Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

All iPads MacBook with iPhone chip rumor - what if it runs iPadOS

S

Scarboose

macrumors regular
Original poster
Sep 15, 2018
129
185
This rumor about a ~$600 MacBook has caught my attention. I think it’s fair to say that an A18 Pro chip is strong enough to run macOS but why would Apple make that? The chip would burn out from too much multitasking then.
That’s where iPadOS comes in. The software limits the user so it can’t burn out, the battery life would be huge, it’s a 12.9” screen which is iPad like and I think it would be lighter than the iPad and Magic Keyboard combo. Plus, Apple has been making iPadOS more Mac like for years now. It wouldn’t be a touch screen either, which keeps costs down. It could be a perfect competitor for the Chromebook??

I personally would buy this as I love iPadOS but I don’t like the iPad and Magic Keyboard combo. It would be at least double the battery life of a iPad now I think, which would be huge to me. Would anyone else want this though?
 
  • Haha
  • Like
Reactions: Rradcircless, Jumpthesnark, kitKAC and 2 others
I doubt it for several reasons...
  • Some iPads have been using the M chips for years, yet iPadOS never came to the Mac then.
    • macOS can already run iPad apps, if the developer allows it.
  • During the Apple Silicon transition, the developer transition kit machines were using an A chip (A12Z).
    • The A chips are powerful enough to run macOS too.
At the end of the day, there's not much difference between the A series and M series; the A series is just a lower tier and cheaper to make. Some say that the M1 is essentially just a rebadged A14X that was tweaked for the Mac.
 
  • Like
Reactions: subjonas and rui no onna
Rather than believing that rumour, I would believe all MacBook eventually will run iPadOS.
Guess that’s even less believable.
 
  • Haha
Reactions: Jumpthesnark
Scarboose said:
This rumor about a ~$600 MacBook has caught my attention. I think it’s fair to say that an A18 Pro chip is strong enough to run macOS but why would Apple make that? The chip would burn out from too much multitasking then.
That’s where iPadOS comes in. The software limits the user so it can’t burn out, the battery life would be huge, it’s a 12.9” screen which is iPad like and I think it would be lighter than the iPad and Magic Keyboard combo. Plus, Apple has been making iPadOS more Mac like for years now. It wouldn’t be a touch screen either, which keeps costs down. It could be a perfect competitor for the Chromebook??
Click to expand...

One can game on an iPhone for hours without burning out the A18 Pro. The A18 Pro will be just fine on a MacBook with much larger surface area for cooling particularly considering most desktop tasks barely tax the CPU.

The A18 Pro is at greater risk of burning out during extensive AAA gaming sessions on a smallish iPhone than it would be multitasking YouTube, web browsing, Pages, Keynote, etc. on macOS.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Digitalguy
I don’t think this would happen but I wouldn’t mind a light laptop running iPadOS, for the reasons you stated (overall lighter, bigger battery probably). I never take my 13” iPad off the keyboard anyway, except to switch between my Magic Keyboard (which I keep at home) and my lighter but inferior Smart Keyboard (which I keep in my bag), and unless I’m using the Pencil. So I’d actually want the laptop to be a convertible with Pencil support. No touch needed. I also find detaching and attaching the keyboard cumbersome. A convertible could be more convenient for that reason as well, depending on the design.

But I actually prefer macOS overall haha. I would sacrifice some battery life for macOS and a bit more powerful chip, so ideally I’d like a Mx convertible MacBook with Pencil support. But I would gladly take iPadOS on a weaker chip if the convertible MacBook wasn’t an option.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Rradcircless
rui no onna said:
The M1 MacBook Air has longer battery life than the M1 iPad Pro so I don’t think macOS vs iPadOS would make a huge impact in this regard.
Click to expand...
M1 MBA has a substantially bigger battery than M1 13” iPP (50wH vs 39 wH), so that’s likely the reason for its longer battery life.
Also why else would iPadOS have much more multitasking limitations than macOS if not to have significant savings in battery-life?
 
subjonas said:
M1 MBA has a substantially bigger battery than M1 13” iPP (50wH vs 39 wH), so that’s likely the reason for its longer battery life.
Also why else would iPadOS have much more multitasking limitations than macOS if not to have significant savings in battery-life?
Click to expand...

The M1 MBA has 28% higher battery capacity over the M1 13” iPP but iirc from reviews, the battery life of the MBA is more than 30% longer than the iPP.

