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pdoherty

macrumors 65816
Dec 30, 2014
1,443
1,698
Nobody outside a little echo chamber on the internet is asking for a desktop UI like macOS or Windows on a tablet. Microsoft has tried to make Windows friendly on drawing tablets but you have to go to very large display to avoid eye strain.

Reading distance is the thing and tablet users hold their device in front of their face or they lean down over their device on the table.

Clip Studio listened to their users and let them switch their app's interface to a tablet UI on the iPad because the menus and text items were too painful to read all day.

Adobe won't even port a 1:1 copy of Photoshop to the iPad because of eye strain issues so they are having to redesign the app slowly to fit the tablet form factor.
But a 13" iPad Pro is the same screen size and resolution as a 13 inch laptop. And both can use external displays too.
 

pdoherty

macrumors 65816
Dec 30, 2014
1,443
1,698
Running macOS on both the iPad and a Mac is like expecting to use a Ram truck to win a GT race that a Charger would just because they both have a Hemi engine in it.

Apple will NEVER put macOS on iPad, because they're not Microsoft: slapping a keyboard-and-mouse OS on hardware DESIGNED for touch sucks. It sucks just like iPhone apps on an iPad sucks. Running software not designed for the hardware it runs on generally SUCKS.

It's not about the internals, its about the INPUT methods of interaction and the user experience.
The iPad has all of the same input methods as a laptop (trackpad or mouse, keyboard) with a $60 keyboard case and has touch too. That doesn't seem like a reason to prevent this. Just make such input devices a requirement to activate the desktop mode.

1. Backgrund apps are stopped after a short time. Sometimes I use my iPad for server administration via ssh. This works good, but a short time after I put the ssh client in the background, e.g. to look something up, the connection to the server is interrupted. I really wish it would stay active for at least several minutes.
Try using Termius - with it and its settings adjusted it will keep an SSH session live for hours.
 
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LizKat

macrumors 604
Aug 5, 2004
6,768
36,277
Catskill Mountains
Apple will NEVER put macOS on iPad, because they're not Microsoft: slapping a keyboard-and-mouse OS on hardware DESIGNED for touch sucks. It sucks just like iPhone apps on an iPad sucks. Running software not designed for the hardware it runs on generally SUCKS.

It's not about the internals, its about the INPUT methods of interaction and the user experience.
Yeah I'm more concerned about possibility that Apple will [continue to] dumb down the MacOS apps and eventually the MacOS itself to the capabilities of the iOS equivalents. [Lookin' at you, iOS Music app: the loss of capability v MacOS iTunes over the years is disheartening.]

Don't get me wrong, I have loved my iPhones and iPads, and their touch-oriented approaches offer unique advantages in their applications, but they have their own niches in my tech solutions for whatever task is next. I never reach for an iOS/iPadOS device when a Mac laptop, the MacOS and apps designed for its capabilities look like the better way for me to get something done.

Bottom line I celebrate this round of Apple's iPad upgrades, and I don't think of any of these tablets as forcing a choice among models or versus an iPhone or laptop. Same as in the kitchen where I have cookware and utensils for different tasks, or in the studio where I'd be crazy to have just dressmaking shears when sometimes it's embroidery or appliqué scissors that are called for.
 

Ctrlos

macrumors 6502a
Sep 19, 2022
912
1,981
If Apple can slim down the iPad Pro with the M4 I wonder what other products might get planed down. A 5mm iMac would be wonderful, maybe even a 15mm Mac Mini
 

dk001

macrumors demi-god
Oct 3, 2014
10,765
15,107
Sage, Lightning, and Mountains
I foresee that there is going to be an entire generation of folks that will not have touched a Mac at all.

The iPad offers a different way of being productive, not a lesser one.

I think that is case sensitive. As an engineer an iPad cannot do what I need. As a consumptive consumer an iPad can do all I need. Love if I could replace my MBP with an iPad. Maybe someday but not yet.
 
