iPad Pro Q: What’s a Computer?

[ApplesAreSweet&Sour]

@SnazzyLabs says it best:

"I already know what some of you are typing below: the iPad isn't supposed to be a Mac, it's supposed to be simpler and different. First, I would suggest that iPadOS is no longer very simple at all. In fact, as we'll soon discuss, in many ways I think it's more complicated and more convoluted than any desktop operating system because features are haphazardly glued on and then neglected for years."

 

[Isengardtom]

The fact that I can install and run anything I want on a Mac but not on an iPad is inarguable and also precisely where the key difference between the two lies.

Good luck with running heavy windows native programs and games on your Mac. I guess your Mac is not a computer after all.

 

[Isengardtom]

@SnazzyLabs says it best:

"I already know what some of you are typing below: the iPad isn't supposed to be a Mac, it's supposed to be simpler and different. First, I would suggest that iPadOS is no longer very simple at all. In fact, as we'll soon discuss, in many ways I think it's more complicated and more convoluted than any desktop operating system because features are haphazardly glued on and then neglected for years."

He has some valid points, but a lot of it is perception. Like most youtubers / video editors, he’s primarily a mac user.

I am primarily an iPad user and I personally find MacOS more complicated in many ways. It often depends on what you’re used to.

 

[shadowboi]

It’s called choice, and it’s a good thing. It’s no different than what Apple did with iPods, or Macs when Steve came back.

They didn’t call them “pro” tho

I guess since they got rid of buttons they can’t differentiate by “touch” “nano” “classic” anymore.

Btw I start to remember few old posts from 2010 era when people were asking if “regular MacBook Air will work with Logic” and “pros” said “no, this will be very lagging experience. In fact many people bought cheaper Airs anyway, there are even few well known musicians who primarily rely on Air. And nowadays this border between “Pro” and “Air” is just the lack of cooler in the latter, they both can edit videos, make music and run image manipulation software of any kind

 

[shadowboi]

Good luck with running heavy windows native programs and games on your Mac. I guess your Mac is not a computer after all.

If it was Intel these could run a lot of software. Back in the days I been playing FarCry 3 on my 2012 iMac, and I did so on Parallels, didn’t even bootcamp. Microsoft are dumb laggards and still don’t want to make real ARM Windows that will work without Parallels

 

[Nate455]

I would say that a table definitely is a computer as they are getting better each day.

 

[Ctrlos]

The ‘Pro’ moniker is largely meaningless. It’s Apple’s (and pretty much every other company’s…) way of illustrating to buyers that that class of device has more bells and whistles than cheaper models. Would you question how much work you can get done on a Pixel 8 Pro?

Tablets are merely a different class of computer. A bicycle and an automobile are both very different forms of transport but transport nonetheless, designed to get you from A-to-B.

 

[iPadified]

You getting your needs met in an iPad doesn't mean that others don't need a whole lot more, like a Mac.

What an excellent observation. All iPad owners agree with you. We iPad owners usually say this a little different: get a Mac if you need it. Problem solved!

 

[Flowstates]

When I make it to the C-Suite, iPad + iPhone will be my only computing platforms.

Still having to participate in the production, macOS it is.

Anything you can hook up to a printer is a computer capable of work. All else are gadgets and data mining nuisances.

 

[michelg1970]

When I make it to the C-Suite, iPad + iPhone will be my only computing platforms.

Still having to participate in the production, macOS it is.

Anything you can hook up to a printer is a computer capable of work. All else are gadgets and data mining nuisances.

Doesn't AirPrint count?

 

[Flowstates]

Doesn't AirPrint count?

Yes it does, the argument extended to other smart devices (things that by most definitions of computing are computers) like watches / toothbrushes more than the dichotomy between mac / iPad.

I very much consider iPadOS and even iPhones as objects that can produce real work (I had do create slides on my iPhone when I made the mistake of leaving my laptop with the inter-hotel courriers in japan.). You just can't do R+D on an iPad yet. Meaning that an iPad can't be my only computer ... yet =)

A big caveat being the level of personalization and workflow optimizations afforded by macOS.

 

[theluggage]

One property of a computer is that you can program it, and can devise and run any program on it that you like.

Not really. No real "computer" can run literally any program, and it is certainly not written anywhere that you need to be able to "devise" the program on the device itself.

If you're appealing to Turing et. al. then it's about being able to calculate any computable "number" (where "number" can be anything you can represent digitally, and "computable" means that the program will finish in finite time and use finite storage but any physical device will be limited by speed, storage and other restrictions) since the iPad can run MineCraft, and:

so QED. Or, if you don't want to go all Turing, a computer is just "that which computes" so any calculator, slide rule or abacus qualifies.

...more practically (before we go down a rabbit hole arguing about versions of Minecraft), you can run "any" Javascript or WebAssembly program in Safari (I've written plenty of things that run on iPad without needing Apple's blessing) - or just stump up your $100/year to register as a developer and program away...

