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Apple just needs to release iOS pro or PadOS. That has more possibilities like 4-way splitscreen multitasking, splitscreen in portrait mode, multi account by Touch ID , simpele Finder /file management . Perhaps 3D touch for some more actions.
 

Well then, perhaps he wouldn't roll in his grave;) . All I'm saying is Mac sales continue to grow.. a lot of professionals, institutions and enterprises depend on them.. and it's going to be quite some time before I can do everything I do with the software on my Mac on an iPad.

I get confused about what era we're in with tech. First everything mobile gets smaller, then it gets bigger again..and now we have 13" iPads that are pretty much laptops.
 
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Well then, perhaps he wouldn't roll in his grave;) . All I'm saying is Mac sales continue to grow.. a lot of professionals, institutions and enterprises depend on them.. and it's going to be quite some time before I can do everything I do with the software on my Mac on an iPad.

I get confused about what era we're in with tech. First everything mobile gets smaller, then it gets bigger again..and now we have 13" iPads that are pretty much laptops.

I get confused too. PCs are now laptops for the most part. iPad Pro with keyboard is a horrible joke of a laptop replacement since it is so unstable propped up and having to poke at the screen. Do people really buy that this is the future?

As far as corporate environments go, Apple didn't seem all that interested in them but Macs seem to be making some inroads as of late. So what happens if Macs go away? A lot of work in the enterprise gets done via Citrix / VDI. A post PC type device can be leveraged here with relative ease. For basic productivity, I think we're mostly beyond the need for a full blown PC.

The next few years will be interesting.
 
I don't get the point of an iPad replacing a laptop or desktop when to use the iPad in an efficient manner for work you need to add a keyboard at the very least.

So how does that replace a PC?

For the same price of an iPad Pro you can have a laptop with full OS plus multiple windows open, BootCamp and ports. What about the VMs we can run on a X86 computer.

How does an iPad compete with that?

You see, many people don't need or want the hassle that comes with a computer OS.

The iPad competes with touch based applications, better security, better portability and ease of use.

90% plus of people do not need a computer for home use. They do email, Facebook, online banking, video chat, media consumption and maybe some light editing to upload content to social media.

If you need VMs and multiple windows open and bootcamp you are more of a power user than the vast majority of people who just want something for the tasks listed above and not the target audience.
 
You see, many people don't need or want the hassle that comes with a computer OS.

The iPad competes with touch based applications, better security, better portability and ease of use.

90% plus of people do not need a computer for home use. They do email, Facebook, online banking, video chat, media consumption and maybe some light editing to upload content to social media.

If you need VMs and multiple windows open and bootcamp you are more of a power user than the vast majority of people who just want something for the tasks listed above and not the target audience.

Sounds like all those folks should be using Chromebooks.
 
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If you need VMs and multiple windows open and bootcamp you are more of a power user than the vast majority of people who just want something for the tasks listed above and not the target audience.

True......I am. I do have an iPad for consumption. My wife uses it. I hardly ever look at it because I can do the same thing on my iPhone. Only time I use it is to upgrade the software for her.
 
This is exactly the point. To prove those arm chips are as power fully as an I5 they must use the same OS with multiple windows open. Need the full line up of benchmarks on the same OS. At that point I may believe Apple that their chip is as good as an I5.

Indeed and makes me laugh as we don't get true comparisons.

For some reason People seem to feel like Arm simply does not face the same barriers that Intel and AMD face, and it will be simple to just produce an arm chip, at low power, to simply fly by what Intel and AMD can do.

Al I can say is, Excellent, Great. Bring it on. I'd love it.

Please Apple, make some ARM chips that blast past the best Intel can do and I'll be there, all the way, eager and waiting for it.
 
Yup.

Intel is running into the laws of physics. And the things which made intel processors crap back in the 80s are now such a tiny part of the die as to be irrelevant.
 
Basically agree with everything you said.

-however, many, myself included, have revelled at the prospect of using a tablet that can use all my ipad apps, which then can run full osx if a keyboard is added.

What you want is the ideal world. Basically, it's the ability to run iOS apps in OS X. In other words, to make iOS more productive and more like OS X. Heck, I want that too. Sadly, when I hear convergence, all I can think of is OS X becoming more like iOS.

