what would you purchase iPad or mac and why?

Currently I have 3 Macs in active duty as well as an old 9th generation iPad that I gave away to my mother back when she was alive and inherited back with her passing last year, and to me they can't even be compared. As a blind user, there's also very little the iPad can do that the iPhone can't, and actually tend to get lost a lot more on that huge screen than on the iPhone, so the only reason why I might buy another iPad again in the future is the UVC USB camera support, long battery life, and possibility to use as a cellular router without wasting my iPhone's battery, and even then it will be an iPad Mini. I also have some plans to develop some accessibility products for it, as well as other stuff to commercialize at a later point, so as a developer it also interests me, but otherwise I find it to be mostly useless.

think I agree with this. The iPad without a keyboard is not much better than an iPhone. Add in the magic keyboard and you're approaching the cost of a MacBook air on which you can do a lot more.

The iPad is arguably much better for media but, again, I think you can get all that with an iPhone.

I'd say, buy a mac, even an M1 air, and a good bluetooth speaker to pair with iPhone for media consumption and have the best of both worlds.

this is, of course, assuming one does have an iPhone.

If, and that's a big "if", Apple ever gets VoiceOver for macOS working properly, like it did once upon a time, I will consider purchasing another MacBook Pro. When I first got my original Intel MBP, over a decade ago, I was in love with the thing. Of course, VoiceOver ran super smooth back then, and there was no such thing as, SNR, either. I realize people are not having quite as much of an issue with SNR these days, as we did back when Intel Mac was the only Mac, but still, it exists. So long as it exists, and VoiceOver has it's, quirks, I will avoid macOS like the plague.
To be clear, I believe macOS is a fantastic OS. On its own, that is.
VoiceOver for Mac, on the other hand, is absolute garbage. Hands down.

Regarding iPad, I believe iPad has a solid place in education. I used one back in my college days, it had Kurzweil loaded up on it, and disability services at my university would load up all of my textbooks onto it, so I had all my textbooks in one place, making the iPad a wonderful e-book reader. Obviously, the iPad is meant for much more than this, but in my use case it was perfect.

So, to summarize, I would absolutely buy a Mac again, provided Apple actually does major work on VoiceOver. The iPad on the other hand, I would only purchase again if I needed it for academia purposes.

Thanks for reading. 😇

Edit: fixed typos.

The iPad is an excellent device for reading books and consuming media, and it performs these functions perfectly for my needs. However, if I had to choose between a Mac and an iPad, I would choose the Mac without hesitation. The Mac offers significantly better battery life and far superior multitasking capabilities. When it comes to text editing, the Mac provides a much smoother and more efficient experience. In contrast, even basic text navigation on the iPad can be frustrating. Additionally, working with tables and manipulating content on the iPad is particularly tedious—especially from an accessibility standpoint.

If I were to buy another device and had to choose between a Mac or an iPad, I’d probably go with the iPad. Honestly, I’m not a heavy computer user, and from what I understand, Macs aren’t quite as accessible as iPhones. I’m more about portability, so if it’s for school or work, a Mac probably wouldn’t be my first pick. I’d get an iPad mostly for the bigger speakers to play music or listen to books. It’s also handy to have a separate device when I don’t want to carry my phone around or if I do, but don’t want to be glued to it—which sounds a bit counterproductive, I know. I might also get a Bluetooth keyboard to go with it because typing on a bigger screen might be tricky otherwise, unless I go for a mini iPad. Plus, It’s nice to have a tablet, just because. I don't want to go through the hassle of learning a computer, and something about a tablet just screams, sophisticated professional, but not really, and I'm all about that logic.

First of all, my answer is Mac. Not that I've used an iPad much, but for things like using PyCharm or the terminal I don't think the iPad is an option. Is there any way to realistically use it for coding? I think there's Swift playgrounds or something but I'm guessing that's more a learning tool than a serious coding environment?

I would be curious to know - if someone has stuck a keyboard on an iPad and is just using it like they might use a Mac, how well does VoiceOver perform?

