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New iPad Air and iPad Mini

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Re: New iPad Air and iPad Mini

#81

Post by wlesieutre »

ChrisLTD wrote: post #50
Someone1234 wrote: post #29

Is anyone able to clarify the Pencil compatibility? This article specifically lists the 1st gen: > Apple Pencil (1st generation) is available for purchase separately for $99 (US). So Apple are releasing new devices not compatible with their newer 2nd Gen Pencil?

Correct. My assumption is that Apple didn’t want to spend the money to redesign the cases and add the inductive charging necessary for the newer Pencil.

The guts of the iPad itself would need some redesign for the charging hardware and attachment magnets. This seems like it's a processor bump of the iPad Pro 10.5" with the name changed.

Re: New iPad Air and iPad Mini

#83

Post by kalleboo »

blakesterz wrote: post #51
jackfrodo wrote: post #3

I'm 24 years old, work in software. Neither I nor any of my friends uses a tablet for work or pleasure. I guess I know a couple of people who have Surface Pro's, but that's about it. I'm wondering if the appeal of these begins when you get older? Seems like a lot of the market for these is people who are 50+, but I'd like to know if any people under 25 are interested in them.

I'm pretty much double 24... my usual work machine is a big Ubuntu box I built, with 2 big monitors. I'm stuck working on my MacBookAir for some time and it just sucks. Not because the MacBook sucks, but it just sucks working on a single small monitor, and the machine itself is slower at everything. Working on any laptop is just a big step down from a real machine for me. I can't even imagine working on an iPad, thou…

> It's interesting to read the other comments and see what the appeal is for them

Same here. I've owned iPads since the very first one for work (app dev), but the closest I've gotten to enjoying using them is watching movies on airplanes. I'm always interested in seeing what other people put them to use for.

My theory has been that iPads appeal to "full-screeners".

I've been a Mac user since 1990 and the Classic MacOS was optimized to "right-size" your windows to your content so you could have lots of windows next to each other for UI affordances like drag and drop. Classic versions of Photoshop had palette windows that hid in the background, even early OS X used "inspector" palettes heavily. Until very recently, MacOS didn't even have a full-screen control. So I've always filled my screens with windows of stuff I'm working on, stuff I'm monitoring, chats, etc. I guess I thrive on info-ADD? If I use an iPad I feel claustrophobic. Made 10x worse by the lack of multitasking (no persistent background network connections, apps continually killed for RAM usage).

In contrast, Windows started out as a full-screen, split-pane OS, and Windows apps have always relied on the "MDI" UI with a containing window, optimally used at full-screen. So most users grew up with that. I see people buy those super-wide LG displays and then full-screen a Chrome browser and complain that their lines of text aren't 2 meters wide.

And kids these days grow up with full-screen mobile UIs.

So if you grew up with everything being full screen, an iPad feel familiar and useful. If you're used to being able to monitor a bunch of windows at once, the iPad will feel like a toy.

Re: New iPad Air and iPad Mini

#84

Post by scarface74 »

lucb1e wrote: post #5

I was looking for the justification of the word dramatic until I realized it's written by Apple itself. For such a headline I would rather see an independent reviewer, or editorialize it to reduce the drama.

If you want to post about a product that just came out today, why use a non primary source?

Re: New iPad Air and iPad Mini

#86

Post by BuckRogers »

jackfrodo wrote: post #3

I'm 24 years old, work in software. Neither I nor any of my friends uses a tablet for work or pleasure. I guess I know a couple of people who have Surface Pro's, but that's about it. I'm wondering if the appeal of these begins when you get older? Seems like a lot of the market for these is people who are 50+, but I'd like to know if any people under 25 are interested in them.

I have seen in-laws around your age using iPads extensively as their main device. I suspect if they were inputting more they'd get tired of not having a keyboard but it's mostly consumption, banking and such. I think a lot of people with an iPad and Apple Pencil would be very happy. It's just a different level of tech integration into their life than a videographer, writer, artist or developer.

I can fast forward you a bit over a decade. As a techie that is old enough to have grown with the industry from the very beginning, no tablets here except an older Nook. E-ink will remain the best for reading.

