Nothing in the iPad App Store will tax the processor.
—please elaborate on this interesting statement, @"Wesley Hilliard" 🙏🏼
Please. This is a safe bet. Apple has a software and hardware development pipeline sorted out well into the future. New hardware - particularly the top spec version - is designed with significant excess capacity beyond the demands of current software. That headroom is why Apple devices go a long time without bogging down. It's just good design planning.
Wow. I jumped on this article when I saw it, especially with Wesley's name attached, since I've found him to reliably interrogate thoroughly any topic or piece of gear he chooses to write about. And the headline subject of this article is of extreme interest to me. Sigh. That thorough interrogation I had hoped for was not the case here. This was more of a spec sheet comparison than digging into the nitty gritty of working with each on a daily basis. How do they compare in terms of file management, window management, multitasking, printing, etc. What are the major differences to note between MacOS and iPadOS versions of widely used workhorse apps? Well, I'm hoping Wesley will write a Part 2.
We made a call. This was going to end up closer to twice the length with hardware and software discussions, but we decided those belonged in two different articles. I agree that an in-depth analysis is needed, and an omnibus article will still likely happen at some point, but we're breaking it into parts for now while we decide how to approach the content for 13-inch iPad Pro.
The software section is a complex discussion and I was afraid the hardware analysis and conversation about *why iPad* would be lost. So this story is about the naked robotic core and why that's an important computing distinction from classic Mac form factors.
As long as readers show interest in more, there will be a software version of this discussing apps, the file system, and what iPadOS needs to improve.
I think I want to save the larger discussion for after WWDC where things might change dramatically. We'll see what time allows us to produce, but don't worry, I'm going to be providing a lot of in-depth iPad coverage on these new products and soon the OS too.
My Intel Mac 2019 i9 (upgrade in 2 years) needed to go in for a repair and was possibly going to be gone for a week. Could I live without it?
I'm a data engineer/developer so could my M1 iPad get me through a week. There were a few things I couldn't do but iPad capabilities have come on leaps and bounds since I tried this several years earlier.
Stage Manager, a paired bluetooth keyboard and bluetooth mouse with an external 34" monitor worked very nicely (the usb-c/hdmi adaptor handy for this). Stage manager and Sidecar are really cool & I could remote into work using Citrix. If you use Office app, you can use Office 365 or the native iPad apps, Google apps mainly cloud anyway. You can do nearly everything with the various available Apps in the App store - someone clever has already solved most of your problems for a couple of dollars. I got through the week quite easily.
There are limitations yes, but it's getting close to fully usable day to day for me. Being able to customise the screen, reduce icon size etc and better multitasking would be nice but I think this will eventually come. As for multitasking, if you're using a browser for office apps, emails etc - I question if this is a limitation but I understand everyone's needs are different,
After this week I have seriously thought whether to simply use a Raspberry PI and an iPad for replacing the Mac eventually. I usually max out a Mac when I buy one then keep it for about 5 years so it's a big investment and I could just pay a $100 and get an updated Raspberry PI every year and give the old one to the local school. It's just not quite compelling enough yet but the seed in my mind has been planted.
I've been using Mac since the original Macintosh with 1 floppy !
I saw someone mention saving docs as encrypted dmg in a cloud drive - I never thought of that, brilliant idea.
I use my iPad for ~75-80% of my computing. There are a few things I have to do on the Mac. Actually the biggest one is work which I do on a Remote Desktop. Microsoft RD works on the iPad, but I need the dual monitors. Other than that everything else, writing, art, gaming, mail, surfing, some audio editing, video editing, I mostly do on the iPad.
The laptop will be the gold standard config well into the future.
A tablet really can only ever be a tablet. Sure, you can accessorize it into mimicking something else. But that something else will always be better than the mimicry.
You want a solid laptop? By a solid laptop?
You want a desktop? Buy one. Or connect a Giant monitor to your laptop.
You want all of that? Buy an iPad? Nope. Buy an iPad and a laptop/desktop.
Ms surface has been merging the two. It’s not going so well.
The wheel will always need to be around. And it will always be better than its competitors, regardless of how old it is or the fact that it will only always ever be a wheel.
