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iPad sporting Mac OSX in the future?
- Thread starter Apple@Parker
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That ibook still has better processor specs than an iPad. If an iPad could, it would not run too well. There is also a big issue of input. OS X and Windows 7 styled operating systems run well with a mouse input. I have heard horror stories about that Acer tablet that runs Windows 7, saying that it really shows that that OS shouldn't use touch based input. It COULD be done (improved by apple
), but isn't there yet.
That ibook still has better processor specs than an iPad. If an iPad could, it would not run too well. There is also a big issue of input. OS X and Windows 7 styled operating systems run well with a mouse input. I have heard horror stories about that Acer tablet that runs Windows 7, saying that it really shows that that OS shouldn't use touch based input. It COULD be done (improved by apple
Where are the better processor specs?
The G4 was built on 130nm technology and as part of a regular laptop, didn't have any graphics processor on board and not a lot of cache. It was also a single core processor.
The A5 is on 45nm tech, has a dual core 1GHz processor, a dual core graphics processor, Image Signal Processor and 512MB RAM all on one little chip. That makes a big difference.
Anyway, I thought the rest of my post said that I thought Apple is trying to get it to a stage where (desktop only) OSX doesn't exist anymore.
As said earlier by someone else, iOS started as OSX reimagined for touch devices. Lion basically took a few of those concepts to try and slowly get desktop users into the idea that laptops and desktops as they know will be gone in a few short years.
My hope in 2007 was Apple would bring out an iBook or MacBook that was 2 multitouch screens (you can probably see on here when I wrote about it too, maybe it was earlier!) and to be honest, it wasn't a particularly original idea and Apple may have even tested a concept similar but found it didn't work, I tried an Acer recently that was like this and it was really a pain to use, but that was probably more due to their lack of attention to detail.
My hope now is to have an iPad with Thunderbolt, that I dock with a Thunderbolt display type display and I get a different UI, a keyboard and still have the iPad as the touchpad. My apps that only work on this docked mode are stored on the display but they have slightly cut down versions still on the iPad, which can access my data anywhere, even if it doesn't have the space for it. The display will have a great graphics chipset and will also work with the iPhone or iPod Touch.
Primatelabs has graphs that compare CPU performance for iThings as well as various Macs. The baseline they use is 1000 for a PowerMac G5 1.6 single core. The iPad 2 shows 746, which puts it in line with a 2004 eMac or a 1.5 Ghz PowerBook G4 (both single core).
for me or at least for us people on the forum , it would be a dream idevice. but for most people it wouldn't. for example, even my grandma knows how to use an iPad, but thats because the simplicity of the iOS, but i can't imagine what would happen if the iPad was os x. my grand ma an a lot of people wouldn't know how to use it...
There are just a few things missing from iOS that would make it feel like full-scale OS X. These things could be added transparently, either in the baseline system or as an add-on Package, in such a way that grandma could continue to use her iPad just as-is without ever having to be aware of them, but her grandson could access a richer user experience.
• Finder
• Windowing
• Menus
• Targeting
iOS is inching closer to a serious desktop alternative, but a few obstacles remain in the way of that. One of the biggest is Apple: they love their closed ecosystem and the revenue it generates for them, allowing users to get into the device and use its full capabilities would compromise their bottom line. For this reason, having a Mac-like iPad will not be a free upgrade.
• Finder
Many users are just fine without direct file system access, but for some, it is not a computer without it; this would probably also include Terminal.
• Windowing
Several times I have wanted to window two or three apps. Making a windowing paradigm work on a touch-based UI is a bit of a challenge, but iOS 5's four-finger touch scheme provides a nice alternative to drag-bars, close/minimize/zoom buttons and resize widgets. Implementing drag-and-drop is another challenge that would come along with this.
• Menus
It seems obvious to me that straightforward, unmodified menubar addition is one reason MS had trouble gaining touch traction. Menus have to be presented differently and, in the case of a touch interface, called up differently. The most sensible first approach would be to establish a standard for CMs, such as, for instance, touch a thing, then tap a second finger to pull up the CM. I could see the static menus (menubar) hiding under the status bar until you give it a lateral swipe, then appearing in a submenu cascade that you would navigate. Yet, somehow, menus have just about run their course. For convenience and flexibility, some new command scheme that lends itself well to touch (as well as mouse) needs to be devised.
• Targeting
With iOS, we still have a problem in some apps with these sausages we use in place of a cursor, especially graphics and web browsing with tiny links. Until we either have a clear and simple way to watch our finger position or easily use a mouse and cursor, serious apps like Photoshop will remain just out of reach.
iOS is inching closer to a serious desktop alternative, but a few obstacles remain in the way of that. One of the biggest is Apple: they love their closed ecosystem and the revenue it generates for them, allowing users to get into the device and use its full capabilities would compromise their bottom line. For this reason, having a Mac-like iPad will not be a free upgrade.
OSx is not designed for touch devices, and I guess apple may make it possible to run iOS on Mac by dual boot
iOS is OS X. Almost all of what underlies iOS is the same stuff that underlies OS X. The only differences involve part of the system that provide UI support. There are a few things missing, but ultimately it is the same at the OS level.