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Sidecar in macOS Catalina Brings Touch Bar Controls to Non-Touch Bar Mac Users

aaronhead14 said:
This is a better implementation of Touch Bar than the actual Touch Bar on MacBooks. Lol.
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As the users eyes are not shifted from the main screen to a display bar perpendicular to ones actions. It is not like a keyboard where once can have tactile feedback or muscle memory for the individual keys.
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raccoontail said:
The touchbar is obnoxious for users, who would prefer an actual touch screen and physical function keys, and for developers who have better things to do than support the touchbar for the small percentage of users who have them. At the very least apple should make real function keys an option on all configs of the MacBook Pro, not just the wimpy one with inadequate cooling and slower WiFi.
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SideCar is like the inevitable for the MacBook line to incorporate a touchscreen. Had the MacBook had touch and pencil support capable screen, an iPad would just be a bonus. :p
 
The TouchBar has been pretty meh. I’ve had it since the 2016 and while I think it’s more useful the function keys it replaced—I really like volume and brightness sliders in particular, as well as a dedicated lock button—it’s an awful lot of technology and expense for what it is.

With that said, I think this is a pretty neat add and gives someone more incentive to actually take advantage of it. Kind of a win-win.

This Sidecar business has me interested in an iPad again actually.
 
CLS727 said:
Nice.... but sucks for the Duet Display people..... talk about getting your business gutted....
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They have been terrible at updating the app for newer iPads, so I don’t feel sorry for them. I am really looking forward to the apple implementation even though I already own Duet.
 
CLS727 said:
Nice.... but sucks for the Duet Display people..... talk about getting your business gutted....
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True..but if Duet Display works on macs older than 2015, they still have some of the market share. I think if I remember correctly it does work with my 2013 MacBook Air the last time I tired (some time ago).
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cult hero said:
The TouchBar has been pretty meh. I’ve had it since the 2016 and while I think it’s more useful the function keys it replaced—I really like volume and brightness sliders in particular, as well as a dedicated lock button—it’s an awful lot of technology and expense for what it is.

With that said, I think this is a pretty neat add and gives someone more incentive to actually take advantage of it. Kind of a win-win.

This Sidecar business has me interested in an iPad again actually.
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I personally like the idea of the touch bar on the MacBook pro, but currently VERY limited. If they would introduce more functions (especially in Logic Pro X and FCPX) with customizations (make your own short cut key) it would make it a good asset.
 
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Hang on so the underpowered 2015 Retina MacBook 12inch is supported but not a 2014 MacBook Pro? This has got to be an arbitrary limit...
 
CLS727 said:
Nice.... but sucks for the Duet Display people..... talk about getting your business gutted....
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I don’t know about that. 12” isn’t really a dual display solution. I view this as more of a 3rd display and device for signing documents.

Edit: nm, I thought “duet” was a typo for “duel”. Duet display is an actual product.
 
I think this was the best keynote in years. I’m kind of disappointed that iOS didn’t get a major redesign (apart from dark mode) but other than that it was everything I have been waiting for.

And by the way, I don’t feel like the macs are that overpriced anymore. I bought a MacBook Air on Memorial Day weekend from bestbuy for $950 and I think that it is more than worth the price. I will easily keep it 3-4 years so that’s lesss than $300 per year...
 
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I am looking forward to having easier remote access to my 2018 Mac mini from my iPad Pro. I don't normally mess with the betas, but might have to use the public beta once it's available.
 
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The Sidecar app is compatible with 2015 MacBook, MacBook Air, and MacBook Pro and later, 2015 iMac and later, 2014 Mac mini or later, and 2013 Mac Pro or later.
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Are you kidding me? I hardly think my 2014 MacBook Pro would have any trouble running this considering other devices on the supported list are quite a bit less powerful. This was the feature I was most excited about :'(
 
Where does it say it is compatible with the 2015 MacBook?

Other people peeking at the code say a 2016 MacBook is required, likely for hardware HEVC encoding support.
 
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mariusignorello said:
Is there a way to enable it on older Macs like they do with Handoff?
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I saw a thread where someone got it working on an older, officially unsupported MacBook Pro with some modifications, but it ran very sloppy, it had some visual artifacts and so on. So the answer is: yes, you can very likely get it to work on older Macs, but it won't run very well.

Apple didn't choose the hardware requirements without reason; I saw some speculation elsewhere that Sidecar requires CPUs with HEVC hardware encoding to run as smooth as it does, and they probably just figured that on older Macs without that, it wouldn't be a worthwhile experience anymore, hence the relatively small list of supported devices. If you don't mind these downsides, then you can run it on older hardware aswell, but older Macs just don't have the capabilities to run this feature as smoothly as current ones.
 
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Mizouse said:
Ugh really? Won’t work with my 2012 2.3ghz 4C i7 Mac Mini but it’ll work with a 2014 Mac mini? :mad::mad:
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Only Mac mini Late 2018 is supported. The article has it mixed up.
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EugW said:
Where does it say it is compatible with the 2015 MacBook?

Other people peeking at the code say a 2016 MacBook is required, likely for hardware HEVC encoding support.
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MacBook Pro Mid 2015 and older are not supported.
 
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.max said:
MacBook Pro Mid 2015 and older are not supported.
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I was talking about the MacBook.

Anyhow, the reason I ask the question is because of the MacRumors article.

The Sidecar app is compatible with 2015 MacBook, MacBook Air, and MacBook Pro and later, 2015 iMac and later, 2014 Mac mini or later, and 2013 Mac Pro or later.
 
Mizouse said:
Ugh really? Won’t work with my 2012 2.3ghz 4C i7 Mac Mini but it’ll work with a 2014 Mac mini? :mad::mad:
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I wonder if someone will come up with a hack to trick the system into enabling it. Granted, that would mean it's not a hardware based feature ours don't have
 
Here is my question, I posted it elsewhere but haven't had a direct response yet...

Do I need a primary display to use SideCar? In other words, can a peripheral-less mac mini use an iPad as its ONLY display using SideCar?

Currently I have two 2010 computers, a mini and a MBP, I'm thinking my new setup will be a new mac mini and a SideCar compatible iPad. Currently I ONLY access the mini through my MBP using screen sharing and I would ONLY want to access the new mac mini using a compatible iPad.

Any help?
 
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