Can an iPad do the same as a MacBook?

Photography is a very serious hobby of mine as well. You have asked a very good question. I use the M1 iPad Pro 12.9inch and also have a 2021 M1 Pro MacBook Pro 16inch. As you may know, iPadOS is just not macOS. If your editing is very light, then you will do fine with LightRoom for iPad. This app is a tad better than the Photos app that came with your iPad.

If you are doing some serious editing and love to edit photos captured in the RAW mode, then iPad is not going to do the job. For serious editing, you will need your MacBook with LightRoom and/or Photoshop etc. The latest iPads have the hardware to do a lot more than what the iPadOS allows.

The short answer to your question is that there is no iPad today that can do the same thing that a MacBook can do. This applies to photo and video editing as well among other things.

Axel F.

For iPad and iPadOS, look at Adobe Photoshop for iPadOS AND Affinity Photo for iPadOS.

Affinity Photo is, essaentially, the exact same on iOS/iPadOS,, Macs and Windows computers and has been around the longest on iOS/iPadOS devices.

An iPad and Mac are essentially different and complimentary tools. If you have both, you benefit from the strengths of both platforms. If you can only have one or other, a Mac may be the better choice for your needs. That said, the 2021 models of iPad Pro are real powerhouses that can outperform many PC/Mac computers.

As for photo editing, there are many software platforms from which to choose - of which Adobe Photoshop and Lightroom are but two. A useful professional alternative - considered by many to be a preferred option - is Affinity Photo:

https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/affinity-photo/id1117941080