Is it possible to swap my laptop computer and the work I do with it for an iPad Pro? I use my laptop for image editing, writing, drawing, music creation and occasional videos. I have to have a portable system for travel and the slim size and speed of the iPad Pro makes it a possible solution.
So I’ve been trying to move over from my laptop to an iPad recently to find the pros and cons and whether this is possible. This is what I have experienced so far.
Recently my old Dell laptop keyboard began to play up. It was a windows PC purchased in 2010 and has been my go to computer since then. Its had a hard time and although capable it now has dead pixels that don’t display and the shift key and 1 key no longer work. I have also become more frustrated with Windows ability to easily become corrupted and the way it seems to bloat with every other update.
Alrights I thinks ... I'll buy a MacBook. I would have to buy all the software again but I had started using Macs in the late 80's and although those were simpler times (no internet, video, social media et al) I had found them to be pretty reliable and excellent for the illustrations and graphics that I was employed to do at the time.
Fast forward to now and I start to see articles and videos popping up about people who are swapping out their laptops for an iPad Pro. Understand this, eventually there will come a point where there will be more people who learned computer skills on a touch screen than keyboards and a mouse. If you know what a floppy disk looks like then you are already in the previous age of computer technology.
What do I need an iPad to do?
I use my laptop for image editing, word, illustrating, blogging and making the occasional video. First of all I need a keyboard because I find that whonking great software thing that apple iPads and iPhones use that cover half the screen are awful.
I use keyboard shortcuts a lot so this is another reason for a hardware keyboard. I purchased the one above for about £50 and i really like it. The keyboard is light and protects the screen well when closed and also has the advantage of being easily able to set the screen at any angle with the ability to swivel at 360 degrees.
I also needed a replacement for the mouse. The screen real estate on the iPad is still pretty small and although the resolution is excellent there is not room for my great daubing fingers when i need near pixel accuracy for some editing tasks.
The solution seems to be a pen which although calls for a slightly different technique than a mouse is not really that difficult to make the change. I have an old adonit jot pro pen that works fine for now and has the advantage of not needing to be connected by bluetooth or having to be recharged as it requires no power.
The solution seems to be a pen which although calls for a slightly different technique than a mouse is not really that difficult to make the change. I have an old adonit jot pro pen that works fine for now and has the advantage of not needing to be connected by bluetooth or having to be recharged as it requires no power.
So far the change is not difficult and with the iPads already proven ability for browsing and watching videos this seems like a possible alternative to buying another laptop.
The next part will be harder and that will be using the iPad Pro to replace programs that I use for work.