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Yet people still think macOS will come to iPad, enough is enough. It’s not coming. People need to get it through their head that two device will exist, and one will not replace with another
 
iPad Pro 13" = 5mm
MacBook Air 13" = 113mm
I don't know the measurement of just the MacBook bottom case that houses the chip, but it's certainly more than half of that measurement, but let's just say it's 50mm. That's still not any kind of comparison.
And very significantly, the chip in a MacBook is surrounded by aluminum plus a keyboard to draw away/vent heat. The chip in an iPad has aluminum on one side only and on the other side a large heat-producing display.
Their thermal profiles should be quite dissimilar.
The MBA is 11.3 mm. I haven’t seen a 4.5 inch portable in decades.

The MBA is about 2.2x the width. Assuming 60/40 base to screen, that’s 5mm IPP to 6.75 mm MBA. Take out the overhead of keyboard, hinge, and top case and it is a wash.

The screen is OLED so less heat generated than the LED panel.

The IPP may run a little hotter / slower but I’d still expect them to be pretty close.
 
I have both and the iPad Pro has literally sat new, almost unused for the last 2 years. It literally does nothing for my uses that a Mac can’t do. I can see the iPad having some unique features but I don’t see it as a complete standalone. Honestly I wouldn’t have even bought it if given a second chance.
I have both as well, but I do use the ipad quite extensively. The problem I see with how the product functions is that I could easily be just like you. With the exception of the doodling/drawing/pencil note taking (Nebo is one of my fav apps), I could easily live without the ipad. I don't think I could live without the MBP. (I once tried to do the ipad as computer experiment when I went away for a week-long class, and found myself burnt badly enough by the attempt that I won't rely on the ipad as my only device unless I am certain of what I will need to do computer-wise beforehand.)

And aside from a better screen on the new ipad pro, it doesn't have anything that my current one can't do, so I ask myself, 'how much are blacker blacks and a brighter display worth?'
 
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The MBA is 11.3 mm. I haven’t seen a 4.5 inch portable in decades.

The MBA is about 2.2x the width. Assuming 60/40 base to screen, that’s 5mm IPP to 6.75 mm MBA. Take out the overhead of keyboard, hinge, and top case and it is a wash.

The screen is OLED so less heat generated than the LED panel.

The IPP may run a little hotter / slower but I’d still expect them to be pretty close.
Lol sorry I haven't slept in a couple days. But I still don't think the heat from the panel, rather than more cooling aluminum, can be ignored. Maybe there's a way to actually measure thermal capacity instead of all this guessing.
 
I have a foot in both camps as I can see most of my iPad time I dont need something more desktop OS strength.
But them other times (like going on holidays), I'd love an easier way to load videos and music to take with me. iPadOS is still not great at files. Airdrop isnt quite flexible enough (want to put movies in Photos app rather than in VLC).
That sounds like a bug. File a bug report. Indicting an entire OS for one thing is strange. I just connect my iPad by cable to my Mac and import it. I’ve got tons of personal videos in my TV app, which is where I like to put mine. I don’t run VLC.
 
So all of that “this is a computer” stuff several years ago was just…marketing!?

The purpose of the ads was to communicate that a computer can be something very different from traditional desktop and laptop computers running a desktop operating system.
 
as many have said here, iPad use if far more than Mac use.
At least outside office hours.

many apps share code bases between iPhone, iPad and Macs.

iPads wouldnt die out. People like the form factor. They wont suddenly lug around a laptop.

And Apple doesnt have to put some MacOS on every iPad... they could restrict it to Pro devices (but you know M2 Air users will then complain...)

I too have bought and used Surface devices.
The hardware is nice but the app I had to run on it didnt resize well. The touch interface is not good. I used a mouse and keyboard. The touch failed on the lower part of the screen too. Had to use a mouse to get the cursor there. Sucked.
People do like the iPad. If you read my point closer, you’d see that developers would stop making iPad apps and just make Mac apps because they’re far easier to write and would still run on the iPad. When normal users who don’t like macOS on their iPads eventually find that no new apps are being released on iPad and older ones stop getting support, they stop buying iPads. iPads would then suffer the same problem as Android tablets that have no apps to speak of. Since iPadOS-only users make up the vast majority of iPad users, they get the short end of the stick. They may like the iPad, but without new apps, demand from those users would eventally dry up. What would be the incentive for developers to keep writing iPad apps? Then as developers see iPad sales going down, there’s even less incentive for them to make iPad apps and the iPad sales would just continue swirling down the drain.

