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iPad Pro If iPad Pro could run MacOS, would you bother with iPadOS?
- Thread starter drumcat
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Really justify the price of the magic keyboard if it essentially unlocked a real OS
don't need macos. just need better multitasking, proper external monitor support and a quicker to use file system.
I was predicting precisely this before WWDC, possibly with those Mac store apps running only on an external monitor and not on the device. But after WWDC I am much more sceptical. I don't think we'll see this anytime soon...
I don't think an external monitor will be required but keyboard and mouse might.
That said, I have absolutely no expectations whatsoever as to timeline and what devices will be supported eventually.
I wouldn't agree with it being "a mess", but it definitely has a split personality. Apple is telling their core iPad users, "Relax, it still works like your old iPad! No worries!", while at the same time telling their non-core iPad Pro users, "Why would you need anything more than this? It's better than a laptop AND an iPhone! Look what we're doing with iPadOS!"
Here's the rub: the more complex features are still not discoverable by the average core iPad user, and they're too wonky and complicated for Mac users to want to switch to iPad Pro. So what you have left is this niche of the user base that just simply prefers the iPad over the Mac for productivity, no matter what the new features are. These are the artists, designers, etc. that are really in it for the Apple Pencil and not much else. These are the "What's a computer?" people. Unfortunately for Apple, they are not the people who need to be sold on iPadOS. The alternate workflows the iPad creates for things like art and design already convinced those customers of its reason for being.
I think with iPad, Apple is in the unfortunate position of Steve Jobs having personally launched it. It was one of his most iconic keynotes--sitting on that couch on stage, feeble and not much more than a year away from death, one leg crossed over the other, sitting there enjoying his music, movies, TV, and news all on a big device shaped like a piece of paper. That's the original allure of the tablet form factor, and that's what probably over 90% of iPad buyers are still in it for. It's the same people that really didn't need those big complicated beige box desktop setups back in the 90s. They simply don't need the iPad to do much more than it already did in 2010. Maybe this is why it took off so quickly sales-wise at first and then tapered off so quickly.
All of the above is, of course, just my own opinions and theories and not based on any concrete numbers, but this is what the state of the iPad feels like to me at the moment. It's why I switched back to Mac. It's why I'm only using my iPad for content consumption again, and only when my iPhone isn't within reach. A year ago I wouldn't have said this, but I think it's highly likely that the iPad is never going to slide into that MacBook role fully the way "pros" want it to. It was never designed for that, and you can't shoehorn an 11 year old OS into that role by wishing it into being.
The iPad/iPad Pro is absolutely wonderful for certain kinds of users that want that one device that does everything. But I wonder more and more every year how important that chunk of users is going to end up being to Apple. It's starting to feel like if they had done nothing but add the Apple Pencil over the last 10 years, the customers who actually use it for real work would probably be just as happy as they are now.
I’m happy with iPadOS as it is right now. And I’m a “Pro” user who is in financial management of a $100 million dollar business. I have complex excel spreadsheets that need every ounce of power this M1 can dish out.
I’m amused at all the bellyaching by the people who want more windows on a screen that’s smaller than 13”. iPadOS could’ve stopped development at 13.4 when mouse support came for all I care.
I’m amused at all the bellyaching by the people who want more windows on a screen that’s smaller than 13”. iPadOS could’ve stopped development at 13.4 when mouse support came for all I care.
I would likely use iPadOS 98% of the time because what the OS does it does really well (touch screen, gestures, entertainment, light productivity). MacOS would be used to run the occasional bit of software that doesn’t have an iOS/iPadOS variant.
I’m considering running a Mac Mini with a headless Luna Display to the iPad to have precisely that functionality.
I’m considering running a Mac Mini with a headless Luna Display to the iPad to have precisely that functionality.
We don’t need full-blown macOS. We just need a few critical features ported over from the Mac and a few show-stopping restrictions removed. In no particular order:
- Touch-optimized Apple Pro apps for content creation AKA Final Cut, Compressor, Motion, Logic.
- External monitor support for workspace extension at full resolution / correct aspect ratio, all the way up to 6K (if not 8K) resolution.
- Cleaned up file management / external disk management. Either add the required features or port over touch-optimized versions of Finder and Disk Utility.
- Loosened sandbox restrictions around file type associations and userland file access across the board. Give me the equivalent of “Open with…”
- Loosened media management restrictions. I should be able to play any MP3 file on my iPad’s storage using the Music app. I should be able to play any MP4 file on my iPad’s storage using the TV app.
- Require all apps to support split screen multi tasking.
- Safari support for file upload in web forms, beyond just photos and videos. Why can’t I upload my resume to a jobs website using the “Browse..” button in the submission form?
Might be an issue with the website itself? I have no issues uploading various file types from my iCloud drive.
