New generation iPad Pro vs. Macbook

Hello,

Computationally the iPad and MacBook both perform nearly the same. With iPadOS 13.4 iPad supports traditional mouse and keyboard interactions like the Macintosh. Adobe offers a stripped down version of Photoshop for iPad however there are many other better solutions like Affinity Photo, Affinity Designer. Microsoft also offers Microsoft Office for iPad. Magic Keyboard uses the same keyboard technology as the latest MacBook models. Magic Keyboard should last for many years. iPad also supports USB external storage devices, external displays, and many more accessories like Apple Pencil.

The biggest difference between an iPad Pro and a MacBook is that the MacBook runs traditional desktop software whereas iPad is thin and light, and can be detached from its keyboard and used as a tablet. iPad also runs cool and silent (with no fans) whereas the MacBook can run hot and a little noisy under heavy usage. iPad also has a higher resolution display with better color accuracy.

You may need to re-adapt some of your workflows although I am fairly certain the iPad Pro would suit your needs just fine. I personally use an iPad Pro as my main computer and I often use it with an external keyboard, trackpad, and display. For me the iPad is such a flexible computer that can be my desktop, laptop, and tablet. I also do all of my video editing and podcast production from my iPad. Worst case, you have 14 days to return any Apple product for a full refund.

An ipad is not and never will be a real computer replacement. It operates totally different from a computer. Computers have the ‘windows explorer’ or ‘finder’ to allow programs to communicate. The ipad lacks this. So often what you do is limited by whether or not apps can talk to each other.

iPads only natively print to air print enabled printers and the control is very limited. Macs will pretty much print to anything. (You can use an app to help with printing on an ipad)

There is a photoshop app - skinned down from the real program, but not in design. Office 365 has apps that you can subscribe to but they too are skinned down versions of the original programs with limited functionality.

I have no experience with the magic keyboard.

The ipad is more portable, but the MacBook is more functional and adaptable. Up to you to decide which gives you what you need

The main difference to me is that iOS/iPadOS is inherently not MacOS. MacOS is a posix Linux OS with preemptive multitasking, an open user accessible file system and numerous other features that iOS/iPadOS deliberately and inherently do not include (in order to enhance mobile device security).