Your point about the Surface Pro is the same experience I have. Mac apps just wouldn’t work well and the user experience would be bad. Yet so many people yearn for a bad experience. It’s the Surface Pro that turned me against having macOS on an iPad. Before, I was ok with it. I thought it was a cool idea to have a hybrid for the same reasons everyone else has. But after buying one, I realized all the flaws. Microsoft had to use weaker, underclocked CPU’s to maintain decent battery life, leading to a mediocre laptop experience. And because no apps are optimized for touch no matter what MS does with the OS to make it touch friendly, it is the worst tablet I’ve ever tried, and I own quite a few including multiple Android tablets, cheap and expensive.

I find it odd that so many here acknowledge Mac apps would have bad user experiences, yet they are still advocating for it and thinking Apple will somehow deliberately produce such a bad experience. The only times Apple ever does something like that is involuntarily due to the force of law, [cough, EU]. Many others try to kludge things by saying turn off touch. What’s the point of that on an iPad, a device that has always been touch first? It’s further acknowledgement it’s a bad idea.

I remember someone earlier mentioned the idea of a touch screen Mac. Now that’s an idea I would go for because that truly would cost people nothing if it were an add-on option. People who don’t want that would just not use it or not buy the option, but those who really want it can buy their Mac and have their bad tablet, too. I’ve had touch laptops, an old 2015 Dell XPS. It was pretty nice and had a 4K touch screen. I realized after a few years that I used that touch screen probably no more than five times in all the time I had it, mostly because I forgot I had the feature. If Apple gave a touch screen option on the Mac, I might even sign up for that option just to play with it. I know Apple wouldn’t likely support it since they think it’s horribly non-ergonomic, but I could see them going for that a lot easier than I’d see them putting Mac apps on an iPad. That’s just untenable.
 
“We see them as complementary devices."

Complementary as in please purchase both. When the first iPad was released, it seemed like Apple was positioning the iPad as the eventual successor to the Mac. That was the impression we got from Steve, Apple commercials and other sources at Apple. Maybe it would take a decade or so, but eventually it would happen. Now it’s a complementary device. In other words we couldn’t really figure out how to optimize the software for the iPad or maybe it’s just more lucrative for us not to.

No, Steve Jobs explicitly positioned the iPad as a device sitting between the Mac and the iPhone.

He also made the truck analogy where Macs would be trucks for those who needed performance and power, but iPads would cover the regular use cases in a post-PC world.
 
Using one iPad between family members would need careful app installation these days.
Social Media posts and replies... video chat...

The caller doesnt know who will be answering or reading.

At the very least, iMessages could easily let someone see some message they shouldnt.
How many people are scared to show granny a photo in case she swipes the wrong way and sees something else...?

Separate IDs would solve a lot of worry. Maybe not granny seeing photos though ;)
I agree it’s a good idea if Apple implements it. My point was I didn’t think it would affect their bottom line, and it would generate them some good will.
 
Apple could at least give iPadOS better multi monitor support.

Maybe come up with some Studio Display dock adapter.

These comments are an insult to us customers through. Apple needs new iPad leadership.
They’ve been trying to do that with constraints of not enough RAM in most of their devices and the lack of virtual memory in their A-series iPads, the main reason external monitor support doesn’t really exist on the 2020 iPad Pros and earlier. Each iteration of Stage Manager does get closer to that. If it’s technically doable, by all means. I do like the idea of ”clamshell” mode where turning off the iPad would permit two external monitors, though that would require a Thunderbolt hub.

I’m a bit disappointed that four-pin connector rumor never came to fruition where the Magic Keyboard’s USB port could be used for data or a second monitor.
 
No, Steve Jobs explicitly positioned the iPad as a device sitting between the Mac and the iPhone.

He also made the truck analogy where Macs would be trucks for those who needed performance and power, but iPads would cover the regular use cases in a post-PC world.

Some of these people proposing bad ideas are not long term Apple users so they don’t understand that Jobs wanted Apple to have Zen philosophy at its core. Everything simple and easy with no stressful process.

That is the ultimate goal. But then came new users long after Jobs died. They came from the PC builder side. They want to make Apple devices including the iPad as complex and annoying as a PC.

Desktop OS on tablet! Nvidia GPU driver pleeaze! Sideloodingz! Rom downlooder! EU please break these devices and make them **** for us!!!
 
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What a sad quote.

While I generally don't put all that much weight in what Steve Jobs said, but one of my favourite Jobsian moment was in the iPad introduction:

"if there's going to be a third category of device it's going to have to be better at these kinds of tasks than a laptop or a smartphone otherwise it has no reason for being"

but no... Apple wants everyone to buy a Mac, and an iPad, and an iPhone, etc...
image.png


The iPad could be great, if Apple let it complete.

If you watch the presentation, there is no sign that the iPad should replace the Mac. It is an additional category of devices which will do some tasks better than the iPhone and a Mac.

Those tasks were pretty mundane in the presentation.
 
