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iPad Pro iPadOS and MacOS unification

GasmanC

GasmanC

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Apr 19, 2021
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Way out there speculation for tomorrow’s iPad Pro release - Apple decides to release the iPad with MacOS.

With all the work they’ve done with Big Sur harmonising the two operating systems, as well as both systems now running on the same hardware, its not much of a leap for this to happen.

Thus, this is my prediction for tomorrow.
 
I really hope so, an iPad running MacOS is what I'm waiting for.
 
There is an old thread on the same topic, makes an interesting read on why it would be nice and why it is very unlikely to happen:

forums.macrumors.com

ipad Pro+macOS

1 Now, that we see what this new Samsung S7+keyboard and trackpad can do with their on device DEX.... 2 Now, that the next macOS Big Sur is made for Apple Silicone (arm architecture).... From those 2 things i think Apple will miss a really big opportunity not to deliver a really great combo...
forums.macrumors.com forums.macrumors.com
 
I remember reading this thread, but, that was prior to Big Sur being released. A lot of the design language in Big Sur is iPadOS oriented. It’s no longer such a big leap for macOS to be a touch based operating system.
 
My perfect device is a 12.9" iPad Pro that runs full macOS when connected to external peripherals and something similar to iPad OS when used as a tablet, kind of like Windows 8 tried to do, but done properly and with an actual tablet app ecosystem behind it. But I'm pretty sure that'll never happen because why would Apple sell me one device when they could sell me two?
 
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I am trying to imagine how this might work. I would guess Apple would do it through a 'whitelist' of specific apps, tested for iOS and available via the Mac App Store.

You would probably only need some key apps to be available on day one for it to make an impact: Adobe Creative Suite, MS Office and Apple's Pro Apps.

Throw in trailers for other vendors who will be bringing their Mac apps to iOS 'soon' and it suddenly looks like your iPad Pro can be your sole computing device. Which, since iPad Pros now cost about what a Mac does and lock you more firmly into Apple's ecosystem, works for Apple!

If Apple was feeling a bit mean, it might be limited to the 'Pro' models, or require a new Magic Keyboard or similar for full compatibility (i.e. Mac specific keys like Esc).

The prospect of being able to install anything you like from the Mac software world seems incredibly remote, given Apple's claims around the need to act as a gatekeeper on iOS.
 
I really do think we'll see this, but I'm increasingly unsure when. Doesn't look like it would be now: we'd have seen references to it in the more recent macOS betas. Maybe it's coming in a WWDC announcement, with a public release in iPadOS 15 — that would figure, because it gives Apple a very long beta period and gives developers a long time to test apps on the platform. Also, I can imagine this only coming to 12.9". Something about macOS on an 11" screen feels like it wouldn't sit right with Apple.

There's one other factor that could mean this comes sooner than the autumn though: I wonder whether the pro's bootrom needs to be changed to support the feature. Maybe it'll be released fully working when the devices ship, and there's no beta because it's not possible to get it working on an earlier iPad with a bootrom that can't support it. That way, we'd see the release of the last M1 "mac" today, maybe alongside the announcement of the next chip for iMacs etc. Or maybe it's a pipedream. My prediction is that we'll see an announcement at WWDC.
 
As much as I want it I don’t see it happening.

Having seen the advantages to adding hypervisor framework to iPadOS, allowing hardware accelerated vms, I think Apple will go a similar route with Mac apps.

If Apple were to allow VM apps, the app itself would be sandboxed. This would keep it within Apples security policy. I think they will do the same with Mac apps. They won’t allow you to run full blown macOS, but individual Mac apps will be able to run in their own sandbox container.

That said, I have no idea how that would work for something like Xcode or terminal. It probably wouldn’t...but at this stage Apple probably doesn’t care about that just yet.
 
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GasmanC said:
Way out there speculation for tomorrow’s iPad Pro release - Apple decides to release the iPad with MacOS.

With all the work they’ve done with Big Sur harmonising the two operating systems, as well as both systems now running on the same hardware, its not much of a leap for this to happen.

Thus, this is my prediction for tomorrow.
Click to expand...
I don't see that happening at all.
 
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GasmanC said:
Way out there speculation for tomorrow’s iPad Pro release - Apple decides to release the iPad with MacOS.

With all the work they’ve done with Big Sur harmonising the two operating systems, as well as both systems now running on the same hardware, its not much of a leap for this to happen.

Thus, this is my prediction for tomorrow.
Click to expand...
The future for Apple is iOS/iPadOS. They just need to refine iPadOS so it works well as as a true mobile OS that can do everything macOS can. It's going to be a very long time until that happens as the pace at which iPadOS develops is painfully slow. We always have to wait an entire year for a few incremental improvements. iPadOS still doesn't have a useful file manger ffs!

macOS is not developed or optimised for touch in anyway so I can't see macOS shipping on a tablet. Ever.
 
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FWIW as long as God makes little green apples if Apple don’t put a full OS in a tablet, and make it work, someone else will and from then on Apple will be playing catch up. Do you think that Apple will let that happen?
 
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Mockletoy said:
My perfect device is a 12.9" iPad Pro that runs full macOS when connected to external peripherals and something similar to iPad OS when used as a tablet, kind of like Windows 8 tried to do, but done properly and with an actual tablet app ecosystem behind it. But I'm pretty sure that'll never happen because why would Apple sell me one device when they could sell me two?
Click to expand...
I'm not a Mac guy (nothing against them, but I build my own machines for my desktop, and so have always used Windows...though I have a MacOS High Sierra VM). I do have and enjoy my iPad, though (Air 3 at the moment). If they were to do this, I'd almost certainly get one. I'm in need of a new laptop, and if I could get an amazing tablet experience and a top flight Macbook Air-like laptop experience in the same device, I'd be all over it.
 
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The event today may is a step in this direction.
When iPad Pros will get the same chips as Macs, they will may reveal a step in the unification at WWDC
 
I'm not sure why anyone would expect it before a new version of iPadOS.

A better question is, if MacOS can run iPad apps, why couldn't an M1 iPad run Mac apps?
 
Yes, the Rosetta concept is interesting. It almost certainly has been running on iPads in-shop. The only question is whether Tim signed off on it. But it looks like Tim will sign anything these days, at least after this event :D
 
Yesterday was about hardware. I'm interested to see what software brings us at WWDC. The hardware is now on par with MacBooks. The price is now MORE than MacBooks. I have every reason to believe Apple is bringing MacOS in some form to iPad Pros.
 
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So the question is, IF we get an iPad that can run macOS is it only going to be the new M1 iPad on iPadOS 15 or will the older iPads also be able to?
 
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