iPad as second monitor?

June 30, 2021 4:37 PM

It has been years since i had proper development setup with two large monitors. I have the largest MacBook Pro and spend most of my time pre-Covid in airport lounges, client conference rooms and wherever I could fit. Things are beginning to spin back up again and I'll probably need to be 25% in some sort of office where I'm only guaranteed power and a desk. Will iPad Pro plus stand work well as a second monitor or is it just too small and distracting? Is there a less expensive but equally as slim/high resolution as iPad Pro?

I would ideally have two 22" monitors but I resisted setting this up at home because it is more jarring going from a nice setup to a single monitor. I'd prefer to have the same experience wherever I go. I spend probably 10-15% heads down development, the rest is management stuff where a second monitor is more of a convenience. If the answer is that it is a nice novelty at first but not a great second monitor solution that's fine too. I primarily do web development so I'd have usually a monitor with my IDE and another with a web browser to see the results.

posted by geoff. to Computers & Internet (5 answers total)

If you have SideCar it's easy enough. And you can easily buy a stand that either sticks to your MacBook or standalone to get the iPad to the right height. As for does it help, I'm afraid it'd be up to you to decide. I'd think a web-browser on the second window, even in portrait mode, should be quite helpful to see live server results.

There are dedicated secondary monitors like Trio that can be folded / slide onto your Macbook back, but I doubt they are 17 inches. Usually 12 or 14 inches. There are some 15 inches now, but they are expensive (but far cheaper than an iPad Pro, but also not retina screen)
posted by kschang at 5:23 PM on June 30, 2021

I find Sidecar to be an interesting idea at best. The lag is just a little too much for me to really want to use it. That said, the iPad is a perfectly good little web browsing machine on its own, so if you want to just use it as its own web browser, it would work great. I have this stand, which I use primarily for video chats and watching sports while working, and I do recommend it (it's not terribly portable, but it does function really well). The new iPadOS and MacOS features allow for using your main mousing device between the two, which should make this work even better (it looks like magic, and I hope it is).

The size doesn't bother me, but I also grew up in a world where 13 inch monitors were normal.
posted by General Malaise at 5:42 PM on June 30, 2021 [2 favorites]

I have been known to use my iPad as 2nd monitor outside the home using duet. It worked fine for my purposes but I have a full two monitor setup at home that is of course nicer.
posted by koahiatamadl at 11:45 PM on June 30, 2021

While there are some 4K USB portable monitors, don’t overlook the additional feature coming up to the various Apple OSes this fall, Universal Control. It gives you the ability to treat the iPad as if it is an extension of your laptop, but using it otherwise as a normal device. I used to use a 3rd party app on my macs, and it was pretty magical in the day.
posted by rambling wanderlust at 3:36 AM on July 1, 2021

I use a first generation iPad Pro with SideCar as a second display for my MacBook Pro. Both devices have to be on the same wifi, but it works well enough for keeping Slack or a browser on the side. If I didn't already have an iPad Pro or want one as a tablet, I'd totally get a usb-c portable monitor instead.
posted by advicepig at 9:36 AM on July 1, 2021