I’ll never get the, “How can something so expensive just be a media viewer,” point. There are folks with entire rooms set up to be nothing but very comfy media viewers that cost well over $10,000 in some cases! :) And, it can be said that, even among the iPad’s detractors, that screen makes for a very nice mobile viewing experience. So nice that not many will be able to afford it, but for those that can, they’re going to enjoy it. And, when they’re not watching media, they can engage in the Apple ecosystem.

Unfortunately, engaging in the ecosystem doesn’t require “filesystem” or “macOS” so those things aren’t offered. The fact that these people that have been Apple watching for awhile are surprised… well, no, I guess it could be they’re not surprised. They could understand this every bit as well as I do with the biggest difference being that me being able to keep a roof over my head doesn’t depend on my communication of feeling aggrieved when I don’t particularly feel aggrieved. Writing “the OS is holding back the hardware” is literally food on their plates, potentially vacations, house payments, new iPads, etc. So, they’ll continue to do it. They’ll be shocked and stunned when iPadOS continues to be what it is next year and the year after that as long as it pays the bills.
I’ll agree with this. In my previous home, I built a theater room with a $9,000 receiver, a $17,000 anamorphic 120” screen and a 9.2 audio system with a 4K projector with anamorphic lens system. I loved it. I think altogether I spent $50,000 on that room. I was sad to leave that home because I never recreated it. These days it’s quite common for people to spend $3,000-5,000 for an OLED TV to get the best picture, despite other types of TV’s, such as mini-LED or just LCD’s with dimming zones costing a quarter of OLED prices or less. If I were to do that again, I don’t think I’d be quite so ambitious, but I’d easily pony up for at least a 98” mini-LED TV or an 80”+ OLED TV along with a Dolby Atmos sound system. TV’s are so much better now than when I built my theater room.

I am quite happy with my 2021 iPad Pro. I have a 2024 iPad Pro arriving tomorrow just because of that OLED screen. I bought two Samsung Galaxy Tab S8/S9 Ultra’s just for their OLED screens, hoping each year they’d get brighter. It’s not as if Android tablets have any apps to be useful for anything. The S9 Ultra does have a marginally brighter screen than the S8 Ultra, but it is still too dim for my tastes. They’re currently gathering dust. I am really looking forward to that lovely 1,000 nit sustained SDR/HDR goodness. To me, $1300 is dirt cheap for this kind of device with that display. I’d have stayed with my old 2021 M1 iPad Pro otherwise, but as soon as rumors popped up about double stacked OLED as bright as their mini-LED screens (turns out they’re brighter than the 600 nit sustained of my mini-LED iPad), I was saying take my money!
 
I watched the presentation, but i still agree with @DavidSchaub. One is not replacing the other. Same with the Vision pro.

However, each product should at least cover the general basics.
 
Except... it's called "system on a chip" for a reason - most of the computer (CPU, GPU, SSD interface, security/crypto stuff, media engine, Thunderbolt/USB and RAM controller is on the die - and even the RAM is integrated into the package) is on the chip and identical between the Mac and iPad. The whole hardware/firmware architecture of Apple Silicon Macs has more in common to the iPad than with the old Intel Macs. So it's a lot different than, say, expecting Windows for ARM to run on Apple Silicon where the only common ground is the ARM instruction set. I'm not saying that MacOS will "just work" on an iPad if you could hack the installation & plugged in a keyboard and mouse (although I wouldn't be too surprised) but I don't think porting it would be rocket surgery. The main additions would be drivers for touchscreen, pencil, accelerometers etc. and considering that iOS and MacOS are already very similar internally, that's probably not a massive job.
When I was writing that, i was thinking more of the iPad form factor, such as the small battery and poorer thermal design than a MacBook Air. Just the lack of space within the iPad chassis makes it a challenge to cool. I wasn’t referring to things like Northbridge or Southbridge, external GPU or RAM when it pertains to PC’s, for example. I basically called an iPad running macOS a MacBook Air Junior. Even if its SoC is more powerful, it can’t sustain nearly as much power as a MacBook Air can, making it weaker than an Air, just as a MBA M3 is less powerful than a MBP base model with M3 despite having the exact same SoC.
 
It's not just a case of allowing MacOS to run on an iPad, it's all the extra engineering and cost that would have to go in to allow that to happen. Apple would still have the cost of developing and maintaining iPadOS, and a new additional cost of developing and maintaining MacOS for iPad. This would eat into the margin they earn on the iPad and reduce revenue.
Really ??? Apple just wrote off $10 Billion in failed investment in a car. Apple has 80-90% of the software infrastrucure in place to create a MacPad which could support the best of MacOS and iPadOS (I am skipping the link as I've used it too much). Don't want it... stick with iPadOS. The investment needed is tiny relative to other investments. The only (potential) real issue is that Apple Mgmt cannot see the LTV of creating a MacPad. They all plan to cash out in a few years, so LTV via disruption re: current product stgy IS NOT ON THEIR FI**KING AGENDAS. Cannot really blame them, they have no incentive to change course. Alternative -- and this is a real worry i.e. Craig is not got a halo here -- is that Apple just cannot provide real innovation via software. I hope not, but lots of recent software suggests otherwise.
 
