While I wrote about how I moved back to the Mac and feel this is the ground I feel most comfortable in, Ben Brooks wrote an opus about how the Ipad is the perfect computing device for him. I wanted to pull some quotes that were resonant / dissonant.

Ben loves the Stage Manager:

With Stage Manager you can stack those apps all together aan quickly move between them without losing your context. It instantly feels faster, so much so I only have my Ipad Pro in this mode now. Apps are getting much better at supporting all of this, and it’s a tremendous boon to productivity. This is one of the best features Apple took from Macs and added to iPadOS.

Still Full Time iPad Only — Eight Years Running – The Brooks Review

Yes. Stage Manager allows the iPad to finally enter a world where it brings the concept of windows to Apps. However, I found it incredibly limiting, even with the improvements in iPad OS 17. Fwiw, I have the same issues with Stage Manager on a Mac too. The default state to enter a new stage for every app / window adds work to how I use a computer.

I wish iPadOS logged time spent using the device connected to a keyboard and pointing device, versus without any. I would guess my iPad is attached to a keyboard and trackpad about 80% of the time. The OS has become a beast at supporting this setup, and really made the iPad vastly more productive.

Yes. This was my default state of my iPad. It was 90%+ connected to a Magic Keyboard and while it performed fine, this is where iPad OS and its foibles were particularly egregious.

Coupling an external display with Stage Manager, and I feel like there’s no advantage my work MacBook Air holds over my iPad Pro. So I mostly use the Mac once a month to make sure it will actually work in a reasonable amount of time when I want to use it.

I agree with Ben that adding an external display allows the iPad OS to breathe in a refreshing way. However, unlike Ben who likes the limitations of the iPad, the external display further pointed out the limitations of iPad OS to me. To me the biggest issue was that my laptop was still equally powerful to me even without the external display. The iPad never was truly there.

I suspect this is because I don’t use my device for compiling code, or for doing a lot in hopes that doing that makes me actually do a lot. People tend to ask me about this the most. Which iPad should I get, is it better than XYZ thing. The truth is: I have no clue. I buy the top end iPad Pro when I want a new one, otherwise ignoring what Apple releases. Mac releases could not be more boring these days — Gruber can wax poetically about it, but compute power became meaningless with the M1. Everything is faster than what I need now, likely for you too.

At its core, I suspect this is the main difference. I do and aspire to do more with my personal, mobile computer. I missed having a (good) terminal. I missed having a powerful web browser – yes my iPad had the same M1 chip, but even Safari felt slower there.

I think I also like computers more than Ben.

During that wait on a Mac, I was also greeted with a litany of:

• Out of date notifications
• Error messages, some would disappear, others would not
• Prompts for passwords
• Prompts for nonsense where I had to click OK
• Endless dialog boxes and windows opening and closing
• Even on the apps which were open and on screen, the information was stale and took a while to refresh — some even required a restart to get them going.
• Many little noises which might mean something, but meant nothing to me.

This is certainly a case where Ben’s likely not opened his Mac in a long time. To each their own. In my experience, while I wanted to believe in the ultimate portability, optionality to touch / use a keyboard, newer-than-mac generation of computers, they were a significant step down to what I wanted my computer to be.

In photography, they say – use the gear that motivates you to shoot. To each their own.

The post Ben Brooks is iPad only for 8 years… first appeared on @gurupanguji • Ramblings of an Eccentric Soul.