Why is Tim Cook sacrificing the Mac at the altar of the iPad?

I would argue that this has less to do with "people that require laptops" vs "people that require laptops for work".

The iPad pro seems to be a direct competitor or option for companies that previously bought Lenovo or other Windows based laptops - including the Microsoft Surface.

The specs on the new Macbook lines are the only things that make it feel weird. If you take that out of the equation it starts to make more sense.

I don't believe Cook was referring to Macs when he said "PCs".

He'd like to see iPad Pro cut into the Windows market. I don't think it'll happen without big improvements to iOS.

Meanwhile, the Mac will continue to do just fine. :-)

Because it's better to disrupt yourself than have someone else do it.

Doesn't that presuppose that tablets will disrupt PC sales.. if iPad 2010-2015 hasn't done it, what makes people think 2016 is the year?

Except that it did, and tablets in general. Or perhaps you missed all the hand wringing press about how laptop sales were down to flat while tablet sales were growing. (like this quoting IDC : http://www.pcworld.com/article/2048650/tablets-dominating-te...) but there were many such articles.

Tim Cook is not a visionary.