I don't complain about Windows 11 on tablet. Works well tbh.
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Apple Explains Why iPads Don't Just Run macOS
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So many people want products or manufacturers to be something they are not. iPads should be more like Macs, Macs should be more like iPads, iPhones should be open like Android, Android should be beautiful like iOS, expensive products should be cheaper, cheap products should be better…
People inherently wish for things they don’t have. If they get it, they just find something new to wish for. It’s what makes the world turn round. The secret to a happy life is to love things for what they are, rather than wish they were something else. This goes double for people.
People inherently wish for things they don’t have. If they get it, they just find something new to wish for. It’s what makes the world turn round. The secret to a happy life is to love things for what they are, rather than wish they were something else. This goes double for people.
Nothing is forever. One option is that Apple stops making the Mac because they run out of money and close shop completely.
I doubt they are going to kill off the Mac because just having two app stores on it isn't enough - you can already buy and install iPad apps on macOS in addition to macOS-native apps.
The reason they had that languishing was that the CPU and GPU partners weren't delivering the products that were on their roadmap. For instance - Intel would promise the world, but the released CPU had to be thermally throttled basically back to the performance of the prior generation (because Intel was repeatedly missing their own fabrication optimization goals).
No product was hit harder than the trashcan Mac Pro, but the entire lineup was suffering from being designed into a thermal hole.
You can actually track Mac models fairly well on a five year redesign cycle. The 2015 MacBook Pro was replaced with a model with significantly better thermals, a more traditional keyboard and moved to new Apple Silicon. Those are likely all in direct response to the mid-2010's Mac problems.
Well, I don't draw, I write. For hours at a time.
Yes, that's not ideal either. The best one is the one sold for ipad by apple, but that's sadly limited to the base ipad. Lighter, has separable keyboard part, back panel attaches magnetically and comes off easily when not needed, and doesn't make it taller and wider by covering the sides, which means it can still fit in my small tablet bag. But that ipad's hardware is limited. Apple segmented their product line soo good that they have no ipad + keyboard combo I'd buy.
However, iPads have been gaining technology analogues to macOS, and the macOS has been getting more visually similar to iPadOS. The iPad is basically the bridge platform between iOS, visionOS and macOS - and so there's a lot of effort to try to align platform feature sets.
This isn't really because there's an intention to unify all the platforms to a single OS or the like, though. It is because developers (including Apple internal developers) have suffered under the pain of trying to support all the platforms. Even big tech companies like Google often just don't do the work of making a Mac native of iPad-optimized version of their apps.
Apps like iMessage weren't just dogfooding Catalyst because Apple was pushing it onto third party developers - many teams in Apple were maintaining 3-5 code bases for independent Mac, iPhone, iPad, Watch and TV apps. Apple runs with kinda shockingly small development teams. The inefficiency of multiple codebases is supposedly why there are so many releases historically where features on iPhone were delayed a year before they came to iPad or Mac - they decided they had to ignore or do minimal workarounds in the other platform codebases until they got the feature implemented and stable. In newer releases, there's somewhat an expectation of apps having the same features across the product line. This gets even worse for a few core apps - where features like the camera app or watch faces ship as different apps with a different codebase to support a new device.
Very true. I've run Remote Desktop access to my Mac via iPad, so I'm very familiar with what the "full compromise" of macOS in the iPad form factor looks like. People just seem to want to imagine that Apple has a grand plan to fix all those fundamental issues that they just aren't sharing - usually justified as being for financial reasons.
I expect things to stay exactly as they are now with the new platform UX alignment - even though visionOS and macOS could theoretically run all iPad apps automatically in the future, it would still be a developer decides whether they think the app meets their standards on the other platforms and should be made available via the store. The new UX and technologies like SwiftUI just mean that if you decide you do want to support other platforms, you don't have to maintain a separate codebase with very different look and feel to do so.
They should at least make the new multitasking optional. They are ruing the experience for the tablet users with each hw/sw update. I use my M4 in portrait 99% of the time, and it's really annoying to authenticate with Face Id as is camera is naturally covered while holding in portrait.
When you buy a Mac, even for basic use, you’re getting a powerful machine. It comes with capable native apps, and for most everyday tasks, there’s no real need to purchase additional software—unless you’re doing professional work. The same can’t be said for the iPad. Even for something as simple as note-taking, third-party apps often outperform Apple Notes. Meanwhile, Samsung offers a more seamless user experience in some areas. Perhaps iPadOS 26 will change that.
Sure, it’s my choice whether or not to spend money on apps, and Apple isn’t forcing anyone. But it often feels like Apple intentionally holds back certain features, nudging users toward paid alternatives.
