Hacker News Reader

Comment by overgard | Hacker News Reader

I get the impression they're trying to market this to laptop users. I'm still very skeptical of iPads as a productivity device. The problem isn't the hardware, it's the OS, the app store and the model for selling apps. Apple's app store policies make it hard to sell expensive software (which most productivity apps are somewhat expensive), it also makes it hard to distribute free software (as in open source -- because someone has to pony up for a developer account and deal with the app store feedback), and the App-centric focus of the OS itself is a problem (most projects need to be file centric)

View on HN

I did a performance test over the weekend of compilation times across 4 projects using 4 devices.

My M4 MacBook Pro is faster than my modern i9 desktop that work spent $$$ on...

iPad feels like a genie trapped in a bottle to me. It has that same M4 but there's so much less to use it for. Too bad I can't just set it by my PC and throw workloads at the processor or something. Continuity works well enough as a second screen but I'd love a second M4 CPU.

I am looking forward for real competition to Apple which ironically will be better for Apple users/developers. You don't buy a McClaren for transporting your kids to the school faster.

PS: I don't think GPU continuity will work well over USB-C.

EXO Labs are doing interesting things with LLM clusters on commodity hardware. I'd quite like to plug my MacBook next to my iPad and get the extra local AI oomph.

Second CPU idea is brilliant. I’d buy an iPad for second screen, second CPU and occasional plane/hotel Netflix/Youtube.

For those just looking for a second screen with their iPad or MacBook, Universal Display does exactly this, given you’re already in the Apple ecosystem.

Second CPU would be nice, too.

What is Universal Display?

The built-in MacOS feature that does this called continuity… but I know it was renamed once (used to be sidecar). Maybe you’re referring to an old name? Or is it a product?

Edit: I looked it up and it appears that the app is continuity and “Sidecar” and “Universal Control” are features. IDT those names show up in the OS UX though.

https://www.apple.com/macos/continuity/

Mac Mini = iPad minus screen, minus iOS restrictions, with Apple Silicon and optional 10GbE wired.

damn I hope apple will make a "iSurface Air" laptop

macbook air + multitouch + apple pen

They are supposedly working on a 19" foldable all-screen laptop that's a few years away.

There's also the issue of iOS virtual memory limitations. Whereas macOS lets apps use swap space (duh), on iOS apps will be killed if their memory use is too high and they move into the background. (And possibly if it's too high while they're in the foreground, idk.) Which means you can't leave apps open in the background — they might be killed at any moment. And this makes true productivity basically impossible.

It is incredible what Mac OS 8 could achieve within the limitations of an iBook. /s

iPad OS limitations are artificially imposed to not canabalize the laptop sales.

As of a few ipadOS versions ago, the higher performance models can use swap space now.

I bought iPad Pro M4 and I am yet to find a use case for it. Combined with non-secure cloud backup in the UK, I see it as a toy device.

Watch YouTube, casually browse web (I am yet to install VPN).

So far the most use I had with it was recording meetings, so that later I can relisten.

If I was able to run Ubuntu on it or even macOs - that would have been a different story...

Thanks for mentioning the non-secure backup in the UK, I missed the memo on that, and fyi, for any one else who did: https://support.apple.com/en-us/122234

You're not far off, as over the years it grew into a capable gaming machine:

https://github.com/albertquiroga/awesome-ios-game-ports?tab=...

iPad is also the best ebook reader in my opinion, which is pretty much the only reason I have one.

Reading books on a LCD is miserable compared to e ink.

This seems like one of those things some people are more sensitive to than others. To my eyes, an LCD or an OLED is just as good as e-ink for reading, except in very bright sunlight.

I've gotten 7 years out of my 2018 iPad Pro and, for my use case of video, browsing, and Procreate, it feels like new. And I believe a big part of that is that the A12X was wildly overpowered when I bought it.

I think someone deciding between an M4 and an M5 today should consider its value 5 years down the road, rather than its value today.

Same. Also have a super old iPad Pro, and it still works amazing. I always ponder upgrading, knowing that I’ve gotten so much use and enjoyment out of it, but then get wrapped around the axle about how the CPU is absurdly overpowered for what I do with it (YouTube, podcasts, music, drawing/note taking, reading). It’s my main device at home, too, so I never feel like I need to upgrade my phone - it’s definitely saved me money in that regard, too. :P

My partner still uses iPad 2 (2011) in the kitchen to look up recipes.

My cheap Samsung tablet can do all that with a low powered exonous chip, and when it gets Android 16 it will be able to run a Linux VM.

I don't know why Apple is putting full M series chips in their iPads but limit the software they can run. Either open it up to desktop apps or just put a cheaper A series chip in them.

They want to force people to buy two devices, people have to check that outside specific countries, Apple doesn't have the market share that they think they do.

It's $10,000 worth of tires on a $500 car. IOS is so crippled, it's complete overkill.

Back when I was a software developer, I needed a Mac Book Pro or Mac Pro. But as a Realtor, an iPad makes for an excellent laptop. Extremely portable and does everything I need in a mobile productivity device. For many people, it is absolutely everything they need in a computing device and gets better with each release.

For work I need an SSH client to access remote servers, and a web browser for when ClickOps is needed. Long battery life, and a tack sharp touch screen are gladly accepted. An iPad is the perfect "laptop" for me.

Do you use this as your main driver or just to check on things?

