Because it has Mac in the name? 
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Please hide this cute computer, as some lurking Apple marketing guy would smash it into a hydraulic press!
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Okay stepping back from VIM and eMacs and inspired by this thread, I’ve questioned why I want to use the iPad as a computer but don’t find the MS Surface Pro as compelling.
I think I don’t want macOS on the iPad. I like iPadOS, it just doesn’t do enough. For example, I have a .csv file that opened on the iPad in Numbers then saved as a numbers file. I have a Shortcut that depends on it being .csv. There’s no way on iPad to change file extensions or to set the default app to open a particular file. I shouldn’t need a Mac to do that.
Until these things are fixed, iPadOS is limited. I suspect they’re just getting to it as Apple tries to balance 6 different OS’s, etc.
The Surface hardware is great. I just don’t want to run windows on it.
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True. I can use my iPad as my primary computer because I’m a Google Workspace user. And I would be surprised if this isn’t also true of Microsoft 365 users. I can open a CSV file stored on Drive in Google Sheets, or Numbers, without altering the original file.
Apple hasn’t introduced a “computer” since 1984 that wasn’t limited to programs from one of their App Stores. These things may never be fixed, if not web based solutions may be our only alternative.
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Apparently I’m in good company in desiring to use the iPad as a laptop replacement. 
Mark Gurman’s article: Apple’s New iPad Pro Is Missing Only One Thing: a Bigger Screen.
I don’t think Apple has to bring macOS as a whole to the iPad, but it should make the iPad approach on par with its computer software. At the same time, the company should continue to push forward on making universal Mac and iPad apps, so there isn’t a gap between what can run on your laptop and tablet.
If Apple can finally resolve these challenges, there’s really only one thing necessary to get me off my Mac and on to the iPad full-time: a 15-inch screen.
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The last few comments perhaps illustrate a conundrum: at what point do these small concessions towards the iPad being a laptop replacement start to affect the usability for the (I suspect) large number of users who specifically want an iPad, not a laptop replacement? Most iPad users are not power users. And why would Apple want to facilitate a laptop replacement anyway?
The headline in the article is misleading: “Apple’s New iPad Pro Is Missing Only One Thing”… as the article goes on it actually lists a whole range of improvements that the author desires. In any case, a 15-inch screen is moving an iPad a long way from its target market and it’s not surprising Apple have shown no signs of doing it - far more the kind of thing Microsoft might do, although they have become more focused too.
I’ve been playing some more with the iPad as a ‘main device’, and again encountered issues with file conversion and export. With its Linux subsystem, I wonder if a 2-in-1 Chromebook would be a better bet than an iPad, although I suspect I would end up with a Surface if I decided to replace both my Macbook and iPad with a single device.
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I don’t think it will be a problem, as long as Apple keeps any advanced features hidden in Settings. Today there are a large number of people using their Macs and PCs like Chromebooks so it follows, IMO, that iPad users would ignore optional features as well.
I do wonder how many people would choose a 15" or larger iPad. I suspect the majority of them would be used as a small iMac and never leave the desk.
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Thinking about a larger screen modular expression of the iPad a few months ago I imagined an iPad Studio similar to Federico’s experiment in creating a screen-less Mac laptop but specifically for iPadOS.
An iPad Studio would be housed in a keyboard, trackpad and battery base that would look nearly identical to a screen-less MacBook Air.
The removable touch screen would be included and a much larger desktop touch screen would be optional.
The touch screen would be thinner and lighter than the current iPad Pro, just the screen and it’s own battery and the most minimal hardware to connect the two wirelessly. No ports, no speakers.
Dock the screen to the keyboard to charge the screen and Pencil. Use it docked as a “laptop”. Remove the screen to use it as a “tablet”: hold it, put it in a raised stand, walk around within the wireless range of the base unit. It’s thinner and lighter when used hand held. Comes as a 13 and 15". This is the mobile screen for the laptop form factor.
An additional, desktop form factor is possible with an add-on accessory: a 24" desktop touch screen for graphic design that has a base unit that allows it to fold down at a low angle for use as a graphics tablet or positioned upright as a traditional screen. Or use the iPad Studio with any Apple Studio Display without touch input.
