Thanks for sharing that video. It was well done. He reached the same conclusion I did after my 30 day experiment, but perhaps for slightly different reasons. Iām still using the iPad for 90 to 95% of my work. Iām finding that I only need my MBP for a few things that are easier to do on the MBP.
That video is an effective summary of the state of things. As I wrote elsewhere, the only way to move down the funnel towards iPad nirvana is by finding and stitching together a variety of āmodes.ā
Ergo, moving down the funnel often requires, as we saw with bmosbackerās review, changing the way you work. Sometimes these changes can be simple, and sometimes they can be significant. Sometimes they may be limiting, and sometimes they may be freeing.
However and unfortunately, it follows that the only way to actually figure out what you need to change is by spending a lot of money on devices and accessories and then a lot of time moving down the funnel and testing those modes.
Falling in love with and becoming an iPad āpower userā can therefore be quite arduous, and if you put in the work only to get squeezed out of the funnel after a significant investment, that investment becomes quite the waste.
So, after falling in love, leaving the funnel is a bit breaking up with someone. You still love many things about the device ā the principles highlighted in the original post, all of which I agree with! ā but you canāt make it work because the device refuses to change in other key ways.
(That turned into a weird metaphorā¦)
And so I will pet the already-happy horse again: the iPad seems to be not-changing largely because of business pressures associated with the App Store and design paternalism, and it is a shame that iPad advocates seem to be apologizing on Appleās behalf for those excuses and telling people to stop complaining, because fixing the problems with the iPad would make the device better for those in iPad nirvana, too.
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iPad nirvana does not require that for at least some of us. I, for one, have never struggled with this mode problem that you ā and others do. I understand it; Iām not criticizing; in fact, I agree that it would be a huge stumbling block. The principal problem I confront is an issue of under-developed 3rd party apps. For example, four of the more important apps that I use ā Scrivener; Logos; Zotero, and Word āare missing some critical features that I use. So, I have to use them on Mac to get the job done. That, for me, is not an iPadOS problem.
There are some OS issues that I have, but those things donāt interfere with me getting things done on my iPad that I need to get done. I would like to have access to the terminal (the actual raw terminal, not an emulator, etc.). I would like a compiler. Truth is, though, not having them has no real life impact on my work.
The thing that really caught my attention in the video was this segment that starts at 13:22.
With the Apple Silicon revolution that started with the M1, and some really meaningful improvements to macOS, the Mac has really started shine. The MacBook keyboards feel great, the chips are powerful, the machines feel more beefy*, the batteries seem to never die.
Add things like Continuity and Universal control, which are truly remarkable tools, and all of a sudden, the combination of Mac and IPad made both machines more useful. Now with the ability to control an iPhone from your Mac, the Mac becomes an even more powerful command center.
I think the bigger story is not what the iPad lacks, but as Byte Review noted, how much more powerful the Mac has gotten. I think there are classes of users that can be iPad only, there are classes that can be Mac only, and then there classes of users who will use both because they want to and because the combination serves their computing needs.
I donāt think that Apple should intentionally hold iPad back to sell users both an iPad and a Mac, and I donāt believe that it what is going on behind the scenes. Still, I do hope, as the iPad develops, that there will always be this synergy between the two platforms.
- EDIT - I had stated that the MacBook Pros were lighter across the line up, but I was wrong.about that.
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I agree. Fortunately there are solutions for those iPad users willing to look over the āgarden wallā.
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Well, the new MacBook Pros are actually heavier and thicker than the Intel MBPs they replaced, though they have more ports and somewhat larger screens.
I knew you were going to call me out for something. Iāll edit that line!
Sorry, Iām not trying to be nitpicky! 
I have mixed feelings about the MBPs getting chunkier to add space for more ports. With a small, lightweight multiport adapter, you only have to carry the size and weight of the extra ports if youāre going to need them, and the new models donāt include a still-common USB-A port, which Iād guess more people use than SD cards.
