This one new feature might finally bring me back to the Mac in 2025

I’ve used an iPad Pro as my primary computer for years, despite occasionally testing the waters with the Mac. For various reasons, I’ve always stuck with the iPad, but one new feature Apple just shipped might finally be the thing that gets me back to the Mac in 2025.

The new device that’s changing my computing habits

This piece requires a little background in two areas:

1. the new device I just bought
2. the reason I went all-in on iPad Pro in the first place

First, the new device.

After a long holdout, I recently gave in and bought an Apple Vision Pro.

I’d used the device several times before, but only in the past month have I actually owned one for myself.

I’ll write some other time about the reasons why I finally bought one. But the key thing to know is that Mac Virtual Display was a big factor.

So yes, that ‘new feature’ that may bring me back to the Mac is only kind of a Mac feature.

More accurately, it’s a Vision Pro feature: Mac Virtual Display, which just got huge upgrades.

In the recent visionOS 2.2 update, Apple made Mac Virtual Display far more compelling thanks to three changes:

1. Wide and Ultrawide display modes
2. High quality display resolution
3. Improved audio routing

I never tried the old Mac Virtual Display feature, but its new and improved version has proven especially compelling for me.

While I would love to do more of my computing with native visionOS apps, right now the options there are pretty limited. For example, my go-to writing app—Ulysses—isn’t available, nor my preferred apps for image editing and more.

As a result, Mac Virtual Display is currently my best option for getting things done inside the headset.

And that leads to the reason I went all-in on iPad in the first place.

Why I left the Mac, and might be coming back in 2025

There are a lot of reasons I love working from my iPad Pro, which I’ll spare you for now.

But one of the things that first set me down this path was the desire to streamline my devices.

For years I used a Mac, iPad, and iPhone all in very complementary ways, like Steve Jobs intended.

But when the first iPad Pro came out, the thought of going minimalist with just an iPad Pro and iPhone was very appealing.

If the iPad could still serve its purposes as a tablet, but also now function like a laptop, it seemed like there wasn’t much need for my MacBook Air anymore. Sure there would be sacrifices moving to the iPad full-time, but I was eager to give it a try, and just never went back.

Today, I find myself in a similar predicament.

I want to use my Vision Pro for getting things done, and Mac Virtual Display is the best way to do that.

Which means, either I start splitting more of my computing time between the Mac and iPad Pro, and get used to moving back and forth between platforms again—or I streamline down to one main device.

The same minimalist desire that led me to abandon the Mac in 2015 might bring me back to it in 2025.

One Mac experience, Vision Pro or not

I don’t expect to wear my Vision Pro for eight hours a day, nor do I intend to use it when working remotely (at least not yet).

But if I’m using macOS when working inside the Vision Pro, it would make things a lot simpler if I stuck with the Mac for my non-Vision Pro work too.

The same Mac, running the same apps, just with a lot less screen real estate than my virtual environment.

I’m not fully decided, and there are still some Mac drawbacks I’d have to find a way to live with if I leave the iPad Pro behind.

But the Vision Pro has made me more open to full-time Mac computing than I have been in a long time.

We’ll see where 2025 takes things.

Do you work inside Mac Virtual Display on Vision Pro? What’s that been like for you? Let us know in the comments.

Best Vision Pro accessories

• Vision Pro aluminum dock stand
• Spigen travel case for Vision Pro
• AirPods Pro 2 (now just $189, discounted from $249)
• Battery holder with belt clip and more