What software issues? On my iPad I can remote access to my PC's and Mac's including all NAS drives at home anywhere I am.
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Switched back to a MacBook Air from an iPad Pro w/Magic Keyboard
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What software issues? On my iPad I can remote access to my PC's and Mac's including all NAS drives at home anywhere I am.
iPad Pro + Magic Keyboard + 5G connection gives me more flexibility ‘on the go’ than my MacBook Air.
I have an 11” iPad Pro that spends almost all its time in a keyboard case. I also have a personal 13” MBA and a work 14” MBP. I originally got the iPad when I thought I would use it for writing work on the go because it was so much more portable than the Intel 15” MBP I had at the time. Once I got the M1 MBA, the iPad lost its portability advantage.
I find iPad versions of apps are often more limited. Multitasking is slower and more restricted. Overall interaction for many action is slower or clunkier on the iPad as they need to be mediated through a touch interface. I do like touch for many actions but prefer a mix of interaction methods and the iPad only barely works with a touchpad or mouse.
My iPad now spends most of its time in web browsing, social sites, photos, and video streaming. Production work happens on the Macs. I don’t regret having it, but have found the iPad to be more suitable for some tasks than for others.
I find iPad versions of apps are often more limited. Multitasking is slower and more restricted. Overall interaction for many action is slower or clunkier on the iPad as they need to be mediated through a touch interface. I do like touch for many actions but prefer a mix of interaction methods and the iPad only barely works with a touchpad or mouse.
My iPad now spends most of its time in web browsing, social sites, photos, and video streaming. Production work happens on the Macs. I don’t regret having it, but have found the iPad to be more suitable for some tasks than for others.
iPad has two key features that make it stand out - portability and pencil support (that allows handwriting, sketching, markup, and more precise pointer control when masking / brushing).
If you don't need to use either of these features often, then it's just a media consumption device.
If you need both, there's really nothing else comparable.
If you don't need to use either of these features often, then it's just a media consumption device.
If you need both, there's really nothing else comparable.
I think we all agree iPad strength as tablet (with pencil and portability). The problem is when Apple marketed iPad + MK as laptop replacement, where many people (including myself) found it’s still far behind what laptop can do.
It depends.
When I travel for business, I take my iPad with a keyboard with me to take care personal stuff. While not a 100% replacement, it does most of what I do on my laptop. Well beyond checking email.
Right there with you. This hasn't been a problem for me until recently but now that it's started, it really flares up if I use a laptop on the couch rather than an iPad.
Being able to use the touch screen alongside a trackpad and keyboard make a huge difference for RSI. When I use a laptop for work I try to use a mouse as much as I can, which helps just as much as being able to use a touch screen does, but often times that isn't possible.
Will it though? The M1 and M2 chips in Macs tend to run quite hot in Macs before the fans kick in.
The existence of the 13" and 15" MBA disprove the original argument claiming Mac OS would kill an iPad Pro due to heat. Neither device has fans and rely on passive cooling of the SoC, yet you don't see massive reports of those systems overheating or shutting down due to overheating concerns.
That is one reason why I think that laptops should come with touch screens. You might not use it as the primary interaction method but it provides an alternative movement that gives your hands a break from the usual keyboard/mouse/trackpad. Having more kinds of movements helps reduce RSI.
I suspect the biggest problem of running MacOS on an iPad would be battery life. MacOS is not optimized for battery use to the degree that iPadOS is. The batteries on iPads are not as large as those on an MBA and I would expect you to go through a charge pretty quickly.
Someone mentioned it already - the iPad/iPad Pro, even with the Magic Keyboard (which is nice if massively overpriced), is still best suited as a consumption device than a productivity one, at least outside of artists and a handful of others where the pen/touch is a significant portion of their workflow.
I will/have used my ipad pro and magic keyboard for various meetings, mostly for note-taking and not too much on the presenting side due to lower resolution. It’s not bad when you can share a common drawing app for various rough diagrams, and of course, it’s good as a consumption device. The magic keyboard makes it palatable for light productivity, e.g. note taking, even some Word and PPT/Presentation work, but it has real limits and I could never replace my MBPs with external displays with one, nor could my wife (also a teacher like the OP..).
Of course, we also have the ‘Apple problem’ - add a touch screen, or even just let the MBA/MBP touchpad be used with pencil and you may well see lower iPad sales, and Apole wouldn’t want that, so I do think we’re seeing some limitations that ‘could’ be removed (like Apple Pencil on trackpad or MBP screen) that they aren’t particularly motivated to do. If they enabled Pencil interaction on the MBA/MBP trackpad, it’s still not a replacement for those using Pencil/drawing full-screen on their iPads, but it would sure improve overall quality of life/work on occasion for me.
