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All iPads a MacPad Pro with touch perfected MacOS and high-end GPU/CPU/RAM
- Thread starter KensaiMage
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It may take a while to get there, but with Apple using an A12Z in the new developer kit, it seems pretty clear that iPadOS and macOS are set to converge at some point. What does that mean for devices? I’m not sure yet. Right now, the iPad is very limited in the type of desktop work that can be done on it. But, depending on where Apple is heading, that could change. Which makes it hard to predict what the MacBook and iPad lineup could look like and if they both survive on the other side of the OS convergence.
I find that when working with a keyboard connected (physically or Bluetooth) to a device with a touch interface that I do not want to use touch - the reaching to the screen is just a pain. I have a 12.9 Pro with multiple keyboards and also a Dell XPS 13 QHD+ with a touch display and I just don't like a touch interface on a laptop or laptop-like device (i.e., iPad with keyboard). I use either a mouse or a separate trackpad.
That sounds like a iPad with {insert pro software you want to use} to me. I would personally want a 13 to 16 inch iPad with Capture One and the new Photoshop with feature parry with desktop. I would not want macOS on the iPad nor a keyboard.
Kind of; the bridge between iOS and macOS.
I’m just saying things may not stay this way in the long run. In a few years after the silicon transition is really kicked into high gear, I believe Apple’s thought is to keep putting more into iPadOS until it is no longer needed as its own OS. iPads could just run macOS with a touch-first UI. Or maybe they rethink their iPad and MacBook lineup and decide a new device meets both needs - which I think is what the OP is getting at.
It looks to me as if we’re talking MS surface but want none of the compromises. Hasn’t this been discussed without end? I[ads for now will remain what they are and become more powerful, Mac will remain what it is and lose more users along the way to iOS counterparts.
Any Mac tablet that wants to show how great Photoshop is as a use case is a pipe dream solely for the creator of that video.
Any Mac tablet that wants to show how great Photoshop is as a use case is a pipe dream solely for the creator of that video.
I am almost the same. I have Dell touchscreen laptop (but not as cool as yours) and I use that touch screen only when I am in bed with the laptop or when I am in the conference room during meeting and forgot my mouse.
However if there is something I use less than touch screen it is touchpad. That thing for some reason makes my hands go insane. I rarely use it. The texture really bugs my hands to the point where they lose sensitivity. I use touchpad only when I develop carpal tunnel and I have to wear my wrist brace. Then using mouse sucks. Using touchscreen for pinching also sucks. So I am left with trackpad.
How the screen bends both ways is physically not possible (unless the screen is elastic lol)
There was a rumor a few years back that Apple will get rid of the keyboard on Mac's and replace with touch. Making it so that users can no longer complain about the keyboard. This may be closer that you think. If the iMac redesign has the ipad pro body, its only a matter of time.
Apple really got serious about keyboard and mouse support for iPads this year and you think they are going to get rid of that for Mac? I’m not following the logic there. The reality seems to point to the opposite. They are realizing that some things work better when you have a keyboard and mouse. It’s more likely the mouse and keyboard become an option and some form of the iPad is the future of mobile Mac.
maybe. It’s also possible that macOS as we know it goes away once iPadOS reaches feature parity with macOS on a level that makes macOS redundant.
And what we might see could be “MacBooks” that run “iPadOS.” The difference here being that iPadOS is a touch-first UI. It’s been completely rethought for how users can interact with content. Trying to shoehorn that into macOS seems to me like a more challenging prospect compared to continuing on the road they are on now with adding more and more desktop-like features to iPadOS.
Extremely unlikely. Touchbar dislike spread on the entire keyboard? Really unlikely. Apple just reversed course entirely with the return to the old keyboard tech from years ago based on customer feedback. I don’t see them making any brave changes for design reasons alone in that field.
