IPads will never be the mac with touch screen you want

Until Apple officially announces a MacBook with a screen you can press and slide, the iPad will remain one and only Apple touch screen. For 15 years, the iPad was forced by Apple’s old understanding of who uses tablets and why. The iPados 26 modify everything, with the exception of the limitations imposed by the equipment itself. Even with layers in layers with easy tiles to present all your applications at a time, it cannot replace your Mac, the touch screen or not. But don’t worry. The iPad was a functional secondary workhorse before updating. Now this can be your go-to when the Mac will not cut it.

A more glazer and more classy iPad

Apple has taken its sweet time to reach this point. If you want to remember, the first iPad was launched in 2010. Ancient versions of iPados relied on the understanding that the screens were too small to have more than two applications operating at the same time. The use of Split View of the release in 2015 of iOS 9 (the software was not renamed iPados in 2019) finally led to the introduction of the stage manager in 2022, which created a carousel to quickly exchange between applications. Even if the iPads received M Files M and won the first major OLED screens from Apple, the tablet was left like its own ecosystem, better described as an iPhone on the big screen. Apple has put more emphasis on the chips contained inside the iPads, with the iPad Pro M4 2024 and the iPad Pro M5 descending. If the devices are close to the performance at the laptop, should they not be able to manage tasks at the laptop?

The iPados 26 are the highest software of options for iPads to date. The first thing you will notice is the update of the liquid glass look. Love it or hate it, the transparent and superimposed effect is not as intrusive on iPad as on iPhone. For the sake of conviviality, you can now slide up from the bottom of the screen to see all your open applications and application combos. Compared to before, you can now have as many applications seated on each other as you wish. The menu bar now slides at the top of the screen to access the application settings. You can either start an application on each side of the screen when you want them side by side. Apple has also brought the filling and arrangement function to Mac, which allows you to easily caster the applications in three rectangles or a 4 x 4 grid.

The new user interface grants many more options to be flexible with a trailer iPad. For example, your downloads are now accessible from the home station by pressing an Arrow button. The iPhone and iPad now have access to the overview, which means that you will have a quick and dirty way to mark PDF (even easier with Apple Crayer support).

Even a 13 -inch iPad will be forced by the large glasses and rounded corners. Fewbly applications maintain this same rounded look, which leaves precious property unusable on most applications. The limited view is exacerbated by iPados 26, which always supports until an external screen. The new software update is still struggling to move Windows between the two screens. I encountered a painful problem where my chrome browser bounced between the iPad and my instructor, like the drunk app and could not find his way.

The multitasking is easier, but far from mac levels

Mobile applications are not designed in a way that makes them able to replace the rationalized versions on Mac. Take Google Docs, for example. The simple fact of defining your cursor in the right place or highlighting a few words in a sentence will make me fly my fists in a silent rage. The use of the magic keyboard accessory with the more sharp and more precise cursor does not always help either. And it is if you can get the applications you want on iPad. Remember that we did not have an official calculator application on Apple tablets before last year. It took until September 2025 to obtain an official Instagram application on iPad. There is no GeForce Now application for the streaming of games dedicated to iPad, which means that you are stuck with the browser version.

Apple applications can shrink to a fraction of the screen size and always remain functional. An application like the new game launcher will always allow you to scroll through your Apple arcade or your other games. This is a similar story with Apple Music, notes and many third -party applications that I tested, such as Slack, Google Docs, Instagram and YouTube. However, work on an iPad will feel more restrictive than any laptop, created in apple or other. Some applications do not allow you to resize them as you wish. Netflix, for example, wants to exist either in a thin and iPhone-esque appearance ratio or a larger screen to adapt to most of the laptop width. Applications like Netflix will not play well with Apple’s movie-to-to functionality either. Of course, things could always improve if and when the developers update their applications for better ipados 26 optimization.

Trying to transfer a display as small as 13 inch with large rounded glasses is not stellar, but let’s be honest, it is not much better on a 14 or 16 -inch laptop screen either. External monitor restrictions, not to mention the lack of ports, will be what will prevent most users from claiming that their iPad can be their main workstation. So maybe you shouldn’t treat the iPad as your one and only computer.

What is the iPad so good at the moment?

The iPad Pro with M4 was more powerful than it should be, given the limits of the iPados. Now that users are free to maneuver their applications, this power can improve the versatility of the execution of several applications – plus my normal chrome tabs 20+ – at once. I normally work on a MacBook Pro screen connected to a 34 -inch ultraid monitor. The iPad is a third screen perfect for me and my work habits. It is a personal device, which is ideal for showing my social flows. This and the beautiful tandem display of the iPad Pro are my only distractions of the work chore. I don’t want it to be my work device.

We are waiting for years for the MacBook OLED with a touch screen, so long that it makes us imagine that Apple would have transformed its ipads into a device of the Microsoft Surface Pro type. But Apple hated this idea. Apple CEO, Tim Cook, clearly said in 2012 when he said: “The products concern compromises, and you are starting to compromise to the point where you have not pleads to anyone … You can converge a toaster and a refrigerator, but these things will probably not be pleasant to the user.” The iPad has not been designed to be your only device. It’s too specialized for that. Now, with iPados 26, it’s just a better tablet.