“Bought an iPad Air for Use as a Sub-Display”
Since I work fully remotely, I usually work from home.
Most of the time I use a 14-inch MacBook, but with only one screen, it often feels inconvenient and hard to get things done.
That’s why I’ve been using the cocopar 13.3-inch portable monitor as a sub-display for years.
However, plugging in a type-C cable every time started to feel like a hassle, so during Amazon’s recent sale, I finally bought an iPad Air.
So this time, I want to share my personal impressions of what it’s like using an iPad Air as a sub-display.
Here’s the model I bought:
Apple 2024 13-inch iPad Air (M2)
It was 95,700 yen on sale, and including a film and a stand/case, the total came out to just over 100,000 yen.
I’ve been using it for a few days now, and here are the pros and cons I’ve noticed so far.
Pros
Going cable-free feels great
Since I work in the living room, my desk for work and for meals is the same.
This means that whenever I eat, I have to put away my laptop and monitor, and then pull them out again when I want to work.
With a cable setup, I had to unplug and replug the type-C every time.
Not having to do that anymore makes a big difference. Plus, not having to worry about damaging the type-C port is surprisingly relieving.
Easy to move things around
On top of that, being able to move my laptop and sub-display easily is another big plus.
Because I move things so often, I used to connect my monitor with a very short type-C cable, which often made it feel like the sub-display was about to fall over.
Being freed from that hassle is a huge improvement.
The screen is bright
As expected from the iPad Air, the screen brightness is excellent.
I personally prefer working with a bright screen, but with cheaper monitors, I often felt they could use a little more brightness.
In this regard, the iPad really shines.
Smooth performance when mirroring
I’m generally not much of an Apple fan, but of course, when it’s Apple devices talking to each other, the performance is very smooth.
When connected via mirroring, there’s no noticeable lag at all.
Sleep and wake handling also feels really well-designed.
What surprised me most was that even when you minimize mirroring on the iPad, the connection stays active in the background.
So you can open apps on the iPad without the mirroring cutting out—very impressive.
Wide selection of stands and accessories
My old sub-display had a stand that was falling apart after years of use.
With cheap Chinese monitors, you usually can’t just buy a new stand, which is frustrating.
With the iPad, though, there’s an endless selection of cases and covers, so that’s another worry off my mind.
Neutral points
You still need a charging cable
I haven’t measured the battery drain, but I basically keep the iPad plugged in with a type-C cable while using it.
That said, it still feels much better than having the Mac and display wired together constantly.
Cons
Poor cost performance
Obviously, if you only think of it as a sub-display, the cost performance is terrible.
The cocopar monitor was about 14,000 yen with discounts, so for most people, that’s the more sensible choice.
Since I don’t plan to use the iPad for anything other than a sub-display, it does feel like overkill.
Low resolution
This is honestly my biggest complaint: when mirroring, the iPad Air’s resolution is low.
For some reason, Retina resolution isn’t applied in mirroring, so the width is only about 1,300px.
Come on, Apple, really?
You can get Retina resolution mirroring, but…
With a paid app, you can use high resolution over wireless.
Duet Display is the obvious option, but at nearly 20,000 yen—are you kidding me?!
That’s way too steep, so I tried Yam Display, which only costs a few hundred yen.
But it sometimes stutters, and at high resolutions the screen looks a bit blurry… so not ideal.
I’ll keep researching this area a bit more.
That’s about it. Personally, I feel like it was a good purchase, but I do wish the resolution situation were better.
I’ll keep using it more and see how it holds up.