With all the recent announcement of the M1-based iPad Pro’s, speculation has of course run rampant on the inevitable merger of the iPad and Mac. And, of course, Apple vehemently denies this. But, with hardware platforms converged, there could be an interesting middle ground. Something I’m calling the Next iBook for lack of a better idea.

Imagine an iPad Pro running macOS with a Magic Keyboard. It work’s just like a MacBook Pro, except that you can only provision a single user account (unless Apple fixes this on iPadOS 15). You have the benefit of 5G connectivity, but perhaps slightly reduced battery life. Otherwise it’s the same as a M1 MacBook Pro. All of your files can be easily synchronized to it from the cloud. Other than a TouchBar as with SideCar or using the Pencil for signing things or sketching, the interface is largely non-touch.

Then, imagine disconnecting from power and/or the Magic Keyboard. You are in iPadOS. But you have the same local file storage. All of your stuff is “just there” – no challenges synchronizing files from the cloud as with current generation iPadOS. Then you have a first class tablet and can get to work with iPadOS equivalents of say your Adobe files or Microsoft Office documents.

And you can switch back and forth at will. This would deliver the first class user experiences Apple loves to drive home. But, negate one of the biggest drawbacks of the iPad today – getting all of your files there without 100% connectivity.

I can but dream…