New iPad Air and iPad Mini
apple.com
apple.com
Does anyone know what "Air" means?
I thought it used to mean smallest and lightest. But on the Mac the "MacBook" is smaller and lighter, and on the iPad we have the smaller iPad Mini, and the "iPad" is smaller and only 14 grams heavier.
From the MacBook Air line, we understood the definition to be "it's the cheap one", but that doesn't apply to the iPad line where it costs more.
So what does "Air" mean? It's there to "pad out" the product line? :/
iBook became MacBook then derived MacBook Air, a thinner version
iPod derived iPod Mini, a smaller version
Ergo iPad Mini is smaller than the iPad while iPad Air is thinner than the iPad
The current MacBook is thinner than the MacBook Air released after it though. The fact that they're different screen sizes muddies the comparison a lot though.
I think Apple are now simply using Air brand name on midrange devices.
iPad Pro > iPad Air > iPad MacBook Pro > MacBook Air > Macbook
i stopped using anything but an ipad for media consumption/talking to family after i bought one
Of course, it can't be used as a primary instrument since it's not certified, but it's amazing paired with ForeFlight so you can see synthetic visualized terrain (you're stuck in clouds, and want to see where the ground is), you can see where other planes are in the airspace, their altitude and direction via ADSB-in, you can do flight planning on it and easily pull approach plates or pull up airport diagrams, it allows you to see the terrain profile of a planned trip much more easily than referencing the charts, and it can serve as a backup to your primary instruments if you have an electrical or vacuum failure in the plane.
I'm 24 years old, work in software. Neither I nor any of my friends uses a tablet for work or pleasure.
This is the main reason I don't "get" tablets. They're just more uncomfortable to use for me. You have to keep holding onto it and you get gorilla arm vs using a trackpad.
I currently use a MacBook (the 12" model) and it is close to perfect for casual sofa browsing. It has a decent enough keyboard, a perfect trackpad, good screen and while not a huge deal I still prefer macOS over iOS. Even when I use macOS in full screen model so it acts a lot like iOS I still find just having a mouse cursor much nicer to work with over a touch screen. I think this is mostly down to how awful the new oleophobic coating is on the new iPad's (Pro included). I can't stand seeing all those finger print smudges over the screen. Drives me up the wall!
I guess I am just too used to a laptop form factor and can't get past my own mental blocks?
At home my (coverless) iPad always sits on a 3rd party stand, so I simply put the stand on my lap. And maybe have a coffee in hand. And maybe a plate with a toast.
Otherwise most of her consumption is either watching videos on a larger screen that's easier to carry than a laptop, or drawing on the pro which is honestly pretty fun to do.
I've been meaning to pick up an ipad or a surface in the next year or so just for doodling / mock up functionality as well. reading ebooks on a tablet or leaving documentation open on them while working on a laptop is honestly kinda nice.
[0] Ok, there's one use. Media consumption, but a $35 kindle tablet takes care of that for the rare (ie: airplane) times I want media on the go.
My major complaint with the device is the poor IDE support. I think I would love to be able to use it with Visual Studio Code as it is much easier to carry around than my laptop and I don't need the powerful laptop all that frequently. It has basically replaced all of the functionality of my laptop except for my development work.
Hope you find that helpful.
I don't use the 2nd screen as much as I thought I would though and there is a good chance any of the other iPads (which are all smaller) would have been better for me. Hard to tell exactly what size has the max utility. Smaller isn't better necessarily because my iPhone can do pretty much all of the same stuff but is too small to be useful. A good heuristic might be "large enough that the keyboard is comfortable".
In general, any long-running environment that can generate a lot of garbage presents a risk of triggering the OOM killer, especially when you have to share your development environment with effectively a whole 'nother OS. Enabling swap helps mitigate that risk.
* no airdrop
* poor development environment vs mac's unix
* apple ecosystem (this one, I really hate)
So instead I bought an iPad pro. I wish Apple would make something more like the surface book 2.
Problems I can think about: I want to be able to switch easily to tablet mode or to draw, and it's probably better to stay on windows for that. I'm not sure how well linux is supported on the surface book as well?
It doesn't have any ink simulation and I'm not sure whether there are apps/drivers that support it.
