iPad Pro future of iPad Pro

[iPadified]

I agree with what you are saying except you need to acknowledge that having the best of both worlds would be possible with a dual boot iPad Pro. There would be no difference between an M1 MacBook Air and and 2021 iPad Pro booted into Big Sur with a magic keyboard except 1 thunderbolt port and an extra .3" of screen. none.

I suggested that in other threads that iPP could optionally boot MacOS when docked. Would I use it much? Not likely as the touch interface would disappear. I rather see that MacOS apps was recompiled to work on docked iPads as these apps requires keyboard and trackpad.

For me iMac/MP+iPP is a super combination and it has been so for years. With the easy ways to share a keyboard/trackpad, we are really getting somewhere.

Could we also get the devices to automatically form a compute cluster when connected over thunderbolt? It could be very useful for renders or similar jobs.

For home use, I only use iPad.

 

[bscheffel]

I dont think anyone needs to acknowledge anything just because you tell them too. It remains a terrible idea trying to run MacOS on an iPad. Just because you say it isn’t, doesn’t make it so.

The big difference which you’re missing when you say there is no difference, is that this is an iPad, not a macbook. It doesn’t need MacOS, and nor would MacOS be worth it on an iPad.

What it does need is iPadOS gaining more and more features, which it is doing, and the ability to work seamlessly between the two devices for those that want that, which is also slowly being rolled out.

Please tell me why it is a horrible idea to run MacOS on an iPad with magic keyboard. How exactly would it be any different that an M1 Mabook Air?????

 

[iPadified]

I bet if you took a poll on this site who would like to have boot camp for iPad Pro the response would be in favor of “yes”. “Willing to make the effort to make it work”? It’s literally bootcamp which existed on Intel Mac for years and nobody thought it was too hard to make work. I agree that Apple would rather you buy separate devices but not because it compromises their grand vision but because of revenue. The device is 100% keyboard/trackpad Mac when booted into MacOS and 100% touch/keyboard/pencil driven iPad when booted into iPadOS. There is no compromise or change to either experience - calling it an abomination is pure drama.

Trouble is that this site stands for perhaps 0.01% of all Mac users values and we are certainly not representative for the wider user base.

 

[bscheffel]

Trouble is that this site stands for perhaps 0.01% of all Mac users values and we are certainly not representative for the wider user base.

If that is the only part of the entire comment you take exception with - I am satisfied and agree that visitors to the MacRumors iPad forum are a tiny enthusiastic group of users.
I do think that now there is hardware parity between Mac and iPad the question will come up more. Before the 6GB ram limit in iPad Pro would have not met Apple's own current baseline of 8GB for Macs but the A12x/z is more than capable to run Big Sur (heck the developer transition machine even used an A12Z).

 

[bscheffel]

I suggested that in other threads that iPP could optionally boot MacOS when docked. Would I use it much? Not likely as the touch interface would disappear. I rather see that MacOS apps was recompiled to work on docked iPads as these apps requires keyboard and trackpad.

For me iMac/MP+iPP is a super combination and it has been so for years. With the easy ways to share a keyboard/trackpad, we are really getting somewhere.

Could we also get the devices to automatically form a compute cluster when connected over thunderbolt? It could be very useful for renders or similar jobs.

For home use, I only use iPad.

I'd be 100% happy with a docked mode that ran MacOS apps compiled with keyboard and trackpad. One of the biggest pain points I have is that I can't manage my iTunes library from my iPad. I can't add music (I use lossless and the new lossless announcement doesn't apply to purchased music) and I can't add/change tags on iPad. I don't even need the Mac version of Music app on my iPad I just need feature parity between the Music app on Mac/iPad.
It isn't just Apple either - the Spotify app on iPad is missing several features that the desktop version has - most notably a column that shows you when tracks were added to a playlist. Even more frustrating is that the web version of Spotify has this feature but you can't open the Spotify web app on iPad it insists on opening the Spotify app instead of staying in the browser. Makes my head wanna pop off.

 

[Abazigal]

I bet if you took a poll on this site who would like to have boot camp for iPad Pro the response would be in favor of “yes”. “Willing to make the effort to make it work”? It’s literally bootcamp which existed on Intel Mac for years and nobody thought it was too hard to make work. I agree that Apple would rather you buy separate devices but not because it compromises their grand vision but because of revenue. The device is 100% keyboard/trackpad Mac when booted into MacOS and 100% touch/keyboard/pencil driven iPad when booted into iPadOS. There is no compromise or change to either experience - calling it an abomination is pure drama.

And they would probably have voted yes to keeping the floppy disk drive around with the first imac as well.

Funny you mentioned boot camp. I initially purchased a copy of windows 7 for my first imac in 2011 to play games with, and gave up a few weeks later. It was simply too troublesome to manage two separate OSes that didn’t speak with each other.