I will/have used my ipad pro and magic keyboard for various meetings, mostly for note-taking and not too much on the presenting side due to lower resolution. It’s not bad when you can share a common drawing app for various rough diagrams, and of course, it’s good as a consumption device. The magic keyboard makes it palatable for light productivity, e.g. note taking, even some Word and PPT/Presentation work, but it has real limits and I could never replace my MBPs with external displays with one, nor could my wife (also a teacher like the OP..).
Of course, we also have the ‘Apple problem’ - add a touch screen, or even just let the MBA/MBP touchpad be used with pencil and you may well see lower iPad sales, and Apole wouldn’t want that, so I do think we’re seeing some limitations that ‘could’ be removed (like Apple Pencil on trackpad or MBP screen) that they aren’t particularly motivated to do. If they enabled Pencil interaction on the MBA/MBP trackpad, it’s still not a replacement for those using Pencil/drawing full-screen on their iPads, but it would sure improve overall quality of life/work on occasion for me.
MBA has lot more space to distribute the heat. As much I like my iPad Pro, I have had it shutdown on me quite a few times. It can’t dissipate heat like MBA.
Tim Cook spoke of the iPad (Pro) being a PC laptop replacement, and certainly not a MacBook replacement. (And why would he? Apple still sells MacBooks.) In practicality, the iPad functions as a MacBook substitute (which is how I use mine when traveling), or a laptop alternative for people turned off the complexity (and bulk) of traditional laptops with traditional computer OS’s.
Correct. Also keep in mind that by 2015 he surely knew what was in the pipeline as far as Apple Silicon Macs. Certainly the groundwork was at least being laid for hardware/software prototypes by then. My opinion is that Tim Cook was being overly excited and had to walk it back a little in the following days.
Like you said, I still use the iPad as a substitute when I don't have access to my Mac. I use it with and without keyboard and mouse, as a drawing/notes tablet, as a portable TV, etc. And the iPad Pro lineup was certainly a terrific substitute for the pre-AS years of the Intel Macs. In fact, I was ready to write legacy desktop platforms off completely because of how bad Macs were getting.
As the launch of Vision Pro launches nearer and nearer though, I'm starting to wonder how necessary my iPad is going to really be. Its main function right now is to be on my desk during the workday as an office device and then sometimes it's my book/TV/game machine at night. I'm getting the feeling that's about to change very soon.
You don't need to abandon iPad just because you have a use case for a MacBook Air. All of these devices talk to each other in perfect harmony. It's an absolute joy moving between iPhone, iPad, MacBook Pro, Mac Mini Studio, Apple Watch, HomePod, Apple TV and with all your accessories too like AirPods Pro 2, AirPods Max, Beats, etc.
Those of us invested in the Apple ecosystem have the most complete integrated experience that NOBODY can ever rival. Don't try to deny yourself the holistic Apple experience just because you want to prove you can shoe-horn everything into your MacBook Air setup. Take advantage of all these amazing products and let them work together with you.
Those of us invested in the Apple ecosystem have the most complete integrated experience that NOBODY can ever rival. Don't try to deny yourself the holistic Apple experience just because you want to prove you can shoe-horn everything into your MacBook Air setup. Take advantage of all these amazing products and let them work together with you.
I agree with this--it all works better when every piece is available. Including CarPlay, Home, etc.
Doesn't having more space to distribute the heat just mean the device is going to run longer before throttling or ramping up the fans? The SoC stays the same temperature regardless.
The main reason the iPad suffers thermally isn't having less thermal mass for cooling (because peformance will just throttle sooner and more aggressively to account for it), it's the fact that the screen is smushed in there adding to the heat in a way that can't be reduced in any other way except aggressive dimming or shutting down.
That being said, the only way I've ever encountered this on an M1 iPad was using it on max brightness while charging it in direct sunlight.
That could be one of the reason why iPadOS is still far for macOS. Apple made it simple to avoid overly complex processing in iPad.
Most of the iPad is battery.
Agreed on display, which doesn’t share the same space in Macs. Device is going to shut off after hitting the temperature threshold constantly. More thermal mass isn’t possible in iPad Pro with battery taking up space. Now they can add a copper heat sink, it’s gonna make iPad super heavy. iPad has to get bigger or heavier to run Mac OS.
It remains to be seen how successful the Vison Pro will be, and if it will fundamentally change consumer behavior. It’s going have to evolve from its current bulky, clunky, unattractive and uber-expensive form to be accepted by the masses.
Personally, I haven’t yet been convinced that this is something I actually need.
It's first year or three won't be blockbuster years. They're going to use people like me to beta test.
The iPad is a MacBook replacement for Tim Cook. He does 80% of his work on the iPad and 20% on the iMac. He doesn't need a MacBook.
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These are assumptions, of course. He might even have an admin assistant that does most of his computer work.