My Problem with Writing Series

I am too slow to keep up causing things to change before I can finish.

As I was finishing up my Tech Check-In for the iPad, something changed—something big, if you’ll excuse the pun. I realized that I wasn’t using my MacBook Air as much anymore and was actually using my iPad Air a lot more. This made me realize just how much I prefer using the iPad over a Mac.

This is something I’ve gone back and forth on many times. Even though I know I prefer iPadOS over macOS, I always go back to the Mac because I still really like macOS. Plus, Apple offers fantastic MacBooks, and I prefer laptops over desktops.

After not using the MacBook Air much in recent weeks, I started rethinking my tech setup and wondered if I might want to return to using the iPad as my main computer. With the new Mac mini and iMac, I’ve also been tempted to go back to a desktop Mac, but for my daily use, I’d prefer an iPad.

As a parent of two young children, with both my wife and me working full-time, I don’t have the time to pull out a MacBook. It’s not that the MacBook Air is cumbersome or large—it’s just that using a laptop while constantly running around with kids doesn’t fit into my life right now.

Most of the time, I wait for everyone to go to bed or try to get up early before anyone else to use my MacBook, usually at the dining room table. I hardly use my desk anymore, and even sitting on the couch doesn’t feel as comfortable as using a Mac on a table.

However, over the past few weeks, I’ve been using my iPad Air much more. It’s so much easier to pull out the iPad and sit in the rocking chair in my kids’ bedroom while they play, and I can get things done. Recently, I had to apply for and renew passports for my family, and doing it on the iPad in my lap was a breeze while my boys played with their trains and Play-Doh.

The iPad has always been great for entertainment, which I also used it for—scrolling through Threads, watching YouTube, and movies in bed at night. But I also used it to open new bank accounts for my wife and me, and to work on our future savings goals, along with other family tasks I handle every week on my 11-inch Air.

I still pull out the MacBook from time to time, but mostly for writing. I purposely didn’t do writing on the iPad because I wanted to have something dedicated for the MacBook. But now I realize I could easily write on the iPad too. In fact, I’m writing this post right now on the software keyboard of a new iPad, which I’ll talk more about shortly.

As for my check-in, I may have a new post about the iPad that’s a bit different from what I was expecting. However, I’m not going to publish it just yet because I’m still figuring out which direction I want to go. The 11-inch iPad is great, but I’m now considering trying something I’ve always been against in the past.

The 12.9-inch or 13-inch iPad size was always something I thought was perfect for a laptop, but never made sense to me as a tablet. I think this was because I’ve always seen the iPad first as a tablet, not as a true all-around computer. But over the past few years, my view of the iPad has shifted significantly, and I now see what iPadOS can offer me.

As an experiment, this last weekend, and throughout the week, I bought a 12.9-inch iPad Air and decided to use it as much as possible to see if it’s as impractical as I once imagined compared to the 11-inch model. So far, as I write this post at my dining room table, perched on the Smart Folio using the software keyboard in iWriter Pro, it feels magical.

“Magical” might sound a bit odd, but I think embracing the iPad for what it is and not forcing it to be a laptop is really special. I did something similar with the 11-inch Pro before I sold it for personal reasons, but now that I have more screen space for the keyboard and writing, I can see the appeal of using the iPad in its most native form.

Long-term, I think it would be good for me to either get a Magic Keyboard or prop the iPad on a stand with a separate keyboard for ergonomic reasons. But using the iPad this way really gives you a sense of what you’re getting when you go all-in on iPadOS. It’s a touch-first OS, and using it in this way is key to truly appreciating it.

My first impression of the 12.9-inch Air was, of course, “Wow, this is big,” especially after being so used to 11-inch and smaller iPads. But after a while, I didn’t feel like the size was too different, whether I was holding it or laying it flat. It doesn’t feel too heavy, and I really appreciate the extra space when switching between apps.

That said, using an iPad this size is making me lean more toward the Pro model. Not that the resolution or display on this Air is bad, but having an OLED or even Micro-LED display would really pop, and that’s something I prefer. I also think Touch ID, though decent, is far inferior to Face ID on a tablet this size.

Trying to get my finger in the right position to unlock it, is just not as convenient as simply looking at the iPad to unlock it. Other features that make the Pro more appealing are ProMotion and a brighter display. I noticed that both my MacBook Air and iPad Air don’t get quite as bright as I’d like in certain lighting conditions compared to the 11-inch iPad Pro I had before.

One great thing about the 12.9-inch iPad Air is that it comes with the M2 chip, which enables the Hover feature for the Apple Pencil. I’m not sure if this is strictly an M2 feature, but it’s worth mentioning that this 12.9-inch iPad Air is equivalent to the new 11-inch Air, which also has the Hover feature that I miss dearly on my M1 iPad Air.

I’m not interested in getting a nano-texture display anymore, though. I recently posted about it on Threads after trying it out at the Apple Store, and I didn’t find it all that appealing. This is also good for my wallet because I don’t think I need more than 256GB of storage, and upgrading to the 1TB model gets really expensive.

Originally I was thinking of selling the MacBook Air and M1 iPad Air while holding on to the 13-inch iPad Air as I figure out what direction I want to go in. But I found a great deal on Swappa for a 512 GB 13-inch M4 iPad Pro that I just couldn't pass up. 

So I will be returning this 13-inch iPad Air and figuring out what to do next with the MacBook Air and iPad Air 11-inch. I will probably sell those so if you interested please let me know, but I want to use the iPad Pro for while just to really make sure the iPad-only route is the direction I want to go.

My ideal setup, assuming the 13-inch iPad is the direction I want to go, would be to get an M4 iPad Pro (13-inch), an iPad mini 6 or 7, and maybe a blue iMac with an M4 chip. This won’t happen soon, but it’s why my whole check-in series has been derailed.

The time it takes me to finish a post and publish it now takes too long. Since I’m still figuring out what I want my setup to be, I’ve been making changes that are causing me to change course. I’m in a very lucky position to have these difficulties, but overall, I’m happy to be back on the iPad full-time.