iPad Pro • Hacker News Board

Re: iPad Pro

#401

Post by derefr » Tue, Oct 30, 2018, 5:52 PM UTC

olyjohn wrote: post #380

Invictus0 wrote: post #315

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I know you're trying to make the point that most software is bloated/slow/etc. but this is not the example to use for that point. Things don't just get faster because it's current year. The size of photos has increased by orders of magnitude since Photoshop debuted, the size of screens has increased, and the capabilities of the program have increased. In Photoshop, it is not only plausible but commonplace to have mul…

> It's also worth considering that Photoshop only really uses 2 cores at maximum anyway. Seriously? I think this is more confirming that the person you replied to is right. Unless there is some reason that I can think of that only using 2 cores is a good thing?

What would you do with more CPU cores? One for the UI; one for CPU-only filters (if there are such a thing) and various other background workers like network downloads.

Everything else—the rendering, scaling, compositing, etc.—runs on the GPU, not the CPU, where it uses hundreds of cores. Y’know, like a 3D game.

And, like a 3D game, it’s still slow, because it’s doing something genuinely hard and your powerful GPU still isn’t powerful enough.

Re: iPad Pro

#402

Post by ssully » Tue, Oct 30, 2018, 5:53 PM UTC

Bahamut wrote: post #61

ascagnel_ wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It lacks a controller, though. And the "best" controller is missing three inputs you'd expect (L3/R3 "stick click" buttons and a select button).

I don't think gamers necessarily expect an L3/R3 button. The Switch does not have anything like that, and Nintendo has always been top tier for gaming controllers.

Nintendo has historically terrible controllers which started with the N64 controller. That didn't end until the pro controller for the Wii U/Switch.

Even the switch joycons, which I think are incredibly impressive with how much tech is crammed into them, are pretty awful to actually control with. The only reason I think they get a break is because they are designed for portability.

Re: iPad Pro

#403

Post by redeemedfadi » Tue, Oct 30, 2018, 5:54 PM UTC

Jgrubb wrote: post #18

The person who decided to make this scroll sideways instead of down when you scroll down, and not to scroll sideways when you scroll sideways should be put in stocks in the town square.

I think it's kind of cool. /dissenting-opinion

Re: iPad Pro

#404

Post by p4rsec » Tue, Oct 30, 2018, 5:55 PM UTC

brenschluss wrote: post #180

OskarS wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe I'm being harsh, but I really don't think that it should be impressive that, on a device of this power, you can zoom in and out of a photoshop file without the UI lagging. Note, btw, that the pixels aren't updating in real time, it takes a little bit for the higher resolution to pop in when she zooms in (unless they're recently in cache). She's literally talking about not having the UI lag. This shouldn't be an…

Yeah, if you’ve never pushed Photoshop and think it’s just a photo editing software then it’s understandable that you’d feel this way.

This exactly. People don't seem to grasp just how powerful Photoshop is, and just what kind of power you need to utilize it.

Re: iPad Pro

#405

Post by retzkek » Tue, Oct 30, 2018, 5:56 PM UTC

Mahn wrote: post #135

bendavis381 wrote: post #78

Can someone more educated on the subject please explain to me what would be required to turn this into a proper development machine? I'm asking about what iOS changes would be needed, rather than opinions about the physical aspects of it like form factor.

Tangential, but it's worth noting that if what you are looking for is a portable development machine with tablet-like capatibilities, the Microsoft Surface series is arguably a better choice.

Or Google Pixelbook, if you prefer Linux over Windows.

Re: iPad Pro

#406

Post by ssully » Tue, Oct 30, 2018, 5:56 PM UTC

abalone wrote: post #157

ziftface wrote: post #115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The obvious benefit for adopting USB-C is compatibility with other devices. It seems strange to me that almost all new mobile devices from almost all manufacturers (including some from apple) are converging on a single port while apple's best-selling product uses an incompatible port. I get there are manufacturing issues, but I think eventually they'll have to be solved somehow. Maybe no charging port and just rely o…

> The obvious benefit for adopting USB-C is compatibility with other devices. Not an obvious benefit for a largely wireless device. For the vast vast majority of people it’s only used for charging and that’s moving to wireless too.

