Yeah, saw that and was about to comment there. Then saw this pop up. Had a moment of, oh no, where do I reply!
Whatever they do I hope they don’t screw it up. Which is to say, I hope they don’t push it to far into Mac-like windowing. There’s a line there somewhere… Also, do they introduce a 15" iPad Pro at some point? If they are going to increase the complexity of iPadOS and keep the hardware in step with the Mac then it would seem that a larger size iPad Pro would be a thing. I’ve been happy with the 13" just as I found my old 12" PowerBook ideal back in the day. But I can imagine that a larger size would be beneficial especially with more complex windowing.
I’ve generally been happy with split screen and a side over. Not used the Quick notes much. I guess we’ll find out in a few days.
No-one has mentioned a couple of the biggest changes which made a significant difference to Federico’s use of the MacBook Pro. Firstly, the M1 Chip is massively efficient and has significantly increased the battery life of the Macbook, often exceeding the iPad, secondly, Federico can run some of his iPadOS apps on the Macbook.
2 years ago, that article would have been very different and I’m not so sure that Federico would have stuck with the Macbook, he may have been seriously tempted to return to the iPad.
Now if Apple were to add a Mobile capability to the MBP, it may be the complete machine.
No. My memory is the iPad came along for Viticci at just the moment when he needed it. He was sick and not sure what was going to happen next. But the iPad happened, he is better now, and the rest is podcast/blog/review history!
I was thinking more about what came later after his health improved and he got back to normal. He stuck with the iPad and increasingly got a reputation for being an iPad power user… sorta became the most notable example. I was thinking about the many times I heard time respond/react to the notion of “can’t get work done on an iPad”. From an outsider perspective it seemed to me that while the iPad was genuinely a good fit for him and he enjoyed it, overtime there was the added dimension that his reputation as an iPad-focused added some weight to his writing/podcasting reputation. And along with that reputation came occasional critiques… hence my referring to him being backed into a corner. Probably not the best choice of words there. But really just guessing that sometimes his focus and determination as an iPad power user with very complex workflows might have been given extra energy in part as a response to outside critique of his iPad advocacy.
@Denny - I was just writing a response to your post in the catching up with Viticci thread, and was thinking about what you had written about keeping the multitasking such that it’s not “too” Mac like. I agree with you (as you’ll see from my response to that post over there). I don’t think the iPad needs to improve that much in the multitasking department (my personal view). I’m okay with more options. But I don’t want to change the character of what we already have.
I think that, whatever form multitasking takes on the iPad, it’s going to be additive. I think Apple is wary about making the device harder to use. I also think they’ve got themselves stuck in a corner where they can’t use overlapping windows because of the nature of touch input and mobile app design, which is fine, but means tiled input is likely.
The multitasking isn’t the big deal to me, though. It’s overall capability. I’d love to run Docker on the iPad. Why not, at this point? Is the argument that somebody’s grandma will download Docker accidentally and be confused? I thought that was why we had an App Store!
If they will market a “pro” tablet, let me use it in more professional contexts. I wouldn’t deny the iPad is capable for many, but I don’t think the rest of us are asking too much.
The big thing for me is that iPad detractors aren’t trying to say “the iPad sucks and you suck for using it,” although I’ll admit we can become embittered and act that way. What we mean to say is this: “I would love to use it and love it the way you do, but because of my context, I can’t. And it’s worrying that Apple doesn’t view my context as valuable enough to make a solution for.”
So sure, fix multitasking, but also, maybe add an SD card slot. Or make pro app development possible. Or make Files more like Finder, and give me similar save dialogues to macOS as an option in power-user apps — not because being more like the Mac is good, but because giving people control over where their files live is A Good Thing.
The iPad has simplified computing greatly, but to a point where a lot of simple things on any other platform are very hard on the tablet many of us want to love. Apple should regularly chip away at that irony.
You know, this entire conversation could go away if Apple were to announce at WWDC next week the availability of a cellular plan for the newly redesigned M2 MacBook Air. The key feature of which would be some kind of magic so as not to kill the battery.
