Thank everyone. All of this will help me decide when Apple offers one. 
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iPad Mouse Support - The Missing Elephant
- Thread starter neteng101
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When I need to edit a word that has a misspelling, I always touch the screen in the wrong place on that word with the Pencil to correct it.
Do you not think at some point these apps will be developed to work more precisely with touch screens? Even Microsoft is heading in the touch screen direction with all their products. I think it's a matter of time before the office suite of apps are updated to be just as precise with touch input.
Still not convenient when the screen is sitting vertically in the Smart Keyboard. Much easier to use a mouse and always will be as it doesn't require lifting your hand to the screen. I really doubt everything is going to be touch someday. It just doesn't work ergonomically in all cases.
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There is only so much that can be done on a small screen.
Business users of Excel would be working on multiple workbooks across multiple 27" monitors so even a 12.9" iPad Pro would not cut it.
But suddenly a mouse on an iPad changes that for the small screen? From my experience working on anything smaller then 13" on excel can be a challenge. I have a surface pro that I tried the use for work, and I had to work on some spreadsheets on excel. I found it very frustrating on the small screen and ended up just docking the surface pro to a larger monitor. Having the mouse connected to the surface pro did not help in any way with my issues. A smaller screen is a smaller screen.
Fair. To clarify, I'd have nothing against mouse support everywhere. I hate when people are against things they wouldn't use, just don't use them. Lol. But RDP IMO is a must-have use case. So many people use their iPads to terminal into a work station, and are stuck trying to use a touch mouse or tap impossibly small targets.
That is what I said. For small spreadsheets a mouse would help but you would still want to connect to a larger screen for a better user experienc
Would you like to suggest how they might do that?
There is a fundamental disconnect between the density of information on display in a word or excel document, vs the size of your average sausage fingers. As you try and touch something you stop being able to see what you're touching. Yes, you could zoom the screen, or long press to bring up a magnified view - but now you're slowing down your workflow.
Even if they could make it more touch-friendly, that really only works well if you're holding it like a notepad in your hand, and reaching down to the surface. if you're using a keyboard to be more productive, you don't want to have to reach across to select something - one, its uncomfortable and reduces accuracy if you're trying to float your finger in mid-air. two, it is inefficient as the tablet isn't secured - it'll wobble as you tap the screen.
I'm all for touch being better. And it is for many day to day interactions with a tablet. But for some things a mouse is simply better
So the way to make the iPad a laptop replacement is to ... turn it into one of those 2-in-1 laptops just running iOS?
Dunno, some are using it as a replacement now and it isn’t 2 in 1 so ...
I guess it depends on one’s needs.
I know some are, this is my "laptop" as well. The 12.9 replaced an Air 2, I’ve been on the tablet train for a couple years now. Just confused why people want a direct metaphor copy and why they don’t just get a thin and light laptop if that’s the case?
Do we know that for sure?
The iOS line is going more and more in house with custom silicon and configuration by Apple.
I think ultimately the Mac will die and Apple will be 100% ok with it and the reason for it.
Thank you for putting it so cogently.You don't need a physical keyboard in order to actually use the iPad. You don't need a stylus either. Many people, myself included, choose those peripherals because they make using iPads better for a whole variety of reasons. Many people don't. My entire family is iPad only and none of them even uses a keyboard, and they're perfectly happy with their setups.
There's no reason for Apple to not introduce mouse support as an optional accessory, much like the pencil and keyboard are, for those of us who would find it valuable. Obviously they wouldn't make mouse usage mandatory like it is on macOS, so those of us who wouldn't need it can just go on as they currently are and happily ignore it. Personally I'd love to use my Magic Mouse on iOS. I'd probably even spring for a trackpad if they implement it right.
On a side note, I've never understood it when people argue against the addition of a software feature when its existence can just be totally ignored if you don't need it. It just seems like such a waste of energy! People who don't use the Apple Pencil aren't negatively affected by its existence in the ipad ecosystem. Like let us have our mice, you don't need to use one if you don't want it
I look at it like, "Why do you need a Japanese keyboard support? The American one works just fine!"
I will agree that mouse makes the experience a bit better, but the fundamental problem is the screen size and the apps not being user friendly on the those screens sizes. Adding the mouse support only really adds a bit more functionality to something that has a much larger issue. This is why I say the apps need to be updated for better support screen and touch.