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Confused-User

macrumors 6502a
Oct 14, 2014
596
655
"For the same performance", you are right. However, without the "for the same performance" disclaimer, my statement that it uses the same or 5% more power remains correct.

What do you think, the iPad with M4 will reach the level of performance of the M2 and then stop drawing any more power? The max power consumption is the max power consumption- it's the max that is relevant to whether devices with smaller batteries can handle a chip or not.
In fact, the answer to your question here is "not exactly", and your followup statement about max power consumption is incorrect. That's because chips don't run at their maximum possible speed in actual devices.

M chips run at lower speeds in iPads than in MacBooks, specifically due to heat (and to some extent also battery) considerations. They will ramp down in speed further under heavy use to keep thermal load constrained. Apple carefully controls this in software. People sometimes refer to this as throttling, which is a sorta-accurate but misleading word.

The right way to think about it is this: Apple have a thermal and power use ceiling they don't want to exceed. And thanks to physics, those two factors come out to basically the same thing: thermals and power use will move as one. (Well, not exactly, but they head in the same direction, so you ratchet up allowed performance until you hit whichever limit you hit first.) They limited the M2 in the iPP to that chosen level. You can expect that they will do the same thing with the M4. So, while my "for the same performance" isn't directly relevant to the iPad, "for the same heat" is. "For the same battery consumption" is too, mostly, though it may change a bit based on changes in the size of the battery. And those again strictly favor the M4 over the M3 and the M3 over the M2, meaning my original conclusion is still correct.

It is likely that the new copper and graphite heat spreaders in the M4 iPPs give Apple the leeway to allow the M4 to run hotter than the M2, actually, which skews things a bit. But probably not enough to change any conclusions, because they still face battery limits even if thermal headroom has improved a bit.

Coming back to the original point: Because chips can run at a wide variety of clock speeds depending on thermal and power limits, and do so in different devices in the real world, you need to control for that to talk about them meaningfully. So, your "0-5%" comment is true, and it's useful in the context of comparing M2 to M3 MacBooks. But it's not useful for talking about expected behaviors in a different device like an iPad.
 
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Dec 4, 2022
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But a 13" iPad Pro is the same screen size and resolution as a 13 inch laptop. And both can use external displays too.
Do you have your face 7 inches from a laptop screen that you are drawing on and selecting menus with your finger?

What is wrong with people….

All you really want is drop down menus form the menu bar and windowing, the latter already exists on iPadOS with Stage Manager.

Everything else about macOS or a desktop UI is completely unsuitable for touch on a small display. Microsoft tried. They failed at that size. Touching a desktop UI is garbage.

Windows 8.0 just entered the chat.
 
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Dec 4, 2022
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But what if they let you install MacOS but it wasn’t touch driven?
Keyboard and trackpad/mouse but no touch. Just like a MacBook.

Just stop. It’s an iPad. Aside from technical issues the product isn’t even Mac so you can’t put a macOS on there without taking a big fat **** on the whole history of branding.

FFS it’s not hard to understand. The world doesn’t revolve around 0.001% of people who want something nobody else asks for.
 

jazz1

Contributor
Aug 19, 2002
4,545
18,492
Mid-West USA
There are multiple M3s. But not in iPads. So they didn’t have data to compare.

This M4 will probably be low end M4 compared to forthcoming laptop and desktop ones as well. Apple designed this for iPad where speed is one thing but thermal load and battery life are also paramount.

All comparison values still show significant speed improvements.

And having an Air with M2 and AI show that MacOS is going to out AI on a lot of existing devices.
Well that makes sense!
 

ric22

macrumors 68020
Mar 8, 2022
2,185
2,063
In fact, the answer to your question here is "not exactly", and your followup statement about max power consumption is incorrect. That's because chips don't run at their maximum possible speed in actual devices.

M chips run at lower speeds in iPads than in MacBooks, specifically due to heat (and to some extent also battery) considerations. They will ramp down in speed further under heavy use to keep thermal load constrained. Apple carefully controls this in software. People sometimes refer to this as throttling, which is a sorta-accurate but misleading word.