There is another philosophical reason why I have little desire to see macOS come to the ipad. I (still) firmly believe that iOS represents the future for Apple, not macOS. In time, iOS will gain more functionality and the ipad will get more capable, but it will not be through running macOS.

We all want the same thing (be able to do more on our ipads) but we have differing visions on how to accomplish that goal. Personally, I remain of the opinion that Having macOS on an iPad will not lift users up, but instead only crush them down because then, there will be no incentive to want to continue evolving iOS and discovering new apps and workflows for iOS.

Until that day comes, I am content to wait, and I am content to remain inconvenienced by certain Mac capabilities not being available on my ipad.

 

[jdb8167]

And they would probably have voted yes to keeping the floppy disk drive around with the first imac as well.

Except Apple did keep the floppy disk around. The drivers were still built into the OS and USB floppy drives worked fine. People complained that it was an extra cost and not built-in but floppies still worked. That isn’t how things are with iPadOS. If Apple says no, there is no recourse and Apple usually seems to say no out of disinterest more than philosophy.

 

[bscheffel]

And they would probably have voted yes to keeping the floppy disk drive around with the first imac as well.

Funny you mentioned boot camp. I initially purchased a copy of windows 7 for my first imac in 2011 to play games with, and gave up a few weeks later. It was simply too troublesome to manage two separate OSes that didn’t speak with each other.

There is another philosophical reason why I have little desire to see macOS come to the ipad. I (still) firmly believe that iOS represents the future for Apple, not macOS. In time, iOS will gain more functionality and the ipad will get more capable, but it will not be through running macOS.

We all want the same thing (be able to do more on our ipads) but we have differing visions on how to accomplish that goal. Personally, I remain of the opinion that Having macOS on an iPad will not lift users up, but instead only crush them down because then, there will be no incentive to want to continue evolving iOS and discovering new apps and workflows for iOS.

Until that day comes, I am content to wait, and I am content to remain inconvenienced by certain Mac capabilities not being available on my ipad.

I also stopped using bootcamp but that's because Parallels does a better job of unifying the experience of Mac/Windows on the same machine at the same time. Yes - I still have work apps that I need Windows for (MS Project and MS Visio). I guess I am more impatient that you on waiting for the future but the main situation that drives my passion on this is that I travel for work every week and my work computer is a Mac but it is locked down (no iCloud) so I need to have all my personal stuff on iPad which fits the bill 90% of the time but that last 10% is the problem. Would also be wonderful to leave Mac behind on the weekend/vacations but I never can because of that 10% iPad can't do. I use Jump Desktop to bridge the gap but working on Jump Desktop is taxing for complex tasks for any length of time. Jump desktop with Magic Keyboard is very close though! So close but no cigar, yet.

 

[LogicalApex]

Possible, yes.

Desirable? Maybe to a very small niche group of users who might be willing to take the effort to make it work. It would also go against Apple's core philosophy of simplicity and minimalism.

I don't see Apple making one, and not just because they would rather you buy 2-3 separate devices. It just doesn't fit with their overall vision, and it's not something the majority of users are going to need or want. At the end of the day, it all goes back to their grand theory of Apple, where the job of the iPad is to take on laptop tasks, while moving to make technology smaller and less confusing.

A dual-boot iPad / MacBook hybrid is the very antithesis of everything that Apple stands for. I think the design team would sooner burn Apple to the ground than allow such an abomination to exist.

A bootcamp mode isn't the only path the have here. I agree it is the least likely path they'd take, but they could easily just do what they did on M1 enabled Macs (except in reverse)...

They can say any Apple Silicon app on the Mac App Store (or they could install Rosetta on the iPad to just make it any Mac App Store app) will now run on the iPad unless the developer opts out. Developers can then update their apps to play a bit nicer on the iPad, but if they don't it will just work as is with the limitations that can arise with it. Giving the user the "full power" of the application.

Mac App Store apps are already sandboxed just like iPadOS apps so it isn't like they'd be causing a radical shift here. It also wouldn't force them to deal with the complex choices of how to side load and support every possible way to install apps on a Mac or replicate the OS folder structure and etc. It would also allow them to add an instant boost to the Mac AppStore as now developers have another incentive to get their apps on it.

I'm sure most users aren't installing iPad apps on their M1 Macs...

 

[Scott Sherman]

I came across what I think is the best responses to many of the major criticisms and questions around the WWDC 2021 announcements and more specifically what was not announced. Well worth a listen if you are interested in why the iPad has evolved to what it is.

 

[cupcakes2000]

I bet if you took a poll on this site who would like to have boot camp for iPad Pro the response would be in favor of “yes”. “Willing to make the effort to make it work”? It’s literally bootcamp which existed on Intel Mac for years and nobody thought it was too hard to make work. I agree that Apple would rather you buy separate devices but not because it compromises their grand vision but because of revenue. The device is 100% keyboard/trackpad Mac when booted into MacOS and 100% touch/keyboard/pencil driven iPad when booted into iPadOS. There is no compromise or change to either experience - calling it an abomination is pure drama.

