Most iPads are currently Macs. Time to finish work
What is a computer? It’s anything that will help me get my job done. I love new ideas about what a computer is, but traditional working tools still win. For my job, it’s generally a PC or Mac. When I travel, the iPad is often convenient, but it’s not the same, so I often bring both.
The “why not both” approach is something Apple has pitched on iPads and Macs for many years, but Apple asserts that these platforms won’t blend together. I remember Announcement of the same stage Back in 2018, I said at the time that Macos and iOS needed to combine.
I’m happy to take a long game here, Apple often plays with that technology. And I’m ready to step in a few years and wait for this merge moment to happen. But really, this moment should be happening now. And that: I thought Latest iPad Pro It was the Mac I wanted Another format is minus the software I was looking for. That software is coming right now, but things need to go further.
See this: One thing to keep your iPad from killing your Mac
iPados 26 It’s a strong indication that the merge is already underway. Lo and behold, exploring the developer beta, and you’ll already find a Mac-like experience here. (The public beta will arrive ahead of the fall release this summer. We recommend waiting before downloading.)
Apple has always been very separate conversations about Mac and iPad, This WWDCApple has described the iPad OS 26 as something like a Mac. Added support for more windows, now larger circles, mouse pointers that are arrows rather than menu bars, preview apps that display files like Macs, and folders (mainly) that can be organized like Macs. With a trackpad/keyboard installed, the iPad is even more flexible, multitasking, and perhaps more efficient at doing serious work.
But what has to do with me is that it’s not a Mac yet. To reach the expected point when something approaches without completely reaching it is a ripe zone of disappointment in a creepy valley. Using the latest iPados 26, you get into the flow and suddenly realize there are some of the OS that aren’t exactly the same as the Mac. i don’t know yet. Maybe it’s never going to happen. But my doubt is that this new almost mac-like iPados is not a Mac in some important ways.
With the iPads 26 developer beta, the iPad Pro is already very close to the Mac.
It’s very close now. You can finish the job, Apple!
Most iPads and Macs share the same M-series hardware and work with similar tactile keyboards and trackpads. There is absolutely no reason to understand why the iPad couldn’t become a Mac other than Apple decides that the software is functionally different. (When it comes to being an iPad, it’s more complicated because it requires a touchscreen and pencil support.)
It’s not easy to make all Mac and iPad apps truly intercompatible via an OS that recognizes both, but Apple can do that. Mac apps had to migrate from Intel to ARM-based hardware, and from PowerPC to Intel before that. At least this time, the hardware is the same…but the app’s goals are different.
However, the mission is over. Mac, iPad, iPhone and everything else get similar visual designs Liquid glass More and more similar notifications and widgets. I don’t want all Apple devices to work exactly the same, but I feel that the iPad and MacBook (if two product lines are designed to carry around and fit in a bag) are pretty heavy in the overlap.
The iPad Pro vs MacBook Air will be lined up in 2024. The convergence is clearly already here.
I don’t think the iPad should stop being simple. I agree with Apple: Basic iPad Flow Similarly, pressing the button will trigger a multi-window work mode.
However, I don’t want it to just get closer to that multi-window mode being MAC. I would definitely like to become a Mac. Let me leave your laptop behind. Converges the lines of a Pro model and a specific MacBook.
This convergence will not only be necessary for budgets alone to pack convenience, but for other reasons. If Apple really wants to make it Future Vision Headset Alternatively, lightweight connected glasses that become essential devices will need to compress the product line to create a room. I was able to see him having an iPad-slash-macbook in my bag. I don’t see myself carrying a vision, an iPad, or a Mac. You have to give something.
Like I said, I’m holding back. In fact, I I’ve been waiting for these changes – and wrote about them Over and over again – Over 10 years. We can wait another year, maybe two years, for the next move. I’m happy that I’ve been waiting forever for my final arrival, but I still don’t know why iPad pros can’t become Macs. With Apple’s latest moves, you’re more confident in your emotions than ever before, but you’ll have to get used to waiting a little longer again.