iPad An OS X tablet

[Ghost31]

You don't use OS X mode with your fingers and you don't use iOS mode with your mouse.

In OS X mode (mouse/trackpad connected) you see Pages, Numbers, ... like on OS X
In iOS mode you see Pages, Numbers,... like you know it from iOS.

What's the problem which couldn't solved by software?

I think everyone is partially right on this issue, which makes it kinda funny to watch. OSX was never made to be finger friendly, but then again...if apple wanted to, they could MAKE it finger friendly. It wouldn't even be an insurmountable task. They definitely could do it. They just don't want to because they like having two separate systems. And since iOS was designed to be modern and from the ground up for mobile devices (and the future is mobile devices) they would rather add functionality to iOS over the next decade than shoehorn OS X onto a tablet. Makes sense doesn't it? If Apple released the iPad originally with a touch friendly OS X, nobody would've been excited. And that right there...says something

 

[Night Spring]

If Apple released the iPad originally with a touch friendly OS X, nobody would've been excited.

Why do you think that? I, personally, like what Apple is doing with iOS, but considering the many posts we get from people wanting OS X on a tablet, I would think at least some people would have been excited.

 

[Channan]

I would love an OS X tablet and just add a keyboard and mouse to it and use it like a laptop/desktop. That way I can use it like I've always used Macs, but I also have the option to use it as a tablet. I doubt it would replace my iPad at first, but if and when Apple would get it down to iPad size and weight, I could see it easily replacing my iPad.

 

[sracer]

I think everyone is partially right on this issue, which makes it kinda funny to watch. OSX was never made to be finger friendly, but then again...if apple wanted to, they could MAKE it finger friendly. It wouldn't even be an insurmountable task. They definitely could do it. They just don't want to because they like having two separate systems. And since iOS was designed to be modern and from the ground up for mobile devices (and the future is mobile devices) they would rather add functionality to iOS over the next decade than shoehorn OS X onto a tablet. Makes sense doesn't it? If Apple released the iPad originally with a touch friendly OS X, nobody would've been excited. And that right there...says something

Actually, no. It would not be a viably accomplishable task. And it wouldn't work well once it was done. The Surface line of tablets has demonstrated that.

 

[Ghost31]

Actually, no. It would not be a viably accomplishable task. And it wouldn't work well once it was done. The Surface line of tablets has demonstrated that.

The surface line has demonstrated... What? My point was that making OS X a touch friendly interface would be possible. Not that it would be a good or preferable one. I think iOS will always be better because it was built from the ground up for touch

 

[joeblow7777]

Actually, no. It would not be a viably accomplishable task. And it wouldn't work well once it was done. The Surface line of tablets has demonstrated that.

The Surface line has actually been quite successful. Anecdotally, I know a number of people who have replaced their laptops with a Surface Pro tablet, but I don't know anyone who has fully done so with an iPad. By all accounts the Surface Pro 3 sold quite well for MS, and I imagine the 4 has kept that up.

 

[Night Spring]

The Surface line has actually been quite successful. Anecdotally, I know a number of people who have replaced their laptops with a Surface Pro tablet, but I don't know anyone who has fully done so with an iPad. By all accounts the Surface Pro 3 sold quite well for MS, and I imagine the 4 has kept that up.

It's no big deal when people replace their laptops with the Surface, because the Surface IS a laptop. The question for the Surface is, how many people are using it as a tablet, and what percentage of their use time is spent in tablet mode?

 

[Aluminum213]

only way for sales to rebound

 

[eltoslightfoot]

It's no big deal when people replace their laptops with the Surface, because the Surface IS a laptop. The question for the Surface is, how many people are using it as a tablet, and what percentage of their use time is spent in tablet mode?

Exactly. I have had both a SP2 and an SP3. Both were sold because they sucked as tablets. Actually I liked the SP2 more, but yeah, both were just a weird laptop--not a tablet. My iPad Pro? It's a tablet.

 

[sracer]

The Surface line has actually been quite successful. Anecdotally, I know a number of people who have replaced their laptops with a Surface Pro tablet, but I don't know anyone who has fully done so with an iPad. By all accounts the Surface Pro 3 sold quite well for MS, and I imagine the 4 has kept that up.

Where did I say that the Surface line was NOT successful? I deliberately didn't reference sales because I wasn't talking about sales.

What the Surface line failed to do well was a well-balanced hybrid. It makes an adequate notebook but a sub-par tablet. That tablet experience is marred by the chronic lack of quantity of quality of touch-optimized Modern UI apps. Using desktop apps in touch mode are a stop-gap, not the preferred method.

Adding OSX to the iPad, even if OSX was modified to support touch, would fall short in a similar way that the Surface line has.

