I tried to replace my aging Pixelbook with an iPad on iPadOS 26; here's how it went
Oliver Cragg / Android Authority
It's been nine years since Apple released an ad for the 2016 iPad Pro, which asked, 'What is a computer?' That ad has been mocked ever since, as the iPad has always been seen as too compromised compared to a MacBook, Chromebook, or Windows laptop to serve as a full computer replacement for most people. However, iPadOS 26 brings some significant changes to the iPad, and I think it might be enough for the iPad to replace my aged Google Pixelbook.
So, I installed the iPadOS 26 developer build on my 2020 iPad Pro 11-inch. I know — it's the last iPad Pro to use an A-series Apple chip rather than an M-series, so it won't be lightning fast, especially on a developer build. However, I won't hold any lag against it here, as this iPad has always experienced issues in the first few betas but has always been perfectly smooth by the time the stable update is released. No, today we'll be evaluating the changes to iPadOS 26 to see if they're conducive to getting work done.
Proper Windows
Zac Kew-Denniss / Android Authority
Apple attempted to improve the multitasking experience on the iPad in 2022 by introducing Stage Manager, but it didn't make the kind of difference I needed. There was no easy way to snap windows together, and most of the time, my apps would overlap each other. All of that changes in iPadOS 26, which has overhauled everything to resemble macOS.
Each window features traffic light buttons, which minimize, maximize, or close the app. Long-pressing them displays a window-snapping menu with templates, allowing you to arrange your windows using the most common layouts. It's a massive improvement to the iPad experience, even on the 11-inch model I'm using. I split-screen and window apps on the 6.2-inch Galaxy S25, so I can get plenty done on this 11-inch iPad.
Zac Kew-Denniss / Android Authority
Another Mac-inspired addition is the menu bar, which you can summon from the top of the screen with a swipe or by nudging the cursor against the top edge. I've never used macOS, but from what I can tell, it has most of the same functionality, letting you perform certain tasks and actions within the app you're using. What I found most useful was using it to remind me which keyboard shortcuts are bound to certain functions. I was born and raised a Windows user, so getting used to new keyboard commands was a learning curve.
The mouse loses aim-assist
Zac Kew-Denniss / Android Authority
It's been five years since the iPad gained support for mice and trackpads, but it's only now that it's even remotely usable. In its first iteration, the cursor was just a dot that would automatically snap to the nearest icon. It was like playing a video game with aim-assist cranked too high, and it felt unnatural. The cursor would also disappear each time an icon was selected, with the chosen icon bouncing slightly to indicate that it'd been highlighted.
In iPadOS 26, we have a normal arrow as a cursor. It's as simple as that; the dot has become an arrow, and it moves where I want it to without infuriatingly snapping or turning invisible. On its own, this would have been enough for me to give using an iPad for work another try, but combining it with the changes made to window management, I got a fresh feeling operating system where mouse and keyboard support no longer feel like an afterthought.
Will I be working from an iPad?
Dhruv Bhutani / Android Authority
No, but I could. I know — I just sang the praises of how good iPadOS 26 is for stuff like this, and there's even more I didn't go into, like the fact the iPad version of Safari can handle Wordpress in a way Android's Chrome app can't, or that mobile Safari supports most of my extensions. The reason I won't be switching to the iPad for work, and still plan to buy a new laptop, comes down to pricing.
I love my iPad, but it's old. It can do everything I need it to when I use it as a tablet, but pushing it as hard as I did this week felt like too much. The A12Z Bionic and 6GB of RAM struggled to handle all my tabs, the 11-inch screen felt cramped, and the fact that it can only mirror its screen to a monitor, rather than providing a dual-screen experience, limited its usefulness to me.
So, why not buy a bigger and faster iPad Pro? I can get a used/refurbished 12.9-inch M1 iPad Pro, with a five-year warranty, for £550. That's not bad, but we'd need to add the Magic Keyboard to that, which is another £145 for a used unit. That's £695 for a used setup, whereas I can get Snapdragon-powered Windows laptops with 4 times the storage and twice the RAM brand new for £500. Even if I wanted to go with Apple, a used M1 MacBook Air, with the same five-year warranty, is only £475.
If you already own a big, newer, M-powered iPad, then iPadOS 26 has just turned it into a very capable laptop replacement. For me, it's something I could use on my current iPad when there aren't other options, but a new laptop still makes the most sense for my use.
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