4 ms·

Because a surface does that and so have all tablet pcs since Windows XP times. > once you are planning to carry a keyboard. Apple sells you a keyboard cover,

Because a surface does that and so have all tablet pcs since Windows XP times. > once you are planning to carry a keyboard. Apple sells you a keyboard cover, Samsung does, Microsoft does. They are ridiculously expensive for what they are (buy a few HHKBs), but seem very popular. > at that point. That is the point. After adding all that, you would expect your tablet to do all that. Hardware wise it totally could, but it is not "allowed to" unless you put a linux VM on it or something.

kaba0 3y ago
The vast majority of people can do everything they would ever want from a desktop computer on an ipad. Programming is a niche usecase.
fsflover 3y ago
You should stop supporting Apple or hoping they would change. Lock-down is their approach to everything. Microsoft is behind but following the same direction. GNU/Linux smartphones and tablets do not restrict what you do and run desktop OSes. Connecting a keyboard turns them in full laptops.
noduerme 3y ago
This is a fair point, but Apple addled the iPad with those limitations from its inception. The stated reason back then was that it wasn't powerful enough - which I disagreed with even then. If it had been able to boot Linux or OS X, I would have snapped one up. Now the only real difference is form factor, pricing discrimination, and touch screen (although I still believe that on some level it's a point of embarrassment for Apple that their desktop OS is completely unusable by touch, hence their endless reluctance to bring a touch-enabled Mac laptop to market. However that may be the factor that saves Mac OS from going completely down the consumer road of iOS). So you're right that these categories of devices and capabilities are completely artificially imposed at this point, but the question is, why have an iPad at all?

4 ms·

Because a surface does that and so have all tablet pcs since Windows XP times. > once you are planning to carry a keyboard. Apple sells you a keyboard cover,

by diffeomorphism 3y ago

kaba0 3y ago
The vast majority of people can do everything they would ever want from a desktop computer on an ipad. Programming is a niche usecase.
fsflover 3y ago
You should stop supporting Apple or hoping they would change. Lock-down is their approach to everything. Microsoft is behind but following the same direction. GNU/Linux smartphones and tablets do not restrict what you do and run desktop OSes. Connecting a keyboard turns them in full laptops.
noduerme 3y ago
This is a fair point, but Apple addled the iPad with those limitations from its inception. The stated reason back then was that it wasn't powerful enough - which I disagreed with even then. If it had been able to boot Linux or OS X, I would have snapped one up. Now the only real difference is form factor, pricing discrimination, and touch screen (although I still believe that on some level it's a point of embarrassment for Apple that their desktop OS is completely unusable by touch, hence their endless reluctance to bring a touch-enabled Mac laptop to market. However that may be the factor that saves Mac OS from going completely down the consumer road of iOS). So you're right that these categories of devices and capabilities are completely artificially imposed at this point, but the question is, why have an iPad at all?