7 ms·

Why are we running these high end CPUs on tablets without the ability to run pro apps like Xcode? Until I can run Xcode on an iPad (not Swift Playgrounds), it'

by asow92 2y ago

Why are we running these high end CPUs on tablets without the ability to run pro apps like Xcode? Until I can run Xcode on an iPad (not Swift Playgrounds), it's a pass for me. Hear me out: I don't want to bring both an iPad and Macbook on trips, but I need Xcode. Because of this, I have to pick the Macbook every time. I want an iPad, but the iPad doesn't want me.

elpakal 2y ago
"It's not you, it's me" - Xcode to the iPad
- asow92 2y ago
  In all seriousness, you're right. Sandboxing Xcode but making it fully featured is surely a nightmare engineering problem for Apple. However, I feel like some kind of containerized macOS running in the app sandbox could be possible.
al_borland 2y ago
WWDC is a month away. I’m hoping for some iPadOS updates to let people actually take advantage of the power they put in these tablets. Apple has often released new hardware before showing off new OS features to take advantage of it. I know people have been hoping for that for a long time, so I’m not holding my breath.
- asow92 2y ago
  My guess is that WWDC will be more focused on AI this year, but I will remain hopeful.
- data-ottawa 2y ago
  I’ve been hoping for the same thing since I bought my M1 iPad just before WWDC. As much as I’d like the OLED screen and lighter weight, I don’t have any compelling argument to buy a new one.
smrtinsert 2y ago
Yep I have also no use for a touch screen device of that size. Happy to get an m4 mac air or whatever it will be called but I'm done with pads.
kjkjadksj 2y ago
Didn’t you want to play a reskinned bejewelled or subway surfer with 8k textures?
Naomarik 2y ago
Didn't have to look long to find a comment mirroring how I feel about these devices. To me it feels like they're just adding power to an artificially castrated device I can barely do anything with. See no reason to upgrade from my original iPad Pro that's not really useful for anything. Just an overpowered device running phone software.
- asow92 2y ago
  I feel the same way. I just can't justify upgrading from my 10.5" Pro from years ago. It's got pro motion and runs most apps fine. Sure, the battery isn't great after all these years, but it's not like it's getting used long enough to notice.
  - al_borland 2y ago
    Something has changed with how the iPads behave at rest. When I got my first iPad in 2010 I could leave it for weeks, pick it up, and it would hardly use any battery at all. Today, it seems like my iPad mini will eat 10% or more per day just sitting on a table untouched. I don’t like leaving it plugged in all the time, but with it being dead every time I go to pick it up, I simply stop picking it up. Even a good battery isn’t that good. That seems to be a software problem. My only theory is it’s turning on the screen every time it gets a notification. However, I have a case that covers the screen, which should keep the screen off in my opinion. I have thought about disabling 100% of the notification, but without a global toggle that seems pretty annoying to do.
    - easton 2y ago
      My guess is something to do with Find My/ offline finding. That would cause it to wake up all the time, maybe Apple thought it was worth the trade off.
      - notimetorelax 2y ago
        That was the cause for me, I disabled Find My on iPad and the batter doesn't drain any more.
deleted 2y ago
[deleted]
MuffinFlavored 2y ago
> I don't want to bring both an iPad and Macbook on trips, but I need ______ Why not just make the iPad run MacOS and throw iPadOS into the garbage?
- asow92 2y ago
  I like some UX aspects of iPadOS, but need the functionality of macOS for work.
  - reddalo 2y ago
    iPadOS is still mainly a fork of iOS, a glorified mobile interface. They should really switch to a proper macOS system, now that the specs allow for it.
kylehotchkiss 2y ago
Visual studio code running from remote servers seemed like it was making great progress right until the AI trendiness thing took over... and hasn't seemed to advance much since. Hopefully the AI thing cools down and the efforts on remote tooling/dev environments continues onwards.
- deergomoo 2y ago
