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iPad Pro Fact: iPads are iPads. And MacBooks are MacBooks. And that's just fine! :)
- Thread starter mdhaus72
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You're assuming that Apple is done rolling out features and developing new options and opportunities in coming months and years.
We have the Macbook Air and Mac Mini M1. Actually we switched back due to homeschooling experiences. And we came back from Android, due to limited os support for perfectly functional devices. We had a Apple phase, than Windows, coming back to Apple again. Things change, all the time.
The M1 computers are great. But I am also very fond of a Dell Latitude 5290 2 in 1 with touch, pen and detachable keyboard support while running a full os. The surface type laptops are perfect implementations for mobile workloads and an iPad Pro with magic keyboard is no contest here. That´s just sad.
iPad OS is hardly differrent from iPads running iOS years before. That shows that there seems to be no plan to utilize the hardware to the max and different from iPhone besides cosmetic changes. Software development is getting more unreliable on iOS and macos - little bugs here and there, missing functionality, quirks - which is the usual indication of a severely stretched company. They are getting complacent and lazy.
I used an iPad 2 for a long time, making music. Support for interfaces and MIDI keyboards got more and more instable with each iOS iteration. Today it´s a hazzle to do it. A general iPad is more than sufficient for all tasks, including so called pro ones. No need to spend money on anything beyond, that´s my conclusion for now.
So they get and want to keep their profit margins with double dipped hardware usage. It´s just an incentive to earn more money: Shame on them. They have enough of it already. Greed is no longer – and never was – a virtue. We are loosing the planet because of excessive and destructive consumerism all over the place. Propagating two or more devices, regulating and limiting crossover compatibility via software is just wrong. And it´s terrible to see Apple greenwashing itself with false initiatives of recycling which does not work for electronics. They end up in landfills in Asia and Africa.
Reduction of resources and thereby waste does work, though – always.
The M1 computers are great. But I am also very fond of a Dell Latitude 5290 2 in 1 with touch, pen and detachable keyboard support while running a full os. The surface type laptops are perfect implementations for mobile workloads and an iPad Pro with magic keyboard is no contest here. That´s just sad.
iPad OS is hardly differrent from iPads running iOS years before. That shows that there seems to be no plan to utilize the hardware to the max and different from iPhone besides cosmetic changes. Software development is getting more unreliable on iOS and macos - little bugs here and there, missing functionality, quirks - which is the usual indication of a severely stretched company. They are getting complacent and lazy.
I used an iPad 2 for a long time, making music. Support for interfaces and MIDI keyboards got more and more instable with each iOS iteration. Today it´s a hazzle to do it. A general iPad is more than sufficient for all tasks, including so called pro ones. No need to spend money on anything beyond, that´s my conclusion for now.
So they get and want to keep their profit margins with double dipped hardware usage. It´s just an incentive to earn more money: Shame on them. They have enough of it already. Greed is no longer – and never was – a virtue. We are loosing the planet because of excessive and destructive consumerism all over the place. Propagating two or more devices, regulating and limiting crossover compatibility via software is just wrong. And it´s terrible to see Apple greenwashing itself with false initiatives of recycling which does not work for electronics. They end up in landfills in Asia and Africa.
Reduction of resources and thereby waste does work, though – always.
True or False: Companies are able to continue to release more and more features for a new device over time.
What do you mean monitor support is only for developersr? You can hook up your iPad to any monitor right now. Apple already lets you use your ipad like a laptop.
And if you think that Apple is going to “protect” the Mac, I completely disagree with you on that. Apple has never been about handicapping one product line in order to protect another.
Same here. Got it for the 1TB storage but happy to see the extra RAM has been helping with multitasking versus 4-6GB RAM iPads.
At least for me, part of the consideration was longevity. I didn't buy the 2018 iPad Pro in 2018 because I found the ~$2000 price too high. Three years after, my choices are still ~$2000 for latest 1TB cellular or $1200 for a refurb 2018 I originally skipped on. What will be my choices three years from now? Likely still $2000 for latest 1TB cell or $1200-1300 for a refurb 2021. I don't resell so getting 2018 now then 2021 after three years would just end up more expensive than going 2021 right away.
Obviously true. How many more years should iPad owners wait before the restrictions on their amazing hardware are lifted?
iPad can be laptops if you use the cloud.
Heck, you can even play full flegded AAA games on an iPad Pro this way. Soon you will be able to play the latest Microsoft Flight Simulator on your iPad Pro that would bring most PC gaming rigs to it’s knees
Heck, you can even play full flegded AAA games on an iPad Pro this way. Soon you will be able to play the latest Microsoft Flight Simulator on your iPad Pro that would bring most PC gaming rigs to it’s knees
The whole discussion is futile anyway--especially on enthusiast boards like this one. Apple has to consider the entire iPad user base when making any iPad hardware or software, whether it says "Pro" after the title or not. In Apple nomenclature, "Pro" just means "nicer", or perhaps "nicest". Sure, there are four different types of iPads, and you could easily fork one of those lines off into its own thing and stick macOS on it. I doubt it would be an issue from a technical standpoint, and I'm sure Apple has messed around with it internally.
