An interesting look at Stage Manager by Scott Stein at CNet - reflects some of the frustrations I’ve had - and NOBODY has yet posted a video using it for the mundane task of editing a couple of Word and Excel docs at the same time. Do these guys only browse the web and write posts…
Makes me believe we are STILL a long way from a laptop replacement iPad…and almost EVERY review so far is using an iPad Pro 12.9…
If that laptop to be replaced is a MacBook Pro then that’s the same as saying it’s a long way from being a desktop replacement.
If it’s “replacement for what person X does on a laptop” it’s already there for a lot of people.
For a PORTABLE device it already does everything I need. Add in the Mac mini and I’m good, minus some Windows games.
Dev beta 4 released today. I changed the “Beta 3” in the thread title to just “Beta”. We don’t need to make a new topic each time, I think.
People are guessing that public beta 4 might drop tomorrow unless there are nasty bugs to fix first.
https://developer.apple.com/documentation/ios-ipados-release-notes/ios-ipados-16-release-notes
Thanks Ted - they still haven’t fixed the FaxeTime bug where it doesn’t work unless you are attached to external monitor - that one is areal downer.
iPadOS 16 Public Beta 4 is available now. Correction, they’re calling it Public Beta 2.
Thanks again Ted - I upgraded, and it does seem more stable, but it also gave me back Sidecar - for some reason or other it kept crashing in public beta 1, but pretty solid now.
Question to the tribe (or anyone using the public beta) - what are your thoughts on iPad Pro 11 vs iPad Pro 12.9? I’m getting a sinking feeling that on the 11 I’d pretty much use it like a regular iPad, but the videos of most reviewers are ALL using the 12.9 for a more desktop like experience.
I have never had the 12.9 inch, but I suggest you order one from Apple and try it out during the return period. You’ll never know until you have one for a week or two, and nobody else can tell you since your usage and preferences are yours alone.
I think I’ll wait on any more purchases until I see what the 2022 models have to offer, and if they nail down iPadOS 16 as a true laptop alternative.
Probably wise to wait.
On topic, I agree that Public Beta 2 is noticeably more stable. My only annoyance is that it’s really slow to connect to my iPhone’s hotspot automatically so I often make it connect in settings—which will take ten or fifteen seconds before claiming connection failure but connecting anyway. 
Tethering has been a PITA in iPadOS 16, but it also has been a PITA on my SP8. I was trying to work during our drive home - 3 bars 5g - and never made a connection on either device, but snappy performance on the iPhone itself.
Our old friend Ed Hardy has declared beta 2 stable enough to “try it for yourself”
This is interesting. I wonder if the rest of the world is finding what we have been, which is lots of stuff (monitors especially) that should work, don’t and or are a bit glitchy
I think that means M2 iPad Pros launch in October - gives them more time to fix the external monitor support issues (although I think I already reported it works ok on my Samsung old U32J59 - but colors still washed out compared to the desktop from the MBP14).
For now I’m thinking the main benefit of Stage Manager will be when connecting to an external display. That should work equally well on an iPad Pro 11 and 12.9. I suspect even on a 12.9 simple split screen should work well for many use cases.
Of course if you often need to juggle many windows while on the road, the story changes. In that case bring along a portable USB-C monitor. 
I don’t think we’ll see M2 iPads until 2023 at the earliest. Besides the off the charts sales of the M2 air, the M2 at least as it stands right now, may run too hot for an iPad. give how much and how quickly the m2 Macbook Air throttles already.
Yes there is an argument to be made that Apple may have let design trump all with the new MB Air, and either iPad Pro is much smaller still.
My hunch is that they will revise the M2 prior to putting it in and iPad and there are already rumors of an M2(M) to go with the likely forthcoming M2X and M2 Pros coming for the bigger machines
Old may be the key word, and I don’t expect (though I’ve been wrong before) that Apple can/wants to devote the resources to address it. It’s already got a unique color profile curve and is even finicky with some PC discrete video cards.
Not to mention that is has terrible accuracy out of the box, though with hardware calibration it can perform decently (lower mid tier)
Your first impressions are spot on - Stage Manager is really aimed at external monitors, and if 3 or less windows perhaps the 12.9. I’d also say you should plan to stick to split screen on either 11 or 12.9 with a big caveat - keeping each app on the shelf and moving between open apps in full screen mode is better than CMD-Tab to me. YMMV.
On your second thought “…often need to juggle many windows while on the road…” and you still need note taking, etc., I think the user should be thinking about either a MacBook + iPad (as an extended display), or go with a larger screen Windows device (Surface Pro, Surface Laptop Studio, HP Spectre x360) - I just don’t think you’ll be satisifed with iPad plus USB-C monitor. This is essentially what I faced and chose MBP14 + iPP11 which is more personal preference than practical solution.
BTW Under NDA at the moment but Lenovo has a couple of quite nice USBC portable displays that are due late this year.
Above average panels in both models…
I ran across a reference to the following article from last year, and despite the improvements that iPadOS 16, I still agree with the title to Monica’s article:
I know it will never happen but Timmy and Craigy -
PLEASE JUST GIVE US MACOS AS AN OPTIONAL LOAD ON IPAD PRO!
If you were having problems with Sidecar in Beta 1, they resolved it in Beta 2 (at least it has been rock solid for me). In fact, I have to give Sidecar 
- it is an iPad essential if you use a MacBook of any stripe.