Can man live by iPad alone?

Could you really ditch your Mac in favor of Apple's tablet?

- DAVID CROOKES

WHEN I PURCHASED my most recent iPad Air, I always envisioned that it would be used in various ways. It's why I also bought a Smart Keyboard Folio a device that has since been replaced by the superior Magic Keyboard Folio with its extra line of function keys and a trackpad - along with an Apple Pencil. This was going to be an iPad used for work, creativity, and entertainment.

Yet, I admit that I haven't really got stuck into the work side of things using an iPad. I tend to use a MacBook on my travels and a Mac mini in the office, so ditching both for a full week did fill me with some trepidation. Would it slow me down? Would I become frustrated if key features that power me through the week are missing? But then I remembered Apple's tagline for iPadOS 26 - “Work. Flows.”

MONDAY

The idea here was that I wouldn't touch my Mac for a week, so I needed to ensure I had my important files to hand. This was as simple as firing up the Mac and going to Apple menu > System Settings > [username] > iCloud > See All, at which point I could use the toggles to sync apps such as Pages and Numbers. I also clicked iCloud Drive and made sure that “Sync this Mac” and “Desktop & Documents Folders” were active. Next, on the iPad, I opened Settings, selected my [username] > iCloud > iCloud Drive, and ensured everything I needed was synced there, too.

With the Mac powered down, I decided to write this article using Pages and take advantage of the changes made with iPadOS 26. I liked the idea of the new Screen View that strips away distractions, such as page count and numbers, although I did choose to add the Word Count tool.

I normally use LibreOffice on the Mac, and found a relatively blank screen to be motivating and focused. Yet, I found myself working slower; the keyboard, while feeling like a Mac laptop's, is a little too cramped for me. That's to be expected, given its size, but I made more typos than usual.