Not really, it would not benefit apple, if a hybrid device replaces both the mbp and an ipad; this is what apple are afraid of. It is pure greed.

You are referring to the hardware aspects of it. Apple is definitely very aware of cannibalisation. Besides, their ethos has always been for people to buy every single Apple product without redundancy. You are encouraged to buy everything, not to pick and choose what suits your lifestyle.

However, I was thinking from the software side. Ideally, Apple would like to have total control of our desktop environment, and make it more closed off, just like iOS, and they (along with Google and the rest of the "Cloud" gang) are weening us off the file system. They want to take ownership of data and have data (not files) stored on their servers. Moreover, they want us to only buy from their app stores, which allows them full control of what apps are available, and to get a cut of every purchase. For some reason, we have accepted this model in mobile phones, and now, they want to extend this paradigm to desktops. Imagine the uproar this would have caused just 10 years ago - now it's being accepted.

That's why I don't want convergence. Your version of convergence is what everyone wants. The real version of convergence will be our hell.

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I've said this many times. Why merge them, why not just allow the user to change into either osx or ios mode

I agree. Would be for the best. But it won't happen in that way. (see above and below post)

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I don't think anyone was calling for a dumbed down version of anything... Simply making osX available on the iPad with multi touch worked into the OS, like Windows has successfully done with the surface.

Oh that would be great of course! But that's not what will happen. It does not benefit Apple at all if they did that, as it would hurt hardware sales. On the other hand (see my reply above to Johnny), if convergence will occur one day, it will be to make Mac OS X into a closed off system, which is only possible by dumbing it down.

BE CAREFUL OF WHAT YOU WISH FOR.
 
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I don' t want an osx tablet. I want a iOS that is more flexible. With a gui that is optimized for a tablet, with more multitasking features/4-way split multi window instead of 2, and a simplified finder app, multi account by touchid. But I also want a keyboard cover with a trackpad, and trackpad support when the smartconnector is used.(never gonna happen though).
 
What you want is the ideal world. Basically, it's the ability to run iOS apps in OS X. In other words, to make iOS more productive and more like OS X. Heck, I want that too. Sadly, when I hear convergence, all I can think of is OS X becoming more like iOS.
This is exactly what I fear. Every time I hear that iPad Pro is a computer replacement, I worry that indeed, Mac line will see a "refresh" with A10 chips and iOS X.
 
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Can we just admit to the real reason Apple won't make a device like the iPad Pro, be able to "flip" into OSX mode when wanted by the user.

If this took place, and they made it, Almost everyone would love to have the "OPTION" of flipping into OSX mode, THE one reason why this will not happen, even if the machine has the Speed/Ram/Storage to do it.

Is that then Apple would lose sales of MacBooks to many who are going to buy an iPad Pro and a MacBook.
Not all of them, but enough of them for Apple to not want it to happen.

I can't blame them for this financial reason, but let's not fool ourselves into thinking it's for some other reason.

It's probably exactly the same as why Apple won't make the Desktop computer that millions of people/PC owners want.
A desktop Mac like a PC

It would kill iMac Sales.
 
If the A-Series keeps doubling in performance OSX will be a complete dinosaur. Users are not tied to old apps like they were before the cloud. Everything about OSX is forgettable with hardware like the iPad Pro.
 
I'm assuming you don't mean Mac Mini or Mac Pro but something inbetween?

Indeed.

It could be done in a variety of ways, some aspects would need to be upgradable.

Adding more ram is a no-brainer of course.
Adding more storage (spare drive bay / bays)
From Apple I would not expect CPU upgradability, And probable that would be too far, so let's forget that.
GPU upgrade, well that would be nice, but the problem here would be, it would need to be an Official Apple approved GPU module, which then would probably kill it price wise, Apple could charge double the cost of the normal same spec graphics card.

I suppose for a Late 2015 model of such a machine...

Fit a Skylake 6700K CPU, and Nvidia 980Ti (both fixed in for life, as it's Apple and we need to be realistic here)
Fit say a 256GB SSD, with slots to add in two more SSD's
And let's say 8GB Ram, User upgradable to 32GB. (I know some may say 8GB is low, but this is Apple)

Make that in a nice stylish desktop case and people would run to it.

Also the Games industry would suddenly sit up and take notice, and know they can start finally producing some high end top titles for the Mac knowing there is now finally going to be a big enough market.
AND of course, we could then use VR headsets on this.

