboards) but it is a extremely pleasant user experience with regard to connectivity/etc and is great to type on. I've also used/owned other keyboards (regular keyboard folio, a Logitech folio, and also just a random external bluetooth keyboard) and found I much preferred the Magic Keyboard.

iPad in tablet mode gets used for other things (reading, note taking/highlighting with Apple pencil, watching shows, reading books, casual web surfing).

For my usage I definitely couldn't live with just an iPad with a Magic Keyboard, it's too hard to do things like Word/Excel/Powerpoint on it. And the file storage system on the iPad would drive me nuts.

I remember once I got a message to fill out a form (in a hurry) that was a Word file and I was on the road with an iPad. I had an Office 365 subscription and I used one of my 5 "seats" for the iPad. I barely had to do anything, but that was a painful experience since I didn't have a real keyboard.

My parents have given up using a regular computer. My mom was using a cheap PC but that eventually stopped working well because of malware. They do everything on their iPads with just the virtual keyboard. I wouldn't, but I do a lot more typing than they do.

 

[fla4fun]

I am going to have to make a decision about which direction to go fairly soon. All of my electronics are getting old and beginning to have issues. I have a Windows laptop, a MacBook, and an iPad Pro currently. The iPad is 7 years old and the two laptops are over 10 years old. I am not sure which way I want to go. I do not have a keyboard for my iPad right now. I had one earlier, but it broke and I haven’t really missed it. Portability is very important to me, as well as longevity.