Just trying to imagine the workflow :)

I personally prefer a ~32" 4k screen for main work but I could see the convenience of an iPad to quickly remote in and check on stuff or maybe it's enough on it's own and I can learn from ya'll!

Por que no los dos?

Just dock your iPad in the office and get a desktop class experience. Pick it up and go and have your same apps and sessions and data anywhere.

Would be nice. It's the experience I had with a Surface but I get Windows isn't applicable to all users and workloads.

Yeah I need a local mac for builds / debugging :( Thanks for the info, I'll dream of better days ;)

Not really, Xcode Cloud will auto-build from an event hook on a GitHub commit.

You can use this to fix bugs in iOS apps from the park and try new TestFlight builds within minutes.

What I work on is much too large for those to be options :)

> Just dock your iPad in the office

The fact that you can't turn off the iPad screen while it's docked drives me crazy.

You can? As long as you have keyboard/mouse (which the Magic Keyboard qualifies as)

Can you teach me how to do that? Every single Google result (and my own experience) say you can't.

I recently got rid of my M1 iPad Pro, so I can't verify (and you might be right).

I recall: using stage manager, plugging into monitor via USB-C, going into Settings to disable mirroring/enable as external display, ensuring you have a mouse/keyboard connected to the iPad, and then just clicking the iPad screen off with the lock/unlock button.

lmk if that works!

The mouse driven experience on iPad OS is awful. And switching between apps leads to apps suspending themselves in the background when I don't want them to. And Safari aggressively suspends browser tabs on iPad so you lose any kind of web page state.

iPad Pro supports external 4K screen and you can drag and arrange windows.

GP is not talking about “an iPad” tho, but an iPad Pro with a literal laptop-class CPU.

iPad Pro is a great terminal, I shred code on it daily. Running a build server on a portable is a bad strategy (battery, wait times, session resume). It’s the top layer of 3 layers in total (portable, GUI, build server). It handles realtime audio / video well, which are the only things that cant be remoted. You dont need OS26 for it to be a very productive terminal, it’s been possible for years. You do however need a proper backend stack, which can also be portable (but separately).

Do you know whats better than an iPad? 2 iPads (yes, shredding code on 2 simultaneously).

I never tried, but do UIKit text fields support the proper readline shortcuts like NSTextFields do on the Mac? It’s one of the most achingly wonderful things I miss so much when I work on Linux.

My sister in law has used an iPad as here primary compute device for school. Frankly, it works absolutely fine for her. 95% of her need is reading, email, and writing papers (in Google Drive).

This probably matches most users experience. It’s just that the remaining 5% makes you want to hurl the device out the window.

My parents use their iPad(s) for 100% of their compute needs. At 70+ years old, they will tell you those needs are minimal.

If you use one program at a time, do not need an actual file system, have no need to install software from a variety of places (Github, Vendor sites, etc), have no problem installing multiple "apps" that only work behind paywalls or not at all and you don't care about replacing a functional device whenever Apple obsoletes it... iOS is the best thing since sliced bread.

If you need anything outside of iOS's limited list of abilities, its a trash operating system that has crippled amazing hardware.

> 95% of her need is reading, email, and writing papers

Sure, it's great for that kind of (computationally) light work, but then what's the point of putting a monster like the M5 chip in it?

Smooth animation for throw-away-coded SPAs.

The target hardware for vibe coded startups!

My understanding is battery life. I have no idea how accurate this is, but somebody basically graphed what I was thinking: https://techboards.net/threads/power-curves-of-a17.4348/

You put a bigger chip in so you can run it at lower power consumption levels. Essentially, there are two ways this can pan out:

* Overall utilization can remain lower, keeping it in a more power efficient band.

* Expensive actions complete faster, thus using less power (since they run for less time).

From an overall business perspective, there also doesn't really seem to be a reason to _not_ standardize the lineup on a single chip. I have to imagine is less overhead from a manufacturing standpoint and it's not like there's a particularly meaningful difference in manufacturing costs of these chips.

Yep, I have the original 11" iPad Pro from 2018. It still works flawlessly and would be perfect for this use case. Someone who needs a device for school should buy a used iPad like this, not a new one that would be overpowered for the task and would cost double. Even with the edu discount, it's over $1k with the keyboard case. Why not just buy an MBA at that point?

Two reasons for are the cellular connection and smaller form factor. Would love to have a MBA with those

This has been my reasoning for years and it has been great for that. If I have to leave in the middle of the workday for errand or appointment it’s with me in the Logitech folio case and I have connected computing power in my hands in a form factor that is roughly the size of a moleskine.

I guess that's fine, but if that's all you're doing you could easily just get a hundred dollar chromebook. The marketing for this references things like transcode performance for Final Cut Pro. Implying that you would use it for some sort of serious computing task.

> you could easily just get a hundred dollar chromebook

Terrible battery life by comparison. Worse display. Not as swift at video playback. And with LLMs on the rise, less locally capable.

I don't think the "I just need to edit things in google drive crowd" overlaps much with the "I want to run a local LLM on a tablet" crowd.

Anyway my point isn't that people shouldn't buy iPads, my point is that it's silly that Apple has hardware that is incredibly capable and is held back entirely by terrible software policies.

Wrote some JavaScript on an iPhone 13 with a Bluetooth keyboard, because there was no other option.

Pen and paper are faster.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com