This site is nothing like the real world with real users

 

[cupcakes2000]

Please tell me why it is a horrible idea to run MacOS on an iPad with magic keyboard. How exactly would it be any different that an M1 Mabook Air?????

I use macos on the iPad a lot, with jump desktop and sidecar. It is woefully inadequate using touch. That right there. It doesn’t matter magic keyboard blah blah, it’s not apples iPad vision. They’re not going to saddle the iPad with this type of complexity, it’s also not what any ‘normal’ ipad user wants, or they would get a mac. It’s easier to run macos on a mac.

The point has been missed with the whole ‘what’s a computer’ thing on sites like this. People don’t use computers like you or I.

 

[LogicalApex]

I came across what I think is the best responses to many of the major criticisms and questions around the WWDC 2021 announcements and more specifically what was not announced. Well worth a listen if you are interested in why the iPad has evolved to what it is.

The story is the same as it is. Apple shipped what they shipped and we have no idea what they'll ship in the future or if they'll ship anything new at all.

We could see new features over the course of the BETA. We could see new features on official release in September. We could see new features in a iOS 15 point release like we did with iOS 14.5. Something could come in iPadOS 16. We know Apple changed their release pattern a few versions ago to not ship unfinished features in September just to make that date. They've moved to announcing and shipping when it is ready.

As has been said so many times. We can't expect new features until Apple ships them so don't buy on them early and etc. But I'm still not convinced the chapter is finished on the M1 iPad Pro.

 

[pdoherty]

You’re starting to get it. I don’t want “pro” apps for iPad. Universal control is exactly the type stuff I want Apple focusing on. The only way an iPad could replace anything is to come with macOS which obviously isn’t happening.

And nope you don’t need an iPad Pro unless you just want the most premium iPad you can buy. That’s what apple means with Pro.

It most certainly can replace it, if Apple allowed it. We already have keyboards and trackpads/mice and identical hardware to Macs.

 

[bscheffel]

I use macos on the iPad a lot, with jump desktop and sidecar. It is woefully inadequate using touch. That right there. It doesn’t matter magic keyboard blah blah, it’s not apples iPad vision. They’re not going to saddle the iPad with this type of complexity, it’s also not what any ‘normal’ ipad user wants, or they would get a mac. It’s easier to run macos on a mac.

The point has been missed with the whole ‘what’s a computer’ thing on sites like this. People don’t use computers like you or I.

"I use macos on the iPad a lot, with jump desktop and sidecar. It is woefully inadequate using touch. That right there". Just to be clear you aren't natively using MacOS on iPad with Jump or Sidecar, that isn't what I'm talking about with iPad Pro bootcamp into MacOS natively using mouse/trackpad only.

 

[cupcakes2000]

"I use macos on the iPad a lot, with jump desktop and sidecar. It is woefully inadequate using touch. That right there". Just to be clear you aren't natively using MacOS on iPad with Jump or Sidecar, that isn't what I'm talking about with iPad Pro bootcamp into MacOS natively using mouse/trackpad only.

I’m using the interface, native or not.

edit- Oh you mean disable the touch features and bare metal like on a laptop?

Ridiculously niche idea, and negates every iPad benefit. That’s obviously never gonna happen.

 

[bscheffel]

I’m using the interface, native or not.

edit- Oh you mean disable the touch features and barebones like on a laptop?

Ridiculously niche idea, and negates every iPad benefit. That’s obviously never gonna happen.

We agree. It is a niche idea but allows me to carry one device since iPad can already do 90% of what I need - for the remaining 10% I'll boot the iPad into macOS. It negates every iPad benefit - yes it does but only for the 10% of the time I'm using it as a Mac. The other 90% I'm happy to stay in iPadOS and enjoy how much easier most computing tasks are on iPad. Obviously never gonna happen - 100% agree but doesn't make it a bad idea from an engineering perspective.

 

[cupcakes2000]

We agree. It is a niche idea but allows me to carry one device since iPad can already do 90% of what I need - for the remaining 10% I'll boot the iPad into macOS. It negates every iPad benefit - yes it does but only for the 10% of the time I'm using it as a Mac. The other 90% I'm happy to stay in iPadOS and enjoy how much easier most computer tasks are on iPad. Obviously never gonna happen - 100% agree but doesn't make it a bad idea from an engineering perspective.

I thought you meant some sort of macOS virtualisation, which I can get on board with - but still don’t think will happen. MacOS as an app is how I use it now with my Mac mini and it’s great.

 

[rui no onna]

A bootcamp mode isn't the only path the have here. I agree it is the least likely path they'd take, but they could easily just do what they did on M1 enabled Macs (except in reverse)...

