My fancy iPad is worthless now

The MacBook Neo spoiled the iPad for me

Plus: Googlebooks, an alternative camera app, and more refurb tech deals

Jared Newman   |   May 19, 2026

Hey there! I’m Jared Newman, a longtime tech journalist, and you’re reading the free edition of Advisorator, my weekly tech advice newsletter. Did someone share this newsletter with you? Sign up to get it every Tuesday.

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After trying to replace my laptop with an iPad Pro and Magic Keyboard, it turns out that what I really needed all along was a Mac.

I’ve spent months making the iPad-as-laptop thing work, lured by the promise of a modular, lightweight device that could start up instantly for both work and play. My previous attempts at this had failed, but my hope was that better hardware and improvements in iPadOS 26 would finally make everything click.

In the end, though, some little frustrations with the setup wore me down, and when Apple launched the $600 MacBook Neo in March, I picked one up out of curiosity. Quickly it cast into relief everything that was bothering me about the iPad and Magic Keyboard, to the point that I’m just about ready to sell it all away.

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Some more stuff I wrote for Fast Company

Got a couple new stories out at FastCo over the past week that I hope you’ll enjoy reading:

The Internet Archive at 30: The Internet Archive is an invaluable resource, not just for looking up old versions of web pages, but for exploring live concert tapings, old DOS games, public domain e-books, and all kinds of other digital treasures. Suddenly AI is making its mission a lot harder.

Worrisome changes at Bitwarden: The company quietly replaced its CEO in February with one that touts experience in mergers and acquisitions, while also removing “Transparency” and “Inclusion” as tentpole company values. I asked the company if it would commit to not removing any features from its free plan, and it notably did not do that. Bitwarden is still my preferred password manager, but now I’m uncomfortably on alert about it.

News in brief

Google dropped whole a bunch of Android news last week, presumably, so it can spend its entire I/O conference this week focusing on AI. Here’s what you need to know:

Googlebooks are a new line of Android-based laptops coming later this year from PC brands like Dell, HP, and Lenovo. There’s a big focus on AI, including contextual suggestions from Google’s Gemini assistant when you wiggle the cursor over something. Google says it’ll keep supporting Chromebooks, which are a hit in schools, with new models planned through next year, but the future beyond that is murky. I’d avoid buying a Chromebook until we get more details on what the transition looks like.

Gemini Intelligence is a catch-all term for new AI features coming to high-end Android phones. These include custom AI-generated widgets, AI-powered voice dictation (akin to Wispr Flow and Superwhisper), and letting AI take control of your phone to automate certain tasks. Google plans to start releasing these features over the summer, but most older phones won’t get them.

Other Android-related tidbits:

Now for some news and reads from outside the Android world:

Try these apps

Fun alternative camera: Snapseed is a free photo editing app (for iPhone and Android) that Google acquired ages ago. Now it includes a camera mode, so you can snap photos with filters inspired by classic film styles.

Show the Windows desktop: PeekDesktop is a free Windows app (from Microsoft VP Scott Hanselman) that lets you click your desktop wallpaper to hide all your open windows, then click again to bring them back.

This mimics a longstanding feature in MacOS, and while it’s similar to Windows’ “Show Desktop” function (invoked by clicking the bottom-right corner of your screen), there’s one key difference: When you click a taskbar item after hiding all windows, all of them will come back instead of just that one. There’s also an experimental “Fly Away” mode that slides your windows offscreen with a fun animation.

Spend wisely

This section of the newsletter may include affiliate links, which earn me a commission if you wind up purchasing something.

Once again, eBay’s doing deals on refurbished tech, with an extra 20% off the list price when you apply promo code LONGWEEKEND at checkout. Some highlights:

Remember, the prices above won’t apply until you use the promo code LONGWEEKEND at checkout.

A few other notable non-eBay deals:

Thanks for reading!

Just a reminder of some stuff I’ve done for Advisorator’s paying members lately:

If you enjoy this newsletter, want to keep sharpening your tech knowledge, and would like to support my work along the way, please consider becoming a member. Thank you!

Until next week,
Jared

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