I would be amazing if I could “Mac Mirror” from an iPad Pro just like I can from Vision Pro, but it would run from my MacBook sitting closed in my backpack
It would be the perfect portable computer on planes, coffee shops, etc where I’m more than happy to give up the big screen
@charliemchapman I’m imagining an M4+battery+wifi combo, the size of a mac mini that you just keep in your bag, and connect either a vision pro or an iPad (or a phone?) to it to use as a screen.
@brandonhorst Yeah I think the more realistic version of this is the 13in MBA is that device. Would LOVE for them to bring back the 11in Air, lol. But I don’t see that happening anytime soon
@charliemchapman YES! And this would go a long way to quiet some of the concerns that don’t seem to go away, while maintaining the need to have both devices. (Which Apple seems to not want to limit.)
@BenRiceM Sure, but unless iPadOS is going to get the ability to do all of the things I often need my Mac for, I’ve got to have it in my bag with me all the time anyway
@charliemchapman I don't see that many use cases where you’d want to carry both, don't have room for an iPad, but not a laptop. An airplane seat is a good example, but in a cafe I feel you should have room for a laptop?
It would be handy at home though, where I could access my desktop from another room. (I do this already with Screens on iOS and Screen Sharing from my laptop)
@BenRiceM I’m probably a bit abnormal here but I do find myself in situations where I want the smallest device I can get away with. Like sitting at a conference booth, or in an airplane/bus/uber where I’m trying to knock some work out. I frequently try the iPad for this reason and always run into something that makes me pull out the “big” 14in 😅
Ultimately what I think I really want is the old 11in MBA, lol
@charliemchapman@BenRiceM So when I am mobile and I need to do day job work (aka Xcode) or record a podcast, I use a 15" Air. (Awesome laptop BTW.) But otherwise I generally use my iPad Pro (12.9” now, 13" as soon as UPS delivers it 😅) for just about everything else, including editing podcasts, reading books and comics, web browsing, etc.
At home I have a similar dynamic: my Mac Studio is the Xcode, recording and PC gaming machine while the iPad retains all of its use cases.
@jamie_blumberg@BenRiceM I often really find myself wanting to but I just can't do so much of what I need to do on iPadOS. Largely developer related stuff. But also no mograph tools or podcast recording ability mean I basically always have to carry the MBP around with me anyway
@kylebshr@BenRiceM It's still too big for airplane seats though. It's not a big enough difference to be worth me owning a 14in Pro AND a 13in Air, haha
@BenRiceM@charliemchapman The funny thing is that this is more or less mirroring via SideCar, with the only real difference is that it would be initiated from the iPad instead of the Mac.
And technically VNC/remote desktop apps can already do a so-so version of this. I frequently remote into my always on desktop from my iPad if I need to do something Mac-specific.
@jamie_blumberg@BenRiceM Exactly. Just needs to be initiated from the iPad, not require the Mac to be opened, and work over local connections (even without internet) like sidecar and visionOS mirroring.
This seems possible? But also I don’t know how anything actually works so maybe there’s bigger issues there I don’t under 😄
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