Remote
As much as I love the iPad Pro, COVID-19 forced me to rethink the utility of going iPad-only.
Around 500 years ago, just as the year 2020 was beginning, I was well on my way to transitioning to an iPad-only computing experience. Then COVID happened, and since then, I haven’t been happier to have access to a MacBook.
Throughout 2019, my MacBook had begun to be used less and less each day, while my iPad Pro quickly moved up the ranks to become my daily driver. With the majority of what I did daily accomplished equivalently, or better, on the iPad Pro, I considered selling the MacBook and opt for a single-device lifestyle.
Pre-COVID Workflow
10%
Graphic design (Sketch, Pixelmator Pro)
File management (Finder)
90%
Reading (eBooks, News+)
Writing, Journalling (Pages, Day One, Bear)
Audiobooks, Podcasts (Audible, Overcast)
Photo editing (Dark Room)
Social media (Twitter, Instagram)
Messages (iMessage)
Task Management (Reminders)
Music (Apple Music)
Website (Squarespace)
Email (Mail)
As you can see, it’s a pretty simple workflow, nothing too complicated about it, and so the prospect of ditching the Mac and using the iPad exclusively seemed an attractive next step.
But as the pandemic progressed throughout the spring, my workflow expanded as I became one of the individuals able to do nearly all of their work remotely. With that shift to remote work came the realization that I needed a device with increased flexibility, which ultimately resulted in my moving back to the MacBook as my primary device.
COVID Workflow
10%
Personal Email (Mail)
Photo editing (Dark Room)
Messages (iMessage)
Audiobooks, Podcasts (Audible, Overcast)
Music (Apple Music)
90%
Remote Access (Microsoft Remote Desktop, Citrix Workspace)
Writing (Microsoft Word, Day One, Bear)
Videoconferencing (Zoom, Skype)
Professional Email (Microsoft Outlook)
Task Management (Reminders)
Social Media (Twitter, Instagram)
Graphic design (Sketch, Pixelmator Pro)
File management (Finder)
Reading (eBooks, News+)
Website (Squarespace)
Whereas, before some tasks were not ideal to do on an iPad when compared to the Mac, my new remote workflow made many tasks nearly impossible. As an example, several times per week, I am doing Zoom calls while connected through a VPN to a remote desktop taking notes, rapidly alternating between manuals and handouts on my actual desktop to show the on-screen participants. The iPad's window management and sandboxing limitations make this degree of operation impossible.
Other tasks are more doable, but it's clear that the same platform on the iPad is treated as a second class citizen. Remote access and file management, for example, are feasible; however, differences in design and software mean that efficiency is sacrificed and tempers are quickly tested. And when the same operation takes 2-3 seconds longer every time its executed, but that operation happens 200+ times/day, what starts as tolerable quickly becomes intolerable.
Steve Jobs introduced the iPad claiming that it would need to be "far better at doing some key tasks." That's certainly a true statement, the iPad at its launch, and even more accurate ten years on, is an incredible product, and a tool I prefer using for so many daily tasks because it is simply far better at doing them. But at the end of the day, the tradeoffs between going from the Mac to the iPad compared to going from the iPad to the Mac are not the same. Whereas some workflows on the Mac not ideal, they are often still doable, while on the iPad, they remain inefficient or simply impossible.
