Switcher 2026: Apple iPad ⭐

Some believe that the MacBook Neo complicates the iPad value proposition, but I don’t see it that way. No one is going to “switch” to a MacBook Neo, not for full-time use; Apple’s inexpensive Mac is designed for those who don’t use a traditional computer regularly and only need the larger display and additional capabilities occasionally. But the iPad remains what it was: A touch-first computer that can be used as a content consumption focused tablet every day and then transformed into a real productivity computer with the addition of a keyboard and mouse/touchpad. That, to me, makes the iPad the far more versatile device and a better choice for most people.

That said, that’s not what this series is about. Like many of you, I’m of an age where I’m not using a phone as my primary personal computing device each day; I use a Windows PC for that, and the alternatives I am considering here are those that can replace Windows in that capacity. That is, can I use a Mac, Linux, a Chromebook (or ChromeOS Flex), or whatever instead of Windows?

In some ways, that makes for a higher bar. And while the iPad gained incredible new capabilities in iPadOS 26 for those who have always wanted to use it for desktop productivity work, there’s still a capability (and, to be fair, complexity) gap when compared to macOS or other desktop platforms. Yes, the iPad is that simple computer many have always wanted, but it’s also not going to shed its touch-first identity. Where macOS is optimized for keyboard and touchpad, the iPad is optimized for touch.

To be clear, I am not switching to the iPad, not now and not anytime soon. Part of this is pragmatic, given that Windows remains a central focus and I need to keep up with that environment for my books and the work I do here on the site. Part of it is preference: I really do like Windows 11 better than the alternatives, though the gap is closing. And part of it is tied to my age and familiarity with the more complex desktop platforms that some younger folk may not care about or want to use.

Still, the iPad is compelling. And in my desire to accept change–I am innately change-averse and need to fight my instincts in that regard regularly–I can at least look at the iPad as it stands today and compare it to Windows and other platforms in a manner similar to previous write-ups. This experience will determine if I get a bigger and more powerful iPad, perhaps an iPad Pro, when we return to Pennsylvania in mid-May. Or if I just brood and wait.

👥 Audiences and use cases

When Apple first launched the iPad in 2010, Steve Jobs did an uncharacteristically poor job of explaining its positioning, and critics–including me–described the device as being just a large iPod touch. But Jobs always saw the iPad as being useful for creating content, not just consuming it, and he ensured that Apple’s iWork productivity apps were available on the platform from the get-go. Jobs’s passing the following year slowed progress on the iPad’s productivity capabilities, though Apple slowly added support for keyboard cases, touchpads, and Apple Pencil; made various pro-like apps for the device; and released the prosumer-focused iPad Pro models in time. But it wasn’t until the release of iPadOS 26 in late 2025 that the iPad had just about everything it needed to be a viable laptop alternative.

Today, there’s an iPad for every budget, and when it comes to tablets, there is basically the iPad and nothing else, though Amazon’s Fire tablets own a bit of the low end of the market, and Samsung and other Android device makers sell full families of tablets too. But looking at this just from a productivity perspective, for people who may want to write words, edit photos and videos, and the like, the iPad occupies an interesting place in the market. That is, not everyone will find the iPad to work as well as a laptop based on the apps, services, and user experiences they expect and are familiar with.

There’s also a perception problem here. Under Tim Cook, the iPad languished as a productivity device for almost 15 years, with Apple artificially limiting its capabilities to prevent a decline in Mac sales. So even though the company has largely overcome the self-imposed restrictions, many still view the iPad as what it’s been since its inception: A touch-first tablet that’s used for reading, watching videos, and enjoying other content, and not a productivity-focused laptop.

It’s fair to say that the iPad is still best used as a secondary device, meaning that its users all have a smartphone (which is probably an iPhone) and other Apple devices, and maybe even a Mac. And so the notion of “switching” to the iPad, literally dropping the use of a Mac or PC to use this device instead, is likely foreign to most. So the potential audience for this use case is indeed limited; it’s still early days. But I see great promise here. And I am curious to see how–or, given that this is Apple, if–things evolve.

