“You need a computer. What should you buy? Mac or Windows? MacBook, MacBook Pro, iMac, or Mac Pro? Or, iPad Pro? Apple gives customers a few choices, but maybe not the best choices,” Jeffrey Mincey writes for Mac360. “I have a few to share.”
“Obviously, what kind of computer a person needs depends upon a variety of factors that range from budget to experience to requirements,” Mincey writes. “Mac notebook sales have been growing while iPad and Mac desktops have not. I have a solution for every one of Apple’s current product ills.”
“Apple needs to change the iPad Pro to be a complete device, including built-in but detachable keyboard. Plus, Apple needs to add trackpad and mouse support and an easier to manage file system,” Mincey writes. “the new MacBook Air should come in a single size; 12-inches of Retina display should suffice. No Intel Inside, either. This $899 touchscreen Mac would have an Apple designed ARM CPU inside. Nope, it won’t run Windows. Nope, it only uses apps from the Mac App Store…”
MacDailyNews Take: Interesting ideas, but both of them leads back to the theoretical devices about which we’ve asked many times over the past few years:
Who’s in the market for a 12.9-inch device that’s an OS X-powered MacBook when docked with its keyboard base and an iOS-powered iPad when undocked?
As we wrote in January: Here’s an idea: Apple could sell iPad Pros as they do now, and for those wanting a “Mac,” Apple could sell them the macOS-powered display-less keyboard/trackpad/cpu/RAM/SSD/battery base unit. Attach your iPad for the display and off you go, you Mac-headed truck driver! Plus, you get to use the iPad’s battery, too, extending battery life to provide a truly all-day battery for portable Mac users. Detach the display and you get your iOS-powered iPad back, same as always.
Too outside the box? We’d love to be able to take our 12-inch iPad Pro, mate it with this theoretical Mac base unit, and turn it into a portable Mac. Right now, we carry 12-inch iPad Pros and MacBooks in our backpacks. Guess what’s redundant? Right, the displays. We don’t need to carry two screens on the road. The iPad Pro’s screen would do just fine, thanks.
Buy the Mac base on its own (for those who already have 12.9-inch iPad Pros) or buy it as part of a package (get a new 12.9-inch iPad Pro at a nice discount when you buy it with the Mac base). Imagine if Apple had unveiled this headless MacBook that you use with your iPad at their iPad event last fall. How many more 12-inch iPad Pro sales would such a product have generated? Enough to return iPad to unit sales growth, we bet. And, how many more Macs would have been sold, too?
Illustration from Apple’s hybrid Mac-iPad patent application
My question is why Apple would want to copy a product that has struggled to gain any traction in the market? On its worst day, Apple’s iPad Pro outsells the Surface Pro and now Microsoft is shifting to position the Surface Pro as a laptop with a touchscreen, not a tablet.
Suddenly the mind goes back to my days doing desktop support when I created a few “headless laptops” – working name-brand laptops with failed displays, but out of warranty. I didn’t want to junk them, so I disconnected and stripped the display/lid off and used them as compact PCs running to external monitors. The end product was similar to the “computer in a keyboard” some small companies were selling back then..
The devil, as they say, is in the details. It always seems like a great idea but the logistics, the implementation I’m convinced TO DATE creates compromises that make such a device a bad tablet and a bad laptop. Battery in the display portion is heavy and necessitates the Surface style kickstand.
I don’t feel these ideas solve anything. I go between an iPad Pro and a MacBook Pro and a high end Windows laptop on a daily basis. Whenever I leave the iPad Pro to go and work on the MacBook Pro, for instance, it’s like someone has untied one hand from behind my back and reattached the two middle fingers to the other hand.
iOS is just too clumsy. Fumbling around to get from one app to the next is annoying. The sandboxing, while it makes things nice and secure, also makes using the iPad Pro awkward. The lack of automation and easy server access and on and on are highly irksome and troublesome. Yes, you can get around them, gain your own rhythm with iOS but like I said, when you go back to a real OS, it’s like someone just turned on the lights.
Sooner or later, and I know the hate that this generates amongst the faithful, but Apple is going to have to admit that they made a mistake with the two different operating systems. If you make a bigger iPad as in iPad Pro, attach a keyboard, then basically you’re trying to build a laptop. That’s silly. Just buy a laptop.
