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iPad USB-C to 4k Monitor: What is your use case?
- Thread starter MareLuce
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Not going to happen. Apple has always been open and clear about their mobile and desktop strategy. They’re not going to replace your desktop with iPad.
I did that too with from my iPhone X on my work trip. Worked great till the X ran out of battery.
Who makes your the C --> HDMI cable?
I have a local store here in Sweden that sells one and they let you return it if its not working as expected. So i think i will buy from them.
Might want a longer cabel (3m) so then i might consider something like StarTech USB-C to HDMI Cable - 4K at 60Hz.
I will first travel with my iPad at the end of November so it will give me some time to read up on other people experience before ordering a cable.
Sure are a lot of music makers and dreamers of dreams in this thread.
In answer to the OP, if 4k video output is the only feature USB-C brings to iPad, I can’t think of a realistic use case for myself. I guess if I ever need to output 4k video, but I’d rather watch 4k directly from an Apple TV or settle with airplaying 1080p wirelessly.
In answer to the OP, if 4k video output is the only feature USB-C brings to iPad, I can’t think of a realistic use case for myself. I guess if I ever need to output 4k video, but I’d rather watch 4k directly from an Apple TV or settle with airplaying 1080p wirelessly.
Agreed. That was exactly why I started this thread-I thought I was missing something obvious.
Most of my travel = work travel, where I bring two iPhones and one laptop. I use my second iPhone + Lightning-HDMI dongle from Apple + a 12 foot HDMI cable that I actually do travel with.
For vacation travel, I do bring my iPad. So I might be able to test out that use case once next year. I guess I need to look for a Usb C to HDMI dongle in my dongle drawer.
... Maybe Apple has a brand new use case in addition to faster charging and output to 4K that it’s thinking of re: The iPad pros new USB C port.
I suppose it’s possible USB-C is solely for video editors to be able to playback 4k video in full res on a large screen; and maybe in apps like photoshop, for artists to see their changes in real time on a high res large image (or does airplay support 4k still images/mirroring already?), though in the latter case I think it could get tiring constantly looking back and forth between screens.
that is the issue here. They might be upping the output to 4K just because 4K is now ubiquitous, but the use case will still be limited by this. It's for presentations, perhaps watching film... maybe some editing work for editors with good neck muscles. But honestly, if you have a gorgeous 12.9 display right under your nose, is it worth it looking up to a 4K display only to look back down as soon as you want to do anything? maybe for a few special cases, but it seems hardly a mainstream scenario...
It definitely depends. If the iPad is not on a stand I completely agree with you. It's tedious. However imagine the case when the iPad is on a stand. In that case being able to switch between monitors is awesome if this will support display extension and not display duplication. I do agree with some of the comments that this would drain the battery so I don't see someone doing this the whole day. However sometimes you might need a second screen to do something like working with big sheets files and copying stuff from data from one to another or trying to make graphical representation of a lot of data or say use your brainstorming notes on the iPad to create presentation on the big screen. It does also help with presentations at work or even wanting to show taken photos to the whole family at once for example.
For me though it's about the presentations mostly (if extend display works of course).
I have used the mirroring to my monitor from my iPP. In fact I am doing it right now. I do it because it is easier to read on the monitor - more about ergonomics - I am sitting up taller and the print is larger.
I do have the apple dongle, but the charger port quit working, in fact the whole thing is kind of touchy right now. I have read that a lot of people have had issues with it. I think it is just a poor design, you have a short cord and a big white piece that hangs down, then you add an hdmi cord to it. so it is putting too much pressure on the short cord coming out of the iPad. I have my iPad Standing up in its case. I am thinking of getting one of those triple cord adapters that is supposed to work from Amazon. A lot cheaper - you plug one end into the iPad, one end is hdmi and the other end plugs into your power charger.
