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iPad Mac OS “Dex”-like feature on iOS 13 for iPads

J

joshkhaos1

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Original poster
Jul 24, 2014
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Haven’t seen this discussed. I tried out that Tab S4 a few months back and one of the neatest features was the ability to boot into the Dex mode on the tablet. It got me thinking that maybe what iPad needs is something like this where it is defaulted to iOS but has a feature where it can boot into something like MacOS and switch back and forth based on how your using it.

What do you guys think? To me that’s the best of both worlds.
 
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I mean, that'd be cool/interesting so long as the choice didn't somehow hinder either (or both). And, of course all files would need to be accessible from both.
 
Dave-Z said:
This is truly what I want from my iPad. A full tablet that when I connect to an external monitor, keyboard, and mouse gives me something likes macOS. It would be amazing.
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I don't know if they will ever do this. They know this would kill their laptops and desktop computers. We'd all be buying $2k iPads, with docking stations, creating the ultimate computer. Tablet when you want, laptop when you want, desktop when you want. Good luck with that, it would make too much sense.
 
cornerexit said:
I don't know if they will ever do this. They know this would kill their laptops and desktop computers. We'd all be buying $2k iPads, with docking stations, creating the ultimate computer. Tablet when you want, laptop when you want, desktop when you want. Good luck with that, it would make too much sense.
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I completely, 100% agree with you. And such truth makes me sad.

At least I can dream.
 
One narrative was that Cook wants to kill the Mac because it's not worth the hassle any more
 
Dave-Z said:
I completely, 100% agree with you. And such truth makes me sad.

At least I can dream.
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me too. I'd need that device (with dock, cables, external drives, etc) and a phone and I'd be done. Won't happen. Capitalism is great, but there is no check on greed due to shareholders. If you've been with Apple long enough, they know how to be Nino Brown. Get you hooked, then give you just that little much to get you to periodically upgrade. They could make a blaster, some device like we are talking about that would be a monster and killer. But that would cannibalize their sales and they won't do it unless competitors push them to, and that would require a competitor kicking their tale up and down Wall St. and I don't see that happening anytime soon.

All 2018 has taught me, as I've been holding out for years on watch/phone/pad/pc upgrades, is this upgrade cycle, well I'm switching to extended intervals now. Used to be 2 years on phone, 3 on pad, 4 on pc's, which I thought was semi-financially prudent. Not as sound as the folks on here who hang on to their devices until they are no longer supported or they go tits up but also not the upgrade every year folks (which I think is nuts financially). This next go round, and trust me I'm buying stuff right now, is it until they make revolutionary product changes this incremental, evolutionary instead of revolutionary deal is getting stale, very. The price increases will change my spending habits with them, and I hope others to. Because it will take future restraint (or current) to get them to change. I could justify a phone upgrade every other year with the carrier subsidizing I get (I used to work for a particular carrier, know people, and get a FAN with my current company), could justify a new IPP every 3 years because they were what, $799 for a base IPP in 12.9, at least I think that is what I paid in 2015. But new phone/pad, sell phone/pad, this always meant a $0-100 phone upgrade, or $300ish upgrade on a pad. Those days are over. Once you hit $1k on this stuff, you've got my full attention and then some. I'm not just going to throw that kind of money around without a plan, and sticking to it. Phone upgrade I pulled off for about $150, Pad upgrade is going to cost me $850. You got a g out of me but you won't get a dime from me in the coming years unless my Mini burns up or they stop supporting it. It's a new day with Cupertino, they are pushing the financial boundaries for many of us, even buying base models. Best of luck to everyone.
 
Yup.

I usually upgrade my iPhone and iPad every two years. My iPad Mini whenever it feels too slow (assuming Apple ever updates it again). Even though I bought the 12.9" iPad Pro last year, I was planning to upgrade this year because I liked the improvements, but they raised the prices way too much and also cheaped out in a few things (short USB cable, no stabilization for the camera, charger without collapsable prongs, etc.) that leads me to believe they're at a point now where they just want to milk their fan base for as much money as possible. I said in another thread that if they want to charge laptop prices their product needs to be able to do everything a laptop can; right now I still need a separate device to read a USB key. If the new iPad Pro actually worked like iOS in tablet mode and Dex when connected to the external devices I would not hesitate to fork over the price they're asking.

All that being said, I'm actively exploring the Surface Pro. I know it leans more towards desktop OS than tablet, but most of my "tablet" consists of reading in a web browser so it might actually work fine for me.
 
The Mac side of things is just insane. Idk wtf they are even doing anymore you got MacBook Air for $1300 MacBook for what, $1200? And MacBook Pro which I believe still starts at $1300. What’s that about? They should just have the iPad set up with an option to run MacOS and then have one notebook, like the MacBook Pro. So if you want an ultra portable you get an iPad Pro and if you want a true notebook computer you get a MacBook Pro. That makes a hell of a lot more sense than this other stuff they have going on.
 
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joshkhaos1 said:
The Mac side of things is just insane. Idk wtf they are even doing anymore you got MacBook Air for $1300 MacBook for what, $1200? And MacBook Pro which I believe still starts at $1300. What’s that about? They should just have the iPad set up with an option to run MacOS and then have one notebook, like the MacBook Pro. So if you want an ultra portable you get an iPad Pro and if you want a true notebook computer you get a MacBook Pro. That makes a hell of a lot more sense than this other stuff they have going on.
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I suggest a Windows 10 device.
 
joshkhaos1 said:
Haven’t seen this discussed. I tried out that Tab S4 a few months back and one of the neatest features was the ability to boot into the Dex mode on the tablet. It got me thinking that maybe what iPad needs is something like this where it is defaulted to iOS but has a feature where it can boot into something like MacOS and switch back and forth based on how your using it.