You know, it was a worthwhile exercise (to look at the weights of the prior MBP incarnations). I thought my M1 Max was lighter than my 2015 MBP, but it wasnāt. Even my old Intel Mac was lighter. It was a fair thing to be called out on.
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OK, why is the Music app on the iPad so inferior to the one on the Mac? If I want to look at a playlist and see how many times a track has been played and the date it was last played I donāt believe I can do it on an iPad, even on a 13" iPad Pro with the latest and greatest processor. There seems to be no equivalent of the View menu, precisely because the iPad UI is so inferior.
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I ask the same question all the time. In fact, I wrote this comment about my sentiments on the Music app being as feature-rich (especially in terms of organizational abilities) as possible Music on the Mac woes - #34 by iPersuade. I was referring the post to music on the Mac, but it applies with equal force (maybe greater force!) on the iPad.
I just looked at this thread, being originally put off by the title. Early in the thread the iPad (and not mentioned, the Apple Watch) are more personal devices that a Mac (or PC, for that matter). This is by design and can be a disadvantage ā
There is only one login account available on the iPad (also Apple Watch and iPhone) so these devices cannot readily be shared, unlike a Mac (or PC). This means that households using iPads really need one per individual.
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The title came from some of us joking around in another earlier thread, pretending to complain that we couldnāt do stuff like photoshop and excel on the Apple Watch.
I donāt think it matters for a watch or phone, but thatās a major limitation of the iPad that people have been complaining about pretty much since the first iPhone, or at least since it became a feature on Amazon Fire and Android tablets.
And Apple almost certainly hasnāt fixed it for the reason you mention: because it would reduce hardware sales to families.
Well, Iām glad you finally joined in. I debated the risk of writing this tongue-in-cheek, fearing this very issue. In the end, my inner imp prevailed.
This is definitely an issue for some users but I bet not a large percentage of the overall universe of iPad users. My house has never had a need for multi-user logins; same with my office iPads. Iām just one example, but other than in our forum and among some YouTubers, Iāve never heard any user complain about the lack of multiple login accounts. I rank this one on par with the people who canāt get around the fact that iPad doesnāt support clamshell mode.
I disagree. I think itās an issue for any family that has a shared iPad.
You may be right as a theoretical matter. But not as a practical one. I have never heard of a single person in real life complain that an iPad only allows for a single user login. I have four kids in west Los Angeles. I hang around a lot of parents. Iāve never heard anyone bemoan their iPad login options. Moreover, I canāt remember ever reading any article targeted to parents or buyerās guide for parents that so much as mentioned this as a wishlist item. This is a non-issue on a practical level.
Iāve known multiple people whoāve said they wish they could set up different log-ins on a single iPad, especially with greater restrictions on what children can do and have installed vs. what an adult can do and have on the same device, switchable simply by logging in separately.
Maybe I just know a different set of people, some of whom arenāt affluent enough to easily buy iPads for every member is the family. For them Appleās callous stubbornness about the matter isnāt theoretical at all.
I donāt think affluence is the issue. The people that Iām talking about have a āfamilyā iPad, not one for every member of the family. They just donāt even think about this issue of multiple different logins.
But I donāt dispute that there are people who do see this as an issue. My only point of departure from yours is that I do not get the overwhelming sense that this is an issue that a large swath of people really care about.
Apple does have a solution but apparently itās only for education and business
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Thanks for that. It means it would be trivially easy for them to implement it for everyone.
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Iāve definitely wanted multiple accounts on iPads. For kids, what I want is closer to locked focus mode. E.g., Iād like to put the iPad in art mode which lets them use only the painting apps and no notifications.
The shared iPad config by Apple School Manager wouldnāt feel good if the iPad had a primary owner. True multi-user iPads wouldnāt interrupt the other usersā app states, so theyād be very easy to hand to someone and receive back. Thatāll require a fundamental change to iPadOS architecture.
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