iPad Pro Why do we need a more powerful iPad Pro 2021 when the OS is just iPad OS?

[thelookingglass]

I can't help, but feel this was a lead up to a very interesting WWDC.

This allows them to talk about the software after the hardware is in the hands of developers to build for it over the summer with iPad OS 15.

They are doing 16GB of RAM on 1TB+ and that to me feels like they are planning something macOS like that allows pros to be able to unlock that extra hardware.

Precisely. I think lots of people on this thread are right on the money. Either iPadOS is about to take a gigantic leap forward or iPads will run MacOS. There is no other reason given the current state of iOS development to put 16GB of RAM and up to 2TB of SSD in iPads. iPad hardware now matches MacBook Air and MacBook Pro hardware.

If you look at the pricing, it also suggests that a MacOS-like iPad experience is coming. The biggest issue with bringing MacOS to an iPad was not the technical aspect. It was the fact that if MacOS were available on iPad, a sizable percentage would just buy an iPad. Prior to today, iPad prices were just too low. It would cut into Apple's margins too much. Today's new iPad Pro pricing dictates that if you want the MacOS experience on an iPad, you'll have to fork over a pretty penny for it. So no longer will Apple be afraid of iPad sales cannibalizing Mac sales.

 

[KPOM]

Why do so many think MacOS is ever going to come to the iPads? It's never going to happen. We might see some unified OS in a few years where the two are one in the same, but it won't be MacOS as we know it now.

I think the premise behind a converged device is the ability to run all macOS and iPadOS apps natively, with touch capabilities where appropriate.

 

[bscheffel]

I suppose 6 is probably no longer an issue, as Thunderbolt displays are one of the few consumer uses of Thunderbolt. 5 might also be addressed, could be addressed in software perhaps. I don’t know how webcams are implemented, wrt USB HID profiles. That said, the iPad’s front facing camera is usually the best webcam I own, so third party webcams don’t have much appeal to me.

1) Fair, though I’m not entirely sure why you want lossless audio files on an iPad. Surely you should have a home audio setup with some great speakers, with lossless audio on a NAS, instead of trying to play lossless audio through headphones?

2) That’s dev’s fault (instead of iOS’s), and that’s been an issue for 11 years now.
3) That might be a fair point, but what kind of multitasking do you want that the system doesn’t give you? I haven’t used iOS 13 and 14 on an iPad, but the multitasking features are far better than the old iOS 9 multitasking features. They more or less resolve any issues I had with it.
4) I’ll grant you the bulk download bit. But there are a few different ways to address the “keeping files downloaded” issue. For anything essential you need offline, you can copy it to the On My iPad area of the Files app stick it on a USB C thumb drive.

7) That’s fair, but also possibly a bug with the storage provider extension. But that is an area Apple could improve (perhaps I see the Files app with rose-colored glasses because I remember the workarounds you used to have to do back when the iPad launched).
8) I’d assume Apple will fix that if they end up bringing Logic or Final Cut over. And their Pro apps seem likely, why else put a Thunderbolt 3 port in an iPad (and advertise it as a headline feature).

I can see how it doesn’t really work for your workflow, though I imagine most people, even most professionals, could work within the confines of iPadOS for at least some of their workflows. The workflow you describe is pretty niche (lossless audio in the Music app, external webcams, multiple audio sources, heavy duty file browser usage), after all. And there’s nothing about this that necessitates merging macOS with iPadOS (which is not your suggestion, but the suggestion from others in this thread), I’m still convinced that #2 is the primary issue with iPad workflows, and that’s not iPadOS’s fault.

