As we anxiously wait for the new iPad Pro to be announced, I am once again pondering the dilemma of the iPad Pro. Do I let it be what it is; which is the best tablet ever made, or do I continue to push and complain to make it I know it can be; the one and only device I need.
As a tablet, the iPad has always been the most amazing device to use for media consumption and light productivity work in bed, on the couch, on the go, and at a table. It has only gotten more capable over time and with the addition of keyboards, pencil, and pointer input, it has grown to be capable of performing 80% of my work and personal workflow. 70% it does easily, 10% it does clumsily compared to a Mac, and 20% it just can’t do. The things it just can’t do are a combination of iPadOS limitations and iPad productivity apps not having feature parity with the Mac equivalent.
Apple never said the iPad could replace your Mac (though for many it can) so I had no reason to complain. Apple just kept making iPadOS incrementally better and kept working to make it work better with a Mac. Stage Manager, Handoff, Sidecar, Universal Control are amazing and magical features and really do reduce the friction between Mac and iPad.
The problem started when Mac transitioned from Intel to ARM processors in 2020. Suddenly, the chip architecture between the iPad and Mac was the same and with that came expectations. While the 2018 and 2020 iPad Pro still ran an A12 processor the expectations were manageable since Mac were on the M1 chip. Nevermind that the A12 could easily run MacOS, the names were different so expectations were managed. In 2021 Apple announced that the iPad Pro would now run the same M1 chip as Macs and the expectations went through the roof that somehow iPads could or would run MacOS or at least Mac applications. Even RAM was published for the first time ever on iPad and it was possible to get 16GB of RAM with a storage upgrade to 1TB. The expectations came crashing down at WWDC in 2021 when iPadOS 15 was announced bringing very little in terms of new features.
I got swept up in the tornado of expectations and the thought of my M1 iPad Pro suddenly satisfying 100% of my workflow, was a dream come true. No more “do I chance only bringing my iPad Pro for that weekend trip and praying that work doesn’t come up with something that is a roadblock on iPadOS” dilemma. Ditching my heavy 16” Macbook Pro for the weekend was a worthy goal. After the rage subsided, I began to understand why Apple would never let iPad run MacOS even though it could. To do so would entail requiring a keyboard and external mouse, and then some sort of dual boot capability. On top of that it would mean disabling the touch screen when running MacOS. Requiring extra hardware, dual booting, and disabling hardware features is just not the type of user experience Apple wants. I don’t like it but I get it.
More irritating to me is Apple’s insistence on blocking other ways I could get that last 10% of workflow and go “iPad Pro only”. Hypervisor support was removed in iPadOS 16 meaning that ability to someday run a MacOS virtual machine was taken away. Apple’s strict control over which apps get allowed in the App store is also heavy handed and limiting.
The salt in the wound of all of this is that price for an iPad Pro 12.9” in many cases exceeds a Macbook. Sometimes I shake my head and wonder why I spent $1300 on a device that doesn’t even allow me to manage my music library, doesn’t allow me to rename files while downloading from internet, and many other irritating nits that $300 2010 Macbook Air can do easily.
In spite of this, I know that this week or next week I am going to do what I know I shouldn’t do. I am going to spend $2000+ or more on a new iPad Pro with 16GB of RAM and Magic Keyboard; hoping, wishing for a miracle from Apple that will make it the only device I need. It won’t happen but at least I know I’ll have the best tablet ever made.