The right way to think about it is this: Apple have a thermal and power use ceiling they don't want to exceed. And thanks to physics, those two factors come out to basically the same thing: thermals and power use will move as one. (Well, not exactly, but they head in the same direction, so you ratchet up allowed performance until you hit whichever limit you hit first.) They limited the M2 in the iPP to that chosen level. You can expect that they will do the same thing with the M4. So, while my "for the same performance" isn't directly relevant to the iPad, "for the same heat" is. "For the same battery consumption" is too, mostly, though it may change a bit based on changes in the size of the battery. And those again strictly favor the M4 over the M3 and the M3 over the M2, meaning my original conclusion is still correct.

It is likely that the new copper and graphite heat spreaders in the M4 iPPs give Apple the leeway to allow the M4 to run hotter than the M2, actually, which skews things a bit. But probably not enough to change any conclusions, because they still face battery limits even if thermal headroom has improved a bit.

Coming back to the original point: Because chips can run at a wide variety of clock speeds depending on thermal and power limits, and do so in different devices in the real world, you need to control for that to talk about them meaningfully. So, your "0-5%" comment is true, and it's useful in the context of comparing M2 to M3 MacBooks. But it's not useful for talking about expected behaviors in a different device like an iPad.
It's all speculation at this point.

The M2 was a 20w chip in Mac and the M3 was 20 or 21w depending on who you believe. I doubt the M4 will vary much from that. Do we have any idea how many watts peak M1 or M2 used in iPad? Regardless, they won't be maxing out at 50% of what M2 did... if they can, they're basically really bloody fast iPhone chips!
 

Darth Tulhu

macrumors 68020
Apr 10, 2019
2,272
3,782
I think that is case sensitive. As an engineer an iPad cannot do what I need. As a consumptive consumer an iPad can do all I need. Love if I could replace my MBP with an iPad. Maybe someday but not yet.
Even from the consumer side only I agree, which is why I bought an MBA M2 after being iPad only for 6 months (12.9 M1 Pro + MK).

But it is inching there. And the new keyboard has an ESC key. I may be reading too much into it, but WWDC is around the corner. XCode for iPad anyone?
 
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Darth Tulhu

macrumors 68020
Apr 10, 2019
2,272
3,782
Yeah I'm more concerned about possibility that Apple will [continue to] dumb down the MacOS apps and eventually the MacOS itself to the capabilities of the iOS equivalents. [Lookin' at you, iOS Music app: the loss of capability v MacOS iTunes over the years is disheartening.]

Don't get me wrong, I have loved my iPhones and iPads, and their touch-oriented approaches offer unique advantages in their applications, but they have their own niches in my tech solutions for whatever task is next. I never reach for an iOS/iPadOS device when a Mac laptop, the MacOS and apps designed for its capabilities look like the better way for me to get something done.

Bottom line I celebrate this round of Apple's iPad upgrades, and I don't think of any of these tablets as forcing a choice among models or versus an iPhone or laptop. Same as in the kitchen where I have cookware and utensils for different tasks, or in the studio where I'd be crazy to have just dressmaking shears when sometimes it's embroidery or appliqué scissors that are called for.
Well stated. For me (and I'd argue most people) it mainly comes down to muscle-memory; I'm older and FASTER on a Mac for many tasks due to familiarity.

When coming into the iPad I had to LEARN to do things differently. But once I did, I started to see that Apple is not being lazy with this, they THINK about how a touch device changes their perception of the "best way" to get something done, and how to keep it both familiar AND intuitive. From a software design perspective, it is a NIGHTMARE, and you cannot please everyone. However, the iPhone and iPad are so similar that the learning curve is mitigated big time.

All that said, it IS frustrating for Apple to dumb down apps for the Mac. I hate the Music App regardless of platform. Apple needs to FIX IT.
 