As far as touch is concerned, my Windows PC is touch and I never touch that screen. I touch the trackpad. Apple’s trackpad is still the best touch experience for a Mac period.
Trackpads are ok but not great. Carpal tunnel remains a problem, it’s just not very ergonomic for your wrists, just as bad as typing on a bad keyboard. Now that Apple has hidden so much from toolbars, you need to use multiple keystrokes with a trackpad to access simple features.
I used to use a Logitech Trackman FX trackball. Nothing has ever compared to that for input precision and comfort, all with excellent multi button usability. Of course that was 20 years ago and they stopped making them.
I now recommend Evoluent vertical mice for anyone who wants an ergonomic input device.
I agree on most of your points, but differ on the touchscreen.
I have an iPad Pro- the big one- and the overpriced Pencil that does little. To be honest, the reason I bought it was for the bigger screen and better audio, but it is not way a replacement for my Macs. I bought the worthless pen because I could.
The iPad is a pretty good browsing device and for playing casual games, streaming video away from home and email. Beyond that- not so much. The browser is still second rate and gets you mobile sites such of the time.
Sidebar- the MDN app on my iPad is damn near unusable sometimes. There is so much ad bullshit that the green jumps and loses attempts to comment even on a high speed cable (Comcast) or LTE internet (Verizon) connection. This site blocks and nags if you use ad blockers on iOS, but the app is unstable due to the outrageous amount of advertising and whatever. Please fix your app or offer an ad free subscription like Apple Insider. I will gladly toss you a couple of bucks to get a stable experience.
The Windows 10 touch experience sucks because Windows 10 has not been adapted to the touch environment excepting special cases like picture editing and document markup. iOS sucks because Apple has locked it down like a Chastity Belt, limits media filetypes and denies the owner access to the file system.
Apple could make a nice hybrid by adding File System access (like on a Mac) and a broader variety of media file types (like a Mac) to iOS and sell it as a SW upgrade for any iPad. I would pay for it.
As to the Trackpad- I have the older one where you can change the batteries (which is much better) and prefer it to anything else. On my desk as I type there is a completely ignored and unused Apple Mouse kept just as backup.
What I am sure of is Microsoft will keep iterating and eventually get much closer to right on mobile tablets. I am not so sure Apple knows what the fuck they are doing with the iPad.
Apple has one. It’s called Finder, and it’s built into every Mac.
iOS is and always will be a phone OS — touch based, consumer focused, and useless for the tasks in which Macs excel, including sharing files and editing with precision input. Apple should not chase Microsoft, it should improve the Mac at the same pace it improves the iPhone.
I’m not interested in going back to Windows again, but the new Surface Pro checks all of the hardware boxes. What a novel idea to have 13+ hours of battery life in a mobile computer!
iPads need to be able to use the pencil with apps such as Pages. Print the document and edit it with a real pencil or be able to edit on screen with a pencil and be able to write with the pencil to correct or replace words or sentences. A true iPad/Pencil edit does not require the use of a keyboard.
Mincey wants Apple to follow Microsoft and create the iPad Surface.
Here’s a better idea: more and better Macs, at all price points.
That’s a thought. Unfortunately, Tim Cook doesn’t agree with you.
This guy is a hot mess. Ya, Apple
Should turn the iPad into a lawnmower with wings, and turn only the MacBook Air into a touchscreen device?
What a blowhard this guy.
My question is why Apple would want to copy a product that has struggled to gain any traction in the market? On its worst day, Apple’s iPad Pro outsells the Surface Pro and now Microsoft is shifting to position the Surface Pro as a laptop with a touchscreen, not a tablet.
Agreed, why should Apple attempt to imitate a product struggling in the market when Apple can’t maintain its own legacy?
Suddenly the mind goes back to my days doing desktop support when I created a few “headless laptops” – working name-brand laptops with failed displays, but out of warranty. I didn’t want to junk them, so I disconnected and stripped the display/lid off and used them as compact PCs running to external monitors. The end product was similar to the “computer in a keyboard” some small companies were selling back then..
