I get the impression they're trying to market this to laptop users. I'm still very skeptical of iPads as a productivity device. The problem isn't the hardware, it's the OS, the app store and the model for selling apps. Apple's app store policies make it hard to sell expensive software (which most productivity apps are somewhat expensive), it also makes it hard to distribute free software (as in open source -- because someone has to pony up for a developer account and deal with the app store feedback), and the App-centric focus of the OS itself is a problem (most projects need to be file centric)
iPad Pro is a great terminal, I shred code on it daily. Running a build server on a portable is a bad strategy (battery, wait times, session resume). It’s the top layer of 3 layers in total (portable, GUI, build server). It handles realtime audio / video well, which are the only things that cant be remoted. You dont need OS26 for it to be a very productive terminal, it’s been possible for years. You do however need a proper backend stack, which can also be portable (but separately).
I did a performance test over the weekend of compilation times across 4 projects using 4 devices.
My M4 MacBook Pro is faster than my modern i9 desktop that work spent $$$ on...
iPad feels like a genie trapped in a bottle to me. It has that same M4 but there's so much less to use it for. Too bad I can't just set it by my PC and throw workloads at the processor or something. Continuity works well enough as a second screen but I'd love a second M4 CPU.
For those just looking for a second screen with their iPad or MacBook, Universal Display does exactly this, given you’re already in the Apple ecosystem.
The built-in MacOS feature that does this called continuity… but I know it was renamed once (used to be sidecar). Maybe you’re referring to an old name? Or is it a product?
Edit: I looked it up and it appears that the app is continuity and “Sidecar” and “Universal Control” are features. IDT those names show up in the OS UX though.
I am looking forward for real competition to Apple which ironically will be better for Apple users/developers. You don't buy a McClaren for transporting your kids to the school faster.
PS: I don't think GPU continuity will work well over USB-C.
There's also the issue of iOS virtual memory limitations. Whereas macOS lets apps use swap space (duh), on iOS apps will be killed if their memory use is too high and they move into the background. (And possibly if it's too high while they're in the foreground, idk.) Which means you can't leave apps open in the background — they might be killed at any moment. And this makes true productivity basically impossible.
For work I need an SSH client to access remote servers, and a web browser for when ClickOps is needed. Long battery life, and a tack sharp touch screen are gladly accepted. An iPad is the perfect "laptop" for me.
Do you use this as your main driver or just to check on things?
Just trying to imagine the workflow :)
I personally prefer a ~32" 4k screen for main work but I could see the convenience of an iPad to quickly remote in and check on stuff or maybe it's enough on it's own and I can learn from ya'll!
I've gotten 7 years out of my 2018 iPad Pro and, for my use case of video, browsing, and Procreate, it feels like new. And I believe a big part of that is that the A12X was wildly overpowered when I bought it.
I think someone deciding between an M4 and an M5 today should consider its value 5 years down the road, rather than its value today.
Thanks for mentioning the non-secure backup in the UK, I missed the memo on that, and fyi, for any one else who did: https://support.apple.com/en-us/122234
My sister in law has used an iPad as here primary compute device for school. Frankly, it works absolutely fine for her. 95% of her need is reading, email, and writing papers (in Google Drive).
You put a bigger chip in so you can run it at lower power consumption levels. Essentially, there are two ways this can pan out:
* Overall utilization can remain lower, keeping it in a more power efficient band.
* Expensive actions complete faster, thus using less power (since they run for less time).
From an overall business perspective, there also doesn't really seem to be a reason to _not_ standardize the lineup on a single chip. I have to imagine is less overhead from a manufacturing standpoint and it's not like there's a particularly meaningful difference in manufacturing costs of these chips.
Yep, I have the original 11" iPad Pro from 2018. It still works flawlessly and would be perfect for this use case. Someone who needs a device for school should buy a used iPad like this, not a new one that would be overpowered for the task and would cost double. Even with the edu discount, it's over $1k with the keyboard case. Why not just buy an MBA at that point?
My parents use their iPad(s) for 100% of their compute needs. At 70+ years old, they will tell you those needs are minimal.
If you use one program at a time, do not need an actual file system, have no need to install software from a variety of places (Github, Vendor sites, etc), have no problem installing multiple "apps" that only work behind paywalls or not at all and you don't care about replacing a functional device whenever Apple obsoletes it... iOS is the best thing since sliced bread.
If you need anything outside of iOS's limited list of abilities, its a trash operating system that has crippled amazing hardware.
I guess that's fine, but if that's all you're doing you could easily just get a hundred dollar chromebook. The marketing for this references things like transcode performance for Final Cut Pro. Implying that you would use it for some sort of serious computing task.
I don't think the "I just need to edit things in google drive crowd" overlaps much with the "I want to run a local LLM on a tablet" crowd.
Anyway my point isn't that people shouldn't buy iPads, my point is that it's silly that Apple has hardware that is incredibly capable and is held back entirely by terrible software policies.
For the haters here - Apple sells roughly 2x as many iPads as Macs (including MacBooks). Roughly as many iPad Pros as laptops.
I've cycled through using an iPad Pro as my main device on and off over the years - particularly the cellular modem has been a draw. For coding, they're terrible, as they are for longer form writing. I've ultimately shrunk down to the small size and use it as a kindle/gaming replacement. I think with a foldable iPhone I'd probably skip buying one.
All that said there's a large market for them. I use mine enough that every two cycles I update just for battery reasons.
My mother (75) is on her fourth ipad now. They are amazing devices for non technical users. My father bought her a laptop (some cheap windows thing) before she got her first ipad and asked here "are you happy with it". And she went "it's just a computer". She's not a gamer. Computers were for boring admin and banking stuff in her mind. Something that lives on a desk far away from the living room. Having to go there to browse the internet wasn't fun. She just had no interest in the whole thing. So he brought it back to the store and got an ipad instead. Life changing event.
Key feature: she can sit on the couch and use it. She does that all the time. It's a much more approachable device. She does everything on it. She plays a lot of bridge both on the ipad and in real life. So, she's even playing online games. Really fun when she randomly starts swearing at some dumb witted random co-player on the internet.
I'm not into IOS myself but I appreciate it for what it is and does. Steve Jobs nailed that one. I have a mac book pro but I have an Android phone. For me a phone is dumb read only device. Typing on it sucks. The screen is to clumsy and tiny for properly enjoying content, the camera is alright but I don't use that a lot. It's a device for reading hacker news and a few other things. I actually take most calls via my laptop. It even fails its primary job as a communication device for me.
Anyway, the key thing with this ipad is the built in apple phone chips. No more qualcomm. They can just put this thing in any device now. I'm not sure what's holding them back with their laptops. I'm guessing there's some Qualcomm IP and patents that might make that a bit expensive. But it's 2025. Why can't my laptop not connect to 5G networks without dongles, thethering, or other nonsense? The key blocker was always Qualcomm. Problem solved you'd think. Apparently, they are not going there yet. Maybe next year.
iPads have way more common with phones than laptops. They are more prone to damage and many people treat them like fashion accessories, promptly buying new devices upon launch even if the old one is perfectly fine.
I wouldn't call myself a hater, just disappointed. The hardware is incredibly powerful, but it's being held back but an OS that's locked down beyond reason. Maybe they just don't want to cannibalize Mac sales or something.
I mean, that makes sense given what the "haters" are saying, and indeed what you yourself admit. If this is just a device for passive consumption of entertainment, then ultimately it's a consumer-facing use case, and there are MANY MANY MANY more consumers than there are creators, whether that creation is a photo or a line of code. So of course more devices are sold, because you need a laptop (due to mostly software, rather than hardware reasons) to do most forms of creativity, from writing code to editing photos.
It could be a great device for certain types of creation also.
I use mine for editing photos. But, I still have to start and end the process with Lightroom classic on my Mac because of stupid decisions by Adobe to rent-seek with cloud storage, offering no local-stroage workflow option with the iPad app (and deliberately leaving out some features only available in LR Classic).
Likewise, I would love to do all of my photoshop work on the iPad. It's a great immersive experience with the Apple Pencil vs. sitting down with a mouse and keyboard on a computer, but yet again, Adobe cripples the iPad app compared to the desktop app.
And those particular use cases aren't Apple's fault. I'm less and less frustrated with iPad OS as a whole, particularly with windowing in 26 (though it could use some polish). It's got external display support, a file manager, access to external storage, audio input select now, etc. But Adobe (and others) are still making crippled mobile applications for it instead of just doing work to port over the full desktop experience on a device that is now just as capable.
Sure you can't code on it (very well), but I feel like Apple should start putting some pressure on Adobe and the other creative-suite of software companies to beef up the iPad experience, maybe offer some incentive or something.
Even on the laptop, Lightroom Classic is missing capabilities and has poor UX for common workflows. I've used Lightroom for 15 years, and at this point I primarily use DXO Photo Lab for editing, I only use Lightroom as a digital library management tool. I can't even fathom using the current Adobe products on iOS to try to do my workflow. That's mostly due to software, but also because I can't connect a high performance CF Xpress reader to a tablet, given the port performance limitations. I have a TB4/USB4 reader and high speed cards for my camera.
I'll be honest I haven't tried DXO Photo Lab yet. I've tried CaptureOne but could never get used to it, although I do prefer it's far more advanced color tools. Lightroom is really basic in comparison.
But I'm going to end up with a subscription anyway because of Photoshop so I've just always stuck with LR. That, and I used a LUT I built using Davinci Resolve, blended with the Camera Standard profile that I use as a slider in Lightroom (Classic) and I haven't found a way to do something similar in any other program yet (you can create these creative profiles in photoshop too but Davinci's color grading tools are so far superior). It's a key part of my look.
Also FWIW M1 and newer iPad Pros have thunderbolt 4
I have a 2018 iPad Pro that is due for replacement but I cannot bring myself to spend the money on a new iPad. No matter how much I think I'll use it, it becomes a web browsing and YouTube machine on the couch. It's a shame because I think the hardware design is quite good, but the OS itself is so limiting, even with the "improvements" iPadOS 26 introduced.
You could also subscribe to YouTube Premium. It pays creators better than ads do (versus an ad blocker, which pays them nothing), and it includes YouTube Music, so you can ditch Spotify.
Side comment: when I watch YouTube content on my iPad, I normally use the Brave browser instead of the app. It has a built-in ad blocker that works well on YouTube.
