Ordered a Macbook Air, what can I expect in terms of "Sidecar?"

[TomOSeven]

Hi all,

I'm super excited to be buying my first MacBook since 2015 and I can't wait for it to get shipped.

One of the features I'm most curious about is Sidecar, to use my iPad as a second monitor.

I had some really bad experiences with an app called "Duet Display", which was laggy, cut the battery life in half, made the Macbook scream like a banshee and ruined the DirectX drivers on my Windows machine.

So I'm really interested in your experiences with sidecar in terms of:

1. Impact on battery life
2. Latency
3. using touch or pen inputs on the 'pad
4. Difference between wired and wireless connection

Cheers boners!

 

[jclardy]

Sidecar works great for me, but I'm usually plugged in on my laptop so no real word on battery life. On the iPad it drains as if you have left a web page open with the screen on. Latency seems fine to me, but I don't draw on the device so I'm probably not the best judge of that (Plus it'll depend on your wifi connection.) I never use wired sidecar, so no idea on that.

To get the big "gotcha" out of the way - there is no touch input. At all. Apple pencil does work as an input device though, basically like a wacom stylus.

 

[AxiomaticRubric]

To get the big "gotcha" out of the way - there is no touch input. At all. Apple pencil does work as an input device though, basically like a wacom stylus.

There is no touch input, but you can touch to scroll apps or websites. There is also the option to display a virtual Touchbar at the bottom of the iPad screen.

Sidecar works the best with a wired connection for zero latency. I usually do this at a desk with the MacBook Pro plugged in to the charger. (The iPad draws quite a bit of power charging from the Mac battery, with or without Sidecar.)

 

[TomOSeven]

I've played around with it a bit today and I have to say, I'm kind of underwhelmed.

Even with a wired connection, the input lag is quite noticeable and the fact that you can use multi-touch gestures but not one finger touch seems like a pretty apparent attempt to sell pens. Even though I have one, that rubs me the wrong way.