Frankly, I don’t know what’s the reason for the multitasking limitations on iPadOS (perhaps low RAM and swap working differently?) but it doesn’t seem to be helping the battery life in actual use.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Shirasaki and Digitalguy
rui no onna said:
The M1 MBA has 28% higher battery capacity over the M1 13” iPP but iirc from reviews, the battery life of the MBA is more than 30% longer than the iPP.

Frankly, I don’t know what’s the reason for the multitasking limitations on iPadOS (perhaps low RAM and swap working differently?) but it doesn’t seem to be helping the battery life in actual use.
Click to expand...
It would make sense that if one is using both devices, the MacBook and the iPad, in the same way—ie. little to no multitasking—then battery consumption would probably be similar. If the battery life tests used similar tasks on both devices, then that may be why the battery capacity to battery life comparison seems close to 1:1.

But of course once one starts utilizing the heavier multitasking available in macOS, battery life would obviously go down. The MBA having a bigger battery could afford this hit and still have a workable battery life. Probably not so much in the smaller battery iPad. This is probably why Apple refrains from giving iPadOS full macOS multitasking—because the battery is too small to take the hit.

There might be more to it than that, but at least at a base level this makes sense to me: macOS doesn’t require more battery than iPadOS, except when it does (heavier multitasking). This is also why I’m very curious to see iPad battery life reports with the much more unleashed multitasking in iPadOS 26.
 
Even though this sounds absurd, it actually makes some sense. It would explain why Apple made significant changes to iPadOS this year. The traffic light and app menu is clearly designed for mouse/trackpad input. A18 Pro technically could run macOS, but I think experience is going to be horrible. Even though it is based off of M4, it has a much smaller memory bandwidth and the GPU is subpar enough that any professional apps would not be usable. I don't think you will have a good experience with this unless you are just doing browsing or using basic apps. If that is the case, what is really the point of putting macOS on it if all of these could be done on iPadOS? Also, if this is indeed going to be a macOS device, it may be better off for Apple to put something like a M2 instead of A18 Pro, which is something that is never seen on macOS.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: Shirasaki and The_Interloper
Jumpthesnark said:
So which is it?

And has anyone here ever had a chip "burn out from multitasking?"
Click to expand...
Exactly. Burning out a chip is generally only going to happen if something goes seriously wrong with hardware. The A18 is roughly on par with the M1, but with significantly lower power draw. It’s plenty powerful for everyday use – have people forgotten that they were running comparatively weak Intel chips five years ago?
 
  • Like
Reactions: rui no onna and Jumpthesnark
123123123 said:
Exactly. Burning out a chip is generally only going to happen if something goes seriously wrong with hardware. The A18 is roughly on par with the M1, but with significantly lower power draw. It’s plenty powerful for everyday use – have people forgotten that they were running comparatively weak Intel chips five years ago?
Click to expand...
It depends on the RAM. I don't think A18 Pro support anything larger than 8GB. 8GB RAM is too little for macOS nowadays, it will become slow after you open a couple of apps.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Shirasaki
Digitalguy said:
Apple can make it support more than 8GB if they want
Click to expand...
Memory bandwidth is an issue, A18 Pro doesn't have enough memory bandwidth to allow them to put more than 8GB. I guess they could make it to support more than 8GB, but it would require a chip redesign, and I doubt they will do that for a budget device.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Shirasaki
Charka123 said:
... it has a much smaller memory bandwidth and the GPU is subpar enough that any professional apps would not be usable.
Click to expand...

The rumors for this device put it at low cost, low features. This would not be a device for running pro apps.

Charka123 said:
I don't think you will have a good experience with this unless you are just doing browsing or using basic apps.
Click to expand...

Which is exactly the point of this device, if the rumors are accurate.

All of this is supposition at this point, so take it with a grain of salt. But it sounds like Apple is not aiming this machine at people who need to do pro-level work with video, images, animation, etc.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 123123123 and rui no onna
Charka123 said:
It depends on the RAM. I don't think A18 Pro support anything larger than 8GB. 8GB RAM is too little for macOS nowadays, it will become slow after you open a couple of apps.
Click to expand...
I’ve edited videos on an M2 Mac mini with 8GB RAM without any issues.
 
