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New iPad Air, powered by M4

apple.com

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Re: New iPad Air, powered by M4

#11

Post by aNoob7000 »

vintagedave wrote: post #4

My current iPad is the iPad Air 3 (the one with the backlight issue that's never been acknowledged, to my understanding.) Can someone explain to me why an iPad at all, let alone an iPad Air, needs as powerful a processor as a M4? That's stronger than my laptop (a M2) where I run multiple VMs and more.

They don't need it. Apple is introducing new hardware for the sake of introducing new hardware.

Personally, they need to put the iPad on a two-year release cycle and focus on improving iPad OS.

Re: New iPad Air, powered by M4

#12

Post by kandros »

vintagedave wrote: post #4

My current iPad is the iPad Air 3 (the one with the backlight issue that's never been acknowledged, to my understanding.) Can someone explain to me why an iPad at all, let alone an iPad Air, needs as powerful a processor as a M4? That's stronger than my laptop (a M2) where I run multiple VMs and more.

Pure marketing, in a couple years it will start lagging doing basic web surfing, like every other iOS device

Re: New iPad Air, powered by M4

#13

Post by surajrmal »

vintagedave wrote: post #4

My current iPad is the iPad Air 3 (the one with the backlight issue that's never been acknowledged, to my understanding.) Can someone explain to me why an iPad at all, let alone an iPad Air, needs as powerful a processor as a M4? That's stronger than my laptop (a M2) where I run multiple VMs and more.

In theory it improves battery life by doing more for less power. It also future proofs it for future workloads giving it an extended lifespan. Also note that thermals will limit what this is capable of compared to your laptop.

Re: New iPad Air, powered by M4

#14

Post by stetrain »

vintagedave wrote: post #4

My current iPad is the iPad Air 3 (the one with the backlight issue that's never been acknowledged, to my understanding.) Can someone explain to me why an iPad at all, let alone an iPad Air, needs as powerful a processor as a M4? That's stronger than my laptop (a M2) where I run multiple VMs and more.

There are some decently powerful apps available, like Final Cut Pro, and there is multi-window support including external displays.

I think the percentage of iPad users actually using this level of processing power is small, but there are some ways to do it.

I do really wish they would just allow running a VM on an iPad though at this point. Running a linux or even MacOS VM would be a nice escape valve for a lot of things that can't be done natively.

Re: New iPad Air, powered by M4

#16

Post by tiffanyh »

vintagedave wrote: post #4

My current iPad is the iPad Air 3 (the one with the backlight issue that's never been acknowledged, to my understanding.) Can someone explain to me why an iPad at all, let alone an iPad Air, needs as powerful a processor as a M4? That's stronger than my laptop (a M2) where I run multiple VMs and more.

It's Operations Management 101.

It's cheaper to use an old generation CPU, than the effort needed to design and manufacture a custom iPad-only chip.

Same reason why the Studio Display uses binned iPhone chips.

Re: New iPad Air, powered by M4

#17

Post by sh3rl0ck »

vintagedave wrote: post #4

My current iPad is the iPad Air 3 (the one with the backlight issue that's never been acknowledged, to my understanding.) Can someone explain to me why an iPad at all, let alone an iPad Air, needs as powerful a processor as a M4? That's stronger than my laptop (a M2) where I run multiple VMs and more.

I assume it's an economies of scale thing now.

It's not like Apple is putting any thought into either the UX or the engineering side of utilising the compute properly (except calculating those glass effects extra inefficiently).

Minimise SKUs and get some use out of the binned chips who have a few failed cores.

Re: New iPad Air, powered by M4

#18

Post by spudlyo »

I'm about to head to the gym with my 12.9-inch 2017 vintage iPad Pro, which is still going strong. I prop it up on the elliptical trainer every other day or so for entertaining me while I grind out an hour of cardio. I use it for reading, watching YouTube, listening to music, audiobooks, etc. It's been my regular gym buddy for years, and is showing no signs of needing to be replaced.

It's stuck on iPadOS 17.7.10, which is fine. I can only imagine that these new generation iPads will easily go for the next 10 years.

Re: New iPad Air, powered by M4

#19

Post by pchew »

vintagedave wrote: post #4

My current iPad is the iPad Air 3 (the one with the backlight issue that's never been acknowledged, to my understanding.) Can someone explain to me why an iPad at all, let alone an iPad Air, needs as powerful a processor as a M4? That's stronger than my laptop (a M2) where I run multiple VMs and more.

I have an iPad for the purpose of 3D modeling in Nomad Sculpt and Shapr3D. It’s an M2 Air, it’s still way overkill, and I’m regularly frustrated at how limited every piece of iPadOS software is compared to the hardware. The dichotomy of prioritizing iPad hardware but iPadOS being arguably their worst actively developed software is baffling.

Maybe there are people out there doing 8k video editing on their Pros, but I’ve yet to meet them.

Re: New iPad Air, powered by M4

#20

Post by wpm »

functionmouse wrote: post #15
easton wrote: post #7

Memory increase to 12GB, guess they still have reasonable pricing.

Don't vendors as big as Apple lock in their prices and contracts years in advance?

Rumor has it that Samsung hit them with a 100% price increase on RAM and Apple took it without even trying to negotiate
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