Of course, there is one more thing that should tell people that Apple won’t be shoehorning a bloated, dual-UI macOS onto iPads. There are still folks who think they want that and say, “…but iPad Pro has an M4! There’s no excuse for not putting macOS on it!” They should pick up that super-thin iPad Pro and look it over carefully, asking what hardware Macs have that it doesn’t. No, not extra ports and jacks.
iPads have no ventilation. Even a light-duty MacBook Air has passive ventilation.
So no, all that juicy M4 power in your new iPad Pro is not designed to load up with a bloated version of macOS and multitask all your favorite Mac apps. That’s not the plan, and it’s not going to be the plan.
Why would anyone want macOS on an iPad form factor? Just make the padOS and iPad apps better for an iPad. Make an iPad a better content creation and work device. Re-imagine workflows. Make an iPad better than a MacBook, for somethings. A father that drives an SUV does not want a Ferrari engine, he wants more cupholders, a third row of seats and USB in the back.
Apple’s strongest skill is compelling hardware design. Frequently Apple’s quest for design aesthetics creates functionality problems. The quest for thin form factors had in the past created heat management issues, resulting in slower operations. Or keyboard keys that loose their tactile feel or longterm reliability issues. The M4 iPad on the other hand has no hardware shortcomings, even though Apple made it incredibly thin. The performance is outstanding. The screen images are incredible. Unfortunately, all of this hardware superiority is hobbled by an operating system that misses the mark. Apple is a hardware company first. And a software company second. Their hardware design and manufacturing capabilities are significantly better than their software development abilities. This is why they are playing catchup with AI. I am prepared to be underwhelmed with their WWDC announcements regarding AI, operating systems and other application software. Now that Mac, iPhone and iPad all run on the same hardware architecture, Apple should ditch iPad OS and focus on creating an iPad specific version of MacOs. If you are going to pay a Mac price for an M4 iPad, you should have access to an OS that offers greater functionality than iPadOS. This way Apple could focus on software development for one less operating system and give customers greater performance, functionality and satisfaction.
One thing not mentioned in the article, or any other article that bemoans the fact that the iPad Pro is “overpowered” for its operating system, is the fact that all that seemingly extra power (pre AI at least) seriously extends the useful service life of an iPad Pro. My 2017 vintage 10.5” iPad Pro with 512 GB storage hasn’t skipped a beat since it was new and it is still a pleasure to use and very responsive. There’s probably an app out there that would be laggy if I installed it on this iPad Pro, but I haven’t found one yet. The fact that it supports all of Apple’s continuity features makes it even more useful today than it was when I bought it because it is mounted on an elevated arm right next to my 32” monitor used by my MacBook Air and can serve as a third extended display in addition to everything else it does as ann iPad. I can fit my entire music collection (around 33,000 songs) on it and still have a lot of free storage. I fully expect my 2017 iPad Pro will serve me for at least 10 years and still feel snappy, well, as long as Apple doesn’t release a crippling update to iPadOS that neuters , or the battery bloats.
when will we have macOS on iPad or better still, reversible screen on macBook Air with pencil. now, that would be something
Sorry, I think you're in the wrong place. You should be happier here. /snark
Note: The screenshot below is of the first site i found searching for a Microsoft Surface Forum to make the snarky comment above. I did not seek out the three-for-three thread discussion titles. Somebody please remind me why anyone wants Apple to replicate that.
All of the writers at AppleInsider agree that picking a number lacks nuance.
I'm on Google's side here. A number represents a DECISION. "Anyone" can waffle on about the pro's and con's of a product and avoid making a decision.
But an expert needs to step up to the mark and be a decision maker; draw a line in the sand and give an objective score. I like the score 3.5.
Yeah, but. There is no omni-decision, no universal number that suits a product, unilaterally. All these pros and cons bullet points have different weight to different users.
The score should be 4.5 out of 5.0 the Apple M4 iPad Pro is the best tablet on the planet (market) by far nothing else comes even close. (Fan-less and gives full performance at ridiculously low wattage). If you want Mac OS get a M4 MacBook Pro when it comes out.
This is a thorough and intelligent review, and I appreciate the note within that putting MacOS on iPads is a bad idea.
