iPad Since Apple now allows emulators in the AppStore.... how about VMWare or Parallels on iPad Pro?

[CalMin]

iPads can now be configured with M4, 16GB RAM, 2TB SSD, 13" display, full keyboard and trackpad and um...iPadOS.

Look - I love my iPad and iPadOS, but with the advent of Apple silicon, it's possible to pack more power into an iPad than the typical laptop Apple sells. I don't think they are going to put MacOS on iPad anytime soon, but why not allow an emulator such that users can do this on their own?

And while 16GB RAM isn't going to be optimum for a virtual PC, I run Parallels on my M1Pro MacBook with 16GB RAM and it's fine for all sorts of productivity stuff with Windows or MacOS. I spec. my VM's with 8GB RAM on a 16GB M1Pro and they run great and it doesn't impede the background MacOS much either.

With an emulator it would be firewalled off from iPadOS enough to mitigate any security concerns. It would also fuel iPad sales - I'm not planning on getting these new iPads because the price vs. utility equation doesn't work for me. If I could use it as a laptop without the restrictions of iPadOS, then the $2k asking price suddenly starts to make more sense.

Does anyone else want this as much as me?

 

[Digitalguy]

They have specifically removed hypervisor since sometime in iPadOS 15 so basically impossible to run properly

 

[Rafterman]

If possible, Parallels would do it. Forget VMware. They got bought out by Broadcom and whatever Broadcom touches, dies.

 

[Yebubbleman]

iPads can now be configured with M4, 16GB RAM, 2TB SSD, 13" display, full keyboard and trackpad and um...iPadOS.

Look - I love my iPad and iPadOS, but with the advent of Apple silicon, it's possible to pack more power into an iPad than the typical laptop Apple sells. I don't think they are going to put MacOS on iPad anytime soon, but why not allow an emulator such that users can do this on their own?

And while 16GB RAM isn't going to be optimum for a virtual PC, I run Parallels on my M1Pro MacBook with 16GB RAM and it's fine for all sorts of productivity stuff with Windows or MacOS. I spec. my VM's with 8GB RAM on a 16GB M1Pro and they run great and it doesn't impede the background MacOS much either.

With an emulator it would be firewalled off from iPadOS enough to mitigate any security concerns. It would also fuel iPad sales - I'm not planning on getting these new iPads because the price vs. utility equation doesn't work for me. If I could use it as a laptop without the restrictions of iPadOS, then the $2k asking price suddenly starts to make more sense.

Does anyone else want this as much as me?

Even if the capability was offered, you'd still be limited to ARM64 based OSes. While Windows 11 for ARM64 supports touch input, I'm not entirely sure the ARM64 Linux distros out there do also. Not the end of the world if your iPad is hooked up to a Magic Keyboard, but it would certainly be kludgy otherwise.

If possible, Parallels would do it. Forget VMware. They got bought out by Broadcom and whatever Broadcom touches, dies.

Ugh...this is sad, but true. VMware Fusion didn't seem to weather the transition to Apple Silicon as well as Parallels did. Fusion is still not supported by Microsoft in the way that Parallels Desktop is. I'm hoping this changes, but, again, Broadcom is completely destroying VMware. ...Which totally blows as VMware Fusion was always my preferred choice for virtualization on Intel based Macs.

 

[Macalway]

As someone mentioned, hypervisor was removed, so presently it won't work. But they can always bring it back and probably would if enough people ask for it, that is going be past experience. I would imagine Parallels would be very happy to offer it. Btw, VMware was recently bought by Broadcom, so this may be a good thing, although maybe not pricewise. Support I'm thinking of.

Anyways, I'm a little pissed this isn't happening presently, considering it's WAY overdue.

 

[JohnHerzog]

iPad Pro needs access to macOS applications or it will not be considered a viable machine for productivity

 

[Macalway]

iPad Pro needs access to macOS applications or it will not be considered a viable machine for productivity

Direct ports of apps would require Mac OS. Piecemeal additions I suppose would work, but I'm not holding my breath. However, an Arm Windows port makes sense, and would really get things going.

 

[CalMin]

They have specifically removed hypervisor since sometime in iPadOS 15 so basically impossible to run properly

Ugh - Apple why?

I suppose it's obvious as to why but it makes this powerful an iPad have a bizarre power/performance/cost balance when it could do so more and is priced right along MacBook Pros that are unimpeded in this way.

 

[Rafterman]

Even if the capability was offered, you'd still be limited to ARM64 based OSes. While Windows 11 for ARM64 supports touch input, I'm not entirely sure the ARM64 Linux distros out there do also. Not the end of the world if your iPad is hooked up to a Magic Keyboard, but it would certainly be kludgy otherwise.


Ugh...this is sad, but true. VMware Fusion didn't seem to weather the transition to Apple Silicon as well as Parallels did. Fusion is still not supported by Microsoft in the way that Parallels Desktop is. I'm hoping this changes, but, again, Broadcom is completely destroying VMware. ...Which totally blows as VMware Fusion was always my preferred choice for virtualization on Intel based Macs.

Broadcom is hosing VMware like they wrecked Symantec.

My university uses VMware ESX hosts for hundreds of servers and our client computing infrastructure (aka, VMware Horizon). We are actively looking at alternatives, including Microsoft. Support is a critical issue, and the lack of good support and skyrocketing costs is what drove us away from Symantec for security.

 

[klasma]

Apple only allows retro-game emulators in the app store, and still doesn’t allow on-device code generation in either case. So all of this is moot.

We really need true sideloading.

 

[WilliApple]

There are not allowed because they use something called JIT (Just in time processing)

That means that they recompile code in real time kind of what Rosetta does on the Mac.

It is similar to why a Wii emulator is not allowed on the App Store because in order to accomplish that, you need to use JIT.

 

[Yebubbleman]

Broadcom is hosing VMware like they wrecked Symantec.

My university uses VMware ESX hosts for hundreds of servers and our client computing infrastructure (aka, VMware Horizon). We are actively looking at alternatives, including Microsoft. Support is a critical issue, and the lack of good support and skyrocketing costs is what drove us away from Symantec for security.

I've always been a fan of Hyper-V. Although, I'd prefer an alternative if I'm virtualizing some form of Linux instead of some form of Windows. My current place is planning on shifting to Nutanix. It looks sweet, but I still haven't wrapped my head around the idea that "SANs are not the way".