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gusping

macrumors 68000
Mar 12, 2012
1,885
2,091
This is going to be $500/£500 isn’t it…. and probably still feel horrible. Just buy a MBA and be done with it.
 

DribbleCastle

macrumors 6502
Apr 17, 2009
420
294
Seattle, WA
One of Apple's biggest mistakes was adding a cursor to the iPad. iPad is a touch first device, so it should be a touch first device. Magic keyboard with trackpad makes no sense and it's a classic case of listening to the customer who is wrong. Imagine when the iPhone was first released and everyone complained about a lack of keyboard so Apple shrinks the screen and adds a keyboard to the iPhone.

Apple should just ditch the magic keyboard and trackpad IMO. Let iPad be iPad and let Mac be Mac.

What makes even less sense is a touchscreen Mac. Hope Apple never makes one. Such an incredibly stupid idea.
Disagree. I absolutely love my magic keyboard and how it has changed the iPad for me. Allows me to use my iPad in so many more ways. I like that it's a great tablet if I want it, but it can also be more like a little computer too. Of course, not with all of the complexity of the Mac, but ya know what, some people just don't want that complexity sometimes.

I also love my Mac for everything it does well. It would be harder to convince me of adding touch to the Mac where I feel like the only benefit it would provide is an occasional interfacing for scrolling or maybe pinching to zoom.
 

jlc1978

macrumors 603
Aug 14, 2009
5,515
4,292
I have an iPad Pro and a MacBook Pro.
What differentiates them isn’t the Magic Keyboard design. It’s the OS and filing system.

iOS should be ditched from the iPad and replaced with MacOS.

I also have both, and disagree the iPad needs MacOS. The iPad does tablet very well, just as the Mac does computer. Turning the iPad into a keyboard less MBAir would needlessly complicate the interface to get it to work as a tablet and a computer OS.

Consider the difference in app UI’s between the two - tablet apps use buttons and drop downs to facilitate input, being touch input friendly, vs textual entry in MacOS. Using MacOS would either result in having to use the cursor to do teh same on a Mac since it has no touch input, or designing the app to recognize the device and switching the input; resulting in a confusing UI as a user switches between machines.

Then there is teh issue of memory and storage needs. Running MacOS would require more of both, driving up prices or resulting in a device, if they aren’t increased, that is limited as to what programs it can run well; which would result in all kinds of “Apple crippled the iPad pro…”

I do agree a better file system would be nice.

There may very well ultimately be a convergence of the two designs and it’ll be interesting to see what tradeoffs are made to straddle both worlds.
 
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tripsync

Suspended
Apr 24, 2023
1,160
703
Disagree. I absolutely love my magic keyboard and how it has changed the iPad for me. Allows me to use my iPad in so many more ways. I like that it's a great tablet if I want it, but it can also be more like a little computer too. Of course, not with all of the complexity of the Mac, but ya know what, some people just don't want that complexity sometimes.

Agree to disagree.
 
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Tagbert

macrumors 603
Jun 22, 2011
5,670
6,637
Seattle
Funny to see the hype around this. I own a pro, and a few others. The OS should really detect when it’s hooked up to said keyboard and transform into a full Mac OS.
But then you would not be able to use the keyboard with the iPadOS apps on your iPad. That seems weird. What has keyboard to do with your OS choice?

I’m not saying that it wouldn’t be interesting to try Mac OS on an iPad as an experiment, but don’t force it with some assumption how people are using their machines.
 

StoneJack

macrumors 68020
Dec 19, 2009
2,464
1,553
Generally, MK for iPad Pro is a niche accessory for a niche product with very limited usage. Enough said.
 

kjvmartin

macrumors 6502
Oct 11, 2016
342
611
Detroit
I'm repeatedly foolish about iPads, but learned to give up the quest a few years ago. I won't buy one again.

No matter how shiny and new they make them, mine always gets relegated to seldom/backup use behind my Apple laptop. Nothing compelling compared to a traditional laptop, for me.
 

Royksöpp

macrumors 68020
Nov 4, 2013
2,289
3,819
Apple needs to be very careful with how they price the 11 inch and Magic Keyboard. If the 11 inch gets too close in price to 12.9 people will go with that instead. If the Magic Keyboard is too expensive people may opt out of the iPad package all together and go with a MBA or MBP instead. I’ll be upgrading no matter what just for the better screen in the smaller form factor. However, will it be enough for first time buyers considering the Air will cost significantly less.
 
