iPad as a laptop replacement

[fw85]

Even if stage manager and iPad's more complicated multitasking features are better than nothing, I think more people would be far more comfortable with more of a desktop interface when they plug in a mouse/keyboard/monitor.

The majority of people don't even care about Stage Manager, and wouldn't care about any sort of would-be macOS-interface clone either. And we're likely talking high 90+% numbers here. These people are never going to plug in anything into their iPad apart from the charger.

So the crowd you're actually addressing here is a niche minority, iPad-as-laptop-replacement fans/diehards/fantasizers

 

[darngooddesign]

I’d switch back to using the iPad as my main computer again if I could run macOS apps natively on it. i much prefer the simpler iPadOS over macOS for my day to day stuff.

You wouldn't be able to run MacOS apps because iPadOS doesn't have a menubar for all that app functionality.

 

[teh_hunterer]

The majority of people don't even care about Stage Manager, and wouldn't care about any sort of would-be macOS-interface clone either. And we're likely talking high 90+% numbers here. These people are never going to plug in anything into their iPad apart from the charger.

So the crowd you're actually addressing here is a niche minority, iPad-as-laptop-replacement fans/diehards/fantasizers

That's one reason why I wonder what the benefit is of creating this desktop-but-the-iPad-way interface that is stage manager.

People who want the iPad to remain an iPad aren't even going to use these features anyway, so having the iPad be able to run a macOS interface when appropriate doesn't really impact them.

When someone is going to the trouble of plugging an iPad into a monitor, mouse, and keyboard, they're self selecting into a more advanced group of users, and it is such a small group of people where I wonder what the point is of having this clunky halfway interface?

I want the best of both worlds. An iPad when I want an iPad, and then let me use that Thunderbolt port properly for a proper desktop interface.

 

[darngooddesign]

That's one reason why I wonder what the benefit is of creating this desktop-but-the-iPad-way interface that is stage manager.

Because it's better than splitscreen which is useless in portrait.

People who want the iPad to remain an iPad aren't even going to use these features anyway, so having the iPad be able to run a macOS interface when appropriate doesn't really impact them.

My iPad is an iPad and I use SM all the time.

When someone is going to the trouble of plugging an iPad into a monitor, mouse, and keyboard into an iPad, they're self selecting into a more advanced group of users, and it is such a small group of people where I wonder what the point is of having this clunky halfway interface?

You're acting like using a keyboard/trackpad case is some herculean task. Want to use a display, plug in one cable. Using a mouse is as simple as using it with a MacBook; just turn the BT mouse on.

Its all super easy to do.

 

[sparksd]

From all the sentiment I've seen from participating for a long time in these types of discussions, and consuming a lot of iPad content, I believe it's safe to say at this point.

You're welcome to disagree. I'm not going to provide a peer reviewed study.

I do disagree and I also have participated for a long time and have consumed a significant amount of iPad content.

 

[fw85]

That's one reason why I wonder what the benefit is of creating this desktop-but-the-iPad-way interface that is stage manager.

People who want the iPad to remain an iPad aren't even going to use these features anyway, so having the iPad be able to run a macOS interface when appropriate doesn't really impact them.

When someone is going to the trouble of plugging an iPad into a monitor, mouse, and keyboard, they're self selecting into a more advanced group of users, and it is such a small group of people where I wonder what the point is of having this clunky halfway interface?

I want the best of both worlds. An iPad when I want an iPad, and then let me use that Thunderbolt port properly for a proper desktop interface.

Be it Stage Manager or a macOS interface clone at the helm, the real issue that holds a lot of people from the niche crowd back is lack of proper app support.
With some professional apps being outright unavailable, some being half-baked and some missing key features, you can dress up the system UI whichever way you like and it still won't change the fact that people can't do the work they need to, not natively.

 

[teh_hunterer]

My iPad is an iPad and I use SM all the time.

I am referring to the group of people who say putting a macOS style interface and desktop apps on the iPad is going to tarnish the simplicity of the iPad and ruin what it is to most who use it.

You're acting like using a keyboard/trackpad case is some herculean task. Want to use a display, plug in one cable. Using a mouse is as simple as using it with a MacBook; just turn the BT mouse on.