💸 Acquisition costs

There are four iPad product lines, but only three–the base iPad, the iPad Air, and the iPad Pro–factor into this conversation: No one is going to switch from a Windows laptop to an iPad mini, not for productivity work. These three iPad lines are all supported with an Apple Magic Keyboard of some kind, each irritatingly different, but there are also many third-party alternatives for those who want a keyboard/touchpad cover that works better, costs less, or both.

💲iPad. The base iPad has an 11-inch screen and starts at $349. But that provides just 128 GB of storage, so the $449 model with 256 GB of storage is likely the better choice for most who wish to use it like a laptop.

💲💲iPad Air. Apple sells 11- and 13-inch iPad Air models that start at $599 and $799, respectively, but these, too, offer just 128 GB of storage, so my advice is the same, and the 256 GB models cost $699 and $899. That’s a lot of money, but the iPad Air has a dramatically better (M4) processor with Apple Intelligence and pro app support, a minor display upgrade, and USB 3.0 (10 Gbps vs. 480 Mbps).

💲💲💲iPad Pro. Apple likewise sells 11- and 13-inch iPad Pro models, with starting prices of $999 and $1199, respectively. The base storage is 256 GB, but the iPad Pro offers a laundry list of other advantages to help justify the cost: A much faster (M5) processor, major display upgrades (including some that are added cost), Face ID facial recognition (vs. Touch ID on other iPads), 40 Gbps Thunderbolt 4/USB4, four speaker audio, and more.

While you can save money–and often gain additional features–by going with a third-party case with a keyboard/touchpad or a similar solution, I’ll keep things simple and just focus on Apple’s offerings for comparison’s sake. For the base iPad, you can get a Magic Keyboard Folio for $249. The iPad Airs support a Magic Keyboard at $269/$319 depending on screen size, as do the iPad Pros, at $299/$349. And that brings the base prices for those who would like to use the iPad as a laptop to $700 for the base iPad, $970/$1220 for the iPad Air, and $1300/$1550 for the iPad Pro, assuming 256 GB of storage for each.

This is not inexpensive, in other words.

Unfortunately, I feel like those who are serious about using an iPad as a productivity laptop will want an iPad Air or Pro, too: The base iPad serves roughly the same role as the MacBook Neo in this regard, meaning it’s for occasional use, not full-time. But your mileage will vary.

⚙️ Configuration and usability

My current iPad is an M3-based 11-inch iPad Air that was new about a year ago. This is on the low end of what I need personally, mostly because of its smallish (for my eyes) display. A 13-inch (or bigger, were it available) display is preferable. But my God, do the costs mount. I suppose there’s always refurbished.

I use the iPad Air with an Apple Magic Keyboard, and though I was originally unsure I could transition from portrait mode to the landscape mode this peripheral requires for day-to-day use, I’m surprised to say that it’s worked out just fine. In fact, in some ways I now prefer it, and this speaks to the perception problems that many iPad users will face if they consider expanding their usage into productivity. (I experimented with this during our current four-month stay in Mexico, but after switching back to a normal Smart Folio case for a few weeks, I went back to the Magic Keyboard.)

I’ve also experimented with using the iPad Air with a mini-USB dock, a small stand, a mouse, and a portable keyboard. I’m curious whether using the iPad in a portrait orientation would be useful for writing, and there are third-party cases that support both orientations. But I find myself going back to landscape for most work. And again, would personally prefer a larger display. Most of the PCs (and Macs) I use are 15- or 16-inch models, and I really like having the space.

Which opens up another possibility, of course: You can use an iPad with an external display too. And that means you could have a larger display while sitting at a desk, and then enjoy the iPad’s portability, with its relatively small size and lightness, when traveling or on-the-go. So I’ve experimented with that as well.

This works surprisingly well. The iPad’s support for peripherals like USB/Thunderbolt docks and hubs is excellent, and you can mirror or extend the built-in display to one (or more) external displays, though not independently. (Meaning, with two external displays, both will show the same image). So I can plug the iPad Air into a hub/dock and use an external display and the mouse and keyboard that are also attached. When I launch an app from the external display, it opens there.