This surprises me. I'm not an engineer, but the main pain point for me with the iPad Pro is the crappy UX of Google Drive. Is there a huge difference between the Google suite and the MS suite on the iPad? I'm legit looking for a PC laptop right now because I need something to work on emails and Drive-type work, at the coffeeshop, and my MacBook Pro is not enjoyable to type on.
Using office apps on ipad went a long way to turning around my opinion of microsoft.
- Reading and annotating books and papers in PDF format (academic research has never been easier, I use a stylus too)
- Mounting to a tripod and recording video (e.g. professional presentations, with a lapel mic connected -- again, screen size makes it far better than a phone for reviewing a take)
- 3D anatomy app (whether you're working on massage therapy, posture, etc. -- nobody uses printed anatomy books anymore. Phone too small, laptop doesn't have touch)
- Playing video games (same games as on a phone, but so much better on the larger screen)
- Watching TV/movies while traveling (you can do it on a flight on a laptop, but it's hard in an airplane seat -- this is so much easier)
- Video calling (bigger view than phone, but more portable than my laptop)
- Doing light work in a coffee shop (writing, e-mailing, etc.) -- I pair it with the Bluetooth magic keyboard and do my work in Mail and Google Docs/Sheets -- it's way more lightweight than my laptop and just feels a bit more civilized than a big clunky laptop
It's honestly really surprised me how I can't imagine my life without my iPad Mini anymore. Turns out there really is a sweet spot between my phone and my laptop.
My activities are similar to the above, primarily consumption. I have been reading books on it despite having a kindle (I maintain my "no gadgets" position above -- it was a gift) because it is so convenient to be able to switch between a book and other iPad activities, like looking up something online.
I'll add that the screen is great, the battery lasts forever, and (as a programmer) I really appreciate the high software quality.
The big advantage for me was that I could visit travel websites with lists of things to do, save website as PDF, made annotations of places I wanted to visit.
It synced seamlessly across all my devices along with annotations. I annotated on my iPad at the hotel, and traveled with my iPhone.
I have a Macbook Air and even with that, doing anything on an airplane seat is a gigantic PITA. The iPad is a breeze. I wanted to upgrade to the 11 inch but now will upgrade to the 10.5. Definitely worth it, just for travel.
Also when I'm on my tablet browsing news etc., time flies by really quickly without me having got a lot of things done. IMO if you're using an electronic device, you should aim for maximum productivity. Otherwise it's easy to engage yourself in low-quality activities without paying much attention.
The full content is ~$45 downloadable, but if you sign up without buying, you'll eventually get some promos in your e-mail -- I wound up buying it all for $10 during a back-to-school discount.
Grabbing parts of a book out into the workspace is easy, and then you can quickly review your workspace of highlights and notes later for a refresher. Also, viewing two places in a single PDF is as easy as tapping and holding on two highlights in the workspace.
Also would recommend, if you want paid hosting, pay for a Zotero account with extra storage (run an academic group at George Mason University, aka the good guys). Don’t give money to Mendeley which is owned by Elsevier (definitely the bad guys).
Oh, and because no-one uses android tablets, no one makes good apps for them. eg the nice pdf readers -- I use GoodReader -- are all ios.
I bet they'll replace that tablet with a phone, and continue to use a laptop/desktop for "real work".
I like small phones. So I own a tablet for all the personal stuff at home. I use my PC for work, my Phone for messaging and travel and my tablet for everything else. It’s really the most comfortable way of consuming.
I use one, but only because it's a convenient media consumption device (e-reading, web browsing). It's entirely superlative to a phone + laptop though.
Remember when the tech prognosticators (some on this very site!) told us tablets were going to replace everything?
I personally have started using a surface for non-coding work and enjoy it for taking notes. It’s worth a try for that use case.
I have no idea what the appeal is, there's none at all for me, but there must be a decent sized market out there. It's interesting to read the other comments and see what the appeal is for them
Docks are obscenely expensive but the quality of life improvement is high. You're unfortunately very limited with the MBA, though. Perhaps see if you can replace it with a MBP?
I DO like having my "work" machine be a powerful laptop in the event that I need to travel or some emergency arises where I HAVE to find a coffee shop and write a PR without monitors, as much as I won't enjoy the experience.
My desktop is a Ryzen 2700X with 32GB of RAM. I really would like to pickup a TB3 dock at a point but am currently using RDP to my work laptop. Which works well enough over the local network.
