Apple introduces M4 chip

> or Apple’s silicon game is racing far ahead of what I considered possible

Gruber's strange assumption here is that a new number means some major improvements. Apple has never really been consistent about sticking to patterns in product releases.

Battery replacement costs $200. It's not like you just have to throw it in the trash if the battery dies.

Making music. The iPad is much better for performing than a computer. There is a huge range of instruments, effects, sequencers, etc. available on the iPad. Things like physical modeling and chained reverb can eat up processor cycles so more performance is always welcomed.

Both Final Cut Pro and Davinci resolve can also use as much power as you can give them though it isn’t clear to me why you’d use an iPad instead of a Mac. They also announced a crazy multicam app for iPads and iPhones that allows remote control of a bunch of iPhones at the same time.

The GP comment can be misleading because it suggests Apple is tying storage to ram. That is not the case (at least not directly).

The RAM and system-on-chip are tied together as part of the system-on-package. The SoP is what enables M chips to hit their incredible memory bandwidth numbers.

This is not an easy thing to allow configuration. They can’t just plug a different memory chip as a final assembly step before shipping.

They only have two SoPs as part of this launch: 9-core CPU with 8gb, and 10-core CPU with 16gb. The RAM is unified for cpu/gpu (and I would assume neural engine too).

Each new SoP is going to reduce economies of scale and increase supply chain complexity. The 256/512gb models are tied to the first package, the 1/2tb models are tied to the second. Again, these are all part of the PCB, so production decisions have to be made way ahead of consumer orders.

Maybe it’s not perfect for each individual’s needs, but it seems reasonable to assume that those with greater storage needs also would benefit from more compute and RAM. That is, you need more storage to handle more video production so you are probably more likely to use more advanced features which make better use of increased compute and RAM.

iOS has become such a waste of great hardware, especially in the larger form factor of the iPad.

M1 chips, great screens, precise pencil input and keyboard support, but we still aren't permitted a serious OS on it, to protect the monopolistic store.

App Stores have beeen around long enough to prove that they're little more than laboratories in which to carry out accelerated enshittification experimentation. Everything so dumbed down and feature-light, yet demanding subscriptions or pushing endless scammy ads. And games that are a shameless introduction to gambling addiction, targeted at kids.

Most of the 'apps' that people actually use shouldn't need to be native apps anyway, they should be websites. And now we get the further enshittification of trying to force people out of the browser and into apps, not for a better experience, but for a worse one, where more data can be harvested and ads can't so easily be blocked...