Apple has the wrong priorities when focussing on speed/performance. I never had a slow Apple device, even after years of usage. Ipad hardware is not the problem. iPadOS is the limiting factor. Multitasking and the file system is a joke. Adding a calculator and presenting it as a big thing is pathetic. Should be there years ago. I came to a point to prefer to have a MBP with touchscreen running MacOS as the better option. Apple is not serious about iPad as a daily worktool. Its more like a fancy consumer device. Not for business workflows or content creation.
This is the third time in the past two days that you've posted this "wrong priorities" message, how fucking original. Anything original to say or just more negative nelly crap from you?
Simply put..iPad OS is the biggest scam Apple has ever made. Its been a year & i still can't use it as a laptop replacement. iPad OS lacks basic features. I still use my 2018 Android phone as a laptop replacement.
I have never used a physical keyboard after more than a decade of using iPads. The pencil is my main source of input in addition to my fingers. The pencil gets around the screen realestate issue of the onboard keyboard. And handwriting recognition is getting pretty good. That said, I also have windows laptop for work purposes, and an MBA at home.
Everything I need to do “on the road”, data collection commuting, couch surfing I can do in the iPad, although remote access to work sucks (Citrix emulation) and underlines to me why using macOS on an iPad would be a poor interface. Office 365 is a god send in that use case and a superior paradigm. And data collection, on site plans, renders etc the iPad is light years ahead of a laptop, or any competing tablet.
I even rarely connect an iPad to the big screen, but when I do I do use a physical keyboard, as my dell ultrasharp handles the kvm for me.
But I reckon buying a portable keyboard case of any kind defeats the purpose of an iPad. It makes it thicker to carry, thicker than many laptops. What is the point? Just get a laptop if you don’t want to let the keyboard go.
But yes, iPadOS needs some work to really be become the OS a big screen allows it to be.
Better windowing, multitasking between apps, file management-the sandboxed app approach is not superior to a directory based system. The security preference is noble, but user unfriendly. multi user accounts. Especially in the workplace context. I could deploy a heap of iPads after a natural disaster to whoever is available, and have them ready for a different set of people the next week, rather than have one dedicated to each staff member. But even at home Mrs Entropy and I could share an iPad just like we do the MBA. We aren’t buying two iPads.
I’ve been using my iPad Pro 11” Gen1 as a MBP replacement for years - for most writing, calculation, and illustration processes. I wish the new M4 version would run After Effects and C4D, but that’s really not going to happen… unless Apple surprises us with a MacMode when attached to the MagicKeyboard. Hey, it could happen.
MacMode--an excellent name for what should be possible since the M-chip is capable of booting into either OS. And with the enormous power of the M4, I can't imagine that running in MacMode would be taxing. No need to figure out how to work "touch" into MacOS... when you boot into MacMode, the screen loses touch capability and behaves like any screen on a Macbook. But there IS one major obstacle to implementing this: Apple's continuing desire to sell us two devices, not one. But if they made MacMode an iPad Pro exclusive, at least for this generation, I'd bet they'd sell like crazy, even at their considerably high price points.
Please Apple, a MacBook Air with reversible screen and possibility to draw on it with the Pencil. iPadOS is not up to the task for serious business workflows
"At least on Windows, touch is not driving sales. Surface x86 (ug) was not even a named top ISV, just 'other'."
Even after more than 10 years, they make a few billion $ per year. At $600 ASP, this is about 10m units, around 4% of PCs and they get used as laptops, not tablets.
The iPad can run UTM, which allows running a lot of different systems and software, albeit with a performance hit:
It would be possible to get a faster VM than this and it would cover whatever software people want without compromising the iPadOS design.
I’ve been using my iPad Pro 11” Gen1 as a MBP replacement for years - for most writing, calculation, and illustration processes. I wish the new M4 version would run After Effects and C4D, but that’s really not going to happen… unless Apple surprises us with a MacMode when attached to the MagicKeyboard. Hey, it could happen.
MacMode--an excellent name for what should be possible since the M-chip is capable of booting into either OS. And with the enormous power of the M4, I can't imagine that running in MacMode would be taxing. No need to figure out how to work "touch" into MacOS... when you boot into MacMode, the screen loses touch capability and behaves like any screen on a Macbook. But there IS one major obstacle to implementing this: Apple's continuing desire to sell us two devices, not one. But if they made MacMode an iPad Pro exclusive, at least for this generation, I'd bet they'd sell like crazy, even at their considerably high price points.
There was a patent in 2022 revealed where Apple describes a hybrid OS:
When it's docked, it displays the Mac UI and undocked, the iPad UI. iOS and Mac apps are binary compatible.