What I wanted to respond to was your point about having your work machine be a powerful laptop so that you're prepared. I've been mulling over ditching the desktop for a Thinkpad X1 Extreme for the same reason. While I could remote into my desktop in a rare coffee shop scenario, it wouldn't work out if it were happening often.
So, basically I'm spitballing and have no real answers to your questions, sorry. Just wanted to reply and tell you I'm probably wrong about there being MBA + dock issues.
I used a Dell dock for years alongside my desktop, using 2 monitors to my laptop and 1 for my desktop. I'd like to get a TB3 dock and do that just as you are. And while unlikely at this point, given how much I like my Samsung, I may eventually have a Macbook Air. Which is not the best device but definitely a top tier throwaway easy-chair machine if not a little limited for the money, not having a 360 degree hinge.
Unfortunately there's tons of issues with egpus in Bootcamp installed Windows. I didn't realize it'd be so drastically different from a vanilla install.
I loved my old Samsung S9 laptop. That thing cost a small fortune but it was so powerful for its size.
Same here. I've owned iPads since the very first one for work (app dev), but the closest I've gotten to enjoying using them is watching movies on airplanes. I'm always interested in seeing what other people put them to use for.
My theory has been that iPads appeal to "full-screeners".
I've been a Mac user since 1990 and the Classic MacOS was optimized to "right-size" your windows to your content so you could have lots of windows next to each other for UI affordances like drag and drop. Classic versions of Photoshop had palette windows that hid in the background, even early OS X used "inspector" palettes heavily. Until very recently, MacOS didn't even have a full-screen control. So I've always filled my screens with windows of stuff I'm working on, stuff I'm monitoring, chats, etc. I guess I thrive on info-ADD? If I use an iPad I feel claustrophobic. Made 10x worse by the lack of multitasking (no persistent background network connections, apps continually killed for RAM usage).
In contrast, Windows started out as a full-screen, split-pane OS, and Windows apps have always relied on the "MDI" UI with a containing window, optimally used at full-screen. So most users grew up with that. I see people buy those super-wide LG displays and then full-screen a Chrome browser and complain that their lines of text aren't 2 meters wide.
And kids these days grow up with full-screen mobile UIs.
So if you grew up with everything being full screen, an iPad feel familiar and useful. If you're used to being able to monitor a bunch of windows at once, the iPad will feel like a toy.
Not that this is totally up to taste. Some people love working on a single smaller monitor, with only a full screen editor or some terminals. More focus.
(I used to love it too, but I can't stand the modern MBPr keyboards, so I connect it to an external keyboard and monitor now. Note that I love the external "Magic keyboard 2", it's just the built-in laptop keyboard "butterfly" that I find crap).
Here's what the appeal is for me:
1) A device I can use at the bed/crapper comfortably -- to read, check email, browse, etc.
2) I'm a hobby artist (from the Amiga days) and I love the digital painting apps and Apple pencil.
3) It's my main reading device. I have tons of physical books (several thousands), but its now cheaper and more convenient to read PDFs, ePub, etc books. I use Apple's Books and the iOS Kindle app.
4) Photography. It's great for sharing with friends nearby, casual edits on the road, having your portfolio in an easy to show, glorious screen.
5) Music apps. If somebody does guitar, piano, or electronic music, there are tons of apps, from amp modellers to complete DAWs, and tons of "VSTs" (AUs in our case).
6) Great for note-taking, drawing diagrams and so on.
7) Handy to watch a video in something less to carry around than a laptop and bigger screen than a phone.
8) Not bad for games too if you're not an AAA gamer.
9) For writing articles, book, etc, it's also good -- non distracting, lots of great editors (even Scrivener), and so on.
A friend (age ~30) works on very large-scale climate model comparisons. He directs his model runs (done on a remote supercomputer, which is his version of a "real machine") from his 13" Air. I work with smaller datasets, and it's kind of amazing what power he can command from that little thing.
He uses a dock to make visualizations on a larger monitor when at his desk.
I have one of the new 11" iPad Pro's that I use as a consumption device and it also replaced the Moleskine I kept in my laptop bag for notes/diagrams/whatever.
* Spotify player at home. Gets passed around to friends during a get together.