This. I've started thinking of it like this — the iPad, in my case, has an absolutely abysmal cost to usage ratio. On the far other end of the spectrum (and in a similar form factor if you squint) is probably my Kindle.
That being said, _some_ people I know consistently seem to get lots of work use out of their tablets, and I can't quite put my finger on where we differ.
I had to hand down my iPad Pro 3rd Gen (the one with A12x Bionic chip) to my daughter for her school use.
I got myself a 13" iPad Air (M2 chip) this time and Apple Pencil Pro (from Apple Refurbished store). The larger screen size isn't that much of a botheration as I thought it might be. On the flip side, the screen size is a lot closer to an A4 sheet and writing on it feels much better. I use Paperlike screen cover and pencil tips too.
I don't have Netflix or YouTube installed on it.
I only use it for Apple Books, Kindle, Notes and now Preview app is there as well.
I might this time even use it as Sidekick and remote access IDEs running on my MBP but not sure if I want to do that yet on the iPad.
What’s wrong with the iPad being a pure consumption device? It’s really great at this. Granted, you don’t need an iPad Pro for consumption, but you could always go for an iPad or iPad Air, no?
I have a 2017 iPad Pro and once the battery finally dies will replace it with a non-Pro iPad.
You could consider getting into drawing/design. They compete incredibly well against the display-based tablets made by wacom, especially these days where you can also do 3d and animation in procreate.
If I was starting this as a hobby, my first step would not be to spend several hundred dollars on a tablet and pen. I'd probably grab some sketchbooks and pencils first for <$50 and see if it sticks for more than a month.
If you aren't into drawing, what about music? You can download GarageBand for free and it's pretty great once you figure it out.
Or if you aren't a music person, are you into making movies? Final Cut Pro does have a subscription, but it's only $5 / month and the subscription is easy to start and stop. If your needs are simple, the free iMovie is pretty good.
Or maybe video isn't your thing. Are you a writer or poet? There are a lot of great choices for writing apps and the battery life of the iPad means you can work away from your desk all day.
Or if you like writing software, Swift Playground is fun. I found this to be a great resource:
If you are into photography, Affinity Photo is fun. It doesn't have the AI features that Photoshop has, but for amateurs, it can get you pretty far. Plug in an external drive to your iPad and you can use it with a huge photo library.
Drawing with undo, layers, gradients, transparency, and infinite brushes is very different from sketching on paper. I don't think a sketchbook is anything like it.
Just borrow someone else's underused ipad if you want to give it a try.
I mean yes, but if you have an incredibly impressive machine compared to SOTA 10 years ago just lying around, I'd have fun with that too. :)
Plus you can use it for more "practical" stuff like logo design or editing or even just note taking... I wanted to provide some examples of not just youtube machine.
I'm still on an older 12.9" Pro but will definitely upgrade at some point—and may not bother with another (personal—work-supplied is another matter) MacBook when my M1 starts to get long in the tooth in a couple years, now that Preview is available on iPads.
It beats the hell out of either laptops or phones, for me, for these tasks:
- Music. Excellent as a sheet music display; can record and edit midi quite well; play tutorial videos; act as a tuner, tone generator, or metronome (my phone beats it on that front due to portability, but still, if I already have the iPad out on the stand...); plenty good enough at audio recording and editing for my extremely-amateur purposes, plus its ability to play loops and beats and such.
- Reading. It's especially amazing for comic books (in landscape mode a 12.9 incher is almost the same size as an open comic book! You can read two-page side-by-side on it, no problem) and PDFs. I prefer iPad mini sized devices for prose books in ordinary ebook formats, but the 12.9" pro is damn near perfect for those two things. Laptops and desktop computers also work for comic books and PDFs, but are a pretty big downgrade, UX-wise.
- Drawing. Obviously.
- Long-form writing. Laptops work great for this too, of course, but you still need a separate keyboard if you want decent ergonomics. iPad doesn't have an attached keyboard taking up space that I could instead use for a separate keyboard.
It's also just as good as a laptop (to me) as a remote SSH terminal, VNC terminal, video/music player, web browser et c. I can't really think of much I do on my (personal! Not work-supplied) laptop that I can't do just as well on an iPad, maybe supplemented by a headless RPi hanging off my router, or a cheap VM rental (or just the Linux server in an old desktop workstation tower that I already have anyway).
> - Long-form writing. Laptops work great for this too, of course, but you still need a separate keyboard if you want decent ergonomics. iPad doesn't have an attached keyboard taking up space that I could instead use for a separate keyboard.
The screen is still small. Also, for technical writing, I think a lot of software is missing. There are a lot of small tools that technical writers use to do diagrams, illustrations. Also, long-form writing can be in different file formats. I think support for LaTeX and typst is very limited.
I have an M1 12.9" iPP -- I find it's almost useless for reading because it weighs so much. I ended up buying a $ 90 Android 11" tablet which has a 'good enough' screen for reading. (Obv also does email, photos, AI, etc).
If I could develop on the iPP, FOR the iPP --- build professional-quality apps on the iPP --- I would be happier. The Logitech detachable kbd is remarkably good, I have no complaints typing on it all day. iOS is a straightjacket.
I have an iPad Mini. I got it mainly for studying and reading. However, it also has become great for being an instrumentalist. I can toss it in my bag, setup it up with the folding case for sheet music, tuning, and everything else. It saves me from having to carry my sheet music books, tuner, and other bits around.
Sounds like you don't have a tablet specific use case though, you just want to use it as a glorified laptop, so why not just use a laptop?
A tablet specific use case would be as portable writing machine on the go, for illustration, for audio units, or something like that, all the way to flight maps for recreational flying.
I use my iPad solely for just artwork at this point. I don't respect the App Store and needing to pay subscriptions for things you can get for free on a computer. That, and having to rely on web apps
Far less open-source software for it, no compilers, emulators banned until recently.
And as for paid software, almost everything a bloodys subscription even for things like note-taking apps, that or loaded with ads and microtransactions.
And anything touch-centric encourages dumbed-down limited-functionality software to begin with. More advanced software requires more precise input devices.
Please don't move the goal post to "I also want to compile and run code" because I got nothing for that. I just ssh to my home server and use my normal shell and neovim there.
What do you mean, no local git? There is local git...it's just another app. I know it sucks. Also pretty sure code-server has working git functionality?
I don't find that experience good either, but I mostly write rust, so not having rust tool chain and its component is a dealbreaker for me.
I'm just saying you can write code and commit from iPad directly. I'd rather get the ability to use jetbrains IDEs via their remote client, but I don't think it will ever happen.
iPad has the power to play a majority of Steam games, Windows apps, linux distributions, etc.. but due to it being so locked down, it's essentially a youtube machine. iPad is a joke.
My relaxing on the couch creative activity is writing code in compiled languages, running a server, and seeing it go in the browser. This is impossible on an iPad.
There are many other creative workflows possible on an iPad, but I'm not really interested in getting good at those when I have the one that I'm already working on, you know?
And I own exclusively Apple hardware; I'm not some contrarian anti Apple fanboy, I promise.
or a terminal or a decent ide or an ability to script anything. lots of companies rely on custom bespoke software made by an employee who got fed up by something, basically no possibility of doing that on an ipad, etc etc.
but sure, just call me an NPC, you’re so unique and good at noticing patterns and not rude
There have been terminal programs for the iPad since at least 2017, when I started using the one above.
As for "custom bespoke software," why would you try to run that on an iPad in the first place? My company has plenty custom in-house programs, but I don't complain that they won't run on a toaster, or a Commodore 64, or a Cray. That's like saying you won't buy a speedboat because it can't carry all the iron ore that your company's dump truck can haul. It just makes no sense.
It's wild to me the levels someone will go to defend a corporation's right to lock away the ability to install anything the user wants.
In a perfect (from their pov) world Apple would prefer the internet didn't even exist, that way they could put up a walled garden AppleNet and take 30% of everything there too.
I chose your comment to respond to but there's a handful of you going to war in the comments, it's just wild to me.
Prompt lets you log into some other computer and run programs there, not run programs on your iPad. Hell, I used it to fix a production bug from my phone in like 2013.
I have a M1 iPad Pro and I'm open to doing a trade-in for a new M5 iPad Pro: however the problem is the accessories. I rely on the Magic Keyboard and Apple Pencil and they would have to be repurchased since they are not compatable, which upps the total price too much.
The A10X processor in my 2017 iPad Pro has always felt ridiculously overpowered for a couch machine. Recently it had gotten sluggish, hot, hung for times and lost battery quite quickly and I thought its time had finally come.. but no, after resetting the OS, it's as fast as ever. So hopefully it'll last me til Apple finally gives the iPad Air a 120Hz display.
This is why I replaced my Samsung Galaxy Book 12 w/ a Galaxy Book 3 Pro 360.
I'd give my interest in Hell for there to be a tablet Mac w/ a Wacom stylus --- as it is, I'm seriously considering a Mac Mini and Wacom Movink 14 and a 3D printed shell.... (but first, I'm going to try out an rPi 5 w/ Wacom One 13 Gen 2 w/ touch).
It's a useful device if you're an artist, if you're a developer the best thing you can do with it is buy the cellular model and use it as a very thin VNC client
There's a whole spectrum of use cases between artist and software developer. Honestly most people that I see at work just use Office software, web browser, and Teams.
Office is a great use for a $350 regular iPad. Honestly the same one I'd recommend to developers, or worst case an $800 iPad Air for the 13" screen size.
The $1000+ iPad Pro isn't helpful for any of that.
That's true, and I would have gone for a 13" iPad Air when they were introduced, but ultimately went for the iPad Pro because I liked the OLED and 120Hz.
Hmm, I will be honest, I was either always close to a power outlet or it lasted long enough for me. You only need to tether if there is no Wi-Fi.
I have a 20000mAh with me when I intend to work remotely though. Either way cheaper than paying for another plan for iPad and buying a more expensive iPad.
What’s not “normal” about the files and why do most people need access to the file system and not a method to share files across apps that’s already available?
How do you know you have the right application to open the file? I have tried at least a dozen apps to open *.stl files... some work, most don't. Some have features I need and don't work opening files. Some are sensitive to stl's that require repair and stop working... and I could go on and on for different file types. The point is; sharing isn't "guaranteed" to work across apps and is generally far, far from "it just works". You have almost zero control over the actual files because there might not be a way to save different formats from the app you are using, or the files app doesn't recognize the extension, or you can't find the folder for the other app, or it doesn't have a user accessible folder, or it will not load files from the "files app"... or <insert 50000 more "what if's here>. The whole things just sucks so, so bad.
