Turn your iPad into a Mac tablet

If Surface is the hit Microsoft hopes it will be, there’s the possibility that Apple might follow suit with an OS X powered MacPad at some point in the future (well, we can hope, can’t we?). The good news is you don’t actually have to wait for Apple, before trying out OS X on a tablet, you just need OS X Pad HD.

The advanced theme from Fnet Designs transforms your iPad into a Mac tablet with a fully functional Finder bar, and lets you add apps to the dock and change its style to match any of the 70 available wallpapers (or your own), create sidebar folders for Finder windows, and access settings and customization options through the System Preferences Menu. All software updates are applied directly through the theme.

Installing it isn’t tricky, but does take a little effort. Your iPad will need to be jailbroken (because Apple obviously wouldn’t allow this), which you can do using a tool like Absinthe. You’ll then need to download DreamBoard, and add the Fnet Designs repository (fnetdesigns.com/cydia/repo), through the manage section of Cydia and download The Theme Outlet app. Once you’ve done all that you’ll just need to purchase the OS X Pad HD theme, which is available for a very reasonable $3.50.

The theme is being actively developed, with new versions rolling out on a regular basis, so if there’s a feature or a tweak you’d like to see, mention it to the dev in the modmyi.com forum (thefinga) and if it’s a good idea, it might well be implemented in a future update.