Apple Reportedly Working on Touchscreen Macs, Including MacBook Pro

[madat42]

Totally agree with this. I would even settle for this but I can install iPad versions of apps if I wish.

I think we are getting none of it though. For Apple, they see the Surface Pro as proof that the status quo (a separate iPad and Macbook that I lug around) is working fantastically.

Also have to remember that the developer has the choice if their iPad version of their app is allowable on Macs. Not all opt in.

 

[OriginalBaki]

That’s simply not true and anyone posting on a Mac or iPad board should know better.

It should be general knowledge by now after 16 years that iOS/iPadOS suspends the state of background apps to free up memory and the CPU.

On macOS this doesn’t exist in the same way because suspending background apps isn’t suitable for most desktop computing environments.

If you are running all the Microsoft Office apps on an iPadOS, only the foreground app is active. The rest are suspended.

On macOS if you are running all the Microsoft Office apps they will all be occupying CPU time and memory regardless of how many are in the ad background. So running macOS and macOS apps on an iPad would be a drain.

Not only that, but when macOS boots up a bunch of Microsoft services will be running in the background.

If you are using a suite of more ‘intensive’ products such as Adobe Creative Cloud then even more resources are consumed.

macOS and macOS apps would easily consume all of an iPad Pro’s limited resources and the device would run hotter than if it ran the system optimized for it.
You can’t say X has the same hardware as Y therefore they are the same, when the way X and Y manage resources are completely different.

There are people posting right now, today, about how Ventura is making their Mac feel hotter and draining battery life. Please don’t think macOS is suitable for a tablet when it is hard enough optimizing for a laptop.

Please learn how things work before opining.

I’m well aware that MacOS is more intensive than iPadOS. I was not arguing otherwise. I think you’re doing a poor job arguing your point. You’re trying to say that iPad doesn’t have the thermal budget to run MacOS for long periods of time. While I’m saying that m2 efficiency means that iPad Pro can probably run macOS because m2 is pretty efficient at low wattage. Sure, MacBook Air has a better thermal budget due to the screen being separate from the doc enclosure. But iAd still has plenty spunk at low thermal load.

 

[JiggyJaggy]

Is anyone using the Lenovo Yoga Book 9i? Would love to know people's thoughts on it.

 

[Lioness~]

If Apple released especially a MacBook 12" with touchscreen I would bite immediately. My need for iPad Mini would probably disappear with that. The perfect portable device, plus the phone.
That is probably why Apple won’t release it. They want us to buy more devices, not less.

But a 13" MBA with touchscreen would be great too, I would be all over it, and Apple would still have me buy the iPad Mini too I assume.

 

[JiggyJaggy]

Couldn't have said it better, but as you said Apple could make the perfect travel device but won't, otherwise we would not buy another device for quite some time. Such a shame, a touchscreen Macbook 12 would be PERFECT!

 

[Wizec]

Is anyone using the Lenovo Yoga Book 9i? Would love to know people's thoughts on it.

That’s what I have. It’s really nice.

 

[JiggyJaggy]

That’s what I have. It’s really nice.

Any really good or really bad points after you have been using it?

 

[Wizec]

Any really good or really bad points after you have been using it?

It’s really fast. And nice and quiet most of the time. The battery life isn’t as good as the M1 Air I had, but at least the OS isn’t macOS 🤢

 

[jebrennan]

Despite years of resistance, Apple is now working on adding touchscreens to Macs, according to a report today from Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. The report claims that a new MacBook Pro with an OLED display could be the first touchscreen Mac in 2025.

Gurman said Apple engineers are "actively engaged in the project," indicating that the company is "seriously considering" producing touchscreen Macs. The first MacBook Pro with a touchscreen would retain a traditional laptop design with a trackpad and a keyboard, but the display would gain support for touch input like an iPhone or iPad.

The first touchscreen Macs are likely to use macOS, as Apple is not actively working to combine iPadOS and macOS, according to the report. iPhone and iPad apps are available on Macs with Apple silicon chips, though, unless a developer opts out.