And how do you know a Word file will work seamlessly across other word processors on a computer that are suppose to read Word files or export to Word? What modern productivity software doesn’t support using the Files app? It has been around for well over a decade.
On your computer, do you inspect the details of a file using Explorer? On the Mac do you do that with the Finder. Or do you actually open the file with an application?
Do you expect to use Windows explorer or the Finder to “convert file types”?
Using iOS 26 on my phone, I held down a file and there is an “Open With” option that gave me a choice of how to open the file.
Across applications? Applications these days save files using the File dialog, they may by default store them in a folder accesible by Files. Yes I know some apps still store their data in their own sandbox. But that’s not the case generally for standard productivity apps.
Do you use "files"? Its garbargio on steroids. You can't just open a <insert about 100 file extensions here> file from the files app. Moving files around is cumbersome at best and downright infuriating most of the time. The "sandbox" nature of iOS is simply not intuitive enough to know how things will react when you move and try to open a file in another app. It just sucks so bad.
Furthermore, "sharing" is broken. Does it copy the file? Does it move the file? Am I duplicating this 200mb pdf when I move it to books? How the ____ do I know? There is a dearth of information and I imagine most people, like myself, give up and use it to read before bed or watch a few videos on the couch. I am never going to by another iPad until the OS is useful beyond drawing, creating music or reading.
You can’t open random file extensions on a computer either unless you have an application that understand the format.
Moving files around works just like on Windows and Macs - cut and paste.
And it has the same semantics as Windows and Macs - if I drag a file from one place to another on the same drive - it moves it. If I drag it to another storage location - ie another hard drive on a computer or another storage provider in Files - iCloud, Google Drive, etc it copies it.
It never ceases to amaze me that when computer “experts” criticize people for not wanting to learn how things work - do the same.
I've produced two albums and done quite a few remixes on mine. Trying hard not to sound like a dick here, but if you pick up an iPad and all you can think to do with it is watch YouTube it seems weird to blame the iPad for that.
Point noted. For me, I find too much friction and distraction using the iPad for creative. Sure, I'll do something in a pinch, but there's just something about it where I can't focus on non-consumption activities.
I'm not sure what it is about the iPad -- maybe the physical ergonomics? It's kinda hard to position comfortably for focus.
I specifically use my iPad for the music because it's not the MBP I spend all day on for work. I'm sure there's music stuff that would be much easier to achieve on the laptop than the iPad, but the second I open my laptop I'm basically on-call and the distractions too great - the separation helps.
Do agree with the ergonomics point though - it can be hard to spend a lot of time actually working on it.
I don't do vocals, so hardware is a TD-3, a Roland T-8, TB-03, Arturia MiniFuse 4 as the audio interface, Arturia MiniLab keyboard / controller and various Intech controllers (highly recommended). I believe the MiniFuse would do your vocal inputs pretty well.
Even with all that though, I do 99% of it directly in Logic on the iPad, sometimes 100%.
Agreed. I am forcing myself to start using my iPad Air more and more but it generally just collects dust. The 10Hz refresh rate has made me want to look at getting a proper one with a fast display - but then I remind myself that it will also probably collect dust most of the time.
would buy this in a heartbeat if I could run macOS… it’s such a shame iPad hardware has been so held back by Apple’s lackluster software strategy for this long
What is the use case for an iPad Pro vs the regular iPad or the iPad Air that I didn't knew even existed?
I have the feeling that everything one could do with the Pro could be done as well with the less expensive models. Apart from the handful of travel youtubers that might want to edit and render their videos in an airport terminal I think the use cases would be very niche. Yet a lot of people seem to prefer it over the other variants, I guess just because it exists and it is at the top of the line?
As a photographer, the OLED screen is truly gorgeous and it is kind of ironic that it is the best display available on any Apple device (the blooming on miniLED is pretty horrendous, and it’s beyond me how anyone deemed it a viable technology to ship in products aimed at professional visual artists/designers).
Yes, I got the 13" M4 Pro mostly because of the display. I use the iPad Pro as my photo album and its just fantastic for that. The M4 flies of course. Thanks to more and more multi-windowed support on iPad OS it gets more useful for light tasks.
All my other devices have 120Hz and switching from any of these to my 5 year old 60Hz iPad Pro gives me physical pain. If the iPad Air had 120Hz I would probably buy that right now. I think I’ll wait for another year though as I’m pretty sure the next iPad Air generation will have 120Hz, now that the non-Pro iPhone has it as well.
I know not everyone is as sensitive to this as I am, so I recommend going to the store and trying both the Air and the Pro. If you’re like me you will notice the difference immediately.
The additional GPU performance will be very helpful for the upcoming Blender port to iPad.
> The M5 chip is built on TSMC's N3P node and has a faster GPU that can deliver 1.6x more FPS in games, 20% faster multi-core CPU performance, and 1.7x quicker render times in Blender — all versus the M4.
I currently have an m1 iPad pro, and I use it daily. Do I get the pro performance out of it? Probably not. I might still upgrade to the m5 for the better display though. These are my use-cases FWIW:
- Goodnotes w/ the apple pen during work
- YouTube during dinner
- Kindle App for technical books (and regular Kindle device for fiction)
- Browsing the internet
- Streaming games with Xbox streaming
I travel for work one week per month-ish, and I don't take a personal laptop anymore since getting my iPad.
Now.. do I really _need_ to upgrade? Probably not, my M1 still runs fine. Decisions Decisions :)
Unrelated to the discussion at hand but information for people that game stream on their Apple Devices: If you experience unexplained stuttering, change the 5ghz wifi channel to 149.
Life's most precious resource is time. A newer device is often much faster at a person's current routines. Why would you want a fast device to do harder things? Fast alone is worth it.
Any tablet or tablet mode laptop I've used on windows is fucking miserable, so I've always assumed it was more a user experience thing rather than some plot to artificially limit neckbeards
People keep saying their iPad is a YT consumption device, but without ad blocking, how do you stay sane? I'm assuming if you're consuming that much YT content you've moved to a premium account or something? I don't use my tablet primarily for YT content, so it's rather jolting when I click a link somewhere and see the hell that is unblocked YT
Looks wonderful but I have an old iPad Pro with an M1 and 16G memory and I already feel my old iPad Pro is powerful enough to run local LLMs, write books, use SSH/Mosh to my servers, etc.
EDIT: oh, the prices are much lower now than what I paid 3+ hears ago, that’s nice.
Glad to see that unlike last time with the M4 release, this time they released M5 in more devices than just the iPad Pro at the same time. That said, there’s still room for improvement: the MacBook Air and Mac mini weren’t updated yet.
A lot of small things. For example importing Live Photos. On macOS when you drag and drop an image and video file with the same name into the Photos app, the Photos app combines both into a single Live Photo. On iOS/iPadOS this does not work.
There is bigger things too. A proper web browser for example. Google Docs is barely usable in Safari on iPad with larger documents. The permanent banner at the top asking you to install the app is so annoying. The Google Docs app is somehow even worse. And it’s not just Google apps. Many iPad apps are just upscaled iPhone apps with lots of features missing compared to the web version. And don’t even think about support for multiple tabs or windows in apps.
For YouTube and Netflix my iPad Pro is great but anything beyond hurts. And this is the „Pro“ model. You can say maybe I’m too advanced for the „Pro“ but most users have _something_ besides of YouTube and Netflix they want to do and will feel these limitations sooner or later. It’s it not a laptop replacement and Apple wouldn’t want it to be.
"Ordinary people" wouldn't care about anything above even an M1 CPU. The post is about the iPad Pro. The target audience would care about having the software features that macOS has.
Not true, it’s a pretty good machine to edit videos on, extra cpu/gpu power is welcome there. I connect it to an external monitor, keyboard and mouse and use Final Cut Pro to edit videos. On holidays I can connect my action cam to the iPad, download the videos and edit them, without having to bring a laptop.
The ability to run Xcode? Maybe run Linux in a VM (no, emulation does not count). Maybe run nvim with python/node/rust/go/gcc toolchains on the iPad? How about Wireshark? I really liked using Nixdroid on my Pixel, why can't I have something similar on iOS/iPadOS?
Android can run Android Studio. Why can't an iPad run Xcode?
I would not want to run XCode let alone Android Studio with an Android emulator with 12GB RAM or a VM. Even the lowest end MacBook Air comes with 16GB RAM.
It depends entirely on your target - you don’t need an emulator if you are already running an android device.
Xcode on my macbook doesn’t need 12GB. It is of course a different story if you need to also run clang-analyzer or rust-analyzer in addition to xcode/studio, but still, 16GB would be enough to get by for a sizeable chunk of devs.
Really? Are we going to compare development in what 1980 to today? I got my start programming on an Apple //e in 1986 in assembly and it had 128KB of RAM.
6GB is not plenty when you are expected to run an IDE and in the case of Android an emulator that is also emulating a phone with 4GB+ RAM.
iOS development has never used an “emulator”, when you ran in the simulator even on x86 computers, it compiled your code to x86 and ran against an x86 version of the iOS framework.
> The ability to run Xcode? Maybe run Linux in a VM (no, emulation does not count). Maybe run nvim with python/node/rust/go/gcc toolchains on the iPad? How about Wireshark? I really liked using Nixdroid on my Pixel, why can't I have something similar on iOS/iPadOS?
Android can run Android Studio. Why can't an iPad run Xcode?
How much of that could you do on your Dynabook? How was web browsing? The office suites? Video and audio editing? The office suites? Even the games?
Everyone has their own hill to die on, that's the thing about personal computing. It's the same if you ask why they can't switch mobile OS. It's some seemingly trivial app or feature that almost nobody cares about.
A random recent example off the top of my head: view photos in AVIF format. It does work in Photos app, but not in Preview app nor in Messages app somehow. At least this the case on iOS 26 and so I suspect iPadOS 26 too. It works on macOS 26.
Edit: I realize that ordinary people might not yet care about exporting to AVIF, but they may receive such photos from other people.
I'm going to order one of these to replace my 2018 iPad Pro which is the computer I use the most.
I'll spend around $2k and I want to get at least 5 years of use out of it. That will make it cost me a little more than $1 / day which, fortunately, I can afford.