The devil, as they say, is in the details. It always seems like a great idea but the logistics, the implementation I’m convinced TO DATE creates compromises that make such a device a bad tablet and a bad laptop. Battery in the display portion is heavy and necessitates the Surface style kickstand.
I don’t feel these ideas solve anything. I go between an iPad Pro and a MacBook Pro and a high end Windows laptop on a daily basis. Whenever I leave the iPad Pro to go and work on the MacBook Pro, for instance, it’s like someone has untied one hand from behind my back and reattached the two middle fingers to the other hand.
iOS is just too clumsy. Fumbling around to get from one app to the next is annoying. The sandboxing, while it makes things nice and secure, also makes using the iPad Pro awkward. The lack of automation and easy server access and on and on are highly irksome and troublesome. Yes, you can get around them, gain your own rhythm with iOS but like I said, when you go back to a real OS, it’s like someone just turned on the lights.
Sooner or later, and I know the hate that this generates amongst the faithful, but Apple is going to have to admit that they made a mistake with the two different operating systems. If you make a bigger iPad as in iPad Pro, attach a keyboard, then basically you’re trying to build a laptop. That’s silly. Just buy a laptop.
As far as touch is concerned, my Windows PC is touch and I never touch that screen. I touch the trackpad. Apple’s trackpad is still the best touch experience for a Mac period.
Trackpads are ok but not great. Carpal tunnel remains a problem, it’s just not very ergonomic for your wrists, just as bad as typing on a bad keyboard. Now that Apple has hidden so much from toolbars, you need to use multiple keystrokes with a trackpad to access simple features.
I used to use a Logitech Trackman FX trackball. Nothing has ever compared to that for input precision and comfort, all with excellent multi button usability. Of course that was 20 years ago and they stopped making them.
I now recommend Evoluent vertical mice for anyone who wants an ergonomic input device.
I agree on most of your points, but differ on the touchscreen.
I have an iPad Pro- the big one- and the overpriced Pencil that does little. To be honest, the reason I bought it was for the bigger screen and better audio, but it is not way a replacement for my Macs. I bought the worthless pen because I could.
The iPad is a pretty good browsing device and for playing casual games, streaming video away from home and email. Beyond that- not so much. The browser is still second rate and gets you mobile sites such of the time.
Sidebar- the MDN app on my iPad is damn near unusable sometimes. There is so much ad bullshit that the green jumps and loses attempts to comment even on a high speed cable (Comcast) or LTE internet (Verizon) connection. This site blocks and nags if you use ad blockers on iOS, but the app is unstable due to the outrageous amount of advertising and whatever. Please fix your app or offer an ad free subscription like Apple Insider. I will gladly toss you a couple of bucks to get a stable experience.
The Windows 10 touch experience sucks because Windows 10 has not been adapted to the touch environment excepting special cases like picture editing and document markup. iOS sucks because Apple has locked it down like a Chastity Belt, limits media filetypes and denies the owner access to the file system.
Apple could make a nice hybrid by adding File System access (like on a Mac) and a broader variety of media file types (like a Mac) to iOS and sell it as a SW upgrade for any iPad. I would pay for it.
As to the Trackpad- I have the older one where you can change the batteries (which is much better) and prefer it to anything else. On my desk as I type there is a completely ignored and unused Apple Mouse kept just as backup.
What I am sure of is Microsoft will keep iterating and eventually get much closer to right on mobile tablets. I am not so sure Apple knows what the fuck they are doing with the iPad.
[iOS] needs “an easier to manage file system”.
This.
Apple has one. It’s called Finder, and it’s built into every Mac.
iOS is and always will be a phone OS — touch based, consumer focused, and useless for the tasks in which Macs excel, including sharing files and editing with precision input. Apple should not chase Microsoft, it should improve the Mac at the same pace it improves the iPhone.
I’m not interested in going back to Windows again, but the new Surface Pro checks all of the hardware boxes. What a novel idea to have 13+ hours of battery life in a mobile computer!
iPads need to be able to use the pencil with apps such as Pages. Print the document and edit it with a real pencil or be able to edit on screen with a pencil and be able to write with the pencil to correct or replace words or sentences. A true iPad/Pencil edit does not require the use of a keyboard.