You are quoting me out of context. I'm responding to the idea that 90% of people don't plug anything into their iPad except the charger.

These people absolutely exist, even if it's hard for people like you and I to remember.

 

[darngooddesign]

I am referring to the group of people who say putting a macOS style interface and desktop apps on the iPad is going to tarnish the simplicity of the iPad and ruin what it is to most who use it.

The windowing system is irrelevant. If developers of iOS apps didn't take advantage of Catalyst to put them on MacOS, developers of much more complex desktop apps wont put them on iPadOS. Besides, without iPadOS providing a menubar and, desktop apps cant run without being rewritten.

You are quoting me out of context. I'm responding to the idea that 90% of people don't plug anything into their iPad except the charger.

These people absolutely exist, even if it's hard for people like you and I to remember.

I have no problem remembering that the Magic Keyboard qualifies as plugging a keyboard and mouse into the iPad. Lots of people plug keyboards and mice/trackapds into their iPads.

 

[teh_hunterer]

The windowing system is irrelevant. If developers of iOS apps didn't take advantage of Catalyst to put them on MacOS, developers of much more complex desktop apps wont put them on iPadOS. Besides, without iPadOS providing a menubar and, desktop apps cant run without being rewritten.

The UI is a huge part of the experience, and if it is irrelevant then why not just use a UI that people are used to and has been refined over 30 years then? Why go to the bother of creating a whole new UI that most iPad users don't use?

I agree that app support is a big issue, and that there are challenges such as the menu bar, sure.

I have no problem remembering that the Magic Keyboard qualifies as plugging a keyboard and mouse into the iPad. Lots of people plug keyboards and mice/trackapds into their iPads.

Lots of people do, but the point that @fw85 made earlier is probably right, that 90% of people use their iPad purely as a tablet. The amount of people who buy an iPad Pro or Air that is even capable of connecting to a Magic Keyboard is small in the first place, and the people who go on from there to actually buy and connect a Magic Keyboard is smaller still. I love the Magic Keyboard, but the majority of iPad users are not like us.

 

[darngooddesign]

The UI is a huge part of the experience, and if it is irrelevant then why not just use a UI that people are used to and has been refined over 30 years then? Why go to the bother of creating a whole new UI that most iPad users don't use?

You're going to have to provide evidence that people don't use StageManger. Even a single large window the dock visible is StageManager.

I agree that app support is a big issue, and that there are challenges such as the menu bar, sure.

You cant run an app which requires the menubar without having a menubar. How are you going to create/open/save your documents when iPadOS doesn't have MacOS file handling? Desktop apps wont run on iPadOS without being rewritten.

Lots of people do, but the point that @fw85 made earlier is probably right, that 90% of people use their iPad purely as a tablet.

Citation needed

The amount of people who buy an iPad Pro or Air that is even capable of connecting to a Magic Keyboard is small in the first place, and the people who go on from there to actually buy and connect a Magic Keyboard is smaller still. I love the Magic Keyboard, but the majority of iPad users are not like us.

Every iPad Pro since 2015 can have a keyboard plugged in via the Smart Connector. Every iPadPro since 2018 and iPad Air since 2020 can use a Magic Keyboard, but there have been a huge assortment of 3rd party BT keyboard and keyboard/trackpad cases for many years now. Even the base iPad10 can have a keyboard and trackpad plugged in.

 

[teh_hunterer]

You're going to have to provide evidence that people don't use StageManger.

No I'm not

You cant run an app which requires the menubar without having a menubar. How are you going to create/open/save your documents when iPadOS doesn't have MacOS file handling? Desktop apps wont run on iPadOS without being rewritten.

As I said, it's a challenge. But that is far from the point I was making and the exact details of bringing Mac apps over to iPad not a discussion I really care to be dragged into.

Citation needed

Citation denied. You're welcome to disagree.

Every iPad Pro since 2015 can have a keyboard plugged in via the Smart Connector. Every iPadPro since 2018 and iPad Air since 2020 can use a Magic Keyboard, but there have been a huge assortment of 3rd party BT keyboard and keyboard/trackpad cases for many years now. Even the base iPad10 can have a keyboard and trackpad plugged in.

