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Apple introduces iPad Air with powerful M3 chip and new Magic Keyboard

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Re: Apple introduces iPad Air with powerful M3 chip and new Magic Keyboard

#211

Post by sslbits »

couchdb_ouchdb wrote: post #173
steveBK123 wrote: post #164

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Give me a MB with LTE and I can finally stop buying&regretting iPads. Maybe Apple moving into the modem space will get us there but it does feel like some sort of purposeful market segmentation

Just tether to your phone

Whenever someone expresses a desire for Apple to produce a macbook with a 5G or LTE modem, someone always responds with "tether to your phone" or "use a hotspot" and I don't find these comments particularly useful.

Hotspot/tethered data is a separate pool from general mobile data. Once you've consumed the guaranteed "high" speeds (60GB on AT&T's current Unlimited Premium Plan), all hotspot speeds are then hard capped at 128Kbps. AFAIK you can't even purchase additional data at these speeds if you wanted to. Mobile data on an iPhone or iPad won't have that hard cap. Although in the past, once the guaranteed 5G speeds were consumed, your mobile data speed was simply deprioritized but could still achieve 5G speeds based on current network conditions/congestion.

There are scenarios where a notebook would need this much data and speed and there are Windows notebooks available for this purpose. The "just tether your phone" cohort either hasn't considered this or simply dismisses it because they may have not experienced this limitation personally. I suppose that Apple doesn't see the demand for a macbook with a mobile modem or otherwise doesn't see the need to make this option available.

Re: Apple introduces iPad Air with powerful M3 chip and new Magic Keyboard

#212

Post by benhurmarcel »

criddell wrote: post #103

The most annoying thing for me about the iPad lineup is that Apple hasn't released an iPad compatible version of their Journal app. IMHO, it's the perfect device for Journal. I want to write by hand and doodle and do all the other things you do in a paper journal. There's some reason they haven't done this and I'd love to know what it is. IMHO, it should have been iPad-first and then ported to the phone later.

It’s just that such a small startup don’t have the funds and resources to work on 2 CRUD apps at the same time.

Re: Apple introduces iPad Air with powerful M3 chip and new Magic Keyboard

#213

Post by davidmurdoch »

42772827 wrote: post #125
davidmurdoch wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But can't you do it faster on a faster processor?

If shaving milliseconds off of your workflow is so mission critical that spending an additional few hundred to few thousand dollars is worth it, you don’t need a snarky HN post to tell you which iPad to buy. And I’m not convinced that person even exists except in their own minds.

I read M4 is about 20% than M3 in editing photos from Lightroom. That's seems significant.

I don't have skin in the game here, as I don't own anything from Apple. I was just curious.

Re: Apple introduces iPad Air with powerful M3 chip and new Magic Keyboard

#214

Post by benhurmarcel »

eknkc wrote: post #49

I owned multiple iPads and never found a compelling use case for them. I don't know why I keep buying them but they have been great computers for my parents so it's not like I buy to shelf them. Are there any use cases (apart from drawing maybe. I can't draw a stick figure if my life depended on it so that's not for me) for developers?

Mine is basically an HN reader for the couch

Re: Apple introduces iPad Air with powerful M3 chip and new Magic Keyboard

#215

Post by fckgw »

notesinthefield wrote: post #6

Were it not for constantly updated buying guides from tech news sites, Im not sure anyone even Apple employees themselves would know which iPad to recommend to anyone.

It's not that complicated, there's basically 3 iPads. iPad, iPad Air, iPad Pro. Good, Better and Best. The Mini is a niche product that you buy if you need a smaller iPad.

The famous "four quadrant" product matrix expanded to "Good, Better, Best" across most their product line towards the ends of Job's era. Airpods/Pro/Max. Apple Watch SE/10/Ultra. iPhone 16e/16/Pro (with some size variations).

I keep seeing people saying it's complicated but it's really not.

Re: Apple introduces iPad Air with powerful M3 chip and new Magic Keyboard

#216

Post by philistine »

fckgw wrote: post #215
notesinthefield wrote: post #6

Were it not for constantly updated buying guides from tech news sites, Im not sure anyone even Apple employees themselves would know which iPad to recommend to anyone.

It's not that complicated, there's basically 3 iPads. iPad, iPad Air, iPad Pro. Good, Better and Best. The Mini is a niche product that you buy if you need a smaller iPad. The famous "four quadrant" product matrix expanded to "Good, Better, Best" across most their product line towards the ends of Job's era. Airpods/Pro/Max. Apple Watch SE/10/Ultra. iPhone 16e/16/Pro (with some size variations). I keep seeing people s…

Even during the Jobs era there was a good/better/best inside of there. The first iMac had good/better/best configs. It's just that Apple became so big that the best sometimes became a completely different machine, with its own good/better/best!

Re: Apple introduces iPad Air with powerful M3 chip and new Magic Keyboard

#217

Post by FredPret »

alberth wrote: post #207
FredPret wrote: post #204

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's been a ton of inflation. Apple makes an OK but not spectacular margin on hardware. These are for Q4 2024: Hardware: 98B revenue, 59.5B cost of sales, 38.5B gross profit, 40% gross margin Services: 26B revenue, 6.5B cost of sales, 19.5B gross profit, 75% gross margin Look on page three of this: https://www.sec.gov/ix?doc=/Archives/edgar/data/320193/00003...

None of those services would exist without Apples hardware business though. So you can't exactly look at the margins in insolation.

As an investor, I don't. But your point was about rising hardware prices, and services subsidize the hardware if anything by the mechanism you mention.

Re: Apple introduces iPad Air with powerful M3 chip and new Magic Keyboard

#218

Post by TheNewsIsHere »

torginus wrote: post #192
couchdb_ouchdb wrote: post #173

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just tether to your phone

TIL if you plug your iphone into your mac, it will automatically switch to mobile data, if you have hotspot on, even if you have wifi. Wasn't exactly delighted to find out.

I’ve never seen that behavior without configuration. Can you reproduce that reliably?

Re: Apple introduces iPad Air with powerful M3 chip and new Magic Keyboard

#219

Post by shepherdjerred »

post_break wrote: post #95

I just want an 11" Macbook air again. Even with the M2 it would fly. iPads with this horsepower just don't make sense. It's like a V8 Miata with 4 donuts for tires.

I would love an 11" MacBook. The new chips are perfect for that form factor given they're so powerful & light on battery.

Re: Apple introduces iPad Air with powerful M3 chip and new Magic Keyboard

#220

Post by shepherdjerred »

eknkc wrote: post #49

I owned multiple iPads and never found a compelling use case for them. I don't know why I keep buying them but they have been great computers for my parents so it's not like I buy to shelf them. Are there any use cases (apart from drawing maybe. I can't draw a stick figure if my life depended on it so that's not for me) for developers?

I do the exact same thing. I buy an iPad because it seems cool, use it for a bit, forget about it, sell it/give it away, repeat two years later.

I love the idea of an iPad, but they just don't really fit into my life I guess.

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