All iPads The limit

[floral]

Now that the premium iPads are slowly getting desktop-level chips (M2 for the Pro and M1 for the Air), I can't help but think that there's a sort of limit to the tablet experience. I mean, right now the OS, to me, feels like a bigger iOS with little to no change (the only notable difference is Stage Manager). I feel like it's somewhat hindered. Thoughts?

 

[Mark Stone]

Now that the premium iPads are slowly getting desktop-level chips (M2 for the Pro and M1 for the Air), I can't help but think that there's a sort of limit to the tablet experience. I mean, right now the OS, to me, feels like a bigger iOS with little to no change (the only notable difference is Stage Manager). I feel like it's severely hindered. Thoughts?

“Hindrance” in this context is determined by the need(s) of the user. There are a lot of correct answers. Personally, I find that iPadOS does not limit my “PC” experience on my M1 Air at all. It has become my PC.

 

[floral]

“Hindrance” in this context is determined by the need(s) of the user. There are a lot of correct answers. Personally, I find that iPadOS does not limit my “PC” experience on my M1 Air at all. It has become my PC.

Yeah, I thought it would be fun to see other people's thoughts, even if they are influenced by workflow

 

[rui no onna]

I’ve used iPads and Surface.

The Surface can do everything that a Windows laptop can but I find it far from ideal when used as a tablet.

Meanwhile, the iPad may be more limited but it’s apparent that it’s optimized for touchscreen use.

I’m buying iPads for the tablet experience and not because I want another laptop. Hence, I’d rather have an OS optimized for touchscreen use than MacOS or Windows.

If I actually need to use a laptop, I’ve got 13-17” Windows laptops available.

 

[Falhófnir]

I tend to think a desktop OS is somewhat wasted once you get down to ~13" or smaller displays, certainly your ability to juggle more than one window on screen at a time becomes more limited. I think there's only so far super dense resolutions or software tricks like Stage Manager can go to make up for a lack of physical space. I'm sure there will be those who will say they use their 12" MacBook just fine, but I think I'd really struggle, which is why the iOS model which is built around one app at a time, with some flexibility to split screen or slideover is ideal for 10-13" tablets. On the flip side, maybe if Apple's 14/16" "iPads" became reality, Stage Manager would come into its own more, but I also think that would stretch the iPad paradigm to the limit so these would more ideally be a new product line ("iBook"?) focusing on docked usage in my estimation.

 

[Atomic1977]

In my humble opinion the iPados is very similar to iOS but there are some differences that make it special. Enough said.

 

[Abazigal]

I think iOS could do more, but I don't think the solution is to put macOS on it.

 

[Shanghaichica]

Not sure. Whilst iPad OS and iOS are very similar, you can be a lot more productive on an iPad by virtue of its bigger size, use of accessories and some iPad OS software features.

 

[secretk]

I think that the tablet experience when it comes to iPads is awesome. That is unless you are like me, browse a lot and have a lot of open tabs. Then the experience can be a bit hindered by not enough RAM and lots of apps/tabs reloads.

I do think that Apple has improved a lot the computer/laptop experience in the last few years with the iPad. Working with keyboard and trackpad can give you that sort of laptop experience when it comes to messaging, browsing and doing stuff like that. However there are few things to be improved:

1. Support for external displays still has something to be desired - scaling does not work properly, sound as well. Just because I hooked up external monitor, it does not mean that I want to use it as an audio output.
2. Still some apps are not very navigable with keyboard. When I use keyboard and mouse/trackpad I am used to rely on the keyboard arrows and tab to navigate through apps.
3. Using multiple apps/documents is still lackluster. I used to think that it is an iPad issue but since I started using Macbook for work, I can tell you it is an Apple issue. Windows management and working with multiple apps is not any better on a Mac. This is one thing that Apple could learn a bit from Windows - windows snapping, seeing easily the multiple open files with the same app in the dock and things like that.
4. Background activity. I think for me this is the biggest frustration. In this regard iPads still behave like a phone where if you minimize an app it is suspended. Thing is we all know what M1 and M2 chips are capable. They are in Macs and they can definitely handle background activity. Why can’t we have this on an iPad? I think that this is what is making me feel that sometimes iPadOS is holding the iPad Pro hardware. I want to be able to export video in Lumafusion while browsing in Safari or download file in Safari while writing in Notes without using Split screen.