{"id":13006,"date":"2026-05-19T15:50:33","date_gmt":"2026-05-19T15:50:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/advisorator.com\/members\/?p=13006"},"modified":"2026-05-19T16:08:31","modified_gmt":"2026-05-19T16:08:31","slug":"my-fancy-ipad-is-worthless-now","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/advisorator.com\/members\/2026\/05\/19\/my-fancy-ipad-is-worthless-now\/","title":{"rendered":"My fancy iPad is worthless now"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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The MacBook Neo spoiled the iPad for me<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Plus: Googlebooks, an alternative camera app, and more refurb tech deals<\/h3>\n\n\n
Jared Newman<\/span><\/span>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0|\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>May 19, 2026<\/span><\/span><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n
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Hey there! I’m Jared Newman, a longtime tech journalist, and you’re reading the free edition of Advisorator, my weekly tech advice newsletter.<\/em> Did someone share this newsletter with you? Sign up<\/a> to get it every Tuesday.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Heads-up:<\/strong> Next week’s Advisorator will arrive on Wednesday, rather than Tuesday, to account for the long weekend.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ve spent months making the iPad-as-laptop thing work<\/a>, 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<\/a>, but my hope was that better hardware and improvements in iPadOS 26 would finally make everything click.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the end, though, some little frustrations with the setup wore me down, and when Apple launched the $600 MacBook Neo<\/a> 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\u2019m just about ready to sell it all away.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The rest of this week’s feature story is for Advisorator’s paying members<\/a>. Sign up to get the full story and get more in-depth tech advice every week. Get started here \u2192<\/a><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Some more stuff I wrote for Fast Company<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Got a couple new stories out at FastCo over the past week that I hope you’ll enjoy reading:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Internet Archive at 30<\/a>: 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Worrisome changes at Bitwarden<\/a>: 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<\/a>, but now I’m uncomfortably on alert about it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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News in brief<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

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\u2019s what you need to know:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Googlebooks<\/strong> are a new line of Android-based laptops<\/a> 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<\/a>, but the future beyond that is murky. I’d avoid buying a Chromebook until we get more details on what the transition looks like.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gemini Intelligence<\/strong> is a catch-all term for new AI features coming to high-end Android phones<\/a>. These include custom AI-generated widgets, AI-powered voice dictation (akin to Wispr Flow<\/a> and Superwhisper<\/a>), 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<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Other Android-related tidbits:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n