A Week with iPad Air M4 – Replacing my MacBook. — Transcript

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1. 0:06For the next seven days, I am going to work  entirely from an iPad. Everything I do, work,
2. 0:11editing, design, file management has to happen  on this. This is Apple's new M4 iPad Air. And on
3. 0:18paper, it's powerful enough to replace a MacBook.  But after using it for a week, I didn't expect
4. 0:24this. Some things felt incredible on the iPad and  others completely broke my workflow. If you're
5. 0:30someone like a student or working full-time and  you're, you know, sick of carrying a big laptop
6. 0:35everywhere, let's see if this M4 iPad Air can do  it all instead. But first, we need to unbox it.
7. 0:47So, out of the box, it looks exactly the same as  it did 4 years ago. But hey, it's still a great
8. 0:52design: paper-thin and lightweight. Plus, the 13"  variant here gives me a lot of screen estate to
9. 0:57work with. I also bought the new updated Magic  Keyboard to go with it, a must if you're going
10. 1:02to be maining this iPad. But that's until I  realized I was an absolute idiot and bought
11. 1:07the wrong 11in size. So, yeah, I guess the  trip back to the Apple store I go. All right,
12. 1:13guys. We finally got the bag. Took way longer  than I thought. It's really busy because of
13. 1:17the Neo release, but yeah, we've got the bag now.  Let's get going with the setup for the iPad. So,
14. 1:23finally back at home after the detour, I got  back to setting it up. I'm setting this up as
15. 1:28a fresh iPad. So, once I was through with  the initial setup, I began installing all
16. 1:32the apps I rely on every day. And this is the  overall home screen and lock screen setup that
17. 1:38I've settled on with all the essential apps  I'll be using for the week. I think it looks
18. 1:42pretty decent if you ask me. And now, let's  put it through its paces in the week ahead.
19. 1:50On the first day with it, I was out most of the  day working on the iPad in between tennis, meeting
20. 1:55with friends, and running errands. So, I was  loving the portability that day. But what actually
21. 2:00surprised me was iPad OS 26. At first, I genuinely  wanted to quit and go back to my MacBook with
22. 2:08Finder, a desktop, and all my folders. But after a  few hours, something just clicked. Once I got used
23. 2:15to all the gestures and shortcuts, multitasking  actually became kind of second nature, I found
24. 2:21myself using stage manager and split screen view  a lot and just generally swiping between windows
25. 2:27quickly and easily. And this is where the iPad  still wins, that touchscreen. It just feels more
26. 2:34natural. And honestly, this is the closest thing  we have to a touchscreen MacBook right now. But
27. 2:39there's definitely a learning curve to getting  used to iPad OS. And I'd be lying if I said it's
28. 2:44perfect. For example, in split view, parts of the  UI can get cut off, like certain buttons or menus
29. 2:50just aren't accessible unless you full-screen  the app, which is pretty inconvenient when you're
30. 2:55mid-task. But hang on, what if I hook it up to a  studio display monitor in a dedicated desk setup?
31. 3:02Maybe this is where I can properly push the M4  chip. And this is where I thought the iPad would
32. 3:08either prove itself or completely fall apart with  my workflow. So, first I ran a couple of benchmark
33. 3:15tests just to get an idea of its performance. And  as expected, the numbers are seriously impressive
34. 3:21for something this thin. We're talking performance  that's now very close to what you'd expect from
35. 3:26many modern mid to high-end laptops. The jump  in memory on the M4 iPad Air up to 12 GB from
36. 3:338 GB also helps drastically. So, clearly the  real challenge here isn't raw performance. it's
37. 3:39actually whether iPad OS and the apps can actually  keep up with the hardware. And that's kind of
38. 3:46where things started to get interesting. So, I  got to using Final Cut Pro, which by the way,
39. 3:51I was disappointed to find out that it is actually  a subscription app because apparently buying
40. 3:56it once wasn't enough. But hey, what's one more  subscription at this point, right? To the M4 iPad
41. 4:03Air's credit, scrubbing through 4K footage was  smooth. cutting clips, adding transitions, basic
42. 4:08color adjustments, all felt fast and responsive.  So, for quick edits, social content, rough cuts,
43. 4:14even YouTube timelines, this is way more capable  than I expected. The export times on the 4K files
44. 4:21were also MacBook level fast. On average, the  same 10-minute 4K video took roughly 8 minutes
45. 4:27to export, whereas the M4 MacBook Air was a couple  of minutes faster, likely because the MacBook has
46. 4:34larger thermal headroom, whereas the iPad is well  a tablet. And here's what I quickly realized. The
47. 4:41problem again isn't the hardware, it is iPad OS.  Sure, I can get simple edits done, but I had to
48. 4:48postpone my bigger, more complicated edits this  week because many plugins aren't supported and
49. 4:54tools like object tracking are missing. So,  as much as I actually love how minimal the
50. 5:00whole studio display with the iPad setup is, the  software just doesn't let the whole setup shine.
