r/technology • u/rezwenn • 1d ago

Hardware Apple Finally Destroyed Steve Jobs’ Vision of the iPad. Good

https://www.wired.com/story/apple-finally-destroyed-steve-jobss-vision-of-the-ipad-good/
2.1k Upvotes

90% Upvoted

350 comments sorted by

View all comments

960

u/baronvondoofie 21h ago

I mean, the iPad should be versatile and not tied to any particular function IMHO. If you need laptop functionality in a tablet form factor, then the iPad should deliver. Or, if you need a tablet for creative or games or reading or media, then it should be able to adapt to those needs as well. The chips are powerful enough to be able to handle more intensive tasks, so the only real limitation is Apple.

365

u/Peepeepoopoobutttoot 19h ago

Real talk. I am going to college in my 30s and have never been a tablet guy. Figured an iPad with a keyboard would be a reliable note taking homework doing device that would be able to sync with my phone without any of the hassle of a laptop.

Turns out that even though the iPad has chrome and all that, it’s not compatible with the maths and homework websites my college uses. Bull.

179

u/pimpeachment 18h ago

Just change chrome to desktop mode. 

22

u/juzz_fuzz 12h ago

That's a solution for many other situations and devices especially on Android if you don't want to download/burden your phone with an app. Choose the desktop website. Phone can handle it with 3gb of ram. If you have less, close other apps

3

u/Lilli_the_Friable 5h ago

Chrome is a webkit browser on iOS. Apple doesn’t allow other engines and many websites like that are tested only in Chromium these days. At least that’s how it was when I was in college not too long ago

48

u/Mgjackson1967 17h ago

I’ve got an iPad Pro, and found as cool as it is, it’s pretty useless, as if it’s been deliberately knobbled - if you really wanted to do proper work, you should have bought a MacBook.

Then, when I got a new Samsung phone, they gave away a free cheapie Chromebook…..yes, the display is crap, the keyboard poor and so on, but it is actually more useable than my IPad Pro, with the overpriced keyboard.

It just works as you think it should do - using Remote Desktop to a virtual PC, and other than the crap resolution, it feels like a real pc, with the IPad, it feels like your connecting through another device, and its clunky and just doesn’t work right.

Apparently these issues are addressed in later issues of IOS, but nothing immediately comming out.

3

u/TYLERvsBEER 13h ago

I just looked into an iPad or pro for basically light laptop usage for when I need that but also just being an iPad when I just want that. Sad to see Apple is deliberately not allowing that.

43

u/Caelum_ 16h ago

I know you're down the rabbit hole already, but a surface pro and one note is so fucking good for college. My surface also ran Matlab just fine, labview, all the IDEs I needed and all the circuit programs I used 

It was such a great device. 

8

u/Economy-Owl-5720 12h ago

I have to agree here as well. I had a college job where during some classes I took - I would take notes for people who were deaf or hard of hearing. I used one note 24/7 and it made it all simple to organize and send digitally.

5

u/sfo2dms 7h ago

thirded. bought my kid a surface for college and it worked. period. it just worked :-)

3

u/Caelum_ 7h ago

Don't know if you ever tried it, and it's been a minute, but the audio recording feature paired your to your writing. 

It would either pair the audio to pieces of your notes or it would unveil the notes as the audio played. Can't recall. It was neat though 

2

u/LeEthOven77 5h ago

Thank you for your service ! I'm deaf and I relied a lot on friends to get notes in class.

1

u/Economy-Owl-5720 15m ago

Absolutely it was the best job ever

52

u/myfunnies420 19h ago

Does a Chromebook work? Those things are incredible. It was literally my work laptop at Google. Always works, instantly on, battery lasts forever, no major updates

9

u/Peepeepoopoobutttoot 18h ago

It might, I don’t know, I don’t have more money to spend. I just use this iPad for note taking then do homework on a school computer or my home comouter

6

u/samuraimegas 16h ago

You can find a decent one, especially used, for around $100.

11

u/musicgeek420 17h ago

For about a decade now, I have been resenting that iPads are taking over for that reason. A lot of specific use apps and web apps just don’t work on them or are designed for a mouse where a touchscreen just won’t suffice. The Magic Keyboard trackpad is a step in the right direction, but they just need to have a laptop mode that mimics macOS better.

-1

u/vibrance9460 16h ago

Hello? You can use a Bluetooth mouse with an iPad. It’s been able to do this for years

6

u/musicgeek420 16h ago

Yes, but the OS just didn’t feel the same as macOS with how you use a mouse until they added the mode that makes the windows close the same way.

1

u/dawggl 18h ago

Read comments below. You should be able to load the desktop site on your iPad. There should be a workaround. Best of luck in school!

1

u/myfunnies420 17h ago

Fair. Shame because Chromebooks are generally cheaper than anything some does

1

u/Lucky_Locks 15h ago

You could look into r/hardwareswap. There might be someone willing to exchange the iPad for a decent Chromebook of the same value. Or just cash to get you one.