So I am no developer, so I won't even attempt to suggest what might need to happen to these apps to make them more touch friendly. What I will say is, at some point that is going to have to become the case. Look at how the PC world has changed in the last 5 years. Only many PCs now have touch screens? It's the way the tech is moving, and Apple is only pushing it further by adding all this power in a touch based system.
I can't tell you how many times I have been using my MacBook and went to reach for the screen to touch it. It's become part of my work flow. Again I won't deny that a mouse can be more productive or precise in certain situations. The issue being, those use cases are getting smaller and smaller. Apple does not seem to conform to the minority of users. That has never been their M.O. That has been my point all along. People are saying mouse support is coming, but the tablet world is working the other way around. Is becoming way more conducive to touch screen computing then mouse/trackpad computing. The longer this treads continues, the less likely we see Apple make a mouse part of the support for the iPad.
Happy to see that finally there is proper discussion about Mouse support for the iPad here.
To become a truly productive machine, the iPad MUST support a mouse or a trackpad or any other pointing device that does not require the user to touch the screen.
Doing any sort of serious work that takes more than 1-2 hours with only touching the screen constantly, creates terrible burden on the arm.
I mostly work with our company's web apps to fulfill orders and a update a couple of Google sheets. My work requires a lot of copy and paste items. Doing this type of basic work with a mouse and keyboard is about 100% easier than doing it by constantly touching the screen to mark, copy and paste items. It's causing arm fatigue very quickly. This can not be solved with a keyboard only option.
For this type of work, I purchased the Swiftpoint GT mouse and am working with Jump Remote desktop on the iPad and that solved most of my problems but i would love to see native support for this.
For most other work I can handle it directly on the iPad without the need for a mouse.
Using the pencil also helps but it's not a full solution.
Touching the screen is good for light work which doesn't last for many hours.
And no, the argument of "buy a laptop if that's what you do" doesn't stand here, I'm sorry. The world is moving away from single purpose devices to multiple purpose devices. Look at the Surface and look and Chrombooks 2 in 1 devices with android apps. I was able to be more productive on those machines than on the iPad Pro and those serve as both touch input and mouse input.
Apple is moving in the right direction, slowly. They have excellent hardware and software. Mouse / trackpad support is the last item I personally need to make the iPad Pro my main computer.
To become a truly productive machine, the iPad MUST support a mouse or a trackpad or any other pointing device that does not require the user to touch the screen.
Doing any sort of serious work that takes more than 1-2 hours with only touching the screen constantly, creates terrible burden on the arm.
I mostly work with our company's web apps to fulfill orders and a update a couple of Google sheets. My work requires a lot of copy and paste items. Doing this type of basic work with a mouse and keyboard is about 100% easier than doing it by constantly touching the screen to mark, copy and paste items. It's causing arm fatigue very quickly. This can not be solved with a keyboard only option.
For this type of work, I purchased the Swiftpoint GT mouse and am working with Jump Remote desktop on the iPad and that solved most of my problems but i would love to see native support for this.
For most other work I can handle it directly on the iPad without the need for a mouse.
Using the pencil also helps but it's not a full solution.
Touching the screen is good for light work which doesn't last for many hours.
And no, the argument of "buy a laptop if that's what you do" doesn't stand here, I'm sorry. The world is moving away from single purpose devices to multiple purpose devices. Look at the Surface and look and Chrombooks 2 in 1 devices with android apps. I was able to be more productive on those machines than on the iPad Pro and those serve as both touch input and mouse input.
Apple is moving in the right direction, slowly. They have excellent hardware and software. Mouse / trackpad support is the last item I personally need to make the iPad Pro my main computer.
Just got my Citrix mouse. All I can say is WOW! Not sure why anyone would be against a mouse. This thing is brilliant when used with the iPad (although limited to controlling VMs.). SO much easier to use than having to touch the screen.
Bring on mouse support Apple!
Bring on mouse support Apple!
No it's not. The Tablet world is dying and companies are trying to re-invent them to be more productive devices so sticking to the old "touch only" approach will only continue the trend of consumption only devices and the trend of slumping sales.
Look at Google, They are actually asking developers to add Mouse and keyboard support for android apps because of their integration of touch based Android apps into Chromebooks which have a keyboard, a trackpad and a touchscreen.
The world is moving in the direction of multi purpose devices that can be more productive than touch only based devices.
They could do eye tracking, that would be a nice solution much better than a mouse...you wouldn't even have to take your hands from the keyboard.