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smulji

macrumors 68030
Feb 21, 2011
2,934
2,828
It’s gonna end up being a Microsoft Surface Book isn’t it?

I always loved this old Vaio though, maybe they can make an unholy marriage of that and an old Magic Keyboard.
I wouldn't be surprised if the next iPad Pro takes on a similar form to this

Edit:


Goes hand-in-hand with this rumor from about a year ago:

 
Last edited:
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gregmancuso

macrumors 6502
Nov 1, 2014
408
512
But then you would not be able to use the keyboard with the iPadOS apps on your iPad. That seems weird. What has keyboard to do with your OS choice?

I’m not saying that it wouldn’t be interesting to try Mac OS on an iPad as an experiment, but don’t force it with some assumption how people are using their machines.
Considering iOS / iPadOS / MacOS all use the same base operating system and the differences are in the window managers and active or installed services it shouldn't be hard to use MacOS was the underlying OS at all times. When undocked from MK lock the user into Springboard and disable "MacOS features". When docked ask to confirm switching window managers / services. Could probably even fairly easily all switching between "environments" on the fly. Think a lightweight, built-in Parallels. You could even have the option at setup whether to install / configure / activate the option to switch or configure as iPadOS-only.
 

subjonas

macrumors 603
Feb 10, 2014
5,613
5,962
So you probably read my ‘deeper dive’ on convergence above, and I’d be a purchaser for various reasons, but when it comes to a ‘touch macbook’, my MBP is docked with external displays, kb, mouse a lot of it’s time, and having pencil support on the ‘bigger than older Wacom tablets’ trackpad, or even next-gen standalone magic trackpad (ideally both) would be pretty useful to me, and might manage to even sell more future-magic-trackpads and pencils. I partially ignore the trackpad entirely when at my home office desk because I have the MBP screen sitting next to my display, but I’d absolutely be adding a magic touchpad to my desk then and be using it on trackpad on the MBP when mobile.

On the ‘profiles,’ if the ‘future iPad Ultra’ were running macos, the profile switch would be more akin to a window manager or extended ‘theme’ at that point, like a desktop switcher of sorts, at worst starting/stopping a handful of services but macos at it’s core/kernel/…
Did you mean you’re not in favor of a touch screen MacBook then? Personally, I am not; I only want Pencil support in order to use pen input with desktop-only applications. I would disable touch if it was supported.
Or did you just mean you want Pencil trackpad support additionally? As I said, I don’t see any major obstacles there, and would probably bet on it happening soon.

I kind of see what you mean by profiles. But as they say “the devil is in the details”, so whether or not it would work would probably depend heavily on exactly how it’s implemented. As far as switching window management styles, would switching to Stage Manager in macOS not suffice for you?
 

arcite

macrumors 6502a
I would pay way more for an iPad Ultra that has a Magic Keyboard that when I snap it onto the iPad Ultra it allows me to choose to run iPadOS or MacOS. And when no keyboard it just runs iPadOS.

Have to improve other things like 50% thicker, bigger battery, better display, bigger display, and two cameras in the bezel. Do not put a damned notch on it. Nor a dynamic island.

Give me that and make it in the free world and I say it’s worth 3x a standard iPad Pro.

That’s called a laptop. They have those already.
 
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ApplesAreSweet&Sour

macrumors 68000
Sep 18, 2018
1,942
3,551
One of Apple's biggest mistakes was adding a cursor to the iPad. iPad is a touch first device, so it should be a touch first device. Magic keyboard with trackpad makes no sense and it's a classic case of listening to the customer who is wrong. Imagine when the iPhone was first released and everyone complained about a lack of keyboard so Apple shrinks the screen and adds a keyboard to the iPhone.

Apple should just ditch the magic keyboard and trackpad IMO. Let iPad be iPad and let Mac be Mac.

What makes even less sense is a touchscreen Mac. Hope Apple never makes one. Such an incredibly stupid idea.
The closer to a “dual device” MacBook + iPad combo we get, the more happy and productive I will be in my particular workflow.

Yes, the two separate devices do each thing well.

But I really don’t see how there’s anything wrong in being able to pop on a keyboard on my iPad when, at its core, it’s really not much different to a MacBook Air or a 13” Pro.

I get that using an iPhone like you would a Mac doesn’t make sense, and using an iPad for phone calls is also a bit weird maybe.