If they were to allow Mac apps to run in undocked/touch mode, they'd need a custom menu system like a burger menu at the top-left that expanded into a large nested menu and the top bars of window panes would have to be scaled up. It would be easier to prevent using Mac apps undocked because ideally apps would be designed as hybrid or responsive, which they aren't just now.
There wouldn't need to be Photoshop for iPad and for Mac, the same Photoshop build could detect which device it's running on and change the UI to suit.
It would take a fair amount of work to pull off a hybrid system and I suspect it would be restricted to App Store software installs. They wouldn't ship something like this until it could be done in a clean way.
I found this article helpful from a sort of conceptual standpoint, thank you.
Laptops, for me, have been something I used when away from the large display on my desk at home, and at work where portability was paramount.
This new iPad Pro, for me, may end the role of the laptop at home. When I look at your desktop photo of the Studio Display with the iPad Pro next to it, I see something missing, and it’s not a Mac laptop. It’s a Mini/Studio/Pro.
My point is that, for me, in the visual arts world, this tandem OLED iPad Pro has a place at my desk, in tandem (pun intended) with my Mac. It can do things visually that a Studio and/or Pro Display (or other high-end displays) cannot, both in terms of what I see, and how I interact with what I see.
I have used an iPad Pro for the last 3 years, nearly completely replacing my MacBook Pro. I am an author, software developer, digital artist, musician, physician. I have written several books using iPad and Pages or iPad and Scrivner. I have developed VR software graphic schemata, illustrated scientific theory, made animations, videos and recorded songs. It’s been a total workhorse on video conferencing. The last MacBook Pro I have owned is the last Intel model with 64 gigs of memory 2 terabyte drive and their fastest processor. I abandoned it for the first M1 iPad Pro. I used the M2 from the day it was released and now have and M4. There are programs that can only be run on a computer, but those are vanishing slowly and are usually highly specialized. Side loading can only be done on a computer. Medical records programs are best run on a computer. The touch interface is a vast improvement for editing anything, especially, photos, videos and recorded music. There are programs on the iPad that are not as usable or as available on the Mac. Multitasking on an iPad takes a little getting used to, but putting in more time than a week of writing a review will create good muscle memory and smooth workflow. Sometimes I need my computer. The last time was 3 months ago. The next will be in a few weeks, when I have to side load a program we are developing. Along my journey, many people have blamed something happening on their end on my using an iPad. Every time this has happened it has proven to be an error or fault with their computer. My iPads never crashe. The screens are far superior. Their speed is great. Cloud computing is fast and efficient. The software business I run is all remote and I have never used my Mac for any meeting in the last 3 years. For me, the iPad weigh Magic Keyboard and Apple Pencil has relegated my Mac to a minor role in my computing life. Oh, yeah, I also would never use my Mac to consume content. The iPad is far better at doing so. I want to be clear. My practice ran on Macs. I personally have used almost every model of Mac that has ever existed. I ordered new machines yearly, until the M1 iPad Pro. I loved Macs, but the iPad Pro is superior in almost all of the ways I work and play.
The laptop will be the gold standard config well into the future.
A tablet really can only ever be a tablet. Sure, you can accessorize it into mimicking something else. But that something else will always be better than the mimicry.
You want a solid laptop? By a solid laptop?
You want a desktop? Buy one. Or connect a Giant monitor to your laptop.
You want all of that? Buy an iPad? Nope. Buy an iPad and a laptop/desktop.
Ms surface has been merging the two. It’s not going so well.
The wheel will always need to be around. And it will always be better than its competitors, regardless of how old it is or the fact that it will only always ever be a wheel.
I think Apple is also trying to merge the two with the iPad Pro + Magic Keyboard, and from a user experience POV, is not that good. Still, there is a group of users that benefit from both devices, event with their limitations.
Comments
The software section is a complex discussion and I was afraid the hardware analysis and conversation about *why iPad* would be lost. So this story is about the naked robotic core and why that's an important computing distinction from classic Mac form factors.
BUT
My Intel Mac 2019 i9 (upgrade in 2 years) needed to go in for a repair and was possibly going to be gone for a week. Could I live without it?
I'm a data engineer/developer so could my M1 iPad get me through a week.
There were a few things I couldn't do but iPad capabilities have come on leaps and bounds since I tried this several years earlier.