As I said, I agree with the other guy that the majority of iPad users don't use their iPads with keyboards and mice. They don't.

 

[Ludatyk]

Citation denied. You're welcome to disagree.

But that's the thing... you are claiming most people don't use Stage Manager along with not liking it.

I can understand if you phrase it as an opinion, but you are stating it as fact.

 

[teh_hunterer]

But that's the thing... you are claiming most people don't use Stage Manager along with not liking it.

I can understand if you phrase it as an opinion, but you are stating it as fact.

I didn't state it as fact. I said I think it's safe to admit most people don't like it.

"From all the sentiment I've seen from participating for a long time in these types of discussions, and consuming a lot of iPad content, I believe it's safe to say at this point."

"we've had enough time now for us all to get used to Stage Manager where I think it's time to admit at least that most people don't like it."

I still think I'm right, but I'm not saying people have to accept my read of the landscape of iPad users. But given that a small portion of iPads currently in use today are able to even run Stage Manager on an external monitor in the first place (M1+ only), it's a feature relatively few iPad users take advantage of even before taking user preference into account.

 

[Mainsail]

Lots of people do, but the point that @fw85 made earlier is probably right, that 90% of people use their iPad purely as a tablet. The amount of people who buy an iPad Pro or Air that is even capable of connecting to a Magic Keyboard is small in the first place, and the people who go on from there to actually buy and connect a Magic Keyboard is smaller still. I love the Magic Keyboard, but the majority of iPad users are not like us.

I tend to agree with this observation. Most of the people I know simply use their iPads as tablets. IPadOS is a touch first operating system, and it is a delight to use purely as a tablet. But, when I try to use it as a laptop, it just gets so frustrating that I start asking "why I am doing this to myself?" So, I reach for my MBA and all of the frustration just melts away.

That sad; there are people who want to push their iPads and use it as a laptop replacement. More power to them. My wife uses an iPad with a MK, but she doesn't multi-task much or use stage manager at all. If she needs to do multi-tasking or use productivity apps, she uses her iMac.

 

[Digitalguy]

Personally I don't care what most people do. And I have no doubt that even if you put a MacOS UI on iPad instead of Stage Manager, very few people would use it anyway, so it wouldn't change much for Apple.
While I don't particularly like Stage Manager and find it inferior to Windows or even to Samsung DEX and OneUI, I'm glad it's an option and it adds value over the very limited multitasking in iPadOS, which as someone said, is basically useless in portrait mode...

 

[NastyMatt]

I know 4 people with IPP's. 3 use MK. There you go, cite me. "75% of IPP users use them with MK not as tablets." NastyMatt, 2023, MacRumours.

All joking aside, there are some major leaps of faith here based on that individual's restricted experience of users being quoted as fact, where no amount of contrary views will change that. People need to stop with bold statements/percentages as evidence and keep it to "in my opinion/experience".

My Mum uses an IPP, she didn't even know about SM or you could plug it into a monitor and get extended screen support, she's been using this 10 year old laptop instead on the monitor. Her mind was blown when I showed her, she now uses it exclusively - no more laptop. She is 78 and certainly no advanced user. So, 100% of basic IPP users 78 years or older use the IPP with extended screen support.

 

[darngooddesign]

...I still think I'm right, but I'm not saying people have to accept my read of the landscape of iPad users. But given that a small portion of iPads currently in use today are able to even run Stage Manager on an external monitor in the first place (M1+ only), it's a feature relatively few iPad users take advantage of even before taking user preference into account.

Stage Manager is the windowing system, not the windowing system on an external display. Every iPad Pro since 2018 can run Stage Manager on the iPad's display, but an M1+ is required to run Stage Manager on an external display. So I agree with you that a relatively small percentage of iPad users are running Stage Manager on an external display.

 

[teh_hunterer]

All joking aside, there are some major leaps of faith here based on that individual's restricted experience of users being quoted as fact, where no amount of contrary views will change that. People need to stop with bold statements/percentages as evidence and keep it to "in my opinion/experience".