  If we're going down that route then what's the point in putting good hardware in the device? It might as well just be a thin client. Having the same SoCs as their laptops and desktops but then relegating the iPad to something that needs to be chained to a "real" computer to do anything useful in the development space seems like a tremendous waste of potential.
- pquki4 2y ago
  If we are talking about running from remote servers, my 2018 iPad Pro with A12Z (or whatever letter) can do that almost just as well.
- cromka 2y ago
  AI? You mean like copilot and stuff? That runs locally? Otherwise why would it be an obstacle here?
timmg 2y ago
Just wait until you buy an Apple Vision Pro... [It's got the same restrictions as an iPad, but costs more than a MacBookPro.]
- gpm 2y ago
  This is in fact the thing that stopped me from buying an Apple Vision Pro.
  - deleted 2y ago
    [deleted]
spintin 2y ago
[dead]
deergomoo 2y ago
I've been saying this for years, I would love to get a desktop Mac and use an iPad for the occasional bit of portable development I do away from a desk, like when I want to noodle on an idea in front of the TV. I'm very happy with my MacBook, but I don't like that the mega expensive machine I want to keep for 5+ years needs to be tied to a limited-life lithium battery that's costly and labour intensive to replace, just so I can sometimes write code in other rooms in my house. I know there's numerous remote options but...the iPad is right there, just lemme use it!
- pjot 2y ago
  I’ve had success using cloud dev environments with an iPad - the key for me was also using a mouse and keyboard - after things weren’t _that_ different
- mtoner23 2y ago
  get a macbook then? they are similarly price to an ipad pro
- lll-o-lll 2y ago
  Is there no RDP equivalent for mac? Just RDP into your main workstation?
  - mycall 2y ago
    https://support.apple.com/en-il/guide/mac-help/mh11848/mac https://support.apple.com/en-il/guide/mac-help/mh11848/mac
- moistoreos 2y ago
  I've been giving some thought to this. I wonder if an iPad would suffice in front of the tv and just ssh into a Mac Mini for dev work. I'd love an iPad but I can't justify it either because of the limitation of hardware capabilities. I also don't really want to purchase two machines just for dev tasks and travel. But, I think having that kind of lifestyle will be expensive no matter the approach.
w1nst0nsm1th 2y ago
I love and hate Apple as almost everyone else and have an iPad for 'consultation' only (reading, browsing, video), but on Android, you have IDEs for games dev (Godot), real android apps IDE (through F-Droid), Python, Java and C/C++ IDE (through Android Store) which are close enough of the Linux way... So the iPad devices could handle that too if Apple allowed it... Once Apple will enforce the European Union requirement to allow 'sideloading' on iPad, maybe we will be able to have nice things also on it. That could also be a good thing for Apple himself. A lot of people in Europe have a bad opinion of Apple (partly?) because of the closed (walled) garden of iPad/iOS and other technology/IP which make their portable devices apart of the Android ecosystem.
paulcole 2y ago
As hard as it might be to believe, software developers are not the “pros” Apple is choosing to appeal to with the iPad Pro. Other jobs exist! People with disposable income who just want to buy the nicest/most expensive thing exist!
mcfedr 2y ago
I got an iPad a couple of years ago, was really disappointed by the how limited it felt in what I could do. Not to mention the awful app store.
codercotton 2y ago
macOS should be an iPadOS app. The hardware is ready! Have a folder mapped into iPadOS Files. Not sure much else is needed.
0x38B 2y ago
“…but the iPad doesn’t want me” is exactly it; I used iPad from the very first one - that chunky, hard-edged aluminum and glass slate, and remained a heavy user up until a few years ago. For half a decade, the iPad was my only computer on the go. I spent two years abroad with a 12.9” Pro. The conclusion I came to was that I loved the hardware but found the software a huge letdown for doing real work; I tried SSHing into VPSs and the like, but that wasn’t enough. But man, the power in these thin, elegant devices is huge, and greater with the M4 chips. If Asahi ran on the M4 iPads I’d probably give it a go! – in an alternate dream universe, that is…
- asow92 2y ago
  This might be possible someday: https://ipadlinux.org/ https://ipadlinux.org/

