I got the beautiful, shiny new iPad Pro 11-inch (3rd Generation) about 6 months after its initial release in 2018 along with the corresponding Magic Keyboard case. I had quite a lot of aspirations to replace my laptop in many situations. The most promising was going to be travel. I was hoping to travel lighter and perhaps even leave a laptop behind on work trips.

Along with the rest of the community I quickly figured out that multitasking and the app ecosystem were not up to the task.

Around 2020, I did realize that I loved doing 3D design on my iPad using Shaper3D. I got a 3D printer and wanted to make sure it wasn’t another reason to spend time at a computer. Three years later, I’ve designed hundreds of models sitting on my couch while hanging out with Kaylin and watching shows. This has been a bright spot in my iPad usage.

Earlier this year I upgraded to the M1 iPad Pro model. It’s so much faster (and enables even more complex 3D work). It’s still bad at a lot of things.

I was recently describing my iPad usage to a friend and the reason I love this device finally clicked: it’s not a computer.

Single tasking. 3D creative work. Mindless scrolling on Reddit. Watching YouTube. Archiving email. Organizing Todo’s in Things and Reminders. All the “little” stuff that I want to do on the couch, all with the ease and joy of using a keyboard, trackpad and Apple Pencil.

This is a remarkable, weird little super computer. I still am figuring it out, but I like it. I think.

Oh, and this blog has been entirely written on the iPad Pro.