Such an addition to the iPad lineup would expand the modularity of the iPad to a more capable desktop oriented workspace while maintaining the portability of the device. This would be Apple really expanding the iPad ecosystem based on the idea that they will continue growing and expanding the capabilities of iPadOS. This is the mature touch screen Apple ecosystem I’d imagine coming together 5-7 years from now when FCP 5 for iPad is an full demonstration of the potential of FCP on a touch screen and when Xcode for iPad has been available for 2 or 3 years.
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That always reminded me of the Pong game tables that were once popular in Pizza restaurants. If you want to go big, then let’s go BIG 
How about a 28" iPad?
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The 13-inch already seems cumbersome to me as a touchscreen tablet, which is the essence of what the iPad is. A 15-inch screen would compromise the iPad‘s core functionality and make it primarily a laptop running an OS that’s inferior for that purpose.
The 15-inch MacBook Air makes all kinds of sense. A 15-inch iPad wouldn’t. The only reason Apple might want to do that would be to force their laptop users to buy all their software through the App Store, but thanks to the EU, that possibility is starting to crumble.
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You’re not viewing it from the perspective of a graphic designer or artists. At 15" it’s not a tablet the way an 11" iPad is a tablet. At 15" it is more a canvas for creative, design or other visual use cases.
A 15" would be a fantastic size for someone that regularly uses the Affinity apps or, should Adobe ever get with it and up their iPad game.
Imagine a 15" iPad Studio released in 2026 or 2027 with an M6 and 32GB of RAM with a more mature iPadOS running a future version of FCP or Logic Pro.
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That seems plausible, though the art directors I know are still on team Mac. It will be interesting to see whether Apple ever decides it’s worth pursuing.
I don’t think they would do a 15-16" iPad either. There has to be an ostensible handheld use. 13" work as handheld for larger men and effectively no women. 15" would only be viable to carry and touch for < .5% of men globally. So that leaves it either chained to a desk like a drawing tablet or stuck in laptop mode, like Synchronicity said.
Once you’re stuck in those modes you’re competing with either laptops, which are more powerful and better weight-balanced for the money, or larger drawing surface sizes (24" Cintiq being the gold standard.)
A big iPad would be way cooler than a big Wacom tablet, for sure.
I also still wish they’d have tried a huge pen-input iMac with a swivelable screen or on a drawing arm.
macOS marketshare is 5.64% worldwide and only 17.73% in Europe.
AFAIK Macs aren’t dominant in any market so, IMO, Apple could definitely require all software be sold in the App Store. But they would lose a lot of hardware sales.
Nevertheless, I won’t be surprised if the EU’s moves to force open things up spread to other jurisdictions, though probably in somewhat different forms.
If Apple ever does that to macOS despite the above, I’ll be gone from the platform.
I hope it does, I need a non-WebKit browser so I can access all my normal sites.
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Simply from the requirements list, I don’t see why this experiment shouldn’t work.
I need to set aside some money, because my kids already expressed that there first device should be a nice “iPad-laptop with a pencil” like I have. Each their own of course …
I don’t use an iPad for work (programmer), but I spent lately a lot of time on my iPad, and there is a lot it can do. (I do my spare time programming mostly in Pythonista, so even that works on the iPad.)
If there only would be an official shell app, my vim programming needs would be satisfied. For that I still need to ssh to my Mac.
But what irks me the most in my day to day usage, is that I can’t use my Things “add from anywhere” shortcut. In general, the ability to modify the global/outside of apps experience is missing for me.
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For Reminders, I just right click the icon and select “New in Reminders.” You can do this on the OF icon also. I don’t have Things so I cannot speak to that. I’m no expert on Shortcuts, but on my Mac I created a shortcut with a keyboard shortcut (Cntl+Option+Cmd) for adding reminders. I’ve not tried this on the iPad. Of course, you’re a programmer so I’m certain you are light years ahead of me on this!
Things pop-up includes “New To-Do”
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