No reason they can’t merge them on the iPad Pros. People can say they want a touch OS on the touch device all they want. I want as much power in as portable of package as possible and as few of devices that can do all I want.
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iPad What does an ideal iPad look like to you?
- Thread starter zerocharlie
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Then you want a MacBook Air. It will throttle less under load and has much, much better battery life unless you are carrying a large power bank for your iPad at which point it is not more portable than the MacBook Air. Heck, the iPad Pro will have even worse battery life running MacOS, and desktop apps, than it does iPadOS. You can even upgrade its RAM without upgrading its SSD To 1TB.
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What do you specifically mean by merge them? I think this is one of those cases where the devil is in the details.
We’ll merge the two OSes. Not that hard. Run the same architecture - both are Linux running on M3 SoC right now. The whole touch versus non touch is overblown.
No. Don’t want a MacBook Air. Want the smallest package possible to be both an iPad and run MacOS as Apple has limited iPadOS artificially so it can sell far more products and make Tim and the AAPL SHAREHOLDERS more money. It’s not in the best interest of customers to not provide the best experience of a device that can easily do all we want. Technically simple.
I use my iPads for content consumption. There was a point in which my main devices were my still main iPhone Xʀ on iOS 12 and my 9.7-inch iPad Pro also on iOS 12. After my iPad was forcibly updated, I would’ve said “a full-screen design iPad on its original iOS version”, but when I got my Air 5 on iPadOS 15, I got that.
iPads in their current form with their current software have always thrived as content consumption devices. That’s what I use them for, that’s what I want. My Air 5 on iPadOS 15 has everything I need and want. Efficient software, great battery life and performance, and a full screen.
iPads in their current form with their current software have always thrived as content consumption devices. That’s what I use them for, that’s what I want. My Air 5 on iPadOS 15 has everything I need and want. Efficient software, great battery life and performance, and a full screen.
I meant specifically in what way should they merge? The details may determine whether or not it will be possible or good. It may not be able to be both.
If I could get a iPad mini with a better quality display and a battery to compensate the extra consumption it will probably have.. I think I would be pretty content. If it has Face ID it would be an instant buy, but honestly even if it kept touch ID it isn't the end of the world. The only drawback for me with the current mini is the display and not even the jelly effect as I generally don't scroll fast to really notice it, but I do notice going from the iPhone and the MBP and iPad 12" to the mini and is the main reason I gave my mini to my kid.
I’m not certain greed is the only reason. There are thermal capacity differences between the clamshell form factor and the slate form factor where the display traps and generates heat next to the computer components. And people expect a tablet to be a certain thickness, weight, and battery life. Running macOS, which is more resource intensive than iPadOS, would most likely require a negative change in those aspects.
Maybe if there was a large market/demand for a touch macOS, then we could say that Apple should make that iPad (or macPad?) regardless of the compromises, but there doesn’t seem to be that demand when talking with people. People with Windows convertibles always seem to forget about the tablet part of their convertible laptop. And I think it’s because touch just isn’t as conducive for work as the keyboard+cursor. For vertical screens it seems the mainstream just sees touch as an expendable feature. And tablets, especially larger tablets, still don’t seem to be very mainstream for adults. There is a decent market of people who need a stylus with macOS, but not sure how big.
Ideal iPad (mostly about OS and accessories):
Generally I use my iPad all the time and love it.
The most annoying thing is actually the Files App. I hate the way that saving or browsing or opening anything on iPad OS has to wait so everything seems to take so long. The files app should let me cache everything locally so that I never have to wait for the file system... Saving from the internet is also rather slow.
- 14" Display
- M3 with 24 GB of memory
- 2 TB flash storage
- 14 Hours Battery (4 more hours)
- Magic Keyboard that can fold mostly flat so that I don't have to remove the iPad from it to use the pencil (obviously it won't ever fold fully flat but it can fold much flatter)
- Files app that caches everything in my iCloud Drive locally so I don't ever have to wait for it to load things from the internet
- Stage manager
- Give me Mission Control or something like it to manage moving apps between stages
- Split View + Slide-over - let it work as part of expanding to external displays
- Remove the App Store app requirements and let me side load apps for development (Or open up the App Store to things like PyTorch, Tensorflow, Cocoapods, etc...)
- Full Xcode
Generally I use my iPad all the time and love it.