I've said it before and I'll say it again: MacOS already runs everything from a MacBook to a multi-screen Mac Pro workstation. The compromises required to accommodate both a touchscreen iPad and a not-at-all-suitable-for-touch Mac Pro in one operating system would result in bloatware that renders both ends of that spectrum inferior to what they are now, and absolutely ruins everything between. The clamor for MacOS on an iPad is nothing but myopia.
Can iPadOS be made more robust? Yes, and it undoubtedly will be. Making it a distinct sibling to iOS is surely about more than accommodating screen sizes and aspect ratios. The caption for the article above should be a big clue: because Apple creates hardware and software in tandem, they can give careful consideration to their development pipeline. Any new piece of hardware shouldn't be taxed at all by the OS version initially shipped on it. If a new model isn't "the hardware of the future running software of the past," you shouldn't buy it. This year's hardware should be built to accommodate the demands of operating systems and software several years down the road.
With a little foresight, the fact that iPadOS is distinct from iOS and the fact iPads are made with the significantly more powerful M-series processors should tell you a lot about what's coming. What it shouldn't do is make you shortsightedly demand that Apple turn macOS into Windows and crapify the entire lineage of iPads, MacBooks and Macs just to satisfy a fan-fiction narrative and come out with a miserable Surface-like hybrid that nobody will actually want.
"With a little foresight, the fact that iPadOS is distinct from iOS and the fact iPads are made with the significantly more powerful M-series processors should tell you a lot about what's coming"
This has been said for years and iPad Pro users are still waiting
Honestly, if Apple just introduced resizable floating windows, Exposé and Finder to the iPad OS, that’s 90% of people’s complaints about iPad already taken care of.
This is a thorough and intelligent review, and I appreciate the note within that putting MacOS on iPads is a bad idea.
I've said it before and I'll say it again: MacOS already runs everything from a MacBook to a multi-screen Mac Pro workstation. The compromises required to accommodate both a touchscreen iPad and a not-at-all-suitable-for-touch Mac Pro in one operating system would result in bloatware that renders both ends of that spectrum inferior to what they are now, and absolutely ruins everything between. The clamor for MacOS on an iPad is nothing but myopia.
Who says you need one unified OS? Since the M-chip can boot natively into either MacOS or iPadOS, why not an iPad that can boot into either one, depending on what the user wants to use? In MacOS mode, the screen becomes touchless and requires the Magic Keyboard, or some similar set-up, for navigation and use, just like a Macbook. In iPadOS, it's an iPad. If a Mac could boot into and run Windows effectively based on a software solution alone, why would an MacOS/iPadOS choice not be possible when you have the tremendous advantage of an incredibly powerful processor capable of booting into and running either one natively? The biggest and only obstacle is Apple's desire to sell us two piece of hardware, not one.
This is a thorough and intelligent review, and I appreciate the note within that putting MacOS on iPads is a bad idea.
I've said it before and I'll say it again: MacOS already runs everything from a MacBook to a multi-screen Mac Pro workstation. The compromises required to accommodate both a touchscreen iPad and a not-at-all-suitable-for-touch Mac Pro in one operating system would result in bloatware that renders both ends of that spectrum inferior to what they are now, and absolutely ruins everything between. The clamor for MacOS on an iPad is nothing but myopia.
Who says you need one unified OS? Since the M-chip can boot natively into either MacOS or iPadOS, why not an iPad that can boot into either one, depending on what the user wants to use? In MacOS mode, the screen becomes touchless and requires the Magic Keyboard, or some similar set-up, for navigation and use, just like a Macbook. In iPadOS, it's an iPad. If a Mac could boot into and run Windows effectively based on a software solution alone, why would an MacOS/iPadOS choice not be possible when you have the tremendous advantage of an incredibly powerful processor capable of booting into and running either one natively? The biggest and only obstacle is Apple's desire to sell us two piece of hardware, not one.
There's a lot of things that can be done, but just because something can be done does not mean it should be done. A dual boot iPad is simply too complicated and geektastic for the vast majority of iPad buyers, or at least those who are not still clinging to their tri-boot DEC Rainbow computers. Most iPad buyers just want to power up their machine and start using it with as little fuss as possible. Simply getting the single user account configured with an AppleID and trying to figure out all the iCloud options is a really big deal for a lot of people.