Then, perhaps every 2 years? Upgrade the system with a better CPU/GPU, but it would be good for a fair few years longer than that of course.
 
Also the Games industry would suddenly sit up and take notice, and know they can start finally producing some high end top titles for the Mac knowing there is now finally going to be a big enough market.
AND of course, we could then use VR headsets on this.

You bring up an interesting point. First off, a disclaimer. I don't think VR is a revolutionary product just yet. Much like 3D movies, the smart watch, and 3D printing, we are still at the consumer experimental stage. Until we have eye tracking and virtual parallax, etc., VR is still going to be just an interesting ad-hoc experience only.

However, your point is valid. The reason why we have no problem with Apple's inferior hardware specifications is because we don't need much power. The OS as well as the apps are highly efficient, and therefore use very little processing power and battery. Yet, VR, unless it can be optimised, will need considerable power, which anything short of a Mac Pro cannot provide.

When VR does take off in 5-10 years' time, and 20% of households will have one, Apple would be left out in the cold. They should have acquired Nvidia while it was still an affordable company, or else, they will just have to abandon their high margin business model, when it comes to the GPU.
 
Thanks for the reply, but I don't thing expecting VR to be optimised, at least in any dramatic way is the viable answer.
It's like saying, we need cars to do 300mph and the answer is to optimise the engine.

Well, yes, but we just have to accept reality and a 1.0 litre engine in a car shape to carry adults isn't going to get to 300.
There comes a point where you just have to accept the engine HAS to be bigger.

Right now, we still don't have anything like the computing power for the best VR.

I believe we need something like dual 8K screens to totally get rid of screen door, and say 90 or more FPS, and that's pretty impossible with todays hardware.

A Mac pro can't even do decent VR with todays headsets.

We need, ohhh, perhaps 4x the power of current hardware.

I think VR will remain a slightly niche product for years simply due to the headsets.
It will be fun, many will buy one in time, but it's going to remain a "Let's use this for this use" item as opposed to a general use item, which is fine.
 
I don't thing expecting VR to be optimised, at least in any dramatic way is the viable answer.

Yes, I would agree with that, and that was the gist of my message (which was in turn inspired by yours).

On the other hand, who would have guessed that mobile gaming would be a thing. How can so many people just mindlessly play what I considered to be pointless games on their tiny mobile screens all day, while they are at home with their game consoles lying untouched right there in front of them. So I wonder if dumbing down the VR experience is another route that some companies would go with. As a PC gamer, I never understood how the consoles won. And now it seems even consoles aren't dumbed down enough. What's next? Playing some sort of tapping game on the smart watch?
 
tim cook said he wouldnt do it because, 'We feel strongly that customers are not really looking for a converged Mac and iPad"

http://www.modbook.com/

Apparently we are "looking for a converged Mac and iPad". Someone needs to let Cook know.

We need windows and tabs everywhere on our tablets then we can make an all in one solution that has no moving parts unlike current laptops that have a joint that bends cables back and forth. We need not only handoff but actually a truley shared OS environment. NEED! lol
 
And plenty of us don't.

Yet Apple seems adrift these days, nothing would surprise me. If they merge the two, which wouldn't surprise me, the loss of customers would hardly affect them. With obscenely high gross profits from Pads, Phones and Gadgets, Apple will do just fine.

The loss of customers?

If Apple goes from making:
Notebooks with MacOS, and mobile devices with iOS
to
The same Notebooks with MacOS, and the same mobile devices with iOS, plus a big tablet with Mac OS

You're saying people who were going to buy one of those notebooks or mobile devices wiill what, throw up their hands in disgust and never buy another Apple product again? If I'm going to buy a Tundra truck, and Toyota adds a new Supra to their fast car lineup, and it's something I don't have a need for, I conclude to not buy a tundra, and never buy another Toyota again?

I don't think customers are as ideological as you think they are.
 
When apple makes comments like "we feel consumers don't want xyz." It's clear they are not talking to consumers or getting feedback from them. Apple typically has a stance on telling the customer what they want rather than listening.

I have an iPad Pro right now, which I'm currently selling in the marketplace.

While it's nice, if I had to do it over again. I would've just purchased a Surface Book or Surface if I wanted a similar setup.
 
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