Running OS X on a tablet was a pipe dream for many Apple fans long before the iPad came out. Now that the iPad Pro has a processor that can compete with desktop CPUs, that pipe dream is almost a reality.
YouTuber Jules Gerard managed to get Mac OS X Leopard 10.5 running on his new 2020 iPad Pro without jailbreaking the device. Jules turned to the UTM emulator to show off how fast the old Mac operating system can run on the iPad Pro. Everything works shockingly well, including the built-in apps and Microsoft Office.
Prepare to be amazed:
Two weeks ago, Gerard showed what it looks like when you run Windows 10 on an iPhone X. If you’re curious to try older versions of macOS, Windows or Android on your iPhone and iPad you can try UTM for yourself. The software is a full-featured virtual machine host for iOS that supports over 30 processors, including x86_64, ARM64, and RISC-V.
Obviously, running Mac OS X Leopard 10.5 on an iPad isn’t exactly practical, but it’s interesting to see what could have been. Apple has put a lot of thought lately into how a cursor should work on an iPad screen and it’s drastically different than macOS. The new iPad Pros support Apple’s new Magic Keyboard that has a bunch of new trackpad gestures that improve on usability.
