I've read so many of these articles lately. People seem to approach the iPad expecting it to work like a laptop, and when it doesn't, they're off to compose a thinkpiece.
Many of these articles also state as a fact things that haven't been true of iPads for a while. If you want a file-centric experience you can have it--at least if you select apps that have been updated in the past several years. All of my files are stored in iCloud Drive, which is synced to my Macs just like Dropbox, and which works flawlessly with iPhone and iPad apps that properly implement the Files app APIs. I don't have any data silos. Yet I view the option of using an iPad purely as an app jukebox with data silos as a major win for many, many users.
I stopped using laptops years ago. No, I can't do everything on an iPad Pro. But I find iPadOS to be a superior operating system for a small, portable screen. (I'm defining small as below 20"). I use a 27" iMac for more advanced tasks (as well as a media server, etc).
Many people approach the iPad in the same way people approached the cloud a few years ago. They try to treat it like the older technology it’s meant to replace, and when it doesn’t work the same they will proclaim “it’s not the cloud it’s just someone else’s data center!”
It took a cloud native approach to really get the real benefit from the cloud. It takes an iPad native approach to benefit from the iPad.
Many of these articles also state as a fact things that haven't been true of iPads for a while. If you want a file-centric experience you can have it--at least if you select apps that have been updated in the past several years. All of my files are stored in iCloud Drive, which is synced to my Macs just like Dropbox, and which works flawlessly with iPhone and iPad apps that properly implement the Files app APIs. I don't have any data silos. Yet I view the option of using an iPad purely as an app jukebox with data silos as a major win for many, many users.
I stopped using laptops years ago. No, I can't do everything on an iPad Pro. But I find iPadOS to be a superior operating system for a small, portable screen. (I'm defining small as below 20"). I use a 27" iMac for more advanced tasks (as well as a media server, etc).