iPad Pro iPad as Priamary Computer via Virtual Computing? (Running “Pro” Apps on an iPad)

[TheRealAlex]

Since 2018 my A12X 11” iPad Pro and now my new M2 11” iPad Pro have handled 90% of ALL my Daily Driver PC use. Which includes. Buying a new House signing contracts, uploading documents And signatures that would otherwise need a Fax machine or a Long Drive across the city. Filing Taxes, Paying bills. You name it.
The Rest is cell phone, and PC Laptop If some funky software doesn’t play nice.
Work is 100% PC Specialty Hospital grade software, but I’d guess if they needed to it will one day be Cloud Based.
PC Gaming Rig is 100% PC Gaming I can’t even Print from my PC it’s 100% Gaming only.

Even during Hurricane Outages for weeks I’ve been able to HotSpot my cellphone Tether to my iPad Pro and file disaster damages claims, and get FEMA applications done. Before anyone else even had access.

 

[groove-agent]

Since 2018 my A12X 11” iPad Pro and now my new M2 11” iPad Pro have handled 90% of ALL my Daily Driver PC use. Which includes. Buying a new House signing contracts, uploading documents And signatures that would otherwise need a Fax machine or a Long Drive across the city. Filing Taxes, Paying bills. You name it.
The Rest is cell phone, and PC Laptop If some funky software doesn’t play nice.
Work is 100% PC Specialty Hospital grade software, but I’d guess if they needed to it will one day be Cloud Based.
PC Gaming Rig is 100% PC Gaming I can’t even Print from my PC it’s 100% Gaming only.

Even during Hurricane Outages for weeks I’ve been able to HotSpot my cellphone Tether to my iPad Pro and file disaster damages claims, and get FEMA applications done. Before anyone else even had access.

That's great that you can do almost everything with your iPad.

As it stands, I definitely could not use an iPad as a daily driver as it just doesn't have the Pro App support. For programming it just won't cut it as there aren't any (last time checking) IDEs for web development. I've tried doing it in the cloud, but it's slow, clunky, and awkward. For editing audio and video, there are only what feels like scaled down versions of Logic (GarageBand) and Final Cut (Movie). Even for photo editing in Photoshop and Affinity Photo feels wrong, although I've yet to try it on a full sized monitor.

A lot of people will disagree with me (including Apple), but I think the final stage of the iPad evolution is for them to merge iPad OS and MacOS so that we can run the same apps as MacOS on iPad. I know with web UI design, you can control the UI based on screen size. I don't see why you couldn't create one app to run on Mac, iPad and even iOS, very much like how a web site can. Sure the iPad hardware isn't quite there yet, but it will be soon I'm sure.

Apple did make things so iPad apps can run on Mac, but who is going to properly develop a pro app on iPad when they already have one for MacOS?

 

[groove-agent]

As it stands, I definitely could not use an iPad as a daily driver as it just doesn't have the Pro App support.

I stand somewhat corrected: Apple just released Final Cut and Logic Pro for iPad:

Apple Announces Final Cut Pro and Logic Pro for iPad With Subscription Models

Apple today announced that Final Cut Pro and Logic Pro are coming to the iPad later this month via subscription models. Subscribe to the MacRumors...

www.macrumors.com

 

[hipnetic]

Bumping this old thread rather than starting a new one. I've been super-impressed with the Microsoft RDP app on the iPad connecting to a Windows machine in my house. I haven't yet configured/tried it from outside of the house. But the usability of this is exactly what I want.

So then I tried to do the same sort of thing to connect to my MacBook Pro from my iPad and the experience has been awful. I've tried Google Remote Desktop and Splashtop (both free) and the experience has been awful. These are screensharing (not true RDP) apps, so the host Mac is left visible, whereas with the Microsoft solution locks the host PC. I don't care too much about that part of it. But when I'm looking at my MacBook screen on my iPad with Magic Keyboard and trackpad I'm not getting a mouse pointer that moves fast and accurately. And my screen resolution/fonts are a mess. If I run at full resolution, fonts are too small. If I run at lowest resolution, fonts are big enough, but are actually fuzzier and definitely not comfortable on my eyes to use. It honestly feels like more of a show-off gimmick than something anyone could possibly *USE* for productivity purposes.

I've seen recommendations of using Jump Desktop, but the iOS app costs $15 and after experiencing the above, I'm not willing to spend that and possibly/likely find out that it is also a subpar experience.

 

[sparksd]

Bumping this old thread rather than starting a new one. I've been super-impressed with the Microsoft RDP app on the iPad connecting to a Windows machine in my house. I haven't yet configured/tried it from outside of the house. But the usability of this is exactly what I want.

