Testing Stage Manager on a 2018 iPad Pro With the New iPadOS 16.1 Beta

[hoodafoo]

I don't get it, isn't the m1 chip just the next iteration of the ax chips?

 

[eicca]

Why do you keep pushing the "2006 idea" thing? To do certain things on a desktop OS, you need the circuitry to be built into the SoC to support basic functions that don't exist in A-series chips. It doesn't matter if an idea was introduced in 1806. If it isn't present, it can't be used. What it seems like Apple did was to figure out a workaround for the circuitry that wasn't present on the A-series.

I don't know exactly what they needed, but it probably has to do with virtual memory because the A-series never had to do it before, so no circuitry was added to them to do it. If the controllers are present, it's easy to implement. If they aren't, you have to figure out some other way to do it. I'll give you an example. Encoding H.264 is a pretty basic thing these days. Any SoC can do it, but it might take a long time. Throw in a hardware decoder and it takes a tiny fraction of the time it takes to do it with the non-optimized SoC. Note Apple never said it couldn't be done under any circumstance. They said it didn't run acceptably. They say they figured out a way to make it run less crappy than they had it earlier. Make sense to you now?

You're saying Apple had very specific hardware in 2006 to do a different version of the same UI stuff they've been doing for years. Somehow StageManager/Shrinkydink needed a different set of hardware than Expose, Mission Control, App Switcher, etc? Not a chance. It's moving windows around. The same stuff they've been doing for eternity. There's no way an ancient desktop chip has something magical for moving windows that Apple's A chips don't.

 

[q64ceo]

Apple isn't going to cannibalize their Mac sales putting macOS on the iPad. That's not going to happen.

But that doesn't mean that they cannot borrow macOS concepts into iOS/iPadOS.

There is no reason to reinvent the wheel. Have proper window management like the Mac has.

 

[tweaknmod]

Had I been given the choice between stage manager support, and external monitor support, I’d have chosen the latter.

I don’t think I’m alone in that, but neither do I think apple has missed that sentiment among the 2018 iPad crowd…

 

[Shirasaki]

So apple finally cave in, this time.
The reviewer in the video conveniently forgot about one thing though: stage manager no longer support slide over mode for full screen only apps. And I don’t see apple bringing that back. That’s a big loss for certain applications.

 

[darngooddesign]

The real test is a 2018 11” with 4GB of RAM running multiple resource intensive apps like Lightroom and LumaFusion, not a 13” with 6GB RAM and lightweight apps like calendar.

Lets see Dan test it with a photo and video editing workflow. Bet you see stuttering switching in and out of big apps with large Ram-consuming projects.

 

[WoodTableFromIkea]

Stage Manager is 2006 technology. It'll run on anything if they allow it. But, gotta sell new iPads.

Second opinion: If an ancient Intel processor can multitask better than every iPad currently on the market, that pretty much guarantees that Stage Manager "limitations" are just product-pushing tactics.

MacOS Ventura’s best feature is 16 years in the making

Apple introduced Stage Manager with MacOS Ventura, but it seems the feature may not be as new as we thought -- it's been in the works for 16 years.

www.digitaltrends.com

And why is that a problem?

Apple is in the money making business, not the "let's-give-the-whiners-what-they-want-business".

 

[klasma]

Since resizing is limited to a small number of specific window sizes, where the available options also depend on the particular app, it would be helpful to overlay the possible sizes (rectangles) once you start the resizing action. Otherwise you start resizing and can't tell what sizes are even possible to resize to for the particular app, it's a trial-and-error operation.

 

[Mr. Dee]

Stage Manager is 2006 technology. It'll run on anything if they allow it. But, gotta sell new iPads.

Second opinion: If an ancient Intel processor can multitask better than every iPad currently on the market, that pretty much guarantees that Stage Manager "limitations" are just product-pushing tactics.

MacOS Ventura’s best feature is 16 years in the making

Apple introduced Stage Manager with MacOS Ventura, but it seems the feature may not be as new as we thought -- it's been in the works for 16 years.

www.digitaltrends.com

More than 2006. Multiple monitor support has been in Windows since Windows 98. Albeit, with appropriate graphics card and drivers. But the fact that functionality like this has been mainstream since 2001, its a shame Apple is doing this. Even their older and ancient PowerBooks could do this. There is absolutely no reason to limit this to M1 iPads. Too bad I don't demand much from my 2017 iPad Pro to really be up in arms over this. But I certainly will be waiting until it no longer is supported before purchasing a new one.

