Tablets are kind of shit right now.

So, uh. What do I mean here? Well, through a couple things I’ve read and watched lately, I’ve formed Feelings and Thoughts regarding the current space of tablets. And in my genuine opinion, they all kind of… suck. Not to say the iPad isn’t great for art, or there isn’t value in a nice Android tablet, or that Windows tablets aren’t (technically) capable of running productivity software. It’s just, well, there aren’t really options that fit what I would personally love to see.

(update: addenum to the Windows tablet section as of 8:20PM Pacific, 2024-10-26)

Android’s tablet UI/UX sucks.

OK, so let’s start things off with the Android tablet sphere, because my phone is Android so that’s more what I’m familiar with UI/UX wise. Android tablets are… usually not great. Not necessarily for poor specs, the high-end Samsung Galaxy tabs are really good and try to punch at the same “great for drawing/note taking/art” level that nicer iPads target. It’s just, outside of apps purposely targeted for tablets and tablet productivity, the Android tablet experience is really just “big phone” - which is not good. In part, this is because Android tablets were never really taken seriously outside of “big phone” and general purpose media consumption device, and nobody has really made a “productivity” Android tablet outside of Samsung.

I don’t count the Pixel tablet because it’s more trying to be an Android tablet that can also act as a Nest Home hub thing whenever you dock it. Which is really neat and I like that idea. It’s just only good at note-taking otherwise, courtesy of USI 2.0 stylus support.

So, Android tablets are kind of a wash because UI/UX isn’t really meant for that just yet. I’m wrapping ChromeOS up in this section too because it’s the same problem - everything is still primarily geared around the desktop experience, and because a lot of things aren’t designed around Android tablets (let alone ChromeOS tablets) they suffer from the same “big phone” experience - though my basic note-taking app that works on ChromeOS, Squid, has a really nice tablet-centric UI on the way. I like it a lot.

Windows tablets sadly aren’t much better.

In part, the Windows tablet experience sucks because ever since Windows 8, Microsoft has really dialed back the touch-centric features of Windows. I totally understand why, since Windows 8 was widely hated because it forced the touch-centric UI/UX onto everybody, regardless of whether you even had a touchscreen available. But it unfortunately means that Windows 11 is terribly suited to a tablet-focused experience as a result.

I love the overall style of the Surface Pro, and I think the built-in kickstand makes it better suit as a productivity machine as well. Yes, the keyboard setup sucks but I doubt the Magic Keyboard Folio is that much better. Unfortunately, it’s hampered by Windows itself. And extra unfortunately, because the Surface Pro now runs a Snapdragon ARM CPU, it’ll forever be at a disadvantage software wise. I only see that changing if Windows on ARM because a HUGE deal in the coming months and years - and for more ARM chipsets to be powerful enough to provide a solid Windows experience.

Which is something I doubt will happen because a large install base of Windows machines is desktops, and good luck convincing PC gamers and co. to switch to Linux or find a way to get existing hardware to work via ARM. It’s possible, since the Ampere ARM CPUs (that are meant for servers) do support PCIe 4.0, so technically it’s possible, but we’d need to see consumer desktop-oriented CPUs start to exist first that offer comparable performance to at least last-gen hardware.

Addendum - Windows still sucks, regardless.

I was talking about the state of Windows on ARM last night around when this post went up, and I wanted to wrap some of that into this post, too. The basics is that - despite Microsoft being the one who needs to make “Windows on ARM for productivity” a reality, it means making Windows something people want to use. With Microsoft shoe-horning Copilot+, Recall, and who knows what else is in the pipeline, a lot of people don’t trust Windows. I know I don’t - my laptop runs Linux and the only reason my desktop will continue to runs Windows is because my tools don’t work on Linux. It’s not because I LIKE Windows as an OS - it’s okay, but there’s a lot of flaws in it that Microsoft won’t address.

Because they’re all in on AI, and so a lot of their money - money that could be spent updating Windows and making it something people choose to use - is going towards a fad few people care about when people want their damn operating system to work with them, instead of us having to work with Windows. Windows is a monolith. People use it because it’s what everything has always used, it’s what your new laptop from Best Buy or Walmart comes installed with unless it’s a Chromebook or Macbook.

I want to see Microsoft push “Windows on ARM is great for productivity!” when it comes to CAD and engineering tools, but people will only care for Windows on ARM specifically if Microsoft can make Windows on ARM worth running. And most people don’t really like Windows at this point. Which fuels the fire against Apple doing anything to make the iPad Pro the true compute powerhouse that it totally could be.

(anyways, back to the original post)

The iPad Pro is overpowered for its software.