51. 5:05And it's sort of like putting a sports car in  peakout traffic. Technically, you know, it's
52. 5:10doing everything you ask of it, but, you know,  it's built for something way more fluid, way more
53. 5:15flexible out on the open roads. And that's exactly  how I felt about the iPad Air in this setup.
54. 5:24But iPad Airs aren't meant to be docked. They're  meant to be used on the go, which leads me to what
55. 5:29I loved about the iPad Air. Firstly, and most  obviously, its versatility and form factor.
56. 5:35Because it's so thin, I found myself using it in  more places than I ever would with a MacBook. From
57. 5:41a library to the cafes to park benches or even  under a tree in a beautiful sunny day. Then as
58. 5:47soon as I needed to lock in and get work done,  I'll just snap on the keyboard and essentially
59. 5:52become a laptop. And I might be strange, but  personally, I find the iPad keyboard so satisfying
60. 5:58to use. Maybe even more so than the MacBook's  Magic Keyboard. Something about it being so flat,
61. 6:05close to the table surface, and its low-key travel  distance all feels very satisfying to type on.
62. 6:14Another win is the N1 wireless chip along with  the C1X modem for cellular models. This basically
63. 6:21means faster Wi-Fi, better connectivity, and  more stable performance when you're working
64. 6:25remotely or, you know, uploading files on the  go. So, it's all optimized for the portable go
65. 6:31wherever type experience. On the iPad, you've got  access to apps that just don't exist on Mac in the
66. 6:36same way. Things like Netflix, Disney Plus, even  YouTube, where you can download content offline
67. 6:42and just take it with you. And paired with the  touchscreen, it makes the whole experience feel
68. 6:48way more natural and flexible, especially when  you're just relaxing or, you know, kicking back
69. 6:52and consuming some content. But at the same  time, this is where the trade-offs start to
70. 6:58show because if you compare this to something like  a MacBook Air or even something like the $600 Neo,
71. 7:04you've already got the keyboard built in. It's way  more comfortable to type on in bed or for longer
72. 7:10sessions, and you're getting the full Mac OS  experience with the full proper apps and programs
73. 7:16that just don't exist on the iPad. So, that brings  me on to what I didn't like about the iPad Air of
74. 7:23the week. It's not one big problem. It's death by  a thousand small inconveniences. And first off is
75. 7:29again iPad OS itself. As much as I appreciate its  simplicity, it just doesn't take advantage of the
76. 7:37M4 chip's power. Like I mentioned earlier, most  of the apps like Final Cut Pro or Adobe Photoshop,
77. 7:43Illustrator, and even Microsoft Excel are missing  advanced formulas, plugins, and certain features.
78. 7:50So, if you're used to doing work on a Mac like I  am, you'll notice the watered-down app versions.
79. 7:56And so, that leads me onto the hardware side of  things outside of the M4 chip because it's not
80. 8:01bad, but it also hasn't really moved forward in  the ways that matter and has basically remained
81. 8:07the same. So, for example, the cameras, you  know, they have been the same for years. The
82. 8:12display is also still 60 Hz and that 600 nits  peak brightness really struggles outdoors.
