David Hanak When reading reviews of the new iPad Pro, you'll often come across the opinion that although it's a top-notch device in terms of hardware, it's the software that's holding it back. One of the most common criticisms turns towards iOS, which is simply insufficient for proper, professional needs. The new iPad Pro would thus benefit in many ways from macOS, and this is precisely what the Luna Display application enables.
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Jakub Dlouhy However, the developers of Luna Display took a bit of a detour. Their solution is focused on mediating the broadcast image to other devices, with the aim of creating a secondary desktop. The new iPads directly encourage this use, and the developers have shared their thoughts on this project blog.
They took one new Mac Mini, a new 12,9″ iPad Pro, installed the Luna Display application, and attached a special transmitter to the Mac Mini that handles wireless image transmission. In normal work mode, the iPad behaved like any other iPad with iOS, but after opening the Luna Display application, it was transformed into an essentially full-fledged macOS device, allowing developers to test how the iPad would work in the macOS environment. And it is said to be great.
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The Luna Display application works primarily as an extension desktop for your computer. However, in the case of the Mac Mini, this is a genius tool that allows the iPad to become the "primary" display and in certain scenarios it appears to be a unique and practical option for controlling this computer. So, for example, if you use the Mac Mini as a server without a dedicated monitor.
In addition to the above, however, the developers managed to peek under the hood of how a full-fledged macOS system would suit the new iPad Pro. Usage is said to be nearly flawless, except for a slight response caused by WiFi signal transmission. The large iPad Pro is said to be the ideal device for many tasks that are performed on a regular desktop. The combination of touch control with the macOS environment and applications is said to be so great that it is surprising that Apple has not yet decided to take a similar step. You can see a sample in the video below.
There are also solutions without the need for a hardware device. For example, Duet Display has been in the App Store for several years.
Of course, the creators of Luna know about the existence of Duet Display. By the way, the competing application AstroPad comes from their workshop. If you look at the manufacturer's website, you will even find a direct comparison of Luna vs Duet Display, including the reasons why they chose the hardware solution. Unlike software emulation of the display, Luna works like a real monitor from the perspective of the operating system. It is also worth mentioning the proprietary LIQUID protocol, designed for low latency. I know from my own experience that if you connect Duet or Astropad via WiFi, you can forget about any meaningful work due to latency.