Apple releases Ipad 3 • Hacker News Board

Re: Apple releases Ipad 3

#141

Post by jiggy2011 » Wed, Mar 07, 2012, 9:13 PM UTC

runako wrote: post #83

Xuzz wrote: post #3

Although the HN title (currently) says "Ipad 3", Apple seems to actually be calling it the new "iPad" (edit: "new iPad", not "New iPad"). It's a bit confusing: next year, is it then the "old iPad"? But, we don't really have that issue with many other Apple products (iPod nano, all Macs, etc) that use the same naming scheme. So we'll see how bad it actually ends up.

I think this is one way Apple brings their marketing in line with how average consumers think. Most non-gadget people don't know the difference between the iPhone 4, 4S, and 3GS , other than price. They assume the more expensive one is better and does more stuff. But model numbers (even if it's just a single number) are not the way most consumers think. Similarly, the iPhone 4S simply says "iPhone" on the back and is…

I'm not sure , sticking numbers after something is a fairly universal thing. Movies, video games and most software has been doing this for a while.

Re: Apple releases Ipad 3

#142

Post by k-mcgrady » Wed, Mar 07, 2012, 9:13 PM UTC

jiggy2011 wrote: post #73

Aloisius wrote: post #10

It should be noted that the limited data plans for both AT&T and Verizon mean that at the max 4G speed of 73 Mbps, you could use all your bandwidth for the entire month in less than three and a half minutes (2 GB plan). The overages of $10/GB per month on both services mean once you go over your plan, you'll be looking at a little over $5/minute in new charges. It is possible (though highly unlikely) to rack up over…

I wonder if the next step for Apple is to use their cash reserves to buy a carrier then of course all of their devices will be restricted to it.

Not really possible. If they were going to restrict their devices to their own carrier they would need a presence in most countries in the world. For Apple to buy a big carrier in every country they operate would be costly and stupid (it would be difficult to manage carriers all over the world when they just want to produce hardware and software).

Re: Apple releases Ipad 3

#143

Post by bugsbunnyak » Wed, Mar 07, 2012, 9:14 PM UTC

Osiris wrote: post #63

I think Apple is doing a great thing by pushing up display resolutions. I can't believe that PC manufacturers still REFUSE to produce laptops (at least consumer grade) with any resolutions higher than 1366x768. I've been watching consumer laptop sales for a year and the only one I've seen with a higher resolutions is a 17" beast. Luckily I got a 15" Macbook Pro from work with a 1680x1050. Everyone's known since the i…

ASUS n55sf is <$1k from some vendors with 1920x1080 (plus quad core i7, 2 gb nvidia 555m, 8 gb ram)

Re: Apple releases Ipad 3

#144

Post by bryanlarsen » Wed, Mar 07, 2012, 9:14 PM UTC

kenrikm wrote: post #111

nextparadigms wrote: post #99

Since the pixels are multiplied by 4, and the GPU only by 2, does this means the real world performance (in games) of the iPad 3 GPU should be half the performance of iPad 2?

I doubt they are using the same GPU that's in the iPad 2,I suspect that they went with a higher end GPU and made it Quad. We will have to wait for a teardown to know with 100% certainty though.

A teardown won't tell you anything: it'll tell you that the GPU is in a chip called the A5X. You might be able to get a little more by pulling out an electron microscope, but iFixit doesn't go that far, yet. :)

It'll be the people doing software sleuthing that'll get you the answer.

However we are fairly confident that Apple didn't build their own GPU -- they would have bragged about it if they did. There are a limited number of GPUs IP blocks available for licensing, so that does mean that speculation can be relatively accurate. Their use of the term "quad-core" makes it highly likely they're using the SGX543MP4, twice what is in the iPad 2 (although perhaps higher clocked or with better memory bandwidth). That's also the GPU in the playstation vita.

Re: Apple releases Ipad 3

#145

Post by rdl » Wed, Mar 07, 2012, 9:16 PM UTC

cwe wrote: post #95

samstave wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is exactly what happened to me after I bought a MyTouch 4G which allowed wifi hotspotting for my laptop. While I was not charged overage fees, my data rate was crippled to 57Kbps. The thing sits in the drawer and I NEVER use it because its useless. I am paying $100 a month for it. They want $400!!! to cancel it. Fuck these carriers.