So then I tried to do the same sort of thing to connect to my MacBook Pro from my iPad and the experience has been awful. I've tried Google Remote Desktop and Splashtop (both free) and the experience has been awful. These are screensharing (not true RDP) apps, so the host Mac is left visible, whereas with the Microsoft solution locks the host PC. I don't care too much about that part of it. But when I'm looking at my MacBook screen on my iPad with Magic Keyboard and trackpad I'm not getting a mouse pointer that moves fast and accurately. And my screen resolution/fonts are a mess. If I run at full resolution, fonts are too small. If I run at lowest resolution, fonts are big enough, but are actually fuzzier and definitely not comfortable on my eyes to use. It honestly feels like more of a show-off gimmick than something anyone could possibly *USE* for productivity purposes.

I've seen recommendations of using Jump Desktop, but the iOS app costs $15 and after experiencing the above, I'm not willing to spend that and possibly/likely find out that it is also a subpar experience.

I have Windows Home so no RDP so I use Jump for my Win11 laptop and desktop from my M1 12.9 and it works great. I even use it between my Windows machines.

 

[fw85]

Bumping this old thread rather than starting a new one. I've been super-impressed with the Microsoft RDP app on the iPad connecting to a Windows machine in my house. I haven't yet configured/tried it from outside of the house. But the usability of this is exactly what I want.

So then I tried to do the same sort of thing to connect to my MacBook Pro from my iPad and the experience has been awful. I've tried Google Remote Desktop and Splashtop (both free) and the experience has been awful. These are screensharing (not true RDP) apps, so the host Mac is left visible, whereas with the Microsoft solution locks the host PC. I don't care too much about that part of it. But when I'm looking at my MacBook screen on my iPad with Magic Keyboard and trackpad I'm not getting a mouse pointer that moves fast and accurately. And my screen resolution/fonts are a mess. If I run at full resolution, fonts are too small. If I run at lowest resolution, fonts are big enough, but are actually fuzzier and definitely not comfortable on my eyes to use. It honestly feels like more of a show-off gimmick than something anyone could possibly *USE* for productivity purposes.

I've seen recommendations of using Jump Desktop, but the iOS app costs $15 and after experiencing the above, I'm not willing to spend that and possibly/likely find out that it is also a subpar experience.

I was in the same boat not long ago and was reulctant to purchase Jump Desktop for the same reason - it would be an expensive trial run if it doesn't end up working out for me.
The thing is, I ran out of other options and felt like it would be an even bigger shame to have to scrap my remote computing/thin client setup.

So I ended up buying the JD client for iPad despite the uncertainty and I have to say it's precisely what I've been looking for. They have their own Fluid remote protocol which requires no messing around with VPNs or port opening, it just punches right through firewalls and gets you going from anywhere. You just need to install the free JD Connect app on Win/macOS to act as the server. The protocol is also better than RDP imo, as it supports 60 fps and can adaptively scale the quality based on available connection speed.
The lag is basically imperceptible as long as you're on any semi-decent connection and I usually forget I'm working remotely in about 3 seconds.

I'm a software developer and this allows me to leave my desktop PC at home to do the heavy lifting, whilst carrying the 11" iPP on the go in a slim sling bag.
When I go to the office, I just plug my iPad into a dock, launch JD on a large external monitor, use my iPad screen for auxillary apps (Teams/Zoom/mail..) and get to work.

I think this setup achieves the ultimate combination of portability and computing performance.

 

[hipnetic]

So I ended up buying the JD client for iPad despite the uncertainty and I have to say it's precisely what I've been looking for.

Thanks for the detailed reply.

How is the resolution scaling and font clarity? As I think I mentioned, Microsoft RDP looks great connecting my iPad Pro 11 to a Windows 10 box and the 2768x1845 (Retina) and 1792x1194 (smaller, but still very clear text) resolutions are both very usable with clear/sharp text. This was not the case w/SplashTop, which fed me very blurry fonts, no matter what resolution I tried to set it to.

I just looked again, and noticed that SplashTop's client-side app has some display/resolution settings, too, but no matter what I set it to, fonts (and lots of other things) looked fuzzy.

 

[fw85]

Thanks for the detailed reply.

How is the resolution scaling and font clarity? As I think I mentioned, Microsoft RDP looks great connecting my iPad Pro 11 to a Windows 10 box and the 2768x1845 (Retina) and 1792x1194 (smaller, but still very clear text) resolutions are both very usable with clear/sharp text. This was not the case w/SplashTop, which fed me very blurry fonts, no matter what resolution I tried to set it to.

I just looked again, and noticed that SplashTop's client-side app has some display/resolution settings, too, but no matter what I set it to, fonts (and lots of other things) looked fuzzy.

I've added the iPad's Retina resolution to the custom resolutions list in my graphics driver's settings and configured JD to automatically attempt to change the host's resolution when connecting to best suit the current screen.
So when I have the JD app open on my iPad screen, it scales to the Retina resolution, when I have it open on an external monitor, it scales the host to fit that.

