[walterbell]

> they get to sell more hardware that way

This claim is frequently repeated, but does not reflect reality for those who buy Apple devices. When iPads actually meet user needs, the result is iPad proliferation, not replacement of MacBooks. An iPad with macOS/Linux VM is needed for adhoc time-sensitive tasks which require non-iOS software, like a quick doc edit or Unix toolchain. For scheduled work sessions, Macbook is better.

As the article noted, there is a $3500 iPad. If that iPad variant ran macOS/Linux VMs, it would sell more units. Anyone willing to spend that much money for portability and convenience would not blink at buying a Macbook for other use cases.

[hagbard_c]

> This claim is frequently repeated, but does not reflect reality for those who buy Apple devices. When iPads actually meet user needs, the result is iPad proliferation, not replacement of MacBooks

Of course more versatile tablets will replace laptops/notebooks, the only reason the latter are preferred over the former is because they offer features which the former do not yet have. Add those features - which mostly comes down to removing restrictions - and there will be far less need for ultralight notebooks. Add the features to (i.e. remove restrictions from) large-screen tablets and laptops will be far less necessary. Even people with more money than sense will see the utility in having only one device which they need to keep charged and for which they need to get a mobile data subscription.

An uncrippled modern tablet with a good keyboard/cover is a good replacement for many if not most common tasks notebooks are used for. A larger uncrippled tablet with such a cover is a good replacement for many tasks laptops are used for. Not for all tasks, not yet. That time will come as well but we're not there yet due to battery capacity restrictions and thermal limits but it will come. The market went from fridge-sized desk-side to tower to desktop to 'luggable' to portable to laptop to notebook, the next step is either a tablet of some sort or some form of wearable. If and when some form of direct interaction without need for a keyboard and monitor ever comes to pass for mainstream applications it will be the latter.

[walterbell]

What's an example shipping device for "uncrippled modern tablet"?

> Of course more versatile tablets will replace laptops/notebooks

Maybe the distinction is irrational, but as we spend more time on screens, there is some aesthetic difference in a device used mostly for work/creation and a device used mostly for leisure/consumption. Even if the underlying electronics are near-identical.

Thanks to eBay and the end of Moore's Law, multiple older devices are affordable and quite functional, e.g. enterprise $2000 Thinkpad 2-in-1 Yoga tablets for a few hundred. But nothing yet compares to the usability of iPadOS, despite no shortage of attempted competitors.