iPad Stretched To The Switching Point

As one who can't seem to not switch between gadgets, I enjoyed a recent long post from another switcher. It's someone who identified as “iPad-only” for many years but ended up back on the Mac.

Likewise, I’ve been a proud iPad guy before. I, too, have stretched its limitations, felt the push-back, and switched to “full” computers: a Chromebook, a MacBook, and now a Windows 11 gaming laptop.

I'm inclined to expound on all that, reiterating how and why the iPad is a fantastic tablet but generally not a great full computer. The, “Just get a Mac” idea hits really close on this. Instead, for now, I’ll simply share some select quotes from the article I mentioned and link to it.

On the iPad:

"An awful lot of iPadOS is the innovation of concessions against simplicity, and towards functionality."

"the iPad has ultimately out-frictioned me, at least for the time being. It has tried so very hard to be something that it really isn’t,"

On the Mac:

"And it’s a full, first-class Computer Platform, where you know that virtually everything you could want to put on it or plug into it will be supported."

Overall, I think the author of “Back to Mac,” Matt Gemmell, does well to paint a balanced picture of the iPad-versus-Mac use-case, showing it can be largely both/and, not necessarily an either/or proposition.

That said, he shows that while a tablet and a laptop each have their place, it’s harder to know where a tablet fits best since it sits between a smartphone and a laptop. Is it the best of both worlds or a compromise of each? Or as Steve Jobs originally asked in the iPad keynote, is there room for something between those? He thought so. Many have thought so since.

Your mileage may vary. But other high-profile iPad-only or iPad-first users (like Jason Snell of Six Colors and Christopher Lawley) have also ended up back on the Mac. While an iPad works well as a stretched smartphone, it seems it can’t stretch too far from that.

Truth be told, I wrote this partly on my M1 iPad Air with the Logitech Keyboard Folio. And these days, the main use-case and reason I love my iPad, despite preferring my Windows PC, is for its unique Apple Pencil hand-writing and sketching abilities.

Then again, I may consider a Surface with a Surface Pen, or maybe a Kindle Scribe. Because, you know, I can’t seem to not switch between gadgets.