* Fancy annotator - I use the Apple Pencil to draw directly on pictures or even create from images scratch by sketching it out.
* Books - I have several epub purchases that live in Apple Books app. I can read those books on ipad while I'm on the go, or on Mac while at work.
* Netflix watcher while flights - I download some stuff before getting on a plane.
* Youtube by the kitchen - Great for watching cooking related videos while in kitchen.
* Look at photos directly on it, or cast the picture to Mac Mini(my HTPC).
* Notes - I use Apple Notes as my main note taking application on Mac. I rarely find need to handwrite something.. in English or in my native language. Quickly take the ipad out to do just that and continue seamlessly on my Mac.
I think the mileage of use of iPad depends on the user. I for one cannot stand development work, or even writing scripts on the thing. Yes, I have tried/played Pythonista and the bunch of apps in ios.
I wouldn’t code on it, but for running scripts and checking servers — I can travel without my laptop.
Super light-weight. Price of a trip to grocery store. Why wouldn't you have a tablet on hand?
I'm a power user. I have a battered 17" Macbook Pro that's nearly 9 years old now. I use it for programming, photo editing (mostly Lightroom), and audio recording/mixing (I've produced about ten albums on that Mac). But now it's time to retire it, and...
I'm very seriously considering switching to an iPad Pro for a primary platform. I recently tried Lightroom on my old iPad Air 2, and it's in some ways better than Lightroom on a Mac, thanks to the touchscreen. I'm going to do a recording project in Auria and see if I can get good results with my usual record mixing workflow, and see what I can do about a terminal window and editor for programming. But an iPad is a very appealing alternative to dropping $2500-3000 on another Macbook, when I don't know if Apple is serious about maintaining the product or not. If I can do all the things that I "need" a Macbook for on an iPad these days... well.
For me it is mostly useless as a productive device (at best I use it to review some technical document on a plane or for minimal SSH work), but it's the best media consumption device I can imagine.
For web browsing and Netflix/Youtube/Twitch/Spotify client it has replaced my computer, and in many cases my TV.
Portability is the key, being able to carry it everywhere (bed, train, plane, kitchen, bathroom...) with minimal weight overhead, but still provide a decent screen real estate (unlike a phone) is priceless.
I can fast forward you a bit over a decade. As a techie that is old enough to have grown with the industry from the very beginning, no tablets here except an older Nook. E-ink will remain the best for reading.
I do think there's benefit to the 2-in-1 form factor. Samsung is on the top the heap here. The 2019 Samsung 9 Pen[0] is the best of every world, it just hit the US market yesterday. The S Pen used in their 2-in-1 is as good as it gets today, being Wacom EMR based.
While I wouldn't bother with an iPad, I think there's a lot of value and use in this form factor for work. The Samsung Pen devices are the main thing that pulled me away from a Macbook.
[0]https://www.samsung.com/us/computing/windows-laptops/all-win...
There's a lot of market for kids too. Our 4yo has an ipad mini and our 12yo has an ipad pro. By the way, the 12yo loves to draw and the ipad pro + apple pencil is the first digital system she actually enjoys. She has a laptop too which she uses when she has to use specific software for school or do intensive writing, but otherwise most of her computing happens on the ipad.
I originally bought one for home use, so I would stop using my laptop to watch Netflix/YouTube/Prime and then get distracted by work (too easy to flick over to an IDE or GitHub when an idea would pop into my head when at home).
The iPad works really well for this but I now find myself using it in work too for almost the same reason. Rather than bringing my laptop to meetings and then getting distracted (same as watching Netflix at home) I now just bring the iPad to take notes or look up stats/analytics online(most of the platforms we use have pretty good iPad UI support).
It's been great at properly focusing on meetings, now if I have an idea on a problem I just write it in a note and get on with the meeting rather than finding myself jumping to VS code and trying to work.
Personal computing is probably phone first, work computing I would guess is still desktop, followed by laptop.
I keep wondering when Apple is going to simply drop their traditional laptop and desktop business in favor of things like this. It's not a great leap of imagination to think of a desktop version of an iPad ala a Chromeboxesque approach.
iOS is nowhere near good enough for Apple to consider scaling back their x86 line too much further. Hardware wise the iPad Pro is really nice, but it doesn't even have mouse support! Android has had that since 2011 at least, but it doesn't have the same ecosystem of good quality work apps.