But apart from iPads only being able to run iPadOS apps, how is it not just a touchscreen-only MacBook Air with a single port?

The differences are arbitrary. And even the form factor and dimensions are overlapping.

Why wouldn’t I want to use my Apple Pencil on my MacBook display, or hook up a keyboard and use my iPad as a laptop?

The fact that iPads don’t double as laptops is a choice, not a technical limitation or an improvement to the user experience.

I doubt Apple will ever go all the way. But getting FXCP and Logic on iPad and hearing these rumors from Gurman brings me hope.
 
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Macalicious2011

macrumors 68000
May 15, 2011
1,754
1,783
London
Still on my 12.9 2017 iPad Pro, just like my iPhone X, I will use it until it stops getting security updates then switch over to the M4 iPad Pro in 2025 with Magic Keyboard.
2017 iPad Pro is still a beast. I wish I had not sold it to my gf and upgraded to the M1 iPad Pro. There is zero noticeable difference in real life or in procreate.
 

prospervic

macrumors 65816
Aug 2, 2007
1,083
1,271
NYC
Generally, MK for iPad Pro is a niche accessory for a niche product with very limited usage. Enough said.
The limits of iPad usage are imposed by the limits of one’s imagination. These devices are used everywhere for all types of activities by all kinds of people.
Approaching iPad from a PC/Mac mindset, and expecting it to be the same is indeed limiting.
 
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subjonas

macrumors 603
Feb 10, 2014
5,613
5,962
I wouldn't be surprised if the next iPad Pro takes on a similar form to this

Edit:


Goes hand-in-hand with this rumor from about a year ago:

A smaller version of macOS that has a larger UI that can only run iPad apps just sounds like ipadOS with more macOS capability. Maybe it’s acccurate to describe it either way, maybe it’s more accurate to describe it as a “smaller macOS”, but in my opinion people are going to be a lot more disappointed if they hear “smaller macOS” but it doesn’t run Mac applications.

The keyboard patent description was a little unclear to me, but if it’s departing from the cantilever design, which it looked like from what I saw, then I fear how heavy it’s going to have to be to keep the iPad Pro from tipping over. The MK cantilever design helps a lot for balance with as little weight as possible, and the MK is already heavy enough IMO. 😳
 

tcatsninfan

macrumors member
Sep 23, 2022
79
249
One of Apple's biggest mistakes was adding a cursor to the iPad. iPad is a touch first device, so it should be a touch first device. Magic keyboard with trackpad makes no sense and it's a classic case of listening to the customer who is wrong. Imagine when the iPhone was first released and everyone complained about a lack of keyboard so Apple shrinks the screen and adds a keyboard to the iPhone.

Apple should just ditch the magic keyboard and trackpad IMO. Let iPad be iPad and let Mac be Mac.

What makes even less sense is a touchscreen Mac. Hope Apple never makes one. Such an incredibly stupid idea.
Just posting to say that this is a horrible take. Apple already limits options/customization in so many ways, and you want them to limit things even more?
 
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537635

macrumors 65816
Mar 7, 2009
1,098
971
Slovenia, EU
Approaching iPad from a PC/Mac mindset, and expecting it to be the same is indeed limiting.

This is an interesting comment. I don't believe anyone actually expects that.

On one hand you have iPad die hards, who claim they can use the iPad for "productivity", and they can use it for 90% of all tasks.

On the other you have "old school" Mac/PC die hards, who claim the iPads are merely toys to be used on subway and for elderly people will impared vision.


But no matter how much effort you put into it, iPad has always been (and probably always will be) a secondary device. NOBODY can use it as a primary (solo) device. If you do real work, you will always (for now) need a proper Mac/PC.

I admit that for certain productivity tasks, iPads are perfect. But this is exactly the point of the controversial post. Adding keyboards and trackpads to it only shows that they are merely a fancy Wacom for a proper computer.
 
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537635

macrumors 65816
Mar 7, 2009
1,098
971
Slovenia, EU
Just posting to say that this is a horrible take. Apple already limits options/customization in so many ways, and you want them to limit things even more?

YES, some people actually remember the times, when you had a Mac workhorse, which can do anything and a iPhone/iPad which is a safe unbreakable (software and hardware wise) haven to use carelessly for content consuming and mundane tasks and which is easy to use even for an elderly family member.

iOS/iPad OS of today has changed in a way it became too unnecessarily complicated. Some crazy workarounds for multitasking, which almost nobody ever remembers how they work, etc.
 
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