Since the introduction of the M1 chip to various iPad models, there has been lots of talk about replacing iPadOS with macOS. One person who is not a fan of this idea is Ed Hardy. He explained why at Cult of Mac.
No matter that Macs and iPads run on the same chip. macOS isn’t designed for a touchscreen. Apple would need to redesign the operating system to run on a tablet, and devs would need to alter third-party applications, too. And that would anger people using non-touchscreen laptops and desktops. Plus, people happy with the iPad now wouldn’t like the change either.
Check It Out: Why Putting macOS on iPad is a Bad Idea
The only bad idea is listening to the dullards from cult of Mac. They are wrong.
Great news!
Apple made an iPad that runs macOS! And it runs great.
The only limitations are that you cannot use the touchscreen or a stylus, because macOS.
And since you can only use it with a keyboard and a trackpad or mouse, they attached a non-removable keyboard/trackpad. Mouse optional. Because macOS.
It’s an iPad with a fixed keyboard running macOS. And they’re calling it the MacBook Air.
It’s just like what the cafeteria guy in Dhaka said to me when I asked for lasagna,
‘We swapped out the pasta with rice. And since we didn’t have cheese, we substituted curry on the meat and veggies, and layered these over the rice. It’s lasagna; only with rice and curry. You could also call it rice and curry. Same-same, but different’.
iPad running macOS. MacBook Air. Same-same, but different.
It depends for what you want to use it. A Mac tablet would be great as a presentation tool being smaller and lighter than MacBooks. Not for heavy work, but mainly for PowerPoint and Keynote presentations. You make them in the Mac desktop. Save them into a USB pendrive, connect it to the Mac tablet and use it in the classroom, scientific meeting, etc for the presentation.
PadOS is getting more flexible and powerful with each iteration. It’s getting there.
But suppose Apple did try to put macOS in the iPad. They’d have to modify it to make it user friendly, and adapt it to the touch screen. (If you want to see what it would be like to just port macOS over, use a remote Desktop session to run a Win10 machine. I’ve done it and it suuuuuuuuuuuuucks.) Do you what Apple would have after they went through all the work it would take to port macOS over? padOS. That’s right, we have macOS, albeit a limited version, on the iPad now. and in a few years it will be rivalling macOS in usability and power. but Apple did it right, they started with a basic version, made it work very well, and then have been expanding its capabilities.
I agree. Each is its own tool.
However, it would be great (and environmentally more friendly) to enable multiple user accounts on iOS.
This way each user, or a single user with distinct environments for business and personal, can log into the appropriate account using the appropriate tool.
I think people would get over it.
Merging the iPad and the Mac might cause some growing pains, but in the end result in vastly more useful iOS devices which would have about the same longevity as a Mac.
In the end I think the synthesis of the two could lead to lots of flexibility and tailoring of devices toward the needs of the user.
More freedom of choice in how to use a more capable device. I can’t think of a really good reason for artificially hamstringing any device.