The other case I've seen, and a lot: children. Parents seem to give them to their kids to mollify them. (I had this choice and did not give into the temptation.)
This way, you can hold it with one hand, you don't need to apply pressure to hold the ipad, it is not tiring on your hands, and it is extremely stable. The cover I use I believe is this one:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Invision-Superior-Features-Magnetic...
Otherwise the ipad is splash proof, but I wouldn't bet on it being waterproof. And wet hands aren't too much of a problem from a touch point of view, but they leave drops that obstruct the display so you kind of want to have a towel around somewhere.
I didn't really see the need for one, until I bought one on a whim.
It's my main multimedia consumption device.
I am 36, I had several iPads, but they always end up gathering dust in a closet. For work, I am several times more productive on a laptop, for occasional browsing, e-mail, etc. iPhones have become large enough. So, at some point I just sold my last iPad and never bought a new one.
My wife also has an iPad, but only uses it quite rarely. And when she does, she usually finds that she has to charge it ;).
Others have mentioned iPads as a kid's device. Our daughter (5) likes the iPad, and occasionally uses it to program her Micro:Bit. Other than that we've found that most iPad apps for kids aren't all that great, so we just prefer physical books, sketchbooks, paint, Lego, etc. She loves Lego and paper. She probably uses the iPad every month or so. She did get a Nintendo DS recently for playing games, though we do severely limit the amount of DS screen time though.
We are considering to buy her a NUC with Linux, just to tinker. My dad allowed me to poke his MS-DOS PC when I was about her age. I loved it and learned a lot. Since she likes her Micro:Bit a lot, I think she'd do well on some non-walled garden machine. No pressure though, we'll just put it there and see if she is interested or not.
Yet...
I use my iPad a ton at home and when I travel (I travel a lot). I don't even own a personal laptop anymore -- I work on desktops with 3 monitors and at home.
I used to think that the iPad being purely a consumption device was too limiting, until I got an iPad Air 2 that was on sale at the time. It does everything I need just fine, plus it's lightweight enough to travel with.
(caveat: I don't do any dev work when I'm on the road)
- Blink Shell and Mosh to do light coding in vim, remote scanning etc on my desktop at home while I'm away from home
- Effects processor in my music production/dj setup
- Paint/sketch in procreate
- Reading books
- Watching movies/series while traveling
- Control my Sonos setup
- Browsing the web obviously
So to answer your question; no it doesn't. The iPad product line is probably not for people coding during the day and playing fortnite at night.
I tried using a Kindle Fire, but the pixel density on all those devices is terrible. I had an older Fire HD for a moment which was decent at 254ppi, but it bricked itself during an upgrade. Amazon offered me a discount on a "newer" unit with 189ppi. I gave up and got an iPad mini with a 326ppi display.
I mostly use it for reading books on public transportation.
It's now my primary personal computing device. My day job has me in front of a desktop with keyboard all day. I have little to no desire to do things resembling work when I leave the office. My iPhone SE is too small to use for extended periods (but I won't get a bigger one as I want to be able to use it one-handed and hands wont oblige), so the iPad (now an iPad Pro) gets all my outside-the-office attention.
Reading, planning holidays & booking flights, budgeting, Netflix, whatever.
I also use it for watching lots of movies or TV shows.
All the designers at our company have personal iPads that they use for various things including illustration, taking notes, sketching concepts, wire framing, etc.
I’m not a designer but I’m a hobbyist photographer and I love using my iPad for editing photos in Lightroom, reading, consuming media, etc. I can’t wait until Adobe fills out their creative suite on iPad. They announced that a fully featured Photoshop will come to iPad in 2019 - we’ll see.
I wrote this comment on an iPad, in fact. I do use the keyboard cover though so don’t get the impression that I wrote this on the on-screen software keyboard. That’d be tough.
I use the app Termius to allow me to SSH into a VPS and my home server and do development. I don't really do web development in my free time so I don't have to worry about the pains of not having a js console. I also develop almost exclusively in vim, so paired with the magic keyboard it's basically a very lightweight laptop.
It's great for Lightroom, with a dongle (everyone's favorite thing) you can connect your camera and upload RAW photos, then edit them with Lightroom and upload to your favorite site.