You're referring to me, I assume? To say I stated that as fact shows you didn't actually read what I said.

People seem to overreact if one says something negative about the iPad here.

"From all the sentiment I've seen from participating for a long time in these types of discussions, and consuming a lot of iPad content, I believe it's safe to say at this point."

"we've had enough time now for us all to get used to Stage Manager where I think it's time to admit at least that most people don't like it."

"I'm not saying people have to accept my read of the landscape of iPad users."

 

[MBAir2010]

Seems to me that now with usb c, one can use this iPad gen 10 as a replacement to a MacBook.
The only task that iPad cant do (as i'm aware of) is use handbrake, a video converting program.

 

[Ludatyk]

You're referring to me, I assume? To say I stated that as fact shows you didn't actually read what I said.

People seem to overreact if one says something negative about the iPad here.

"From all the sentiment I've seen from participating for a long time in these types of discussions, and consuming a lot of iPad content, I believe it's safe to say at this point."

"we've had enough time now for us all to get used to Stage Manager where I think it's time to admit at least that most people don't like it."

"I'm not saying people have to accept my read of the landscape of iPad users."

You are right. The words you used were an opinion of yours… you didn’t state them as facts.

But I think the people that don’t like Stage Manager is as big as you think… it might appear that way from online forums, but does that represent the public outside of the online forums.

The group who were outspoken about their dislike with Stage Manager can seem like the majority if they are the loudest.

 

[prospervic]

You are right. The words you used were an opinion of yours… you didn’t state them as facts.

But I don’t think the people that don’t like Stage Manager is as big as you think… it might appear that way from online forums, but does that represent the public outside of the online forums.

The group who were outspoken about their dislike with Stage Manager can seem like the majority if they are the loudest.

Indeed. That’s the thing about echo chambers, they give the illusion of many of people talking.

 

[NastyMatt]

You're referring to me, I assume? To say I stated that as fact shows you didn't actually read what I said.

People seem to overreact if one says something negative about the iPad here.

"From all the sentiment I've seen from participating for a long time in these types of discussions, and consuming a lot of iPad content, I believe it's safe to say at this point."

"we've had enough time now for us all to get used to Stage Manager where I think it's time to admit at least that most people don't like it."

"I'm not saying people have to accept my read of the landscape of iPad users."

217 pages in this thread and you assume I am talking only about you 😯 and even take time to bold a previous post!

"The lady doth protest too much, methinks.".

 

[xxFoxtail]

You wouldn't be able to run MacOS apps because iPadOS doesn't have a menubar for all that app functionality.

There’s nothing really stopping them from putting one on just for the app. Or it can just use the iPad’s built in Menu Bar thing when you hold CMD (or whatever the button is) for a moment.

 

[Populus]

So… I just connected my iPad to the TV to watch a movie on a streaming service, but when I move the app on the external TV, and click on the three dots on top, it doesn’t offer me the option to make it full screen. Does this improve on iPadOS 17 or it depends on the developer?

Secondly, I watch a movie (MP4 format) located at an external drive, using the app NPlayer I purchased time ago, and the M2 iPad Pro is burning a 3% each 9 minutes, or the equivalent of 1% each 3 minutes, giving me only 5 hours of payback from the external hard drive. Is this normal? If this is the usual drain then the M2 is not worth it for multimedia.

 

[Ludatyk]

So… I just connected my iPad to the TV to watch a movie on a streaming service, but when I move the app on the external TV, and click on the three dots on top, it doesn’t offer me the option to make it full screen. Does this improve on iPadOS 17 or it depends on the developer?

You might need to switch it to mirror mode on the iPad… that way it will be forced to show content full screen.

Secondly, I watch a movie (MP4 format) located at an external drive, using the app NPlayer I purchased time ago, and the M2 iPad Pro is burning a 3% each 9 minutes, or the equivalent of 1% each 3 minutes, giving me only 5 hours of payback from the external hard drive. Is this normal? If this is the usual drain then the M2 is not worth it for multimedia.

I don’t know, but I avoid playing content off the external drive… I prefer copying it to the iPad itself and then playing it.