They can say any Apple Silicon app on the Mac App Store (or they could install Rosetta on the iPad to just make it any Mac App Store app) will now run on the iPad unless the developer opts out. Developers can then update their apps to play a bit nicer on the iPad, but if they don't it will just work as is with the limitations that can arise with it. Giving the user the "full power" of the application.

Mac App Store apps are already sandboxed just like iPadOS apps so it isn't like they'd be causing a radical shift here. It also wouldn't force them to deal with the complex choices of how to side load and support every possible way to install apps on a Mac or replicate the OS folder structure and etc. It would also allow them to add an instant boost to the Mac AppStore as now developers have another incentive to get their apps on it.

I'm sure most users aren't installing iPad apps on their M1 Macs...

I actually think Mac App Store on iPadOS (or maybe a unified App Store) isn't entirely out of the question. Just because it didn't happen now doesn't mean it won't happen ever.

The important thing for Apple, I believe, is that they have the system locked down and they can still get their 30% cut.

 

[jetjaguar]

The future of the iPad has to be much better software to take advantage of all the power. This has been the iPads problem for a long time. Great hardware that is crippled by the OS.

 

[iPadified]

If that is the only part of the entire comment you take exception with - I am satisfied and agree that visitors to the MacRumors iPad forum are a tiny enthusiastic group of users.
I do think that now there is hardware parity between Mac and iPad the question will come up more. Before the 6GB ram limit in iPad Pro would have not met Apple's own current baseline of 8GB for Macs but the A12x/z is more than capable to run Big Sur (heck the developer transition machine even used an A12Z).

Haha, No. Caring for the MR members would be catastrophic for Apple. I can undertstand bootcamp but if you really need Windows there are much better solutions on the PC side. If anything, PCs are powerful and flexible which are their strengths. Many MR members would be better off with a PC in fact.

If Microsoft adds full word and excel to iPad and some reference manager is also supported, then I have no need of a Mac when I am on the go.

As many has said before we need more competent apps and as long as as no one has explained to me why IPadOS cannot support ”full” apps I refute the idea that that OS is wrong.

 

[iPadified]

I came across what I think is the best responses to many of the major criticisms and questions around the WWDC 2021 announcements and more specifically what was not announced. Well worth a listen if you are interested in why the iPad has evolved to what it is.

Great summary! He explains quite well what the iPad is for beast and whom it is intended for and it is not for the tech nerds...

 

[sunny5]

Well, iPadOS is a huge problem and iPadOS 15 proves that Apple won't gonna merge iPad Pro to Mac.

But the biggest problem is that if MBA gets mini-LED, then iPad Pro becomes quite pointless. Next gen MBA with a new design is expected to release in 2022 and if it's true, then there is no reason to keep iPad Pro and MBA will be much better to use because of limitless software and OS unlike iPadOS. On the other hand, giving macOS capability to iPadOS will kill MBA because it's cheaper and it has mini-LED.

Apple is limiting M1 iPad Pro's performance and I really think Apple should ditch iPadOS on iPad Pro. Do you still think iPadOS is good for productivity? macOS Big Sur got more software than iPadOS within a year which proves that macOS is more useful than iPadOS in terms of productivity and I really think Apple should merge iPad Pro to Mac.

At this point, iPadOS itself is hopeless.

 

[sparksd]

Well, iPadOS is a huge problem and iPadOS 15 proves that Apple won't gonna merge iPad Pro to Mac.

But the biggest problem is that if MBA gets mini-LED, then iPad Pro becomes quite pointless. Next gen MBA with a new design is expected to release in 2022 and if it's true, then there is no reason to keep iPad Pro and MBA will be much better to use because of limitless software and OS unlike iPadOS. On the other hand, giving macOS capability to iPadOS will kill MBA because it's cheaper and it has mini-LED.

Apple is limiting M1 iPad Pro's performance and I really think Apple should ditch iPadOS on iPad Pro. Do you still think iPadOS is good for productivity? macOS Big Sur got more software than iPadOS within a year which proves that macOS is more useful than iPadOS in terms of productivity and I really think Apple should merge iPad Pro to Mac.

At this point, iPadOS itself is hopeless.

I disagree that the Pro becomes pointless with the addition of mini-LED to the MBA - the MBA is still not a tablet and if it's a tablet you want - I do - then the Pro remains relevant.

 

[sunny5]

I disagree that the Pro becomes pointless with the addition of mini-LED to the MBA - the MBA is still not a tablet and if it's a tablet you want - I do - then the Pro remains relevant.

Then what can you do with iPadOS? It's quite limited compared to macOS and that's why people demanded more power from iPadOS and yet Apple is still limiting its power. Pro but not Pro. Also, if you add a keyboard on iPad Pro, what's the difference?