My iPad Professional does greater than you’d count on

This is my sizzling take: an iPad would not want to switch your laptop computer. I am among the many crowd that believes (moreover the Apple Vision Pro) each product within the iPad maker’s lineup has a distinct segment use case it is best fitted to. Positive, you’ll be able to watch movies in your MacBook, nevertheless it’s not fairly as fluid as utilizing an iPad.

I’ve change into an enormous fan of the iPad Professional since its bezel-less design was launched in 2018. Presently, I exploit a 13″ M4 iPad Professional with mobile. Whereas I like my iPad Professional, I additionally consider it has an extended strategy to go earlier than anybody ought to seriously consider buying it as a laptop computer alternative.

I did not buy an iPad Pro to replace my MacBook. As an alternative, I purchased it as a complementary system for a particular set of duties — which it thrives at checking off the to-do checklist.

1 Watching video content material

YouTube, Apple TV+, Netflix — you identify it

The iPad Professional is well my go-to system for streaming video content material. Admittedly, utilizing an costly sheet of steel and glass solely for video streaming has change into a little bit of a meme. Nonetheless, each time I am making dinner, preparing within the morning, or needing a distraction, I seize my iPad Professional as a result of its giant display, loudspeakers, and contact interface make it an unimaginable content material consumption system.

Plus, its low profile means it may be positioned on a stand or within the nook with out getting in the way in which. The iPad’s lengthy battery life, mixed with its capability to simply save content material for offline viewing, provides to the protection of why it makes for a wonderful medium for video content material consumption.

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2 Sketching and note-taking

The Apple Pencil is a key aggressive benefit

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Apple Pencil Professional

The Apple Pencil Professional is a upgraded model of Apple’s stylus with pressure-sensitive sides that allows you to squeeze the stylus to entry contextual menus.

Probably, the primary motive individuals purchase an iPad is to make use of an Apple Pencil. Many individuals get the system duo with the intention of sketching and illustrating. Whereas these are nice use instances for the iPad and Apple Pencil, you are able to do much more with these two gadgets.

When ending my undergraduate research, I used my iPad Professional and Apple Pencil each day to repeat down formulation and take notes throughout my arithmetic courses. I’ve additionally made it a behavior to edit photographs utilizing the 2 gadgets on my flight dwelling after a visit. Doc markup, audio modifying, and some other activity that makes use of a stylist means a MacBook cannot match, and the iPad has to return in to do the job.

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3 FaceTime calls

Panorama digicam for the win

I just lately got here again from a week-long journey to Nashville. Whereas away, my girlfriend and I FaceTimed every night to speak about our days. The iPad rapidly grew to become my go-to system for these calls. Like video streaming and content material consumption, the iPad’s giant display, loud audio system, nice microphones, and low profile make for an amazing video calling system.

Combining these advantages with the brand new panorama digicam positioned on the iPad Professional’s lengthy aspect, you are now trying proper on the individual on the decision moderately than this off-side video.

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4 Presenter distant and notes

Take management of your keynote presentation and examine something you jotted down

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I actually love presenting. Every time I get invited to talk at a convention or occasion, I am jazzed to design and ship a brand new keynote. An amazing advantage of utilizing Apple’s keynote app (past beautiful-looking displays) is the presenter remote feature. In case you’re unfamiliar with it, the presenter distant means that you can have your keynote on one system (MacBook, iPad, iPhone) and management it with one other (iPad, iPhone, Apple Watch).

When utilizing an iOS or iPadOS system, you can too view presenter notes, view present or upcoming slides, add short-term doodles or illustrations to slides, and use a vertical laser pointer to convey your factors.

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My typical presentation setup includes connecting my MacBook to the presentation show (projector or TV) and utilizing my iPad because the distant to change between slides and examine my presenter’s notes. The 2024 iPad Professionals are a good bit lighter and thinner than their predecessors, so I’ve discovered holding my 13″ mannequin for prolonged durations much more snug than the 12.9″ that got here earlier than.

5 Studying the information

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Considered one of my most vital private accomplishments has been shifting away from social media (with the exception ofLinkedIn). When Twitter ended assist for third-party shoppers, I made a decision it was the second to search out an alternate strategy to get the information. So, I turned to an RSS reader referred to as Reeder. All an RSS reader does is accumulate articles and movies from web sites and feeds to pool them right into a single chronological timeline (yay, no algorithms).

Whether or not you utilize an RSS or a devoted information app, I’ve discovered my iPad to be a pleasant strategy to atone for native and world occasions within the night. As a strategy to cut back distractions all through the day, I created a shortcut to mechanically shut Reeder on my iPhone after I’m at dwelling however enable me to make use of it whereas I am out of the home. As an alternative, I depend on my iPad as my major studying system whereas enjoyable on the couch.

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6 Writing and focus workflows

The Magic Keyboard offers a tremendous typing expertise

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Apple Magic Keyboard for iPad Professional 13‑inch (M4)

iPads are nice gadgets when that you must give attention to a single activity, for the reason that platform largely focuses on the consumer solely having one or two apps open. When making an attempt to write an article, my iPad Professional and its Magic Keyboard foster an amazing typing expertise the place I can give attention to the one activity at hand.

When writing on my Mac, it is simple to get distracted by an e-mail or Slack message. So, writing an article in Pages on my iPad results in fewer distractions. The iPad Professional’s Magic Keyboard additionally makes for a cushty typing expertise, which is predicted of such an expensive keyboard.

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7 Distant productiveness

I want MacBooks got here in mobile

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If Apple made a MacBook with cellular connectivity, I’d purchase it in a heartbeat, and I am not the primary tech author to say this. I bought an iPad with a mobile transmitter as a result of I’ve discovered utilizing my iPhone as a hotspot to be unreliable, inconsistent, and battery-draining. As an alternative, when working away from my home, I exploit my iPad Professional’s direct mobile service for a quick and safe web connection. As a rule, my iPad’s mobile service is much extra performant and definitely safer than utilizing a public Wi-Fi community.

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