Jason Snell writing at Macworld:

Now that today’s iMacs and iPads are essentially the same in terms of their internal hardware, maybe it’s time for Apple to do the unthinkable and allow the iPad Pro (and only the iPad Pro) to run macOS in a virtual machine.

I love this, no matter how unlikely.

@manton can't see it as much as I would love it. I just can't see Apple giving that up.

@manton Yeah I don't see this ever happening either, but I suppose nothing's impossible.

@manton Back when I actually needed a laptop, I gave up on iPads, because they're useless for doing 'work' on - they're a (admittedly advanced) data-entry device as far as UX is concerned.
And ended up with a HP Spectre - purely because, like an iPad, the electronics are safer from liquid spills, and I got it cheaper than a MS Surface
With a conventional flaptop - one cup o' coffee and you've probably just pissed off $??? And worst case - a gig ruined, instead of just plugging in another kb.

@manton It's sad how afraid Apple is if upsetting their own Apple cart, afraid of any disruption. The company lives in terror of doing anything different.

@manton conversely, make the iMac a touchscreen

@manton been wanting this for years because the iPad is so limited by its software. A Surface-like device with macOS would be heaven.

@manton what I really want is to be able to connect an iPad Pro to a Mac with a Thunderbolt cable and have it behave as an honest to goodness display.

That means full lossless resolution, full color fidelity, and full frame rate including ProMotion. Sidecar is okay (and much better with the latest iPadOS and Sonoma) but nothing beats a true Thunderbolt connection and I have to think someone at Apple wants that too.

Bonus points if the iPad gave access to speaker/mic/cameras in this mode too!

@manton I wonder what would be left of iPad OS then in terms of pro use cases

@manton totally agree with you. I was hoping this would happen when the pro originally came out.

@manton I see something like App Morphing. With external keyboard and trackpad the app is in Mac mode. Tear off the screen and the same app gently morphs into iPadOS version.