Unfortunately Apple has clouded the water with the iPad by trying to push it upmarket ($$$ Pro $$$) with the implication of it being a productivity machine and potential laptop replacement, which it clearly is not for a lot of productivity seekers, regardless of it having a keyboard/mouse option. Apple has brought all of this turmoil on themselves by losing focus about what customers it is targeting with the iPad and throwing in too much complexity in areas where it should not exist.
It's very clear to me that what a large number of iPad Pro users really want is a MacBook Surface or "MacBook Pad" to go along with "MacBook Air" and "MacBook Pro." The MacBook Pad would be a full fledged member of the Mac family and no longer part of the iPad family. It would come with macOS, a Magic Keyboard, no-touch screen, and user selectable memory and storage at the time of purchase. Maybe Apple could find a way to add a second TB port. Of course all Macs and all iPads would still retain all of the commonality in core services and applications, just like they do today.
The iPad line could still offer feature and storage tiers at different price points, but there would be no expectation that it is a MacBook replacement for those who need everything a MacBook offers. Essentially, Apple leaves the iPad line exactly as it is today but adds a new MacBook product is specifically tailored to those who want Apple's version of a Microsoft Surface, without the Surface's hideous tablet mode.
Here's the kind of questions in my mind that I can't get past: If I owned an "iPad Pro Convertible," why would I ever want to boot into iPad mode to run a dumbed-down version of an app that is available on macOS? How many highly popular or essential apps are only available on iPadOS? I don't have any such things in my setups, but I'd be willing to bet there must be some out there. Since the dawn of Apple Silicon we've been sold on the promise that M-series Macs would be able to run iPadOS and iOS apps. Where are they? If app makers were more diligent about making sure their iPadOS and iOS apps run on M-series Macs, having iPadOS installed on a dual-boot machine is unnecessary and redundant. If it comes down to running Windows apps, again, I can install VMWare Fusion and Win 11 on macOS to run Microsoft ARM apps.
All of these things make my case for sticking with macOS even stronger. I'd have no need to have iPadOS and its apps, services, and content on the same machine as macOS. In this imaginary universe and if form-factor was the major driving force, I'd simply buy one of those "MacBook Pad" machines and be done with it. But in the real world we do not have MacBook Pads. But we do have M-series MacBook Airs and MacBook Pros that check nearly all of the boxes if you want to be "productive" and are willing to put up with a more robust, simply designed, and integrated keyboard+mouse centric way of using computers. I can use any MacBook on my lap with no fear of it falling over on to its back. iPad Pro with Magic Keyboard, not so much. When the Magic Keyboard is mounted on an iPad Pro, it adds a lot of weight and bulk that goes against the pristine aesthetic that defines the iPad. What started out as thin and light suddenly becomes heavy and chunky when the magic is attached.
Of course, Apple could simply fix a relatively small number of pain points on iPadOS, like file management, and the number of iPadOS complainers would go down. For those who are still not convinced, browse on over to Microsoft's online sales website and get out your credit card. Your "productivity dreams" are right there awaiting your "Buy It" click. It's not as bad as it looks and smells, but you'll get used to it and learn to love it, eventually.
”Since I can't have more than one audio app active on iPad, I can be listening to music and have a video ad in Safari stop playback. System audio sounds like notifications interrupt audio, too.”
it depends on the App. I can run Audiokit’s SynthOne, their FM synth, and the 909 drum machine concurrently, either playing loops or played live. Maybe System audio is handled differently. I’m sure someone else here can shed more light on that.
I've experienced this issue where when browsing Safari while listening to Apple Music or Overcast, a video ad on a website will stop playback of Music or Overcast.
For this particular issue, I've always attributed it the ad injector, where I think it is sending a stop/pause command to the background audio stream, so that the user can hear the audio in the ad. Yup, they audio-jack. It gets worse than that. They ad injector can also scroll-jack. It stops registering touch input in the area of the ad-injection so you can't scroll quickly away. You have to find an a non ad area to register your touch to scroll away. This is one of those hypocritical things about reviewers hemming and hawing about this or that product having such poor design while their own website was a user hostile design nightmare. They always say they can't do anything about it because the ad-side and editorial side don't mix.
