Replacing laptop with iPad Pro

[Lcs_26]

Right now I have a DIY gaming desktop PC and a zenbook. Next year I will start university, so I will only be at home during weekends (I will stay at a flat in the city), therefore, I want to replace my current setup.

The idea is to buy an iPad (M1 12,9" 256gb) for class and multimedia (what I currently use my zenbook for) and a gaming laptop as a replacement for my desktop, for both gaming and windows-only programs that I might need at university.

The laptop would be bought during 2022 so I can buy something with Intel12 /AMD 6000, and the iPad maybe this Black Friday.

What do you think? Will the iPad be a good substitute for my zenbook? I don't use specific software, so I think I won't have problems

 

[Just_Me_D]

The iPad Pro with an Pencil along with your necessary apps should indeed suffice in my opinion.

 

[Annie_M]

I agree that you would be fine with an iPad Pro and Apple Pencil.

 

[Lcs_26]

For the moment I won't be buying the apple pencil, just the Magic Keyboard. Maybe in the future I will consider the pencil.

 

[Mars20]

It all depends on what you will be studying. The university may give you advice on which device would be the most suitable. I personally have found that an iPad Pro doesn’t adequately replace a MacBook. YMMV

 

[EdwinG]

It really depends on your degree and how you study/learn.

I personally use my iPad Air to take notes and do handwritten exercices in OneNote with my Apple Pencil.

But for my technological courses, I use my trusty 2016 MacBook Pro, because it needs the use of VMs or compiling software. I also use it to type the reports or work I need to hand in.

Also, check your university’s rules. For example, starting autumn 2022, my university will require current generation Intel laptops, with Nvidia GeForce RTX 3050s and Windows 10, blocking any Mac or iPad device.
It does mean that if you use a Mac, you’re on your own with a possibility of failing your course automatically if the tools the course needs do not work on the platform.

 

[Lcs_26]

It really depends on your degree and how you study/learn.

I personally use my iPad Air to take notes and do handwritten exercices in OneNote with my Apple Pencil.

But for my technological courses, I use my trusty 2016 MacBook Pro, because it needs the use of VMs or compiling software. I also use it to type the reports or work I need to hand in.

Also, check your university’s rules. For example, starting autumn 2022, my university will require current generation Intel laptops, with Nvidia GeForce RTX 3050s and Windows 10, blocking any Mac or iPad device.
It does mean that if you use a Mac, you’re on your own with a possibility of failing your course automatically if the tools the course needs do not work on the platform.

Now I'm in the year before university (IDK how you guys call it). I use my zenbook for school (mostly documents) and for multimedia, that's why I think the iPad will replace it successfully, also being more versatile for some use cases like being in the sofa.

I will be studying telecommunications engineering, so I will need to run VMs and IDEs. I'm sure I will need windows for that, that's why I will be replacing my desktop with a gaming laptop. Therefore, I will use the iPad for notes, documents, multimedia, and everything that doesn't require windows, and the gaming laptop for the stuff that requires windows, and for gaming.

Btw aren't those requirements a bit overkill? (Current gen Intel and 3050s)

 

[EdwinG]

Now I'm in the year before university (IDK how you guys call it). I use my zenbook for school (mostly documents) and for multimedia, that's why I think the iPad will replace it successfully, also being more versatile for some use cases like being in the sofa.

Around here, we call it "the last year of CÉGEP", but that's just us.

I will be studying telecommunications engineering, so I will need to run VMs and IDEs. I'm sure I will need windows for that, that's why I will be replacing my desktop with a gaming laptop. Therefore, I will use the iPad for notes, documents, multimedia, and everything that doesn't require windows, and the gaming laptop for the stuff that requires windows, and for gaming.

Makes sense. As long as you're comfortable with it, I don't see why it wouldn't work. You could even go with an iPad Air, and probably get through without too much hassle; I wouldn't worry about that

By the way, I'm studying ICT Engineering (aka IT Engineering), and I have been okay with my Mac for both VMs (using VMware Fusion), and IDEs (mostly the JetBrains IDEs, but also Visual Studio 2019 and Xcode). I had to use Windows 10 for exactly two courses, one because it used Win32 APIs in an Excel macro, and the other for IIS and ASP.Net.
But I don't play video games, so that's where it matched the user.

Btw aren't those requirements a bit overkill? (Current gen Intel and 3050s)

I agree. But I don't decide the rules. I have yet to run into a situation, in my courses, where the builtin Intel UHD Graphics are not enough.

I will continue with my 6th generation Intel MacBook Pro until it hits a wall.

 

[imwjl]

It appears the Zenbook is a general purpose Windows computer. Tablets can do a lot but not always what a desktop operating system can do. I/we can't know if you need features of a general purpose computer. At times even web-based apps can have mobile (tablet) browser compatibility issues more easily fixed with a general purpose computer.

Within the last year we got one batches of high end and basic iPads with keyboards. It all works well but some of us found it was cumbersome or a bother compared to a laptop. Everyone who got an M1 Air laptop has been happy while some of those iPads sit.

I can see gaming as a reason for an Intel-based laptop but having a premium Windows and M1 portable each, everything not an M1 MacBook seems annoying when I don't need that other compatibility.