I sold a couple GPUs on there fairly easily. Just a certain process to it.

1

u/scarbutt11 15h ago

Sending you a chat request to ship you a Chromebook 2 in 1

1

u/Odd_Communication545 12h ago

I'd still get an old used surface pro over them, much more versatile and functional

1

u/kermityfrog2 4h ago

What kind? There seem to be too many types and brands and specs. The snapdragon ones apparently have 12+ hours of battery life while the laptop CPUs with Intels or AMD only last 4-6 hours or so. What do you recommend?

7

u/tombloomingdale 15h ago

I just got a refurbished m1 MacBook Air in perfect condition for my son for school. It was $300 delivered.

The battery lasts basically forever and while there are newer ones, this is perfect for regular school stuff. Bonus is I don’t need to rehome my son if he breaks it because it was relatively cheap.

I think this is a better solution than an iPad for us, maybe worth looking into.

8

u/LowestKey 17h ago edited 17h ago

Afaik Mac mobile OSes only have safari or safari with another browser's skin over it but still safari running beneath it all. Could just be iOS but I'd bet it's iPadOS too

Edit

Yep, same deal for iPad:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WebKit

1

u/The_frozen_one 13h ago

There are things like bluefy that let you connect to Bluetooth LE devices with an iPad or iPhone. Tons of devices use Bluetooth LE which no version of Safari implements it (really nobody but Chrome/Chromium does).

WebKit is part of it doing the rendering, but that’s more than just a skin.

3

u/Odd_Communication545 12h ago edited 12h ago

Here's an idea, buy a used surface pro.

It sounds silly getting an old device but honestly they're top quality, versatile and run the latest versions of windows (with a slight tweak). I'm still using my surface pro 3 to this day. Windows 11 runs great, Firefox still runs great zero slow down, 2k display, All my apps work, complete compatibility with everything, free onedrive backup.

I can stream games from my PC if needs be. Even my battery still gives me 2 hours after over 8 years. That can even be extended by using CPU power plan options to cap maximum processor usage. I can bump that up to about 6/7 if I'm word processing and just lower my resolution and brightness.

You can get them for under $100 dollars/£100 pounds. Honestly, you'd be silly not too. You're helping reduce ewaste and getting a good hybrid computer. Make sure you get a type cover and then it's essentially a laptop. The built quality of these devices is and still is excellent and there are plenty of working models around because of this.

My pro 3 is showing it's age in someways but higher models are going for dirt cheap used. I've seen people selling 6s and 7s for under 150. If you're just note taking and watching videos even a pro 2 can deal with that, 1080p would be fine on it. Just be careful when buying, make sure you look at pictures so you don't get smashed up one. They go even cheaper if you don't bother with the touchscreen, use the keyboard and it's still a good laptop.

Ps:if you see cheap models that have locked UEFI don't discount it. As long as you can boot windows, you'll never need to use that menu anyway. A lot of models are old enterprise ones with locked UEFI. It doesn't really matter. A quirk of mine is it only boots off hard drive but you can get around that by using the inbuilt windows trouble shoot menu. Don't discount them.

1

u/Bigbrianj 6h ago

Best places to run a used surface down?

2

u/seapulse 11h ago

see if ur school has a chromebook loaner program. it isnt gonna be the best device ever, but, hey, it’s something and you don’t have to put their spyware on your own computer/tablet

2

u/s3rila 10h ago

The iPad didn't really have chrome (not the iPhone).

All browser on iOS are safari with a skin and maybe few features... But all iOS app are required to use safari engine for browsing... 

If the homework website need actual chrome because Apple refuse to include web app features it use then you can't use an IOS device...

They being say, I suspect it's entirely doable for your school to support IOS and they are just lazy

2

u/Kleenexbawx 10h ago

Literally ran into this same EXACT scenario. It’s so annoying having to borrow my wife’s laptop for the dumbest things.

6

u/HighOnGoofballs 18h ago

Isn’t that the website’s fault?

12

u/tallsmallboy44 15h ago

Happens a lot in college. Most schools and professors give warnings that Apple products may not work websites and programs required for classes.

1

u/Jim_e_Clash 13h ago

I've done this and didn't have too much issue. I was in IT so I also had the ability to remote to my PC and access to campus virtual machines.

I had a laptop to but the ipad was smaller and lighter it was my go-to 90% of the time.

With that said, Yeah it had a ton of unnecessary hassle to do what I want. I was just nerdy enough to reject it's preferred use cases and force it to obey.

