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Should You Buy a MacBook vs iPad?
May 17, 2024
Article on Cult of Mac: https://www.cultofmac.com/856548/macbook-vs-ipad/
More Apple news: http://www.cultofmac.com
Should your next computer be a #MacBook or an #iPad? Apple is making the iPad more powerful and capable every year — it might be good enough that you don’t need a traditional computer in your life. Here are the pros and cons, MacBook vs. iPad.
Chapters:
0:00 Intro
0:15 iPad is easier to use
1:09 macOS is more powerful
2:50 iPad is modular
3:46 Mac has more apps
4:43 iPads are cheaper
5:31 iPads are more durable
6:20 My personal opinion
Produced by Extra Ordinary for Cult of Mac
Music composed by Will Davenport, arranged by D. Griffin Jones
Show More Show Less View Video Transcript
0:00
Should your next computer be a MacBook or an iPad? Apple is making the iPad more powerful
0:05
and capable every year. It might be good enough that you don't need a regular computer in your
0:10
life. Here are the pros and cons of each. Number one, the iPad is easier to pick up and use
0:18
The Mac is easier to use than a Windows PC, we all know that, but the iPad blows both of them
0:24
out of the water. Your iPhone and your iPad act like app consoles. The starting point is the home
0:31
screen, you can tap on any app to launch it, swipe up to go back. You can add more apps from the app
0:36
store and you can immediately delete them anytime you want. You never have to think about the
0:42
underlying file system of your iPad, it's completely invisible. On the Mac, however
0:47
the Finder is the foundation of the whole system. And what I'm about to say might sound crazy to
0:53
people of a certain age who are computer nerds, but to ordinary people who've never spent a lot
0:58
of time with a Mac or a PC, the Finder is confusing to use and the concept of a file system is
1:06
completely unfamiliar to them. Number two, on the other hand, the Mac has more powerful software
1:13
A tale as old as time, or at least as old as the iPad Pro, is that the hardware is more than
1:19
capable, but the software holds it back. What do people actually mean when they say that
1:26
Well, in a nutshell, for one, iPadOS can only play one thing at a time. You can't play two videos
1:35
or a video and music, or a video and a podcast simultaneously. iPad apps aren't allowed to do
1:41
any substantial tasks in the background. Rendering a video in Final Cut or using a generative AI tool
1:48
immediately stops if you switch focus to any other app, even in their desktop windowing mode
1:54
stage manager. iPadOS won't let you take a phone call or a video call while you're recording audio
1:59
through a microphone, so you can't use it for podcasting. Files and QuickLook only offer the
2:05
bare basics compared to their Mac counterparts of Finder, Preview, and Disk Utility. iPad apps are
2:11
sandboxed, so you can't have any system-wide utilities like backup tools, clipboard managers
2:18
context-aware note-taking or to-do apps, keyboard macros, or app launchers. Without Terminal and
2:24
Xcode, you can't build and install open-source software yourself. And without Hypervisor
2:29
you can't virtualize Windows, Linux, or even macOS. Now understandably, not everybody needs
2:35
to do these things, and Apple is doing a very good job of adding Mac-exclusive features to the iPad
2:42
in a painfully slow drip over time. But if any of these are a deal-breaker, you need a Mac
2:49
Number three. On the other hand, the iPad has a bunch of features that the Mac doesn't
2:53
because the iPad is modular. A MacBook only really has two modes. You can use it like a laptop out
3:00
of the box with the built-in display keyboard and mouse, or at a desk you can plug it into a display
3:07
and use it as if it's a desktop Mac. The iPad, however, is more versatile. Out of the box
3:12
it's a handheld, touch-first tablet. With the Apple Pencil, it's a stylus-driven drawing
3:17
tablet and notebook. With the Magic Keyboard, it's a laptop with a built-in keyboard and mouse
3:23
You can plug in an external display and turn on Stage Manager for desktop computer-style
3:28
multitasking. You can even use an iPad as a secondary display to a Mac with Sidecar
3:35
The point is, the iPad is whatever you need it to be in the moment. A MacBook is a laptop whether
3:41
you need the keyboard or not, and it's never a touchscreen device. On the other hand, number four
3:47
the Mac has more apps. It benefits from being an older, more reliable platform. Any app for any
3:54
niche, interest, hobby, or job probably has an app for the Mac, because the Mac has a big market
4:01
of people who use it every day for their work, no matter what kind of work it is. And publishing a
4:06
Mac app is as simple as making a Mac app and putting it up on a website. The iPad, on the
4:11
other hand, has a huge market of people who use it casually, and a smaller market of people who
4:17
use it with a keyboard and trackpad like a computer. If you're making an app for the iPad
4:22
you don't know whether people are going to be poking at the screen with their fingers
4:25
or using a precise pointing device like a mouse, trackpad, or Apple Pencil. And for that reason
4:30
iPad apps live in kind of a liminal space between smartphone apps and desktop apps. So if you have
4:37
a niche hobby, there's probably apps being made for it, but you don't know if it's being made for iPad
4:42
Number five, everybody knows Apple products can be kind of expensive, but if you compare similar
4:48
products in the lineup, the iPad is consistently cheaper than the equivalent MacBook. The base
4:54
model iPad starts at $349, whereas the previous generation MacBook Air starts at $999. The iPad
5:01
Air starts at $599, whereas the current model of MacBook Air starts at $1099. And the iPad Pro
5:07
starts at $999, where the MacBook Pro starts at $1599. That's a $500 to $650 price gap if you're
5:14
comparing iPad to MacBook. Now that difference disappears if you add in all the accessories and
5:20
exactly match storage space, but if you just want the tablet or you don't need all of that accoutrement
5:27
you save significant money by going with the iPad instead. Finally, one more point in the iPad's
5:32
favor, it's more durable. The MacBook is entirely self-contained in a pretty fragile design. You
5:39
have the really skinny display connected by a mechanical hinge. It's a pretty complicated set
5:45
of parts with many more things you can break. The iPad is just one slab. I'd like to see a toddler
5:52
try and tear the display off of that. And it benefits from the keyboard and trackpad being a
5:58
separate accessory that attaches magnetically, so you can replace either of them independent of the
6:03
other one. If you're particularly accident-prone, the iPad's simple design also means you can just
6:08
throw it in a big bulky case. They make these hard-shell cases for MacBooks, but because of
6:13
the thin display and the folding design, they really can't offer the same degree of protection
6:19
So after all those pros and cons, where do I land personally? Neither. I'm a financially irresponsible
6:27
weirdo, so I have a Mac Mini and a Vision Pro. I never need to do any serious computing anywhere
6:34
other than this office, so I live the desktop Mac lifestyle. But if I could do it all over again
6:42
if I were still attending school, if I ever left the house, I would have an iPad as my primary
6:48
computer. And for the occasional computer things that I need to do, I would have a cheap secondhand
6:56
Mac Mini. At Cult of Mac, we have a resident iPad guy. Ed Hardy has done all of his writing for us
7:03
for years entirely on an iPad. In 2024, the iPad is more than enough computer for most people
7:10
Remember to like and subscribe. I'm Degriffin Jones with Cult of Mac
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