Once the resolution scales properly, the rest is a matter of connection quality. If your connection is good enough, the quality over JD is basically indistinguishable from using the system locally.
However note that I'm not using a 4k resolution for my external screen, there have been some limitations reported with that, though will hopefully be resolved soon. The highest I'm using is the Retina resolution and on that it's crystal clear.

 

[hipnetic]

I've added the iPad's Retina resolution to the custom resolutions list in my graphics driver's settings and configured JD to automatically attempt to change the host's resolution when connecting to best suit the current screen.

Thanks. I believe you said that you have an iPad Pro 11" (like me). So 'm curious how text sharpness is when using macOS on that screen. FWIW, I just got "back" from searching YouTube for videos on Jump Desktop and there wasn't anything decent on there to really show me how this would look on an 11" iPad Pro. Most of the videos were really, really old.

I really like the smaller travel size of the 11" with the Magic Keyboard. The added screen real estate of the 12.9" is tempting, and I already have a Magic Keyboard for that size (I bought it for my artist daughter and the 12.9" sized iPad Pro she preferred, but who didn't end up liking using it with the Magic Keyboard), but I feel like it would end up feeling too big/heavy and I'd wonder why I didn't just bring my MacBook Pro 16 with me. When my wife and I took a cruise, I sometimes took a sling bag with me and the iPad Pro 11" w/Magic Keyboard to hang out in the shade near the pool and it was probably the first time in a while that I really got some use out of my iPad.

Most of the time, I'm working from home and use my MacBook Pro 16 in any room of the house I'm at. But there's a part of me that is intrigued by the idea of ditching the MacBook Pro 16 altogether (it's an older Intel chip version, anyway) and instead getting an M2 Mac Mini and using it in headless mode paired with an iPad. Other than screen size / real estate, I think a big drawback would be the cramped keyboard and trackpad. The 11" Magic Keyboard has a great, usable feel to it, but the trackpad in particular often feels cramped. Sorry to digress.

 

[fw85]

Thanks. I believe you said that you have an iPad Pro 11" (like me). So 'm curious how text sharpness is when using macOS on that screen. FWIW, I just got "back" from searching YouTube for videos on Jump Desktop and there wasn't anything decent on there to really show me how this would look on an 11" iPad Pro. Most of the videos were really, really old.

I really like the smaller travel size of the 11" with the Magic Keyboard. The added screen real estate of the 12.9" is tempting, and I already have a Magic Keyboard for that size (I bought it for my artist daughter and the 12.9" sized iPad Pro she preferred, but who didn't end up liking using it with the Magic Keyboard), but I feel like it would end up feeling too big/heavy and I'd wonder why I didn't just bring my MacBook Pro 16 with me. When my wife and I took a cruise, I sometimes took a sling bag with me and the iPad Pro 11" w/Magic Keyboard to hang out in the shade near the pool and it was probably the first time in a while that I really got some use out of my iPad.

Most of the time, I'm working from home and use my MacBook Pro 16 in any room of the house I'm at. But there's a part of me that is intrigued by the idea of ditching the MacBook Pro 16 altogether (it's an older Intel chip version, anyway) and instead getting an M2 Mac Mini and using it in headless mode paired with an iPad. Other than screen size / real estate, I think a big drawback would be the cramped keyboard and trackpad. The 11" Magic Keyboard has a great, usable feel to it, but the trackpad in particular often feels cramped. Sorry to digress.

The software has been around for quite a while now, but seems to be getting regular updates. I imagine it's a rather niche use case after all...

I cannot comment on macOS as I haven't tried it with that. Maybe someone else can provide some insight.

Your proposed setup's viability might also be influenced by how much value you attribute to versatility. And portability.
Do you really value how easily the iPad can change forms between: tablet mode with Pencil/laptop-like mode/desktop-like docked mode?
Do you really value that it fits a sling-bag compatible form factor?
If the answer to any of those questions is anything other than a clear cut yes, then you might still just be better off with a MacBook Air, instead of over-engineering things

 

[hipnetic]

I just wanted to report back that I went ahead and bought Jump Desktop and I am getting clear text connecting to my MacBook Pro 16 (which was one of my concerns based on my experience trying out Splashtop). I haven't had a chance to test it out for an extended time, but it has me thinking seriously about getting a 12.9" iPad Pro now. It's not as good as using the MacBook Pro 16 itself, but it does have me intrigued by the the idea of trying to make an iPad Pro my only travel computer.

I am a bit concerned that this app's last update was 11 months ago.

One minor usability annoyance is that the "magic button" (or whatever they may call it) which you tap on to bring up a special menu (e.g., to change resolution) can't be positioned higher within the black "dead space" above my Mac menu bar. I was happy to see that it could at least be repositioned right/left when needed.