Apple might have designed it this way on purpose so that the user knows a video ad is playing and burning CPU cycles. Who knows. On the desktop, browsers have features where background browser tabs are auto muted, UI buttons/symbols have to be added to the tab to indicate something is playing, etc. So, I expect ads will be a usability problem one way or another on whatever platform you use.
I tested audio playback on iPP10.5 just now. I can play Apple Music in a SlideOver sheet hidden away, and have 2 FileBrowser.app windows in SplitView, each with a video playing. The 3 sources are muxed together and I hear all 3 sources of audio at the same time. When I switch to Safari, one of the videos goes into pop-up video mode, I still hear Apple Music. Hard to tell if the 2nd video was still going with Safari in fullscreen, a pop-up video playing, and Apple Music playing.
My question with Stage Manager is how much can you load it up. Each Stage can have 4 windows. Is every window in each stage running? Only the front-most stage are active? What are the multitasking characteristics? If I run Pythonista script that takes 10 minutes to complete, will it keep running if it is in Stage while I'm using Safari?
I wish my iPad supported Logic, or I would see if anything could interrupt that. Or Final Cut for that matter. I would like to know if the Pro apps would supersede any attempt to hijack the audio in the manner you described.
This is a thorough and intelligent review, and I appreciate the note within that putting MacOS on iPads is a bad idea.
I've said it before and I'll say it again: MacOS already runs everything from a MacBook to a multi-screen Mac Pro workstation. The compromises required to accommodate both a touchscreen iPad and a not-at-all-suitable-for-touch Mac Pro in one operating system would result in bloatware that renders both ends of that spectrum inferior to what they are now, and absolutely ruins everything between. The clamor for MacOS on an iPad is nothing but myopia.
Who says you need one unified OS? Since the M-chip can boot natively into either MacOS or iPadOS, why not an iPad that can boot into either one, depending on what the user wants to use? In MacOS mode, the screen becomes touchless and requires the Magic Keyboard, or some similar set-up, for navigation and use, just like a Macbook. In iPadOS, it's an iPad. If a Mac could boot into and run Windows effectively based on a software solution alone, why would an MacOS/iPadOS choice not be possible when you have the tremendous advantage of an incredibly powerful processor capable of booting into and running either one natively? The biggest and only obstacle is Apple's desire to sell us two piece of hardware, not one.
A dual boot iPad is simply too complicated and geektastic for the vast majority of iPad buyers...
Too complicated? Ummm, not unless they're recovering from a recent frontal lobotomy. It's all of two buttons on the boot up and restart screens--one for iPadOS and one for MacOS. Click the one you want and you're done.
Yes, too complicated for a lot of users who use iPad basically as an entertainment, internet portal, and communication appliance.
So you limit dual booting iPads to the Pro models, with pre purchase cognitive screening and computer literacy testing. No problem, but why this brainy customer base want to boot into iPadOS to run a limited version of an app that works much better and is surrounded by a rich set of services, like a full file system when booted into macOS?
If all app developers did the work to allow their iPad apps to run on M-series Macs then theoretically any iPad app would run on macOS. No iPad required.
If this is really about form factor, then Apple should build a Mac with an iPad form factor and not waste the storage space the put iPadOS on it.
I really like this review. I like the way you separate your own personal concerns with the device from those that might be problematic for a majority of users.
Count me in the group that doesn't think running MacOS on iPad is necessarily a good thing. Sure, there are some features on MacOS that I would like to see on iPadOS, and there are some apps that I'd like to see achieve more parity with their MacOS counterparts, but for the most part, I find that I don't need it all.
I vehemently disagree that iPads are useless, as one user posted, outside of consumption. My M2 iPP has been a boon for "in the field" photo and video editing, especially the simple stuff that I do. I don't need a keyboard for any of that; my fingers and Pencil are more than sufficient.
Unfortunately Apple has clouded the water with the iPad by trying to push it upmarket ($$$ Pro $$$) with the implication of it being a productivity machine and potential laptop replacement, which it clearly is not for a lot of productivity seekers, regardless of it having a keyboard/mouse option. Apple has brought all of this turmoil on themselves by losing focus about what customers it is targeting with the iPad and throwing in too much complexity in areas where it should not exist.