If you have more than 4 months left on your contract, it will be cheaper to cancel it now.

You can often get them to not charge the early termination fee either by either being really deserving-seeming, or being a belligerent asshole (but you have to be consistent). At least with t-mo and sprint, never tried with ATT or VZ.

Re: Apple releases Ipad 3

#146

Post by cicloid » Wed, Mar 07, 2012, 9:17 PM UTC

Isn't the LTE migration in part a cost saving measure for carriers and later on the final user?

From what I remember, LTE does pump more data in a more cheap way; and the infrastructure for it is more cheap also.

Re: Apple releases Ipad 3

#147

Post by rdl » Wed, Mar 07, 2012, 9:17 PM UTC

Gabler wrote: post #138

samstave wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is exactly what happened to me after I bought a MyTouch 4G which allowed wifi hotspotting for my laptop. While I was not charged overage fees, my data rate was crippled to 57Kbps. The thing sits in the drawer and I NEVER use it because its useless. I am paying $100 a month for it. They want $400!!! to cancel it. Fuck these carriers.

When I see people complaining about being capped at 50kb/s speeds it makes me sad to live in New Zealand where our capped speeds are about 15kb/s at best.

I was always amused when $12/MB BGAN (L-band satellite) service was cheaper than roaming cellular data on some plans.

Re: Apple releases Ipad 3

#148

Post by huggyface » Wed, Mar 07, 2012, 9:18 PM UTC

bryanlarsen wrote: post #114

nextparadigms wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What is it about it that made you want it so much? There will be Android tablets with just as high or higher resolution very soon, and with stronger CPU's than the still dual core Cortex A9 chip in the iPad 3.

I'm thinking the same thing. The ASUS infinity's 1920x1200 screen is probably high enough to qualify as "retina" for my eyes at normal viewing distances, and the dual-S4 appears to be at least twice as fast as a dual core A9. The WIFI model isn't quite as exciting because it only uses quad core A9.

The Asus Infinity is on my shortlist, however realistically when could it be in hand? Next month? The next month? Late summer?

That's sadly how it usually is for products from just about any other company, and I wish they would learn from Apple. One company that seems to have gotten a clue on that is Samsung who are quite rightly trying to quiet the Galaxy S III noise until it is close to general availability.

As to the actual CPU power I think it's reasonable to say that we're at a stage where how you use the CPU becomes far more important than the CPU itself. Apple manages to make a "1st generation" iPad operate competitively with a current generation Transformer Prime. That is just perverse. I want to fully exploit those dual A15 cores of the Infinity LTE, but sadly a lot of it is just trying to overcome the software gap.

Re: Apple releases Ipad 3

#149

Post by veyron » Wed, Mar 07, 2012, 9:19 PM UTC

ugh wrote: post #113

samstave wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is exactly what happened to me after I bought a MyTouch 4G which allowed wifi hotspotting for my laptop. While I was not charged overage fees, my data rate was crippled to 57Kbps. The thing sits in the drawer and I NEVER use it because its useless. I am paying $100 a month for it. They want $400!!! to cancel it. Fuck these carriers.

I’m not really sure why you are angry at the carriers. Knowing about the limits and how much you need is kinda your job. I know that I need at least half a terabyte per month when I’m using my laptop and I know to always check how much bandwidth I can get from the carriers. Your responsibility.

What are your thoughts about AT&T crippling unlimited data customers going over a specified limit (iirc 3GB)?

Re: Apple releases Ipad 3

#150

Post by bhousel » Wed, Mar 07, 2012, 9:20 PM UTC

Aloisius wrote: post #10

It should be noted that the limited data plans for both AT&T and Verizon mean that at the max 4G speed of 73 Mbps, you could use all your bandwidth for the entire month in less than three and a half minutes (2 GB plan). The overages of $10/GB per month on both services mean once you go over your plan, you'll be looking at a little over $5/minute in new charges. It is possible (though highly unlikely) to rack up over…

>Sadly Sprint, which has unlimited 4G last i checked, was absent from the release of the new iPad.

I think Sprint is excluded because their 4G service is based on WiWax for now, although they are switching to LTE later this year and continuing into 2013.