The iPad Pro can effectively be turned into a MacBook with Jump Desktop . Apple…
The new iPad Pro is an incredibly powerful piece of hardware. Combine it with a Magic Keyboard and you have a touchscreen laptop that’s more powerful than a MacBook Air.
But there is one thing holding the iPad back: iPadOS. As my colleague David Phelan noted in his recent review of the new 13-inch iPad Pro: “While it’s powerful, in some ways it feels like it’s held back by software. While iPadOS has changed tremendously with the introduction of Stage Manager to make using multiple apps easier, nothing compares to macOS in this regard.”
David’s success. iPadOS is ideal for the tablet tasks you might want to do when you’re sitting on the couch: browsing the Internet, watching Netflix, and playing games. But when it comes to doing serious work, iPadOS still fails. The file manager is weak, multitasking is harder than it should be, and the iPad lacks some business-critical apps.
The solution? Use your iPad as a remote desktop on a Mac (or a Windows machine, if you prefer). As long as you have a strong Internet connection on both your iPad and the computer you’re connecting to, you’ll be able to access it from anywhere and enjoy the full power of the desktop and all of its installed apps. And if you have the Magic Keyboard (or equivalent) with its glorious trackpad, you’re practically turning your iPad into a MacBook Air, even if it relies on an Internet connection.
There are free and paid ways to access a remote desktop on a Mac from an iPad. Let’s explore two options: Chrome Remote Desktop and Jump Desktop.
Chrome Remote Desktop
A keyboard is a big plus for accessing a Mac remotely
Chrome Remote Desktop is a free option provided by Google. If you only need to remotely access your Mac or PC occasionally, it’s worth installing.
Installation is very easy. On the computer you want to access remotely, you need to install Chrome Remote Desktop Host. Make sure you don’t skip the post-installation prompts where you need to give the software permissions to control your Mac remotely.
Once installed, simply open the Chrome browser on your iPad and visit Chrome Remote Access in the web browser to access it on your Mac/PC. You will need to leave your Mac/PC on, but Chrome Remote Access can wake your computer from sleep mode, so you won’t waste much power.
If you want to run the remote desktop session in full screen, which you probably will, you’ll need to click in the top right corner of the window and follow the instructions to create a shortcut to the site on your iPad.
The Chrome Remote Desktop experience is fine, but it’s not the way I would like to work for an extended period. The app doesn’t take full advantage of the iPad’s “Retina” resolution, so your Mac desktop may look blurry. It also doesn’t automatically adjust the Mac’s resolution to that of your iPad’s screen, wasting much of the iPad’s limited screen real estate.
There’s also a good degree of input lag, meaning there’s an irritating pause between pressing an icon on the screen and the software responding. It’s workable if you only use it occasionally, but it’s far from ideal for long work sessions.
In short, if you want a remote desktop that you can work with regularly, you’ll need to pay for it. Which brings us to…
Skip desktop
Jump Desktop is not a cheap app: it costs $14.99 on the App Store. However, unlike many remote desktop solutions, it’s a one-time payment, you don’t have to pay another monthly subscription. There is also no charge for the Jump Desktop Connect software that you must install on the Macs/PCs you want to connect to, and you can connect to as many computers as you like.
It’s worth that one-time investment, as it’s far superior to the Chrome Remote Desktop experience. With a good Internet connection, the input delay is minimal. It’s not the same as working on, say, a MacBook Air, you’ll still notice the lag, but you can keep working.
Supports high-definition “Retina” resolutions in its settings, so your Mac display looks sharp on your iPad and your Mac desktop automatically resizes to the aspect ratio of your iPad display, meaning no screen space is wasted. The Mac desktop may look cramped on the 13-inch iPad screen, but you soon get used to working with it.
I took my 13-inch iPad Pro with Magic Keyboard to a local Starbucks and used Jump Desktop to access the MacBook Pro that was on my desk at home. Even with relatively limited Wi-Fi sharing (measured at 20 Mbits/s downstream and 10 Mbits/s upstream), performance was excellent.
I could open Adobe InDesign files, for example, make changes to magazine pages, and send them to my colleagues, just as if I were working on my Mac at home. I could open video files stored locally on the Mac and watch them from my iPad, with the sound perfectly synchronized. You could even edit a podcast with Adobe Audition.
Jump Desktop also has better security features than Chrome Desktop. For example, one setting allows you to blank the screen the computer is connected to, meaning that if you are using Jump Desktop to access a computer in your office, passing colleagues won’t see what you’re doing on the screen. screen.
You can also adjust Jump Desktop settings to lock the app after, say, five minutes of inactivity, thereby reducing the danger of someone jumping onto your iPad and accessing your computer remotely. You’ll always need to enter your Mac password to start a remote desktop session, so the risk of being compromised if your iPad is stolen is low.
The other big strength of Jump Desktop is that it works like any other iPad app. That means I can quickly switch, for example, to the Slack app on the iPad to chat with a colleague about the magazine pages I’m working on, and then press Cmd-Tab to return to the Jump Desktop screen where I’m working on the screen complete in InDesign. You don’t have to do everything on the Mac desktop. It’s often more convenient not to.
Jump Desktop has greatly increased the likelihood that I will travel with just my iPad Pro and leave the heavy MacBook at home. With the option to access my Mac when I need it, one of the main drawbacks of working on the iPad is eliminated.
Yes, it leaves you somewhat dependent on a reliable broadband connection and is of no use in airplane cabins or subways, but you still have iPadOS to work offline. And although I’ve focused on the iPad Pro here, this app will work with any iPad. That said, a keyboard and trackpad/mouse are almost essential to get the job done. It’s not easy to manipulate your Mac remotely using only touch controls.
There is speculation that Apple could move to support macOS on high-end iPad Pro devices at WWDC next week, but with Jump Desktop you may not need it. If you want to turn your iPad into a MacBook, it’s the best solution I’ve found so far.
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