 

[Love-hate 🍏 relationship]

I think what people really wanted was the external monitor support (or at least a way to get rid of the black bars while mirroring their iPad).

I am the people and can confirm

 

[Love-hate 🍏 relationship]

Yeah, that was not well stated in the article.



That sounds like non-M1 iPads lose external display support, with or without Stage Manager, which didn't make any sense at all.

The M1 have more bandwidth for higher res I think?

 

[darngooddesign]

More than 2006. Multiple monitor support has been in Windows since Windows 98. Albeit, with appropriate graphics card and drivers. But the fact that functionality like this has been mainstream since 2001, its a shame Apple is doing this. Even their older and ancient PowerBooks could do this. There is absolutely no reason to limit this to M1 iPads. Too bad I don't demand much from my 2017 iPad Pro to really be up in arms over this. But I certainly will be waiting until it no longer is supported before purchasing a new one.

i guess the M1 has the proper graphic card.

 

[AUGUSTU5]

For me, 2018 iPad Pro 12 inch, it‘s working great! Really awesome that they implemented this feature after all that negative headlines.

 

[Born Again]

Good news for those of us rocking the 2018 iPad Pro, one of the most enduring products Apple has ever released!

Bad news for the cynics who think Apple artificially limits software features just to drive sales.

Well weren’t they and now they backtracked?

I have an iPad Pro 2018 and it’s been a beast. Waiting for iPad Pro 2028 before I update.

 

[GuruZac]

I could see running in to some problems on the 2018 with 4 demanding apps since the 4GB of RAM will probably come in to play and the resolution to render. Super cool they brought this to the A12X/Z iPad Pros.

 

[SeenJeen]

Is Stage Manager actually useful? I occasionally use split screen on my iPad.

 

[Channan]

Good news for those of us rocking the 2018 iPad Pro, one of the most enduring products Apple has ever released!

Bad news for the cynics who think Apple artificially limits software features just to drive sales.

I was seriously considering upgrading to whatever new iPad comes out next because of this. No longer! I will hold off for at least another year. I love my 2018 Pro and don’t feel at all like it’s sluggish and needs a bit more power. It is hands down my favorite iPad.

 

[jonnyb098]

Good news for those of us rocking the 2018 iPad Pro, one of the most enduring products Apple has ever released!

Bad news for the cynics who think Apple artificially limits software features just to drive sales.

Except they do and their rhetoric doesnt line up with todays announcemen…..proving their talking points are BS in many instances.

 

[jonnyb098]

Guys, How about actual “reviews” of how is it working as a beta for now?.

Terrible according to devs on twitter.

 

[FasterQuieter]

The whole thing looks like a clunky constraining mess to me. I was and am happy with an iPad + Mac life. If one day I can have one tiny slab that can be both, I suppose that would be cool.

 

[Shirasaki]

I tests the latest stage manager and here’s a short clip.

Two games running simultaneously, while team throwing in the background. I can switch to either games with a single tap, and both does their own thing just fine.

Seeing this let me believe why Apple initially didn’t want anything less than M1 to run stage manager. I don’t think even macOS or Linux can do this (maintaining active status of multiple windows). And external monitor support being limited to M1 and newer only now makes a bit more sense.

Yes, it is still buggy, but it works.

 

[Mainsail]

I have an iPad Air 4 and as of now, it won’t get Stage Manager, which is a bit puzzling since it has an A14 processor. That said; I doubt SM would be very useful on screens smaller than the 12.9 in.

While certain types of external display support only work on M1 iPads, mirroring should still work. With a 22inch external monitor in mirroring mode, it might be kind of cool to use SM on my iPad Air 4 plus an external KB and BT Mouse.

I also have a 2020 i3 MBA. So while it would be fun to play around with SM on a mirrored external monitor, the whole exercise would be kind of pointless in my case.

 

[Royksöpp]

There was no reason it couldn't run on the A12X and A12Z. The 12Z was the chip developers used to create the first Apple Silicon apps. It's not all that different from the M1.

 

[840quadra]

Sorry but I don’t understand needing an M1 to be able to run a discrete 2nd display.

If Apple is worried about performance, maybe limit external monitor resolution to 1080p, or 2k on non M1 iPads.

Typed on 2002 quicksilver G4 with dual 1080p monitors, using an ancient AGP video card.

 

[ian87w]

So they lied.
Where are all the Apple defenders now?

Craig, how do you feel now after spending that much time making up the lies so Tim can upsell people to buy new ipads?