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iPad Mouse Support - The Missing Elephant
- Thread starter neteng101
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With respect, it doesn't matter what Jobs would have done. He's gone and his Apple is the Apple of the past. The reality is that the current Apple under different leadership is pushing the iPad as a laptop replacement.
I use the Apple Trackpad (v1) for work and love it. Completely stopped using the mouse I also have connected to my MBP + external display at the office. The Apple trackpads are definitely the best on the market though I don't like the oversized one on my 2016 MBP as it registers accidentally brushing it with a finger when typing way too often.
Being able to use that on an iPad as well would be really nice as it would allow you to also use gestures and possibly things like swiping from the edge of the trackpad.
It wasn't me who raised the point.....
Yes as a laptop replacement, but not as a laptop. Hence no mouse support.
Yes completely agree with. It can only be used as a go to easy task replacement device. Not instead of everything one can do on a full fledged laptop.
They are pushing It as Laptop replacement, not a laptop...It would be redundant to replace something with something equal.
They market It has an Ipad that can replace the laptop. The key word here being “Ipad”.
On the other side you have Microsoft surface which is market has an laptop that can replace your tablet.
This aren’t the same marketing strategies, they are exactly the opposite of each other.
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Probably not in order to protect their Macbook and other laptop sales.
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Actually MS brought mouse support before '16. I had it on my MS Surface 2. Mouse support worked fine, but the Surface 2 was molasses in action. About 6 weeks ago I bought a leftover MS surface Pro 4. EXCEPT for price ($1299) I would have gone with the MacBook, but the Surface Pro 4 at $850 which included a great keyboard and a pen. Just couldn't pull the trigger for the MacBook with ONLY one port for either charging or output.
I like the Surface so much that I'm even thinking of selling my MacBook Air.
I see you've edited your post to remove the "obviously the Surface strategy has failed" part. I agree with the edited outlook.
A lot of people wanted CD drives with laptops. Apple tends not to care what people want.
A lot of people wanted their iPhones to support cut and paste but they originally didn't. Eventually Apple put in iOS and it was suddenly "magical". Hopefully something similar happens with mouse support, but it's never a good idea of buy a product hoping a vendor puts in a feature they have never promised.
It all comes down to ergonomics and from my usage with the 12.9'' Pro, it's just not going got work when the device is docked with the keyboard. Any work session on the device longer than 30 minutes is causing arm fatigue. The screen is too big for needing to reach out and touch the screen for everything. Due to the screen size, you need to reach further and higher constantly. I also have the 10.5'' version and that is more manageable when docked but you get less screen real estate with the smaller model which is a deal breaker for many people. Apple will eventually need to solve this issue if they want people to enjoy the 12.9'' when it's docked with the keyboard.
Touch interface is great for devices you hold in your hand, not devices that are docked to a keyboard and used on a desk and as Apple is marketing the Pro so heavily with the keyboard, I'm sure they will come up with a solution one day.
THIS was reported back in March, maybe that's the direction they will be taking with the iPad Pro.
Touch interface is great for devices you hold in your hand, not devices that are docked to a keyboard and used on a desk and as Apple is marketing the Pro so heavily with the keyboard, I'm sure they will come up with a solution one day.
THIS was reported back in March, maybe that's the direction they will be taking with the iPad Pro.
...but Apple told us we don't need touchscreen laptops... and the iPad can replace a laptop! I don't get it.
I have seen that before and would really love it if Apple eventually came out with something like that.
The iPad needs mouse support, but I doubt it'll get actual mouse support. Apple is the type of company that will decide that a mouse won't work because it compromises multi-touch. You can only click one location at a time with the mouse. There's something to that thinking, but at the same time Apple keeps saying nobody wants a touchscreen MacBook because they don't want to have to touch the screen.
I suspect this is something they put a fair amount of time into thinking with each iteration of the Smart Keyboard but can't get just right and won't compromise.
I suspect this is something they put a fair amount of time into thinking with each iteration of the Smart Keyboard but can't get just right and won't compromise.
I feel like marrying mouse support with the current touch interface is not as trivial as everyone here seems to think. Admittedly, I have not seen how it works in Android, but something tells me it is compromised and not terribly elegant. I also cannot see Apple implementing a solution that puts a mouse arrow on the home screen.