I do think there's benefit to the 2-in-1 form factor. Samsung is on the top the heap here. The 2019 Samsung 9 Pen[0] is the best of every world, it just hit the US market yesterday. The S Pen used in their 2-in-1 is as good as it gets today, being Wacom EMR based.

While I wouldn't bother with an iPad, I think there's a lot of value and use in this form factor for work. The Samsung Pen devices are the main thing that pulled me away from a Macbook.

[0]https://www.samsung.com/us/computing/windows-laptops/all-win...

Re: New iPad Air and iPad Mini

#87

Post by evmar »

crazygringo wrote: post #31
jackfrodo wrote: post #3

I'm 24 years old, work in software. Neither I nor any of my friends uses a tablet for work or pleasure. I guess I know a couple of people who have Surface Pro's, but that's about it. I'm wondering if the appeal of these begins when you get older? Seems like a lot of the market for these is people who are 50+, but I'd like to know if any people under 25 are interested in them.

I got my first iPad a year ago, suspecting I wouldn't use it for anything (and I'm nowhere close to 50). Turns out I couldn't have been more wrong. It's now my primary device for: - Reading and annotating books and papers in PDF format (academic research has never been easier, I use a stylus too) - Mounting to a tripod and recording video (e.g. professional presentations, with a lapel mic connected -- again, screen s…

This is my story too. I am not in the Apple ecosystem (I use mostly Linux) and don't really buy tech gadgets (e.g. I use an old phone), but I got a cheap iPad for a long trip where I wanted a map with a long battery, expecting to not really use it much more than that. I have ended up using it a ton.

My activities are similar to the above, primarily consumption. I have been reading books on it despite having a kindle (I maintain my "no gadgets" position above -- it was a gift) because it is so convenient to be able to switch between a book and other iPad activities, like looking up something online.

I'll add that the screen is great, the battery lasts forever, and (as a programmer) I really appreciate the high software quality.

Re: New iPad Air and iPad Mini

#88

Post by fipar »

jackfrodo wrote: post #3

I'm 24 years old, work in software. Neither I nor any of my friends uses a tablet for work or pleasure. I guess I know a couple of people who have Surface Pro's, but that's about it. I'm wondering if the appeal of these begins when you get older? Seems like a lot of the market for these is people who are 50+, but I'd like to know if any people under 25 are interested in them.

I think you may be biased by your career. I work in IT too and I don't have a tablet either, but most people not in our field that I know rarely use a laptop (even less a desktop) anymore. Some don't even own one. They do all their computing on tablets and phones.

There's a lot of market for kids too. Our 4yo has an ipad mini and our 12yo has an ipad pro. By the way, the 12yo loves to draw and the ipad pro + apple pencil is the first digital system she actually enjoys. She has a laptop too which she uses when she has to use specific software for school or do intensive writing, but otherwise most of her computing happens on the ipad.

Re: New iPad Air and iPad Mini

#89

Post by alaskamiller »

kalleboo wrote: post #61

Apple's product naming is confusing. Does anyone know what "Air" means? I thought it used to mean smallest and lightest. But on the Mac the "MacBook" is smaller and lighter, and on the iPad we have the smaller iPad Mini, and the "iPad" is smaller and only 14 grams heavier. From the MacBook Air line, we understood the definition to be "it's the cheap one", but that doesn't apply to the iPad line where it costs more. S…

It's really simple:

iBook became MacBook then derived MacBook Air, a thinner version

iPod derived iPod Mini, a smaller version

Ergo iPad Mini is smaller than the iPad while iPad Air is thinner than the iPad

Re: New iPad Air and iPad Mini

#90

Post by PorterDuff »

jackfrodo wrote: post #3

I'm 24 years old, work in software. Neither I nor any of my friends uses a tablet for work or pleasure. I guess I know a couple of people who have Surface Pro's, but that's about it. I'm wondering if the appeal of these begins when you get older? Seems like a lot of the market for these is people who are 50+, but I'd like to know if any people under 25 are interested in them.

Useless old man here.

I keep wondering when Apple is going to simply drop their traditional laptop and desktop business in favor of things like this. It's not a great leap of imagination to think of a desktop version of an iPad ala a Chromeboxesque approach.

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