It's wonderful for Plex/Netflix/Hulu. Offline viewing is amazing, battery life is better than my laptop by far so it lasts long spurts where I can't charge it.
For creatives, there are some amazing digital art apps. My friend hypes up Procreate every time we talk about iPads (he's also 25/software and loves his iPad Pro).
And lastly, it's about $1k cheaper than buying a MacBook Pro (which I had previously). I was able to trade in my 2013 MBP and old iPhone and made the final cost about $300, which is much more palatable than the extra $1k or so I'd need for a machine that doesn't really need that much computing power.
Disclaimer: I do use a MacBook Pro for work (running VMs, development in vim) and it's definitely easier (has JS console, can do development without internet, can use IDEs that don't exist on iPad).
Actually funny thing is, it's iPad that led me to Apple ecosystem. I liked iOS a lot and then my old phone broke, so I had to buy new. When I realized, that I can buy iPhone 4S and have the same iOS that I'm using on iPad, it was almost a non-brainer and later I bought Macbook, because it felt pretty natural to keep using Apple product and I wanted to develop iOS apps. I shifted from macOS recently (Apple does not make any computers I would like to buy), but I'm still using iOS on my phone and I like it.
the logic was it kept them from being stuck in the room with their computers. even laptops seem to find permanent homes but not a tablet. my father even figured out to use his cell phone as a wi-fi hotspot.
Source: I am a pilot.
Though there is also something to be said for the eye sight factor. I'm in my mid-40s and my focusing just doesn't work as well as it used to. Its becoming increasingly difficult to do a lot of reading on a small screen like my iphone 8+.
I think if I had a bigger iPad it might find some use, but I can't really justify the cost for the minimal benefit over simply using my laptop instead (even as someone with a decent income).
2) they're great for various sorts of low-end creative work, like making films (think: for kids or adults to learn the basics of shooting and editing on a single device capable of making something half-decent, not pro-level)
3) Good as a writing terminal, given an external keyboard. Better than a laptop in a lot of ways.
4) The 12.9" pro's the best device I've seen for reading comics, by far.
5) iPads are easily the best devices I've seen for reading PDFs (lots of non-fiction books and papers)
6) in a lot of important ways, they Just Work, unlike most other computing devices. More so than macOS machines, even, by a good margin.
7) it's where edutainment and casual science software's at now. Want software for some not-super-serious stargazing? You'll want an iPad. Edutainment programs for kids (like the Math Blasters and Number Munchers and Microsoft Dinosaurs! of yore) are mostly on iPads. Swift playground, for that matter.
8) can be positioned to take up a lot less space on a desk than a laptop while in use—nice when you need that desk space for other things, like books or notebooks.
9) portable second monitor for your macbook.
I use the mini far more, I like the bigger iPad but the mini is the perfect form factor for watching TV in bed and reading PDF's.
Will definitely be picking up the new Mini and the old one which is in perfect condition will go to the boy.
He loves his (1st gen) iPad but it's finally on the way out.
I was then very surprised by the long battery life and now also use it to watch Netflix.
I bought the first iPad the day it came out because I’m a(n Apple) nerd. I loved it, because it was amazing. Then for a while I fell out of love with it, because I wasn’t sure what it was for.
Now I work from home and this thing (10.5” Pro, previous model) is like my pet dog. It follows me everywhere. It plays music via AirPlay, it plays podcasts from its speakers while I’m in the shower, I text on it, answer calls, do most of my casual internet, do most of my casual notes (Bear, with the Smart Keyboard), calendar ... everything.
I sometimes look at this device and really think that in many ways, here we are. The future. I have this impossibly slim, sturdy, beautiful tablet, whose battery life is extraordinary, which does everything I could possibly want. It’s a little bit Star Trek.
Now, for proper work, the MacBook Pro on the desk upstairs plugged in to the 27” monitor is the way to go. But I type this to you from my kitchen bench as I make my girl her morning coffee, and that’s just fantastic.
I am pretty sure that most of people can use it as domestic media consumption device (it really is perfect use case), however when it comes to work, people I meet in my business use it for it’s compact size and battery life (great for travels and portability in general), as well presentation-wise possibilities.
If you use your laptop a lot at home but don't really need to type that much, you'll probably appreciate a tablet.
Otherwise, it's probably not for you.
