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New iPad Pro with LiDAR Scanner and trackpad support

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Re: New iPad Pro with LiDAR Scanner and trackpad support

#641

Post by goerz »

p1necone wrote: post #540
chrisseaton wrote: post #513

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> he's just taking notes That's how a barrister does part of their work. When I develop software I'm 'just writing a program'. But I'm not - I'm forming a mental model of what I want to do and working out how to express it. You can make any job sound silly by reducing it to its constitutive actions.

My point is the barrister does most of their work outside of the software - taking notes is not unique to being a barrister. A software engineer, or artist, or architect, or CAD modeller, or audio engineer, or accountant (just some examples of the kind of work I'm thinking of) do the majority of their work in software. Some of these workflows are doable on an iPad, some of them are not. All of them are doable to a pr…

Actually, handwritten note taking in particular is a professional task that you can not do on a regular PC or Mac. As a theoretical physicist, doing math "on paper" is not something I can do on a PC or Mac, and doing it on an iPad is orders of magnitude better than using actual paper, as it allows for moving things around and revising.

Re: New iPad Pro with LiDAR Scanner and trackpad support

#642

Post by whywhywhywhy »

ben7799 wrote: post #328

I already had an iPad Pro + smart keyboard + pencil once... and got rid of it and switched to a Surface Pro. We still have an old 10" iPad 2 + an older iPad Mini in the house and they get use for typical iPad consumer stuff. When I add up this new iPad in the minimum 128GB/Wifi/11" config this one is about $400 more than I paid for the Surface Pro + KB cover + MS Pen. (Which is i5/8GB/128GB/Wifi-only) The Surface has…

Microsoft and Apple diverged down two evolutionary paths.

At release the Surface seemed ridiculous, adding touch and pen tools to a normal computer. Apple went the other way starting from scratch, touch only seemed the sensible choice.

Now year on year as Apple adds more and more laptop computer into the iPad and it's Mac line lacks any modern input flexibility it's starting to look absurd they went down this route and the Surface line is making more and more sense the further we go down this road.

Re: New iPad Pro with LiDAR Scanner and trackpad support

#643

Post by pjmlp »

ryukafalz wrote: post #635
dhosek wrote: post #632

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When you're in the niche, it's hard to see out. I'm old enough to remember encountering the first computer magazine that didn't feature program listings ( SoftTalk ) and thinking who would want this thing? Programming is very much a niche activity (although I imagine that it's more a question of when rather than if that we'll see some sort of XCode for iOS).

My take on this is that programming may be niche now, but it shouldn't be. Simple scripting is useful and lets you easily perform tasks that would otherwise be repetitive. I'm not saying everyone should be able to build a large application, but you shouldn't be stopped from building things on it, otherwise how will you even get started? Computers that stop you from inspecting them and learning how they work build a m…

iOS already has plenty of basic programming apps for Python, C#, F#, Scheme, and naturally Swift.

Re: New iPad Pro with LiDAR Scanner and trackpad support

#644

Post by pjmlp »

nextos wrote: post #444
qubex wrote: post #438

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Probably because developers and system operators, while a large majority here on Hacker News, actually represent a tiny minority of actual users. Developers’ workflows are essentially outliers.

Sure, but a decent share of Apple's success was due to making OS X a very nice development platform. This attracted developers who created great desktop and mobile software. So I'd argue it's in Apple's best interest to keep developers happy. Also, is it that hard for a giant of Apple's size to put a fully fledged terminal in iPadOS?

Apple keeps their developers happy, those that embrace Objective-C and Swift, serving the Apple users.

They don't care about those that use macOS as pretty Linux/BSD replacement.

Just like NeXT never did, UNIX compatibility was a means to bring UNIX software into the platform, that was all.

Re: New iPad Pro with LiDAR Scanner and trackpad support

#645

Post by _mghw »

Slippery_John wrote: post #587
ben7799 wrote: post #328

I already had an iPad Pro + smart keyboard + pencil once... and got rid of it and switched to a Surface Pro. We still have an old 10" iPad 2 + an older iPad Mini in the house and they get use for typical iPad consumer stuff. When I add up this new iPad in the minimum 128GB/Wifi/11" config this one is about $400 more than I paid for the Surface Pro + KB cover + MS Pen. (Which is i5/8GB/128GB/Wifi-only) The Surface has…

The surface pro can do everything, but for most things the tablet mode experience is somewhere between dismal and unusable. The ipad pro can't do a handful of tasks, but for everything else the experience is excellent in both tablet and laptop mode. Those things the ipad can't do are largely niche (now that working with files is well supported), and are solvable limitations. The software problem on the surface pro is…

You had a desktop computer, which makes life much easier for you. As someone who was (and will soon be again) in the market for my one and only computer, the iPad is a non-starter. It's SO limited.