There is no reason for Apple to create this as a real-world product.
The kind of iPad users that want a full blown desktop productivity OS on the iPad Pro, even if it's not macOS but just a more fully featured iPadOS that just works more like macOS and less like iOS, are not the kind of users that Apple is marketing to with the iPad. They never were. They're marketing the iPad to people who want a simpler, more focused, and more portable way to do some very specialized things with the same fluidity as they can on an iPhone, which is the vast majority of iPad users. And the marketing for the Mac is easy: they just need to appeal to people who prefer to work on a traditional computer and prefer a laptop form factor, which is the vast majority of Mac users.
We have watched the iPad Pro go from "big iOS" to iPadOS 15 in the last 6 years. We have watched it get more and more and more powerful chips (then flat out Mac chips!), more and more RAM, nicer screens, and awesome new designs. But the very essence of an iPad is a more approachable computer. The demographic it appeals to the most does not want macOS. In fact, most of the features in iPadOS that make it iPadOS are things that most iPad users either don't care about or will never find. Most of them also couldn't tell you what their iPad's software is even called or that there was a keynote a few days ago about that very topic.
The main purpose of the iPad has always been to be an iPad. If giving it the same hardware guts as a Mac and then not putting macOS on it isn't proof enough for some people, then I don't think anyone is going to be convinced at this point. And I think if it were planned for next year or the year after, there would be more smoke to signify a fire by now. There doesn't seem to be anything like that in the works, and Apple has flat out said multiple times that they aren't doing it. I don't think they really care what the Macrumors forum posters think about it--that's a very tiny storm in a very tiny teacup.
There is no reason for Apple to create this as a real-world product.
The kind of iPad users that want a full blown desktop productivity OS on the iPad Pro, even if it's not macOS but just a more fully featured iPadOS that just works more like macOS and less like iOS, are not the kind of users that Apple is marketing to with the iPad. They never were. They're marketing the iPad to people who want a simpler, more focused, and more portable way to do some very specialized things with the same fluidity as they can on an iPhone, which is the vast majority of iPad users. And the marketing for the Mac is easy: they just need to appeal to people who prefer to work on a traditional computer and prefer a laptop form factor, which is the vast majority of Mac users.
We have watched the iPad Pro go from "big iOS" to iPadOS 15 in the last 6 years. We have watched it get more and more and more powerful chips (then flat out Mac chips!), more and more RAM, nicer screens, and awesome new designs. But the very essence of an iPad is a more approachable computer. The demographic it appeals to the most does not want macOS. In fact, most of the features in iPadOS that make it iPadOS are things that most iPad users either don't care about or will never find. Most of them also couldn't tell you what their iPad's software is even called or that there was a keynote a few days ago about that very topic.
The main purpose of the iPad has always been to be an iPad. If giving it the same hardware guts as a Mac and then not putting macOS on it isn't proof enough for some people, then I don't think anyone is going to be convinced at this point. And I think if it were planned for next year or the year after, there would be more smoke to signify a fire by now. There doesn't seem to be anything like that in the works, and Apple has flat out said multiple times that they aren't doing it. I don't think they really care what the Macrumors forum posters think about it--that's a very tiny storm in a very tiny teacup.
Shouldn’t this fall on app developers?
What kind of OS-level features are you expecting will make full use of 8gb or even 16gb of ram on an ipad? I don’t think there is even anything on my M1 MBA that comes anywhere close to utilising that much memory. I suppose you could argue Final Cut Pro, but that’s an app, not an OS.
So the question then ought to be - what’s stopping companies like Microsoft, Zoom, Adobe and Google from giving us desktop-level functionality with their apps?
Honestly speaking, if there is going to be a feature in macOS that needs anywhere near that much ram, I consider that more shoddy coding than anything else.
I agree. I think if you tubers didn't make this case, I would have been fine with the keynote. Going to keep my 12.9 Pro with 2 TB to watch TV shows and movies and install tons of games. It also makes a great second screen for my Mac when I need one and an excellent notebook and bed reading tablet.
What restrictions need to be lifted? Remember - the iPad is not designed to replace a full-fledged laptop computer.
I don't think he meant that monitor support is only for developers, rather that support for full screen on monitors has been available but developers have not taken advantage of it.
