IPad Purchase: Top Factors to Evaluate Before Making Your Decision

Quick Links

• What’s So Good About an iPad Anyway?
• Reasons Against Buying an iPad
• Will You Use an iPad?
• Picking the Right iPad

Key Takeaways

• An iPad is good for simple tasks, it’s easy to use, it’s great for media consumption, and makes for a great travel companion (and can even act as a second screen for your MacBook).
• The iPad lacks professional capabilities like Mac and Windows, has a far more limited operating system in terms of multitasking and professional tasks, and is stuck with whatever apps are in the App Store.
• Consider personal needs and uses before purchasing, make sure that your money isn’t better spent on a laptop instead.

So you’re thinking of buying an iPad. Or maybe you’re not. Perhaps you’re just wondering what you’d use an iPad for. Let’s take a look at whether there’s room for another slab of glass and aluminum in your life.

What’s So Good About an iPad Anyway?

The iPad is the world’s best-selling tablet, and its success has seen the term “iPad” applied to an entire genre of device. Most people don’t buy tablets, they buy iPads, and for good reason.

If you’re already feeling the allure of Apple’s tablet, you’re probably a good candidate for buying an iPad. Perhaps you’re the sort of person who would like an iPad to replace their computer entirely. You prefer the slimmer, lighter, and more portable form factor. You’re fine with the touch interface and a simplified software experience because you don’t use your computer for complex tasks anyway.

If all you need to do is browse the web, check your email, edit documents, and stay in contact with friends on social media, an iPad could be a viable replacement. If you aren’t tied to any mission-critical software or anything else you might need Windows or macOS for, what’s holding you back?

An iPad is essentially a big iPhone, and that’s not necessarily a bad thing. You probably already know how to use an iPhone, so the transition to iPadOS will be painless. The iPad is great for people who are tired of squinting at their smartphone’s small screen and want some room to breathe. Many app developers have iPad versions of existing iPhone apps that let you take advantage of a bigger screen or stylus to provide a more useful user experience.

Hannah Stryker / How-To Geek

This goes for Apple’s first-party apps too, like Notes and Mail. Touch-screen typing has never been a particularly enjoyable experience, but the iPad is arguably better than the iPhone in this regard. You can lay the tablet flat and type as you would on a keyboard with two hands, or use the split keyboard to type with your thumbs in portrait mode.

You can also connect an external keyboard or buy a case with an integrated keyboard and touchpad for an iPhone-beating typing experience (just be sure to factor the cost into your purchase price).

A bigger screen brings benefits to more than just the user interface. It’s better for watching movies, streaming from apps like YouTube and Netflix, or reading books. The iPad is also well-suited to creative endeavors like drawing, photo editing, video editing, and even music production .

You don’t even need to spend big on an Apple Pencil for a premium stylus experience anymore, there are plenty of cheaper third-party iPad styli that include features like palm rejection. Pair your iPad with a stylus and an app like Procreate and it’s a powerful graphics tablet, one which many illustrators and artists rely upon every day.

Reasons Against Buying an iPad

The iPad might not be the be-all and end-all device you wish it was. Sure, you could use an iPad to do some of the things you use a smartphone or computer for, but what exactly are you gaining? An iPad is effectively a big iPhone, after all, and that has its downsides too.

The iPad is a less portable version of your smartphone, but it doesn’t do an awful lot more than the iPhone (and the base models lack cellular connectivity). There are iPad-optimized apps and more screen real estate, but you’re still running a modified version of iOS. Though Apple has made some compelling improvements to iPadOS, it’s still a limited operating system when compared to macOS and Windows.

You can’t format a USB drive with your iPad, use a professional-grade video editor , or run virtual machines. You’re stuck with whatever’s on the App Store, and the rules by which those apps are bound. As an example, Apple charges far less for the iPad version of its top-tier video editor Final Cut Pro because it’s a less capable piece of software compared to the Mac version. The iPad has a Mac-like dock and drag and drop between apps, but you can still only effectively use two apps simultaneously, and tweaks to the way the system works are out.

Sergio Rodriguez / How-To Geek

Despite complaints about the “iOSification” of macOS over the past decade, the Mac is still a powerful desktop operating system. You can install window managers, filter network traffic, use third-party app launchers, vault the safety rails to run potentially harmful software, and many other things that aren’t possible on iPadOS.

You can do a lot more with a MacBook, assuming you need to. macOS is where the “professional” software is, like full-fat versions of Final Cut Pro and Photoshop. The form factor is arguably more productive, especially with a larger screen. You don’t get a rear-facing camera on a MacBook, but should you really be taking photos with a tablet anyway?

iPad models with enough grunt to rival a Mac are dangerously close to the MacBook Air’s price point. An iPad Pro 11-inch with a Magic Keyboard and 256GB storage costs more than a comparable new 13-inch MacBook Air with the same M2 chip, the same 256GB of storage, and a bigger 13-inch screen.

Will You Use an iPad?

Ultimately, a list of pros and cons is useless if it doesn’t take your personal preferences and situation into account. The most important criterion you need to meet before you spend a few hundred (or thousand) dollars on an iPad is what you will use it for. Is there an iPad-shaped hole in your life right now?

An iPad makes a solid shared computing experience. It’s a great gadget to leave on the coffee table or in the kitchen for controlling your smart home or following recipes. It can make travel more bearable, and act as a second (albeit smaller) screen for your Mac with SideCar .

Hannah Stryker / How-To Geek

But the iPad isn’t cheap, and if all you want is a device on which to watch YouTube and scroll Facebook then you might want to take a look at the world of cheaper Android tablets instead. They won’t slot into Apple’s ecosystem quite like the iPad does, but they’re a fraction of the price.

Fortunately, Apple has a 14-day return policy so if you buy from an Apple Store you can return your tablet within two weeks for a full refund. This is the best bet you have to find out if an iPad will fit neatly into your life, or whether it’s surplus to requirements.

Picking the Right iPad

There’s an iPad for every price point, starting from the budget (and kid) friendly standard iPad, right through to the pricey iPad Pro. The iPad Air sits neatly between these two, offering greater compatibility with accessories and a slightly more performant chip.

Check out our best iPad round-up to figure out which model is right for you.

Also read: