iPad Pro Name One reason you need MacOS on a tablet ?

[Timpetus]

I'd be ok with iPadOS just having the ability to run macOS apps and switch to the macOS Finder. There's no reason why equally capable hardware needs to be artificially limited by a touch-first consumer OS. Make it an advanced option that's only enabled by syncing with a Mac or something, so it won't confuse newbies that have never owned a Mac and need the simplicity of iPadOS.

 

[maxoakland]

macOS apps that are not available for iPad. There are several I use that are not overly "Complex" but for whatever reason - the devs only offer it in macOS, not iPad.

Lots of the time it’s because Apple has tons of restrictions on their mobile OS. Not being able to install from third party websites, enforced sandboxing, and other limits causes the software to be limited

And the people wring at Apple like to have that kind of control over us, which is not cool

 

[maxoakland]

I'd be ok with iPadOS just having the ability to run macOS apps and switch to the macOS Finder. There's no reason why equally capable hardware needs to be artificially limited by a touch-first consumer OS. Make it an advanced option that's only enabled by syncing with a Mac or something, so it won't confuse newbies that have never owned a Mac and need the simplicity of iPadOS.

How would you run MacOS apps without MacOS? Add in the Finder and how is this different from MacOS at all?

 

[winxmac]

I was one of those who are against the Start Screen [and the flat icons/tiles] in Windows 8.x which Apple mimicked by switching from skeuomorphic iOS 6 to flat iOS 7 and caused several websites to change their design to be touch-friendly and even macOS since Big Sur which is more evident in Tahoe.

Apple should keep the touch interface limited to iOS and iPadOS while keeping macOS keyboard and mouse only. Apple should know better not to follow Microsoft with how they destroyed Windows ever since Windows 8.x and until now.

 

[Timpetus]

How would you run MacOS apps without MacOS? Add in the Finder and how is this different from MacOS at all?

The same way you can run a lot of iOS/iPadOS apps on a Mac since Apple Silicon. Sure, it might as well just dual-boot macOS, but either way it would be really nice to have the option. Apple seems to think many things we've always done on "actual" computers are somehow off-limits for touchscreen devices. I see how it benefits Apple's bottom line and even their less-tech-savvy users, but as a techie and longtime Mac power user I'd love to have the option to run macOS on my iPad. I'd also love it if I could run it on my iPhone, not using the built-in screen of course but by plugging it in to a dock with a keyboard, mouse, and monitor. The Neo can do it using the same processor, so Apple could easily have a "Mac Mode" for their other devices.

 

[sw1tcher]

Ok everyone’s been thinking about it. Now it’s time to put up or shut up.

Why do you need MacOS on a tablet ?

I don't have an iPad, but if I did, I'd like the ability to run macOS on it because that means I can get apps from other places besides Apple's App Store. Let me decide where I get my apps from.

 

[KnowsHowItWorks]

XCode.

P.S. Granted.

 

[histeachn81]

Like others have said, I don't really feel a need for it, but I am a little surprised it hasn't been presented as an option once they brought over the M-series chips. For example, it would be like a configuration options under certain hardware requirements to either have it pre-installed at order, or as part of the set up process. I wouldn't want it taking up hard drive space in the background if you don't want it, but that you sort of have to wholly commit to it if you're going to have it.

 

[theluggage]

The same way you can run a lot of iOS/iPadOS apps on a Mac since Apple Silicon. Sure, it might as well just dual-boot macOS, but either way it would be really nice to have the option.

That's because MacOS is (approximately) a superset of iOS.

MacOS can run iOS/iPadOS apps because it contains all the libraries and frameworks needed to run MacOS and everything needed to run iOS Apps (if they are usable without multi-touch, accelerometer etc. & the developer agrees). Even x86 MacOS/XCode could run iOS apps if they were compiled for x86.

To make MacOS apps run on iPadOS you'd have to add a load of MacOS libraries and frameworks into iPadOS.

Why do you need MacOS on a tablet ?

I don't, but the obvious answer is that some people don't want to carry both an iPad and a MacBook. Apple are already selling iPad Pro + keyboard combinations that cost more than a MacBook Pro so how does it make sense that they can't run the same software? They've just launched a very successful MacBook with only an A19 chip, so there's no doubt that the Mx iPads are physically capable of running MacOS when provided with a keyboard and trackpad.

(Personally, I used to lug a PowerBook G3 or similarly-bulky PCs around so only carrying a MacBook and an iPad seems like luxury, but tell that to kids these days...)

The competition offers 2-in-1 machines, and Windows has a "tablet" mode. YMMV but the bad old days of Windows 8 foisting a touch-centric interface on desktos and laptops seem to have passed.

I think the better question is, why not let people who want it have the option?

There's the view that it would mean iPad-centric design and UI conventions bleeding into MacOS on "real" laptops and desktops. However, I think that ship has already sailed and MacOS-on-iPad wouldn't make things any worse. Developers (including Apple) can already save time and effort by using SwiftUI and other cross-platform toolkits to target MacOS, iPadOS and others with the same code. Lazy developers won't go the extra mile to tweak the UI for each platform.

The reverse could also happen - if you could just run MacOS on an iPad, would developers still bother to write touch-optimised iPadOS versions of MacOS Apps?

Trouble is, running MacOS on an iPad without a suitable keyboard & pointer would be a bad experience, and Apple tend to be averse to deliberately enabling bad experiences. Meanwhile, my personal experience of putting an iPad in a keyboard-case is that it ruins the iPad as a handheld touch device. I also, briefly, had a Surface Book with a detachable tablet section - cool, but I rarely used that feature.

 

[jerryjohnson]

Because the hardware already can. The software is the only thing being held back.

 

[Dirk Pieters]

I don't. 😀

 

[Mainsail]

iPads (Tablets) are touch first devices, and iPadOS is a touch first operating system. Enough said.

 

[Voyageur]

I want back to 2010s with photo frame iPad OG and iPhone 4. It was much easier, light and better with no additional apps and other garbage

 

[aaronage]

Before Apple Silicon: A12X is a mobile chip and runs mobile things, yay
After Apple Silicon: M1? M as in… Mac? I want macOS! I need macOS! I demand macOS! Raaaaah!

M1 is literally an A14X under a different name, but that small branding change was enough to send people off the deep end.

The majority of the threads on this forum are chock-full of people making the most surface level observations and extrapolating from them. The chip is branded Mac thus it should run macOS - it’s really that simple lol.

We’ve just seen the same thing in reverse in the run up to MacBook Neo. People were confidently asserting that it would suck because “A18 Pro is an iPhOnE ChiP!”.

It makes me laugh in a way, but also despair 😅

 

[grammatica]

I like my iPad. I wish my MacBook had cellular service.

 

[Tagbert]

The only time this ever comes to mind is when I see it on the forums here.

Do you normally come across people discussing OSs and where they would like them?

 

[vanilla_prison]

I want back to 2010s with photo frame iPad OG and iPhone 4. It was much easier, light and better with no additional apps and other garbage

I do miss the UI of the original iPad safari browser. Something about it just seemed so simple and pleasant

 

[nickdalzell1]

I want back to 2010s with photo frame iPad OG and iPhone 4. It was much easier, light and better with no additional apps and other garbage

Same here but with a iPhone 3GS (I only need a smartphone really to do iMessage and Maps, both of which still work with jailbreaks) and iPad 2 (Doing what I've always done on a tablet, read books, watch YouTube, and play Angry Birds/games), and 2009 MacBook Pro (doing what I always do on a laptop, forums, social media, YouTube, AI image generation for myself, email, music, and more). All cheap too. Less than $100 each, way way less. $50-60 each!

Modern Apple is just boring and trying to fix what isn't broken, and then takes all the little Apple-touches away (glowing logo on Mac, breathing light, home button, skeuomorphism)

Jailbreaks is where it's at. Revives a ton of otherwise broken iOS 6 features/apps.

I ain't notified about useless crap, just calls, emails and texts. I ain't forced to be nagged about unwanted software updates. I can actually enjoy using the UI and interacting with it. My headaches are gone. Battery is still good (honestly never has any Apple product let me down on battery but tons of Android and Windows stuff has)

 

[maxoakland]

The same way you can run a lot of iOS/iPadOS apps on a Mac since Apple Silicon.

OK… that doesn’t make sense. You can use touchscreen software with a mouse because a mouse has better precision with the touchscreen. And any laptop has a multitouch track pad

But you can’t use Mac software on an iPad. Everything would be too small to control

I'd also love it if I could run it on my iPhone, not using the built-in screen of course but by plugging it in to a dock with a keyboard, mouse, and monitor. The Neo can do it using the same processor, so Apple could easily have a "Mac Mode" for their other devices.

that would be a pretty fancy and cool feature. Too bad I also don’t see them doing something exciting like that

 

[throAU]

But you can’t use Mac software on an iPad. Everything would be too small to control

You literally can with sidecar, TODAY.

I can literally use my ipad display, trackpad and keyboard to run macOS apps hosted on my Mac, displayed on the ipad screen.

I do it every freaking day. It works fine.

 

[FreakinEurekan]

OK… that doesn’t make sense. You can use touchscreen software with a mouse because a mouse has better precision with the touchscreen. And any laptop has a multitouch track pad

But you can’t use Mac software on an iPad. Everything would be too small to control

That's a generalization.

There are probably SOME Mac apps that aren't easily usable via touch control, sure.

But some are PERFECTLY usable. It just depends on the app.

 

[snipr125]

I don’t want macOS on the iPad, but I do think the iPad‘s software still has a long ways to go.
Truth is, as much as I would love to just carry around my 11 inch iPad Pro, running macOS on it would be an absolutely awful experience under the majority of circumstances. It would decrease the battery life, meaning that it’s less useful for traveling. It would increase the thermal load on the tiny “thin as three stacked credit cards” iPad. It would require a keyboard and trackpad, meaning bye-bye thin and light iPad, hello cumbersome laptop like thing.
Consider the fact that the Magic Keyboard already makes the iPad thicker and heavier than a MacBook Air or basically the same in the case of the 11 inch, plus it is so top heavy that it’s basically impossible to use it in a car or on your lap or any place that isn’t a table.

The real thing I want is a redesigned ultra thin ultralight MacBook Air with a touchscreen, which is very likely to happen in 2028 when it gains an OLED display. At that point, they’re literally is no reason to have an iPad as an attempt at a laptop replacement, you either have an iPad because you like or need an iPad, or you have a laptop because you like and need a laptop, or you have both. Toss in a folding iPhone in the mix and it becomes even clearer.

The point is, the iPad is not supposed to be a laptop replacement. Even with the magic keyboard, it’s not supposed to be a laptop replacement. It *can* be under specific circumstances, but it’s pretty clear that it’s meant to be a tablet first and foremost, and that the magic keyboard is basically an optional add-on for occasional use, it’s not meant to be the permanent attachment people keep trying to turn it into.

I feel like this entire idea of the iPad being a laptop replacement is something that made a lot more sense 10 years ago when the iPad was making absolute leaps and bounds in efficiency and power and Apple’s entire Mac line was slow, bloated and clunky. Now that the Mac is ahead in most of these categories, the entire idea that laptops are on the way out has kind of been disregarded.

So would you agree that it was the development of A and Ax series of apple silicon from iphones/ipads that basically saved the Macbook, which like u said were slow, bloated and clunky under intel.

 

[OldGuyInTheClub]

If I could run uBlock Origin on Firefox, I'd think seriously about an iPad.

 

[Skwoodge]

If I could run uBlock Origin on Firefox, I'd think seriously about an iPad.

And Arkenfox.

 

[Lounge vibes 05]

So would you agree that it was the development of A and Ax series of apple silicon from iphones/ipads that basically saved the Macbook, which like u said were slow, bloated and clunky under intel.

Yes of course.