So after the excitement surrounding iPadOS 26 and the developer beta, I’m thrilled to report that I’ve now transitioned to the public beta, and the experience has significantly improved. The initial glimpses of what Apple was building were promising, but the public beta truly delivers on the promise of a more robust and empowering iPad experience. This is a game-changer, bringing a desktop-class experience that now feels incredibly stable, offers impressive battery life, and is generally just very good.
For years, the iPad has been lauded for its portability, powerful hardware, and intuitive touch interface. Yet, for many, it still fell short of replacing a Mac or Windows laptop, primarily due to limitations in its multitasking capabilities. The previous restrictions on windowed multitasking and background processing often forced users to revert to their MacBooks or Windows PCs for serious workflows. However, iPadOS 26 represents a transformative update that genuinely positions the iPad as a viable laptop alternative.
This significant shift in iPadOS 26 comes in two crucial areas: a Mac-like windowing experience and robust background processing. Both of these improvements fundamentally change how users interact with their iPads, offering a level of flexibility and power previously reserved for desktop operating systems.
A True Windowed Experience: Goodbye Compromises, Hello Workflow Freedom
Previous iterations of iPadOS, with their reliance on Split View and Slide Over, offered a glimpse into enhanced multitasking but fell short of a truly fluid and intuitive windowed experience. While the developer beta showed promise, the public beta has refined this, delivering an experience that feels remarkably polished.
What makes the new windowing system in iPadOS 26 a genuine leap forward is that users can now open multiple app windows, freely resize them to any desired dimension, and even have them overlap, just like on a desktop. This allows for far more dynamic and personalised workspaces, contributing to a truly flexible and intuitive workflow. Apple has introduced a familiar “traffic light” system in the top-left corner of each window for closing (red), minimising (yellow), and maximising (green) windows. This consistent interface streamlines window management, providing quick access to app-specific commands and settings without needing to hunt through menus.
The system intelligently anticipates user needs. For example, if you open a document from an email, iPadOS 26 can automatically open both apps side-by-side. For those moments when users need to see everything at a glance, the new windowing system offers immediate visual feedback as windows are dragged, resized, or snapped, showing incredible fluidity. The new windowing system extends effectively to external displays, transforming the iPad into a true multi-monitor workstation. This is a massive boon for professionals who require more screen real estate for tasks like video editing, graphic design, or detailed design work. A subtle yet significant improvement is that app windows retain their size and position even after closing and reopening, or after rotating the iPad. This enhanced memory contributes to a more consistent and predictable workflow, minimising the need to constantly readjust your workspace.
For anyone who felt constrained by the iPad’s previous multitasking paradigms, this “Windows feature” in iPadOS 26 is a revelation. It fosters a level of workflow fluidity that significantly reduces the friction of using an iPad, particularly for extended periods.
True Background Processing: Powering Your Productivity Uninterrupted
Another critical limitation that often held the iPad back from being a true laptop replacement was its often-restricted background processing capabilities. Complex tasks like video rendering, large file transfers, and heavy data analysis would often pause or stop if you switched away from the active application. The iPadOS 26 public beta has seen marked improvements in this area, providing a truly seamless experience.
Now, processor-intensive tasks can genuinely run in the background without interruption. This means you can initiate a long video export in Final Cut Pro for iPad, then seamlessly switch to your email or browse the web, and the export will continue. This all contributes to a far more reliable and powerful experience. To keep users informed and in control, iPadOS 26 leverages Live Activities for background tasks. This means when you’re doing something intensive, like rendering video or using a dynamic island (on supported devices), you can show the status of your background operations, such as a file transfer percentage or a progress bar. This feature is particularly helpful for tasks that previously required pausing or cancelling data directly from these Live Activities.
Apple has architected how iPadOS manages resources, ensuring that background tasks can fully leverage powerful Apple Silicon while minimising impact on foreground performance. This leads to a smoother user experience with powerful background allocation. The ability to truly multitask with background processing removes a significant barrier for professionals and power users. It allows for a more efficient and uninterrupted workflow, mirroring the capabilities found on desktop macOS or Windows PCs.
The Verdict: Is iPadOS 26 the Laptop Replacement?
Undoubtedly, older iPads are going to struggle with some of the features — if they in fact work — resulting in frustrated users or degraded performance. But with the compelling enhancements in windowing systems and the introduction of robust background processing, iPadOS 26 undeniably makes a compelling case for the iPad as a genuine laptop replacement.
For many users, especially those involved in creative work, content consumption, communication, and even light to moderate programming, the iPad powered by iPadOS 26 will now offer a complete and highly capable computing experience. In fact, a lot of the content I’ve produced for Image Matrix Tech since the first developer Beta has been done, at least in part, on my iPad Air.
While certain niche professional workflows might still benefit from the full flexibility of a macOS or Windows machine, the gap has narrowed significantly. The combination of hardware (especially with accessories like the new Magic Keyboard with Trackpad and Apple Pencil Pro), now offers a truly compelling alternative. It’s a legitimate, standalone computing powerhouse ready to take on the demands of modern workflows. Having been on the developer beta and now the public beta, I can confidently say the experience is very good generally, now with improved battery life, used regularly as a daily drive, and my iPad feels incredibly capable and now has me questioning if an upgrade to a larger iPad Pro may be on the cards next time around.
The future of personal computing might indeed be more portable, more intuitive, and increasingly, more touch-first, with iPadOS 26 leading the charge.
