Astropad's 'Project Blue' Beta Turns an iPad Into a Drawing Tablet for a PC - MacRumors
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Astropad's 'Project Blue' Beta Turns an iPad Into a Drawing Tablet for a PC

Astropad today announced the launch of "Project Blue," a new public beta initiative that introduces cross-platform support for connecting an iPad to a PC. With the beta, ‌iPad‌ artists can use an ‌iPad‌ as a wireless drawing tablet for a PC by mirroring their Windows desktop to their iPads.


Prior to today, the Astropad software could turn an ‌iPad‌ into a drawing device able to be used with a Mac, but the functionality is now available for ‌iPad‌ owners who want to use a PC instead of a Mac.

Project Blue is optimized for drawing with the Apple Pencil, and the ‌iPad‌'s touch gestures can be customized to access tools and shortcuts in Windows apps. An ‌iPad‌ can be paired with a Windows PC over WiFi or using a USB connection.

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Project Blue requires a PC laptop or desktop running Windows 10 64-bit build 1809 or later and an ‌iPad‌ running iOS 9.1 or later.

For the time being, Project Blue is available for free, and later this year, it will be folded into the full suite of Astropad products. Those who want to test out Project Blue can sign up on Astropad's website.

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Top Rated Comments

jayducharme Avatar
72 months ago
But wasn't Justin Long just telling me that the great thing about PCs is that they're already both a tablet and a desktop?
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)
72 months ago
wow. The Clan of Mac strikes again.
The M1 chip is ok for great battery life and laptops.

But for Pro users who need the Raw power of the AMD Threadripper Chip PC is the way to GO.
Big Sur is a mess on some older Macs
Windows 10 runs on anything you throw at it. The most compatible OS there is.
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
72 months ago

But for Pro users who need the Raw power of the AMD Threadripper Chip PC is the way to GO.
Intel should include that in their ads.
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
72 months ago
Poor Astropad - no one wants to comment on you - only use your thread to post comments on other threads

This looks a useful tool for graphic artists on either platform
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
robertcoogan Avatar
72 months ago
I like this! This solves a big problem for me. I am looking at buying a Windows laptop as my next laptop (yep). Partly this is due to the lack of self-repair options, but also due to the fact that I am heavily dependent on Windows for certain software. I also like the self-repair options that come with Windows PCs. Being able to use my iPad as a drawing tablet would be really helpful.
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
beermode Avatar
71 months ago

But wasn't Justin Long just telling me that the great thing about PCs is that they're already both a tablet and a desktop?
I have used the Surface for some projects, and it's been pretty stellar. Not sure why you seemed puzzled.
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)