I used Apple's cheapest iPad instead of a laptop for a full workday. Here’s what I learnt
Using Apple’s cheapest iPad A16 with a Bluetooth keyboard and mouse for a full workday revealed its impressive screen clarity and decent performance, though memory limitations and app optimisation issues posed challenges, making it a viable but slower alternative to a laptop, especially for those prioritising portability. Picture: Michael Sherman/IOL
Image: Michael Sherman/IOL
A couple of weeks ago, I wrote a story about how Apple's cheapest iPad could replace your laptop, so on Tuesday, I decided to put my money where my mouth is.
Last month, Apple released its OS 26 across all its devices, which gave their tablets, phones, and laptops a more unified look. In addition to the visual improvements, huge refinements were made to the file handling and window resizing ability on iPad OS.
It meant the iPad became much closer in usability to that of a laptop.
Therefore, I decided to ditch my laptop for a full eight-hour workday and instead use my iPad A16—Apple’s cheapest iPad, which was launched earlier this year— with a Bluetooth keyboard and a mouse to see if I could get all my work done with the smaller device.
iPad Performance Review: Screen Clarity vs. Memory Limitations
Coming into this test, I thought the small 11 inch (10.9” actual size) screen of the iPad would be the biggest challenge, but that was not the case. Even though my main laptop is a 16” MacBook Pro, I didn’t battle with the iPad screen as its Liquid Retina display makes everything clear and easy to read.
What I did miss immediately, though, was the snappiness of my M1 MacBook Pro and its 16GB of unified memory. The A16 has just 6GB of unified memory, and it meant when I was switching between windows, I often had to wait while the apps had to refresh.
It was probably less than a second each time, but when you’re used to not waiting at all, it makes it seem like an eternity.
As I was mostly switching from my document editing app (Pages) and Google Chrome web browser, it still handled these tasks very well. Google Chrome, though, does not seem as well optimised for the iPad as there were a number of layout errors in my publishing platform website I use, which left me pretty frustrated.
iPad A16: A Decent Workstation with Portability as Its Biggest Selling Point
There’s also no Apple Intelligence on the iPad A16, so it meant I had to keep ChatGPT open to paste all my text in so I could get my work proofread.
Overall, though, it was a decent enough workstation, if you aren’t as picky as I am when it comes to your main workstation. Given the iPad starts at R7,699 at the iStore, it performs incredibly well for that price point.
My verdict? You can definitely use the iPad A16 as your main work device, but you have to be patient as some tasks will simply take a little longer. The portability of the device is the biggest selling point, and if that’s one of your main concerns, it’s worth trying out this setup.