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Comment by auslegung | Hacker News Reader

I’ve never understood the appeal to use an iPad over a MacBook Air for anything at all ever, but especially for this use case. So obviously I’m not the target market for a tablet. But could you help me understand what you would like about using an iPad over an Air for what you’ve described?

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I have a 15" Macbook Pro, so Air / iPad Pro will be in addition to MBP. The iPad Pro appeals to me on 4 (or 3.5) points:

1) As a reader I don't read that much to justify a separate ebook device. I am cautiously optimistic about iPad Pro for documents / articles / papers etc. Also highlighting with pencil.

2) Split Keyboard. Air will force me to use regular keyboard, and I will get RSI after long typing sessions. I think iPad Pro + Dock + small ergo keyboard will be about the same weight as Air.

3) Sketching, drawing, highlighting (via Pencil). Seems nice to have the alternative way of input/draw things / diagram stuff. Also promising for PDF annotation etc.

4) Form factor, seems like it's easier to take iPad Pro to the park to read/ browse / check emails. Not entirely sure about this point though.

Reading and highlighting is definitely much better on an iPad than a laptop. Writing and web browsing can also be great. Since you already have a laptop, maybe take a look at the iPad Air instead of the Pro, it still supports the Pencil and external devices and USB-C, if you don’t need the power or the 13” display. As others have mentioned, coding on the iPad is really not feasible without some hacky setup (remote dev environments).

I can understand using the pencil, my wife has an iPad with a pencil and it’s fun to play with sometimes.

Thanks for explaining. I come down on the other side of all your points, but I can see why you would consider an iPad over an Air.

My iPad Pro with the keyboard case feels heavier and bulkier than my Lenovo x280

Most applications are better on the iPad and the user experience is improved a lot thanks to the touchscreen and a better window management of the operating system notably.

It's a shame you can't develop on the iPad or run a web browser that is not Safari or Safari with a wig.

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