Back in the 80s, maybe, anybody buying a personal computer wanted to know what the BASIC was like, can you get an assembler for it, does it run Pascal etc. but the vast majority of "computer" users today just run professionally written software so "self programmability" is not really an issue.

There's nothing fundamental going on under the hood of a Mac that isn't also happening on an iPad.

 

[klasma]

Not really. No real "computer" can run literally any program, and it is certainly not written anywhere that you need to be able to "devise" the program on the device itself.

I didn’t talk about “devising” the program on the device itself. And by “any” program, I mean any program the hardware could run. But Apple doesn’t allow you to run any program the iPad hardware could run, not anywhere close. They impose very strict and limited parameters on what you are allowed to run.

 

[Analog Kid]

And by “any” program, I mean any program the hardware could run.

That's why @theluggage took a side trip through Turing land. Any machine that is Turing complete can run any program that any other Turing complete machine can run.

Like so many arguments that flare up around here, this argument is really a way of trying to artificially raise the urgency of another argument. People want to side load, so now they're trying to twist perfectly good definitions to make their argument appear somehow existential.

If I wasn't lazy, I'd find the person that once told me these arguments are about more than side loading and point them here...

 

[Analog Kid]

The real question you should be asking, is why you iPad enthusiasts are so excited about not being able to use the market-leading hardware that sits inside your iPads?

No point in answering a question based on a false premise.

 

[Analog Kid]

Any computing tech can be tagged a computer by simply adapting words in a definition.

Then you are changing the definition. Any creature can be tagged a person simply by adapting a few words in a definition. Words have meaning, let's not change their meaning to serve in some petty arguments about the features of one particular device.

Is there at least some computing being done in my air fryer? Yes? I proclaim the air fryer is a computer. Is there lots of computing being done in my car? Yes? I proclaim the car a computer. I have motion sensing light switches. Computing is being done in there. Is a light switch a computer? Yes it is... or no it is not- just ask another person or two.

You're having an is-a/has-a crisis. Your air fryer, car and light switches have computers. Ask any auto technician, the first thing they do when diagnosing a problem is connect to "the computer". Your air fryer and lights might be described as "computerized"-- adapted to be controlled by a computer. If they are simply triggered by a motion sensor and some transistors without integrating a general purpose computation system then I would say the lights are not computerized in the same way I wouldn't call a 17th century pipe organ computerized just because it can create sound by pressing a key-- there are no numerical calculations being performed.

 

[Flowstates]

If it can run DOOM ...

 

[allenvanhellen]

A computer is the thing with which you can do what you need to do. The tablet is the thing on which you can draw or watch videos, or frustrate yourself trying to do anything else.

 

[sparksd]

A computer is the thing with which you can do what you need to do. The tablet is the thing on which you can draw or watch videos, or frustrate yourself trying to do anything else.

Very limited use for you, then. Not so for me.

 

[Ctrlos]

A computer is the thing with which you can do what you need to do. The tablet is the thing on which you can draw or watch videos, or frustrate yourself trying to do anything else.

A computer by definition is a device that computes code equations to run mature pieces of software.

In this an iPhone or iPad is no different to a Raspberry Pi, PC or PlayStation

 

[sparksd]

A computer by definition is a device that computes code equations to run mature pieces of software.

In this an iPhone or iPad is no different to a Raspberry Pi, PC or PlayStation

Doesn't even need to be mature.

 

[Flowstates]

Doesn't even need to be mature.

And it does not even need to be code, anything that can modulate predictable states from input really.

 

[shadowboi]

A computer is the thing with which you can do what you need to do. The tablet is the thing on which you can draw or watch videos, or frustrate yourself trying to do anything else.

I would say it just makes me mad each time when people around call iPad OS “enough for pro work”. Lol it can’t even open Wordpress (which my 12 years old iMac with unsupported macOS 10.12 can do!). While Wordpress made some silly app, it is barely usable.

Sure I can do a lot on iPad, but I can do it 5x faster on my MacBook with proper browser and adequate desktop environment. Maybe it is just me or maybe iPad is “not enough of a computer”

 

[ApplesAreSweet&Sour]

iPad Pro M4 hardware is such a huge win, with so many new things to be excited about.

Of course, the hardware to be countered by the horrible iPadOS to equal things out:

Why does Apple perpetually implement so many macOS features into iPadOS only to abandon them for years and never(?) refine them to a point where they are fast, reliable and on-par with the macOS equivalent?

Apple needs to overhaul iPadOS or just make it another iOS device again.

No need for an a separate OS when it's mostly just "iOS XL" and Apple refuses to optimize the few macOS-style things we get to do in iPadOS to a level where you'd want to use them.

 

[ApplesAreSweet&Sour]

I wouldn't be surprised if iPadOS 18 is just the Calculator app coming to iPad. 🤣

But for real -Avoiding having iPad sales eat into MacBook sales is far more important to Apple than making iPadOS live up to its many promises.

Nothing would be worse for Apple than iPad users relying exclusively on iPads and not needing a Mac too.

Why fix iPadOS when they just keep selling as long as the hardware specs are impressive?