iPad Pro No MacOS BigSur on the XDR M1 iPad Pro. So what’s the point ?

[symphony]

People who’ve already preordered an iPad Pro, some of us can at least return the product after WWDC if Apple disappoints us with a lackluster iPadOS update if ours delivers the next week after launch day.

But we won’t be able to if we already ordered the new Magic Keyboard that we got on April 30, so Apple has my nutkles clutched regardless.

well I’m not really going to return mine anyway, that XDR HDR display is going to be worth it for me plus 16TB of Ram and 2TB of storage

 

[GrumpyBabybear]

MacOS isn’t a really good choice for iPad but I hope they will add MacOS style memory management and normal multitasking. That would be quite enough

 

[ouimetnick]

I hope Apple has big plans to expand iPadOS to take advantage of the new M1 based iPad Pro. It would be nice if 2021 was the year of iPadOS, and professional app but I don't have my hopes up.

It would be very Apple like for this year to be another year of slow progress, so I expect another boring update where the files app is still unreliable and slow, and no professional apps. Even if you had an 16GB M1 iPad Pro, you still have to keep iMovie in the foreground when exporting a movie because iPadOS! ? It's a joke right now.

 

[sean+mac]

But we won’t be able to if we already ordered the new Magic Keyboard that we got on April 30, so Apple has my nutkles clutched regardless.

I've read elsewhere that if they are part of the same order then Apple will extend the return period of the keyboard to match that of the iPad. This is because it is an accessory you cannot use until the primary item in the order has arrived.

Hearsay. Your mileage may vary.

 

[CmdrLaForge]

I hope to run Mac Apps on iPad

 

[gsal]

For most working professionals the iPad Pro will remain a secondary device to their Macs due to a lack of ports and a basic operating system.

 

[rkuo]

The 16 gigs of ram is gonna be a game changer in Procreate and Nomad sculpt.

Also everyone needs to stop getting so hung up on it being an M1 vs and A series chip and what that is supposed to mean for this device.

It's just different window dressing for essentially the same chips. Whatever A series chip (I guess it would have been the A14X or A15) this iPad would have gotten would have been functionally at parity with the M1 chips.

M1 is not simple continuation of the A series chips. There's a lot of extra affordances for IO (displays, configurable RAM, USB, Thunderbolt, etc) that aren't necessary in plain A series chips. It's really tuned for mass market desktop/laptop performance. Putting it in the iPad is significant.

 

[cardfan]

Don’t really expect much from wwdc that would change anything. And if it did it wouldn’t be available or ready toward end of year or later (remember photoshop being highlighted that one year that wasn’t released for another year and still merely a lite version).

If the screen doesn’t grab ya then cancel. It’s basically the same iPad that will display hdr content. I’ve yet to watch a full length movie on an iPad. Maybe I will now lol. Same res. Same colors. Most of what you do will still look the same. Pics and movies in hdr will be difference. Perhaps iOS games? Maybe Apple will highlight a game dev.

I do recommend waiting for rumored oled iPad Air if you want a more significant screen upgrade. It’ll get m1(a14z) too.

 

[gusping]

M1 is not simple continuation of the A series chips. There's a lot of extra affordances for IO (displays, configurable RAM, USB, Thunderbolt, etc) that aren't necessary in plain A series chips. It's really tuned for mass market desktop/laptop performance. Putting it in the iPad is significant.

That’s all well and good, but for the purposes of an iPad it is an A14X with more ram and a thunderbolt controller. I suspect WWDC will focus on adding widgets an a few other minor things to iPad OS and be pretty underwhelming. Hope i am wrong, but i am not filled with much confidence.

 

[pdoherty]

MacOS isn’t a really good choice for iPad but I hope they will add MacOS style memory management and normal multitasking. That would be quite enough

I’d be satisfied if they simply made the iPad Pro dockable so you could use a full-size monitor, keyboard and mouse. Sort of like Dex does for Android.

 

[bscheffel]

Unfortunately, there are no rumours as regards a big leap in iPadOS 15. None. Just some redesign home screen and misc stuffs. Nothing that can make it a true laptop replacement.

Don't hold your breath.

