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New iPad Air, powered by M4

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Re: New iPad Air, powered by M4

#511

Post by lossyalgo »

eldaisfish wrote: post #430
coldtea wrote: post #332

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>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.

I have a kickstand case with a magnetic Bluetooth keyboard and integrated 3rd party pen holder and it works just like a laptop but supports the pen, plus I can leave the keyboard behind and prop it on my treadmill to watch movies, etc. It's actually a lot more convenient than a laptop in a lot of circumstances.

Re: New iPad Air, powered by M4

#512

Post by batiudrami »

yalogin wrote: post #500

iPad’s seem to be in some netherworld with no real purpose to them. They are not phones or laptops and so the main use case outside of consuming media at times is for conference room and reception kiosks?

I didn’t understand iPads for years. As a half engineer half email monkey, doing work on them is still next to impossible, especially with nerfed versions of Office applications.

But, they are excellent for media consumption, particularly reading and marking up PDFs. I am able to focus while reading in a way I cannot on a computer. Procreate is amazing (drawing brushes with a pressure sensitive pen and layer/mask support all in one). Great for playing Civ on a flight. And it does all those things in a comfortable form factor while being fundamentally a pleasant device to use.

All that considered, the iPad Air is not that expensive, and it will probably last you a decade before it needs replacing.

Re: New iPad Air, powered by M4

#513

Post by lossyalgo »

windowsrookie wrote: post #495
raw_anon_1111 wrote: post #397

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You know you can use a standard Bluetooth and keyboard and mouse with an iPad? My wife uses her 13 inch iPad for everything - mostly Zoom, Office, everything web based, and “consumption”. I have an M2 MacBook Air that I bought in 2023 for a side project I was doing when I was in between jobs. I haven’t opened it since. I do the little bit of stuff I do outside of work on my iPad Air 3.

I've just never understood this. A 13" MacBook Air would accomplish everything better for me. A laptop has a stand for the screen built into it and it's much more stable on any surface vs a tablet case + stand. Sure, it's easier to use a tablet while standing, but that's what I use my phone for, and it's always with me in my pocket. If I'm going to carry a 13" tablet around it might as well be a laptop which is thinn…

Yeah but the cheapest iPad only costs $300. Not all of us can afford a MacBook Air. Not to mention I found a case which has a kickstand feature + magnetic BT keyboard + pen to make it work like a laptop + added pen functionality ($60 for all of those 3rd party accessories).

Re: New iPad Air, powered by M4

#514

Post by musictubes »

snypher wrote: post #364
mauflows wrote: post #216

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Music production is the killer feature that benefits a lot from CPU performance. I only recently bought an iPad for the first time this year after realizing this was feasible. I’ve always preferred digital music workflows, but hated dealing with a laptop and DAW. iOS supports AUv3 plugins and cross app audio, so it’s pretty much a full DAW experience (I use loopy pro). The form factor forces AUv3 devs to design smart…

>hated dealing with a laptop Can you expand on this, as im having a hard time comprehending. At the least, a laptop is a tablet with a built in stand :). How is a laptop hard to deal with?

Music production with a DAW is better on a computer. Music performance is much better on an iPad. There is a big difference between direct touch controls and using a trackpad. Apps like AUM and AniMoog Z highlight what makes music making on an iPad amazing.

And people here don't want to hear this but the closed nature of the App Store is why audio is so strong on both ios and iPadOS. There are far more music apps for those OSes than Android. In addition to that, many VSTs made for DAWS are available on iPads as AUV at much lower prices than Mac or Windows. The lack of piracy, narrow build targets, and predictably great audio implementation makes it both easier to build and more profitable than other platforms.

Re: New iPad Air, powered by M4

#515

Post by CoolGuySteve »

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.…

My monitor has a powered USB-C port and USB hub built into it. It's one cable to dock a laptop, it's pretty cool.

If I could plug my iPad into that cable to use it as a Mac I would do that all the time and buy a more powerful iPad. It would be an iPad for idle browsing and a Mac for the times I need a real computer.

Re: New iPad Air, powered by M4

#516

Post by lossyalgo »

moolcool wrote: post #266
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.

I could excuse it if the iPad was a $200 novelty like the Amazon Fire tablets, but they're putting M-series chips in them and marketing (and pricing) them like PC replacements.

I just picked up a new iPad with A16 chip for roughly $300 - sure they aren't M-series level but it's plenty fast for all of my day-to-day tasks, with good battery life and 3rd party keyboard/case/pen for another $60 and it functions like a laptop when I need a laptop.

Re: New iPad Air, powered by M4

#517

Post by lossyalgo »

Jeremy1026 wrote: post #358
overfeed wrote: post #342

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Hard to share the things people use at the same time. How many TVs do you have in your living area?

TVs are traditionally a shared experience. But even still, I have 2 TVs for every person in my household.

Are you being sarcastic? Why would anyone need 2 TVs, much less every person in the house?

Re: New iPad Air, powered by M4

#518

Post by raw_anon_1111 »

windowsrookie wrote: post #503
windowsrookie wrote: post #495

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've just never understood this. A 13" MacBook Air would accomplish everything better for me. A laptop has a stand for the screen built into it and it's much more stable on any surface vs a tablet case + stand. Sure, it's easier to use a tablet while standing, but that's what I use my phone for, and it's always with me in my pocket. If I'm going to carry a 13" tablet around it might as well be a laptop which is thinn…

You stated "You know you can use a standard Bluetooth and keyboard and mouse with an iPad? My wife uses her 13 inch iPad for everything - mostly Zoom, Office, everything web based" In my opinion all of that works better on a laptop. I don't use any streaming services so that functionality is not important for me, but I do recognize that may be important for some. For me carrying a tablet + laptop while traveling woul…

My wife spends a lot more time in consumption mode and rarely uses it as a “productivity device”

And you can’t download movies from streaming services on a laptop and I have unlimited cellular data on our laptops for $25 a month. When I say we travel a lot - I mean we were on a plane going somewhere over a dozen times last year and this year we are spending a month and half doing the digital nomad thing in another country right now and we will be doing one way trips across 4 cities for two months this summer.

And you don’t need a keyboard or mouse for Zoom.

Re: New iPad Air, powered by M4

#519

Post by lossyalgo »

JadeNB wrote: post #230
SOLAR_FIELDS wrote: post #224

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

> Even MacOS is still pretty bad at it. What problems do you see with multiple users on macOS? I don't use it intensively, but I've never noticed issues.

As soon as I added a 2nd user, my Samba share totally broke and days later I still don't have it working. It was fine for over a year and now I'm close to deleting my 2nd user just so I can access my Mac Mini across the network again.

Re: New iPad Air, powered by M4

#520

Post by musictubes »

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?

No software? DaVinci Resolve? Affinity Designer? Final Cut, Procreate, AUM, Logic Pro etc etc etc. As the processors get more powerful more demanding software can be made for it. Running multiple physical modeling AUVs along with FX loops eat up clock cycles. Final Cut Camera on iPhones along with Final Cut on an iPad allow for full multi camera controls and recording from 4 different iPhones with ProRes and log shooting at the same time.

If Apple hadn't continually upgraded the processing power then none of those programs would work. It's up to Apple to make compelling hardware. Better hardware allows more advanced programs. iPads are amazing.

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