 

[joeblow7777]

It's no big deal when people replace their laptops with the Surface, because the Surface IS a laptop. The question for the Surface is, how many people are using it as a tablet, and what percentage of their use time is spent in tablet mode?

Exactly. I have had both a SP2 and an SP3. Both were sold because they sucked as tablets. Actually I liked the SP2 more, but yeah, both were just a weird laptop--not a tablet. My iPad Pro? It's a tablet.

Where did I say that the Surface line was NOT successful? I deliberately didn't reference sales because I wasn't talking about sales.

What the Surface line failed to do well was a well-balanced hybrid. It makes an adequate notebook but a sub-par tablet. That tablet experience is marred by the chronic lack of quantity of quality of touch-optimized Modern UI apps. Using desktop apps in touch mode are a stop-gap, not the preferred method.

Adding OSX to the iPad, even if OSX was modified to support touch, would fall short in a similar way that the Surface line has.

But that's just it, what do people want an OS X tablet for? When the question of whether an OS X tablet should be made comes up, I assume that many people say yes because they want a laptop in a tablet form factor (like the Surface) only not running Windows. If people just want the best possible tablet experience a desktop OS isn't going to beat the mobile alternatives. I think OS X would do an even worse job than Windows because at least MS was thinking of tablet and touchscreen functionality when they made Windows 8, 8.1, and 10. OS X was not made with hybrid devices in mind at all.

 

[seadragon]

I would absolutely buy an OS-X tablet.

 

[yaxomoxay]

I wouldn't buy an OS X tablet.
Two different worlds.

 

[Ghost31]

The Surface line has actually been quite successful. Anecdotally, I know a number of people who have replaced their laptops with a Surface Pro tablet, but I don't know anyone who has fully done so with an iPad. By all accounts the Surface Pro 3 sold quite well for MS, and I imagine the 4 has kept that up.

"Hey. I like totally know people that replaced a laptop with a laptop"

Who would've thought right? And you don't know ANYBODY that's replaced their laptop with an iPad? I talk to people everyday that have.

 

[joeblow7777]

"Hey. I like totally know people that replaced a laptop with a laptop"

Who would've thought right? And you don't know ANYBODY that's replaced their laptop with an iPad? I talk to people everyday that have.

Not sure what's up with the condescending intentional misquote, but I admitted that my observations were purely anecdotal. No, I don't know anyone who has replaced their laptop with an iPad. Most people I know use computers daily for work, but they aren't particularly "techy". While you might think that non techy people are exactly the type who would go for the simplicity of an iPad, I find that such people are very comfortable doing what they need to on a PC or Mac, but would have to learn how to get the same degree of functionality out of an iPad, and not being techy, they're not inclined to learn. They pick up a Surface, on the other hand, snap on the keyboard and they're at home.

 

[cynics]

OS X and all of its programs just can't run on an iPad regardless of how well it adapts to touch screen.

And I find it incredibly unlikely Apple would start using Intel CPUs (clearly no other x86 option other then Intel) in their tablets with all the work they put into their ARM chips.

Edit : Lol I see I already mentioned this a couple months ago here.

 

[Ghost31]

Not sure what's up with the condescending intentional misquote, but I admitted that my observations were purely anecdotal. No, I don't know anyone who has replaced their laptop with an iPad. Most people I know use computers daily for work, but they aren't particularly "techy". While you might think that non techy people are exactly the type who would go for the simplicity of an iPad, I find that such people are very comfortable doing what they need to on a PC or Mac, but would have to learn how to get the same degree of functionality out of an iPad, and not being techy, they're not inclined to learn. They pick up a Surface, on the other hand, snap on the keyboard and they're at home.

The misquote was to show you what you just said because I don't even think you realized it. The surface is a touchscreen laptop without a keyboard. Why wouldn't ANYBODY be able to replace their laptop with it? It's a freaking laptop.

The iPad is a completely different product. But it's one that is specially focused on certain tasks and work and can be the main computing device for a lot of people. I think a lot of people bandwagon and follow the line of thinking "iPad can't do anything. It's a toy" without realizing just how useful of a product it can be. Anecdotally, I know a lot of people who have only used an iPad as their main computing device. I myself have pretty much gone iPad only since the air came out. Sold my MacBook and haven't looked back.

The hilarity of this situation comes when people try to boil it down to "can it or can't it" like it has to fit some check box for everybody. It can for probably most people and can't for people where it can't. It's as simple as that

 

[joeblow7777]

The misquote was to show you what you just said because I don't even think you realized it. The surface is a touchscreen laptop without a keyboard. Why wouldn't ANYBODY be able to replace their laptop with it? It's a freaking laptop.

