Neo. It is the surname that gives life to the new cheap macbook. 699 euros for a Mac with a good panel, a promising speaker system, a design that makes you fall in love at first sight and that, for all those looking for a simple laptop for office purposes, is considered one of the best options on the market.
The small detail is that, with its launch, Apple has admitted that running macOS It is not particularly demanding at the hardware level. So much so that we find ourselves faced with the paradox of having a processor of iPhone 16 Pro running macOS and iPads worth thousands of euros with M4 chip running… iPadOS (iOS with some modifications).
A movement with meaning. My colleague Javier Lacort told it, the only option that Apple has found to make a cheap laptop has been to give it the heart of a mobile. It is thus manifested, indirectly, that a A18 Pro It is more than enough for the majority of potential consumers of this laptop.
But there is a key that can hurt users of latest generation iPads: right now there is a laptop with an A18 Pro moving PC programs, while a iPad with an M4 chip moves completely layered apps.
The point is not just macOS, the point is the apps. Apple has been implementing M chips in its iPads for years. We all agree that a Mac is a Mac and an iPad is an iPad but… selling a iPad with an M4 chip and phone applications is to sell a horse tied by the legs.
It is an inexplicable paradox, one in which a MacBook with an A18 Pro can run desktop programs like Davinci Resolve, Adobe Premiere or Lightroom CC, while a much more powerful iPad has layered versions closer to those of a mobile phone.
I don’t want a touch Macbook, I want an iPad according to its hardware. In my particular case, I am the perfect potential buyer of an iPad capable of running desktop apps. I work 90% of my day in front of the PC, but mobility is very important to me. And the iPad + keyboard format sweeps any Mac, no matter how small.
But I have been forced to buy a MacBook Air M4 because, with an iPad, it is simply impossible to do my work. The apps are not up to par with the processor, and for professional uses it is of little use to have one of the best processors on the market if the operating system is nailed to that of my iPhone.
It’s not going to happen. Dreaming of an iPad with macOS or, at least, capable of running some desktop applications, is still a dream. Apple is clear about its product categories and, although it sells the iPad M as productivity tools, they are still products limited to the use that Apple wants us to give them.
Be that as it may, reality is inevitable: the iPad falls short of iPadOS. It is a platform that, in its day, made sense as a version of iOS for tablets. Today, the iPad is more powerful than most computers on the market and, at the very least, deserves software on its level.
Image | Apple
In Xataka | I’ve tried replacing my MacBook Pro with the new iPad Pro. iPadOS is still a stumbling block
GIPHY App Key not set. Please check settings