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Struggling to make a decision, would love some input
I’m having some trouble deciding between the MacBook Air M1 and the iPad Air M1.
I am one lucky bastard with some awesome people surrounding me who decided to pool together some money to gift me a new device as a birthday present and these two are my options. I’ve been mulling about it these last few weeks, tomorrow we’re going to the store because it’s our last moment to use the ‘Back to School’ discount from Apple.
Currently I’m leaning towards the MacBook because it feels like a wiser choice, but oof I do really love the iPad and am excited about the new features iPadOS 16 will bring. I’m not studying anymore and am looking to find work so it’s hard to predict what my needs will be in the future. So if I look at what do I care about the most right now? Making music! Thanks to finding this awesome community last year I’ve been having so much fun and learning so much with my iPad. But having a new MacBook means I’d be able to dive into the desktop world as well and learn more about using a ‘proper’ DAW, which is something I’ve been wanting to do.
I struggle with staying concise and want to type a lot more, but I think it’s already getting a bit difficult to read so I’ll try to list some pro’s and con’s.
Macbook - Pro’s:
* Ability to use desktop DAW’s etc
* OS is more flexible/open for different use cases (for example unix/linux stuff and programming)
* Better battery life
* 2 USB-C ports and an AUX-port
* M1 means iPad apps, although that’s still very new so not everything works etc
* Can still use my iPad Air 2 in tandem (IDAM) which might fair better if I’m not using it as my main device anymore
Macbook - Con’s:
* Scared to damage the keyboard (my current sad MacBook has the butterfly keyboard, it’s unusable without putting a bluetooth keyboard on top which turns it into an incredibly awkward desktop basically)
* Less portable than the iPad
* Support for iPad apps is still very new and unclear what the future will bring
iPad - Pro’s:
* iPad apps and workflow
* Touchscreen and could get a stylus
* Very portable
* Less prone to damage and separate keyboard means easy to replace/change
iPad - Con’s:
* Only 1 USB-C port and no AUX port
* OS is more closed off, can still do pretty much everything but not as convenient and reliable as on macos
* It would be easier for me to save up for a new iPad in the future since the entry price is lower than the MacBook
Something to note is that whichever device gets replaced we’ll try to sell and put that in the ‘pool’, so new macbook means old macbook gone and new iPad means old iPad gone. I do think my old iPad is more usable than my old MacBook.
Oof this still ended up being a very long post, thank you so much for taking the time to read it!
I would really love some input, what are your experiences with these devices and how do you feel about workflow and what the move to M1 might bring in the future? Any thoughts or opinions are welcome, since no one around me is into music I’m very grateful to get some outside perspective onto things.
TL;DR: MacBook Air M1 or iPad Air M1, which would you choose/advice?
Comments
So you already have an IPad and a Mac? How old is your IPad ? I would kinda lean towards the Mac , depending on the specs personally. I’m on a 2020 IPad Pro and haven’t upgraded to an M1 IPad yet because I don’t feel like my IPad Pro isn’t powerful enough to handle what’s available app wise yet, and tbh I don’t feel like there’s a lot out there that really takes advantage of the power of the M1 IPads, and Apple themselves haven’t released one pro level app for their pro level IPads yet. Not that other developers aren’t giving us amazing pro levels apps but I feel like Apple is holding them back.
I started using the IPad in 2013ish and have bought a ton of apps and thought at some point the IPad would be the future of all my audio production needs but over the last couple of years gravitated back to my Mac, using my IPad more so to compliment what I do on my Mac , I love my IPad but I’m just more productive on my Mac, especially when it comes to IPad Daws vs Mac Daws. It was just a lot more trouble shooting and work arounds when dealing with IPad Daws. So yeah, I’d lean more towards getting the M1 Mac at THIS point.
Oh and one last thing, with Macs you aren’t forced to go thru the AppStore to buy all your apps.
Thank you!
Yes I already have both, the iPad is from 2014 (although I got it refurbished later) and macbook from 2016. There’s not a whole lot of difference between the mac and ipad specs wise due to having the same chip, so ports and battery life (and os) are the biggest differences all in favour of the mac. That’s a good point about iPadOS not really utilising the hardware to it’s full capabilities yet! And indeed Apple doesn’t seem to make it a very high priority, they’ll get there someday but who knows when.
Very insightful to read your experiences! I can imagine productivity being better on a mac. And not being forced to always go trough the appstore is definitely a plus.
I’d also go for the MacBook Air. It’s a surprisingly powerful laptop for such a light form factor. It should be able to handle most tasks you throw at it. Go to an Apple Store and test drive it.
I’d go for the MacBook as well.
I had the same questions recently and ended up with a Macbook Pro M1. I was coming from a 2015 Macbook Air, which is still working, still a decent computer, but I wanted more power to run new apps.
My iPad is a v3 Air with the touch screen issues. I badly wanted an iPad to be my main tool but lack of ports, lack of needed apps, and the claustrophobic nature of working on the iPad finally drove me back to the laptop. Even with the screen issues my iPad is best for my sketching hobby and is also great for surfing the internet and planning hiking and kayaking routes. Spacecraft rules and Streetlytron Pro is the best tron app I've got, but...
Too many simple things are difficult for me on the iPad, I spend too much time trying to get all the music apps working together. On the laptop I open Logic and I'm creating, I've yet to find an iPad DAW that I really like. Photography is another hobby of mine and the iPad just doesn't have the apps I need. I wish it did, ten years ago I thought by 2022 the iPad would be a real contender but I don't think it's designed to be. If it was, Apple wouldn't have gotten Macbook Pro money from me, they're not stupid.
My vote is for the Macbook Air.
recently bough Air M1 - super satisfied .. installed Logic and i would say for now, bye iPad :-)
I would go for the iPad, because its more FUN. Laptop will be a more smart choice tho..
This is actually very good argument.... Laptop is better if you want to do actually full mature production with accent in production details - i mean let's be honest, DAW like Logic simply isn't available on iPad.
On other side all kinds of touchscreen optimised apps available on iPad are a lot of fun, so it really depends on what kind of workflow you preffer ..
To simply things - notebook is more about making actually make things done (less fun, more "work"), where ipad is about making music, having fun.
Thank you so much for all the replies! I was already out the door so couldn’t take the time to reply yesterday but I did see the messages when I was sitting down for a bit in the store ^^
I decided to go for the Macbook! Set it up last night and transferred the data from my old one, that used to be quite smooth already but I was surprised how fast it went and didn’t even need to let it run overnight. To the great amusement of the people around me I was also utterly flabbergasted when I opened the Macbook and it magically turned on, appereantly that’s a thing now. No need to push the power button x’D
Indeed a good point! To be honest making things done is something I really need/want to work on, so I think I made a good choice in that regard! Lately I think my frustration with not being able to finish stuff has been taking away some of the fun on the iPad, mostly due to mental block and not the device itself though. But it might do me good to separate the ‘focus on finishing stuff’ and ‘have fun and improvise’ a bit by using the mac for the former and the iPad for the latter
At first I thought, “Oh no, not yet ANOTHER one of these threads again”…… But I’m glad I read on…This was a really great one ..and pertinent…Let’s not also forget that in 2022 a LOT has changed for iPad..Sylo, Scaler 2, the new Riffler…Not to mention what else is coming down the pike…