And depending on how I’ve configured multitasking and gestures–it can be set to Full Screen Apps, Windowed Apps, or Stage Manager–I can move app windows between the displays. The mouse obviously moves seamlessly between the displays, too, and you can configure the relative position of each as you do in Windows and the Mac.

For the most part, everything works well, or can be made to work acceptably with some configuration changes. The issues I have are tied to the iPad’s legacy as a touch-first device: Some interactions are just a bit more awkward with a mouse or touchpad. For example, many apps–and the system–expect the user to long-press with a finger to engage with additional options via a context menu, but they don’t always handle a right-click, forcing you to click and hold with the mouse or touchpad. It’s not the end of the world, and I would perhaps get used to this if I were only using an iPad. But for now, at least, I find myself trying things, failing, and then moving on to the interaction that will work. It’s a context shift.

💻 Software compatibility

The iPad has an incredible software library, but you have to go through Apple’s App Store, meaning you can’t download iPad apps from the web, and there are few desktop-class apps. That, to me, is both good and bad: iPad apps tend to be simpler and less complex than Windows and Mac apps, but one might also argue that they tend to be less “powerful” or full-featured. I am ready to embrace simplicity. But I also want apps that meet my needs.

Surprisingly, the iPad holds up well in this regard. The Microsoft Office apps are all on the iPad, and though I don’t typically use those anymore, the iA Writer Markdown editor, which is also on Mac and Windows, is there, too, and it’s quite good. There’s an Adobe Photoshop app for iPad that is, yes, simpler than the desktop version but also perfectly good for my needs, and there are many alternatives. Apple makes a Final Cut Pro app for video editing if you need that, and there’s always iMovie, which is free, or third-party apps like CapCut.

The iPad is a solid gaming device. In fact, it’s in a better place than the Mac, not just from a volume perspective, but also thanks to a growing library of desktop-class games. Not always, of course; we’re stuck with Call of Duty Mobile on the iPad, not the real thing.

But games like Assassin’s Creed Mirage, Resident Evil Village and 7 Biohazard, and others are all available on the iPad, and having experienced Control Ultimate Edition on both my iPad Air and MacBook Air M3, I’m surprised to say the performance is superior on iPad. I play with an Xbox Wireless Controller, and it works fine wirelessly or via USB.

What’s lacking here is two-fold and intertwined: Unlike with Mac and Windows, there’s no real software development environment on the iPad, and you can’t, for example, create an iPad app on an iPad. That’s an artificial limitation: The M-series chips found in modern iPad Air and Pro models are absolutely powerful enough to support this type of thing, but Apple doesn’t allow it. What I’d like to see here as a semi-obvious next step after iPadOS 26 is Apple bringing the desktop version of Safari to the iPad, as Google does with Chrome in ChromeOS. Were it to do so, Microsoft could bring Visual Studio Code to the iPad, and that would solve the software development problem nicely. One can dream.

☁️ Services compatibility

The iPad has had a Files app for quite some time, and it’s extensible with support for third-party storage apps like OneDrive, Google Drive, and even Synology Drive. And each supports some version of a File On Demand-like functionality, meaning you can mark files and folders for offline use, though in some cases you need to trigger that from the service’s app. Whatever: This alone puts the iPad above Linux in what I think to be a key area, which is rather impressive.

👍 Conclusions (for now)

The iPad is surprisingly useful as a laptop, though many will need to fight through some user experience differences and platform limitations, and experiment with apps. Going into this and holding up the iPad against the standard of a potential Windows switcher, I wasn’t expecting it to do as well as it did. Apple still has to take some additional steps to free the iPad from the remaining restrictions, of course, and it’s not clear they’ll ever do that. But even as it stands right now, the iPad is incredibly versatile, with a much simpler user experience than any desktop platform. For me, a bigger display is key, and I’d like to see something even bigger than the 13-inch models Apple offers with iPad Air and Pro. But it’s still so close.

Pros

✔️ Incredible versatility

✔️ Range of iPad models and first- and third-party keyboard accessories

✔️ Simple user experience

✔️ Deep developer support for apps, games, and services

✔️ Surprisingly broad productivity app coverage

Cons

❌ iPad is touch-first, which can make laptop use cases awkward

❌ Some edge use cases are problematic, like software development