by asow92 2y ago

elpakal 2y ago

"It's not you, it's me" - Xcode to the iPad

asow92 2y ago
In all seriousness, you're right. Sandboxing Xcode but making it fully featured is surely a nightmare engineering problem for Apple. However, I feel like some kind of containerized macOS running in the app sandbox could be possible.

al_borland 2y ago

WWDC is a month away. I’m hoping for some iPadOS updates to let people actually take advantage of the power they put in these tablets. Apple has often released new hardware before showing off new OS features to take advantage of it. I know people have been hoping for that for a long time, so I’m not holding my breath.

asow92 2y ago
My guess is that WWDC will be more focused on AI this year, but I will remain hopeful.
data-ottawa 2y ago
I’ve been hoping for the same thing since I bought my M1 iPad just before WWDC. As much as I’d like the OLED screen and lighter weight, I don’t have any compelling argument to buy a new one.

smrtinsert 2y ago

Yep I have also no use for a touch screen device of that size. Happy to get an m4 mac air or whatever it will be called but I'm done with pads.

kjkjadksj 2y ago

Didn’t you want to play a reskinned bejewelled or subway surfer with 8k textures?

Naomarik 2y ago

Didn't have to look long to find a comment mirroring how I feel about these devices. To me it feels like they're just adding power to an artificially castrated device I can barely do anything with. See no reason to upgrade from my original iPad Pro that's not really useful for anything. Just an overpowered device running phone software.

asow92 2y ago
I feel the same way. I just can't justify upgrading from my 10.5" Pro from years ago. It's got pro motion and runs most apps fine. Sure, the battery isn't great after all these years, but it's not like it's getting used long enough to notice.
- al_borland 2y ago
  Something has changed with how the iPads behave at rest. When I got my first iPad in 2010 I could leave it for weeks, pick it up, and it would hardly use any battery at all. Today, it seems like my iPad mini will eat 10% or more per day just sitting on a table untouched. I don’t like leaving it plugged in all the time, but with it being dead every time I go to pick it up, I simply stop picking it up. Even a good battery isn’t that good. That seems to be a software problem. My only theory is it’s turning on the screen every time it gets a notification. However, I have a case that covers the screen, which should keep the screen off in my opinion. I have thought about disabling 100% of the notification, but without a global toggle that seems pretty annoying to do.
  - easton 2y ago
    My guess is something to do with Find My/ offline finding. That would cause it to wake up all the time, maybe Apple thought it was worth the trade off.
    - notimetorelax 2y ago
      That was the cause for me, I disabled Find My on iPad and the batter doesn't drain any more.

deleted 2y ago

[deleted]

MuffinFlavored 2y ago

> I don't want to bring both an iPad and Macbook on trips, but I need ______ Why not just make the iPad run MacOS and throw iPadOS into the garbage?

asow92 2y ago
I like some UX aspects of iPadOS, but need the functionality of macOS for work.
- reddalo 2y ago
  iPadOS is still mainly a fork of iOS, a glorified mobile interface. They should really switch to a proper macOS system, now that the specs allow for it.

kylehotchkiss 2y ago

Visual studio code running from remote servers seemed like it was making great progress right until the AI trendiness thing took over... and hasn't seemed to advance much since. Hopefully the AI thing cools down and the efforts on remote tooling/dev environments continues onwards.

