From iPad back to Mac after 8 years | Hacker News Reader

From iPad back to Mac after 8 years

mattgemmell.scot

3 pointswalterbell4 comments

I went iPad-only several years ago, sold my MacBook like the author. I have experienced the same friction, the same disappointment with external monitor support, the weird problems with keyboard focus, the killing of backgrounded apps. But I have not seriously considered going back to a Mac.

I use my iPad with Apple keyboard cover for programming and system admin. Most of the time I have either Blink Shell (ssh/mosh terminal) or Safari open.

I travel continually so the size, weight, battery life, face ID, and “always on” nature of the iPad appeal to me. I don’t have a regular desk setup or a big monitor. Over time I have adapted to using the touch screen more and the trackpad less, combined with keyboard shortcuts.

I sometimes think about switching to a ThinkPad running Linux, which would let me work more at the command line. Since I do everything on remote servers over SSH anyway I don’t really need local Linux.

What I don’t get is why there isn’t a bigger push to innovate handheld devices for such use. My iPhone is a full computer in my pocket, but the OS heavily limits how versatile it could be. I could walk into work, plug in usb-c to a dock, and get full access to two monitors, keyboard, mouse, storage, network connections. Instead it’s just a phone that can browse the internet. Infuriating.

Even that iPad and Mac have the same processor now, but run incompatible operating systems. They can’t run the exact same apps. They can’t do the exact same things. Despite having the exact same hardware.

These companies have killed innovation in the name of making newer products as often as possible just to sell them. We could be further along in many ways tech wise if this push were different.

> why there isn’t a bigger push to innovate handheld devices for such use.

Google Pixel is getting there with USB-c display output (Pixel 8+), Android 16 Terminal as native Linux VM [1] and Android replacing ChromeOS for phone-tablet-laptop convergence.

Apple shipped VM support in iOS 15 (!) and then removed it. iPadOS became VisionOS and Mac Mini became "iPad Pro without a screen". Upcoming we have the 2025 Smart Home panel (6" x 6" screen with voice AI), iPad-on-a-robot-arm and AR Glasses with VisionOS to compete with Meta Ray-Bans. That's 2 or more roadmap years of converting iPadOS to other markets, without advancing iPadOS itself.

If we're lucky, Android VMs will wake Apple's iPad team from hibernation.

[1] https://www.androidauthority.com/android-16-linux-terminal-d...

TLDR

I use the ipad Pro (with case and keyboard and trackpad and mouse and pencil) to display music scores, run zoom, and check HN now and then. It also displays the best of my photos when I am out of the house.

And that's it. I have a-shell and Carnets (Jupyter Notebooks) installed but never use them. (Heck, I'm retired)

The mac is 100 or 1000X more productive. Always was. Editing photos, infinitely more productive.

Was it Archimedes who said "Give me a terminal window and I shall move the world" Uhh, maybe not.

The ipad one still displays music scores and holds books to read.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com