Can An Ipad Pro Replace Your Laptop As Apple Claims?

Apple presented its new 2020 iPad Pro yesterday and did so by adding some improvements over what we had seen in the previous generation, which went on sale at the end of 2018.

The main novelty is, apart from injecting more power thanks to its new processor or a brighter screen, the inclusion of two cameras and a new sensor dedicated almost exclusively to augmented reality tasks.

Along with those changes in the hardware, another novelty arrived: a new keyboard-case with trackpad included, with keys that used scissor technology and backlit that has a working position similar to that of the iMac of a lifetime.

Well, with all these changes, which are purely aesthetic and performance, but hardly of concept, Apple is still determined to say that it will replace our laptop. Is that so?

IPad OS 13, The Great Ally

One of Apple’s main allies to affirm something like this is iPad OS 13, which arrived last year with mouse support, to make that experience of pretending that we have a computer in hand more real.

Now, is it possible to completely replace our laptop with one of these new iPad Pro? The answer is, it depends on what you are going to use it for.

If your work has to do with office tasks, collaborations with text documents and spreadsheets, or Internet browsing on standard platforms –which are capable of working in mobile environments–, it is possible that we can forget about the PC or Mac without problems.

Now, as we require other tasks from the tablet, things get complicated. And it does it for a very simple reason: Apple refuses to allow us to use iPad storage as if it were that of a computer, and from that limitation comes the impossibility that it can replace our computer once and for all.

2020 iPad Pro.

For example, when creating an image to upload to the internet, to a web page, how do we do it? Photoshop has an iPadOS version and has very good features, but can the save location be recognized later by the site to which we must upload the photo? From system storage (so generic), iCloud, Dropbox, OneDrive, Drive? The answer is no.

A student could replace the computer with the tablet since the collaborative work platforms (Office, G-Suite, etc.) are very prepared for mobile ecosystems, but not in the case of more professional issues, except that the solutions of software have been adopted by companies to work exclusively on the new iPad Pro. Only in these cases, a worker will be able to say goodbye to their laptop.

New 2020 MacBook Air.

But there is also an important issue, the economic one. In essence, an iPad Pro of 11 inches, 64GB and only with Wifi costs about 899 euros and, if we add the new keyboard that comes out for another 339, the set amounts to 1,238; 39 euros more expensive than the new MacBook Air with a 13-inch screen (and 256GB of storage) and full functionality as a computer.

That, if we forget the PC ecosystem and the right offers, we have for 700-800 euros. Do you think that an iPad Pro is really a computer?