deergomoo 2y ago
If we're going down that route then what's the point in putting good hardware in the device? It might as well just be a thin client. Having the same SoCs as their laptops and desktops but then relegating the iPad to something that needs to be chained to a "real" computer to do anything useful in the development space seems like a tremendous waste of potential.
pquki4 2y ago
If we are talking about running from remote servers, my 2018 iPad Pro with A12Z (or whatever letter) can do that almost just as well.
cromka 2y ago
AI? You mean like copilot and stuff? That runs locally? Otherwise why would it be an obstacle here?

timmg 2y ago

Just wait until you buy an Apple Vision Pro... [It's got the same restrictions as an iPad, but costs more than a MacBookPro.]

gpm 2y ago
This is in fact the thing that stopped me from buying an Apple Vision Pro.
- deleted 2y ago
  [deleted]

spintin 2y ago

[dead]

deergomoo 2y ago

I've been saying this for years, I would love to get a desktop Mac and use an iPad for the occasional bit of portable development I do away from a desk, like when I want to noodle on an idea in front of the TV. I'm very happy with my MacBook, but I don't like that the mega expensive machine I want to keep for 5+ years needs to be tied to a limited-life lithium battery that's costly and labour intensive to replace, just so I can sometimes write code in other rooms in my house. I know there's numerous remote options but...the iPad is right there, just lemme use it!

pjot 2y ago
I’ve had success using cloud dev environments with an iPad - the key for me was also using a mouse and keyboard - after things weren’t _that_ different
mtoner23 2y ago
get a macbook then? they are similarly price to an ipad pro
lll-o-lll 2y ago
Is there no RDP equivalent for mac? Just RDP into your main workstation?
- mycall 2y ago
  https://support.apple.com/en-il/guide/mac-help/mh11848/mac https://support.apple.com/en-il/guide/mac-help/mh11848/mac
moistoreos 2y ago
I've been giving some thought to this. I wonder if an iPad would suffice in front of the tv and just ssh into a Mac Mini for dev work. I'd love an iPad but I can't justify it either because of the limitation of hardware capabilities. I also don't really want to purchase two machines just for dev tasks and travel. But, I think having that kind of lifestyle will be expensive no matter the approach.

w1nst0nsm1th 2y ago

I love and hate Apple as almost everyone else and have an iPad for 'consultation' only (reading, browsing, video), but on Android, you have IDEs for games dev (Godot), real android apps IDE (through F-Droid), Python, Java and C/C++ IDE (through Android Store) which are close enough of the Linux way... So the iPad devices could handle that too if Apple allowed it... Once Apple will enforce the European Union requirement to allow 'sideloading' on iPad, maybe we will be able to have nice things also on it. That could also be a good thing for Apple himself. A lot of people in Europe have a bad opinion of Apple (partly?) because of the closed (walled) garden of iPad/iOS and other technology/IP which make their portable devices apart of the Android ecosystem.

paulcole 2y ago

As hard as it might be to believe, software developers are not the “pros” Apple is choosing to appeal to with the iPad Pro. Other jobs exist! People with disposable income who just want to buy the nicest/most expensive thing exist!

mcfedr 2y ago

I got an iPad a couple of years ago, was really disappointed by the how limited it felt in what I could do. Not to mention the awful app store.

codercotton 2y ago

macOS should be an iPadOS app. The hardware is ready! Have a folder mapped into iPadOS Files. Not sure much else is needed.

0x38B 2y ago

“…but the iPad doesn’t want me” is exactly it; I used iPad from the very first one - that chunky, hard-edged aluminum and glass slate, and remained a heavy user up until a few years ago. For half a decade, the iPad was my only computer on the go. I spent two years abroad with a 12.9” Pro. The conclusion I came to was that I loved the hardware but found the software a huge letdown for doing real work; I tried SSHing into VPSs and the like, but that wasn’t enough. But man, the power in these thin, elegant devices is huge, and greater with the M4 chips. If Asahi ran on the M4 iPads I’d probably give it a go! – in an alternate dream universe, that is…

asow92 2y ago
This might be possible someday: https://ipadlinux.org/ https://ipadlinux.org/