It's very clear to me that what a large number of iPad Pro users really want is a MacBook Surface or "MacBook Pad" to go along with "MacBook Air" and "MacBook Pro." The MacBook Pad would be a full fledged member of the Mac family and no longer part of the iPad family. It would come with macOS, a Magic Keyboard, no-touch screen, and user selectable memory and storage at the time of purchase. Maybe Apple could find a way to add a second TB port. Of course all Macs and all iPads would still retain all of the commonality in core services and applications, just like they do today. ... Of course, Apple could simply fix a relatively small number of pain points on iPadOS, like file management, and the number of iPadOS complainers would go down. For those who are still not convinced, browse on over to Microsoft's online sales website and get out your credit card. Your "productivity dreams" are right there awaiting your "Buy It" click. It's not as bad as it looks and smells, but you'll get used to it and learn to love it, eventually.
There are software and policy issues that make it really difficult to enable iPadOS to have certain capabilities.
1. App Store policies and restrictions mean many applications will not make it to iPads. These developers are not going to put their apps onto iPads because they are not going to give Apple 30% of purchase price. They can do the subscription service bought from the vendors website I suppose. These types of apps are not cheap, and some of them can have yearly licensing on order thousands of dollars annually. Terminal.app or shell access would be great for a lot of people, but they are resisting it for unstated reasons. App Store policies of apps not being able to download and run code is surely one of them.
2. iPadOS devices are designed for specific display dimensions and points, with many of them using pixel or bitmaps. They are not designed to be of arbitrary size. This makes putting them in a windowing system will be like what you see in Stage Manager. A lot of apps haven't even been updated to support SplitView and SlideOver, including Apple's own Settings app. If all iPad apps supported SplitView, that would go a very long ways to support a windowing environment. Apple really needs to put in the work to the base document class so that all apps have some support for a windowing environment.
3. Moving developers from AppKit and UIKit to SwiftUI is a slog and the iPadOS GUI team needs help. Many macOS apps are an ugly mess of lots of generations of code bases. Apple really should offer a super easy way for developers to continue to use those code bases and have them run on iPads. Like one of the things Apple said that would enable more desktop class apps is to enable a more flexible toolbar strip. That isn't going to be and hasn't been enough. They need to automatically support an app's MenuBar menus, automatically support both right and left side bars, so on and so forth. The GUI heuristic of the long-press to lift a link or new window and a slide to put it into SplitView is too easy to accidentally do. It needs to be changed. They really should just get rid of the magnifying glass for text selection. The decisions with Stage Manager has been a bit crazy as it didn't address what many users wanted save for one. They still think that hiding and minimizing file management is good thing (file management is indeed a difficult problem).
So, the amount of work that Apple needs to do is rather large. They have been doing the easiest things possible given the box they are in, but to do it properly they need to re-architect quite a few things. You can see why they haven't put in the work, but they really should.
I want it to remain a touch operated "magic" sheet of glass, with a stylus and finger tips as the primary user interface devices, where the UI can scale from novice to expert user. They have the user interface for novice users down, that's just an iPhone style GUI conventions, but for many difficult reasons I'm sure, they have really been slow rolling many higher level features. Would like to hear their arguments for why not.
This is a thorough and intelligent review, and I appreciate the note within that putting MacOS on iPads is a bad idea.
I've said it before and I'll say it again: MacOS already runs everything from a MacBook to a multi-screen Mac Pro workstation. The compromises required to accommodate both a touchscreen iPad and a not-at-all-suitable-for-touch Mac Pro in one operating system would result in bloatware that renders both ends of that spectrum inferior to what they are now, and absolutely ruins everything between. The clamor for MacOS on an iPad is nothing but myopia.
Who says you need one unified OS? Since the M-chip can boot natively into either MacOS or iPadOS, why not an iPad that can boot into either one, depending on what the user wants to use? In MacOS mode, the screen becomes touchless and requires the Magic Keyboard, or some similar set-up, for navigation and use, just like a Macbook. In iPadOS, it's an iPad. If a Mac could boot into and run Windows effectively based on a software solution alone, why would an MacOS/iPadOS choice not be possible when you have the tremendous advantage of an incredibly powerful processor capable of booting into and running either one natively? The biggest and only obstacle is Apple's desire to sell us two piece of hardware, not one.
