{"id":46734,"date":"2025-02-13T15:14:54","date_gmt":"2025-02-13T20:14:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/?p=46734"},"modified":"2025-03-24T15:19:08","modified_gmt":"2025-03-24T19:19:08","slug":"gemmell-is-back-to-mac","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/2025\/02\/13\/gemmell-is-back-to-mac\/","title":{"rendered":"Gemmell Is Back to Mac"},"content":{"rendered":"

Matt Gemmell<\/a> (Mastodon<\/a>):<\/p>\n

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Almost eight and a half years ago, I switched to using an iPad<\/a> as my full-time computer, having come from decades of having Macs.<\/p>\n\n

In recent years we did get an emergency-use shared\/household M2 MacBook Air, which my wife would occasionally take out of the cupboard. Now, that laptop has become my computer.<\/p>\n

[…]<\/p>\n

I loved the slab of glass, and the Apple Pencils of each generation. I loved that I could rotate it, and write on it, and pinch-zoom it, and connect it to a keyboard, and just figuratively hug the thing. It was most certainly The Future, and very much on track to become everyone’s full-time computer after another few versions of the OS. Then another few versions. Then another<\/em> few.<\/p>\n\n

I believed in the promise of the form factor and the interaction language, and the human-focused nature of the device, so much that I made iPad-only<\/em> a part of my identity. And I really was happy. But eventually, without me really noticing, things started to happen.<\/p>\n

[…]<\/p>\n

iPads are slower than Macs, subjectively, and almost regardless of hardware. I’m most recently comparing an M2 MacBook with an M4 iPad, but the experience is the opposite of what the hardware might naively suggest. <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

Eric Schwarz<\/a>:<\/p>\n

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Stories of switching between Macs and iPads are nothing new, but this particular post struck a chord with me—regular readers know that I have had some sort of iPad since the very beginning and there were plenty of stints where the iPad was my primary computer. However, I sold mine last November, not because I disliked the device, but felt that it simply was unnecessary and I was naturally using it less and less.<\/p>\n

[…]<\/p>\n

Apple has done iPadOS a disservice for way too long—every new first-party app seems to be iPhone-only (Sports, Journal, Invites) and sometimes features come to the iPhone, but not the iPad. This creates an attitude of if Apple doesn’t care about the iPad, why should you? At least the Mac is different enough that you can put up with the inconsistencies and\/or rely on some older alternatives. I like a lot of the intentions of iOS to simplify and rethink the computing experience, but way too much either feels incomplete or abandoned.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

Matt Birchler<\/a>:<\/p>\n

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One of the superpowers of the Mac is that it can do many things at once. Obviously, the iPad has multitasking, but not in the way the Mac does. The basic concept of iPad multitasking is that you need to be able to see an app for it to be reliably working. If you can’t see an app, there is a select list of things it can keep doing in the background, but most things die immediately, and it may be booted from memory at any point.<\/p>\n

[…]<\/p>\n

There are trade-offs to customization and user control, but this is a fundamental difference between the Mac and iPad that can’t be overstated. As a simple example, there have been many window management apps on the Mac forever, so people who don’t love the built in option have had an embarrassment of riches in terms of options, but if you don’t like Stage Manager on the iPad, your only hope is that Apple updates it to your liking someday.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

Previously:<\/p>\n