A lot, the iPad is not a computer period. It's great hardware (that has the same CPU as the MBP) with extremely limiting software, low hanging examples of limitation would be the how iPads fail to utilise any monitor properly, inability to natively open up a terminal instance and its weak filesystem. You would think given its power it would be a perfect platform to develop native applications but no, in order to get any work done you would need to remote into an actual computer which defeats the point.
The experience is quite nice though. A lot of people already develop on remote machines, and switching to a “dumb client” with an amazing screen, huge processing power, touch and writing abilities, plus crazy battery life is not a bad deal.
There's a weird and persistent-over-years blindness by a really high percentage of HN posters to how amazing iPads and even iPhones are as tools for creative work of practically every kind that isn't programming or extremely mouse-centric. Meanwhile they're way more useful than a laptop would be for damn near every creative task I partake in that's not programming. The combination of form factor and sensor suite is pretty amazing, and very useful. If I were only allowed one computing device in my house, no question I'd choose an iPad of some sort. Probably the big Pro. It'd hurt more not to also have a phone (for the tiny size & portability) than it would to not also have a laptop. I can always SSH somewhere else to run my software. I can't access the extremely useful capabilities of an i-device without having it present with me.
I own an iPad, I'm not unfamiliar with it's capabilities. It's just not that compelling of a package, hardware and software wise. If I'm going to write code, I could either punish myself and reach for the iPad, or I could go grab a laptop and get work done. I'm not denying the fact that you can SSH into a server with it and use special bindings for your Magic Keyboard but... why would you? Professionals want robust tools, plain and simple. The iPad is a wading pool for a lot of activities; you can get a little photo editing done, you can do some video editing in a pinch, you can futz around in Garageband with pre-sampled instruments and a handful of sampled synthesizers, but once again: why? They're neat timewasters, party tricks in an 11" form factor. It's not held back by a lack of power, it's held back by Apple's refusal to give it proper tooling. If there was a proper DAW on the iPad, I might be agreeing with you. If it didn't tone-down the file management to somehow be worse than a Chromebook, there might be some kind of professional utility there. But they don't, and that's why HN posters simply don't care about your iPad. It's a Disney-fied whirlwind tour through creative professions and bare-minimum MVPs. Oh, and there's TikTok and YouTube apps for when you inevitably give up and resign yourself to consuming entertainment. I only reach for mine when I need a third screen for YouTube videos, and even then I often just balk at the screen ghosting and toss it back in the drawer.
I’m an artist and musician and my iPad Pro is pretty much useless because it can’t run any real software programs. It can only run what are essentially mobile apps. It’s pretty pathetic considering it’s the price of a new laptop.
Have you tried apps like Procreate / Linea Sketch? They are really, really good and you can't match the touch + stylus experience on a desktop computer. These are "real software" by all definitions.
I imagine you want to run a windowed system on it ("real apps"), and are just not used to touch UIs. It's just a different paradigm.
Doesn't everyone buy a specific computer for the hardware and software?
I don't know anyone who goes to a store and just picks a random computer, they either decide between Windows and MacOS, and then pick a computer based on the specs.
