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 as a laptop replacement
- Thread starter Omar Comin' Yo
- WikiPost WikiPost
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
- Status
Scrolling up and down in web browsers is jerky, not smooth at all. Almost too sensitive, scrolls way too fast or not at all. And there's no way to adjust this in iOS.
How is it not? OP specified their use case and asked if iPP could replace it.
The mistake people make is then thinking the question is “can an iPP replace a person’s main computer for every task imaginable.” And of course the answer to that is “no.”
But there are Macs that don’t serve everyone. For people who need the Mac Pro, no MBP or iMac would fit the bill. But it doesn’t make those devices any less capable at doing the things their users require from them.
For some reason, these threads always bring out people who demand unequal expectations, like @chmania . Because the iPad can’t do everything a Mac can, it must be next to useless. He makes no such criticism for a MBP because it can’t match a Mac Pro though.
The iPad is its own product category, basically eliminating and improving notebooks - which themselves weren’t particularly good at replacing laptops.
The ire for the iPad is only justified if Apple said they were discontinuing laptops, thereby forcing us all to buy an iPad instead. But there’s no danger of that happening.
Last edited:
I just bought a Magic Trackpad two weeks ago to use with my M1 12.9” iPP. Works great. Love that it provides all of the multitouch gestures that you don’t get if you are interacting directly with the screen by touch.
I have the same mouse (and love it). Not being able to use the back and forward buttons really sucks in iPadOS. And can we please get a real mouse cursor?
I remember reading somewhere that you could map the forward and back buttons on the MX Master mouse to some gestures you can make by turning on Assistive Touch. But I never got it to work.
Yeah, it’s well known that the best mouse experience on iPadOS is from the Magic Mouse.
I have a MX Master 3, but I avoid using it with iPadOS… the experience is just not worth (imo). Can’t really utilize all there is with the MX mouse.
People keep asking for a real mouse cursor… when it’s a touch-first device, mouse input is simply not iPadOS strengths.
And what purpose would a real mouse cursor serve? If users need precision… that’s where the Apple Pencil comes into the picture.
Apps that need more precision can customize the pointer too, I know most don’t bother but often too much blame is put on Apple for the mouse support when the majority is the fault of third party devs not putting in the effort to offer better mouse support.
You don't need a cursor when using an Apple Pencil or your finger so a mouse cursor would be great for, you know, those who use a mouse.
I use a track pad 99% of the time with my iMac and universal control to my iPad.
Thanks.Nice desktop setup. I do have an M2 Pro Mac Mini. I never said my iPP replaced my desktop…only my laptop. Like any good techie, I have to hook my iPP to an external monitor occasionally. But seriously, my iPP fully replaces a laptop for the work I do. I do really understand that this can’t be done by everyone, but I have to believe that most people here do have use cases for their iPads that they are happy with. I think a majority of us wish they would do more.
I am in Florida to see my parents right now, and the only things I have are my iPhone and iPP. I really think most of the stuff I’ve done on this trip could’ve been done with just my iPhone. As most of you know, I really do like my iPP, and it truly is an EDC for me.
I have only ever had a iPad for when I leave the house, never owned a MacBook.
My iPad gets more use at home than my iPhone.
When I travel OS my iPhone gets the most use.
If I didn't like/need a big screen in my home office I could easily just use a iPad.
But I think what the post I was responding to is asking for is something akin to Windows and macOS... the arrow shape symbol. Or maybe I'm wrong.
But iPadOS have a mouse cursor... what are you asking for exactly? It even has the text selection symbol when hovering on text (an action a mouse would do).
It's a waste of a good mouse to use in iOS. Apple needs to get rid of the dot, can we have a proper mouse cursor please? I may just give the Magic trackpad a try. The only thing I don't like is, it's not near as portable as a mouse is because of the sheer size. It's thin but it takes up a lot of space.
Are you using your trackpad mostly at a desk? That is the main reason why I want to get one. If Im using my ipad on a flat surface for just a few minutes I don't mind touching the screen but anything longer and it gets tiring lifting your arm each time to touch the screen to navigate. It should fit in my ipad bag but will likely have to put it in a sleeve of some sort so it doesn't scratch up my apple bluetooth keyboard. I kinda wish they had two sizes of the trackpad. I'd buy a mini sized version over the full size.
