Frances, in theory, you can use an iPad to do a lot of things - especially if you don't mind doing just about everything in the cloud (ie: Lightroom, Office, etc.) and storing all your pics, movies and documents there. There are even really big flash drives with lightning connectors (see:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/SanDisk-iXpand-Fla...sh+Drive+256GB)But...it would mean learning a whole different way of working and I'm not sure where the gotchas are, since I have never attempted such a wholesale move to iOS. It isn't really designed to be a
complete replacement for a computer/MacOS, so I suspect there are some major holes here and there. Plus, if you want the full Lightroom on an iPad you have to subscribe to Adobe's CC. I'm flatly refusing to do that as long as my perpetual license LR 6 continues to work. After that, I'm hoping there will be acceptable alternatives. :P
For some of the issues, see:
https://michaelkummer.com/technology/ipad-p...ace-12-macbook/I'd recommend going the refurb route - we've gotten many of them over the years and apart from one pixel on my 27" 5K iMac (which wouldn't be an acceptable replacement reason on a non-refurb either) they've been perfect. Macbank's refurbs look a bit long in the tooth to me - the 15" MBP 2.2GHz retina model is from 2015 and is $1449...the same one as the Apple Refurb store sells for 1609, with no previous user...I guess it depends whether you get one that is in A-1 condition or one that is more a "B"... the warranty offered by Macbank is the same as that offered by Apple, so that's good.
How much storage does your current MBP have? Is it 13" or 15" (you need to update your equipment profile there - it's seriously out of date, methinks - plus lacking in some key info!)?
If you want the 15" model, I'd recommend going with one of the 2017 models in the refurb store - and if you can swing it, I'd go for the one with the discrete graphics:
https://www.apple.com/uk/shop/product/FPTU2...-display-Silver - you can always add external storage, but you can't change the graphics card!
My iMac has a 1TB SSD, so I'm limited on storage with it too - (yes, I have a LOT of photos!) so keep all photos on an external drive to use with LR. That way, I can use it with both the MBP, which only has a 750GB SSD and with the iMac, since Adobe, in their stupidity, have never made Lightroom usable with network attached storage. :dry: (Methinks it's all a plot to get people to use CC and their cloud storage...) Anyway - you are correct; storage on laptops these days is definitely limited - mostly, I think, because most people don't need that much day-to-day.
As for selectively installing things from your backup, yes, you can certainly do that.
My husband went from a late 2006 Macbook Pro to a new Retina touch bar 2017 model last spring. He seems very happy with it.
BTW - here's another piece from someone who went the iPad route:
https://www.zdnet.com/article/ipad-pro-vs-m...ng-term-review/I'm assuming here that your iMac is no longer in service (or so long in the tooth that it's not part of the consideration?) Another option is get an iMac and use that for the heavy lifting and get an iPad for the stuff that's in the cloud anyway; email, quick updates to websites etc. But that won't be cheaper - but you can get more storage and a bigger display, which is much better for photo and video. (I would recommend the 4K model over the non-4K model - screen is gorgeous and well worth the extra $200)