I suspect that a lot of the problems the Mac has is that it's user interface is so much more complicated, and that introducing a touch screen almost compels you to do something a bit simpler. The Mac's interaction model doesn't really work with big clumsy fingers.

But if you try editing text on an iPhone it's not exactly brilliant either and has many of the problems of the Mac. So I would think that the more complicated the task, the more similar the two experiences would be.

For entertainment things I just use my phone. It's more portable and is less painful to use than the Mac. I doubt an iPad would be any better - the extra screen size doesn't feel helpful to me. However, it's probably a better option than the Mac in this case.

The only time I've been tempted by an iPad was as a backup to my phone. The lack of multi-user support puts me off though as I could see it being a nice device to share with my wife.

Although I use windows, if I have the chance between a Mac and iPad, I would do the Mac. Like my iPad 9 but using a keyboard is easy. Have a wireless keyboard for it but is not the same.

Hi Dennis and all: Thanks for this discussion. I have been considering buying an iPad for the better sound quality for music or listening to books, as another poster said. I don't really know anything about using a MAC. So other than better speakers, what other reasons would I want an iPad and not just my phone?

Just use it for media, IE youtube, facebook, audible, music, apple TV and so on. It is not good for typing docs. I have a keyboard helps but like someone stated for editing, not so much. The question what purpose you want your to be in 3 years.

So, I’m definitely not an expert when it comes to technology or anything like that. I don’t think that deciding to get an iPad has to be some big, serious life decision—you really won’t know what you’ll use it for until you actually get one. Maybe it’s for listening to music or reading books, or just having an extra device around for when your phone dies. For me, if I got one, that’d be nice. Think about it—once upon a time, telephones were for calling. Now, mobile phones let you call, text, send emails, watch videos, play games, and even go shopping. Our ancestors could never have imagined all this. I like to imagine taking them back in time and showing them these gadgets, like, “Look at what we have now!” They’d probably think it’s pure magic.

We have washing machines, microwaves, refrigerators… and it’s only a matter of time before my mobile phone has a built-in oven to bake a cake or 3D-print a carton of ice cream on the go. Maybe even a milkshake that pops out of my phone or gets created instantly so I can pick it up at the nearest food kiosk. I’ve seen people, including some blind folks, who’ve bought iPads with keyboards and made it work for them. But for heavy-duty tasks, there are aspects you’ll still need a computer for. It comes down to: do I want an iPad as an extra gadget, or do I need one for specific things I can’t do on my phone? If you’re trying to figure out what you’d do with it beyond what your phone already does, it’s hard to say exactly what benefits it’ll bring. Also, I wonder why we have so many devices that all do almost the same thing. It seems like someday we should have a universal device, with different companies specializing in certain apps or functions, and we pay based on what we use. Plus, not me getting the iPad, only to be on my phone all the time. Yep, i'll admit that's not the greatest flex.

I think market division, IE, no one device to rule them all, is most large business strategy.

My iPhone 15 pro is a powerful computer. if the software allowed it, we could plug this into a screen, pair a keyboard and mouse, and have a perfectly good desktop. Apple are bringing out a macbook based on an iPhone chip next year.

the reason they don't do this, which is frustratingly simple is that, it cuts into market share. I do like your thought about unlocking certain features with subscriptions, a little like Tesla do with their cars. Buy the base iPhone and then can subscribe to iPhone Compute (better name needed), which switches it into a mac when plugged in.

TLDR: there is artificial fracturing of product lines for the sake of the bottom line.

Hi,
I've got an iPad Air 2020, and I use it for all my media: YouTube, listening to the radio, podcasts, the odd TV thing, Audible, everything. It saves me using my phone and wearing out the battery even faster. I'd never want to get a Victor Reader Stream or anything like that, from what I've seen of these blindness products, they're always either lacking in some features, or they have problems like connecting to Audible or something like that. Oh I know the Stream got that sorted but anyway, I don't want to be reliant on products like that. And Windows does everything I need, so no Mac for me.

