New iPad Air, powered by M4

Post by apparent » Mon, Mar 02, 2026, 8:45 PM UTC

AndriyKunitsyn wrote: post #369

spudlyo wrote: post #18

I'm about to head to the gym with my 12.9-inch 2017 vintage iPad Pro, which is still going strong. I prop it up on the elliptical trainer every other day or so for entertaining me while I grind out an hour of cardio. I use it for reading, watching YouTube, listening to music, audiobooks, etc. It's been my regular gym buddy for years, and is showing no signs of needing to be replaced. It's stuck on iPadOS 17.7.10, whi…

An old iPadOS means an old safari, which means some of the websites are going to get suspicious. I remember one day not being able to open any Cloudflare website.

Post by tomaskafka » Mon, Mar 02, 2026, 8:45 PM UTC

jclardy wrote: post #350

rvanmil wrote: post #281

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I mainly use my iPad Pro like a MacBook with the Magic Keyboard and a Razer mouse (I can even play ARC Raiders perfectly on it, streamed from the gaming pc in another room; having a completely silent gaming setup in the living room is amazing) connected. My macOS muscle memory works most of the time, but there are also quite some details which are slightly different or missing. If they would allow a macOS “mode” on i…

I’ve been experimenting with a 13” iPad Pro and Mac mini, setup with Tailscale. I love it, minus the general issues you run into with Remote Desktop. That plus not being able to deploy apps unless I’m on the same wifi (as an iOS developer.) A dual boot iPad would be killer. I would go out and by the maxed out M5 if it was possible. MacOS for workdays, and iPadOS for everything else. That or just finish the last mile…

Post by zadikian » Mon, Mar 02, 2026, 8:47 PM UTC

tomaskafka wrote: post #234

moolcool wrote: post #214

The iPad would go from a never-buy to a buy-right-away for me, if they added user profiles. It'd be a nice thing to have on your coffee table, where anyone in the household can pick it up and be logged into all of their stuff. Windows XP had this feature. Chromebooks have this feature. It's inexcusable that such an expensive gadget can only have one user.

Tim Cook's fear of people not buying a full set of Apple devices for each person is the driving force behind not just the lack of multiuser support, but also the overall nerfing of iPadOS. For the past 5+ years it's been, "This will be the year of real work on the iPad," but they keep circling around it, trying not to make iPads accidentally powerful enough for someone to skip buying a MacBook.

Post by tomaskafka » Mon, Mar 02, 2026, 8:50 PM UTC

zamadatix wrote: post #361

waterproof wrote: post #357

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How would you handle user switching? Would users have to go through a password screen to use anything?

The way Apple TV allows doing it is fine but the iPad could probably make things even easier since it has Face ID authentication as an option too. The bigger limitation is that most apps don't tie into the profile well yet, but it has not also been around long in a just a niche product as well.

Post by mrkpdl » Mon, Mar 02, 2026, 8:52 PM UTC

p1necone wrote: post #377

bigstrat2003 wrote: post #312

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> they keep circling around it, trying not to make iPads accidentally powerful enough for someone to skip buying a MacBook. Which is really silly, because if someone needs to do actual work they are not going to do it on an iPad no matter how capable it is. The form factor simply does not work for getting work done. Apple has nothing to fear here.

I haven't seen one yet, but theoretically a case that secures the tablet in a holder that has a proper hinge (instead of the typical kickstand style) attached would work. You'd have to weight the keyboard a bit but there's no reason it wouldn't work, and effectively give you the exact same form factor as a laptop.