I’m not going to go into the weeds here, because Dankpods has already done a good video talking about this and Sebin has as well, though more about how complex the iPad range is now. I really do agree, because iPad OS isn’t great. And a lot of productivity apps that exist on both iPad OS and Mac OS generally gimp the iPad version for some reason or another. From a technical standpoint, there isn’t any practical reason now - the iPad Pro’s run M-series chips (The Pro’s run the iPad exclusive M4, and the Air’s run on their M2), which power their Macbook’s, Mac Mini, Mac Studio, and Mac Pro - though those generally have the higher-end variants, it’s still the desktop-grade silicon.

Which is what infuriates me the most. I personally will never buy an Apple product unless I can install something like Asahi Linux on it, so it’s not like I’d touch an iPad. But it annoys me that Apple now has iPad’s that could, in theory, run desktop MacOS and run desktop-grade apps, but they’re limited by the garbage that is iPad OS. An iPad Pro that runs a touch-focused version of MacOS would be a massive improvement in my opinion, largely because, well, it’d be a high-end tablet running a desktop OS that’s been designed around ARM since 2020. You could build a strong Windows ARM tablet any day of the week, but Windows on ARM will have to co-exist with x86_64 Windows for a long while - even if Microsoft gets a very efficient system to run x86_64 apps on ARM, most everyone is going to build for x86_64 still.

Giving an iPad MacOS might drive competition.

(key word being MIGHT)

In my opinion, a large part of why tablets suffer is because they’ve existed in this weird limbo for a while now. Most of the time they’re used as media consumption devices that are more portable than a laptop, but still much larger than a phone. Some tablets get used for at least note taking and some basic document work, higher-end ones are getting used for digital art too - and that’s a relatively recent development. The idea of a true productivity-focused tablet has somewhat existed in Microsoft’s Surface tablet lineup, but x86_64 Windows tablets generally have poor battery life, and Windows on ARM is just now proving to be remotely viable.

In my perfect world, if Apple gave an iPad Pro a touch flavor of MacOS - still able to run standard MacOS apps and whatnot, just with a more touch-friendly UI/UX - it would pressure companies like Microsoft to push harder for Windows on ARM and bring it up to parity, especially with the needed work to get x86_64 to ARM working smoothly and without fuss. It might get companies like Samsung to push for a better Android tablet experience, or release their own Windows on ARM tablet that trades blows with Microsoft’s - they have plenty of experience with their Galaxy Tab lineup, after all.

If Apple’s go proves popular enough, it might convince productivity app developers to work on ARM versions that work as well as their x86_64 offerings too, or at least make sure their x86_64 versions run good on a high-end ARM machine. Something that I’d massively appreciate, since so many productivity tools are limited to Windows only, and you have to fight to get them to work on other platforms. If ARM becomes more prevalent on Windows, it’ll hopefully push them to make ARM-focused builds too.

Freedom of choice

I envision a reality where someone’s operating system of choice isn’t a major barrier in using software. I run a Linux laptop. I want to run AutoCAD Fusion for 3D modeling work. There does not exist an official build of Fusion for Linux, and while hacky methods exist… they’re hacky methods. Where the only limits imposed on how well software runs is the form factor of a device - a desktop with powerful cooling, a hefty power supply, and strong dedicated graphics could run stuff smoother than a powerful but limited laptop, which will run better than a tablet with no air cooling.

That reality isn’t going to happen, for admittedly good reasons. You don’t really want someone to install heavy 3D modeling software on Nana’s $500 laptop from Best Buy and then complain that it runs like shit, let alone someone’s tablet that’s strong but would overheat in two seconds flat.

I just wish there was user choice and agency in the matter.

Which is why I want to build dumb shit

Seriously, part of my motive for my dumb computer-oriented projects I’ll share here - like my stupid “shove a Framework 13 mainboard into a modded Wii U Gamepad” concept - is to see what it takes to build a comfortable compute experience. The Wii U gamepad mod is meant to be silly and make you go “This is a Steam Deck, but it isn’t”. I want to see if I can build bespoke tablets that run on a Framework, too - if I can get a screen with the appropriate eDP port and USB touch (yes, the Framework 13 eDP port looks to support USB 2.0!) then I might be able to build a weird looking but perfectly capable tablet, running full-fledged desktop Linux.

There’s even a RISC-V board a third party company is developing, though Framework makes it clear it’s for development use only and should not be used as a daily driver mainboard. Perhaps I could run that once it’s fine-tuned, and get the benefits of RISC-V. The sky - and limits of the Framework form factor - is the limit. And I want to discover what’s possible by building this bespoke stuff myself.

Sure, there’s ARM-based single board computers, but I want to build something that feels “integrated” in a way, and make it as straightforward as possible for someone else to build it, too. Using the Framework board and battery is about the easiest way I could manage that, especially since the mainboard layout isn’t too likely to change for some time.

Maybe I’ll run into a clever idea one day, and see what it takes to make it into what I “dream” of. It won’t be perfect, but it might get close enough.