Apple, I'm only asking for one more thing (for my iPad)
Why the hell do we still have to put up with screen mirroring?
I’ve had my iPad Pro 11-inch for almost two years now, and I planned on using it as a replacement for my aging MacBook Pro. The laptop was made in 2011 and is still going strong thanks to a SSD-upgrade, but it’s showing it’s age.
So I was thinking about mobility and the future so an iPad Pro 11 seemed like the best solution. It could do almost anything I wanted and a little bit more. It gave me more than enough computing power, a lot of apps to help me through my daily work and I could touch it with my finger and stuff would happen. So far so good, right?
Not so much. Two years ago I bought the iPad Pro with the knowledge that it could support an external screen. Which it still does, but the issue is that it only does so with screen mirroring. Which is not okay. It should be a lot better.
So this is the point where I get to my one more thing I’ve been wishing for since I got the iPad Pro. I bought the thing with the hope Apple would improve upon the external screen support. No, that’s incorrect. It wasn’t hope, I fully expected them to. Why? Because it was the most logical thing to do in my mind.
I still don’t understand why you would give external screen support and then just limit it to screen mirroring. Especially since the multitasking on the tablet got so much better, why not enable people to do so across two screens? Seems like a logical next step.
And back when I bought the damned thing, Apple was still telling everyone the iPad would replace the computer. I bought into that message, believed every word Tim Cook told me. I was going to replace my Mac with an iPad. I was ahead of the curve, and Cook was leading me every step of the way.
But now, two years after my ‘mistake’, Apple seems to have backtracked on the idea of iPads replacing computers. With the new M1 processors the computers have been given a new lease on life and there is no need to replace them with something with a touchscreen.
Apple clearly sees the iPad as a completely different entity which doesn’t necessarily needs to be able to do what a computer does. And that’s totally fine, but I just hoped they would’ve told me when I got mine. I could have gotten a MacBook Pro with an iffy screen, bad keyboard and a weird touchbar…
Yeah, Apple was off their game computerwise back then…
And yes, I know the new Universal Control does something similar, but you still need a Mac for that to work, which I was going to replace, remember.
And so my hope for external screen support like a normal computer is slowly dying with the idea of my iPad being able to replace my computer anytime soon.
I like my iPad, but I’ve been using it less and less, which seems stupid since it can do more than my aging Mac. Yet, I’ve been reaching for my old workhorse, because of this one stupid thing that Apple refuses to add. I just need that extra screen for my day to day workflow. Or at least a 27-inch screen that functions like one, not one with an upscaled iPadOS on it.
So Tim, if you’re reading this, please do this one thing for me. It’s all I ask from you, and it can’t be a lot of work to add it. I’ll even promise to upgrade my iPad to the latest 12.9 version!
Thanks!
- Dennis
(Agree? Don’t agree? Let me know!)