I'm using it on flat surfaces, but not actually my desk. If I'm at my desk, I can use Sidecar or Universal Control if I need to use the iPad for any extended period of time with my Mac.
Had Apple just stuck to “it’s a big iPhone” I don’t think this would have happened.
However, introducing the fastest processor, 16 GB of RAM, the best screen, a 13” option and a nice keyboard with a trackpad leaves a lot of us wondering why it cannot do more.
But a big iPhone is a fairly lacklustre and underwhelming prospect.
The iPad now does significantly more, and it uses the hardware - the new Logic and Final Cut Pro for example. And it’s no small thing that the iPad can wirelessly control a multi-cam setup that would otherwise cost thousands in equipment.
The iPad is plenty capable. Yes we all want more improvements but it’s fairly ridiculous that different camps want wildly different things and they all complain Apple is stupid for not doing it.
These things aren’t contradictory though, and more importantly, will have zero impact on anytime who wishes to just use their iPad as a big phone.
Putting full MacOS on an iPad will absolutely, necessarily impact anyone who wants to use it as "a big phone."
But iPad is no longer "a big phone." There is overlap, but there is overlap with the Macs too. Try using your phone for Sidebar, or Universal Control, or multi-cam control, or using Pencil. You can't do it.
And yes, things are contradictory. Is it touch-first or mouse-first? If it's MacOS then it's mouse-first — but people want it on the iPad so that means it needs reworking to be touch-first. But that will be an inferior version to what we have on MacBooks, so why not just use a MacBook? Oh, there's a keyboard attached? Am I to genuinely believe people want full-blown MacOS on their iPad but wouldn't attach a keyboard? Come back to me on April Fool's Day with that suggestion.
We are firmly at the old Henry Ford quote about "if I asked people what they want, they'd have said faster horses."
Whether people want to accept it or not, the iPad and Macs are different products that do different things. And, more to the point, they generally serve the whole market pretty well. If you need the things that MacOS offers, buy a laptop — there are plenty to choose from. If you need the things the iPad offers, including the portability, then buy an iPad — again, plenty to choose from. And as much as forum and tech reviews love to skew reality by focusing only on fully-specced iPad Pros, let's not forget you can buy a regular iPad for a few hundred £. You can buy a MBA and an iPad for less than a specced out iPP.
The circular discussion around this is exhausting and boring. "My touch-first device isn't perfect at mouse control" is like complaining that my stereo doesn't play movies — it's not designed for that!
No, it will not, because I do not think anyone is arguing that iPadOS should be replaced by macOS. Most aren’t even arguing it should be a native install at all, but rather an option to run it virtualized on top of iPadOS.
I’d suggest you stop engaging.
Except the iPad is perfectly suited to run macOS virtualized. It has all the required hardware, and then some, most notably cellular.
There are already enough posts explaining the use cases. If you really want to know, and you cannot find them yourself, I can point you to them.
Last edited:
Plenty of people want MacOS and not iPadOS — so, again, we are back at the position of different camps wanting iPad to be a different product, and complaining that it isn't.
Except, as you know, this sentence you've replied to wasn't about MacOS. It was about iPadOS's mouse support.
Feel free. And can I counter them with all the use cases from people who love their iPad for what it is, and not what they want it to be?
We have had it from the horses mouth, the IPad is a companion device and not meant to replace anything.
If you have manged to replace a device then you have simply met or exceeded Apples expectations.
For those that expect more then you just have to suck it up, its a companion device.
For the rest, they are presumably happy as it stands
If you have manged to replace a device then you have simply met or exceeded Apples expectations.
For those that expect more then you just have to suck it up, its a companion device.
For the rest, they are presumably happy as it stands
I don’t see the point of a windows/macos style mouse pointer most of the time, the current circle is really good given the touch assumptions of iPadOS. If someone needs that level of precision then the app maker can opt in to the pointer APIs and do so.
I think people asking for higher precision for apps where it makes sense are wrong to put the onus on Apple when the app makers are the ones who need to make sure their apps work correctly,