Giving up on the iPad as a computer

The iPad is a great tool. I probably use it more than any other, for admin, email, web, and photo and video editing. The pencil is great, the screen is great, the size is great, and it’s easy to use sitting on the couch (possibly my main criteria at the moment).

I’ve really tried to use it for everything over the past year or so.

Most jobs it does with ease, even though both Photoshop and Capture One are hugely limited compared to the desktop versions. I don’t mind that. Lightroom is good, Pixelmator Photo is good and DaVinci Resolve is coming (although maybe only for the M1/M2 iPads).

I don’t mind that the multi-tasking is still awkward.

Only one usb-c port is a problem, but I can work around it. My ongoing issue is the Files app. It’s so fundamental for using the iPad as a computer, and seems to have got worse. The other night I was simply trying to copy photos from an SD card onto our wireless NAS drive. And it failed. Errored. Numerous times. Reboots, which occasionally fix the issue, made no difference. I had to give up and use an actual computer, which of course manages the task with ease as would any $300 PC or Chromebook. Or probably PC or Android tablet. And the iPad would too with a decent and reliable Files app. But it doesn’t.

Enough. It’s still a great machine, a powerful tablet. But too often it’s still just not a very good computer yet.