I was mostly throwing out all the differences not focusing on my specific workflow. It isn't about only my workflow, it's about an iPad negating the need to own a Mac. In that light here are the barriers:

#1 isn't about having lossless audio on the iPad - its about maintaining my iTunes library which you can't do on an iPad. If your music library contains lossless files of any type you MUST use a Mac or Windows. This could be solved by making the Music app on the iPad have the same features as the MacOS Music app.
#2 agree with you that is on the 3rd party vendors - but Apple's own apps do not have feature parity between Mac and iPad versions (see #1)
#3 Multitasking on the iPad works pretty well except the OS controls when it terminates background apps. I use Skype for Business for work and if I have alot of apps open, the OS will suspend Skype and I won't get work IM's - no bueno.
#4 - Sure I could keep a version of my files "On the iPad" but then they aren't updated and synced across my iPhone, Mac, etc. like they are with iCloud Drive. Why can't there be an option to always have iCloud Drive files downloaded to the iPad - exactly like they are on the Mac.

To be honest the absolutely biggest pain to my daily workflow is that I am in Microsoft Outlook all day, opening and editing attachments, copying attachments between emails, Opening multiple emails at once to compare content, and it's just 3x more cumbersome on the iPad.

Don't get me wrong- I'm still upgrading my 2018 IPP to the 12.9" 1TB model with the hope that Pro Apps comes to the iPad and maybe Parallels finds a way to run on iPad.

 

[Macalway]

Build it, they will come.

And in HDR!

 

[Gnattu]

If your music library contains lossless files of any type you MUST use a Mac or Windows.

I'm using Apple Loseless when I import music to my library, and it works on iOS devices years ago. The fact that I still need a Mac to do the import is a pain IMO.

 

[thefriendshipmachine]

The fact that the new ipad seems to have 16GB of ram makes me hopeful that iPad OS is getting a big upgrade

 

[cardfan]

Precisely. I think lots of people on this thread are right on the money. Either iPadOS is about to take a gigantic leap forward or iPads will run MacOS. There is no other reason given the current state of iOS development to put 16GB of RAM and up to 2TB of SSD in iPads. iPad hardware now matches MacBook Air and MacBook Pro hardware.

If you look at the pricing, it also suggests that a MacOS-like iPad experience is coming. The biggest issue with bringing MacOS to an iPad was not the technical aspect. It was the fact that if MacOS were available on iPad, a sizable percentage would just buy an iPad. Prior to today, iPad prices were just too low. It would cut into Apple's margins too much. Today's new iPad Pro pricing dictates that if you want the MacOS experience on an iPad, you'll have to fork over a pretty penny for it. So no longer will Apple be afraid of iPad sales cannibalizing Mac sales.

Wishful thinking. I want macOS on it as well but apple would’ve talked about it if it was going to happen this version. It would come installed. Maybe next year.

Apple would much rather you buy an iPad Pro vs a Mac. This isn’t the issue.

 

[Abazigal]

The fact that the new ipad seems to have 16GB of ram makes me hopeful that iPad OS is getting a big upgrade

You have to wonder what kind of upgrade would really make use of 16 gb of ram when there are still iPads with 2 gb ram out there.

 

[kc9hzn]

I was mostly throwing out all the differences not focusing on my specific workflow. It isn't about only my workflow, it's about an iPad negating the need to own a Mac. In that light here are the barriers:

#1 isn't about having lossless audio on the iPad - its about maintaining my iTunes library which you can't do on an iPad. If your music library contains lossless files of any type you MUST use a Mac or Windows. This could be solved by making the Music app on the iPad have the same features as the MacOS Music app.
#2 agree with you that is on the 3rd party vendors - but Apple's own apps do not have feature parity between Mac and iPad versions (see #1)
#3 Multitasking on the iPad works pretty well except the OS controls when it terminates background apps. I use Skype for Business for work and if I have alot of apps open, the OS will suspend Skype and I won't get work IM's - no bueno.
#4 - Sure I could keep a version of my files "On the iPad" but then they aren't updated and synced across my iPhone, Mac, etc. like they are with iCloud Drive. Why can't there be an option to always have iCloud Drive files downloaded to the iPad - exactly like they are on the Mac.

To be honest the absolutely biggest pain to my daily workflow is that I am in Microsoft Outlook all day, opening and editing attachments, copying attachments between emails, Opening multiple emails at once to compare content, and it's just 3x more cumbersome on the iPad.

