I think Mac and iPad will merge. Does the MacBook Neo prove my point or make it pointless?

I’ve been struggling with something for a long time. You, come sit and listen to my story. Please tell me I make sense. These are my dreams for the Mac and iPad. Wait, don’t walk away.

For a very long time, Apple has been making iPads and also making MacBooks. In the past, they were very different. But even in the beginning, I dreamed of iPads working like Macs. Apple got closerby degrees. That’s right, iPadOS isn’t MacOS, but they are share more ideas and software than ever. Keyboards and trackpads can turn iPads into laptop-like work devices with multiple windows on the screen. Macs and iPads even share the same M-series chips.

And now there is a new MacBook, called Neowhich runs on an iPhone-level chip and costs the same as the new iPad Air. Meanwhile, reliable reports indicate that the first touchscreen MacBook will arrive by the end of this year.

I feel vindicated by this news. I tell my wife as I pace around the house with a morning coffee, catching up on the MacBook Neo news: This is it. It’s practically the same thing. Why can’t one become the other? Why can’t I actually turn an iPad into a Mac?

I talked about it about once a year for, oh, the last decade and a half. That’s my mantra. I believe it in my soul. And when I asked my wife if that made sense, if it was clearly necessary, she said, I think you’re getting a little too worked up about this.

Watch this: First look at Apple’s new MacBook Neo, a colorful and budget-friendly laptop

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I asked him: Wouldn’t you wish that an iPad you bought could be a Mac if you needed it? She said no. She doesn’t care. She loves her iPad.

I took my passions upstairs. I thought about it again. I was pacing back and forth. I pulled out my MacBook Air to start writing, although half the time I also go to the iPad at the nearby keyboard to write. And I thought, damn, I’m right about that.

But maybe, just maybe, no one cares. And no one needs to worry about it.

Tell me: which one is it? Calm my mind.

Is it like a cognitive illusion of technology? Is the dress gold or blue? Do you see a rabbit or a duck? Are you a person who thinks it’s absurd that the Mac and iPad continue to be, at this point, intentionally different, or is this a logical design choice, and you think I’m an idiot for wanting it any other way?

My argument for imminent iPad-Mac convergence

There is a reason for my passion. It makes sense! Although it will take some time for Macs to develop true touchscreen compatibility for apps, the touchscreen MacBook Pro expected later this year could start playing around with a few concepts. This will apparently be a “touch light”, perhaps more like an evolution of the screen-based Touch Bar. Apple has wanted us to touch Macs for years, you know? I’m not crazy.

Once that’s sorted, maybe the rest will happen. A real touchscreen Mac that could also work with the iPad Pencil.

Meanwhile, on the iPad side, there are much fewer reasons not to switch to Mac mode. iPads already work with Mac-style keyboards and trackpads that Apple happily sells to us. They run on chips identical to those in Macs. You clearly can – clearly! — find a way to run MacOS on these devices.

But would changing modes be something you would enable, like Stage Manager mode? A Mac mode for pros? Or apps that can just work seamlessly? The browser differences between Macs and iPads are my main sticking point. iPadOS browsers are better now but still not the same. So you improve the browser or allow a new and improved optional mode. Plus, I wouldn’t need to buy a Mac if I had an iPad. Maybe it could do both and save a lot of people a little money.

Why would Apple do this? She sells devices. But it also sells services. Keeping yourself updated with everything that is happening on all forms of operating system would be the ultimate way to achieve this.

And finally, let’s talk glasses, AR Glassesor something like the future of VisionPro. A way to extend screens anywhere. A unified Mac-iPad element could work with glasses more seamlessly. Consolidate the laptop shape, then extend it to glasses and other peripherals. Yes?

Counterpoint (aka Scott, you’re wrong)

The $599 MacBook Neo, from what I’ve seen online (haven’t tried it in person yet), looks pretty darn attractive. This is extremely affordable for Apple. And it occurred to me that an entry-level MacBook Neo and a iPad entry Together, it would cost about the same as a MacBook Air. Apple offers you two for the price of one.

And is that the idea? Buy multiple devices, don’t stress, appreciate each device for what it is, don’t try to merge? I’ve heard a lot of people argue that iPads are better just iPads and that they don’t really like iPadOS 26’s more window-filled modes that feel more like Macs. You can switch between styles, but maybe simpler is better? After all, the iPad does a good job of decluttering a lot of stuff in macOS. This seems streamlined.

And as for my MacBook, I use it almost exclusively for browser-based work. Creative professionals can rely on advanced graphics on M Pro and Max chips on MacBook Pros that iPads don’t have, not even iPad Pro models.

Maybe this division makes sense. Maybe people just want what they want. Maybe they agree to have one or more devices that work for them. Maybe they don’t want the Swiss army knife.

Why do I always think I’m right

I like modular. I like the flexibility. Look at it Nintendo Switch: It is a handheld computer and a TV console. And why can’t the iPad be the same, a truly flexible device, at least in some professional configurations, that could double as a Mac?

I think I would really like that. I think I would take this iPad Pro-slash-MacBook on every trip with me, to every tech event. I would classify each story. I would watch every movie on it. It would be my little computer that does everything.

How many of you share this dream, this vision of the magic point in the middle? Maybe not enough yet. Maybe no one, ever. I still think that’s enough. I still think Apple is selling us two devices when, at least for some of us, it could be selling us one.

I see you’re getting agitated now. You want to leave this old man alone to rant about these things. He’s clearly too worried about this whole iPad and Mac thing. You want to move on with your life. Maybe go back to browsing on your iPad. Or Mac. Or phone. Or something else.

I’ll see you again in a year – and we’ll see if I’m right. Or maybe, as I’ve come to accept, it doesn’t even matter if I am.