* Software development, with the best will in the world, isn't really possible on it.

* No quick ways to open up multiple windows, alt-tab between them, snap them side by side etc.

* No mouse support (Admittedly, I tried them a while back, but by all accounts, the mouse support until this update was still bolted on).

* Shitty af file system (Admittedly another thing that is moving in the right direction).

* Woeful stand. The previous folio was a joke, especially at it's price. It was unstable, lacked a trackpad, and personally, I hated the typing feel.

It was all rather disappointing, because I was so tempted by it. A sub-1 kg setup that one could pack in one's bag and forget, with a proper aspect ratio, with touch support, with great battery life, with the Apple quality etc.

Could've been great, but isn't there yet.

Re: New iPad Pro with LiDAR Scanner and trackpad support

#646

Post by thirdsun »

hbosch wrote: post #374
chadlavi wrote: post #160

Let me install macOS on one and I'll buy it in a heartbeat. It's not "pro" until I can use a terminal, an IDE, desktop apps, etc

There really is no reason at all to not support macOS apps when you've given the device a keyboard and a trackpad+cursor. In a lot of ways, this form factor is exactly what I would want my Macbook to be... ultra-portable, touch-screen with Pen support, more dynamic hinge, and no touch bar.

> There really is no reason at all to not support macOS apps when you've given the device a keyboard and a trackpad+cursor.

That would turn the keyboard and trackpad into a requirement rather than an option. If you want macOS you already have options. The iPad is great because it's tablet first with touch as primary input method.

Re: New iPad Pro with LiDAR Scanner and trackpad support

#647

Post by thirdsun »

gerardnll wrote: post #563

What do you guys do with an iPad? I cannot barely imagine working with it. I just see it useful for emails, web surfing and not much more... It's a very expensive device, I don't see any justified use. You can get a macbook air for less and have a full blown Photoshop, IDEs, Word...

Personally, I have no use for a laptop and use my desktop for "real" work (development, audio production). In a mobile setting I prefer my device to actually be lightweight and mobile and the iPad beats any laptop in that regard. It's also my most used device when it comes to casual usage like internet browsing, reading, research, writing, watching, sketching out audio ideas etc. - frankly, these days I can't imagine being bound to my desk to do these things. It's incredibly comfortable to have these abilities at hand whether you're on the couch, preparing meals in the kitchen or laying on the deck.

Re: New iPad Pro with LiDAR Scanner and trackpad support

#648

Post by neop1x »

ogre_codes wrote: post #482
seanmcdirmid wrote: post #249

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And this isn’t even mechanical.

No, it's Apple's scissor switch keyboard which is considered one of the best low-profile keyboards around. Lugging around even a compact mechanical keyboard for use with an iPad is a hassle.

a scissor keyboard? so it is a common chiclet which most of the cheap keyboards use https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chiclet_keyboard with very mild "clicking" feedback/feel. Well, it's been used in the industry for 30+ years because it actually works, in contrast to "batterfly". But it's nothing special to justify the price.

Re: New iPad Pro with LiDAR Scanner and trackpad support

#649

Post by rsynnott »

jandrese wrote: post #634
ksec wrote: post #592

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Exactly. You want thinner bezel, slimmer Screen, and the trade off is simply the camera. Unfortunately there doesn't seems to be enough interest in it for Apple to innovate.

They could put a notch into the Macbook screen. /s

DO NOT GIVE TIM COOK IDEAS.

Re: New iPad Pro with LiDAR Scanner and trackpad support

#650

Post by 72deluxe »

rhodysurf wrote: post #387
72deluxe wrote: post #320

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I see what you mean. I suppose if the iPad can't download other binaries to load in the background (like the C# or C++ dependencies), VSCode is never going to come to it. It's still just a consumption / Etch-A-Sketch device despite all the marketing about how wonderful it is for creation. It's good for making basic music/practicing guitar for me, but other than that my iPad is just for reading/browsing.

Yup and it sucks becauee its completely arbitrary and apples decision that it isnt unleashed. If I could I would use my iPad like 9/10 times vs my Macbook

Please sell me your MacBook cheap if/when this happens.
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