Hi Craig. Buy an older Yoga Thinkpad (e.g. eBay). Install Unbuntu. Be prepared to be amazed. Get out of the walled garden once in a while. Will do you good. HTH, NSC
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Apple Explains Why iPad Multitasking Took So Long to Arrive
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My opinion is that Apple didn't want the iPad to cannibalize Mac sales, but they realized that they have pushed customers' patience about as far as they could, so they finally relented.
Now the iPad still does not fully replace the Mac for many people, but the new multitasking helps a lot. Eventually, they will have to find a different way to make people buy both the iPad and Mac other than to cripple the iPad.
Now the iPad still does not fully replace the Mac for many people, but the new multitasking helps a lot. Eventually, they will have to find a different way to make people buy both the iPad and Mac other than to cripple the iPad.
Yes. I really don't think their problem has been lack of windows. Most people on computers full screen every app all the time, and those that don't are often preferring auto-tiling window managers these days. The problem with the iPad multitasking is usability. It is quite fiddly to set up something as simple as a sliding panel app overlaid to your main one (e.g. a dictionary or translator app on a browser), and then there's no "memory" of it once you kill one of the apps or set up another configuration. There's never been a concept of "Spaces" for the iPad, for example, which would help with this – despite them already having something similar with the home icon screens. The one thing they did that actually improved something was adding the "Dock" feature.
Also there's far too much overuse of the same areas of the screen, like putting the three dots for multitasking at the top where many apps have a control bar, or doing so much with swipe up from the bottom when the keyboard is there. I seriously wonder if they've ever just filmed users interacting with their UIs and tried to learn anything from it.
While I'm at it the Files interface could use some serious improvement as well. While they solved the conceptual problem of making files available across apps, the way they explicitly represent every source (iCloud, Dropbox, Google, "this iPad", etc.) introduces friction and management headaches at every turn. I get that sometimes you need this kind of control, but for the 95% case they should just automatically mirror local files to your preferred cloud storage and then provide a single virtual filesystem view over everything, only asking questions / dropping down to direct management mode if there are duplicate files.
And don't get me started about the software keyboard. I get that it will never replace a hardware one but a lot of basics could be added, especially on large-screened Pros, that would change a lot from impossible to somewhat efficient. Think alt-tab app switching for example, or cursor up/down for history, or ctrl-a/e line and page up/down navigation. The keyboard in my sig offers everything iOS even supports in this direction and it's not very much at all.
It was missing virtual memory, so the expectation of being able to run an unlimited number of programs similarly to a desktop experience, was impossible. Of course that was a decision of their own making, but it still takes time to undo such low level expectations, especially when you work at Apple's scale.
AFAIK the M1 series iPad Pro and later (so basically everything able to run stage manager) can support virtual RAM, which is why they are able to make it work, when they couldn't before. Or maybe they were able to enable virtual ram for all devices, I'm not sure.
But there were in fact reasons... of a sort.
I tried it on my 11” iPad Pro but reverted back to full screen experience because I find windows experience pointless on this screen size. I don’t see myself getting the larger iPad because I already have MacBook Pro as a larger screen. And if I wanted a lighter device I would rather get MacBook Air instead. So I’m personally still struggling to find a reason for having the larger iPad to use the new multitasking experience.
came here to say exactly this about the M1
as for iPadOS not being a multi-threaded operating system to begin with, of course it wasn't since it was based on iOS that was designed for phones first and foremost and put an extremely high premium on power consumption without compromising performance
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Think Apple is damned if they do and damned if they don’t. There will always be some criticism of multitasking on an iPad. It’s just not a desktop computer.
This is a preempt to say the 2018 iPad pro will run poorly and you should buy a new one if you want it to work properly.
Considering I was suckered into spending £1300 on an ipad pro 12.9 in 2018 and the new ones offering nothing more but power 7 years later.... if it doesn't work I just won't use it. My Pro device will go back to being a big portable youtube player.