First, that’s a terrible idea that is anathema to the core ethos at Apple. Maintaining two operating systems on one machine is the bloatiest of bloat you could come up with, and this wouldn’t just be two operating systems. It would also require two separate file systems, requiring double the SSD capacity, because Apple isn’t going to provide a back door into iPadOS via the macOS finder. Apple is not going to sell a device that is one big “workaround” just to satisfy unimaginative fan fiction fantasies.
Second, see my other post above about the lack of ventilation in the iPad. M4 or not, iPad is not designed to run MacOS. Even the lightest-duty MacBook Air has passive ventilation, because multitasking and more complex apps generate a lot of heat in the processor. An iPad Pro running macOS would be slower and hotter (to the point of hardware failure) than the bottom-end MacBook Air, and it would also burn through batteries, making it a downgraded piece of junk compared to the current iPad.
iPad’s are way overpriced these days and yet still hobbled by that clunky consumer oriented OS (barely ok on the iPhone OS that it grew out of). Working in construction running a small business doing home renovations, I’m stoked with my business computing combo of the iPhone Pro 14, 13” M3 MBA (16gb, 512gb) and AirPods Pro 2. The Mac OS is really functional for accounting, reading, research, email and the filing system is still hard to beat, plus it’s a wicked media hub. With iCloud and OmniFocus 4 (Pro version) running on both devices, my family and fitness commitments as well as project workflows across multiple sites are constantly synched. The closest comparison, a 13” iPad Pro 512gb with Apple keyboard and usb pencil is well over $1000NZD more than my MBA and around the same price as a 14” MBP (16GB 1Tb) which I find completely mystifying. Only change I’ll make to my set up in the next year or two is upgrading to the iPhone Pro 16 or 17 for the upcoming Apple Intelligence features (and maybe try an Apple Watch X…). Aside from Apple doing something with iPad OS, maybe AI is what will make the iPad Pro more useful, but it still won’t account for the obscene pricing…
Comments
when will we have macOS on iPad
or better still, reversible screen on macBook Air with pencil.
now, that would be something
Note: The screenshot below is of the first site i found searching for a Microsoft Surface Forum to make the snarky comment above. I did not seek out the three-for-three thread discussion titles. Somebody please remind me why anyone wants Apple to replicate that.
A single numerical score is ludicrous.
This has been said for years and iPad Pro users are still waiting
Unfortunately Apple has clouded the water with the iPad by trying to push it upmarket ($$$ Pro $$$) with the implication of it being a productivity machine and potential laptop replacement, which it clearly is not for a lot of productivity seekers, regardless of it having a keyboard/mouse option. Apple has brought all of this turmoil on themselves by losing focus about what customers it is targeting with the iPad and throwing in too much complexity in areas where it should not exist.
It's very clear to me that what a large number of iPad Pro users really want is a MacBook Surface or "MacBook Pad" to go along with "MacBook Air" and "MacBook Pro." The MacBook Pad would be a full fledged member of the Mac family and no longer part of the iPad family. It would come with macOS, a Magic Keyboard, no-touch screen, and user selectable memory and storage at the time of purchase. Maybe Apple could find a way to add a second TB port. Of course all Macs and all iPads would still retain all of the commonality in core services and applications, just like they do today.
The iPad line could still offer feature and storage tiers at different price points, but there would be no expectation that it is a MacBook replacement for those who need everything a MacBook offers. Essentially, Apple leaves the iPad line exactly as it is today but adds a new MacBook product is specifically tailored to those who want Apple's version of a Microsoft Surface, without the Surface's hideous tablet mode.
Here's the kind of questions in my mind that I can't get past: If I owned an "iPad Pro Convertible," why would I ever want to boot into iPad mode to run a dumbed-down version of an app that is available on macOS? How many highly popular or essential apps are only available on iPadOS? I don't have any such things in my setups, but I'd be willing to bet there must be some out there. Since the dawn of Apple Silicon we've been sold on the promise that M-series Macs would be able to run iPadOS and iOS apps. Where are they? If app makers were more diligent about making sure their iPadOS and iOS apps run on M-series Macs, having iPadOS installed on a dual-boot machine is unnecessary and redundant. If it comes down to running Windows apps, again, I can install VMWare Fusion and Win 11 on macOS to run Microsoft ARM apps.