Yeah I'm not expecting anything revolutionary in iPadOS 15 but they could bring Apple Pro apps to the iPad and allow VM apps like Parallels. They need to do SOMETHING - otherwise why would anyone buy an iPad with 16GB RAM when 3GB would suffice? Are there really that many very demanding procreate users in the iPad Pro user base that need more than 8GB? It's like selling a Ferrari and putting a software speed limiter on it.

 

[Yoms]

I’d be satisfied if they simply made the iPad Pro dockable so you could use a full-size monitor, keyboard and mouse. Sort of like Dex does for Android.

But that's the case. When M1 iPad Pro was released, they announced that you could connect an external display running at full resolution, no black stripes on the side, etc. Also there's been keyboard and mouse support for some time now.

 

[bscheffel]

That’s all well and good, but for the purposes of an iPad it is an A14X with more ram and a thunderbolt controller. I suspect WWDC will focus on adding widgets an a few other minor things to iPad OS and be pretty underwhelming. Hope i am wrong, but i am not filled with much confidence.

I hope we are all wrong too. They should at least loosen up multitasking a bit now that the iPad Pro has more ram - make it specific to the 2021 IPP. To be honest I was shocked when they trotted out M1 chip and up to 16GB RAM for the new iPad so Apple does have the capability to surprise - let's hope that extends to iPadOS. We got true mouse support pretty quickly and not in a major release so it's possible.

 

[Yoms]

Yeah I'm not expecting anything revolutionary in iPadOS 15 but they could bring Apple Pro apps to the iPad and allow VM apps like Parallels. They need to do SOMETHING - otherwise why would anyone buy an iPad with 16GB RAM when 3GB would suffice? Are there really that many very demanding procreate users in the iPad Pro user base that need more than 8GB? It's like selling a Ferrari and putting a software speed limiter on it.

macOS on iPad Pro : 1% chance
apps like PCP, Logic on iPad Pro: 99% (question is not if, but when)

People have to stop relating macOS coming to the iPad with the use of M1 on iPad. M1 was used on the latest iPad Pro because Apple could do it, full stop. And they can do it because they thought of this architecture well enough in advance to be used on both Mac and iPad. It has nothing to do with the idea of bringing macOS to the iPad.

Bringing macOS to the iPad does not require a M1 iPad. Over the years, there have been rumours of iPad running macOS in Apple's labs. Of course Apple did it to see how it looks, what the user experience would be, so and so forth. Same for touchscreen Mac, they openly admitted having conducted studies about that and came to the conclusion people did not like it.

If macOS is not on the iPad yet, it's just because Apple did not, does not and will not want to. The only "hope" we can have is to see iPadOS upgraded with more desktop-like features to accommodate some users' needs. But there are no rumours related to this although we're less than a month before WWDC starts, so these upgrades are not likely to happen (hope I'm wrong though).

 

[pdoherty]

But that's the case. When M1 iPad Pro was released, they announced that you could connect an external display running at full resolution, no black stripes on the side, etc. Also there's been keyboard and mouse support for some time now.

I missed that in the presentation - thanks!

 

[marty1980]

whaaa whaa whaa whaaa
What is the point of this thread?

 

[contacos]

I owned the iPad Pro 10.5 but I did not really see the point because every app is pretty much optimised with the low spec version in mind and thus I went with the iPad Air 4 now. The iPad "Pro" only exists to maintain the price of the entry devices and have "upselling" potential. Once upon a time (Jobs) we would always get the latest and greatest in the latest model, but now we have to fork out a fortune for this instead of having a "natural development" of hardware specs. I know I know, there are "cheaper versions" but that's not the point. However, from a Apple point of view it makes sense of course.

 

[Never mind]

whaaa whaa whaa whaaa
What is the point of this thread?

Actually, no point at all. It’s the OP again

 

[MandiMac]

Even the previous iPad Pro was more powerful than most of the intel laptops.

It's just a 50% speed boost - and that's probably quite optimistic. So do what you already did, and it's a bit peppier.

"just a 50 % speed boost" is laughable - if you're having a slow device to start with. But taking the previous iPad Pro that runs circles around 98 % of all sold laptops and increasing THAT performance by 50 %? Holy sh*t.

 

[Zazoh]

Consider this, nothing will happen to iPadOS that can't be run on a base model iPad. Apple will not create an iPadProOS for one device and another for the Air and iPad. We will see apps that require a pro, but not the OS.

iPad Air is my dominant device. Do I want MacOS on it? Nope. I don't work in a world where I require anything beyond a light weight OS. Others are not as fortunate as I.