The obvious benefit is not need a specific cable just for my iPhone. I am slowly getting more USB C cables over the last year - it would be nice if I could replace all my lightning cables, which are only used for my iPhone and iPad. It's a small benefit, but it would be nice.

Re: iPad Pro

#407

Post by jimbokun » Tue, Oct 30, 2018, 5:56 PM UTC

OskarS wrote: post #156

stupidbird wrote: post #150

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Scrolling through layers in photoshop doesn't necessarily just scroll a list though, it's also actively selecting the content of those layers... which can be very complex (I didn't watch the demo so I'm not entirely sure of the specific scrolling context). You're dealing with filters, transparencies, hand-drawn paths, masking, linked files, embedded files — there's a wide realm of potential data and complexity. If yo…

If you want to test the mettle of a computer, try opening a large Photoshop file and doing anything in it. This, right here, is why it's an indictment of the software industry. It SHOULDN'T be impressive that Photoshop doesn't lag. When she said that line, the entire audience should have shrugged and said to themselves "Of course you can zoom into an image in Photoshop. It's 2018. What's the big deal?"

Then write a competitor to Photoshop that performs better, since doing so is not a big deal.

Re: iPad Pro

#408

Post by bpye » Tue, Oct 30, 2018, 5:57 PM UTC

davemp wrote: post #161

reustle wrote: post #147

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do iPads support mouse (trackpads) yet? That would be huge.

Nope. Apple would need to do a pretty decent amount of work on iOS to support desktop like behavior. I'm not sure if there's much sales incentive either. Which is a shame because Apple got where it is by pushing the best possible user experiences. Not blind sales maximization.

Surely getting iOS apps working on macOS (Marzipan) is laying some of this ground, they are having to adapt iOS UI widgets for it, what would it take to feed this back to iOS?

Re: iPad Pro

#409

Post by Waterluvian » Tue, Oct 30, 2018, 5:57 PM UTC

Jgrubb wrote: post #18

The person who decided to make this scroll sideways instead of down when you scroll down, and not to scroll sideways when you scroll sideways should be put in stocks in the town square.

On my phone it scrolls normally but the left and right of most images are cut off. Latest chrome.

Re: iPad Pro

#410

Post by xbkingx » Tue, Oct 30, 2018, 5:57 PM UTC

dpark wrote: post #253

vxNsr wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Also, the new Apple Pencil will only work with the new iPads; it's not compatible with previous Pros: https://www.apple.com/apple-pencil/ Because the older pros don't have a way to charge it. Which is to me another one of those ingenious but now obvious design choices, I know the sGNote series has "wireless" charging for their stylus, but it needs to go into the device to be charged, this is so much cooler because…

> Which is to me another one of those ingenious but now obvious design choices ... I wish that Microsoft had thought of this for the surface pen. I'm kind of glad they didn't. A pen magnetically attached will likely pop off when you put the tablet in your bag. It's a nice place to dock the pen when you're using the tablet, but poor place to store it in a bag. People report up to a year of life with the Surface Pen ba…

Yup. I've used tablet PCs since the Windows XP Tablet Edition days and magnetic pen docks have always been a big no-no. The pens fall off more when handling because you bump into them when repositioning and they're easier to forget or 'lose' because the docking area generally becomes the one place you don't put it. In short, it might be counter-intuitive, but you need to be slightly more engaged with the stylus's maintenance than most people think. Too cumbersome and it impedes productivity, but too 'intuitive' and it will be lost in a week. But, I'm sure Apple will be happy to sell you a replacement!

I've had a Surface Pro 3 since release and have had to replace the stylus battery twice, so I'm getting ~1.5 years per battery. I would much prefer the old hidey-hole stylus dock to Apple or MS's current stylus docking.