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Confused-User

macrumors 6502a
Oct 14, 2014
596
655
The M2 was a 20w chip in Mac and the M3 was 20 or 21w depending on who you believe. I doubt the M4 will vary much from that. Do we have any idea how many watts peak M1 or M2 used in iPad?
Yes. Less, because it has a lower thermal limit than the Macs. You can see that in the maximum clock speed. (Which I'm too lazy to look up- check everymac or wikipedia.)
Regardless, they won't be maxing out at 50% of what M2 did... if they can, they're basically really bloody fast iPhone chips!
Um what?
 

Darth Tulhu

macrumors 68020
Apr 10, 2019
2,272
3,782
The iPad has all of the same input methods as a laptop (trackpad or mouse, keyboard) with a $60 keyboard case and has touch too. That doesn't seem like a reason to prevent this. Just make such input devices a requirement to activate the desktop mode.
This is where people get hung up all the time.

The reason the iPad was (only recently) given trackpad and mouse support is for one thing and one thing only:

To improve the text-editing experience for longer typing sessions, which can extend into multitasking (like pulling pics to attach on a doc, for example).

This was not done to change the software's primary input method.

Thus, the iPad CAN have the same input methods as a laptop, but as a concession, not a rule.
 
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Darth Tulhu

macrumors 68020
Apr 10, 2019
2,272
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It is not to replace iPadOS with MacOS on iPad or use MacOS on touch screen, but the possibility to use an iPad as sort of "portable Mac mini/nano" where I can connect a screen, keyboard and mouse and run full macOS. (Technically this not that complicated and performance-wise even an Iphone could run MacOS this way!)
At the moment I need an IPad AND a Mac, but would gladly buy an 16GB/2TB M4 IPad Pro which could run IPadOS and MacOS - and even if MacOS only works with a mandatory external screen/keyboard/mouse...
Sadly for Apple I would never ever buy a Mac/ MacBook again....
This sounds great in theory (I liked Samsung's admittedly unpolished Dex thing).

Same could be said in reverse: a touch-screen iMac that can run iPadOS or Mac OS would be cool in my opinion.

I suspect there may be more technical considerations, but I also recognize that Apple doesn't really want to cannibalize its sales in an ABSOLUTE way.

Thus, the iPad and the Mac will FOREVER remain separate devices.
 
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Darth Tulhu

macrumors 68020
Apr 10, 2019
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3,782
But what if they let you install MacOS but it wasn’t touch driven?
Keyboard and trackpad/mouse but no touch. Just like a MacBook.
iPad users may already know how to use iPadOS with a keyboard and/or with both kb and mouse.

Now you'd be thrusting a COMPLETELY different (and likely unfamiliar) OS upon them.

You'd need a select screen where the choice is presented, AND explain what the choice means. And figure out how and when to switch back to iPadOS...

Desperate for it as some of you may be, it's just not going to happen, folks.

If you want/need macOS, get a Mac. Apple is all but SCREAMING this from the rooftops:

180605_are_you_merging_ios_and_macos.gif
 

Confused-User

macrumors 6502a
Oct 14, 2014
596
655
If iPads run M2 at 50% of the Mac 20w max, that's 10w, and if M4 runs at half of that, that's 5w, which is iPhone territory.
Ah, I see.

There's no reason for them to do that. As I said above, they pick a point on the power/performance curve to satisfy thermal necessities (and possibly battery). Cutting it from 10w to 5w wouldn't produce an optimal outcome.

In fact, I think we can conclude that the SoC will be able to draw a bit more power in this generation, due to the inclusion of copper and graphite spreaders.
 
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smulji

macrumors 68030
Feb 21, 2011
2,961
2,850
This sounds great in theory (I liked Samsung's admittedly unpolished Dex thing).

Same could be said in reverse: a touch-screen iMac that can run iPadOS or Mac OS would be cool in my opinion.

I suspect there may be more technical considerations, but I also recognize that Apple doesn't really want to cannibalize its sales in an ABSOLUTE way.

Thus, the iPad and the Mac will FOREVER remain separate devices.
Early this year (or fairly recently), Mark Gurman mentioned in a Bloomberg post that Apple is working on Macbooks with touch screens, so who knows
 
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