I find using a physical keyboard makes it easy - use. Space or arrow when scrolling down pages. I have also done quality control of my designs, using touch or the pencil to move around the object. I did not have to look at the iPad all the time. Now if it would do display extension, I am not sure if that would work so well for me, since I would have to go from a big monitor to a much smaller screen on my iPP. The print is so much smaller on the iPP.
I do have the apple dongle, but the charger port quit working, in fact the whole thing is kind of touchy right now. I have read that a lot of people have had issues with it. I think it is just a poor design, you have a short cord and a big white piece that hangs down, then you add an hdmi cord to it. so it is putting too much pressure on the short cord coming out of the iPad. I have my iPad Standing up in its case. I am thinking of getting one of those triple cord adapters that is supposed to work from Amazon. A lot cheaper - you plug one end into the iPad, one end is hdmi and the other end plugs into your power charger.
I find using a physical keyboard makes it easy - use. Space or arrow when scrolling down pages. I have also done quality control of my designs, using touch or the pencil to move around the object. I did not have to look at the iPad all the time. Now if it would do display extension, I am not sure if that would work so well for me, since I would have to go from a big monitor to a much smaller screen on my iPP. The print is so much smaller on the iPP.
Nothing, unless the iPad gets trackpad support. In that case, running the iPad as an iOS based desktop machine.
As an artist who uses the iPad as his main content creating device, I am very excited by this prospect. I travel a lot, and edit all my photos & videos on my iPad. I had an iMac at home, but it recently died. I will definitely be buying one of these new iPad Pros regardless, but if it’ll be possible to run a 4K HDR display off it, I may never buy another iMac again! Can’t wait for Oct. 30th!
I'm hoping with Marzipan and iOS apps being compiled for Mac, that the same will be able to happen in reverse. Apple has had a hard time getting buy-in from third parties to produce a wide array of high quality professional apps for iPad Pro. There are a few notable exceptions to be sure, but so far it has been slow going. I'm hoping that the iPad Pro will be able to be plugged into an external display (that could also provide power?) and the iPad display would have a keyboard and trackpad that could be used to interact with the display as a mouse. Professional iOS apps could transform into a desktop UI and it would be like macOS Lite—restricted to app store, no customized system stuff, no menubar icons for apps, etc—but look 90% like it with clickable menus and smaller click target sizes for UI components. Doubt we'll see that this year but it would be neat. BT support for physical mouse and keyboard beyond the iPad would be a nice bonus.
What will likely happen is that you can plug your Mac into the iPad Pro as a second display and use it as a graphics tablet without having to use an expensive third party subscription solution or proprietary dongle. It will probably also allow plugging in accessories like we can now with dongles, though a USB-C dongle might be needed for older accessories. Lastly I'm hoping that we will be able to plug in at least a smaller portable SSD like the Samsung T5 to transfer files or open a Lightroom Catalog without having to pay for Adobe cloud storage. The problem is the iPad being able to provide enough power to an external drive since they use both data and power over one cable.
What will likely happen is that you can plug your Mac into the iPad Pro as a second display and use it as a graphics tablet without having to use an expensive third party subscription solution or proprietary dongle. It will probably also allow plugging in accessories like we can now with dongles, though a USB-C dongle might be needed for older accessories. Lastly I'm hoping that we will be able to plug in at least a smaller portable SSD like the Samsung T5 to transfer files or open a Lightroom Catalog without having to pay for Adobe cloud storage. The problem is the iPad being able to provide enough power to an external drive since they use both data and power over one cable.
This is absolutly the way I feel apple needs to go with this product. If they do this they could make the bold move to replace the mac mini, the macbook air & the macbook with this new product line. Then They could package this together with a new dock, monitor, keyboard and mouse/trackpad setup. A household like mine would share the big screen station while everyone would have their own tablet.
I think it could at least replace the MacBook/Air, but the Mac Mini might be pushing it. The rumors are that it's going to be more of a professional rig going forward. What that tells me is professional in the sense that photographers don't need as much power as video editors, but still want something somewhat modular or upgradable.