How dare you bring common sense to this forum. Now I'd like to know it why Apple Watch doesn't run macOS.
Of course you can.
This would be like saying you can't use a desktop website on mobile.
It's all about building in the adaptability and flexibility.
This is all just software, which can be adapted for any type of device.
It's literally what makes software so great.
It's the "soft" part.
Naw, that's just KoolAid. It does not take CPU/GPU performance to fix bugs and improve usability.
By listening to Apple fans rave about how swell Apple products look and don't give a ____ about how poorly they function. Because almost everyone accepts Apple's poor quality software and services as OK.
My wife, a long time, non-technical, iPhone user has given up on Apple because of all of the things that either don't work anymore or have become too complicated to use. Apple products used to intuitive and easy to use, not any more. You have to be a tech genius or spend a lot of time searching to figure out most new or changed Apple functionality. Apple no longer gives users what they, but what Apple thinks will drive the user to its services.
It's not like their processors before that were trash either
Apple likes to dribble out features because money
The reason people want iPad to run macos is the high end iPads cost as much as a MacBook so they want to just have the iPad replace the MacBook.
I understand the push against that. But it's not as if Macos is just the UI and that UI can't be modified to accommodate touch. In the same way iOS has been modified for iPad and TV and AVP
I'm neutral on this. I think it will happen eventually
Safe unmount a hard drive would not make an ipad less ipad.
iPadOS 26 allows iPads to function much more like Macs, with a new app windowing system, a swipe-down menu bar at the top of the screen, and more. However, Apple has stopped short of allowing iPads to run macOS, and it has now explained why.
In an interview this week with Swiss tech journalist Rafael Zeier, Apple's software engineering chief Craig Federighi said that iPadOS 26's new Mac-like features strike a good balance between productivity and simplicity. He added that macOS is not optimized for touch-screens, although rumors suggest that might change one day.
"We want to retain all the simplicity of the iPad, but still allow iPad users who want to go deeper and further to push it at their own pace to doing more," said Federighi, in a sit-down interview at Apple Park's podcast studio. "I think with macOS, you'd lose what makes iPad iPad, which is the ultimate touch device. But there are lots of things the two platforms can learn from one another, and that's where we've adapted our best ideas to each."
The quote above is only a portion of Federighi's answer, with the full interview available below.
For those who are still looking for a true iPad and Mac hybrid, Apple is reportedly working on everything from touch-screen Macs to a 19-inch foldable iPad, so the dream of using macOS on a touch-screen might be just a few years away.
Article Link: Apple Explains Why iPads Don't Just Run macOS
And multitudes of processors before it
It’s a free update. Not sure what you’re carrying on about. Not to mention Android manufacturers do the same exact thing of adding some features but reserving the “most advanced feature” for the latest products.
This is literally the WORST take I’ve ever read in these forums.
Not sure about the direction Apple is taking the iPad.
In my opinion they had the perfect segmentation between the iPad and the Mac, with iPads generally being lower cost, more consumer oriented and kid-friendly with the Mac being a prosumer, teenage and adult oriented device. Even better, they complimented each other with the iPad capable of being used for smaller tasks that don’t need the horsepower of the Mac.
This just seems like they’re trying to justify the “iPad Pro” by making the iPad a Mac in all but name.
In my opinion they had the perfect segmentation between the iPad and the Mac, with iPads generally being lower cost, more consumer oriented and kid-friendly with the Mac being a prosumer, teenage and adult oriented device. Even better, they complimented each other with the iPad capable of being used for smaller tasks that don’t need the horsepower of the Mac.
This just seems like they’re trying to justify the “iPad Pro” by making the iPad a Mac in all but name.
Yeah, I would really like the line to stick with iPads as iPads (as we've known them) and to have the iPad Pro change into the iPad Studio (and be able to do the macOS style stuff).
It feels like they're going to really screw up the iPad for traditional simple light users if they aren't careful here.
Actually they do distinguish between a MBA and MBP.
If I were doing their marketing strategy, I’d do the same I think.
A “lite” device with enough horsepower to browse the web, take notes, play some simple games, and sketch that you can easily pull out of a bag is the perfect ethos. Simple, easy to justify, perfect.
Couple with the M-series from two or three gens prior and you have a device that’s inexpensive to develop, inexpensive to sell, and is already very well positioned against the competition.
Same here, I use an iPad Pro for the majority of my work. I create presentations, build spreadsheets, etc etc.
I even did my graduate level class I had as continuing education for my job all on my iPad Pro.
The whole “the iPad isn’t adequate” is an easily debunked argument. I really think it’s about as weak as the “walled garden” argument. Both are elementary level arguments…