The iPad is a completely different product. But it's one that is specially focused on certain tasks and work and can be the main computing device for a lot of people. I think a lot of people bandwagon and follow the line of thinking "iPad can't do anything. It's a toy" without realizing just how useful of a product it can be. Anecdotally, I know a lot of people who have only used an iPad as their main computing device. I myself have pretty much gone iPad only since the air came out. Sold my MacBook and haven't looked back.

The hilarity of this situation comes when people try to boil it down to "can it or can't it" like it has to fit some check box for everybody. It can for probably most people and can't for people where it can't. It's as simple as that

This whole discussion is about an OS X tablet. What would that be if not a touchscreen MacBook without a keyboard? But then when I bring up the obvious comparison to a Surface, everyone says, "that doesn't count, it's a laptop."

It's not that I don't know what I said, I'm just not getting why the Surface is a taboo subject when we're talking about the Apple equivalent of the same thing.

 

[Ghost31]

This whole discussion is about an OS X tablet. What would that be if not a touchscreen MacBook without a keyboard? But then when I bring up the obvious comparison to a Surface, everyone says, "that doesn't count, it's a laptop."

It's not that I don't know what I said, I'm just not getting why the Surface is a taboo subject when we're talking about the Apple equivalent of the same thing.

Honestly, I don't think it would be a bad product if Apple eventually choose to make one. I think Apple won't though. I think they are too forward looking and it doesn't fit into their vision. Whatever that may be.

What would be the benefit of an OSX tablet over an iPad? You could list a few different features that OS X has that iOS doesn't, but those features will probably be added to iPad later on. It's just a matter of time. And what happens to this entire discussion years from now when a iOS tablet is as capable if not more so than OS X? What does that mean for OS X? What will that mean for computing in general? Was iPad pro a paradigm shifting product but we haven't seen the effects yet? Will the iPad make this huge software leaps in the next few years? Modern tablet computing has only been around since 2010. That's not long at all. Basically 5 years if you consider the current tablets weren't made in 2016. What would an iPad look like in 10 years? Twice the time we've had up until this point? Man i wish I had a time machine

 

[Count Blah]

Where do people think all these iOS and iOS applications come from? OS X

What are a significant number of people in here asking to phase out/terminate? OS X

Does not compute.

iOS will have to move a lot close to OS X, than OS X will have to move to iOS

 

[KOZmac]

I love my iPad Pro - everything I wished the iPad would have been in the first place. That said, I am insanely jealous of the Surface Book Pro but I can't justify the price. I *do* often find myself out in the field wishing I had something a little more powerful than my iPad Pro. Just not often enough to justify the SB.

 

[spiderman0616]

Now that I've used my iPad Pro with some "desktop class" apps, I can honestly see why Apple thinks of OS X as a legacy product. I do a lot of audio editing, so I got Ferrite and paid the $20 for all the bells and whistles. That app is a perfect of example of how to create "desktop class" software, but feature touch UI as the main way to interact with it in a way that is intuitive and easy to learn. There is something great about being able to hold a multi-track project in my hands and edit it rather than sit at a computer and use a keyboard and mouse. When the software itself is done with this in mind, it's easy for the user to imagine one day ditching the laptop/desktop.

I have not been one to want to champion this idea of iOS/Android/etc. taking over for Windows/OS X, but again, I've now used some software that has convinced me it's possible. It's all up to the developers.

 

[JD2015]

Now that I've used my iPad Pro with some "desktop class" apps, I can honestly see why Apple thinks of OS X as a legacy product. I do a lot of audio editing, so I got Ferrite and paid the $20 for all the bells and whistles. That app is a perfect of example of how to create "desktop class" software, but feature touch UI as the main way to interact with it in a way that is intuitive and easy to learn. There is something great about being able to hold a multi-track project in my hands and edit it rather than sit at a computer and use a keyboard and mouse. When the software itself is done with this in mind, it's easy for the user to imagine one day ditching the laptop/desktop.

I have not been one to want to champion this idea of iOS/Android/etc. taking over for Windows/OS X, but again, I've now used some software that has convinced me it's possible. It's all up to the developers.

Totally agree. Some IOS apps are either equal too or superior than their desktop version. Examples for me include: Omnigraffle , ithoughts, Ulysses, notes etc.

 

[Newtons Apple]

Apple will never give us a full operating system on a tablet as it would kill off the poor laptop market.

 

[eltoslightfoot]

Apple will never give us a full operating system on a tablet as it would kill off the poor laptop market.

Actually they would if they thought it could be done up to their own view of what that is. Jobs always said it is better to cannibalize yourself. I just think that they don't think it can be done well...yet.