Don't get me wrong- I'm still upgrading my 2018 IPP to the 12.9" 1TB model with the hope that Pro Apps comes to the iPad and maybe Parallels finds a way to run on iPad.

That’s fair. I’ve been approaching it from the perspective of iPad as main computer but a secondary desktop (which I need as a software developer, Xcode or a Java IDE on an iPad is something I’d need before I could go full time iPad myself). If you’re looking to completely replace, that’s another story. Some definitely can, people, for instance, who use Spotify or Apple Music exclusively for music. #3 is a RAM thing, and 16GB will definitely help keep more apps in memory! #4 is tricky, how near to full is your iPad? I’d imagine Files doesn’t offload files until you’re running out of storage. I have a similar issue on my iPhone where apps that I seldom use but are most useful when I don’t have much of a signal (like a subway map app) offload, and I would like to be able to give priority to those apps. But that seems like a simple feature to add. Tap and hold on an app in the editing mode (or a file in Files) then select the “Don’t offload” option, maybe add a prompt saying something to the effect of “You’re below the recommended free storage space, consider marking apps/files as able to be offloaded”, maybe with a panel in Settings > Usage showing the apps you marked as “Don’t Offload” with their app binary size. Files has a lot of room to improve, but they should be easy improvements to implement. As far as managing an iTunes library, I’d say that the iPad currently does what 50% to 75% of music listeners on an iPad does, if not more, so it’s a bit of a niche audience.

But yeah, I think the biggest complaints about iPadOS are multitasking (which mostly boils down to apps unloading because of memory usage, which is a RAM thing [and also a developer thing, memory is still a tight squeeze, and developers often don’t do memory performance right]), external hardware support (which I’d expect to improve over time now that iPads have USB ports on them and Thunderbolt), file management using Files, and complaints about iPad apps that aren’t feature complete, sounds about right? And they can be addressed without moving away from iPadOS. Though, in a certain sense, especially with M1 based Macs and iPads, iPadOS IS a touch enabled version of macOS, just one that requires software to go through the App Store and doesn’t have Xcode or a terminal emulator to access the UNIX userland (that likely is only partially there anyway).

 

[joshwithachance]

We don't. In my opinion Apple should have saved the iPad Pro unveiling for WWDC when the software (hopefully) will finally be at the level of the hardware.

 

[LogicalApex]

We don't. In my opinion Apple should have saved the iPad Pro unveiling for WWDC when the software (hopefully) will finally be at the level of the hardware.

Why so? This gave them room to focus on the hardware side and leaves room for more in-depth discussion of the software at WWDC. As WWDC will get crowded talking about iOS and MacOS too...

It is only a few weeks after the iPad hits store shelves... So if you're on the fence to see if the software side picks up at all just wait it out.

 

[hajime]

We don’t.

Waiting for WWDC.

What will happen?

 

[hajime]

It’s great hardware. But I’ll wait for the software to catch up, because it may be a few years before that happens.
I bought an iPad Air4 just two weeks ago. When I see the new M1 iPads doing things my iPad Air4 can’t do, I’ll get one.

By the time software catches, we will have even better hardware.

 

[Kylo83]

All this wait for wwdc no apple won’t make iPadOS more powerful just for the new iPads they make a OS for all the iPads even the mini, the issue with the iPads is software even now the 2018 one can handle everything just fine, no app developer is gonna make a app only work on one type of iPad and none of the others, 16gb is over kill for iPadOS and they said they won’t put macos on it so what’s the point

 

[hajime]

Since Apple has put M1 in iPad already, they can make the iPad run Mac OS if they want. That will open up a lot of possibilities such as software development, multiple windows on the screen, etc. Until then, even they release an iPad that is faster than the world's fastest supercomputer but running iPad OS, I am not going to buy it.