Apple has repeatedly dismissed the idea of a touchscreen Mac over the years, so this would be a major reversal in philosophy for the company if it moves forward with these plans. In 2010, for example, Steve Jobs said that "touch surfaces don't want to be vertical" due to arm fatigue associated with holding up a finger to the screen. And in 2021, Apple's hardware engineering chief John Ternus said the Mac was "totally optimized for indirect input" and said the company did not feel there was a good reason to change that at the time.

Article Link: Apple Reportedly Working on Touchscreen Macs, Including MacBook Pro

I’ve been using a MBPro much longer than an iPad. The longer I use an iPad, the more I touch my MBPro screen for simple things, like selecting a button. I don’t imagine using it for much more, so the cost increase will probably not be worth it for such little usability improvement.

 

[krakenrelease]

The point is that the macOS user interface is not designed for touchscreens. There would inevitably be more UI changes.

Neither was windows but they made it work.

I’m not a fan of touchscreen laptops. Had one for work and never touched the screen. But I know people that love it and wish MacBooks had a touch screen. There is a market for it, just not sure how much.

 

[ghanwani]

Neither was windows but they made it work.

I’m not a fan of touchscreen laptops. Had one for work and never touched the screen. But I know people that love it and wish MacBooks had a touch screen. There is a market for it, just not sure how much.

That can't be true. You must have touched it either accidentally or for cleaning.

 

[KPOM]

Neither was windows but they made it work.

I’m not a fan of touchscreen laptops. Had one for work and never touched the screen. But I know people that love it and wish MacBooks had a touch screen. There is a market for it, just not sure how much.

There’s a difference between making it work, making it work well enough, and optimizing. Windows 11 is at the middle of those steps. Arguably Windows 8 was more optimized for touch than Windows 10 or 11, but at the expense of non-touch usability.

 

[seadragon]

Some people will always say it will never work… until it does, and you never hear from them again. Go back and look at the mouse and iPad debates. That was a treat.

 

[koelsh]

And does anyone complain about mouse support being in iPadOS today?

Then touch on MacOS would also be ignored by those who don't use it... until they suddenly try it and it's the greatest thing since sliced bread.

 

[Uofmtiger]

And does anyone complain about mouse support being in iPadOS today?

Then touch on MacOS would also be ignored by those who don't use it... until they suddenly try it and it's the greatest thing since sliced bread.

Would be nice to use a pencil on the screen for better editing apps found on MacOS...or hopefully, maybe one day, they will bring the full desktop app..like photoshop..to iPadOS.

 

[krakenrelease]

That can't be true. You must have touched it either accidentally or for cleaning.

Put it this way. I didn't know it was touchscreen until a colleague touched my screen when i was showing him something, lol. That was after owning it for at least a year. I was like whoaaaaaa, what did you do to my screen?? He goes, you didn't know it was touch? lmao

 

[Uofmtiger]

Put it this way. I didn't know it was touchscreen until a colleague touched my screen when i was showing him something, lol. That was after owning it for at least a year. I was like whoaaaaaa, what did you do to my screen?? He goes, you didn't know it was touch? lmao

The issue with many of the windows implementations is the form factor of the computers in question. I have a 15 inch Toshiba that has a tablet mode, but how often are you going to use it in that mode with the weight considerations? I liked it for movies, but putting it in "tent" mode, made the speakers face the other direction. Not ideal.

At this point, I would just like the a desktop pro apps to come to iPad even if it means some stuff would need a keyboard. Having MacOS run touch isn't a necessity if they can get iPadOS to actually take full advantage of the M chips. My M1 iPad will run anything I throw its way, but that is because it isn't getting taxed by the OS. We have seen, little by little, some headway in this area, but I am tired of losing features that are available on the Mac. What is the reasoning at this point? They know many people are now using it as a laptop replacement due to the keyboard cases. I mainly use a combination of a Mac mini at my desk and an iPad for mobility these days while my MBP gathers dust. I usually just settle for some other app to edit photos on the iPad, while I have to go to my Mac mini if I want to use "the real" Photoshop. It's a bummer and I am looking into dumping Photoshop over it because it gets so little use now, while still costing me a monthly fee. Would love to use it, but it doesn't fit my workflow anymore.

I think the main thing people want to do is have the ability to use Touch and Pencil with Pro apps. I dont really care how we get there, personally.