All of these things make my case for sticking with macOS even stronger. I'd have no need to have iPadOS and its apps, services, and content on the same machine as macOS. In this imaginary universe and if form-factor was the major driving force, I'd simply buy one of those "MacBook Pad" machines and be done with it. But in the real world we do not have MacBook Pads. But we do have M-series MacBook Airs and MacBook Pros that check nearly all of the boxes if you want to be "productive" and are willing to put up with a more robust, simply designed, and integrated keyboard+mouse centric way of using computers. I can use any MacBook on my lap with no fear of it falling over on to its back. iPad Pro with Magic Keyboard, not so much. When the Magic Keyboard is mounted on an iPad Pro, it adds a lot of weight and bulk that goes against the pristine aesthetic that defines the iPad. What started out as thin and light suddenly becomes heavy and chunky when the magic is attached.
Of course, Apple could simply fix a relatively small number of pain points on iPadOS, like file management, and the number of iPadOS complainers would go down. For those who are still not convinced, browse on over to Microsoft's online sales website and get out your credit card. Your "productivity dreams" are right there awaiting your "Buy It" click. It's not as bad as it looks and smells, but you'll get used to it and learn to love it, eventually.
If all app developers did the work to allow their iPad apps to run on M-series Macs then theoretically any iPad app would run on macOS. No iPad required.
1. App Store policies and restrictions mean many applications will not make it to iPads. These developers are not going to put their apps onto iPads because they are not going to give Apple 30% of purchase price. They can do the subscription service bought from the vendors website I suppose. These types of apps are not cheap, and some of them can have yearly licensing on order thousands of dollars annually. Terminal.app or shell access would be great for a lot of people, but they are resisting it for unstated reasons. App Store policies of apps not being able to download and run code is surely one of them.
2. iPadOS devices are designed for specific display dimensions and points, with many of them using pixel or bitmaps. They are not designed to be of arbitrary size. This makes putting them in a windowing system will be like what you see in Stage Manager. A lot of apps haven't even been updated to support SplitView and SlideOver, including Apple's own Settings app. If all iPad apps supported SplitView, that would go a very long ways to support a windowing environment. Apple really needs to put in the work to the base document class so that all apps have some support for a windowing environment.
3. Moving developers from AppKit and UIKit to SwiftUI is a slog and the iPadOS GUI team needs help. Many macOS apps are an ugly mess of lots of generations of code bases. Apple really should offer a super easy way for developers to continue to use those code bases and have them run on iPads. Like one of the things Apple said that would enable more desktop class apps is to enable a more flexible toolbar strip. That isn't going to be and hasn't been enough. They need to automatically support an app's MenuBar menus, automatically support both right and left side bars, so on and so forth. The GUI heuristic of the long-press to lift a link or new window and a slide to put it into SplitView is too easy to accidentally do. It needs to be changed. They really should just get rid of the magnifying glass for text selection. The decisions with Stage Manager has been a bit crazy as it didn't address what many users wanted save for one. They still think that hiding and minimizing file management is good thing (file management is indeed a difficult problem).
So, the amount of work that Apple needs to do is rather large. They have been doing the easiest things possible given the box they are in, but to do it properly they need to re-architect quite a few things. You can see why they haven't put in the work, but they really should.
I want it to remain a touch operated "magic" sheet of glass, with a stylus and finger tips as the primary user interface devices, where the UI can scale from novice to expert user. They have the user interface for novice users down, that's just an iPhone style GUI conventions, but for many difficult reasons I'm sure, they have really been slow rolling many higher level features. Would like to hear their arguments for why not.
Second, see my other post above about the lack of ventilation in the iPad. M4 or not, iPad is not designed to run MacOS. Even the lightest-duty MacBook Air has passive ventilation, because multitasking and more complex apps generate a lot of heat in the processor. An iPad Pro running macOS would be slower and hotter (to the point of hardware failure) than the bottom-end MacBook Air, and it would also burn through batteries, making it a downgraded piece of junk compared to the current iPad.