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MacBook Neo and how the iPad should be

craigmod.com

141–150 of 210 posts

Re: MacBook Neo and how the iPad should be

#141

I've used Mac for 20 years and iPad on&off for 10 years.. largely I agree with Craig. Touch on MacOS is basically useless, you won't realize this until you try using an iPad like a MacBook for an extended period of time. Reaching up from keyboard/trackpad to touch the screen quickly gets fatiguing. It is not ergonomic. The iPad is meant to be used in touch mode while in your hands generally. If they were brave they'd…

[deleted]

Re: MacBook Neo and how the iPad should be

#142
post #81

My dream is having an “app” on ipadOS that switches out userland from ipadOS to macOS when launched. Let them be two silos, containers, VMs, whatever. Only allow “Mac mode” if you have a keyboard and monitor attached. Hell, automatically “sleep” it if you undock. Make it unapologetically keyboard-and-mouse first. One UI for keyboard/mouse. A second UI for touch. One device that can do it all. That’s the dream. I feel…

iPads have M-series chips in them that support hardware virtualisation. But Apple goes out of its way to disable the hypervisor for its iOS/iPadOS builds[1]. All they have to do is stop doing that and allow apps to make use of the virtualisation APIs. UTM hypervisor already exists in App Store, so Apple is clearly not against the principle of it. As soon as that happens, running macOS (or Linux) will become elementary.

[1] https://x.com/utmapp/status/1708907045314035986

Re: MacBook Neo and how the iPad should be

#143

I've used Mac for 20 years and iPad on&off for 10 years.. largely I agree with Craig. Touch on MacOS is basically useless, you won't realize this until you try using an iPad like a MacBook for an extended period of time. Reaching up from keyboard/trackpad to touch the screen quickly gets fatiguing. It is not ergonomic. The iPad is meant to be used in touch mode while in your hands generally. If they were brave they'd…

> Reaching up from keyboard/trackpad to touch the screen quickly gets fatiguing. It is not ergonomic.

"Let's all laugh at an industry that never learns anything tee hee hee." -- Yahtzee Crowshaw

We figured out that light pens were an abomination for ergonomics back in the 1980s.

Re: MacBook Neo and how the iPad should be

#144

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Typing is subpar next to a Mac so by the time you put the case on it and are in similar size/weight class, for same/MORE money .. why bother with iPad ?

It’s not subpar, it’s just different. I find it to be relaxing to be productive on my iPad for a lot of work tasks. Why would I want to touch a computer when I’m at home when I can use my iPad? Computers aren’t relaxing or fun to use.

> Computers aren’t relaxing or fun to use

[citation needed]

Re: MacBook Neo and how the iPad should be

#145
post #81

My dream is having an “app” on ipadOS that switches out userland from ipadOS to macOS when launched. Let them be two silos, containers, VMs, whatever. Only allow “Mac mode” if you have a keyboard and monitor attached. Hell, automatically “sleep” it if you undock. Make it unapologetically keyboard-and-mouse first. One UI for keyboard/mouse. A second UI for touch. One device that can do it all. That’s the dream. I feel…

I want the same mode, but on iOS! Imagine carrying nothing but the phone in your pocket, sitting down at your desk, plugging your phone into the monitor, which has your keyboard and mouse docked, and you have a full development environment.

Re: MacBook Neo and how the iPad should be

#146

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Typing is subpar next to a Mac so by the time you put the case on it and are in similar size/weight class, for same/MORE money .. why bother with iPad ?

There's no pen input on a Mac, it's only really usable in one orientation and so sucks for reading more than a page or two of a PDF. Tablets are WAY more flexible in form factor. Apple unfortunately cripples the software, but I'd rather have a device that's 100% better at pen input and bunch of tasks that's 30% worse at typing.

Instead of doing creative work on the iPad, it should really be used as an input device for the mac.

Re: MacBook Neo and how the iPad should be

#147

I've used Mac for 20 years and iPad on&off for 10 years.. largely I agree with Craig. Touch on MacOS is basically useless, you won't realize this until you try using an iPad like a MacBook for an extended period of time. Reaching up from keyboard/trackpad to touch the screen quickly gets fatiguing. It is not ergonomic. The iPad is meant to be used in touch mode while in your hands generally. If they were brave they'd…

What we need is a single MacOS that can run an iOS-like touchscreen launcher and dumbed-down 'apps' while operating via touchscreen, but with a keyboard+mouse connected switches back to 'productivity mode', exposing the full power of MacOS.

MacOS can basically do this already, running iOS software on Macs. It's just a matter of choosing to unlock the potential of modern iPad hardware, putting the same OS on iPads and Macbooks. Full software compatibility. iPads that can be more than locked-down toys.

But would Apple ever give up the control and App Store revenue that locked-down devices provide?

Re: MacBook Neo and how the iPad should be

#148
post #18
post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The iPad is fantastic for, as the author points out, “reading the news and watching YouTube and playing games” > I think there’s just a kind of techie who desperately wishes they could do everything on an iPad, but really the machine meant for them is a lightweight MacBook (Neo or Air) Couldn't agree more. I am that person. I spent months deliberating before buying an 11" iPad (with keyboard). Used it for a week fo…

I’ve tried three or four times over the decades to make an iPad “work” and have never found anything to “do” with it that doesn’t quickly get subsumed by my phone (more easily available) or my laptop (better typing etc). It always ends up playing videos or the kids playing some silly game.

i got an ipad mini cause i thought the pencil was cool. it's neat, tablets are always over idealized i think. had big dreams of using it to note take in meetings lol good joke my adhd cursed self will never reread a note.

so it's mostly a desk weight now. besides pencil input, there isn't anything i'd do on it that i wouldn't prefer doing on my laptop. i absolutely can't stand typing on ipads.

Re: MacBook Neo and how the iPad should be

#149
post #81

My dream is having an “app” on ipadOS that switches out userland from ipadOS to macOS when launched. Let them be two silos, containers, VMs, whatever. Only allow “Mac mode” if you have a keyboard and monitor attached. Hell, automatically “sleep” it if you undock. Make it unapologetically keyboard-and-mouse first. One UI for keyboard/mouse. A second UI for touch. One device that can do it all. That’s the dream. I feel…

Someone did this by hacking an iPad with a "MacBook" keyboard - https://www.macstories.net/stories/macpad-how-i-created-the-...

Re: MacBook Neo and how the iPad should be

#150
While plenty about the iPad situation sucks, my biggest gripe is the discontinuation of the Smart Keyboard Folio. This was the one that only had a keyboard, no trackpad, but could fold all the way back, which the Magic Keyboard (with trackpad) cannot. The Smart Keyboard Folio was just the perfect form factor: there when you need it, discretely out of the way when you didn’t. And when you were using it, the iPad was perfectly balanced to sit on your lap even in cramped circumstances, which the Magic Keyboard is most definitely not.

Sure, get rid of the Magic Keyboard with its unnecessary trackpad. But bring back the Smart Keyboard Folio. It was a delight.

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