Jason Snell wants Apple to get weird. Here’s my pitch for a new iPad Studio. Hang with me for a minute because this is, well, weird.

The M series board, battery and everything that we now know as an iPad is not behind a screen. It’s a keyboard. It’s the base where most of the weight is. And it has more ports.

The touch screen would be thinner and lighter than what we now know as an iPad. It would also have a battery just for the screen and the most minimal hardware to connect the two wirelessly. Dock the screen to the keyboard to charge the screen and Pencil. Use it docked as a laptop. Remove the screen to use it as a tablet. Hold it, put it in a raised stand, walk around within the wireless range of the base unit. It’s thinner and lighter when used hand held. Comes as a 13 and 15". This is the mobile screen for the laptop form factor.

An additional, desktop form factor is possible with an add-on accessory: a 24" desktop touch screen for graphic design that has a base unit that allows it to fold down at a low angle for use as a graphics tablet or positioned upright as a traditional screen. Or use it with any Apple Studio Display without touch input.

This would NOT run macOS. iPadOS only.

What we currently know as the iPad Pro would also continue in a less radical form. The screen would remain the iPad with a new, more lap-top like base as is rumored. It would have its own battery. The current iPad Pro battery would retain it’s current 10 hour life but could be charged by the base. The base would add additional ports though the iPad itself would still just have one USB C port.

There you have it. The new iPad Pro and iPad Studio.