13 w/ 512 GB + Pencil. I want the nano screen but that would require me to bump the storage to 1 TB and I don't need that. Instead, I'll get a paper-like screen protector. I've had good luck with those in the past.
If the Smart Folio Keyboard was still available, I'd buy that too. It's not, so I'm going keyboard-less for now.
I have never figured out what the point of a tablet is, except for entertainment. I keep wanting to buy an iPad every time a new one comes out, yet I've never bought one, and keep failing to see any point to it. I have a reMarkable device, which is a sort of tablet, but I use it exclusively for taking notes by hand in meetings, which is basically what it is designed for. I have a Kindle, which is kind of like a tablet, and I use it exclusively for reading which is what it is designed for. An iPad feels like it should replace both, but when I actually analyze it, it cannot replace either one.
What really are tablets for other than being a passive entertainment consumption device?
I travel a lot for work and don’t want to bring a second MacBook Pro. iPad works well in the plane for watching movies, MacBook not so much, at least not in Economy class. Can’t use my work computer for personal stuff anyway unfortunately. Also can’t download Netflix content offline on desktop.
Another use case is in the kitchen. Recipes, YouTube, FaceTime, etc. I use my iPad Pro in the kitchen every day when I’m at home. Easy to clean up. Using a MacBook while cooking will make it gross very fast.
Apart from watching videos, I use mine for making music (podcast scoring) and for drawing (formal illustrations, doodling, and sketching out designs). There are also a few games that I feel play best on an iPad, such as Balatro.
I don't understand why there isn't a market for 15"+ iPads. 13" is just too small for home use and too heavy for using it without a stand, might as well make it much bigger
This obviously isn't a tablet meant for people who own M4/M2 iPads to upgrade. You wouldn't be getting your money's worth (although the tandem OLED on the M4 is stunning).
This is just a minor update for anyone with an older iPad/iPad Pro in case they want to upgrade.
Many of the people here complaining don't seem to understand they are not the target market.
Also, I love using my iPad as a social media / YouTube content consumption device. It's a fantastic experience. I also use it for a lot of home control (mostly audio but also lighting). It sure is an expensive device but it lasts forever and I get my money's worth.
Definition of the most useless machine - doesn't fit in your pocket, has good specs but refuses to run anything not signed by Apple.. worst of both worlds.
For you. Not for many other users who definitely do not agree with this statement.
To me this will be the kind of computers I'll tell my parents to use as soon as their crappy laptops die. They do not need literally anything else: sending emails, write a few ones, check Youtube and browse the web. For this use case, it's the most useful machine. Never breaks, infinite battery, no support needed.
I have never used a touch screen laptop that wasn’t compromised - heavy, wrong screen ratio and if it’s an x86 laptop it runs hot with poor battery life
Yeah the nice thing about (non-cellular) iPads vs. the competition (including Android tablets last time I tried them, but maybe they've gotten a ton better since then) is that you can leave them in a drawer for a couple weeks, take them out, they'll wake up ~instantly, and still have a useful amount of charge. x86 laptops and (again, last I tried) Android tablets always gave me "where's the nearest outlet?!" anxiety, or were just dead when I picked them up to use them. iPads are chill.
You've chosen your computer and OS and are looking for compatible apps. I've gone the other way. I want to run Procreate and the best environment for running it is the iPad with Apple Pencil.
At this point, I think its just very irresponsible of Apple putting these kind of chips in the iPad and then given 99% of the users no way to actually harness that power. Occupy TSMC line time and cause global geopolitical struggles for what??
I think Apple hardware must be incredibly underutilised across the board. Every new generation of iPhone or MacBook they boast about lofty performance gains, but who is actually complaining about their iPhone not being fast enough? Nobody I know pushes their iPhone so hard it starts to lag. It's not like you can really do anything computationally heavy on your phone besides games, but people mostly play simplistic 2D games on iOS anyway.
Having performance available when you need it is the alternative to waiting.
Even a simplistic 2D game loads data, runs routines, and while the person is doing that they expect the phone to stay connected to a network, keep up with notifications... you act like Apple is doing something bad.
Intel/Chromebooks still are being sold in the USA at Best Buy with the Celeron N4000-series and Pentium-4200 series chips if you prefer to have zero performance overhead on your devices.
Somehow the most powerful capable chips hardware wise, are at the same time the least capable software wise. I thought Apple was supposed to be the 'bicycle for the mind', what happened?
So they can ruin this beautiful hardware with shitty and locked down software. For most people, games are the only kind of software that comes close to actually utilizing all this power, but dedicated game consoles are cheaper. So what’s the point any more?
I get the impression they're trying to market this to laptop users. I'm still very skeptical of iPads as a productivity device. The problem isn't the hardware, it's the OS, the app store and the model for selling apps. Apple's app store policies make it hard to sell expensive software (which most productivity apps are somewhat expensive), it also makes it hard to distribute free software (as in open source -- because someone has to pony up for a developer account and deal with the app store feedback), and the App-centric focus of the OS itself is a problem (most projects need to be file centric)
iPad Pro is a great terminal, I shred code on it daily. Running a build server on a portable is a bad strategy (battery, wait times, session resume). It’s the top layer of 3 layers in total (portable, GUI, build server). It handles realtime audio / video well, which are the only things that cant be remoted. You dont need OS26 for it to be a very productive terminal, it’s been possible for years. You do however need a proper backend stack, which can also be portable (but separately).
I did a performance test over the weekend of compilation times across 4 projects using 4 devices.
My M4 MacBook Pro is faster than my modern i9 desktop that work spent $$$ on...
iPad feels like a genie trapped in a bottle to me. It has that same M4 but there's so much less to use it for. Too bad I can't just set it by my PC and throw workloads at the processor or something. Continuity works well enough as a second screen but I'd love a second M4 CPU.
Second CPU idea is brilliant. I’d buy an iPad for second screen, second CPU and occasional plane/hotel Netflix/Youtube.
For those just looking for a second screen with their iPad or MacBook, Universal Display does exactly this, given you’re already in the Apple ecosystem.
Second CPU would be nice, too.
What is Universal Display?
The built-in MacOS feature that does this called continuity… but I know it was renamed once (used to be sidecar). Maybe you’re referring to an old name? Or is it a product?
Edit: I looked it up and it appears that the app is continuity and “Sidecar” and “Universal Control” are features. IDT those names show up in the OS UX though.
https://www.apple.com/macos/continuity/
I am looking forward for real competition to Apple which ironically will be better for Apple users/developers. You don't buy a McClaren for transporting your kids to the school faster.
PS: I don't think GPU continuity will work well over USB-C.
There's also the issue of iOS virtual memory limitations. Whereas macOS lets apps use swap space (duh), on iOS apps will be killed if their memory use is too high and they move into the background. (And possibly if it's too high while they're in the foreground, idk.) Which means you can't leave apps open in the background — they might be killed at any moment. And this makes true productivity basically impossible.
For work I need an SSH client to access remote servers, and a web browser for when ClickOps is needed. Long battery life, and a tack sharp touch screen are gladly accepted. An iPad is the perfect "laptop" for me.
GP is not talking about “an iPad” tho, but an iPad Pro with a literal laptop-class CPU.
Do you use this as your main driver or just to check on things?
Just trying to imagine the workflow :)
I personally prefer a ~32" 4k screen for main work but I could see the convenience of an iPad to quickly remote in and check on stuff or maybe it's enough on it's own and I can learn from ya'll!
Por que no los dos?
Just dock your iPad in the office and get a desktop class experience. Pick it up and go and have your same apps and sessions and data anywhere.
Would be nice. It's the experience I had with a Surface but I get Windows isn't applicable to all users and workloads.
Yeah I need a local mac for builds / debugging :( Thanks for the info, I'll dream of better days ;)
I bought iPad Pro M4 and I am yet to find a use case for it. Combined with non-secure cloud backup in the UK, I see it as a toy device.
Watch YouTube, casually browse web (I am yet to install VPN).
So far the most use I had with it was recording meetings, so that later I can relisten.
If I was able to run Ubuntu on it or even macOs - that would have been a different story...
I've gotten 7 years out of my 2018 iPad Pro and, for my use case of video, browsing, and Procreate, it feels like new. And I believe a big part of that is that the A12X was wildly overpowered when I bought it.
I think someone deciding between an M4 and an M5 today should consider its value 5 years down the road, rather than its value today.
Thanks for mentioning the non-secure backup in the UK, I missed the memo on that, and fyi, for any one else who did: https://support.apple.com/en-us/122234
You're not far off, as over the years it grew into a capable gaming machine:
https://github.com/albertquiroga/awesome-ios-game-ports?tab=...
iPad is also the best ebook reader in my opinion, which is pretty much the only reason I have one.
My sister in law has used an iPad as here primary compute device for school. Frankly, it works absolutely fine for her. 95% of her need is reading, email, and writing papers (in Google Drive).
> 95% of her need is reading, email, and writing papers
Sure, it's great for that kind of (computationally) light work, but then what's the point of putting a monster like the M5 chip in it?
My understanding is battery life. I have no idea how accurate this is, but somebody basically graphed what I was thinking: https://techboards.net/threads/power-curves-of-a17.4348/
You put a bigger chip in so you can run it at lower power consumption levels. Essentially, there are two ways this can pan out:
* Overall utilization can remain lower, keeping it in a more power efficient band.
* Expensive actions complete faster, thus using less power (since they run for less time).
From an overall business perspective, there also doesn't really seem to be a reason to _not_ standardize the lineup on a single chip. I have to imagine is less overhead from a manufacturing standpoint and it's not like there's a particularly meaningful difference in manufacturing costs of these chips.
Smooth animation for throw-away-coded SPAs.
The target hardware for vibe coded startups!
Yep, I have the original 11" iPad Pro from 2018. It still works flawlessly and would be perfect for this use case. Someone who needs a device for school should buy a used iPad like this, not a new one that would be overpowered for the task and would cost double. Even with the edu discount, it's over $1k with the keyboard case. Why not just buy an MBA at that point?
Two reasons for are the cellular connection and smaller form factor. Would love to have a MBA with those
This probably matches most users experience. It’s just that the remaining 5% makes you want to hurl the device out the window.
My parents use their iPad(s) for 100% of their compute needs. At 70+ years old, they will tell you those needs are minimal.
