iPad Pro UX/UI Ideas for running macOS on iPad

[eicca]

Yes, I'm going to die on this sword. I want macOS on iPad Pro. I always need the flexibility of macOS, but I rarely actually need the physical keyboard/trackpad. I want to be able to view documents on a big screen-only device every so often, and my wrists are sensitive to the posture of using a laptop keyboard/trackpad and I have to be reeeeally careful about carpal tunnel syndrome.

Solution? Give us the option to run macOS on iPad. The option to do so can only make the device BETTER! I would buy it in a heartbeat.

For the concerns about the UI transitioning to touch, I think it would be extremely easy for Apple to pull off. I've been poking at the screen of my M1 MacBook Air. I'm running it in "More Space" resolution scaling and I still think it's completely feasible. Here's what I've come up with:

-The stoplight buttons are the smallest element, so for touch UI, change them to just two: close and fullscreen. The Minimize function is already something we know. Just swipe up from the dock.
-Right click: touch and hold
-Scrolling: make it two-finger on screen so it doesn't interfere with click and drag
-Click and drag: just touch and drag
-Cursor hover? Haven't figured that out yet. But it's not something I would be torn up about sacrificing

All the other trackpad gestures like LaunchPad, Mission Control, switching Spaces, already there.

There are small things like the tight spacing of Mute and Close on browser tabs, but those are small and can be easily solved.

All in all, the optional ability to run macOS on iPad Pro would be an instant sell for me (and I'm sure many others). I'm honestly surprised nobody has jailbroken an M1 iPad yet to try it out.

 

[FeliApple]

This has been discussed a million times. Like I said previously: the iPad is the best tablet ever. If you want a Mac, buy a Mac. I’m grateful every day that Apple chooses not to destroy the iPad platform by giving it MacOS.

 

[eicca]

This has been discussed a million times. Like I said previously: the iPad is the best tablet ever. If you want a Mac, buy a Mac. I’m grateful every day that Apple chooses not to destroy the iPad platform by giving it MacOS.

And I will forever refute you with this: GIVE US THE OPTION. macOS will not destroy the iPad, it'll only make it infinitely more flexible and finally give me the device that fits my needs 100%.

If you want to keep your glorified iPhoneOS slab, you absolutely can.

As the iPad is currently, it's not the best tablet ever. It's completely useless to me and lots of other people and I really don't want to have to buy a Surface. But I might.

 

[FeliApple]

And I will forever refute you with this: GIVE US THE OPTION. macOS will not destroy the iPad, it'll only make it infinitely more flexible and finally give me the device that fits my needs 100%.

If you want to keep your glorified iPhoneOS slab, you absolutely can.

As the iPad is currently, it's not the best tablet ever. It's completely useless to me and lots of other people and I really don't want to have to buy a Surface. But I might.

If the surface meets your needs, go ahead! I disagree on it not being the best tablet ever.
Knowing Apple, they won’t give the choice. Apple has never given choice. If they’ll shoehorn MacOS in order to please a very small subset of users, they’ve lost their way. Again, a Mac is there to be bought. Or a Surface, like you said.

If it is completely useless, then you can choose to buy something else. Don’t obliterate a platform when you can just buy something else that fits your needs. You don’t have to buy an iPad.

 

[eicca]

If the surface meets your needs, go ahead!
Knowing Apple, they won’t give the choice. Apple has never given choice. If they’ll shoehorn MacOS in order to please a very small subset of users, they’ve lost their way. Again, a Mac is there to be bought. Or a Surface, like you said.

Other than the fact that the Surface runs Windows, a desktop OS on a touchscreen keyboard-less device is an incredibly versatile device.

The thing you're completely missing is that adding functionality in no way makes a device worse. That's basic product development principles.

There is no good objective argument for not putting macOS on iPad. Not one.

 

[Ctrlos]

The iPad is Apple's $300 and $600 computing platform and at these prices ranges iPad OS suits the respective customers. The iPad Pro makes a nice portable if you have a desktop but is ultimately poor value compared to an M1 Macbook.

My point being that MacOS will never come to the iPad because the level of customer Apple is targeting is quite happy to have a centralised, controlled experience if it saves them a headache.

You said you wanted to view documents on a big-screen device. In what way does iPadOS limit your options?

 

[sracer]

..

 

[eicca]

You said you wanted to view documents on a big-screen device. In what way does iPadOS limit your options?

By costing more than the MacBook Air I bought. I ain’t paying $1000 for a device to read PDFs or Pages files on a music stand that isn’t even cable of running two audio files or YouTube videos simultaneously. All I need is a 12” screen and the multitasking ability of a decrepit old Intel MacBook and iPadOS can’t even match that.

I walk around my campus and people are using their Windows foldable computers in tablet style all over the place. I see MacBooks more than iPads these days. At this point Apple is willingly ignoring a huge opportunity to obliterate the pro-grade tablet market. Anyone who’s used Luna Display to control a Mac from an iPad is keenly aware of the potential.

 

[Digitalguy]

I have no use for a couch device, but I still use iPads for many things (especially the 12.9" pro). Would I want MacOS on it? Yes, but only if it's an option (dual boot or virtualized) and not a replacement for iPadOS (but that's highly unlikely to happen, at least in the next couple of years)
I generally prefer Windows to MacOS, contrary to most people on this forums, but while I have had and still have several Surface devices, my iPad pros get more tablet use (again no couch use, not a use case for me), mainly because I can't stand Intel on a tablet (hot and short battery life, sometime with fan noise) and Windows on Arm is not a great option either as a main OS.
I do however remote from my iPads into Macs and Windows PCs. And I also use second screen apps like Luna, Duet Pro and Spacedesk.
Would an iPad pro with MacOS kill Surface devices? Not at all. Why spend double to get an iPad with 16GB RAM and run Parallels on it (because most Surface users want Windows, not MacOS). Apple wouldn't steal many Windows customers with MacOS on iPad, most buyers would be MacBook users.

 

[jdb8167]

Solution? Give us the option to run macOS on iPad. The option to do so can only make the device BETTER! I would buy it in a heartbeat.

As long as the iPad has an M1 or M2 the solution is just waiting for Apple. That is a virtualized macOS environment like Apple supports on macOS (Monterey and Ventura). As you said, if you've ever used Luna display (or some other remote app to macOS), you can see the potential. The virtualized environment would be optional (downloaded from the App Store?) just like the macOS VM is currently optional on macOS. If you don't want it on your iPad, you'll never have to deal with it. From a technical view, Apple already has nearly all of the tools in place. In the latest iPadOS they've added virtual memory swap which would be needed. The only other thing that would prevent macOS from acting like macOS in a virtual machine for iPadOS is that iPadOS is too quick to shutdown background multi-tasking. Apple would need to make an exception for a virtualized macOS environment to allow essentially unlimited background multitasking just like on the real macOS.

All in all, the optional ability to run macOS on iPad Pro would be an instant sell for me (and I'm sure many others). I'm honestly surprised nobody has jailbroken an M1 iPad yet to try it out.

A jailbreak wouldn't be enough. To boot macOS, you would need to unlock the iPad boot loader which is much harder than a simple jailbreak. A jailbreak also probably wouldn't allow for a virtualized environment since it has been reported that Apple disables M1/M2 virtualization hardware on boot. So again, you would need to unlock the boot loader to make that change.