But do you have to buy a top of the line iPad Pro? The Air models of both devices make it much easier to afford an iPad and a Mac.
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
iPad Pro Craig and Joz discussing iPad on The Talk Show
- Thread starter Rogifan
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
to introduce as many features as they can, to get as close as they can to desktop experience, but to keep everything 3rd party channel through them, via the App Store.
basically to keep full control (and a cut) over any software developed for the iPad Pro
The only reason they don’t have that on the Mac, is because the mac was already open, and closing off the Mac now, would effectively kill it.
Pro for Apple means more premium, not necessarily more capable.
the M3 MacBook Pro baseline costs 730 eur more than the M3 Macbook Air baseline
is it more capable than that MBA. No, except that it has some more premium features such :
- promotion and mini LED display that’s 0,6 inches bigger and gets brighter
- 256 gb extra storage
- a better battery
- better speakers
- more ports
same applies to the iPad - 600 Eur difference between base 13” iPad Pro and 13” iPad Air
Are you suggesting two iPadOSs? One for iPad/Air and one for iPad Pro. Do you expect a special OS for Mac Pro as well?
So called Pro users (techies) are likely the worst people to develop the iPad which was never intended for their use case. Techies will through features on iPadOS until normal people cannot use it.
There are plenty iPhone users who wants a bigger iPhone in for of an iPad. Some want the best, hence the iPad Pro.
Not only that. They'd like to have everyone in your household ideally own multiple devices, which is why they don't offer multiuser capabilities on iPad.
I process 40MP Raws with Lightroom on my iPad Pro, sometimes upwards of a hundred. My M1 iPP is much nicer and quicker to do it than my older iPP. When it comes time to upgrade, I bet whatever fast chip Apple is using then will be even nicer.
Last edited:
It's for some power users, but not all power users.
For a lot of people, it’s a device that can do it all, while being particularly good at consumption and light work. And for the creative professionals (my wife with her photography as an example) the iPad Pros are really powerful and can do serious music editing, video editing, photo editing, 3D rendering for engineering, etc. iPadOS provides just enough functionality while still being a very good touch first device.
Would I love the ability to dual boot my M1 iPad Pro? Definitely-but would I rather have macOS on my M1 MBA? Yes. I'm not saying you want macOS on the iPad, and I understand they could improve the Files App, file management, etc. With that said, I actually enjoy iPadOS but maybe for my workflows it doesn’t have any limitations, and offers a great experience for me.
What about customers who don’t want (or can’t afford) to own an iPad and a Mac? They should get neither and buy their mom an iPhone instead!
Jk.
But iPad was only ever intended to be the step between an iPhone and a Mac, or a companion tool/tablet computer/"Sidecar" to an iPhone or a Mac.
Something a little more like a laptop than an iPhone. But comes with a few unique features and an OS that's much more like iOS than macOS.
Love or hate it, iPad is iPad. End of story.
My answer is that the iPad is designed around select use cases in mind, which may or may not jive with your definition of what a power user needs.
And if you ask me, I have identified 3 primary areas that the iPad excels in over a Macbook.
1) Viewing content - made better with the tandem OLED display. According to Christopher Lawley, a YouTuber, the M4 chip allows him to view photos in Lightroom without breaking a sweat, something that even past iPad pros would struggle with from time to time.
2) Digital canvas - made all the more so with the addition of the Apple Pencil. Procreate is like the poster app for the iPad, and it has been invaluable to me as a teacher.
3) Computing made simplified. It may sound like a contradiction given the existence of the iPad Pro, but I maintain that the beauty of the iPad is precisely that it does not try to mimic the Mac at all. Think about all the things you do on your phone because it's more convenient than on a PC. Now, you get to do them on a larger screen. It's thinner, lighter, more portable, and easier to carry around and use in positions and locations where a laptop form factor may not be feasible.
And it's precisely because Apple already has the Mac that the iPad is free to be as light as it is and does not need to try too hard to cover all conceivable use cases under the sun the same way a PC does.
I can understand people desiring more functionality that makes them not need to have to keep reaching for their computer, but their absence does not make the iPad any less than what it currently is, and honestly, how often do you need for format a drive or interact with terminal (I personally have never launched the app).
For me it’s mostly proper desktop extensions for browsers and a the Music app having feature parity with its desktop version. Actually I’d say that about most productivity apps.
No, and if a Mac laptop was my main computing device I wouldn’t own an iPad Pro or Air. But what if someone wants the iPad to be their main computing device?
Then why do ‘pro’ versions of Logic and Final Cut exist for it? I understand with Apple the word ‘pro’ doesn’t always mean professional but Apple has never said iPad isn’t for power users. They’ve gone out of their way to show people getting real work done on an iPad. They’re not marketing the iPad Pro as a premium content consumption device.
No I’m advocating for iPadOS to pick up more features from macOS while still being a touch first OS.
That's understandable. So... what extensions are you asking for? And what do you want in the Music app that iPadOS doesn't have?
Macs lacking touch-screens is not tenable long-term. Every child being born is someone who will find it unfathomable for a personal computing device not to respond to touches on the screen.
100%. Apple was just delaying the inevitable.
MacBook Pros will get touch in 2026 along with OLED, mark my words.
We should never follow this concept, it we do the iPhone would still be a tiny hand held phone as that was the design to reach all screen hand held, but then the rest of the tech space and development of new tools in IOS made it so we have big iPhones.
That’s the adult answer: you’re not entitled to what you want — you get to choose from what’s offered to you .. or you create what is missing if you think you have a better idea.
Last edited:
I think Apple‘s answer to your question is the millions of people buying the iPad and accepting and enjoying it for what it is — vs a vocal minority who insist on Apple subjugating its product vision to their armchair designs.
What is indefensible about product segmentation? Has that ages-old best practice suddenly become obsolete because Apple refuses to produce a product it believes is unnecessary?
Last edited:
I can currently run iPad apps on my high-end, portable M1 Max MacBook Pro. Is this what you’re suggesting or are you looking for something else?