New iPad Air, powered by M4 • Hacker News Board

Re: New iPad Air, powered by M4

#421

Post by dzhiurgis » Mon, Mar 02, 2026, 9:24 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.

Definitely needed, but also, personally I don't have a need for yet another screen in my life. My iPad is powered like once every two weeks, only when kids beg the shit out of me. I don't particularly enjoy it using it over macbook either. Perhaps OK as your main device if you don't need a laptop I guess.

Re: New iPad Air, powered by M4

#422

Post by mercutio2 » Mon, Mar 02, 2026, 9:28 PM UTC

marrone12 wrote: post #367

rossant wrote: post #338

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thank you for making me feel old. The first iPad came out when I was doing my PhD. When I was a kid, Tim Berners-Lee was inventing the web.

I remember sitting on my friend's couch drinking beer when they announced the iPad and debating if it was ever going to be popular. Time marches on.

I was working at Apple and wondering the same thing ;)

Turns out people like them. Not so much the HN crowd, but c’est la vie.

Re: New iPad Air, powered by M4

#423

Post by 46493168 » Mon, Mar 02, 2026, 9:28 PM UTC

mort96 wrote: post #195

baby wrote: post #189

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ive been using mine since 2018, the ipad pro. If you do any drawing then it’s a no brainer, and that’s why I got it in the first place. Then it was so good that I used it to travel and to watch videos in bed in place of my computer. If I need to work I’ll take my laptop though. IMO if you don’t use your laptop to work it doesn’t make sense to use a laptop instead of an iPad.

It's great, sure. But why release an M4 iPad Pro when essentially no software can make use of the processor power improvements since 2018?

Because people will buy it.

Re: New iPad Air, powered by M4

#424

Post by pixelmonkey » Mon, Mar 02, 2026, 9:29 PM UTC

If you were utterly confused, like I was, how the iPad Air M4 compares to the iPad Pro M5 and the iPad Pro M4, this 3-column comparison table from Apple's website might help:

https://www.apple.com/ipad/compare/?modelList=ipad-air-11-m4...

The quick summary:

- iPad Air has 2 stereo speakers, rather than 4 speakers as Pro models

- Touch ID in top button rather than FaceID as Pro models

- iPad Air is slightly heavier (???) than either Pro model

- screen of iPad Air is a bit less bright

- no nano-texture display option on iPad Air

- no true Thunderbolt connectivity through USB-C port on iPad Air

- all devices can use same Apple Pencil Pro...

- ... but the iPad Air takes a special Magic Keyboard (supposedly due to form factor)

- camera array is slightly different on iPad Air (no ProRes video)

Re: New iPad Air, powered by M4

#425

Post by scotchmi_st » Mon, Mar 02, 2026, 9:31 PM UTC

tomaskafka wrote: post #234

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.

Tim Cook's fear of people not buying a full set of Apple devices for each person is the driving force behind not just the lack of multiuser support, but also the overall nerfing of iPadOS. For the past 5+ years it's been, "This will be the year of real work on the iPad," but they keep circling around it, trying not to make iPads accidentally powerful enough for someone to skip buying a MacBook.

They spend plenty of time adding "pro" features and apps like Final Cut Pro and Logic Pro, which they wouldn't do unless they wanted people to use them.

I'm willing to bet it's as simple as that no Apple SWEs or anyone who has to edit video or sound uses an ipad for work. As soon as Apple forced some to use one, they'd fix all of the UI problems that make them a nightmare.

Re: New iPad Air, powered by M4

#426

Post by jonasdegendt » Mon, Mar 02, 2026, 9:32 PM UTC

bigstrat2003 wrote: post #312

tomaskafka wrote: post #234

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Tim Cook's fear of people not buying a full set of Apple devices for each person is the driving force behind not just the lack of multiuser support, but also the overall nerfing of iPadOS. For the past 5+ years it's been, "This will be the year of real work on the iPad," but they keep circling around it, trying not to make iPads accidentally powerful enough for someone to skip buying a MacBook.