The most annoying thing is actually the Files App. I hate the way that saving or browsing or opening anything on iPad OS has to wait so everything seems to take so long. The files app should let me cache everything locally so that I never have to wait for the file system... Saving from the internet is also rather slow.
How come every iPad thread is infested with Mac talk? The iPad is doing exactly what it is supposed to do and so is the Mac. Too bad some Mac centric peoples have difficulties to understand the difference. If productivity=keyboard and trackpad, I suggest you look for a Mac instead.
Disagree, I do not want macOS on the iPad. In many ways iPad OS is a far more pleasant OS, however, as I said in my post above, there are some issues.
Stage Manager window management is just bad, they had Mission Control right in front of them and still built something far less intuitive.
The Files app is bad, buggy, and slow because they don’t use enough caching of the file hierarchy and file descriptions so it has to hit the iCloud servers constantly which is just not a good experience.
The only vaguely macOS feature I want is the ability to run more complex development apps on the iPad. I can do quite a lot in Swift Playgrounds but it still isn’t up to the full Xcode standard.
I’m fine with SM, but it would be nice to have some of the MC functionality where it displays all windows on the current Stage if you click or drag in from a corner.
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Stage Manager is fine only in the limited scope of using it to resize and reposition windows.
What I am complaining about is window management, that is, dragging windows between stages, the fact that in the high level expose view windows get stacked, the fact that, as you said, when looking at a current stage there is no way to see all windows in a zoomed out Expose/Mission Control type manner.
HobeSoundDarryl
macrumors G5
Current iPad Mini (no notch or island) with:
Bonus: Make it fold or roll for pocket-abilty and I'd pay more for that convenience benefit.
While others care and want, I personally don’t care about getting FaceID. Touch ID on the 6 works every time for me and I’d be happy to use it in my next Mini. I feel even more strongly about this if the only way to implement FaceID would involve adding a notch or island.
I fully realize this could hit upper iPhone pricing, but that's OK by me. I use Mini as my phone too (telephony VOIP app and buds for calls), so a "bigger iPhone" without the steep iPhone cell service bill and rapid "long in tooth" lifespan erosion would be my ideal "phone" + tablet in one case.
- updated tech guts,
- iPhone Pro Max cameras,
- resurrect the Apple-updated headphone jack because there is obviously room for it in the bigger form factor,
- full Apple Pay implementation (instead of partial "as is" now),
- unlock CarPlay (which is apparently in there but not available) and
- let shared data from it supply Vpro with data it may need so that there isn't a Vpro dependency solely on iPhone.
Bonus: Make it fold or roll for pocket-abilty and I'd pay more for that convenience benefit.
While others care and want, I personally don’t care about getting FaceID. Touch ID on the 6 works every time for me and I’d be happy to use it in my next Mini. I feel even more strongly about this if the only way to implement FaceID would involve adding a notch or island.
I fully realize this could hit upper iPhone pricing, but that's OK by me. I use Mini as my phone too (telephony VOIP app and buds for calls), so a "bigger iPhone" without the steep iPhone cell service bill and rapid "long in tooth" lifespan erosion would be my ideal "phone" + tablet in one case.
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It’s because calling for macOS on iPad is the first knee jerk reaction people have when iPad doesn’t do something they want that Mac can. But looking further into the situation objectively, there are nuances of technical/logistical trade offs, philosophical ethos, and realities of running a business—which all should be taken into account. But to those who refuse to look further objectively, the only remaining reason that macOS isn’t on iPad is evilness.
Why would I want that? I vastly prefer Split View and slide over on iPad to the macOS fullscreen Split View experience.
I really love the UX of the iPad, stage manager has issues but I don’t rely on it, I want to be able to use Split View and slide over in extended desktop mode.
The files app issues are a problem because they are a poor user experience.
The desire to do more development on my favourite platform is not unreasonable.
I would rather an iPad than a Mac.
My ideal iPad would be the current Pro (abilities) but with:
- Landscape camera
- OLED
- Desktop class browser
- 13”
- 12 hour battery
- No camera bump
- MK that has function and escape key
- MK that has a USB C port that does data (as well as power)
- Apple pencil shaped like a pencil
Basically an iPad Mini Pro, but with an OS as open and free as MacOS (aka, you can install any version you want/need, not locked into the App Store, etc)