Indeed, prior to the introduction of the Files app, I was able to upload Excel order forms from Dropbox to webpages in Safari.
P.S. Interesting observation, I was going to attach a Word document to this post but it seems MacRumors forums doesn't allow .docx attachment type. However, the MobileRead forums does.
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I bought my iPad Pro for iPad os, while it would be nice to have choices, iPad OS it is for me.
I'd rather see iPad OS grow and improve than use an "old" desktop os, I am not saying the OS itself is old, but the workflow and the way it works was not ment for touch devices.
Let's hope for an improved iPad OS instead!
I'd rather see iPad OS grow and improve than use an "old" desktop os, I am not saying the OS itself is old, but the workflow and the way it works was not ment for touch devices.
Let's hope for an improved iPad OS instead!
While I agree on iPaad OS being great for the iPad (see the post above) I had no issue running macOS on my loved MacBook Air 11" (it was a marvellous machine), so having windows in a smaller screen is doable.
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This is an awkward implementation because you couldn't just pick up your iPad until you had finished what you were doing. You would be tied to your desk if you are using a BT mouse and/or keyboard, and if you are using a keyboard case but the iPad gets bumped so it loses its magnetic connection you would lose your work until you reattached (imagine if the app crashed when that happened); if the OS had to save its state when connecting/disconnecting there would be an unpleasant lag. You couldn't just make a change to a MacOS file if you didn't happen to have a keyboard and mouse with you. Additionally Apple would have to make all your data files sync, both iCloud and 3rd party, between the two OSes. Putting all the artificial constraints on using the iPad just isn't Apple's style so I think this is one of the main reasons why Apple hasn't added this feature. While making MacOS finger friendly really wouldn't be that hard in the sense of increased padding around actionable elements, it would cause problems on the already smaller 11" screen because fewer things could be displayed.
Can't you just run MacOS on the iPad using something like Parallels?
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IPadOS for me but some macOS like features would be welcome on the iPad
most of all I want more pro apps in the iPad. For me that would mean more features to Microsoft Office on iPad.
excel for example is pretty basic
most of all I want more pro apps in the iPad. For me that would mean more features to Microsoft Office on iPad.
excel for example is pretty basic
It was death by a thousand paper cuts for me. Apple has taken care of a LOT of the low-hanging fruit, but I still have quite a list that I honestly thought would be much smaller by the year of our lord 2021:
--no concurrent audio streams allowed for podcasters
--no consistency in multitasking (they can overhaul it all they want, but app devs have stopped caring/paying attention)
--no Apple pro apps--I would love to be able to put FinalCut on an iPad
--no way to create iPad apps from the iPad, and no, Swift Playgrounds ain't it
--weird screen aspect ratio on the 12.9" makes everything look squished into columns and creates black bars for video
--Battery life has not improved in 11 years, and is getting worse with each iPadOS release (in my experience)
--form factor with Magic Keyboard is thicker, heavier, harder to open, and harder to pick up off a table than my MBA
I am not one of those people who thinks the Mac needs a touch screen or the iPad needs macOS. I just wish I knew what Apple's plans are for the next few releases of iPadOS. Right now, I can't rely on it to be as efficient for productivity as my Mac. It's gotten too complicated and fiddly, and the multitasking is never going to work if app developers aren't going to bother supporting it and Apple is never going to force the issue.
Not so much, it's just a GUI change. You wouldn't loose anything and it be instant. Make the entire iPad run Mac OS. Mac OS and iPad OS have the exact same hardware, but clearly mac os is not designed for touch interface so it should switch to a more touch frinedly interface when no extenral pointing device is attached.
I just don't think Apple looks at the iPad or iPad Pro in this way. I've never been more confident in my own belief that it's never happening. WWDC proved to me that Apple is starting to think a little differently about their ecosystem--or maybe just that Apple's long term plans for their ecosystem are FINALLY coming to fruition now that Apple Silicon is a thing.
Almost all the new headline software features they announced a few weeks ago were coming to ALL Apple devices. There were some device-specific things that were cool, but they were few and far between. With the M1 (and beyond) Apple is finally able to move everything forward together. Yes, it helps them sell you more stuff, but it also makes it so that it barely even matters what device you're using. More like quality-of-life improvements uniformly across all the OSes.
Jason Snell said last year that if iPadOS, iOS, watchOS, tvOS, and CarPlay are all subsets of features, the Mac is the superset. I think for now, I'd rather just have the superset and stop all this handwringing over whether or not this is FINALLY the year my iPad is going to do all the rest of the stuff I really need it to do.
Did anyone here ever connect remotely to a Mac - or Windows for that matter - from an iPad? Did you seriously enjoy the experience? ?
I didn't say Apple would, the question was, would you if offered. But I really don't see the point of a hyper-pwered iPad hardware, if there isn't a more robust OS to go with it.