83. 8:18None of these are deal breakers on their  own, but over the course of a full week,
84. 8:23they stack up. And that's why I kept having this  thought, dang, this would be so much easier on a
85. 8:29MacBook. I constantly had that thought throughout  the week. And I think that's the core issue with
86. 8:34the iPad right now. Whether it's an iPad Pro  or iPad Air, they're both incredibly powerful,
87. 8:40convenient, and portable, but you're constantly  working around it because of iPad OS. We've also
88. 8:46got to talk about battery life on the new M4  iPad Air. On paper, Apple still claims around 10
89. 8:52hours of usage, which sounds solid, and in lighter  mixed use, like watching videos, browsing, emails,
90. 8:58it does get pretty close to that. But in my  experience, using all sorts of apps at 80 to 90%
91. 9:03screen brightness. I was getting closer to like  6 to 8 hours of real world use, which isn't bad,
92. 9:09but it's also not particularly impressive anymore.  So, this iPad now has M4 level performance,
93. 9:15but the battery life hasn't really moved forward  at all. If anything, it feels very similar or even
94. 9:21slightly behind previous generations. So, what  you end up with is a really powerful device that
95. 9:28doesn't necessarily last longer than before.  It'll still get you through most of a day,
96. 9:33but if you're planning to actually push this  thing the way the M4 chip suggests you can, you're
97. 9:38probably going to be reaching for the charger more  than you expect, like I did throughout the week.
98. 9:46Truthfully, it's just not able to replace my  MacBook. But it did change how I think about
99. 9:52where and how I work because what the iPad does  really well is simplicity. I think iPad OS forces
100. 9:59you into a more focused, intentional workflow.  You're not just juggling 10 windows. You're just
101. 10:05doing one thing properly. And whether or not  it works for you depends on how much you work,
102. 10:11what type of work you do, and how much  you're willing to adapt as well. So,
103. 10:15an iPad changes the experience. It feels less  like a work machine and more like something that
104. 10:21fits into your life on a plane, at a cafe, on the  couch, in the park. It's a device you want to pick
105. 10:28up and interact with. But unfortunately, that  same simplicity is also its limitation because
106. 10:34every moment my work gets even slightly complex  this week, I felt it. And that's when I kept
107. 10:40having the same thought all week, this would have  been easier on my MacBook Air or even honestly,
108. 10:46the MacBook Neo. So instead of replacing my Mac,  the iPad became a companion. It's where I plan and
109. 10:53write and sketch ideas and then move to a proper  machine to finish the job. And then there's the
110. 11:00pricing, too. Because here's the biggest dilemma.  Once you kit it out with the keyboard and Apple
111. 11:05Pencil, and more storage, you're looking at a  price tag higher than the new M5 MacBook Air,
112. 11:12which already comes with 512 GB storage out of the  box. Heck, you could get more workflow flexibility
113. 11:17on the $600 MacBook Neo and sacrifice little.  So, don't get me wrong, I love the iPad Air,
114. 11:24but I just wish that Apple would evolve iPad OS  into something closer to like Mac OS Light because
115. 11:32the hardware is already there. We all know that  the M4, the performance, the design, it's more
116. 11:38than capable. It's just being held back by the  software. Think something like Microsoft Surface
117. 11:44Pro, which runs Windows 11. That's an incredible  device and I was able to get my full workflow done
118. 11:50on that tablet. But if you value portability,  flexibility, and a more lifestyle-driven
119. 11:56experience, the iPad Air might actually be the  better choice. And that's why this decision,
120. 12:01I think, is so personal because for some people,  the iPad is freeing and for others is limiting.
121. 12:08So maybe the real answer isn't iPad or MacBook,  it's iPad and MacBook. But hey, I'm curious. Could
122. 12:16you actually replace your laptop with an iPad  Air or not? And for the iPad owners out there,
123. 12:22where does it sit in your life? And how do you  use it? If you enjoyed this review, drop a like
124. 12:27and subscribe for more. You want to catch my  review on the Microsoft Surface here, too. It's
125. 12:32an incredible device that runs Windows 11 instead.  Thanks for watching, and I'll see you in the next