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New iPad Air, powered by M4

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Re: New iPad Air, powered by M4

#271

Post by bubblewand »

tsycho wrote: post #261
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 agree that this would be an awesome feature, and it would also significantly enhance iPads' value for me. That said, having worked on account/identity systems at another FAANG, I think that the commenters saying that Apple is holding this back purely to sell more iPads are underestimating the complexity of this feature. This is not a feature that you just bolt on to the top. It will require a significant ground up…

I’m guessing the main (technical) hang-up is that it messes really badly with one of the most distinctive things about iPads vs other devices, which is extremely low time-to-interactive from any sleep state. Device been sitting on your desk untouched for three weeks? Pick it up and it’s ready to go almost before you are, and still with a useful amount of battery left (offer void for cellular models).

Re: New iPad Air, powered by M4

#272

Post by kibwen »

bombcar wrote: post #200
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?

They're half a second away from offering an iPad running MacOS (or a tablet MacBook, take your pick). They're baby-stepping their way to this, obviously. I've yet to figure anything you can do with these but watch videos and play some games; I always end up grabbing the laptop.

Doubt. Apple doesn't see hardware sales as a primary revenue driver, rather they're a rent-seeking company that makes money by being the iron-fisted middleman for the app store. They don't see any benefit from user freedom if it makes them less money in the end.

Re: New iPad Air, powered by M4

#273

Post by mikeocool »

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.

Like 20 years ago OS X server had pretty great support for it.

I worked a university lab and had an account on the lab server. I could walk up to any computer in the lab and login and get the exact same desktop experience with all my files and settings. The computing power was all on the local machine, but it basically mounted my user folder from the server.

That was the only time I worked anywhere with that setup on Macs, but it worked so well. Though it was admittedly not your standard office environment — there were frequent compelling reasons for me to be using different machines in different parts of the lab, and not a lot of compelling reasons for me to use that account from a computer on a remote network.

Re: New iPad Air, powered by M4

#274

Post by tempaccount5050 »

thewebguyd wrote: post #157

The iPad Air is in such a weird spot. Heavier than the Pro, 60Hz, but more Ram in the M4 Air than the M4 Pro? It makes no sense. Who is this for?

I can say they are used heavily in the construction industry for Autodesk Cloud to render drawings for field workers. Very resource intensive.

Re: New iPad Air, powered by M4

#275

Post by ewoodrich »

tsycho wrote: post #261
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 agree that this would be an awesome feature, and it would also significantly enhance iPads' value for me. That said, having worked on account/identity systems at another FAANG, I think that the commenters saying that Apple is holding this back purely to sell more iPads are underestimating the complexity of this feature. This is not a feature that you just bolt on to the top. It will require a significant ground up…

  Shared iPad overview

  Shared iPad allows more than one user to sign in to an iPad. The iPad needs to be supervised before Shared iPad can be used. Shared iPad can be used not only in education but also in business. Multiple users can use the iPad, and the user experiences can be personal even though the devices are shared.

  Shared iPad requires a device management service and Managed Apple Accounts that an organization issues and owns. Users with a Managed Apple Account can then sign in to an organization-owned Shared iPad. Devices need to have at least 32 GB of storage and be supervised. The following devices support Shared iPad:
https://support.apple.com/en-ca/guide/deployment/dep9a34c2ba...

Re: New iPad Air, powered by M4

#276

Post by CharlesW »

selectodude wrote: post #250
upmind wrote: post #244

I owned a few iPads as a kid but as I get older I see less and less reason to buy one. It kinda sits in the middle of usefulness of a phone and laptop for me. Larger screen than phone yes, but can't run any of the applications I need from a laptop. If it had MacOS, I'd be much more inclined to buy it.

I'm kind of surprised that Apple hasn't full throttle on foldables. I'm more apt to spend $2500 on a foldable iPhone than I am $1500 on an iPhone and an iPad. I don't think I'm alone here.

When they introduce their first foldable device this year, keep in mind that Apple has been ideating on and prototyping concept devices with foldable displays long before working prototypes of foldable screens existed. The first Apple patent related to devices with flexible displays was filed in 2011. The first Apple patent related to hinges for foldable devices was filed in 2015.

Foldable device prototypes were publicly demonstrated in 2013. It took five years for the technologies required to enable foldable devices to become mature enough to ship bad products. It took another five years for them to mature enough to meet Apple's scale and quality requirements.

This isn't a "moonshot" (which take decades to build), but hardware innovations like this regularly take a decade to properly productize.

Re: New iPad Air, powered by M4

#277

Post by bubblewand »

game_the0ry wrote: post #81
Mindwipe wrote: post #45

The Pro really looks like it's struggling for a reason to exist given how much cheaper this will be and the difference in feature set.

FWIW, my wife is a student and her ipad has probably helped out her out a lot, for a lot of reasons: * compact form factor allows her to study anywhere easily, especially on public transportation * can access the internet almost anywhere * note taking and drawing diagrams with apple pencil * communication wit for both personal (imessage) and school study buddies (discord) * can entertain herself with netflix, youtube…

Maybe a minor thing, but the largest pro in landscape is just barely smaller than a two-page spread in a comic book, making it possibly the best way to read digital comics.

Though, I personally don’t need all the horsepower and would get lower-end iPads in that size if they existed and were cheaper.

Re: New iPad Air, powered by M4

#278

Post by giobox »

dmd wrote: post #268
tsycho wrote: post #261

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree that this would be an awesome feature, and it would also significantly enhance iPads' value for me. That said, having worked on account/identity systems at another FAANG, I think that the commenters saying that Apple is holding this back purely to sell more iPads are underestimating the complexity of this feature. This is not a feature that you just bolt on to the top. It will require a significant ground up…

How does your assertion hold up give they've already written this code and it's used every day by millions of people? You just have to turn it on with a MDM profile. It's just consumers they don't let use it.

"Shared iPad" in Apple marketing speak: https://support.apple.com/guide/deployment/shared-ipad-overv...

And yes, it's existed for years now. That ordinary consumers can't have it is a business choice, not a technical limitation.

Re: New iPad Air, powered by M4

#279

Post by jtbayly »

tsycho wrote: post #261
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 agree that this would be an awesome feature, and it would also significantly enhance iPads' value for me. That said, having worked on account/identity systems at another FAANG, I think that the commenters saying that Apple is holding this back purely to sell more iPads are underestimating the complexity of this feature. This is not a feature that you just bolt on to the top. It will require a significant ground up…

Isn't it already possible with MDM? If so, do these problems all exist? I've considered using MDM just to get this feature, so I'm curious if anybody has experience with it.

Re: New iPad Air, powered by M4

#280

Post by Jaxan »

BashiBazouk wrote: post #251

I have a 6 with cracked glass and won't buy another one until 3rd party browsers can release without webkit. The net is an awful place without uBlock, which I am reminded about every time I try to surf with the ipad...

Doesn’t AdGuard work?
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