iPad

My primary personal compute device is a 2021 12.9-inch iPad Pro with the Magic Keyboard attached. I will buy another setup just like this one when I have to. I have the Pencil too, but it gets very little use. And yet I expect to buy another one of them too when the time comes. It’s great for when you need precision inputs.

Why don’t I use a laptop?

I like the limits. You can’t do everything on it, and there are some things that are harder to do. That friction gives me a chance to consider if it’s something that I really want to be doing at that moment.

The singular focus design intent of the OS is a nice nudge to try and do only one thing at a time. I’m not saying it works perfectly, but I think it does vector in that direction.

The form factor is nice. Had it been still available I might have gotten an 11-inch Air. I guess I could get a Neo, but now a laptop feels too much like work. The iPad feels less earnest than a laptop, more playful. Serious enough to get some work done but not all business. I hope that’s not paper thin marketing but some real effect.

I guess I’m saying that I would rather use the least compute I can get away with to get done what needs doing. And because the iPad has more evident limits, choosing other options feels more real and present too. Options like paper, or talking to people, or getting outside.

jg