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iPad Air Review

anandtech.com

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Re: iPad Air Review

#21

Post by product50 »

programminggeek wrote: post #13

"The iPad Air is the most significant upgrade to the 9.7-inch iPad in its history." I would actually say the iPad to iPad 2 transition was a bigger jump, but maybe just because it's so easy to forget how much bigger and bulkier the original iPad was. The iPad came out what 3 and a half years ago and it's faster, lighter, better resolution, and has gone from a "who would ever buy that" to one of the most popular compu…

Have you tried/used the iPad Air? How can you pass a judgment on something based on reviews when the reviewer himself is asserting something opposite to you?

Re: iPad Air Review

#22

Post by gwright »

blinkingled wrote: post #17
gwright wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is all about tradeoffs. Memory requires power and so more memory means a shorter battery life.

Yes, in this case more RAM is arguably the better trade off. Less need to reload apps and browser tabs, better multitasking performance etc. are good things to have over the 15 min or whatever of battery loss it might take to power on additional 1GB of LPDDR3 RAM. It's just a vastly better user experience for the common use cases. (Besides there are other tablets with 2GB RAM and they come very close to iPad in terms…

Its all about tradeoffs. How many customers would benefit from boosts in multi-tasking and tab re-loading vs. longer battery life? Apple is known for its outstanding battery life, does it make sense to step back from that for the benefits that you describe?

Re: iPad Air Review

#24

Post by blinkingled »

gwright wrote: post #22
blinkingled wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, in this case more RAM is arguably the better trade off. Less need to reload apps and browser tabs, better multitasking performance etc. are good things to have over the 15 min or whatever of battery loss it might take to power on additional 1GB of LPDDR3 RAM. It's just a vastly better user experience for the common use cases. (Besides there are other tablets with 2GB RAM and they come very close to iPad in terms…

Its all about tradeoffs. How many customers would benefit from boosts in multi-tasking and tab re-loading vs. longer battery life? Apple is known for its outstanding battery life, does it make sense to step back from that for the benefits that you describe?

Whatever number of customers use a browser to browse the Internet using their iPad - they would benefit from the RAM increase. Besides it's not known how much exactly another GB would cost in terms of lost minutes of battery. Probably nothing to sweat about.

But I will defend your right to defend Apple at any cost - known or unknown ;)

Re: iPad Air Review

#25

Post by qq66 »

Segmentation wrote: post #20

I wasn't planning on buying an iPad Air, as I'm still happy with my iPad 2, but that comparison chart on the first page really sold me that the iPad Air is the first real upgrade to the iPad 2. My only complaint is I want high capacity, and I find it so ridiculous that to go from 16GB to 64GB I have to pay $200 extra. Two hundred dollars for 48GB. I think the last time I paid that much for 48GB was ten years ago. Edi…

I think the main reason that Apple doesn't include MicroSD is that they want to control the entire product experience, including data ingress and egress. Not only to protect lucrative margins, but also because they know that if the user screws something up by deleting files off the SD card etc, they'll blame Apple whether that's fair or not.

That assertion of control makes iOS unsuitable for many users, but Apple has consciously chosen a market segment and its proven itself a large one.

Re: iPad Air Review

#26

Post by Recoil42 »

ricardobeat wrote: post #10
jason_wang wrote: post #6

The device I really wish exists is an iPad Air minus the computing power. Just a screen to stream videos to from a iPhone, a laptop or a cable box. A portable screen that's a lot less powerful than an iPad but a bit more powerful than a digital picture frame. Surprisingly this is for my parents. They watch videos all the time and watching videos on an iPhone is too small, on a laptop is too bulky and on an iPad is to…

You're out of luck, the processor costs something like $10, taking it it out would hardly nudge the price. Get a cheap android tablet or a mini LED projector instead.

The processor alone would barely nudge the price, but removing the NAND, RAM, and camera modules along with it definitely would make huge difference. Even more if you can kill the touchscreen.

Unfortunately, the resulting product is also an incredibly limited niche.

Re: iPad Air Review

#27

Post by psbp »

I'm waiting for the iPad Pro. Assuming "Air" and "Mini" are hints of a mac to tablet replacement (coalescence?) strategy, an iPad that challenges the Microsoft Surface's role as a hybrid device would be spectacular.

Re: iPad Air Review

#28

Post by MikeCapone »

nwh wrote: post #5
blinkingled wrote: post #3

Another great review as usual from Anandtech. Wow, Apple is still skimping on RAM at the expense of user experience. It would've been a great time to bump the RAM up to 2GB given the switch to 64-bit iOS 7 seems to be causing 20-30% higher memory consumption. It was already kind of bad on previous gen 32-bit iPads. It's still tempting to upgrade from the brick that the iPad 3 now feels but I'll live with it until the…

iOS7 does have memory compression though.

Could you point me to a URL that shows that iOS7 have compressed memory? I couldn't find an official mention of it (maybe I'm searching for it wrong).

Re: iPad Air Review

#29

Post by barista »

psbp wrote: post #27

I'm waiting for the iPad Pro. Assuming "Air" and "Mini" are hints of a mac to tablet replacement (coalescence?) strategy, an iPad that challenges the Microsoft Surface's role as a hybrid device would be spectacular.

That is MacBook air I think. Except no touch, no tablet form factor, no pen and worse screen.

Re: iPad Air Review

#30

Post by barista »

qq66 wrote: post #25
Segmentation wrote: post #20

I wasn't planning on buying an iPad Air, as I'm still happy with my iPad 2, but that comparison chart on the first page really sold me that the iPad Air is the first real upgrade to the iPad 2. My only complaint is I want high capacity, and I find it so ridiculous that to go from 16GB to 64GB I have to pay $200 extra. Two hundred dollars for 48GB. I think the last time I paid that much for 48GB was ten years ago. Edi…

I think the main reason that Apple doesn't include MicroSD is that they want to control the entire product experience, including data ingress and egress. Not only to protect lucrative margins, but also because they know that if the user screws something up by deleting files off the SD card etc, they'll blame Apple whether that's fair or not. That assertion of control makes iOS unsuitable for many users, but Apple has…

Also because they can charge $100 for 16 GB of storage. The same microsd card would cost you $10 or less.
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