It’s Time for the iPad to Go Away.

It’s time for the iPad, especially the iPad Pro variant, to go. The iPad is everything wrong with Apple’s product lines. And since it’s now rumored Apple might be planning touchscreen MacBooks the useless boondoggle that is the iPad has become more apparent became even more apparent.

First, let’s look at iPads vs the MacBooks From regular to Pro, iPads are priced from $330 to $2200 for the 2TB 12.9” Pro. The MacBook line, from the Air at $1199 for the base model to MacBook Pro 16” for $3500, and obviously occupies a lot of the same Air space (see what I did there) as the higher end iPads. If Apple does starting making touchscreen MacBooks, it’s hard to see why anyone would spend more money on an iPad instead.

Each Apple Product has tiers, but the core functions of the devices remain the same. When you look at the iPad, especially the iPad Pro you really don’t get much more value out of the actual functioning of the device. Yes, you get better screens and more attractive designs. but for 90% of all iPad buyers, the $330 iPad will meet 100% of their needs.

Once you start paying for more you start to really hit diminishing returns. The $2200 iPad Pro is not $1870 better than the $330 iPad. They share the same terrible operating system (I mean seriously, have you ever tried to use an iPad for any kind of serious work?) Apple refuses to port their pro software to the iPad, like Final Cut Pro and Logic Pro. The multitasking went from bad to worse with Stage Manager. The file management system is still unusable. People have been begging Apple to just put a version of MacOS on the iPad, which should be imminently possible since the iPads now have the same chips inside as the less-expensive MacBooks. But Apple refuses for…reasons unknown. (the real reason is money, but they won’t say that.)

Let me put this in plain language: you can buy a 2022 MacBook Air with 256gb of storage and 8gb of RAM, the same M2 chip that’s in the iPad Pro models, a very good keyboard and a very good screen for $1199. Half the time that model’s on sale for $999.

The 12.9” iPad Pro with the same specs plus a keyboard is $1575, if you go with the Apple Magic keyboard, which is the best keyboard available for the iPad and the only one comparable to the MacBook Air keyboard. And of course, you have to add $125 for the Apple Pencil 2. At that price you can also buy a base model 14” MacBook Pro.

The only thing that differentiates the iPad Pro at that point is you can take the keyboard off. Is it really worth paying that premium for a product that costs more than the competing laptops, runs an inferior operating system and doesn’t take advantage of the powerful hardware your paying for because it makes you use mobile apps instead of the full fat MacOS versions? Or in the case of audio recording you have to use GarageBand (a powerful program in its own right, but a toy to anyone who’s used a real DAW). There are no full versions of Pro DAWs on the iPad and with its form factor musicians and producers should be an attractive market segment for the iPad. But no one makes music on the iPad unless they’re willing to accept the shortcomings of the platform and use alternate methods. Meanwhile devices like the surface Pro have nicer keyboards, better pens and they run full fat Windows so you don’t have to choose between a hobbled mobile app or the real thing. You just use the real thing.

The iPad Pros SHOULD be powerhouse ultra-mobile work beasts, but they’re just not. There are plenty of ways you can bend the iPad Pros to your will and hack them into serviceable computers, but they’re not. Compare their capabilities to the Surface line and it gets very silly very quickly.

If Apple introduces touchscreen MacBooks they’ll be going back on years of refusing to go there for…reasons. The truth is, if they went there they’d cannibalize the iPad market, especially the higher-end, more expensive iPad Pro line and all of its sweet, sweet profit. The time has come for Apple to either put MacOS on the iPad Pros at least, or put touchscreens on the MacBooks and admit that the iPad is a device that had its day but is now just a clunky, half-baked mess that people keep overpaying for. When it comes to iPad Apple’s reality distortion field is still in full effect. It’s time for that to change.