What kinds of iPadOS workflows benefit from this most? The device never seemed lacking in performance.
You can run drawing apps on it in conjunction with Pencil. Those could benefit from increased power if you're working with many layers.
iPad Pro M1
121–130 of 503 posts
Re: iPad Pro M1
#122A moment of silence for the guys working on the MS Surface devices. There are still reasons to get the Surface instead of an iPad, but the M1 in an iPad sounds like a hit.
No moment of silence needed. I have a iPad Pro 12.9 and its awesome for consuming content and drawing. For everything else there is a real computer. I can't use the iPad to program my Drone, or Run a CNC, or Play steam games, or link to the Oculus, or run VS Code, or use Fusion 360, or Run Linux or Windows VM's. Or, or... or ...
I love my iPad, but it is very, very far from a good computer interface right now.
Re: iPad Pro M1
#123Earlier quoted context omitted.
The inability to run the software I need is why an ipad isn't even on my radar yet. The nicer screen isn't worth the lockdown (not to mention that the macbook air is much lighter than ipad + keyboard and cheaper too)).
The macbook air screen is ok, its webcam is horrible, it doesn't have a touch screen, so you can't use it as a "digital blackboard" for remote work, and it can't use multiple monitors. The iPad has a great front camera, great screen, great touch screen and Apple Pen, yet is software-handicapped to prevent professional use. I guess Apples' goal is for people to buy both, but I've been on the market for a new "work dev…
An external camera will blow away the quality of the ipad camera and work better under a variety of situations. In truth, by the time zoom is done compressing my video, I'm not completely convinced that higher-res input makes a difference.
The macbook air gets higher performance (I doubt they can fit that large heatsink in the ipad) and has better battery life too.
In any case, it's academic because I can't run the software I actually need on an ipad.
Re: iPad Pro M1
#124Earlier quoted context omitted.
I have zero interest in using a worse laptop. Touch screens are an anti-feature. For decades we have tried as an industry to do touch interfaces on “real” computers and it’s always horrible because it’s not actually a thing worth doing. With M1 Macs being a thing I have no idea what benefits an iPad offers.
I own a 2018 iPad Pro, and it's possibly the best & most versatile device I've ever owned. Among the things I use it for are: surfing the web whilst on the couch, checking in on my RSS feeds, casual gaming, watching movies, reading PDF & Kindle e-books, handwritten & typed notes for work & study, replying emails, portable RDP, VNC & SSH client on the go. And I'm probably still forgetting a lot of things...
Yeah I just use a combination of my Mac and iPhone to do all that. The iPad is an awkward middle spot for me. Different strokes.
Re: iPad Pro M1
#125Earlier quoted context omitted.
I have zero interest in using a worse laptop. Touch screens are an anti-feature. For decades we have tried as an industry to do touch interfaces on “real” computers and it’s always horrible because it’s not actually a thing worth doing. With M1 Macs being a thing I have no idea what benefits an iPad offers.
I own a 2018 iPad Pro, and it's possibly the best & most versatile device I've ever owned. Among the things I use it for are: surfing the web whilst on the couch, checking in on my RSS feeds, casual gaming, watching movies, reading PDF & Kindle e-books, handwritten & typed notes for work & study, replying emails, portable RDP, VNC & SSH client on the go. And I'm probably still forgetting a lot of things...
not sure i am with you on “versatile”
Re: iPad Pro M1
#126Earlier quoted context omitted.
Probably never. The divergence between macOS and ipadOS is not technical, it's that Apple believes a touch-oriented and a pointer-oriented interface are completely different things.
While that makes sense, Apple's recent changes with the iPad Keyboard case adding a trackpad makes me think that they might have something else brewing for the long term. Time will tell, but I would love to see more MacOS applications like XCode become available on the iPad. Edit: Also the fact that MacOS has been changing the UI to make it more touch friendly, for example: new control center.
Quite honestly I don't think Xcode is ready for the iPad. It's a complicated software that has a lot of bugs that has to be fixed manually a lot of times by accessing or clearing files directly. I'm pretty sure they have a version of it already running on the iPad but the workflow or software quality is just no there yet. However if SwiftUI becomes the standard I can imagine an Xcode light as a starting point with way less panels and options.
Re: iPad Pro M1
#127Earlier quoted context omitted.
ipadOS has pointer support and the preferred way to do pointer interactions on macOS seems to be touchpads (not mice), so the gap is definitely not as large anymore.
> ipadOS has pointer support Yes, but it does not mandate a pointer. > the preferred way to do pointer interactions on macOS seems to be touchpads (not mice), so the gap is definitely not as large anymore. A touchpad is a pointer device with a similar level of precision and interaction as a mouse. One completely unlike touch.
> A touchpad is a pointer device with a similar level of precision and interaction as a mouse. One completely unlike touch.
The main difference is if you aim by using a pointer on the screen or if you aim by touching what you want to interact with. Some things like gestures are basically the same (or could be).
Re: iPad Pro M1
#128Anyone remember the Ubuntu Edge? [0]
Perhaps with todays announcement, a bit into the future we will see a new class of phone that unfolds into a tablet and even docks to a screen with accompanying magic keyboard and trackpad.
I know, it's a real shame that I am probably dreaming. But Apple will probably never release a similar phone as it'll cannibalise one of the other products.
Maybe someone can prod shuttleworth again and see if the time for this idea can be realised? I'm sure soon it will be.
I also hope that this trend of arm minimization can continue so an idea like morph [1] will one day be come also.
Re: iPad Pro M1
#129Earlier quoted context omitted.
Plus the Big Sur interface changes seem to be touch-oriented. They made a lot of pointer targets much bigger than they used to be, and added a new special window type for modals.
https://sixcolors.com/link/2020/11/craig-federighi-says-touc...
Sure, but it's not really like Craig would say "yeah, touchscreen Macs are coming eventually, and this redesign is preparing for that" if they were. Apple doesn't do that. What I would glean from this is that they're not coming soon, and it's probably not going to be a conventional "add a touch screen to an existing interface" type deal. At the very least it leaves the option open for them here.
Re: iPad Pro M1
#130To me, it doesn't matter how powerful the iPad is if the software experience is subpar. Multitasking is cumbrous enough that it might as well not exist, multi-display setups can only mirror at a fixed aspect ratio, it lacks multiple user profiles requiring a family to be under a single user, and the few apps that take advantage of the keyboard/trackpad are nowhere similar to their desktop counterparts. Take Excel for…
I'm still skeptical that Apple wants it to be a general-purpose computer.
I don't know that it would have to be a full general-purpose computer. For the most part, if they found a way for Xcode to run on an iPad, I feel like MacOS would be (eventually, slowly) doomed.