Charka123 said:
Memory bandwidth is an issue, A18 Pro doesn't have enough memory bandwidth to allow them to put more than 8GB. I guess they could make it to support more than 8GB, but it would require a chip redesign, and I doubt they will do that for a budget device.
Click to expand...
Don't doubt anymore, there are already rumors indicating that Apple has exactly done that, redesigned the chip to allow more RAM, up to 16GB, so it's happening. What we don't know is if the base will be 8 or more, but the max will be 16.
 
subjonas said:
It would make sense that if one is using both devices, the MacBook and the iPad, in the same way—ie. little to no multitasking—then battery consumption would probably be similar. If the battery life tests used similar tasks on both devices, then that may be why the battery capacity to battery life comparison seems close to 1:1.

But of course once one starts utilizing the heavier multitasking available in macOS, battery life would obviously go down. The MBA having a bigger battery could afford this hit and still have a workable battery life. Probably not so much in the smaller battery iPad. This is probably why Apple refrains from giving iPadOS full macOS multitasking—because the battery is too small to take the hit.

There might be more to it than that, but at least at a base level this makes sense to me: macOS doesn’t require more battery than iPadOS, except when it does (heavier multitasking). This is also why I’m very curious to see iPad battery life reports with the much more unleashed multitasking in iPadOS 26.
Click to expand...

Power consumption on iPad is mainly gated by the lack of a heatsink, unlike MacBook Air. This is why you see iPad Pro 12.9- and 13-inch being shipped with a 20W adapter, while MacBook Air with a 30W adapter.

I doubt iPadOS 26 will affect battery life because the chip throttles before it can make any dent in power consumption.
 
Charka123 said:
Even though this sounds absurd, it actually makes some sense. It would explain why Apple made significant changes to iPadOS this year. The traffic light and app menu is clearly designed for mouse/trackpad input. A18 Pro technically could run macOS, but I think experience is going to be horrible. Even though it is based off of M4, it has a much smaller memory bandwidth and the GPU is subpar enough that any professional apps would not be usable. I don't think you will have a good experience with this unless you are just doing browsing or using basic apps. If that is the case, what is really the point of putting macOS on it if all of these could be done on iPadOS? Also, if this is indeed going to be a macOS device, it may be better off for Apple to put something like a M2 instead of A18 Pro, which is something that is never seen on macOS.
Click to expand...

It sounds absurd and would be absurd if it actually happened.

iPadOS is primarily a touch-based OS. Why would Apple pair it with a non-touch clamshell MacBook? Apple makes custom hardware and software. It would be like iPhone running OS X back in 2007.

Who the heck is buying a $599 MacBook to run professional content creation apps? That's like complaining iPhone 16e can't be used to make a professional movie.
 
Charka123 said:
Even though this sounds absurd, it actually makes some sense. It would explain why Apple made significant changes to iPadOS this year. The traffic light and app menu is clearly designed for mouse/trackpad input.
Click to expand...
I've been thinking this too. Wouldn't surprise me in the slightest if this is actually a non-touchscreen laptop running a slightly modified iPadOS 26, basically defaulted to only the new multitasking windowed mode. Why else suddenly bring improved file management and a Preview app as well?

Charka123 said:
If that is the case, what is really the point of putting macOS on it if all of these could be done on iPadOS?
Click to expand...
Exactly. The main selling point could be that you finally get an iPad in MacBook form at a decent screen size that doesn't break the bank. A 13" iPad Air is currently the cheapest route to this but still needs a Magic Keyboard, significantly increasing the cost. And the new "Mac-like" windowed interface is too cluttered for smaller screens.

And just for fun...what if this isn't even called a MacBook if it's not running macOS? We have the basic iPad...what if this is called the new iBook?
 
  • Like
Reactions: Charka123
JPack said:
iPadOS is primarily a touch-based OS. Why would Apple pair it with a non-touch clamshell MacBook?
Click to expand...
See my post above. Bigger screen, built-in keyboard/trackpad. All the core apps - Pages, Numbers, Keynote, Safari, Files, Preview etc - now have proper windowing, menu bars, a dock, tiling and a proper mouse cursor. Also, A18 and 8Gb RAM aren't an issue for iPadOS. It even has proper background tasks now.

Also, have you used Samsung DeX? A touch-based OS with a non-touchscreen monitor and keyboard/mouse. It works just fine. Rough round the edges, but Apple would solve that.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Shirasaki
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back