If you take an iPad Pro, even the 10.5”, add a keyboard and mouse, you are at least as heavy, if not heavier than a MacBook. At that point, why not have the MacBook? There is far more inefficieny with the iPad besides mouse input. I think if you need a mouse to get done what you need to get done, then an iPad, or rather iOS, will never be the most appropriate tool for you.
I say this as someone who loves their iPad Pros and has tried using them as a replacement for macOS and found far more that keeps that from happening than mouse support.
If you take an iPad Pro, even the 10.5”, add a keyboard and mouse, you are at least as heavy, if not heavier than a MacBook. At that point, why not have the MacBook? There is far more inefficieny with the iPad besides mouse input. I think if you need a mouse to get done what you need to get done, then an iPad, or rather iOS, will never be the most appropriate tool for you.
I say this as someone who loves their iPad Pros and has tried using them as a replacement for macOS and found far more that keeps that from happening than mouse support.
Touchscreen. In particular, Apple Pencil.
Apparently the use cases are not entirely niche, or Microsoft and 3rd party hardware partners wouldn't be devoting money and resources to Windows 10-based tablets and convertibles with Windows Ink support.
I'm looking forward to seeing how the ARM-based Windows tablets with LTE support, due out later this year, handle battery life and stylus support in particular. If they last 9 or 10+ hours and can run OneNote smoothly I'll probably pick one up, allowing me to leave my mid-2011 MacBook Air and iPad Pro 12.9 behind.
...but Apple told us we don't need touchscreen laptops... and the iPad can replace a laptop! I don't get it.
Can not will.
I think people have taken it far too literally. For some users an iPad can replace a laptop, other users need a laptop.
I can see the Pencil use case. I think Apple is contending that one device cannot do that well enough right now. I also do not believe touchscreen by itself (excluding Pencil support) on a laptop or desktop is all that compelling. Having said that, it wouldn’t surprise me to see a folding MacBook with Pencil support. Or iOS gets to the point that we forget the desktop paradigm. I just don’t see iOS becoming more desktop-like though, and honestly, I am not sure I would want it to.
As for 3rd party hardware partners, they are willing to try anything to spur sales. I don’t think the market is begging for touchscreen and styluses and more than they were begging for 3D on TVs.
I think this hits the nail on the head. For most people, the iPad Pro with a keyboard is all they will ever need. Trucks and cars.
I could see a mouse support provided that companies using iPads demand this. However, I think companies uses iPad for situations where a laptop/desktop does not fit well. I doubt that there is a pressure for mouse support from a large body iPad user who bought it for comsumption. The third pressure source is developers but they seem to do fine with touch, gyros, voice and pen support for their software. So overall chances for mouse support seem to be small.
My personal thought is that the beauty of the iPad is that it is not a laptop!
My personal thought is that the beauty of the iPad is that it is not a laptop!
If you are referring to the surface, well, it is a laptop after all.
If you are referring to mouse support on the Ipad, people don’t know what they want...
At populational level, the center of the bell stands for mediocrity.
Mediocrity of inteligence, mediocrity of opinion, mediocrity of creativity, that is where the majority of the population stands.
Apple shouldn’t make there decisions based on what most people think they want.
If that was how Apple worked, It wouldn’t be Apple.
Sure they do - a lot of people want mouse support to further increase the usefulness of their iPads.
Mediocrity has nothing to do with making a device more useful to people and those who don't want it don't have to use it.
There are some things that Apple took the lead on (like dropping physical media) but completely ignoring what people want is not the smartest thing to do.
Actually, if completely ignoring what people want results in no financial downside (or even in a financial windfall) then it is a SMART thing to do.
Many people complained when Apple had the "courage" to remove the headphone jack on the iPhone. The result, sales were greater than the year before. So whatever their reasons were for removing it, those goals were advanced and they made even more money.
Recent history shows that Apple will continue to ignore customer requests UNTIL there are financial consequences.
Apple refused to produce a 7.x" iPad, 7" Android tablets increased in sales ==> Apple produces the iPad Mini.
Apple refused to produce a phablet, Android phablets grow in popularity ==> Apple produces the iPhone 6+
Apple refused to produce a 2-in-1 converged tablet, Surface (and lesser extent others) gain positive press and acceptance by customers ==> Apple takes a 1/2 step towards that with the iPad Pro
Want a "true" iPad Pro with a true file manager and support for pointing devices? Buy a Surface. That will send the loudest message to Apple... far more effective than a pleading email to Tim Cook.