I've wished for the same thing—I spent 95% of my working time at a desk docked to a monitor, but that 5% when I need to be elsewhere is still critical.

I would generally prefer a desktop computer when I'm at my desk, so it would be great if I could use the iPad Pro I already own to achieve that last 5% instead of needing a laptop that almost never moves (that said, I mind a lot less since I ditched the hot, noisy 16" MacBook Pro for a MacBook Air M1).

Unfortunately, because my work is software development (specifically web development), I can't do any of it without also involving a "traditional" computer to do most of the heavy lifting. A lot of people will think it's stupid to want a way to spin up local servers on an iPad—a system which has never even claimed to entertain such capabilities—but the hardware is more than sufficient. It's a shame to not be able to use it to its potential.

I agree with this. There have been numerous products and fantasies of a phone that could dock to use as a laptop. And now for the first time we have a single platform for all devices.

If they are sensible about it, unification would be fantastic.

Arbitrary window tiling (think basically the same pane-dragging UI that, say, VS Code has) and the ability to mark specific apps as 'keep alive indefinitely in the background' would go a long way towards making iPads useful as all-around computers without even needing other major changes.