Why I don’t own a Laptop and Only Use an iPad Pro

I love my iPad Pro and although it has certain shortcomings I have turned it into a complete replacement for my MacBook. Using a MacBook was great but I realized that most productivity tasks I use my MacBook for I could just use an iPad. One of the things I find so refreshing about using an iPad is how amazingly simple it is. The iPad, in its simplest form, is just a screen, which means that the iPad itself becomes whatever you’re working on. When reading the New York Times the iPad becomes the newspaper. When I’m taking notes on Notability the iPad becomes my notebook. When drawing, the iPad becomes my canvas. This is different than on a traditional computer where a document or webpage exists confined in a window. On an iPad, the app takes up the entire screen, and since you use your fingers to interact with the app it feels so much more natural. When reading the news it really feels like I’m holding a newspaper in my hand, tapping on each story just feels right in comparison to using a mouse pointer to click on an article. The iPad being just a screen removes all the complexities of a traditional computer. When I don’t need the keyboard, it's not there. If I’m editing a document, I can turn the iPad into portrait orientation so it feels more like a piece of paper. When I’m doing research, I can use picture in picture mode to have a floating video to reference while I’m working. If I want to read a book I literally have a seemingly infinite amount of books at my disposal. When I take notes with Notability using an Apple Pencil I have an infinite notebook that not only lets me annotate PowerPoints or PDF documents, but more than that I don’t have to worry about where to save my files because they save automatically to iCloud. The complexities of ‘Save As’ or ‘which folder is my document in’ are over. Since all my notes are in Notability I don’t have to worry about forgetting a certain notebook at home because it’s all on my iPad; I can even use my iPad to search my own handwriting. With my iPad I’ve replaced so many physical objects, I don’t have to carry: 5 different notebooks, a daily planner, several textbooks, a drawing canvas, a personal journal, countless physical books, and a laptop. My iPad does all of this while being thinner than a pencil and weighing less than a pound. 

One of the most common reactions that I hear from people when I tell them how many things I’ve replaced by just using my iPad is “that sounds cool, but I couldn’t do that because I prefer using physical notebooks, journals, etc.” The thing is I feel the same, using a traditional computer to accomplish these tasks makes me want to use a actual notebook, but an iPad isn’t a traditional computer. Sure an iPad can’t perfectly match the feeling of pen and paper but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t feel physical. We are all accustomed to writing on paper, with the iPad and Apple Pencil it really does feel like paper, there’s virtually no lag. It feels right because even though it isn’t exactly like what we’re used to, it’s close enough that the benefits of writing digitally can outweigh the drawbacks of missing something we’re used to. With Notability (an app that acts as an infinite notebook) you can search your handwriting and refer back to what you wrote. Notability along with every other app also lets you sync to your iPhone via iCloud meaning that everything is up to date in the background without you having to worry about it. If your iPad is in your backpack you can use your iPhone to quickly refer to something you have done on your iPad. When trying to share notes, instead of taking poorly lit photos of your paper you can just send the document right from your iPad via iMessage or email. Best of all even if your iPad is stolen you still have access to all these digital notes, the same can’t be said for a paper notebook.

I use an iPad instead of a traditional computer because my iPad becomes whatever I need it to be, free of distractions. It exists free of the restraints of a traditional computer. Using an iPad just feels right and more intuitive, like a magical sheet of paper. To modify a quote from one of my favorite TV shows Halt and Catch Fire “The iPad isn’t the thing, it’s the thing that gets you to the thing.”