Should I switch from iPad to a Windows laptop instead of a MacBook?

gulmatan wrote:

10–Even with at minimum 128GB of RAM, an iPad could afford the room of a full version of a user’s choice of Apple, Google, and Microsoft Office suite apps or even all three suites installed.

No iPad comes with 128 GB of RAM.

Current iPads come with anywhere from 6 GB of RAM (A16 iPad) to 16 GB of RAM (M5 iPad Pro, when ordered with at least 1 TB of storage). Many older iPads have less.

Servant of Cats wrote:

gulmatan wrote:

10–Even with at minimum 128GB of RAM, an iPad could afford the room of a full version of a user’s choice of Apple, Google, and Microsoft Office suite apps or even all three suites installed.

No iPad comes with 128 GB of RAM.

Current iPads come with anywhere from 6 GB of RAM (A16 iPad) to 16 GB of RAM (M5 iPad Pro, when ordered with at least 1 TB of storage). Many older iPads have less.

That was likely intended to reference main storage (flash; persistent), and not main memory (RAM; non-persistent).

128 GB main storage is workable but becoming fairly constrained in the Apple universe. This whatever a particular computer system happens to use for persistent storage, whether flash / SSD / NVMe / HDD / etc.

128 GB main memory RAM is both comparatively large for most home systems, and is also going to be quite the expensive upgrade at current DDR5 and LPDDR5 prices.

Neither main memory RAM nor main storage is upgradable with any iPad.

gulmatan wrote:

How does a Windows laptop compare to a Surface? Is a Windows laptop the next level above a Surface model?

There are undoubtedly better forums for assistance with choosing Windows hardware than will be these Apple forums.

Whether that is a desktop or all-in-one, Yoga or other convertibles, traditional laptop, tablet etc.; for information on Surface Pro, Surface Laptop with Arm or Intel x86-64, and third-party laptops or convertibles with Intel x86-64 and AMD x86-64 processors, too.

A laptop with an integrated keyboard is a likely choice, and whether you want to pay extra for (and presumably then use) a Surface or third-party touch screen model is a matter for consideration.

Same for selecting and adding a digitizer or other add-on hardware.

Probably not seeking to use Windows on Arm here either, though both Arm and Intel x86-64 are processor choices with various Microsoft Surface products.

A web search for Best Windows Laptop or such will find you various comparison lists to review and consider.

not sure what you attempt to accomplish here

these forums are user helping other users like yourself, it's sort of going

to a physical apple store and asking other customers their advice

This is a user helping users with tech questions forum, we are not apple

and apple do not read your posts here

we can't know for sure if apple will monitor your post here, and not sure how many of us users will get that upset if you get a windows or linux computer to replace your ipad.

if you wish to send a signal to apple with this

use their feedback channel

Product Feedback - Apple

or reach out to their official support channels to inform them

Get Support (apple.com)

And or

Contact - Official Apple Support

And or

Contact - How to Contact Us - Apple

gulmatan wrote:

Irdis Seabright, I’ve toured the Microsoft Store’s website. Looking at the Surface and Surface Pro, their specs and descriptions point out that they run a full version of Windows. Although they have support for tablet software, I would be using one as a Windows machine instead of a tablet. So, I don’t see your point that a Surface wouldn’t suit my needs.

If you've done your research and you think it meets your needs, then you should consider it.

gulmatan wrote:

Irdis Seabright, I’ve toured the Microsoft Store’s website. Looking at the Surface and Surface Pro, their specs and descriptions point out that they run a full version of Windows. Although they have support for tablet software, I would be using one as a Windows machine instead of a tablet. So, I don’t see your point that a Surface wouldn’t suit my needs.

Other than the whole Arm AArch64 versus Intel x86-64 discussion, sure.

gulmatan wrote:

The Surface specs that I'm reading note that they run Windows 11. If so how am I getting a tablet OS instead of Windows?

If you've done your research and you think the Surface meets your needs, then you should consider it.

gulmatan wrote:

But, that's the point. I'm asking Apple users so that I can obtain answers directly related to iPad and MacBook as they compare to Surface or even Windows laptops.

In order to gauge if keeping with the Apple system (either Mac/MacOS and iPad/iPadOS) is beneficial, I should think that I should at least get Apple users' side of the comparison. Then do the same with Windows/Surface owners and users.

You've already made it quite clear that you think Macs are not "serious" computers. Your mind appears to be made up. I don't think anyone here is interested in trying to argue you out of that position. I don't feel any need to "defend" Apple. I don't care what you buy.

gulmatan wrote:

Wait a minute. Now I'm confused. In 2017 I bought an iPad Pro with 256GB of RAM. in August of 2024 I bought an iPad Air M2 with 256GB of RAM. So, if, as you say, iPads only come with between six to 16GB of RAM what am I getting 256GB of?

You are confusing RAM (working memory) with storage (where you keep your files).

gulmatan wrote:

Wait a minute. Now I'm confused. In 2017 I bought an iPad Pro with 256GB of RAM. in August of 2024 I bought an iPad Air M2 with 256GB of RAM.

8 GB of RAM. See the Chip section of

iPad Air 11-inch (M2) - Tech Specs - Apple Support

iPad Air 13-inch (M2) - Tech Specs - Apple Support

Apple didn't advertise how much RAM was in iPads until they started putting M-series chips into some. But the MacTracker app lists the amount of RAM included in just about every iPad (and iPhone) ever built.

So, if, as you say, iPads only come with between six to 16GB of RAM what am I getting 256GB of?

Flash storage – for storing iPadOS, apps, and data, even when the iPad is shut off. You could purchase the M2 iPad Air with 128 GB, 256 GB, 512 GB, or 1 TB of storage (which the Tech Specs refer to as "Capacity").

IdrisSeabright wrote:

MrHoffman wrote:

If however you’re picking a computer for art or gravitas or other not-computing-tasks details...

Such as what they showed on Forensic Files.

Yep. As set decoration, yes. And payments for product placements can also be a thing.

More than a few of the media app displays shown are fake and “added in post”. Probably most. Some examples of the genre include the green-text hacker-typer displays and the internet hacking attack attribution maps (also known as “pew-pew” maps). Which can be amusing.

But as for the original poster, most folks aren’t looking for set decoration, green-text typer apps, or pew-pew maps. Most of us have tasks that involve apps.

MrHoffman wrote:

But as for the original poster, most folks aren’t looking for set decoration, green-text typer apps, or pew-pew maps. Most of us have tasks that involve apps.

It was a somewhat lame attempt at humor. There is (was) an earlier post in which the OP based some of their assessment of a Mac's capabilities on the fact that they'd never seen them on Forensic Files.

You're just lucky I didn't try to tell a joke.