Stage Manager, a paired bluetooth keyboard and bluetooth mouse with an external 34" monitor worked very nicely (the usb-c/hdmi adaptor handy for this). Stage manager and Sidecar are really cool & I could remote into work using Citrix. If you use Office app, you can use Office 365 or the native iPad apps, Google apps mainly cloud anyway. You can do nearly everything with the various available Apps in the App store - someone clever has already solved most of your problems for a couple of dollars. I got through the week quite easily.
There are limitations yes, but it's getting close to fully usable day to day for me.
Being able to customise the screen, reduce icon size etc and better multitasking would be nice but I think this will eventually come. As for multitasking, if you're using a browser for office apps, emails etc - I question if this is a limitation but I understand everyone's needs are different,
After this week I have seriously thought whether to simply use a Raspberry PI and an iPad for replacing the Mac eventually.
I usually max out a Mac when I buy one then keep it for about 5 years so it's a big investment and I could just pay a $100 and get an updated Raspberry PI every year and give the old one to the local school. It's just not quite compelling enough yet but the seed in my mind has been planted.
I've been using Mac since the original Macintosh with 1 floppy !
I saw someone mention saving docs as encrypted dmg in a cloud drive - I never thought of that, brilliant idea.
iPad OS lacks basic features.
I still use my 2018 Android phone as a laptop replacement.
That said, I also have windows laptop for work purposes, and an MBA at home.
Everything I need to do “on the road”, data collection commuting, couch surfing I can do in the iPad, although remote access to work sucks (Citrix emulation) and underlines to me why using macOS on an iPad would be a poor interface. Office 365 is a god send in that use case and a superior paradigm. And data collection, on site plans, renders etc the iPad is light years ahead of a laptop, or any competing tablet.
I even rarely connect an iPad to the big screen, but when I do I do use a physical keyboard, as my dell ultrasharp handles the kvm for me.
file management-the sandboxed app approach is not superior to a directory based system. The security preference is noble, but user unfriendly.
multi user accounts. Especially in the workplace context. I could deploy a heap of iPads after a natural disaster to whoever is available, and have them ready for a different set of people the next week, rather than have one dedicated to each staff member. But even at home Mrs Entropy and I could share an iPad just like we do the MBA. We aren’t buying two iPads.
iPadOS is not up to the task for serious business workflows
Comparison is fruitless.
In the end iPadOS lacks features that allow it to have parity with many OS options.
I don't see how an iPad can possibly be one's only computing device. I dare say virtually all iPad users also have access to another computer.
https://twitter.com/stevesi/status/1790581279433621918
https://wccftech.com/former-microsoft-president-on-dual-boot-ipad-pro/
"At least on Windows, touch is not driving sales. Surface x86 (ug) was not even a named top ISV, just 'other'."
Even after more than 10 years, they make a few billion $ per year. At $600 ASP, this is about 10m units, around 4% of PCs and they get used as laptops, not tablets.
The iPad can run UTM, which allows running a lot of different systems and software, albeit with a performance hit:
It would be possible to get a faster VM than this and it would cover whatever software people want without compromising the iPadOS design.
https://www.patentlyapple.com/2022/05/apple-wins-a-patent-for-a-next-gen-hinged-keyboard-ipad-accessory-with-multiple-modes-that-could-possibly-double-as-a-hybrid-.html
https://appleinsider.com/articles/22/10/20/apple-rumored-to-be-testing-macos-for-m2-ipad-pro
When it's docked, it displays the Mac UI and undocked, the iPad UI. iOS and Mac apps are binary compatible.
If they were to allow Mac apps to run in undocked/touch mode, they'd need a custom menu system like a burger menu at the top-left that expanded into a large nested menu and the top bars of window panes would have to be scaled up. It would be easier to prevent using Mac apps undocked because ideally apps would be designed as hybrid or responsive, which they aren't just now.
https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Learn/CSS/CSS_layout/Responsive_Design
There wouldn't need to be Photoshop for iPad and for Mac, the same Photoshop build could detect which device it's running on and change the UI to suit.
It would take a fair amount of work to pull off a hybrid system and I suspect it would be restricted to App Store software installs. They wouldn't ship something like this until it could be done in a clean way.
Laptops, for me, have been something I used when away from the large display on my desk at home, and at work where portability was paramount.
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_DgkGAaJwYs GPT-4o
View: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neural_Engine
View: https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2024/05/apple-introduces-m4-chip