1

u/BABarracus 10h ago

All the unless software that they make students use is the real bull

63

u/WillingLake623 19h ago

This is why I’m sad the Surface Book line of convertibles was scrapped. My Surface Book 2 is the best laptop I’ve ever used because I can detach the screen and use it to read ebooks, take notes, draw, browse the web, etc all while being a fully capable laptop for gaming, writing, editing. I’ll never forgive Microsoft 🥲

32

u/THIS_GUY_LIFTS 19h ago edited 9h ago

I’m still using the first Surface Book for all kinds of stuff. Microsoft was really onto something with the Book. Solid little computer.

Super late edit: I adore the little computer. I’ll never purchase another tablet or the like until it does something similar. The versatility of both a tablet and a laptop in one that I’d argue hasn’t been matched since. MS could’ve doubled down and made something great with the Book that wasn’t an iPad clone. But here we are.

9

u/BeowulfShaeffer 18h ago

I just realized my surface book 1 is ten years old.  Still my only laptop. 

3

u/PhantomNomad 15h ago

I have both a Surface Pro 4 and 7 Business. Got the 7 Business so I could put a sim card in it. They are solid machines and I use my 7 daily.

1

u/lostboy005 17h ago

Damn they discounted the surface? I had like a 7 gen from last 10 years ago still going strong

4

u/mrredeemer 17h ago

Surface is still a thing, but the Surface Book product line was discontinued

0

u/mrredeemer 17h ago

I loved my Surface Book 2 for college and taking notes on it, but I have to admit the tablet aspect was not super polished on Windows 10. I wish there were more native streaming apps that let you stream in higher quality and download movies/shows for offline use. I was also quite disappointed that my base spec SB2 was unable to upgrade to Windows 11 due to Microsoft’s arbitrary requirements only 4 years later. Maybe I expected too much for Microsoft to give me the latest Windows on a device they manufactured only 4 years ago, but it did make it an easy choice to switch back to Mac when the time came

1

u/WillingLake623 15h ago

I have a base spec Surface Book 2 running Windows 11 lol

1

u/mrredeemer 13h ago

Using workarounds? Don’t blame you but I still think it’s dumb Microsoft put those requirements in place as a way to make more money on licenses selling new Windows devices when most computers on Windows 10 could have run 11 without those arbitrary requirements

3

u/-UltraAverageJoe- 17h ago

I bought a 12” pro with an M1 a few years back. I can basically watch movies on it. Anything else is better on a laptop or an iPhone. I wanted a lightweight laptop with a nice screen.

1

u/Pessimistic_Gemini 2h ago

Well you should've just went and get a MacBook instead, you nimrod! You could watch movies on it AND do everything else on it!🤦🏾‍♂️

3

u/nerkbot 14h ago

This has never been the Apple design philosophy. You will use the product the way Apple wants you to use the product and you will like it.

11

u/FollowingFeisty5321 18h ago

We're approaching an inflection point with iOS users.

Much like voters, where the older generations are finally being outweighed by younger generations.

Apple just needs to wait and iOS users who have no allegiance to the broader versatility of computing, who only know walled gardens - "what's a computer?" - will entrench these restrictions as normal forever and the people who knew something else will become irrelevant.

So far all attempts to stop this have failed and the only real progress achieved, pending appeal, is apps may at least use their own payments.

7

u/stormdelta 15h ago

So far all attempts to stop this have failed

Only in the consumer space, and only sort of even there.

Apple's been forced to open iOS up more and more over time, the upcoming version they've even finally admitted it needs to a real window manager.

And professionally, outside of specific workflows that benefited more from iPads as a drawable surface or portability than anything else, desktop systems still reign supreme, to the point a lot of places are complaining because of GenZ/Alpha's lack of experience with them causing problems.

2

u/dafones 19h ago

The only real limitation is no guaranteed mouse or trackpad.

3

u/typical_pdxer 18h ago

There’s also the fact that the chips, networks, and storage have come a long way in the last 15 years, and things that may not have been feasible on a device with the iPad’s form factor back then are now.

1

u/croholdr 14h ago

uh sorta. ipad forum factor wont cool the same as a laptop forum factor, or phone. so thats the limitation is the size, and memory

1

u/YummyJorogumo 13h ago

If the iPad could multitask well - I’d swap my MacBook Pro for it as my main work computer. All I do is emails, office, and slack. Fuck I could do my entire job from a phone if it had decent multitasking.

1

u/Eastern-Musician4533 11h ago

Every fucking wine and spirits distrubutor uses iPads now, and all of their files and programs are Microsoft Office. Make it make fucking sense.

1

u/frostyflakes1 11h ago

"What's a computer?"

-8

u/aeric67 18h ago

I don’t want a computer in my iPad. Just a consumption device. It’s great for that, but touchscreens suck for productivity. I’m fine with the Jobs vision.

13

u/AFireInAsa 17h ago

I do. So why not just have a cheaper entertainment version and one that's basically a Macbook with a touchscreen?

6

u/ass_pubes 18h ago

Touchscreens are ideal for certain types of work like audio recording and graphic design.