4 ms·

I feel that what Apple is doing with the iPad is trying to create a whole new separate paradigm of computing with glass slabs, without re-using the good ideas f

I feel that what Apple is doing with the iPad is trying to create a whole new separate paradigm of computing with glass slabs, without re-using the good ideas from the Mac. Whether it's pride or something else, they simply can't make themselves do a dual-use operating system (e.g. support for overlapping windows, mouse, file management - while still having good support for touch), so they are forced to come up with totally new ways of interacting with devices. While that's pretty interesting and totally fine, there is also a reason why modern MacBooks (and computers in general) are the way they are, so all the solutions are second-rate, and it's why professional users will always feel limited when using the iPad for things that are not just watching YouTube videos.

katbyte 8y ago
I would love a MacBook with touch, and even better a MacBook that transforms into an iPad.
- bodi 8y ago
  A Surface that runs macOS.
  - jen729w 8y ago
    Not really. Have you seen a Surface? They’re fucking enormous. Say what you like about the new iPad, it’s amazingly thin.
    - zozbot123 8y ago
      The Surface Go is not "f'in enormous". It's as small as a vintage netbook, or an iPad (not "Pro") with an added keyboard.
    - shaklee3 8y ago
      The surface book 2 is one of the lightest laptops available.
    - ianai 8y ago
      There’s something weird going on in this discussion. There are commenters discussing where they imagine iOS devices headed and other users who are discussing iPad vs Surface. The later is bringing in the OS war discussion.
- zozbot123 8y ago
  There are plenty of PC's with touchscreens and loosely MacBook-like design aesthetics. Some of them can even fold over and let you use them very much like a tablet (with the keyboard out of the way). (Unfortunately, OS support for such "hybrid" devices is lacking. But I think Linux will get there shortly - you can already tell that GTK3 was built for touch use, not just for the mouse.)
  - voidmain0001 8y ago
    I don't agree that touch is lacking. I use a Samsung Galaxy Book Win10 device which has a detachable keyboard and touch screen and I think it is great. Granted, it is far heavier than a tablet, but when I need a terminal or console to get some scripting or programming done it is ready as I don't have to use an on screen keyboard to get the pipe or carat keys. By removing the keyboard the tablet has an acceptable weight. Plus it naively supports and comes with the S Pen for on screen drawing. The touch and drawing capabilities in W10 are fluid and always accurate for me. I enjoy having a desktop OS which brings computing without caveats in such a portable format. Kudos to Microsoft for continuously advancing Windows.
    - zozbot123 8y ago
      > I don't agree that touch is lacking. "You don't agree", but people are saying as much in this thread. See the top comments about how the Surface touch experience sucks in comparison with the iPad (and this somehow proves that a "touch-first" device is inherently superior). There is no technical reason for this; the reason why touch interaction sucks on both Win 10 and current Linux desktop (yes, including GNOME 3) is that we've only just begun caring about it, as hybrid devices have come out (and, to take a slightly different angle, people have started caring more about having a real Linux desktop on mobile, largely touch-driven devices-- see the postmarketOS effort). I'm confident that Linux desktops will be able to reach feature parity with the touch UX of both AOSP and ChromiumOS with relative ease and in a short period of time (provided that GPU acceleration works properly, of course - the aforementioned OS's do rely on it). And iOS is not far beyond that.
  - shaklee3 8y ago
coldtea 8y ago
>I feel that what Apple is doing with the iPad is trying to create a whole new separate paradigm of computing with glass slabs, without re-using the good ideas from the Mac. Without bringing the baggage associated with traditional desktop computing. They reuse "good ideas from the Mac" all the time. They don't want to reuse all, else it would just be the Mac UI, and that's (a) not the best UI option for a tablet, (b) still carries complication they don't want the tablet to have. The idea is a "form fitting" OS paradigm that can scale to pro eventually, but without the legaly hassle of an OS if it can be avoided (e.g. window management). The same way installation of apps is just "select+install", everything is sandboxed, uninstallation is just "delete", etc.
wilsonnb3 8y ago
“Professional users” encompasses more than just programming. iPads are already great for professional musicians and artists. Also things like reading PDFs and sending emails, which probably make up a large portion of professional work.
- dlisboa 8y ago
  Someone has to program the apps for these “future devices”. It’s very weird to me how the future of computing is a terrible interactive interface for the very people who have to make the future interactive interface. They’ll be forced to release an iPad that is the “future” and a Mac someone can actually program on.
  - deleted 8y ago
    [deleted]

katbyte 8y ago

I would love a MacBook with touch, and even better a MacBook that transforms into an iPad.