Edited to add: …and not to blow the top off your data cap either. (That would be pretty important, too. )
I totally agree that you need to use the right device for the job. I certainly think the iPad is a great device.
The challenge is that I for one cannot afford to buy both. At the time I was choosing, iPads had received a lot of love and macs hadn’t. With the increase in chatter online that iPads can replace laptops, I took the plunge.
I do think this conversation needs to include people who need to choose between iPad and MacBook as I believe many fall into this category. If I had the money to buy whatever I want this wouldn’t even be a conversation. Having to choose one of the two does blur things a little because as always, everything is a compromise of sorts.
I think that Feredico’s conclusion is significant as Apple have mentioned in the past that they are pay attention to what he’s doing remember his interview with Craig F. (SVP of Apple software)? It has to sting when the no.1 proponent of your platform throws in the towel. This reminds me of back in the late 90’s (I think) when a then very well known Apple columnist announced to the world that he was abandoning the Mac for windows. Does anyone know what I’m referring to (the mind being the first thing to go and all…)
@snelly - This is the world between worlds that I feel I live in. I get tremendous amount of professional use out of my iPad Pro. Still, there are contexts in which I could rely on the iPad more and think that the things that I want would not make iPadOs less iPad-like or jeopardize the simplicity that benefits others. The iPad’s modularity is what makes it so appealing.
I think the “why not” is beause of the iPad’s much bigger problem than how it exposes multitasking: the fact that apps can be (and are agressively) killed when in the background. In my opinion this is the single biggest problem with iPadOS on the Pro devices and by far the greatest barrier to using it instead of a Mac even for things that it should be quite good at. There’s nothing like working in a web app, going to check an email, and returning to the browser to find the page reloading and your session gone. This is not a problem on the M1 MacBook Air (or any Mac) and it shouldn’t be a problem on the M1 iPad Pro.
(Thank you for the opening that let me rant about my biggest frustration with the iPad Pro )
Are you using an M1 iPad Pro and finding that kind of aggressive memory management? I’m using an M1 and it’s not uncommon for me to bounce between six or seven different apps including apps like Affinity Designer or Affinity Photo and come back quite sometime later to find everything still intact where I left it. I think the jump up to 8 GB of RAM at a minimum has made a huge difference.
It’s happened at inopoortune times if not frequently. This is an example of the iPad falling off drastically when it’s pushed a little beyond what it’s very good at. I will also accept that it may just not be the device for this kind of work, but I think it’s the most “pro” affecting shortcoming.
I agree with this sentiment on the face of it, but actually having a hard think about Federico’s post (which I had read) I have come to this conclusion:
Federico was prepared to invest way more time than many (most?) of us are/were to make the iPad a primary device. We’ve all come to the same conclusions, pretty much. He just took longer because he tried harder. I applaud him for it, and it has worked well for him to do that in public.
In a way, it’s a shame he came to the same conclusion as me. For me, the final straw for the iPad came with M1 battery life in a Mac laptop. That was game over. I still have an iPad mini 5 (and lust after a 6) which I use for some reading and watching and a few other tasks, but my MacBook Pro (a lowly 13") is now my “iPad” in that I use it for most things and don’t bother taking the charger when I leave the house if I’m coming home the same day.
I think what you’re saying about trying hard to make it work is a good point. I also think it’s hard to tell anybody an iPad should be their only computer.
For a long while, my wife didn’t have a personal laptop at home. She’d use mine or pick up our iPad. But after a few minutes of trying to do something on the iPad, she’d ask a question that started like this: “How do I…?”
And most people will have similar situations: “how do I connect to the campus P2P volume?” “How can I use my hard drive as my photo library in Lightroom?” “How do I record my mic during this Zoom call with a client?” We all have edge cases. The iPad does not encourage those.
I think somebody called the iPad a complement to the Mac many posts ago. That feels right to me these days.
But the iPad happened, he is better now, and the rest is podcast/blog/review history! 
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