If you use one program at a time, do not need an actual file system, have no need to install software from a variety of places (Github, Vendor sites, etc), have no problem installing multiple "apps" that only work behind paywalls or not at all and you don't care about replacing a functional device whenever Apple obsoletes it... iOS is the best thing since sliced bread.
If you need anything outside of iOS's limited list of abilities, its a trash operating system that has crippled amazing hardware.
I guess that's fine, but if that's all you're doing you could easily just get a hundred dollar chromebook. The marketing for this references things like transcode performance for Final Cut Pro. Implying that you would use it for some sort of serious computing task.
> you could easily just get a hundred dollar chromebook
Terrible battery life by comparison. Worse display. Not as swift at video playback. And with LLMs on the rise, less locally capable.
I don't think the "I just need to edit things in google drive crowd" overlaps much with the "I want to run a local LLM on a tablet" crowd.
Anyway my point isn't that people shouldn't buy iPads, my point is that it's silly that Apple has hardware that is incredibly capable and is held back entirely by terrible software policies.
For the haters here - Apple sells roughly 2x as many iPads as Macs (including MacBooks). Roughly as many iPad Pros as laptops.
I've cycled through using an iPad Pro as my main device on and off over the years - particularly the cellular modem has been a draw. For coding, they're terrible, as they are for longer form writing. I've ultimately shrunk down to the small size and use it as a kindle/gaming replacement. I think with a foldable iPhone I'd probably skip buying one.
All that said there's a large market for them. I use mine enough that every two cycles I update just for battery reasons.
My mother (75) is on her fourth ipad now. They are amazing devices for non technical users. My father bought her a laptop (some cheap windows thing) before she got her first ipad and asked here "are you happy with it". And she went "it's just a computer". She's not a gamer. Computers were for boring admin and banking stuff in her mind. Something that lives on a desk far away from the living room. Having to go there to browse the internet wasn't fun. She just had no interest in the whole thing. So he brought it back to the store and got an ipad instead. Life changing event.
Key feature: she can sit on the couch and use it. She does that all the time. It's a much more approachable device. She does everything on it. She plays a lot of bridge both on the ipad and in real life. So, she's even playing online games. Really fun when she randomly starts swearing at some dumb witted random co-player on the internet.
I'm not into IOS myself but I appreciate it for what it is and does. Steve Jobs nailed that one. I have a mac book pro but I have an Android phone. For me a phone is dumb read only device. Typing on it sucks. The screen is to clumsy and tiny for properly enjoying content, the camera is alright but I don't use that a lot. It's a device for reading hacker news and a few other things. I actually take most calls via my laptop. It even fails its primary job as a communication device for me.
Anyway, the key thing with this ipad is the built in apple phone chips. No more qualcomm. They can just put this thing in any device now. I'm not sure what's holding them back with their laptops. I'm guessing there's some Qualcomm IP and patents that might make that a bit expensive. But it's 2025. Why can't my laptop not connect to 5G networks without dongles, thethering, or other nonsense? The key blocker was always Qualcomm. Problem solved you'd think. Apparently, they are not going there yet. Maybe next year.
I didn't believe this at first, but it seems valid.
Apple earnings on Mac and iPads are in the same ballpark and if iPads cost half of a Mac its indeed a 2x.
https://www.macrumors.com/2025/05/01/apple-2q-2025-earnings/
To me it makes a lot of sense.
iPads have way more common with phones than laptops. They are more prone to damage and many people treat them like fashion accessories, promptly buying new devices upon launch even if the old one is perfectly fine.
I wouldn't call myself a hater, just disappointed. The hardware is incredibly powerful, but it's being held back but an OS that's locked down beyond reason. Maybe they just don't want to cannibalize Mac sales or something.
I mean, that makes sense given what the "haters" are saying, and indeed what you yourself admit. If this is just a device for passive consumption of entertainment, then ultimately it's a consumer-facing use case, and there are MANY MANY MANY more consumers than there are creators, whether that creation is a photo or a line of code. So of course more devices are sold, because you need a laptop (due to mostly software, rather than hardware reasons) to do most forms of creativity, from writing code to editing photos.
It could be a great device for certain types of creation also.
I use mine for editing photos. But, I still have to start and end the process with Lightroom classic on my Mac because of stupid decisions by Adobe to rent-seek with cloud storage, offering no local-stroage workflow option with the iPad app (and deliberately leaving out some features only available in LR Classic).
Likewise, I would love to do all of my photoshop work on the iPad. It's a great immersive experience with the Apple Pencil vs. sitting down with a mouse and keyboard on a computer, but yet again, Adobe cripples the iPad app compared to the desktop app.
And those particular use cases aren't Apple's fault. I'm less and less frustrated with iPad OS as a whole, particularly with windowing in 26 (though it could use some polish). It's got external display support, a file manager, access to external storage, audio input select now, etc. But Adobe (and others) are still making crippled mobile applications for it instead of just doing work to port over the full desktop experience on a device that is now just as capable.
Sure you can't code on it (very well), but I feel like Apple should start putting some pressure on Adobe and the other creative-suite of software companies to beef up the iPad experience, maybe offer some incentive or something.
Even on the laptop, Lightroom Classic is missing capabilities and has poor UX for common workflows. I've used Lightroom for 15 years, and at this point I primarily use DXO Photo Lab for editing, I only use Lightroom as a digital library management tool. I can't even fathom using the current Adobe products on iOS to try to do my workflow. That's mostly due to software, but also because I can't connect a high performance CF Xpress reader to a tablet, given the port performance limitations. I have a TB4/USB4 reader and high speed cards for my camera.
I'll be honest I haven't tried DXO Photo Lab yet. I've tried CaptureOne but could never get used to it, although I do prefer it's far more advanced color tools. Lightroom is really basic in comparison.
But I'm going to end up with a subscription anyway because of Photoshop so I've just always stuck with LR. That, and I used a LUT I built using Davinci Resolve, blended with the Camera Standard profile that I use as a slider in Lightroom (Classic) and I haven't found a way to do something similar in any other program yet (you can create these creative profiles in photoshop too but Davinci's color grading tools are so far superior). It's a key part of my look.
Also FWIW M1 and newer iPad Pros have thunderbolt 4
I have a 2018 iPad Pro that is due for replacement but I cannot bring myself to spend the money on a new iPad. No matter how much I think I'll use it, it becomes a web browsing and YouTube machine on the couch. It's a shame because I think the hardware design is quite good, but the OS itself is so limiting, even with the "improvements" iPadOS 26 introduced.
This may be a controversial statement, but: you don't have to replace things that you're not using.
That’s the decision I’ve made here, I was merely using the framing as a way to talk about how my view on the iPad has changed in the intervening years
I can understand the reasoning behind - maybe new revision is more usable and make them use it more.
I use my 2018 iPad Pro every day, though. Ironically, that's the reason why I'm not replacing it - it works just fine.
But won't someone think of the shareholder value?
Every iPad I've bought was going to be "the one where I find a use case that uses it" but every time it ends up being a YouTube machine.
I bought one just to run Loopy Pro. It has never run anything but the app store, the system settings, and Loopy Pro.
But I had the use case before I bought it. If not for that, I wouldn't own one.
Loopy Pro is as compelling an argument for buying one on the audio side as Procreate is on the graphics side.
iOS doesn't even make for a very good YouTube machine, you need uBlock Origin for that.
You could also subscribe to YouTube Premium. It pays creators better than ads do (versus an ad blocker, which pays them nothing), and it includes YouTube Music, so you can ditch Spotify.
Got a vpn subscription? Try exiting in albania, no ads.
Side comment: when I watch YouTube content on my iPad, I normally use the Brave browser instead of the app. It has a built-in ad blocker that works well on YouTube.
Psst, you can get uBlock Origin (lite) for Safari now. Works pretty well.
Same but just entertainment device. I still don't understand where the iPad Pro makes sense.
It's great for image retouching and illustration, especially on the go.
It's also very handy for running VSTs (well, AUs really) and jamming with keyboards or guitars (with something like iRig)
Garageband and Books for me.. iPad 1 or 2 would suffice..
I literally use mine for the Books app and to play chess.
This. I've started thinking of it like this — the iPad, in my case, has an absolutely abysmal cost to usage ratio. On the far other end of the spectrum (and in a similar form factor if you squint) is probably my Kindle.
That being said, _some_ people I know consistently seem to get lots of work use out of their tablets, and I can't quite put my finger on where we differ.
Note taking and Reading are my primary use cases.
Goes without saying YMMV but it works for me.
I had to hand down my iPad Pro 3rd Gen (the one with A12x Bionic chip) to my daughter for her school use.
I got myself a 13" iPad Air (M2 chip) this time and Apple Pencil Pro (from Apple Refurbished store). The larger screen size isn't that much of a botheration as I thought it might be. On the flip side, the screen size is a lot closer to an A4 sheet and writing on it feels much better. I use Paperlike screen cover and pencil tips too.
I don't have Netflix or YouTube installed on it.
I only use it for Apple Books, Kindle, Notes and now Preview app is there as well.
I might this time even use it as Sidekick and remote access IDEs running on my MBP but not sure if I want to do that yet on the iPad.
What’s wrong with the iPad being a pure consumption device? It’s really great at this. Granted, you don’t need an iPad Pro for consumption, but you could always go for an iPad or iPad Air, no?
I have a 2017 iPad Pro and once the battery finally dies will replace it with a non-Pro iPad.
I agree with this sentiment, but if you are using it primarily as a consumption device, the OLED screen is probably worth sticking with the Pro line.
You could consider getting into drawing/design. They compete incredibly well against the display-based tablets made by wacom, especially these days where you can also do 3d and animation in procreate.
If I was starting this as a hobby, my first step would not be to spend several hundred dollars on a tablet and pen. I'd probably grab some sketchbooks and pencils first for <$50 and see if it sticks for more than a month.
If you aren't into drawing, what about music? You can download GarageBand for free and it's pretty great once you figure it out.
Or if you aren't a music person, are you into making movies? Final Cut Pro does have a subscription, but it's only $5 / month and the subscription is easy to start and stop. If your needs are simple, the free iMovie is pretty good.
Or maybe video isn't your thing. Are you a writer or poet? There are a lot of great choices for writing apps and the battery life of the iPad means you can work away from your desk all day.