I’m a bit disappointed that four-pin connector rumor never came to fruition where the Magic Keyboard’s USB port could be used for data or a second monitor.
From the Xray pictures of the first Magic Keyboard, only two of the three connectors were used. The person that started that rumor likely never saw that image because an “additional” pin would actually just be the three. I wonder if the third one helps it to support 60W? Should know soon enough! :)
 
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As I’ve said, Apple employs a lot of smart people. They can certainly figure out a way to give power users a bit more of what they want without making iPad confusing for grandma. I use Split View all the time. I use the files app. My 83 year old mother uses her base iPad every day. She wouldn’t have a clue what Split View or the files app is and doesn’t miss them because she would have no reason to use them. I don’t buy the notion that making iPadOS a bit better for someone like Federico Viticci means making it worse for my elderly mother.
They did. It’s called Stage Manager, a feature that can be used by power users but is off and hidden for grandma. I’m one of those who prefers Split View and never uses Stage Manager because I never find a reason to run more than two apps at a time, but I can appreciate it’s there for those who do want to run multiple apps and have a second monitor. Just as macOS gains features over the years, so will iPadOS. Keep in mind iPadOS isn’t all that old having come out in 2019 while OS X/macOS is over 20 years old, older if you count NeXTStep, so it’s had a lot more time to build features. The first year of Stage Manager (I nicknamed it Stage Mangler) was a bit rough but a lot of beneficial changes happened in year 2. Year 3 will probably see more improvements plus potentially other features. macOS compatibility will not be one of them. Note that Stage Manager came into being only because there is no desktop on iPads, so Finder was never in the cards.

Apple has a ton of engineers, but they will always prioritize iOS over any other OS for the foreseeable future, so changes to iPadOS and macOS will likely evolve a lot slower. macOS has the benefit of a nearly 20 year head start. When you sell an order of magnitude of phones over Macs and iPads, it makes it easy for Apple to prioritize.
 
The iPad line up is one of the most confused things I have seen from a company of Apples size, these comments only serve to highlight that even more.

I could buy that they think the iPad is a complimentary device to a Mac if it existed as a tablet as it did when Jobs announced it, but when you start adding keyboards and trackpads you are expecting the end user to use that in the way they would use a Mac.

So why would the end user need a Mac too? Because the iPad is really bad as a laptop and the software isn't up to the task.

There are no product people left in this company at all.
 
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Would be great if Apple makes it at least possible to run virtual machines on iPad OS. This way we can use Parallels to run MacOS or Windows on the iPads and Apple has no problem or work to integrate anything....
This I can get behind. I vehemently oppose putting macOS on iPad, but I don’t object to allowing virtual machines. It would need oodles of RAM and storage, so I’d probably suggest 16GB RAM with 1TB storage as a minimum. Grandma wouldn’t know what a VM is while the number of people using VM’s wouldn’t encourage developers to drop iPadOS as a target platform.
 
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The iPad line up is one of the most confused things I have seen from a company of Apples size, these comments only serve to highlight that even more.

I could buy that they think the iPad is a complimentary device to a Mac if it existed as a tablet as it did when Jobs announced it, but when you start adding keyboards and trackpads you are expecting the end user to use that in the way they would use a Mac.

So why would the end user need a Mac too? Because the iPad is really bad as a laptop and the software isn't up to the task.

There are no product people left in this company at all.
Keyboards exist because typing on a glass virtual keyboard sucks horribly. It isn’t there foreshadowing macOS, but rather is solving a complaint about how bad it is to type on a virtual keyboard. The same problem exists on the Vision Pro. The keyboard is terrible. I see these science fiction series like Star Trek where the helmsmen are rapidly banging away at virtual buttons and wondering in the back of my mind that if this were real, they’d crash the ship or something.
 
Keyboards exist because typing on a glass virtual keyboard sucks horribly. It isn’t there foreshadowing macOS, but rather is solving a complaint about how bad it is to type on a virtual keyboard. The same problem exists on the Vision Pro. The keyboard is terrible. I see these science fiction series like Star Trek where the helmsmen are rapidly banging away at virtual buttons and wondering in the back of my mind that if this were real, they’d crash the ship or something.


Using iOS for productivity sucks horribly.

Aside from people who want to use the pencil for digital art, I can't fathom why anybody would buy the iPad Pro over a Macbook Air.

The 13 inch iPad Pro with 512gb of storage and the keyboard add on is actually more expensive than the M3 MBA 512gb
 
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