iPad Pro 2022 is Now the Year of the Pro, so are you Now Considering an M1 iPad Pro?

[Dealmans]

The preview of iPadOS 16 has convinced me to sell my 2021 12" IPP and move on to an MBA or MBP.

lol, I sold mine 4 weeks ago have a 14" 16/1Tb arriving this week

 

[rui no onna]

As much as I love the iPad, I don't see much reason for desktop developers to invest in creating and maintaining touch first apps for it outside the creating workflow (30% cut, unwillingness of most iPad users to spend desktop money + other reasons).
Just taking the software I need to work as an example:
- Full Office: Microsoft will never make full office for mobile, they want their PCs/Surface to have an edge... (no pun intended...)
- Desktop Whatsapp (what I and tons of professional outside the US use to manage clients): Facebook hates Apple and will never make an iPad version
- Full Chrome with chromium extensions: not happening, not even on Android, let alone on iPad (that is desktop and ChromeOS exclusive)
- Desktop Dropbox/Onedrive (background sync): not happening, Dropbox does not even make it for Windows on Arm... and Onedrive, see Office above
- Windows only software (I have a couple that my client use and I need to use too): not happening even for Mac, but at least in Macs they work (well) via Parallels and if MacOS is not coming, Windows on Arm is even less likely

Now that there’s swap on the iPad though, that’s one step closer for Mac App Store apps to run as-is on M-series chipset iPads (providing there’s keyboard and mouse attached).

 

[Digitalguy]

Now that there’s swap on the iPad though, that’s one step closer for Mac App Store apps to run as-is on M-series chipset iPads (providing there’s keyboard and mouse attached).

Run as is would mean Apple should tweak the OS to make them run on iPadOS despite the (very) different environment. Also, IMO there is zero chances that Apple would allow Mac Apps outside of store apps (that is without the 30% cut) on iPad.

 

[rui no onna]

Run as is would mean Apple should tweak the OS to make them run on iPadOS despite the (very) different environment. Also, IMO there is zero chances that Apple would allow Mac Apps outside of store apps (that is without the 30% cut) on iPad.

Different environment yes but getting a wee bit closer.

And yeah, they’re definitely not going to make it free for all (unless mandated by regulatory bodies). Hence, I mentioned Mac App Store specifically in my post.

 

[dumastudetto]

Apple should hold a mock funeral for the Mac.

iPad Pro is about to explode all over the market.

 

[DrCC]

iPadOS is a joke of an OS compared to macOS when a keyboard and touchpad are attached.
For touch operation iPadOS is great, but with a keyboard, Apple just dual boot macOS / iPadOS on the iPad and the iPad will become a revolutionary device. Tablet > iPadOS. Desktop > macOS.
This craze to make iPadOS desktop friendly is just stupid when macOS already does that and it could easily run on the M1 iPads.

 

[rui no onna]

Apple should hold a mock funeral for the Mac.

iPad Pro is about to explode all over the market.

I don’t think so. I think iOS devices (iPhone mainly) are actually helping pave the way for greater Mac adoption.

Much like we have all sorts of vehicles, there’s room for smartphone, tablet, laptop and desktop (unless something truly revolutionary replaces them).

 

[dumastudetto]

iPadOS is a joke of an OS compared to macOS when a keyboard and touchpad are attached.
For touch operation iPadOS is great, but with a keyboard, Apple just dual boot macOS / iPadOS on the iPad and the iPad will become a revolutionary device. Tablet > iPadOS. Desktop > macOS.
This craze to make iPadOS desktop friendly is just stupid when macOS already does that and it could easily run on the M1 iPads.

Yeah but we don't want macOS running on an iPad. We want iPadOS. iPadOS is modern, secure, performant and delightful to use.

Using macOS is much like using a typewriter to write a novel today.

 

[DrCC]

As a tablet, I don't want macOS on it either. But when I dock it in desktop mode, macOS is far far more productive than iPadOS. On the software side this can be done either by dual booting or by having the iPadOS UI running on top of macOS when in tablet mode. After all, macOS, iOS and iPadOS are all the same OS with a different UI and optimizations under the hood.

I use both and I tried to like the iPad Pro as a desktop machine, but I can't. It can be a desktop replacement only for light users; for anything other than Word, PDF, Mail, etc, I have to use macOS.

I would easily pay the price of an iPadPro 12.9" and MacBook combined if Apple would give me a device that can run as a tablet and as a laptop combined. Exactly what Microsoft is doing with Surface, but with Apple software.

 

[Pakaku]

Yeah but we don't want macOS running on an iPad. We want iPadOS. iPadOS is modern, secure, performant and delightful to use.