I also do not think that we are a point where we can replace the hardware keyboard with something that allows as fast and as efficient typing as the keyboard. Maybe in the future voice recognition would be good enough so that we can only give voice commands but still:
1. There are people that cannot talk
2. There are people whose primary language is not English
For example I am multi language user. My communication is either in English or in Bulgarian (mother tongue) but I also tend to listen to Spanish music and then I have studied almost everything in university in German so I still sometimes have to access my university notes written in German and do search on google.
So voice recognition not only will have to know all those languages but also handle my sucky pronunciation on all of them. And I am sure that they can handle English, German and Spanish but Bulgarian - nah. iOS cannot even be setup in Bulgarian which sucks because I want to give my old iPad to my mother but she has no idea about English and she cannot use it if it is not translated.
And still does not solve the issue for the ones that cannot talk. So I do think that for the next few years keyboards are to stay for people that need lots of typing.
The concept in the video is, I dunno, "interesting" but I doubt feasible in the real world. I don't see how the design is stable enough to use the larger foldable screen if there's a hinge that folds both ways. You could use it in half-size or laptop mode, but the weight would cause it to fold too much in full-size to be stable without a nearly unfoldable hinge.
"The possibilities of an iPad Pro and a Macbook Pro without any sacrifices" could be just as simple as a Macbook Pro with a really powerful AS processor, aka where Apple Silicon is already heading, and plenty of people will be happy with that.
"The possibilities of an iPad Pro and a Macbook Pro without any sacrifices" could be just as simple as a Macbook Pro with a really powerful AS processor, aka where Apple Silicon is already heading, and plenty of people will be happy with that.
Totally agreed, and I’m not just saying this as a non native English speaker. Keyboards are here for the long run.
You mean so we can attach a proper keyboard for those who need to type more than a few sentences?
Again, this was just a rumor. Apple's internal team may be testing or may not. The idea behind it was to allow the user to customize the keyboard not currently available unless the user spends another $2,000+ on a new computer.
The patent stated as follows
1. Users have the ability to change the keyboard language without having to buy a whole new Mac. English keyboard to French, German, Japanese..etc in seconds.
2. Change the color. Dark mode vs standard.
3. Lower the cost as there is no hardware keyboard. Taking the iPads's touch keyboard and expanding.
4. Multi-function trackpad. Allow for Apple Pencil support. Adjustable size. Smaller trackpad or larger.
I don’t think the video was there before...
In the video one entire screen is used for just the keyboard and the mouse in its “laptop” form. At that point, a physical keyboard and mouse is a much better option and doesn’t waste battery power and screen space. The potential cost and the existing issues with foldable screens makes this concept less of a possibility. Only use case I can think of is if someone wants their iMac to be portable. Then I guess it works for that scenario just because it folds 🤷🏼♂️
An iPad with accessories is a much more ideal solution. So if you don’t need the keyboard and stuff, you can just have a slim, powerful tablet. Or if you need the other stuff it’s there for you to easily snap together to make a portable workspace/playspace.
I’d even say that I would prefer that any number of iPads could be snapped together to make a large screen and communicate with each other. So instead of having a iMac that folds and goes, you’d have an iMac that breaks down into multiple tablets.
In the video one entire screen is used for just the keyboard and the mouse in its “laptop” form. At that point, a physical keyboard and mouse is a much better option and doesn’t waste battery power and screen space. The potential cost and the existing issues with foldable screens makes this concept less of a possibility. Only use case I can think of is if someone wants their iMac to be portable. Then I guess it works for that scenario just because it folds 🤷🏼♂️
An iPad with accessories is a much more ideal solution. So if you don’t need the keyboard and stuff, you can just have a slim, powerful tablet. Or if you need the other stuff it’s there for you to easily snap together to make a portable workspace/playspace.
I’d even say that I would prefer that any number of iPads could be snapped together to make a large screen and communicate with each other. So instead of having a iMac that folds and goes, you’d have an iMac that breaks down into multiple tablets.