I have a long standing theory that the Mac Pro could start with a Mac Mini-like base and how powerful it is depends on what you stack on it using high speed interconnects. The base could function itself as a computer with a smaller SSD holding the OS, RAM slots, and the logic board with CPU. But I wonder if it would be possible to stack multiple CPU units as an extension of the logic board? External drives and GPUs are already a thing. This might also jack up the base price of the Mini to around $1000 but it would be super upgradeable. It would be great for prosumers who are just getting started who then decide to spend more on their hobby to upgrade components down the road. The Mac, especially desktop Macs, are quickly becoming more of an enthusiast and professional device (rather than mass-market) for software development and creative fields. They are still critical to Apple's success because developers use them to code and design apps and many people within Apple itself use them to make everything Apple is working on.
I think eventually there will be more hybridization, especially after they transition away from Intel to Apple designed chips. Then Macs can be on more of a parallel development track with both hardware and, to some extent, software with their iOS counterparts. This will enable Apple to keep the Mac more regularly updated without having to necessarily put as many resources into Mac projects that could take away from iOS projects with are the money maker. And actually, this could even provide breakthroughs in chips for future iOS devices because they are pushing the envelope with the Mac. This could be a major win if they pull it off.
If they actually do this, I hope they have a good solution for how it will work. Will it actually extend, or just mirror? The former is of course, far more useful and productive, but will require some big changes to iOS. How will we control what's on the extended display, if not by touch, and of course not by mouse+keyboard? And at that point, perhaps a full-fledged Mac will do the job better.
Looking at it that way, I suppose it's not likely, and may just be limited to higher-resolution mirroring and maybe 4K video streaming.
Looking at it that way, I suppose it's not likely, and may just be limited to higher-resolution mirroring and maybe 4K video streaming.
I do like the idea, but I am not sure to be honest what Apple wants when it comes to marketing. They say that the iPads can replace laptops, but yet they still have laptops in their product line. Maybe they would want to drop the not pro laptops models (I believe it was called MacBook Air) and replace this with iPads? I am not sure that they want to stop their MacBook Pro line because I do think that they cash in a lot there when it comes to the SSD storage. I am also not sure that they would want to support trackpad for iOS from maintenance point of view.
One of the reasons IMO that iOS is more stable compared to say Android is that the OS itself has certain guidelines and rules. That makes it easier to test. The easier the testing, the easier to find bugs that are then fixed before delivering it to customers. I do think that one of the many driving points of iOS for people is the stability. Adding too much customization and options to iOS would compromise this.
I am with the impression that from Development point of view iOS and macOS are completely different systems and there is no reuse or sharing between them. Is this true or I am wrong? If it's true then adding macOS features (like trackpad) to iOS is a potential problem because most fans would expect to see on iOS the same features as macOS. This means for their Developers to have to reinvent the wheel which is not suggested to be honest.
It's the reason why Windows decided to use the same OS for mobile and desktop. I do agree that the first iteration (Windows 8.1) sucked. Windows 10 however is a different matter. It does combine better the desktop and the mobile experience better and for me it will at some point do it even better. And I am not saying that it's the perfect solution but as a person in the Software Development industry I honestly do not see them making the decision to have two completely different OS that provide the same features. Especially considering the fact that quite often people own both iOS and macOS devices and they will be prompted to compare the two OS.
Yes, I guess I should have said the "usecase" for the previous mac mini along with MacBook/Air. I do believe the potential rumors of a modular mac mini type hardware being closer to the pro machine as your describing. The new modular desktop by itself would be another reason for them to release a display. I also agree there is no way a machine like this could replace the Imac/imac pro or Macbook Pro as they are all profesional machines that many depend on for work.
I currently use my Ipad Air and use the dongle (HDMI, lightning) to stream content to my 4k tv. Obviously I know I'm watching at 1080 (or is it 720?). Does the job now, will likely do the same for the new ipad, only with 4k resolution. I DO want to start using my ipad more, ever since having the 1st gen I slowly stopped using it as much, it's definitely a more powerful device than my current usage.