bodi 8y ago
A Surface that runs macOS.
- jen729w 8y ago
  Not really. Have you seen a Surface? They’re fucking enormous. Say what you like about the new iPad, it’s amazingly thin.
  - zozbot123 8y ago
    The Surface Go is not "f'in enormous". It's as small as a vintage netbook, or an iPad (not "Pro") with an added keyboard.
  - shaklee3 8y ago
    The surface book 2 is one of the lightest laptops available.
  - ianai 8y ago
    There’s something weird going on in this discussion. There are commenters discussing where they imagine iOS devices headed and other users who are discussing iPad vs Surface. The later is bringing in the OS war discussion.
zozbot123 8y ago
There are plenty of PC's with touchscreens and loosely MacBook-like design aesthetics. Some of them can even fold over and let you use them very much like a tablet (with the keyboard out of the way). (Unfortunately, OS support for such "hybrid" devices is lacking. But I think Linux will get there shortly - you can already tell that GTK3 was built for touch use, not just for the mouse.)
- voidmain0001 8y ago
  I don't agree that touch is lacking. I use a Samsung Galaxy Book Win10 device which has a detachable keyboard and touch screen and I think it is great. Granted, it is far heavier than a tablet, but when I need a terminal or console to get some scripting or programming done it is ready as I don't have to use an on screen keyboard to get the pipe or carat keys. By removing the keyboard the tablet has an acceptable weight. Plus it naively supports and comes with the S Pen for on screen drawing. The touch and drawing capabilities in W10 are fluid and always accurate for me. I enjoy having a desktop OS which brings computing without caveats in such a portable format. Kudos to Microsoft for continuously advancing Windows.
  - zozbot123 8y ago
    > I don't agree that touch is lacking. "You don't agree", but people are saying as much in this thread. See the top comments about how the Surface touch experience sucks in comparison with the iPad (and this somehow proves that a "touch-first" device is inherently superior). There is no technical reason for this; the reason why touch interaction sucks on both Win 10 and current Linux desktop (yes, including GNOME 3) is that we've only just begun caring about it, as hybrid devices have come out (and, to take a slightly different angle, people have started caring more about having a real Linux desktop on mobile, largely touch-driven devices-- see the postmarketOS effort). I'm confident that Linux desktops will be able to reach feature parity with the touch UX of both AOSP and ChromiumOS with relative ease and in a short period of time (provided that GPU acceleration works properly, of course - the aforementioned OS's do rely on it). And iOS is not far beyond that.
- shaklee3 8y ago

coldtea 8y ago

>I feel that what Apple is doing with the iPad is trying to create a whole new separate paradigm of computing with glass slabs, without re-using the good ideas from the Mac. Without bringing the baggage associated with traditional desktop computing. They reuse "good ideas from the Mac" all the time. They don't want to reuse all, else it would just be the Mac UI, and that's (a) not the best UI option for a tablet, (b) still carries complication they don't want the tablet to have. The idea is a "form fitting" OS paradigm that can scale to pro eventually, but without the legaly hassle of an OS if it can be avoided (e.g. window management). The same way installation of apps is just "select+install", everything is sandboxed, uninstallation is just "delete", etc.

wilsonnb3 8y ago

“Professional users” encompasses more than just programming. iPads are already great for professional musicians and artists. Also things like reading PDFs and sending emails, which probably make up a large portion of professional work.

dlisboa 8y ago
Someone has to program the apps for these “future devices”. It’s very weird to me how the future of computing is a terrible interactive interface for the very people who have to make the future interactive interface. They’ll be forced to release an iPad that is the “future” and a Mac someone can actually program on.
- deleted 8y ago
  [deleted]