Considering I was suckered into spending £1300 on an ipad pro 12.9 in 2018 and the new ones offering nothing more but power 7 years later.... if it doesn't work I just won't use it. My Pro device will go back to being a big portable youtube player.
Yeah I'm pretty annoyed by this as well, though I don't use it nearly enough to be too upset.
Hair Force One needs to be retired from flight. The corporate BS is getting liquid glass transparent, and the incompetency more opaque.
I buy the explanation that the early iPads were too underpowered for multitasking in this way.
I think the journo Andes C, hit the nail on the head that stage manager was an artificial exercise in coming up with a new slightly limited way of multitasking simply to differentiate it from the Mac. Especially as the transition to mx Macs was underway.
I doubt Apple will fully turn the iPad into the Mac. That’s what the Mac does. But there’s a sweet spot for the iPad to occupy the position of ‘how would we build a personal computer knowing what we know about smartphones and their usage?’
I think the Steve jobs analogy still holds up. PCs are trucks and tablets are cars.
And now, with iPadOS 26, a keyboard and trackpad, there’s a good chance that the iPad is all the personal computer that most people need.
I think the journo Andes C, hit the nail on the head that stage manager was an artificial exercise in coming up with a new slightly limited way of multitasking simply to differentiate it from the Mac. Especially as the transition to mx Macs was underway.
I doubt Apple will fully turn the iPad into the Mac. That’s what the Mac does. But there’s a sweet spot for the iPad to occupy the position of ‘how would we build a personal computer knowing what we know about smartphones and their usage?’
I think the Steve jobs analogy still holds up. PCs are trucks and tablets are cars.
And now, with iPadOS 26, a keyboard and trackpad, there’s a good chance that the iPad is all the personal computer that most people need.
Sheesh, folks, give Apple a break. They are a tiny startup on the bleeding edge. It takes time to develop features that are best-in-class, game-changer delights. As Apple was developing multitasking, they discovered Stage Manager, and got it into customers’ hands ASAP. Once they finalized the full multitasking experience, because they love their customers, they were able to find a way to offer it on older devices. Although limited in some capacity, now that Apple has discovered the secret to multitasking, they can grow the feature over time, allowing for a clear upgrade path for years to come!
This thread is full of inane comments but this one is just outright wrong. The first gen iPad had 256MB (which is why it dropped support after iOS 5 while the iPhone 4 with 512MB received iOS 7).
And 16GB was *not* an industry standard in 2010. Just because it was available doesn’t mean 95% of computers even had the option.
It’s pointless even on the larger iPad I’ve found. Back to full screen.
I can do 2. now! It was not available when they first released stage manager, but it now seems fine.
"...because we saw so much demand"
translation: as the entire industry had moved onto bigger and better things, our devices started to get panned by reviewers for not having more software capability, so we finally caved just before the PR hit became too large for us to manage.
honestly this hasn't had anything to do with hardware for at least 5 years
translation: as the entire industry had moved onto bigger and better things, our devices started to get panned by reviewers for not having more software capability, so we finally caved just before the PR hit became too large for us to manage.
honestly this hasn't had anything to do with hardware for at least 5 years
All of this already exist w iPadOS 18 [#2 & 4]. [#1 & #3] gets added w iPadOS 26
I've only had a few hours to play with the beta, but it seems that Stage Manager must be pretty deeply embedded because attaching an external monitor pauses to enable Stage Manager - it may be a crutch to the external monitor.
I'm just glad this even works on the iPad Mini A17 Pro, because they artificially blocked stage manger on that, yet allow this.
Might be a tiny screen, but I find it works pretty well.
Might be a tiny screen, but I find it works pretty well.
There's nothing wrong with this. It is a fair argument, especially on the 11" model, there is NO USE for multiple windows, but on an external monitor it is a godsend. Now open up dual monitor support and it will be the end of the MacBook Air.