The iPad has been a big part of my life since the original launch in 2010, but it wasn’t until 2018—when Apple gave us what I consider the first “real” iPad Pro—that I started treating it like a computer. In this video I break down how my M4 iPad Pro basically manages my life day-to-day, and what I actually mean when I say “the iPad can be a laptop replacement.” For me, the iPad isn’t trying to be a desktop—it’s a notebook. A mobile computer. And it’s a pretty damn good one. I walk through my real workflow as a 24-year-old solo creator handling all my own admin: Word docs, PDFs, email, analytics, research, writing, and light creative work. The core apps are Things 3 (where I store my whole life), Spark for email organization, and iA Writer with dictation—then I’ll run the messy text through ChatGPT to clean it up. I also explain why I don’t use Stage Manager (I kind of hate it) and how split view + slide over keeps me focused. Then I get into the accessories that make the iPad click for me—especially the Magic Keyboard—plus how I use Sidecar and Screens 5 to pull my Mac Studio into the iPad when I need “real” desktop power.