New iPad Air, powered by M4 • Hacker News Board

Re: New iPad Air, powered by M4

#221

Post by zer0zzz » Mon, Mar 02, 2026, 6:28 PM UTC

moolcool wrote: post #214

The iPad would go from a never-buy to a buy-right-away for me, if they added user profiles. It'd be a nice thing to have on your coffee table, where anyone in the household can pick it up and be logged into all of their stuff. Windows XP had this feature. Chromebooks have this feature. It's inexcusable that such an expensive gadget can only have one user.

I really agree with this. Right now I have a folder on my wife’s iPad Air 13 with Claude, brave, and other nerdy apps. This is totally a workaround for not having profiles/multi login.

Re: New iPad Air, powered by M4

#222

Post by pier25 » Mon, Mar 02, 2026, 6:28 PM UTC

joshkojoras wrote: post #199

I had a 2008 iPad until few years ago and I think it was the most impressive device I ever owned. I couldn't believe how much performance and longevity you can get out of such a small and simple device, for the price which hasn't changed in 8 years. I sold it because I spent most of my time on a laptop, but looking at this new M4 Air iPad makes my wallet tingle. I first want to see what the low cost Macbook is like,…

The iPad 1 was released in 2010

Re: New iPad Air, powered by M4

#223

Post by [deleted] » Mon, Mar 02, 2026, 6:28 PM UTC

g8oz wrote: post #125

NetMageSCW wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That has never been true. My iPhone 15 Pro and iPad M1 have no lag.

Those devices are too young to start lagging. Eventually websites will bloat to the point that you will definitely notice. My estimate is that it will be at the 7 year point.

[deleted]

Re: New iPad Air, powered by M4

#224

Post by SOLAR_FIELDS » Mon, Mar 02, 2026, 6:28 PM UTC

moolcool wrote: post #214

The iPad would go from a never-buy to a buy-right-away for me, if they added user profiles. It'd be a nice thing to have on your coffee table, where anyone in the household can pick it up and be logged into all of their stuff. Windows XP had this feature. Chromebooks have this feature. It's inexcusable that such an expensive gadget can only have one user.

Apple has historically never been good at multiple users at the same machine. Even MacOS is still pretty bad at it. IMO incentives are not aligned here, they want everyone purchasing their own iPad, so i suspect that their strategy is to not invest too much into profile management as it risks cannibalizing their hardware sales.

Re: New iPad Air, powered by M4

#225

Post by zer0zzz » Mon, Mar 02, 2026, 6:29 PM UTC

btucker wrote: post #219

moolcool wrote: post #214

The iPad would go from a never-buy to a buy-right-away for me, if they added user profiles. It'd be a nice thing to have on your coffee table, where anyone in the household can pick it up and be logged into all of their stuff. Windows XP had this feature. Chromebooks have this feature. It's inexcusable that such an expensive gadget can only have one user.

I am convinced they’ve done research that says they would sell a meaningfully smaller number of units if they added this feature. Sigh…

Obviously. I’m considering buying one of these when we already have one in the family for exactly that reason.

Re: New iPad Air, powered by M4

#226

Post by siva7 » Mon, Mar 02, 2026, 6:29 PM UTC

I still have the 2017 pro and i can't imagine a good enough reason to buy almost 10 years later a new gen. And i'm the guy who loves buying new stuff without need. It's a dumb consumer device with the hardware of a pro device but you can't use it as a pro device. So what's the point of upgrading? Watching Youtube with 10x more powerful hardware than 2017? Really?

Re: New iPad Air, powered by M4

#227

Post by monocularvision » Mon, Mar 02, 2026, 6:30 PM UTC

ezfe wrote: post #185

Havoc wrote: post #117

To what end? I genuinely don’t get the purpose of these high end processors in a tablet. Like more power is nice but what would I do on it that needs it? Serious gamers mostly steer clear of Apple. Video editors presumably use desktops/laptops. Browsing doesn’t need power. Video watching doesn’t need it. Programming on iPads is cumbersome. Who is the target audience that gains from this?

People complain when Apple doesn't do spec bumps. But when Apple does do spec bumps, people complain again.

It’s as if there are a bunch of different people out there.

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Goomba_fallacy

Re: New iPad Air, powered by M4

#228

Post by jeroenhd » Mon, Mar 02, 2026, 6:30 PM UTC

sccxy wrote: post #160

Can you connect it to USB-C/Thunderbolt monitor/dock and use it with keyboard and mouse?

Has been for a while, assuming you can get work done on the iPad UI. It doesn't do a normal mouse and there are some limitations to things like screen dimensions.

Works in a pinch but Apple is not going to compete with themselves on this front, they're expecting you to buy a macbook for serious work and an iPad for work in a pinch.

Re: New iPad Air, powered by M4

#229

Post by ErneX » Mon, Mar 02, 2026, 6:30 PM UTC

eknkc wrote: post #76

I still have no idea wht to do with my previous gen iPad Pro..

imo the Pro are for serious creative types who do either 3D modelling, illustration, photo editing, video editing or music.

If you just browse the web and stuff like that you might just get a regular iPad.

Re: New iPad Air, powered by M4

#230

Post by JadeNB » Mon, Mar 02, 2026, 6:30 PM UTC

SOLAR_FIELDS wrote: post #224

moolcool wrote: post #214

The iPad would go from a never-buy to a buy-right-away for me, if they added user profiles. It'd be a nice thing to have on your coffee table, where anyone in the household can pick it up and be logged into all of their stuff. Windows XP had this feature. Chromebooks have this feature. It's inexcusable that such an expensive gadget can only have one user.

Apple has historically never been good at multiple users at the same machine. Even MacOS is still pretty bad at it. IMO incentives are not aligned here, they want everyone purchasing their own iPad, so i suspect that their strategy is to not invest too much into profile management as it risks cannibalizing their hardware sales.

> Even MacOS is still pretty bad at it.

What problems do you see with multiple users on macOS? I don't use it intensively, but I've never noticed issues.