 

[Kylo83]

Since Apple has put M1 in iPad already, they can make the iPad run Mac OS if they want. That will open up a lot of possibilities such as software development, multiple windows on the screen, etc. Until then, even they release an iPad that is faster than the world's fastest supercomputer but running iPad OS, I am not going to buy it.

Macos will never come apple said it as well, it will always be iPadOS and just iOS apps at best so it’s over kill the specs they just done it to speak about it

 

[Serban55]

"

Why do we need a more powerful iPad Pro 2021 when the OS is just iPad OS?"​

For the next pro apps that are coming...
Nowadays is about the app and not anymore about OS...yes macOS is more open but no longer that opened as it used to be when it was on x86 architecture
So if you get all those pro apps that you run on the mac...then is no longer about the OS for most of the users

 

[nicetriangles]

As someone who does professional illustration the spec boost is a huge bonus for me. Procreate, Photoshop, Illustrator, Affinity, etc are all gonna benefit majorly from this spec bump.

Also I've been dabbling in 3D sculpting using Nomad Sculpt (there's also another good app called Forger) and that app chugs hard when models get more complicated.

I think it's pretty likely Final Cut and Logic come out for iPad soon as well as other apps. I don't see the big appeal of using xcode on an iPad though. You need a keyboard and when you pair an iPad with a decent keyboard/mouse setup it's less portable and practical than a MacBook Air... so like... buy a MacBook Air?

 

[Serban55]

All this wait for wwdc no apple won’t make iPadOS more powerful just for the new iPads they make a OS for all the iPads even the mini, the issue with the iPads is software even now the 2018 one can handle everything just fine, no app developer is gonna make a app only work on one type of iPad and none of the others, 16gb is over kill for iPadOS and they said they won’t put macos on it so what’s the point

we all know that Apple itself made some features like slide view, split view working on just some ipads with more ram...so, expect that at this WWDC... all of those 6gb/8gb/16gb ram to have access to some more hard on ram features

 

[Lucifer666]

I'm hoping there will be some cool software right around the corner. Seems like this is a possibility, given the 16gb ram option, and M1.

 

[Never mind]

 

[sparksd]

Interesting. So 16GB RAM will only be available in the TB versions?

 

[Isengardtom]

Yes but you can’t choose

1TB or 2TB = 16GB ram
512GB and lower = 8GB ram

 

[GrindedDown]

One thing that I am thinking in regards to having M1 on ipad isn’t that ipad is going to run macos, but that macos apps being built around M1 will be able to run on ipad. Much like how ios apps can now run on M1 macs. I think they will still keep the ecosystems separate, but allow for cross compatible software across both systems. If you build it for Mac, it can run on ipad. If you build it for ipad, it can run on mac.

 

[kc9hzn]

As someone who does professional illustration the spec boost is a huge bonus for me. Procreate, Photoshop, Illustrator, Affinity, etc are all gonna benefit majorly from this spec bump.

Also I've been dabbling in 3D sculpting using Nomad Sculpt (there's also another good app called Forger) and that app chugs hard when models get more complicated.

I think it's pretty likely Final Cut and Logic come out for iPad soon as well as other apps. I don't see the big appeal of using xcode on an iPad though. You need a keyboard and when you pair an iPad with a decent keyboard/mouse setup it's less portable and practical than a MacBook Air... so like... buy a MacBook Air?

The big appeal to me is that I’d be able to use the iPad for, well, iPad-y things (web video, web applications, high portability computing, note taking in meetings, etc.) when I’m away from home (possibly pairing it with an Apple Pencil and/or a Smart Folio Keyboard for typing, light code editing), then turn it into something approaching a full desktop software development environment when I get home or to the office, someplace stationary. (It’s a lot like old school sub-notebooks, like Apple’s old PowerBook Duo series and the Duo Dock or the 12” titanium G4 PowerBook. It’s something small and/or light and capable you can take with you on the go, to address your computing needs while out of the office or in your personal life, that you can turn into a workstation when you get home. Or another way of looking at it is that it’s to computing what a Nintendo Switch is to video gaming.)