What do you guys think? To me that’s the best of both worlds.
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Sounds like a horrible idea to me. Mac OS is not created with a tablet friendly UI. If Apple was going to adapt Mac OS to be tablet friendly then they should just merge the two completely so there’s no need to switch modes.
 
charlituna said:
Sounds like a horrible idea to me. Mac OS is not created with a tablet friendly UI. If Apple was going to adapt Mac OS to be tablet friendly then they should just merge the two completely so there’s no need to switch modes.
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Not yet, but MacOS might be updated at some point or iOS and MacOS merge in the future. We never know :)
 
Appreciate that some want to simply their lives but the old adage, a Jack of all trades and master of none, comes to mind. That’s how I view many multi-into-1 devices as inevitably compromises are needed to keep costs relevant to the market that wanted the additional functionality that the multiple use device provides. If that’s what the market wants then great but fork the higher end iPad line to do it. Make the cuts necessary on the forked model to keep that market happy, and keep a true tablet centric high end product progressing as well.
 
I think something like this will happen, but I don’t think iOS 13 is when. I expect that you’ll be able to plug in an iPad or dock it and use the iPad as a keyboard/trackpad or potentially any Bluetooth peripherals, but I don’t think it will be macOS. I expect it to be a variant if iOS, with marzipan app support, essentially giving you the ability to run any modern macOS app. We’ll see though. I don’t think Apple is too worried about cannabalizing their Mac’s though if iPads and iPhones can accomplish the same things.
 
DNichter said:
I don’t think Apple is too worried about cannabalizing their Mac’s though if iPads and iPhones can accomplish the same things.
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And especially since they're on track for all models to be at the same price points. ;)
 
I was impressed with DeX on Note 9. And sounds like Qualcomm will only help make future SnapDragon units more so. Got fed up with 2017 Surface Pro but there are times to use Windows. And Surface @ $999 could be tempting. But, it’s still W10. So I’m shopping IPP 12.9 (why not just make it 13 though?).
 
DNichter said:
I guess. I can’t control costs so it doesn’t make much of a difference to me.
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With iOS Apple has gotten to do what companies like Microsoft have not been able to do: Start fresh. Microsoft Windows (and macOS, for that matter) have decades of baggage with them and at this point it's going to be virtually impossible to get rid of it. iOS has the advanage of starting anew with all those decades of experience and none of the baggage. This is the single reason I think Apple is developing iOS so slowly--they want to get it right because they have an opportunity this rare opportunity.

My comment on pricing is my own. I know many in this forum agree with me and many don't. I really like my iPad and iOS, but in my country the price increase was $300 for the same model from 2017 to 2018; I don't like that. But I believe it's part of a larger strategy: 1) To make Apple more money, 2) Eventually iOS will cannibalize Apple's laptop line and by incrementing the prices of iPads over the years Apple will be in a position to continue to draw the same amount of revenue as their laptops fade into history.
 
Dave-Z said:
With iOS Apple has gotten to do what companies like Microsoft have not been able to do: Start fresh. Microsoft Windows (and macOS, for that matter) have decades of baggage with them and at this point it's going to be virtually impossible to get rid of it. iOS has the advanage of starting anew with all those decades of experience and none of the baggage. This is the single reason I think Apple is developing iOS so slowly--they want to get it right because they have an opportunity this rare opportunity.

My comment on pricing is my own. I know many in this forum agree with me and many don't. I really like my iPad and iOS, but in my country the price increase was $300 for the same model from 2017 to 2018; I don't like that. But I believe it's part of a larger strategy: 1) To make Apple more money, 2) Eventually iOS will cannibalize Apple's laptop line and by incrementing the prices of iPads over the years Apple will be in a position to continue to draw the same amount of revenue as their laptops fade into history.
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Agree completely in your first point. Apple has a rare opportunity with iOS. I also think costs are high and agree from a business standpoint that your assessment is likely accurate. In the end though, how they price their products is something I can’t control, so I don’t worry about it. If I don’t feel a product is worth the cost, I just won’t buy. Everybody is different when it comes to that though. I think they would be better off in the long run selling iPads instead of Macs, but I don’t think macOS and traditional computers are going anywhere.
 
Apple has a patent already which describes an OS that can seamlessly transform from mouse optimized to touch optimized depending on which mode the device is set to. I think it mentioned dynamically changing UI elements with larger tap targets for touch, etc. It had to do with an iMac that you could disengage and pull down to an almost flat angle on your desk to use as a giant tablet/drawing surface. That could probably be used in something like this as well. I could see it transforming when plugged into an external display or Airplay into mouse optimized version of macOS “lite” which has limitations and is sandboxed entirely to the App Store but allows for enchanced productivity and some additional features.
 
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Exact reason why my Tab S4 is more useful and just does more than any iPad .....iPad is sitting their wasting all that power and gpu.......while a weaker processor in the Tab S4 can actually function as a laptop replacement...mouse support, file manager etc...and you guys can shut up about tablet optimized apps since the only ones you really need optimized is Microsoft office apps and they are optimized for any android tablet......heck you can plug the Tab s4 into any Monitor or tv and everything functions (all apps) with DEX or even in regular android mode....and this is with a processor that’s more than half of the speed less than the iPad pros...and lets not even get started on how much more useful and productive out the box the Note 9 is than any ipad or iphone.....
 
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IowaLynn said:
I was impressed with DeX on Note 9. And sounds like Qualcomm will only help make future SnapDragon units more so. Got fed up with 2017 Surface Pro but there are times to use Windows. And Surface @ $999 could be tempting. But, it’s still W10. So I’m shopping IPP 12.9 (why not just make it 13 though?).
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13 is seen as a number of misfortune in some countries. That might be the reason. Some airliners don't have row 13 either. :)
 
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