Or if you like writing software, Swift Playground is fun. I found this to be a great resource:
https://github.com/uraimo/Awesome-Swift-Playgrounds
If you are into photography, Affinity Photo is fun. It doesn't have the AI features that Photoshop has, but for amateurs, it can get you pretty far. Plug in an external drive to your iPad and you can use it with a huge photo library.
All of this is cool...but you can do them all on a laptop and you'll probably have a better time.
And those cheap/free things are only available after dropping $1000 on a new iPad
The person I replied to already has the iPad.
As for having a better time on the laptop, YMMV. My iPad is my most used computer by a mile.
Gear Acquisition Syndrome. It's interesting how many people try to pick up new hobbies to justify large purchases when it rarely works out that way
It'd be better if we could just all be honest with ourselves.
If you have the disposal income, no need to justify it outside of "it's a cool gadget and I want to play with it."
“I really want that large truck that I don’t need. Maybe I should start a landscaping business!”
Drawing with undo, layers, gradients, transparency, and infinite brushes is very different from sketching on paper. I don't think a sketchbook is anything like it.
Just borrow someone else's underused ipad if you want to give it a try.
I mean yes, but if you have an incredibly impressive machine compared to SOTA 10 years ago just lying around, I'd have fun with that too. :) Plus you can use it for more "practical" stuff like logo design or editing or even just note taking... I wanted to provide some examples of not just youtube machine.
But then they wouldn't have anything to moan about on HN.
I did this. I bought a Pencil Pro. I bought Procreate. Doodled for a couple weeks.
Now it's just a YouTube device.
Just buy a sketch book and some colored pens and pencils.
Can you use your iPad as a Wacom quality comparable table for input on your macbook?
I'm still on an older 12.9" Pro but will definitely upgrade at some point—and may not bother with another (personal—work-supplied is another matter) MacBook when my M1 starts to get long in the tooth in a couple years, now that Preview is available on iPads.
It beats the hell out of either laptops or phones, for me, for these tasks:
- Music. Excellent as a sheet music display; can record and edit midi quite well; play tutorial videos; act as a tuner, tone generator, or metronome (my phone beats it on that front due to portability, but still, if I already have the iPad out on the stand...); plenty good enough at audio recording and editing for my extremely-amateur purposes, plus its ability to play loops and beats and such.
- Reading. It's especially amazing for comic books (in landscape mode a 12.9 incher is almost the same size as an open comic book! You can read two-page side-by-side on it, no problem) and PDFs. I prefer iPad mini sized devices for prose books in ordinary ebook formats, but the 12.9" pro is damn near perfect for those two things. Laptops and desktop computers also work for comic books and PDFs, but are a pretty big downgrade, UX-wise.
- Drawing. Obviously.
- Long-form writing. Laptops work great for this too, of course, but you still need a separate keyboard if you want decent ergonomics. iPad doesn't have an attached keyboard taking up space that I could instead use for a separate keyboard.
It's also just as good as a laptop (to me) as a remote SSH terminal, VNC terminal, video/music player, web browser et c. I can't really think of much I do on my (personal! Not work-supplied) laptop that I can't do just as well on an iPad, maybe supplemented by a headless RPi hanging off my router, or a cheap VM rental (or just the Linux server in an old desktop workstation tower that I already have anyway).
> - Long-form writing. Laptops work great for this too, of course, but you still need a separate keyboard if you want decent ergonomics. iPad doesn't have an attached keyboard taking up space that I could instead use for a separate keyboard.
The screen is still small. Also, for technical writing, I think a lot of software is missing. There are a lot of small tools that technical writers use to do diagrams, illustrations. Also, long-form writing can be in different file formats. I think support for LaTeX and typst is very limited.
I have an M1 12.9" iPP -- I find it's almost useless for reading because it weighs so much. I ended up buying a $ 90 Android 11" tablet which has a 'good enough' screen for reading. (Obv also does email, photos, AI, etc).
If I could develop on the iPP, FOR the iPP --- build professional-quality apps on the iPP --- I would be happier. The Logitech detachable kbd is remarkably good, I have no complaints typing on it all day. iOS is a straightjacket.
I have an iPad Mini. I got it mainly for studying and reading. However, it also has become great for being an instrumentalist. I can toss it in my bag, setup it up with the folding case for sheet music, tuning, and everything else. It saves me from having to carry my sheet music books, tuner, and other bits around.
Sounds like you don't have a tablet specific use case though, you just want to use it as a glorified laptop, so why not just use a laptop?
A tablet specific use case would be as portable writing machine on the go, for illustration, for audio units, or something like that, all the way to flight maps for recreational flying.
It’s the standard for musical notes
I use my iPad solely for just artwork at this point. I don't respect the App Store and needing to pay subscriptions for things you can get for free on a computer. That, and having to rely on web apps
the walled-garden completely destroys the ipads potential as a productivity device.
How? I've never understood this. There's tons of good software for creating things in the App Store.
Far less open-source software for it, no compilers, emulators banned until recently.
And as for paid software, almost everything a bloodys subscription even for things like note-taking apps, that or loaded with ads and microtransactions.
And anything touch-centric encourages dumbed-down limited-functionality software to begin with. More advanced software requires more precise input devices.
I want to be able to write code in an editor or IDE and push that to source control from the device.
You can do that. As long as you're okay with VSCode or a very specific build Vim: https://docs.blink.sh/advanced/code
Please don't move the goal post to "I also want to compile and run code" because I got nothing for that. I just ssh to my home server and use my normal shell and neovim there.
i don’t find the code-server experience particularly good. this “functionality” in blink is basically just safari
also no local git
What do you mean, no local git? There is local git...it's just another app. I know it sucks. Also pretty sure code-server has working git functionality?
I don't find that experience good either, but I mostly write rust, so not having rust tool chain and its component is a dealbreaker for me.
I'm just saying you can write code and commit from iPad directly. I'd rather get the ability to use jetbrains IDEs via their remote client, but I don't think it will ever happen.
A lot of extensions don’t work well with that. Like the UI is all messed up.
iPad has the power to play a majority of Steam games, Windows apps, linux distributions, etc.. but due to it being so locked down, it's essentially a youtube machine. iPad is a joke.
My relaxing on the couch creative activity is writing code in compiled languages, running a server, and seeing it go in the browser. This is impossible on an iPad.
There are many other creative workflows possible on an iPad, but I'm not really interested in getting good at those when I have the one that I'm already working on, you know?
And I own exclusively Apple hardware; I'm not some contrarian anti Apple fanboy, I promise.
You can't know what is missing because it hasn't even been invented - because of those limitations.
Devices usually have killer apps that determine their success. The iPad is conspicuously lacking one.
There's tons of good software for creating things in the App Store.
But none yet that will automate the essential task of posting the phrase "walled garden" on social media.
There could also be an in-app purchase which uses AI to grind ancient axes about butterfly keyboards and Snow Leopard.
or a terminal or a decent ide or an ability to script anything. lots of companies rely on custom bespoke software made by an employee who got fed up by something, basically no possibility of doing that on an ipad, etc etc.
but sure, just call me an NPC, you’re so unique and good at noticing patterns and not rude
or a terminal
Here ya go: https://panic.com/prompt/
There have been terminal programs for the iPad since at least 2017, when I started using the one above.
As for "custom bespoke software," why would you try to run that on an iPad in the first place? My company has plenty custom in-house programs, but I don't complain that they won't run on a toaster, or a Commodore 64, or a Cray. That's like saying you won't buy a speedboat because it can't carry all the iron ore that your company's dump truck can haul. It just makes no sense.
It's wild to me the levels someone will go to defend a corporation's right to lock away the ability to install anything the user wants.
In a perfect (from their pov) world Apple would prefer the internet didn't even exist, that way they could put up a walled garden AppleNet and take 30% of everything there too.
I chose your comment to respond to but there's a handful of you going to war in the comments, it's just wild to me.
Prompt lets you log into some other computer and run programs there, not run programs on your iPad. Hell, I used it to fix a production bug from my phone in like 2013.
> Hell, I used it to fix a production bug from my phone in like 2013
LOL, there are tens of us, I'm sure!
Fixed a production bug on my phone from the passenger seat of a friend's car, somewhere around 2013 or 2014.
I did the same, but with iSSH (which I still mourn).
I use it professionally as an art machine. It's excellent for concept art and drawing in general.
I have a M1 iPad Pro and I'm open to doing a trade-in for a new M5 iPad Pro: however the problem is the accessories. I rely on the Magic Keyboard and Apple Pencil and they would have to be repurchased since they are not compatable, which upps the total price too much.
The A10X processor in my 2017 iPad Pro has always felt ridiculously overpowered for a couch machine. Recently it had gotten sluggish, hot, hung for times and lost battery quite quickly and I thought its time had finally come.. but no, after resetting the OS, it's as fast as ever. So hopefully it'll last me til Apple finally gives the iPad Air a 120Hz display.
I follow largely the same path. I basically find that mine ends up used for only two things:
1. Reading technical papers where I use the pen to make notes
2. Sketching household projects (a few of the apps are very nice for this).
Outside of that, I simply want a real, physical keyboard most of the time.
I really like using my iPad with the Nuphy air 75 Bluetooth mechanical low profile keyboard, physical keyboard is a solved problem.
I love my Kindle, but I have never been able to use my iPad for reading.
I got HumbleBundle with a bunch of Pathfinder 2e PDFs cheap but I'm still tempted to buy the physical copies.
This is why I replaced my Samsung Galaxy Book 12 w/ a Galaxy Book 3 Pro 360.
I'd give my interest in Hell for there to be a tablet Mac w/ a Wacom stylus --- as it is, I'm seriously considering a Mac Mini and Wacom Movink 14 and a 3D printed shell.... (but first, I'm going to try out an rPi 5 w/ Wacom One 13 Gen 2 w/ touch).
As a synth, the iPad is a GODSENT !
> it becomes a web browsing and YouTube machine on the couch
My 4090 and m4 iPad Pro share this fate, with some occasional gaming.
I rented pcs from shadow game, cuz i know if i build a pc w gpu it’d face the same fate
What else does the OS need to do? There are real windows and real background processing.
It would be great if they allowed JIT compilation in apps. This would allow things like Dolphin (Wii, Gamecube emulator) to run.
It's a useful device if you're an artist, if you're a developer the best thing you can do with it is buy the cellular model and use it as a very thin VNC client
There's a whole spectrum of use cases between artist and software developer. Honestly most people that I see at work just use Office software, web browser, and Teams.