Prefer universal devices and not blind focus devices. They do not last and the price is more than my mortgage.

Hello, so I currently have a Ipad pro that I've paired with a bluetooth keyboard, I perfer the Ipad because I've never had a Mac and for my use case when it comes to computers I'm better of with a PC; however, I wanted a laptop for lighter use. So I ended up buying a Ipad pro about two years ago and so far it's great for checking my social media, watching YouTube, shows, listening to any other media I want, as well as being able to use Safari for any of the work I do when I stream or looking for insperation, I have been able to edit with it on google docs, so again since I do light work with it it's been great. You need to first think what are you intending to do with it, if you don't plan any heavy duty tasks than you could get a Ipad and pair it with a bluetooth keyboard; however, if you were intending or needing to a whole lot more intensive task, then perhaps a Mac would do you better. I think it all comes down to what you need and what you want to use it for.

Hi, this might depend on what you want to use the device for. I have an iPad and an iPhone. My iPad was purchased as a media device. So my iPad I use exclusively for playing all my music from Apple Music. So it’s what you want your device for. If you need something more of a computer or device, then I would say to go for a Mac. If you want something just consume media in addition to an iPhone or other computer that you have but I go for an iPad. It all depends on what you want to do with it. I hope this is helpful for you.

Another perspective that I'd like to add to the debate is that unlike macOS, which is an open platform where you can do whatever you wish with the system without cryptographic schemes artificially limiting your options, iPadOS is a walled garden platform in which your options are limited to what Apple decides. Even here in the EU, where the DMA will eventually crack it all open, Apple has been maliciously dragging their feet in order to maintain control for as long as possible. Furthermore since high-end iPads are already inside low-end Mac territory with even lower-end hardware, the value of the iPad Pro or Air compared to even the entry-level MacBook Air is severely diminished, and that's before adding peripherals. Lastly if your intended use for the iPad is at a relatively fixed location, then I would even suggest considering the Mac Mini, whose lowest-end configuration is more powerful than the low-end iPad pro that costs nearly twice as much.

It seems, from answers, that everyone, or most, either have a mac or a windows machine for computer stuff. I Guess the question evolves, yet again, into what is an iPad good at?

I don't think, though correct me if I'm wrong, the majority of people that have to get work done will do it on an iPad. I know it's possible, but it's messy.

I think the whole point, and the way it is designed, makes an either or question irrelevant. The question apple wants us to ask is, do we want to get an iPad as well as a mac/windows machine.

I totally get it for the media consumption thing. It's a powerful media consumption device, especially for any one who is partially sighted. For blind people though, and again assuming they already own an iPhone, we get all of that on the phone. I'd save the money, buy a magsafe battery, some nice headphones and/or a bluetooth speaker which will be a far better audio experience than an iPad. Yeah, the pro sounds good for a thin sheet of glass, but a real speaker with space to move will sound a a great deal better.

I'd love it if iPad had a key selling point for those of us who don't need a big screen for media consumption. I kinda hoped, when the new brail screen commander came out last year, that I'd finally start using my iPad mini more in landscape mode. I did for a bit, and it was nice, but I wasn't really doing anything new on it. Over time I found myself just reaching for my phone which was quicker to navigate.

I think my next phone upgrade might be a max, 17 or probably 18 at this rate. I can brail in landscape, get a huge battery, and it will do everything, with a few tiny exceptions, that an iPad can but in a significantly more portable formfactor.

I use the Mac extensively every day. The iPad is used principally for media consumption and occasionally reading email or text messages. I've also used it for FaceTime calls, although I tend to do those on the Mac or the iPhone. The iPad is also convenient for two-factor authentication when I don't want to go to another room and bring out the iPhone. This iPad came as a gift, for which I am most grateful. Without disclosing the details here, giving it to me was among the few reasonable options available at the time to the organization that owned it. I use it very regularly, but not for hours each day as I do the Mac.