I guess there is a chance for this post to have a significantly short shelf life, considering it will be posted the night before WWDC24, but…here we are!
Since the introduction of the M4 iPad Pros, the internet at large once again descended into forks and pikes modes upon Cupertino, reminding Apple how great of an hardware they make and how crappy of a software they run of said hardware.
I’ll be honest, as with every subjective matter, there’s more to the story as it would seems on first approach.
I would certainly agree with the general feeling of the iPad hardware being fantastic, way superior to any other “laptop-style” device out there. But whereas everyone simingly hate the current software, I’m definitely more optimistic about the current performances. The main point of contention is that the iPad should behave more like a Mac. But why exactly?
I’d go as far as call the Mac (alongside with Windows), a “legacy” platform. Be fair and stop and think for a second about your daily interactions with your computer: how many of the things you do happen in a browser or in an app that is effectively just a wrapper for a web-hosted experience?
In my case, I’d say 95% of my computer-like interactions could be classed as such. So for 95% of what I normally do, the iPad is way way superior to any other laptop I’ve ever owned.
And that doesn’t just account for personal interactions. If anything, the business world is moving more and more toward cloud-based solutions, so they are easy to maintain and control for the IT department that doesn’t need to worry about your local hardware. This also makes it easier to replace broken machines as they mostly act as a dumb terminal, in favour of the actual hard work happening somewhere else.
Of course, software can and should always be improved, and I’m sure Apple will take some steps forward tomorrow when they’ll announce iOS and iPadOS 18, but even if they were smaller improvements, with major focus on bringing existing features to full fruition, I’d call that a win. Not sure Wall Street and the tech media will, but they do a very different job from what I do, so no harm there.
Now, where would I want to see some improvements personally? Three areas:
- Better external monitor management for Stage Manager
- Full 3rd party audio/webcam support
- A better gaming experience
In my home office, I have one single monitor, so this improvement would be more useful for the times when I’m at the proper office. It seems crazy that an M4 iPad with 16GB of RAM (I went with the top of the line hardware), is limited to just one single external monitor! And not just that, other than selecting how you want to arrange the monitors relative to each others, there are zero other settings. Please just let me adjust the resolution as icons are ridiculously big and there is so much wasted space!!
In my second point, I’ve mentioned better support for external audio/video devices. to me this boils down to being able to plug a thunderbolt dock (which I do already) and be able to use all my devices with my iPad. Mouse: check; keyboard: check; gigabit Ethernet: check. 4k Logitech BRIO webcam: computer says no. Anker conference mic/speaker: see above!
From a business perspective, these two are a must. In today’s world, where so much business happens online, being able to interface with external audio/video devices is critical. And it’s not just from an home office point of view. Go into many meeting rooms today and you’ll find a single USB-C dangling from a table that allows host to connect their machines and run meetings. This really has to happen. I don’t believe this is the same as asking for an iPad to transforms into a Mac, it just needs to handle audio/video pipeline slightly better.
Finally, let’s talk gaming. Similarly to the Mac, the iPad and iOS in general has been relegated into the corner of “mobile” gaming. If you want to play “serious” game, you need to look at XBOX, PlayStation or the Nintendo of this world. Recently, as in three days ago, the first AAA game landed on iOS: Assassin’s Creed Mirage. I’ve only played the first few chapters, but conceptually it’s all I’ve been waiting for.
If you did a blind test, giving someone an consolle remote controller with the game already on, I don’t think anyone would immediately say they were playing on an iPad. It’s a proper full game, the feels and behave as other chapters in the saga.
Now, unfortunately it’s not all roses here. I believe Apple should now make an increase effort to attract game developers for them to make their games available on iOS at the same time they become available on other platforms. They should probably give them better software tools to leverage the platform though. One thing I’ve had to do when playing Mirage on my M4 iPad was to turn the resolution down to Medium, as at High, it was very choppy and stuttering. And even at medium, in busier fight scenes, you get the same.
I believe this may largely be a result of the fact that the game was originally announced last year, when all we had were M2 devices, so probably it’s not leveraging all the new hardware can give us, and this is the point Apple should improve upon. They are no strangers in giving early access to big developers, so they should really lean into this, to bring gaming to a whole new level.
Because let me tell you, when it works, oh boy if it’s great. With the OLED display on these new iPads, the HDR effective is unbelievable. Moving from the shadows into the sun will literally blind you as it would in real life. The stereo audio is engaging and overall you have a different level of immersion available, nothing I’ve experienced on console before. We are seeing a small resurgence of hand-held PCs. Why these exists? Because people want to game on the move and don’t want or can’t have a giant home theater setup for their consolle. Guess what? The iPad is already the best hand-held computer you can buy today, capable on going from business machine to entertainment machine in a blink of an eye.
So with all said and done, I’m really happy with my purchase so far and can’t wait to see what WWDC24 will bring.
I just hope it won’t be MacOs on iPad.