Using macOS is much like using a typewriter to write a novel today.

What's the difference? All I see is a built-in keyboard vs. a touchscreen, and being able to do different or more things like actually write iPad apps on a Mac or tinker with the OS backend, or draw with an iPad. I'd like iPads to be more pro/power-user focused, but they just aren't, so they're not a replacement that makes Macs outdated. At least not at this moment.

I guess if the typewriter comparison was meant to be literal, then you're spot-on, I love my "typewriter" keyboard

 

[bcortens]

iPadOS is a joke of an OS compared to macOS when a keyboard and touchpad are attached.
For touch operation iPadOS is great, but with a keyboard, Apple just dual boot macOS / iPadOS on the iPad and the iPad will become a revolutionary device. Tablet > iPadOS. Desktop > macOS.
This craze to make iPadOS desktop friendly is just stupid when macOS already does that and it could easily run on the M1 iPads.

Strong disagree. iPadOS with the mouse and keyboard is really good, in the multitasking view it is very easy to quickly create a Split View and pull apps out of a Split View using just the keyboard and mouse. They should add a few keyboard shortcuts to quickly let you adjust the type of Split View and to quickly create and add an app to a Split View. Otherwise the iPad is fantastic with a keyboard and mouse. The iPad should remain true to itself as the most flexible system apple builds, it should also keep its unique Split View windowing system and I wish they had left the floating windows on macOS where they belong.

 

[JahBoolean]

Using macOS is much like using a typewriter to write a novel today.

Would you kindly elaborate on your specific computing needs, to enlighten us about the expertise warranting those sweeping statements ?

 

[bcortens]

As a tablet, I don't want macOS on it either. But when I dock it in desktop mode, macOS is far far more productive than iPadOS. On the software side this can be done either by dual booting or by having the iPadOS UI running on top of macOS when in tablet mode. After all, macOS, iOS and iPadOS are all the same OS with a different UI and optimizations under the hood.

I use both and I tried to like the iPad Pro as a desktop machine, but I can't. It can be a desktop replacement only for light users; for anything other than Word, PDF, Mail, etc, I have to use macOS.

I would easily pay the price of an iPadPro 12.9" and MacBook combined if Apple would give me a device that can run as a tablet and as a laptop combined. Exactly what Microsoft is doing with Surface, but with Apple software.

Please no, this vision where somehow the transformation of docking your device will suddenly be a good user experience is a fantasy that no one has solved (Stage Manager doesn’t solve it). If you think waiting years for developers to support al the existing iPad features is a chore imagine the wait for supporting this transforming system …

It can be a desktop replacement for more than just those things, it is all about your workflow, and many people can use and love to use iPads. This fanatic desire to see iPadOS become macOS when docked likely appeals to such a tiny minority of users (that hang out in Internet forums) that if they actually did it the rest of us who use our iPads for hours every day would be very annoyed at this docking undocking behaviour.

Stick with the mac, if you don’t actually need a touchscreen don’t buy a touchscreen based system, If all you want from your iPad in iPad mode is a glorified reader buy the cheapest iPad and let the rest of us have a nice powerful iPadOS that stays true to the touch-first paradigm which is absolutely delightful to use.

 

[bcortens]

What's the difference? A built-in keyboard vs. a touchscreen, and being able to do more things like actually write iPad apps on a Mac or tinker with the OS backend. I'd like iPads to be more pro/power-user focused, but they just aren't.

I guess if the typewriter comparison was meant to be literal, then you're spot-on, I love my "typewriter" keyboard

The iPad (prior to iOS 16) had a much better windowing system (though it isn’t as discoverable as I’d like) and the touch first drag and drop flow is amazing. Apps that don’t adopt the latest iPadOS features are the main problem these days as most of the rest of the OS is getting really good. Are there necessary improvements needed? Of course, but the big thing I don’t want is iPadOS to try and turn into macOS.

 

[Digitalguy]

Different environment yes but getting a wee bit closer.

And yeah, they’re definitely not going to make it free for all (unless mandated by regulatory bodies). Hence, I mentioned Mac App Store specifically in my post.

Sorry I missed that! My bad. Yeah I can see some Mac App store coming at some point if the developers optimise them for the iPad, but honestly it's not like the Mac App store is a very rich platform

 

[pdoherty]

I don’t know if we get it this year, because I’m just thinking, we still have iPhone, Watch Series 8, iMac, maybe Mac Pro and AirPods all could be coming too within the last 3 months of the year. Would they give M2 to iPad Pro before iMac? Idk

They used to put the best processor in the *phone*. I don't see why the tablet can't be first.