Office is a great use for a $350 regular iPad. Honestly the same one I'd recommend to developers, or worst case an $800 iPad Air for the 13" screen size.
The $1000+ iPad Pro isn't helpful for any of that.
That's true, and I would have gone for a 13" iPad Air when they were introduced, but ultimately went for the iPad Pro because I liked the OLED and 120Hz.
> buy the cellular model
You probably have your iPhone with you every time you got an iPad with you, so just use that.
With T-Mobile, I have unlimited data on my iPhone and iPad. But limited tethering data. My iPad data plan is $20-$25 a month.
Except the iPad battery will last longer and will not kill your phone while you do stuff
>inb4 buy a battery bank
Hmm, I will be honest, I was either always close to a power outlet or it lasted long enough for me. You only need to tether if there is no Wi-Fi.
I have a 20000mAh with me when I intend to work remotely though. Either way cheaper than paying for another plan for iPad and buying a more expensive iPad.
Yes and developers are a very small slice of the computer using consumers.
Normal-ish files and filesystem access, and dev types could use access to the terminal (on the system)
What’s not “normal” about the files and why do most people need access to the file system and not a method to share files across apps that’s already available?
> a method to share files across apps that’s already available
like a filesystem ?
You didn’t answer the question, what feature can’t you do with the Files App and the ability to save and load files across applications?
How do you know you have the right application to open the file? I have tried at least a dozen apps to open *.stl files... some work, most don't. Some have features I need and don't work opening files. Some are sensitive to stl's that require repair and stop working... and I could go on and on for different file types. The point is; sharing isn't "guaranteed" to work across apps and is generally far, far from "it just works". You have almost zero control over the actual files because there might not be a way to save different formats from the app you are using, or the files app doesn't recognize the extension, or you can't find the folder for the other app, or it doesn't have a user accessible folder, or it will not load files from the "files app"... or <insert 50000 more "what if's here>. The whole things just sucks so, so bad.
And how do you know a Word file will work seamlessly across other word processors on a computer that are suppose to read Word files or export to Word? What modern productivity software doesn’t support using the Files app? It has been around for well over a decade.
- Rename, organize, and delete files that span across a number of different applications
- Convert one file type to another
- Choose which application to use to open a file
- Inspect the details of files in a consistent manner
On your computer, do you inspect the details of a file using Explorer? On the Mac do you do that with the Finder. Or do you actually open the file with an application?
Do you expect to use Windows explorer or the Finder to “convert file types”?
Using iOS 26 on my phone, I held down a file and there is an “Open With” option that gave me a choice of how to open the file.
Across applications? Applications these days save files using the File dialog, they may by default store them in a folder accesible by Files. Yes I know some apps still store their data in their own sandbox. But that’s not the case generally for standard productivity apps.
like a filesystem ?
https://apps.apple.com/us/app/files/id1232058109
Do you use "files"? Its garbargio on steroids. You can't just open a <insert about 100 file extensions here> file from the files app. Moving files around is cumbersome at best and downright infuriating most of the time. The "sandbox" nature of iOS is simply not intuitive enough to know how things will react when you move and try to open a file in another app. It just sucks so bad.
Furthermore, "sharing" is broken. Does it copy the file? Does it move the file? Am I duplicating this 200mb pdf when I move it to books? How the ____ do I know? There is a dearth of information and I imagine most people, like myself, give up and use it to read before bed or watch a few videos on the couch. I am never going to by another iPad until the OS is useful beyond drawing, creating music or reading.
You can’t open random file extensions on a computer either unless you have an application that understand the format.
Moving files around works just like on Windows and Macs - cut and paste.
And it has the same semantics as Windows and Macs - if I drag a file from one place to another on the same drive - it moves it. If I drag it to another storage location - ie another hard drive on a computer or another storage provider in Files - iCloud, Google Drive, etc it copies it.
It never ceases to amaze me that when computer “experts” criticize people for not wanting to learn how things work - do the same.
I've produced two albums and done quite a few remixes on mine. Trying hard not to sound like a dick here, but if you pick up an iPad and all you can think to do with it is watch YouTube it seems weird to blame the iPad for that.
Point noted. For me, I find too much friction and distraction using the iPad for creative. Sure, I'll do something in a pinch, but there's just something about it where I can't focus on non-consumption activities.
I'm not sure what it is about the iPad -- maybe the physical ergonomics? It's kinda hard to position comfortably for focus.
I specifically use my iPad for the music because it's not the MBP I spend all day on for work. I'm sure there's music stuff that would be much easier to achieve on the laptop than the iPad, but the second I open my laptop I'm basically on-call and the distractions too great - the separation helps.
Do agree with the ergonomics point though - it can be hard to spend a lot of time actually working on it.
Can you share your stack? What hardware are you using if you're doing vocal/instrument inputs?
I don't do vocals, so hardware is a TD-3, a Roland T-8, TB-03, Arturia MiniFuse 4 as the audio interface, Arturia MiniLab keyboard / controller and various Intech controllers (highly recommended). I believe the MiniFuse would do your vocal inputs pretty well.
Even with all that though, I do 99% of it directly in Logic on the iPad, sometimes 100%.
Agreed. I am forcing myself to start using my iPad Air more and more but it generally just collects dust. The 10Hz refresh rate has made me want to look at getting a proper one with a fast display - but then I remind myself that it will also probably collect dust most of the time.
would buy this in a heartbeat if I could run macOS… it’s such a shame iPad hardware has been so held back by Apple’s lackluster software strategy for this long
What is the use case for an iPad Pro vs the regular iPad or the iPad Air that I didn't knew even existed?
I have the feeling that everything one could do with the Pro could be done as well with the less expensive models. Apart from the handful of travel youtubers that might want to edit and render their videos in an airport terminal I think the use cases would be very niche. Yet a lot of people seem to prefer it over the other variants, I guess just because it exists and it is at the top of the line?
As a photographer, the OLED screen is truly gorgeous and it is kind of ironic that it is the best display available on any Apple device (the blooming on miniLED is pretty horrendous, and it’s beyond me how anyone deemed it a viable technology to ship in products aimed at professional visual artists/designers).
Yes, I got the 13" M4 Pro mostly because of the display. I use the iPad Pro as my photo album and its just fantastic for that. The M4 flies of course. Thanks to more and more multi-windowed support on iPad OS it gets more useful for light tasks.
All my other devices have 120Hz and switching from any of these to my 5 year old 60Hz iPad Pro gives me physical pain. If the iPad Air had 120Hz I would probably buy that right now. I think I’ll wait for another year though as I’m pretty sure the next iPad Air generation will have 120Hz, now that the non-Pro iPhone has it as well.
I know not everyone is as sensitive to this as I am, so I recommend going to the store and trying both the Air and the Pro. If you’re like me you will notice the difference immediately.
The additional GPU performance will be very helpful for the upcoming Blender port to iPad.
> The M5 chip is built on TSMC's N3P node and has a faster GPU that can deliver 1.6x more FPS in games, 20% faster multi-core CPU performance, and 1.7x quicker render times in Blender — all versus the M4.
https://www.tomshardware.com/laptops/macbooks/apple-launches...
I currently have an m1 iPad pro, and I use it daily. Do I get the pro performance out of it? Probably not. I might still upgrade to the m5 for the better display though. These are my use-cases FWIW:
- Goodnotes w/ the apple pen during work
- YouTube during dinner
- Kindle App for technical books (and regular Kindle device for fiction)
- Browsing the internet
- Streaming games with Xbox streaming
I travel for work one week per month-ish, and I don't take a personal laptop anymore since getting my iPad.
Now.. do I really _need_ to upgrade? Probably not, my M1 still runs fine. Decisions Decisions :)
Unrelated to the discussion at hand but information for people that game stream on their Apple Devices: If you experience unexplained stuttering, change the 5ghz wifi channel to 149.
These use cases are so sad for a device with so much power. Look what Apple has reduced us to.
Life's most precious resource is time. A newer device is often much faster at a person's current routines. Why would you want a fast device to do harder things? Fast alone is worth it.
Locked down by nanny Apple, therefore a toy.
Any tablet or tablet mode laptop I've used on windows is fucking miserable, so I've always assumed it was more a user experience thing rather than some plot to artificially limit neckbeards
I really want this but I can’t justify such a machine just for watching YouTube.
I cannot even give it to my kids since I don’t have multiple accounts with it.
Kind of sad that the most interesting device Apple has will never show its true potential due to their greed.
For watching YouTube you just need the cheapest iPad not a Pro.
A generalization I would say
I really dig that Oled screen
Those will trickle down eventually I suppose.
Or an even cheaper android tablet.
I bought an $80 8th Gen iPad off eBay and it runs 26 great and works perfectly for watching brain-rot and doing my Duolingos.
People keep saying their iPad is a YT consumption device, but without ad blocking, how do you stay sane? I'm assuming if you're consuming that much YT content you've moved to a premium account or something? I don't use my tablet primarily for YT content, so it's rather jolting when I click a link somewhere and see the hell that is unblocked YT
> I'm assuming if you're consuming that much YT content you've moved to a premium account or something?
Yes
Even with YT Premium, sponsor announcements are still an annoyance. Firefox with SponsorBlock helps with that, not sure if that's usable on iPad.
Yes, YouTube premium, use it a lot to practice my guitar playing by playing along YouTube music videos with chords displayed.
Put a grown up OS on it and I’ll consider it.
Looks wonderful but I have an old iPad Pro with an M1 and 16G memory and I already feel my old iPad Pro is powerful enough to run local LLMs, write books, use SSH/Mosh to my servers, etc.
EDIT: oh, the prices are much lower now than what I paid 3+ hears ago, that’s nice.
They will probably keep the other iPads at 60Hz displays in future. I don't need the other Pro features.
Glad to see that unlike last time with the M4 release, this time they released M5 in more devices than just the iPad Pro at the same time. That said, there’s still room for improvement: the MacBook Air and Mac mini weren’t updated yet.
Great hardware spoiled by a toy OS.
What doesn’t the OS do as of OS 26 that most ordinary people care about?
A lot of small things. For example importing Live Photos. On macOS when you drag and drop an image and video file with the same name into the Photos app, the Photos app combines both into a single Live Photo. On iOS/iPadOS this does not work.