They don't know what to do with it, honestly. My iPad is more than 5 years old and it works great for everything I need an iPad to do. I think of it like a "Model T" device in that it can do lots of things — stand in for a teleprompter, a coloring book, a notepad, a casual web browser, second screen for my laptop, e-reader, airplane entertainment device. But they've never figured out a killer app that makes me need to upgrade to take advantage of the updated specs. I think for many it just lives in a purgatory between computer and phone, and it can be useful but not vital.
He meant developers have been able to optimize iPad apps for monitors for years.
I already stated one simple feature that I think would be killer and make a lot of people much happier with their Pro devices (and would not make it a full-fledged laptop computer). I am not looking for MacOS on my iPad. But when I do want to do serious work on it, letting me take fuller advantage of that Thunderbolt port and the extra RAM to actually use my monitor (at full resolution) as a separate display would be incredibly useful. Given the hardware, there's no reason NOT to make this possible - it's a pointless restriction.
Pro customer complaints are NOT saying “MacOS on iPad!”. They are saying “iPad Software to match iPad Hardware!”.
Stylus support. Keyboard support. USB-C. Storage increases. RAM options. Thunderbolt. XDR
The iPad Pro hardware has evolved to become so advanced that it has to question its very existence. Why did Apple create such a versatile and powerful product but refuse to come anywhere close to fulfilling the iPad Pros potential?
Stylus support. Keyboard support. USB-C. Storage increases. RAM options. Thunderbolt. XDR
The iPad Pro hardware has evolved to become so advanced that it has to question its very existence. Why did Apple create such a versatile and powerful product but refuse to come anywhere close to fulfilling the iPad Pros potential?
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Apple's idea of the iPad Pro's "potential" is vastly different from that of those on this forum.
As other already said, this is an options for developers, some have used it, some haven't. If the app does not support it all you can do when you plug the iPad to a monitor is mirroring a 4.3 display to a (likely) 16.9 monitor...
And that's not a OS level option, it on an app by app basis... Again the OS just mirrors, with lots of wasted space since there is no 4:3 high resolution monitor...
As for Apple not handicapping one product to protect another, we can agree to completely disagree. You are in the camp of those that think that cannibalization does not exist, citing old and irrelevant examples like the iPod etc. to make your point.
Again we can agree to disagree. Apple wants first and foremost to maximize profits and since Macs are bound to be a bigger business than iPads, for the reasons I explained above, they will do their best to protect them while at the same time incentivizing as much as possible their customers to buy both iPads an Macs. And not only this strategy is working, but some Apple fans don't even realize it's there... Apple really couldn't ask for anything better....
Exactly. Sometimes I think that people on this forum believe that iPad pro is the majority of iPads... The vast majority of sales is the 329 iPad... iPad pro is a relative niche market... a profitable niche, but one where Apple has no competition...
The Mac is a potentially much bigger market and Apple knows that it can grow the Mac business much more than the iPad pro one.... and than the iPad as whole... The Apple Silicon transition is the big deal, that's where the big investments of time and resources are going.... And we are only at the beginning. Only entry level M1 and no Macbook redesign yet... There is much more market share to take with the Mac than with the iPad... I wouldn't be surprised if Apple doubles the market share of the Macs over the next 2 years... The iPad? The rest of the tablet market is basically cheap low margin Android tablets. Windows tablets are first and foremost portable laptops.... Tablet-wise the iPad has no real competitors.
Giving exclusive features to the iPad pro would only expose how RAM constrained are other iPads, air 4 included... Real monitor support would allow at least 4 apps to work at the same time (2 on the monitor and 2-3 on the iPad...). No real reason to do it when people are buying anyway... They complain? Well, that's fine, as long as they keep buying...
....And it may indeed be coming!
What exactly in my original post was not factual?
Yes, there are indeed Pro customers who are saying "MacOS on Ipad!" Several of those opinions are being shared right here on this website!
As I said before, it's insane to completely judge the new hardware and it's entire lifespan before it has barely gotten out of the gate. You don't know what Apple has planned for it six months from now, a year from now or beyond!
My point is simply that if Apple was against the iPad getting better monitor support, they would’ve never given the iPad the crappy, cropped, and shadow-boxed monitor support it has today. Anyone saying that Apple is against monitors for iPads is proven wrong by Apple already. It’s not about WHETHER Apple would ever do it. It’s about improving what’s already there.
The crappy monitor support is like the crappy mouse support we had in accessibilities before Apple made it good. Naysayers said that Apple made it crappy on purpose because they didn’t want anyone to use a mouse with an iPad. Now it’s the same thing all over again with the ipad monitor naysayers. The trackpad rumors started in 2015 and it took Apple 4 years to deliver.
One day when the iPad has real extended Home Screen on monitors, everyone is going to say “In hindsight it was obvious. There were all kinds of clues”.