 

[LogicalApex]

No, the minimum is probably no more than 128GB otherwise they would have mentioned that 128GB M1 is excluded (64GB air 4 is excluded, but they didn't even mentioned the 64GB M1 air). Other than that, we don't know anything about how swap will work, some say it will be 16GB so 16GB RAM will get up to 32GB. Truth is it's all speculation at this point

It is very vague at the moment exactly what the limit is... Hence why my paragraph you quoted was full of questions... We won't have answers until this is fully fleshed out...

Either way, my point was simply that swap will require physical storage space which is more cramped on devices with little on board...

I wouldn't be surprised if Apple softens the storage demands by capping swap at 1xRAM or so... But we'll see where it ends up.

 

[PrettyWings]

I wouldn't recommend buying a 2021 iPad Pro based on the iPadOS 16 announcement.

I have one so I'm excited that Apple has finally started to move the platform in the right direction. This is along the lines of what I expected them to do last year, but the software must have just not been ready yet. With the next release due soon I'd wait for that to see what they add to it and to allow these features to actually start being adopted by developers and others to show how they bear fruit in practice. I am of the opinion that we're seeing the start of a multiyear effort to bring the iPad Pro and MacOS more in line with each other and this is the first major bearing of fruit on that tree.

So I expect we'll see this start to really shine in iPadOS 17 and 18 where we will likely get a much richer "desktop" mode and apps to take advantage of it all.

It will also be interesting to see if Apple shifts around the storage composition of the iPad Pro at all. Virtual Swap requires a minimum of 256GB of onboard storage... It will also be interesting to see how well that all balances out as well. For instance, do all apps now have access to 16GB of memory with allowances for up to 8 apps does that mean you'll have a maximum memory usage by apps at 128GB (16x8 ... 112GB on SSD storage)? Does this 16GB limit with Virtual Swap now mean that M1 iPad models with less than 16GB of RAM on board will allow all apps access to 16GB of RAM with the limitation being the performance penalty of swapping? Will apps still need special entitlements for using this much RAM on the device? etc etc.

They really changed the tone. Turns out a lot of Pros were unsatisfied and Apple did something. Now the real questions are not what will we get for WWDC next year but what will the Pros get and what will everybody else get?

I do believe that we are starting to see the way paved to get Mac apps on our M Pro devices.

 

[UltimateSyn]

I find it interesting that ALL of the marketing images for the iPadOS 16 are on a 12.9" iPad Pro. I wonder if that holds any significance for the iPad Pro 11" given how close it is the Air.

I was planning to get an M2 11" iPad Pro and sell my iPad Pro 12.9" M1 - but now I'm wondering if I should deal with it.

It doesn't say anything about the 11" Pro, the vast majority of iPad-related marketing shots have always been on the 12.9". They love to push that flagship iPad, and the images look awesome because it has the most screen real estate.

 

[Digitalguy]

It is very vague at the moment exactly what the limit is... Hence why my paragraph you quoted was full of questions... We won't have answers until this is fully fleshed out...

Either way, my point was simply that swap will require physical storage space which is more cramped on devices with little on board...

I wouldn't be surprised if Apple softens the storage demands by capping swap at 1xRAM or so... But we'll see where it ends up.

that's what Samsung does, allows you to use up to 1XRAM (so 8 on 8GB device etc.), but also less or nothing if you choose

 

[R!TTER]

This isn't just a Samsung thing, pretty much all major Android device makers now allow virtual/expandable memory from 2-16GB depending on base RAM & storage on the device. I'd be at least slightly surprised if Apple doesn't allow some amount of flexibility like the others over in Android space.

 

[AlumaMac]

lol, I sold mine 4 weeks ago have a 14" 16/1Tb arriving this week

If you don’t mind how much of loss did you take on the iPP? Seems resale values are rather low for iPads.

 

[Dealmans]

If you don’t mind how much of loss did you take on the iPP? Seems resale values are rather low for iPads.

yeah I know, was only really $200AUD for the year I had it. I did get it $200 cheaper via work so I guess $400 less than new price.

 

[Apple_Robert]

Not yet. My 2020 11" iPad Pro is working just fine.

 

[zakarhino]

M1 won't make my media apps run faster so no. Nothing in this year's OS upgrade makes me think I want to use an iPad for any work outside of occasional note taking or video calls.

I would potentially consider an upgrade if the mini-LED screen tech gets better. I love the mini-LED system on my MacBook Pro and want the next generation of that tech on my iPad.