Apple Doesn't Make an iPad for Me
I’m frustrated with Apple’s current iPad lineup because there isn’t a good replacement for my aging 2018 iPad Pro. While the newer models have expensive accessories and better chips, they neglect the features that matter most to me—like the display and audio.
I’m still using the 11-inch iPad Pro from 2018, and it’s great. Yes, it’s showing its age a little bit: the transitions aren’t as smooth, and the battery life is getting worse. Considering its age, it’s still a fantastic device.
But worst of all, Apple doesn’t have anything I can reasonably replace it with.
I was reading the review of the latest iPad mini on The Verge and it’s just sad. Yes, it’s half the price, but it’s built on outdated hardware and has a terrible screen. The new Pro with M4 is good, but if you want a keyboard, your only first-party option is a $300 Magic Keyboard. I vastly preferred the old Smart Keyboard. It was much lighter and cheaper. Basically, a cover that you can use to type if you have to. The new Magic Keyboard turns your iPad into a heavy laptop. And despite all of this, it’s still made out of this polyurethane that looks terrible in a couple of years.
I don’t really want to spend $1300 on a device I mostly use to watch YouTube and read saved articles.
And you could say that I should compromise. Technically, iPad Air is there for $600. But the bezels are still worse than on my device from six years ago. And the screen is 60Hz, which I do notice quite a lot, since we have one of these at home. iOS is no longer built for this. So if I upgrade, I’d actually downgrade.
Tim Cook says that he uses an iPad as his main computer. This makes sense because he falls exactly into one of three categories I outlined here. For most people, it’s a media consumption device. But for many years, Apple has been neglecting this obvious use case.
I bought the iPad Pro back in 2018 because it was the first one with proper stereo audio with four speakers. Which was quite neat for all the video-watching. And that was going on for years! Why lock proper sound behind the more expensive “Pro” devices? What’s Pro about it?
We went over this hump, now it’s the screen. I don’t believe all users need a pencil and a keyboard with a trackpad. But both the screen and the sound are paramount to the iPad’s primary use case.
And while I do want to update, I find it crazy to spend so much money on an iPad I can’t use for most things, because iPadOS just isn’t there.
