I (non-artist) use my iPad + magic keyboard as my primary non-work computer. The battery life is great, it's instant on, has a touch screen, you can play games on it, and it's more portable than a laptop being 11 inches. In general it makes for a great every day device. The only things I don't try to do on my iPad is anything programming related.

I have a friend who bought one to replace her aging laptop with the iPad pro. She wanted it for the touchscreen to navigate and touch up photos (but not via pencil really). But she does also use it often for spreadsheets and email as well, and since you can have multiple apps side by side now, it works for her. She does this at her work environment which doesn't have space for say, dual screens or an office, so it makes sense for her.