The iPad is popular. Will a touchscreen Mac be the next step?
One of the most pertinent questions now asked by those looking to buy new Apple gear is whether they should splurge on an iPad or a Mac. Or, if you’re lucky, both. But the either/or dilemma became just that little bit harder to answer after Apple’s recent tablet upgrades, with the new iPad Pro and iPad Air (see p66 and p70).
And in the future, there may well be another type of device to consider. A patent has recently been granted to Apple for a “hinged keyboard accessory having multiple installation modes for a tablet computing device”. In other words, a hybrid tablet/ notebook. A similar patent for a hybrid device was also granted in July 2023.
Of course, companies like Apple file patents all the time. We’ve seen countless intriguing documents that have amounted to nothing in reality. However, this particular patent does show that Cupertino may be interested in developing a touchscreen notebook at some point in the future.
An interesting proposition. But should Apple be considering the move?
Plenty of people seem to like the versatility of two–in– ones, with manufacturers Asus, Dell, Microsoft and Samsung all selling Windows– based versions. Some of these tablet/notebook hybrids are pretty slick–looking and powerful too.
The first clear advantage these devices have is that they provide the user with far greater flexibility. You can be typing on the device as a notebook one minute or using it for drawing in tablet guise the next. For instance, Lenovo’s latest Yoga 2–in–1 takes input from a notebook and a stylus and can be used in four different work modes.
The two–in–one leader is the Microsoft Surface, with the recently released 13” Surface Pro offering an OLED display and 1TB of storage. The device runs the full–fat version of Windows 11, not some limited variant, and can be used at a variety of viewing angles and as a tablet.
There’s a wide range of price points for these tablet/ notebook hybrids, so if you’re interested you should be able to find something decent to suit your budget. The Surface Pro with Copilot, for instance, costs from $999.99, so it’s in a similar price range to the iPad Pro, depending on the specs. But you can get similar for even less.
DIFFERENT STROKES
To date, Apple has been insistent that the iPad and Mac are different devices for different use cases. Speaking to Joanna Stern of the Wall Street Journal, Tom Boger, the company’s vice president of iPad and Mac product marketing, said that the iPad “has always been a touch–first devi