There is bigger things too. A proper web browser for example. Google Docs is barely usable in Safari on iPad with larger documents. The permanent banner at the top asking you to install the app is so annoying. The Google Docs app is somehow even worse. And it’s not just Google apps. Many iPad apps are just upscaled iPhone apps with lots of features missing compared to the web version. And don’t even think about support for multiple tabs or windows in apps.
For YouTube and Netflix my iPad Pro is great but anything beyond hurts. And this is the „Pro“ model. You can say maybe I’m too advanced for the „Pro“ but most users have _something_ besides of YouTube and Netflix they want to do and will feel these limitations sooner or later. It’s it not a laptop replacement and Apple wouldn’t want it to be.
Why would you use the web app for GSuite instead of just using the apps?
I use GSuite on my iPad all of the time.
"Ordinary people" wouldn't care about anything above even an M1 CPU. The post is about the iPad Pro. The target audience would care about having the software features that macOS has.
Not true, it’s a pretty good machine to edit videos on, extra cpu/gpu power is welcome there. I connect it to an external monitor, keyboard and mouse and use Final Cut Pro to edit videos. On holidays I can connect my action cam to the iPad, download the videos and edit them, without having to bring a laptop.
Im talking about the operating system.
The ability to run Xcode? Maybe run Linux in a VM (no, emulation does not count). Maybe run nvim with python/node/rust/go/gcc toolchains on the iPad? How about Wireshark? I really liked using Nixdroid on my Pixel, why can't I have something similar on iOS/iPadOS?
Android can run Android Studio. Why can't an iPad run Xcode?
Yeah those are things most people want on an iPad with 6GB RAM…
The pros come with 12 and 16 GB of memory. That is plenty.
I would not want to run XCode let alone Android Studio with an Android emulator with 12GB RAM or a VM. Even the lowest end MacBook Air comes with 16GB RAM.
It depends entirely on your target - you don’t need an emulator if you are already running an android device.
Xcode on my macbook doesn’t need 12GB. It is of course a different story if you need to also run clang-analyzer or rust-analyzer in addition to xcode/studio, but still, 16GB would be enough to get by for a sizeable chunk of devs.
(I replied to the wrong comment originally)
I haven’t done mobile development for ages, but isn’t it always slower to have to update the app on the phone all of the time?
My first computer had 48 KB, 6 GB are a lot when not juggling Electron processes.
I haven’t done mobile development for ages, but isn’t it always slower to have to update the app on the phone all of the time?
Why should mobile development the only reason for a rich OS experience?
I replied to the wrong comment - my bad
Really? Are we going to compare development in what 1980 to today? I got my start programming on an Apple //e in 1986 in assembly and it had 128KB of RAM.
6GB is not plenty when you are expected to run an IDE and in the case of Android an emulator that is also emulating a phone with 4GB+ RAM.
iOS development has never used an “emulator”, when you ran in the simulator even on x86 computers, it compiled your code to x86 and ran against an x86 version of the iOS framework.
Really, because iPadOS fails short of being a proper Dynabook.
Who needs an emulator when running on device?!?
Now you are going to list exactly how. Just a reminder before you start playing the old guy card - I’m 51 and started coding in 1986.
You would need an emulator if you wanted to run Android Studio or use the much flowery process of updating the phone every time you made a change.
Than I wonder why you think using Android Studio on an iPad is the only reason to have a proper OS experience with the same capabilities as macOS.
As for Dynabook like experience, given our age, you can certainly find the difference on your own.
This is where this part of the thread started
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45594747
> The ability to run Xcode? Maybe run Linux in a VM (no, emulation does not count). Maybe run nvim with python/node/rust/go/gcc toolchains on the iPad? How about Wireshark? I really liked using Nixdroid on my Pixel, why can't I have something similar on iOS/iPadOS? Android can run Android Studio. Why can't an iPad run Xcode?
How much of that could you do on your Dynabook? How was web browsing? The office suites? Video and audio editing? The office suites? Even the games?
Everyone has their own hill to die on, that's the thing about personal computing. It's the same if you ask why they can't switch mobile OS. It's some seemingly trivial app or feature that almost nobody cares about.
A random recent example off the top of my head: view photos in AVIF format. It does work in Photos app, but not in Preview app nor in Messages app somehow. At least this the case on iOS 26 and so I suspect iPadOS 26 too. It works on macOS 26.
Edit: I realize that ordinary people might not yet care about exporting to AVIF, but they may receive such photos from other people.
No much imo. I feel more constrained by screen size than I do OS limitations
they very clearly don't want to cannibalize their macbook sales, lots of people still buying both
I'm be curious to know the breakdown of Pro vs Air vs Base iPad sales.
Because I have to imagine very few people buy the iPad Pro (and for those who do, what use case are they buying it for).
I'm going to order one of these to replace my 2018 iPad Pro which is the computer I use the most.
I'll spend around $2k and I want to get at least 5 years of use out of it. That will make it cost me a little more than $1 / day which, fortunately, I can afford.
What size you going for?
13 w/ 512 GB + Pencil. I want the nano screen but that would require me to bump the storage to 1 TB and I don't need that. Instead, I'll get a paper-like screen protector. I've had good luck with those in the past.
If the Smart Folio Keyboard was still available, I'd buy that too. It's not, so I'm going keyboard-less for now.
I’m waiting for them to put macos on the ipads (or touch/pencil on the macbooks).
I have never figured out what the point of a tablet is, except for entertainment. I keep wanting to buy an iPad every time a new one comes out, yet I've never bought one, and keep failing to see any point to it. I have a reMarkable device, which is a sort of tablet, but I use it exclusively for taking notes by hand in meetings, which is basically what it is designed for. I have a Kindle, which is kind of like a tablet, and I use it exclusively for reading which is what it is designed for. An iPad feels like it should replace both, but when I actually analyze it, it cannot replace either one.
What really are tablets for other than being a passive entertainment consumption device?
I travel a lot for work and don’t want to bring a second MacBook Pro. iPad works well in the plane for watching movies, MacBook not so much, at least not in Economy class. Can’t use my work computer for personal stuff anyway unfortunately. Also can’t download Netflix content offline on desktop.
Another use case is in the kitchen. Recipes, YouTube, FaceTime, etc. I use my iPad Pro in the kitchen every day when I’m at home. Easy to clean up. Using a MacBook while cooking will make it gross very fast.
Apart from watching videos, I use mine for making music (podcast scoring) and for drawing (formal illustrations, doodling, and sketching out designs). There are also a few games that I feel play best on an iPad, such as Balatro.
I don't understand why there isn't a market for 15"+ iPads. 13" is just too small for home use and too heavy for using it without a stand, might as well make it much bigger
This obviously isn't a tablet meant for people who own M4/M2 iPads to upgrade. You wouldn't be getting your money's worth (although the tandem OLED on the M4 is stunning).
This is just a minor update for anyone with an older iPad/iPad Pro in case they want to upgrade.
Many of the people here complaining don't seem to understand they are not the target market.
Also, I love using my iPad as a social media / YouTube content consumption device. It's a fantastic experience. I also use it for a lot of home control (mostly audio but also lighting). It sure is an expensive device but it lasts forever and I get my money's worth.
Oh, and Lightroom on it is fantastic!
Related:
Apple M5 Chip
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45591799
iPad OS is very bad
Definition of the most useless machine - doesn't fit in your pocket, has good specs but refuses to run anything not signed by Apple.. worst of both worlds.
For you. Not for many other users who definitely do not agree with this statement.
To me this will be the kind of computers I'll tell my parents to use as soon as their crappy laptops die. They do not need literally anything else: sending emails, write a few ones, check Youtube and browse the web. For this use case, it's the most useful machine. Never breaks, infinite battery, no support needed.
And I hate Apple. So this says a lot.
You don't need an iPad Pro with M5 for that, though.
Of course not. I was just answering the comment about the form factor and the device's philosophy as a whole.
The iPads have become very capable for 3D and illustration, I think they are good also for music.
I don’t have a use for the Pro model but I use my Air a lot.
My laptop folds and has a touchscreen too.. there are ones which support advanced pens - none of this requires the OS to be as locked as iOS.
No desktop OS works as well with a touchscreen as iPad OS.
It's a touch-first OS, for better and for worse. Anything else it was tacked onto a UI/UX made for a keyboard and mouse
I have never used a touch screen laptop that wasn’t compromised - heavy, wrong screen ratio and if it’s an x86 laptop it runs hot with poor battery life
Yeah the nice thing about (non-cellular) iPads vs. the competition (including Android tablets last time I tried them, but maybe they've gotten a ton better since then) is that you can leave them in a drawer for a couple weeks, take them out, they'll wake up ~instantly, and still have a useful amount of charge. x86 laptops and (again, last I tried) Android tablets always gave me "where's the nearest outlet?!" anxiety, or were just dead when I picked them up to use them. iPads are chill.
You've chosen your computer and OS and are looking for compatible apps. I've gone the other way. I want to run Procreate and the best environment for running it is the iPad with Apple Pencil.
Both are reasonable ways to make a decision.
At this point, I think its just very irresponsible of Apple putting these kind of chips in the iPad and then given 99% of the users no way to actually harness that power. Occupy TSMC line time and cause global geopolitical struggles for what??
I think Apple hardware must be incredibly underutilised across the board. Every new generation of iPhone or MacBook they boast about lofty performance gains, but who is actually complaining about their iPhone not being fast enough? Nobody I know pushes their iPhone so hard it starts to lag. It's not like you can really do anything computationally heavy on your phone besides games, but people mostly play simplistic 2D games on iOS anyway.
Having performance available when you need it is the alternative to waiting.
Even a simplistic 2D game loads data, runs routines, and while the person is doing that they expect the phone to stay connected to a network, keep up with notifications... you act like Apple is doing something bad.
Intel/Chromebooks still are being sold in the USA at Best Buy with the Celeron N4000-series and Pentium-4200 series chips if you prefer to have zero performance overhead on your devices.
Somehow the most powerful capable chips hardware wise, are at the same time the least capable software wise. I thought Apple was supposed to be the 'bicycle for the mind', what happened?
"bicycle for the mind" was something from the late 1970s-era Apple
> what happened?
1978 was 47 years ago
So they can ruin this beautiful hardware with shitty and locked down software. For most people, games are the only kind of software that comes close to actually utilizing all this power, but dedicated game consoles are cheaper. So what’s the point any more?