Can the iPad on a Desk Setup Replace Your Desktop Computer? (Office 365, Coding & Note Taking)

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Just like any computer an iPad genuinely allows you to connect peripherals, things than sustain a desktop replacement including having a proper set of speakers on your setup.

You can connect it to:     –    A monitor,

• A dedicated stand to put the tablet on the desk,
• Connect a keyboard
• A mouse
• Magic trackpad 2 to iPad.
• A proper hub.
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The Magic trackpad 2 to iPad helps to mimic proper IO functionality.

The hub does not really need to be a dongle, you can connect a Cal digit. A hub offers a variety of ports.

A thunderbolt, a dock or a hub can only work on iPads that support it.

It is a fun connecting loads of peripherals.

Navigating files for all of your storage devices is not as easy as a laptop or a desk top. This is because files is just an app for storing files not a system file management.

This is due to lack of a command line interface as we do on desktop computers.

The iPad opens up really quickly, it gets you up and running as opposed to a laptop or a desktop.

There is no need to worry about thermals and heat dissipation when putting it in bag. You don’t really need to close your apps; you can leave it on

Most of their lineup is equipped with M1 and 8GB of RAM.

iPad OS can handle a fair number of applications running in the background.

The iPad is a great device for teachers.

All of their files can be accessed via cloud storage system like one drive.

It runs everything they need; it is easier to sign a form, check a calendar, mark a students work or reply an email.

For students, with the iPad you can use note-taking apps like notability or good notes to take notes.

Pairing you iPad with a paper like sheet and using their pencil grip on your pen can level up you note taking experience as it is able to transform the iPad’s 60Hz LCD display and a pro motion display to mimic the feel of paper and sound.

You can sign project sheets and contribute to google doc projects using the iPad.

A computer cannot deliver this sort of things.

But at the end of the day the iPad is only a tablet that only delivers basic functionality.

One thing admirable in an iPad is Google docs.

It is a web-based stand-alone app withing the Appstore.

It is not laggy

Has the tools you need for a shared project for school

Office 365 apps are available, only that they are clunky. Their suits open extremely fast on iPad OS.

It allows for multitasking.

You can move your office app over an open word. Like a desktop, the middle bar allows you to drag and resize the windows.

You can open up multiple word files at the same time, have them side by side or even in other instances have them running in the background.

 The app shelf helps you manage them. It stacks your current software instances and only appears when you hidden windows of the same program running in the background.

Just like the desktop, some apps like the Adobe Creative Suite wont even allow you to multiple instances.

Excel delivers the basics, downloading a sheet online is supper easy and integrates well with the app when opening it.

The cursor supports works.

You can highlight words, format text, add shapes, add text boxes and even write with a pencil.

Excel formulas can also be used.

Holding command reveals a list of shortcuts you can use on the app.

the app dies If you dive into programming your own formulas and creating code snippets with VBA and Complex Charts.

With the excel you can use plugins or even use macro scripting.

PowerPoint is only used to review not to edit. Editing on it is such a bad experience.

Outlook themes and OneNote are the strongest experiences on iPad.

Outlook does what you want it to do and themes in OneNote are excellent.  

OneNote makes total sense since note taking and drawing is the iPads strongest selling point unlike coding.

VS Code recently launched a web app project on vscode.dev.

While it is fine, you cannot build a proper project on it.

It is essentially a text editor that can allow you to bring in your work from a repo that can sync your current desktop extensions.

A full dev environment is not possible. Mainly the terminal is not available on the iPad.

It goes too far some desktop extensions like C+ wont work on iPad.

For this, coding is not possible with the iPad

The iPads can game.

You can use a controller to play games.

You can connect to the Apple Studio display and it delivers enjoyable gaming experience.

You can connect your Xbox account to the iPad which allows you to game on their hosted machines. You get access to their huge games library and your progress get saved in the cloud.

Conclusion:

The iPad is all about delivering basic and simple functionality, it struggles with more complex tasks.

In gaming, for the most part the iPad can replace an Apple device but definitely not a windows computer.

The ability to code and compile and manage your files through a complete file manager and being able to SSH into other devices is not possible, therefore for professional use, the iPads are extremely limited.

It is hard to justify the laptop and desktop replacement.