 

[mrklaw]

Consider this, nothing will happen to iPadOS that can't be run on a base model iPad. Apple will not create an iPadProOS for one device and another for the Air and iPad. We will see apps that require a pro, but not the OS.

iPad Air is my dominant device. Do I want MacOS on it? Nope. I don't work in a world where I require anything beyond a light weight OS. Others are not as fortunate as I.

they could make macOS apps pro only. In theory it might not need to be M1 only - the big move was making macOS arm compatible, so it could work on older iPads but may need more memory than 4GB?

- I dont think they’ll bring macOS
- maybe a bit more likely they let you run any App Store apps from macOS
- more likely a selection of macOS apps (maybe apple ones initially)
- if they do, might require keyboard/mouse due to small touch targets

I’d like all that, but I’d be ok with iPadOS apps with better/standard external monitor support

 

[rkuo]

That’s all well and good, but for the purposes of an iPad it is an A14X with more ram and a thunderbolt controller. I suspect WWDC will focus on adding widgets an a few other minor things to iPad OS and be pretty underwhelming. Hope i am wrong, but i am not filled with much confidence.

I think that's a pretty cynical way to look at it, but yes, in an iPad the M1 is certainly held back by the OS and the one port.

I badly want macOS on the iPad, but like you I have no reason to believe it's actually coming. It'll happen if and when it happens.

 

[l3uddz]

I think that's a pretty cynical way to look at it, but yes, in an iPad the M1 is certainly held back by the OS and the one port.

I badly want macOS on the iPad, but like you I have no reason to believe it's actually coming. It'll happen if and when it happens.

Personally, I don’t want macOS on the iPad if it’s to replace iPadOS. If I did, I’d just use a MacBook.

I would however like to see perhaps a DeX alternative that boots up a MacOS VM when connected to an external display (while keeping the iPad screen on iPadOS).

 

[jmgregory1]

I don’t understand the desire for the iPad to become a Mac running MacOS. What Apple is doing is making the iPad as powerful as their Macs because it will end up being able to run the same apps you find on MacOS, but within the iPadOS environment. They’re going to different, in the input abilities, but the end results will be either exactly the same or so close as to not being different.

 

[James Godfrey]

Let’s all take a deep breath MacOS BigSur isn’t coming to the M1 iPad Pro. So what’s the point in buying a new iPad ?

Im scratching my head I hate the 12.9” Form factor, plus it’s thicker and heavier than the current 12.9” It’s not getting MacOS. And 99% of people won’t notice any difference or benefit because it’s MiniLED The Color Gamut hasn’t expanded. It’s not 10-bit it’s still an outdated 8-bit IPS display. That can get brighter Or darker.

There’s no cutting edge Camera system, It’s missing WiFI 6e and the 6Ghz WiFi Band.

The more I dived deeper into the M1 iPad Pro the more doubts I have. Maybe an M2 14” MacBook Pro MiniLED Is the move.

1. People who buy an iPad don’t buy it for MacOS because it’s not a mac.

2. The display will definitely be an improvement, however, this isn’t exactly something the iPad needed as an upgrade on the device as the screen is awesome anyway.

3. Those folk who want cutting edge cameras, would buy a dedicated high spec camera, but for a tablet the cameras are brilliant on the device.

Obviously the iPad is not the product you need or want and a MacBook Pro is probably a better option for you.

So to answer your question… what’s the point in buying a new iPad?

For me, my personal needs are met perfectly with the 2020 iPad Pro, but I have been drawn to the ‘potential’ improvements that iPadOS could bring to the M1 Pro, will apple utilise the power of the M1 with iPadOS15, I hope so, but if not, ah well my needs are met anyway plus I have a more future proofed device, yes it’s thicker and heavier but the 12.9” isn’t exactly a mobile tablet (that’s what the 11” Pro and Air is for).

For those on the fence I would just recommend waiting until WWDC then decide whether the new iPad Pro is worth the investment, if it just gets a small upgrade to the OS like last year, the vast majority of users will be happy with a 2020/2018 Pro, but personally I really think some things will be strictly M1 Pro only.