> they keep circling around it, trying not to make iPads accidentally powerful enough for someone to skip buying a MacBook. Which is really silly, because if someone needs to do actual work they are not going to do it on an iPad no matter how capable it is. The form factor simply does not work for getting work done. Apple has nothing to fear here.

Didn’t Apple themselves at some point release an ad with a teenager using an iPad going “what’s a computer”?

They’re pretty aware they’d be cannibalizing their lower-end laptop lineup.

Re: New iPad Air, powered by M4

#427

Post by mercutio2 » Mon, Mar 02, 2026, 9:32 PM UTC

upmind wrote: post #307

selectodude wrote: post #250

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

They're quite scared to take risks I think, from what I heard it seems it was meant to be released already but they've delayed it a bunch, I wonder if in part due to AVP failure.

“Scared” to “take risks”?

This is a bizarre way of saying “if they ship it and it has reliability problems, they know they’re skating on thin ice”.

Apple’s brand has taken a beating (I’m as aghast with the latest macOS as the next nerd), but people love that when Apple ships a product, it generally works and the hardware doesn’t break.

Butterfly keyboards are a terrible stain on the hardware team’s reputation. “Scared” is the wrong word for how these things work.

Re: New iPad Air, powered by M4

#428

Post by red_hare » Mon, Mar 02, 2026, 9:35 PM UTC

spudlyo wrote: post #18

I'm about to head to the gym with my 12.9-inch 2017 vintage iPad Pro, which is still going strong. I prop it up on the elliptical trainer every other day or so for entertaining me while I grind out an hour of cardio. I use it for reading, watching YouTube, listening to music, audiobooks, etc. It's been my regular gym buddy for years, and is showing no signs of needing to be replaced. It's stuck on iPadOS 17.7.10, whi…

I also have and use this iPad. Mainly for procreate and watching things.

Even at 9 years old, I don't see myself upgrading in the foreseeable future.

Re: New iPad Air, powered by M4

#429

Post by ebbi » Mon, Mar 02, 2026, 9:35 PM UTC

nesky wrote: post #248

tomaskafka wrote: post #234

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Tim Cook's fear of people not buying a full set of Apple devices for each person is the driving force behind not just the lack of multiuser support, but also the overall nerfing of iPadOS. For the past 5+ years it's been, "This will be the year of real work on the iPad," but they keep circling around it, trying not to make iPads accidentally powerful enough for someone to skip buying a MacBook.

The flip side here is if I could use an iPad to replace the MacMini on my desk and connect to a monitor with the same support my Mac does I'd most likely have a top end iPad Pro as opposed to my mildly spec'd MacMini M2 and iPad Air M1. I'd literally spend MORE money on that 1 iPad than both existing iPad and Macs I have today.

I wonder if something like that is in the works, given touch screen capability coming to Macs, and Tahoe being geared for touch UX...

Re: New iPad Air, powered by M4

#430

Post by eldaisfish » Mon, Mar 02, 2026, 9:38 PM UTC

coldtea wrote: post #332

bigstrat2003 wrote: post #312

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> they keep circling around it, trying not to make iPads accidentally powerful enough for someone to skip buying a MacBook. Which is really silly, because if someone needs to do actual work they are not going to do it on an iPad no matter how capable it is. The form factor simply does not work for getting work done. Apple has nothing to fear here.

>Which is really silly, because if someone needs to do actual work they are not going to do it on an iPad no matter how capable it is. The form factor simply does not work for getting work done.* Nonsens. The iPad is basically a 11 to 13 (Pro) monitor+computer with an amazing touch screen. Adding the official keyboard folio, or any bluetooth keyboard/mourse is trivial, and it makes for an excellent on-the-go machine.…

the form factor is a problem. Have you ACTUALLY tried using an ipad as a laptop for more than a few minutes? It is top-heavy and falls over all the time. Even if you solve that problem, you now have multiple devices that you must keep charged and with you at all time.

At that point, an actual laptop is simpler.