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Comment by mensetmanusman | Hacker News Reader

The big question is will the new M1 iPad be allowed to be a real computer if the user wants it to.

I am very much hoping for a "macOS in a VM" feature, but I don't think it will ever happen. The iPad Pro being great for certain professions seems to be enough for Apple. Targeting all professional groups does not appear to be a goal.

I rather expect that the M1 iPad is the next step of elevating iOS to an all-purpose platform, and the path is to ultimately get rid of the Desktop OS and all its remaining "openness" in favor of the tightly controlled revenue-generating ecosystem-model of iOS.

The M1 iMac is already quite close to a "iPad Desktop", I'm not sure how long it will take until Apple takes the full step and ships an iMac with iOS. My guess is that there will be an intermediary phase where the OS will only allow AppleStore apps by default but can be unlocked. And then one day the "most-affordable iMac ever" will arrive, with iOS...

I'm also eagerly awaiting Apple's flying pig announcement.

On a more serious note though, Apple won't let you choose which browser you're using anymore: what makes you think it will fulfill the criterion of a "real computer"?

> Apple won't let you choose which browser you're using anymore

macOS and iOS let you choose your default browser

iOS won't allow developers to write custom web engines though, meaning that everyone ends up using reskinned Safari. Back to square 1.

Since they’re deliberately marketing that the iPad has an M1 chip, I think they have dual booting in mind for the future

They definitely do not. macOS is not designed for use with a touch screen, and Apple are not interested in releasing half-arsed, unusable systems.

iOS has mouse support, and Apple sells a keyboard with a trackpad for it. If they were that concerned about the touch screen being unusable—even though other manufacturers have figured it out—then they could just disable touch input while in Mac mode. Maybe even allow Pencil support.

Obviously they’re going to disable the touch screen if that happens.

> Apple are not interested in releasing half-arsed, unusable systems.

Is that why on macOS I can open a window like "About this mac" or any window from a menu bar app, switch away from it with the keyboard...and then not be able to switch back to that same window with the same keyboard shortcut?

Are you aware that, for over 20 years, Apple sold an OS that only let you resize application windows by the lower right hand corner?

I could go on (and on and on) but I'll stop here: Remember when Apple swore by the single button mouse? They said it was the best thing ever. Except the first thing everybody bought for their new Mac was a multi-button mouse... Reminds me of how many dongles you need today because thin is in!

The new iMacs are basically iPads with keyboard and macOS.

More expensive and less portable though, AND no touch interface.

but with actual pro class software.

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