Doesnt' help that I stupidly bought the 16GB version, crippling it.
At work I've seen business analysts use it as a light weight laptop replacement to take notes (with the addition of the keyboard) and with the Apple Pencil to draw basic diagrams while on the go.
Photographers also use them to show off portfolios and do image editing editing on the go. You can get Lightroom and Photoshop for the iPad and other software vendors offer competing products to edit images on the go.
Also don't forget kids. For long car journeys, a tablet loaded up with a mix of shows and appropriate (often educational) apps can help them stop asking the dreaded "Are we nearly there yet?!"
About 43 million ipads in 2018: https://www.lifewire.com/how-many-ipads-sold-1994296
Chromebook is estimated to be under 11 million: https://www.computerworld.com/article/2476098/huge-chromeboo...
I couldn’t find 2018 unit estimates for the surfsce, but in 2017 the estimate was about 3 million: https://www.pcworld.com/article/3254235/microsofts-surface-p...
Surface revenue in 2018 was about 5 billion. Apple’s ipad revenue was a bit under 20 billion. And these surface numbers are for everything in the surface line, not just pros.
A more likely explanation for lower ipad sales is that they last a long time. My ipad air 2 from 2014 still runs beautifully and gets security and software updates. But in any case ipad sales dwarf the surface and and chromebook sales combined.
https://www.statista.com/statistics/805143/us-tablete-users-...
and for a baseline, iPhone use by age:
https://www.statista.com/statistics/203063/iphone-users-in-t...
It's striking how uniform the distribution of tablet use was across age! There was a bump after age 25, though that was mirrored in the iPhone usage. This is really salient at the low and high end: age 0-18 was 20% of tablet usage and only 6% of iPhone usage, and age 55+ was 20% of tablet usage and only 14% of iPhone usage. Given all of this, it seems like tablets are quite broadly adopted devices
It helps that I have to make educational videos, so I have a clear use case for the pro with the pencil. Can plug a focusrite audiobox in too, and power it from the usb c port.
Originally got an ipad as I used it for online tutoring with a whiteboard and a stylus, pre-pencil days.
Oddly enough I do a lot of email and text work on my imac. The ipad pros browser has a lot of subtle limitations compared to the desktop version.
- drawing and lettering in Procreate (this is what I do most of the time, I've been practicing lettering on paper before and this is just so much more convenient)
- writing notes in Notes app (that way I can see them on my iPhone) or OneNote
- browsing Pinterest (the app works better than the web app I use on Safari in macOS)
- YouTube (much more convenient to carry around home than my MacBook Pro)
I don't use iPad for messaging, because I mostly use my iPhone and MacBook for that. I decided I don't need a keyboard for the iPad ATM, but maybe that'll change in the future.
When I move from my laptop to either toilet, cooking or the bed I simply bring it with me to consume some youtube. It's bigger than a phone, but more mobile than a laptop.
Apple keeps creating and extending these arbitrary transition periods. The old Apple Pencil should be in the past. Instead we have an entire other generation with it now. This sucks for developers too who have to continue designing for old technology. Same with lightning ports. Now every iPad accessory needs a USB-C version and lightning port version.
And reducing the price for the iPad Air may prove to be crucial to help boost sales which have been in a slight decline for the iPad line as a whole.
What is even worse (!) is that the iPhones and iPads still ship with a USB A to lightning cable, meaning even users inside the Apple ecosystem need a USB C/thunderbolt dongle with usb A ports to connect their iPhones/iPads to their computers. I have no idea how this decision was approved without thinking about this.
Why do you need to connect your iPad to your computer? I have never connected mine - everything goes through the cloud or Bluetooth. Are you developing apps on it? That's a pretty niche use-case.
Because it was initially designed and delivered that way?
Because they like manually managing music and videos? etc
At the very least apple should have shipped with a USB-C to lightning cable, not USB-A.
As well as every cable ISP that even with their gigabit home internet service caps upload bandwidth at 35Mbps.
They should also abandon LTE and only produce devices that work with 5G.....
For a simpler product for the majority of people.
They can't suit everyone! Are you annoyed you can't connect your iPad to your Amiga as well? They have a draw a reasonable line at some point.
The "use case" of connecting your devices to your computer is still alive and well, despite being in the era of cloud.
A niche but extremely important use case, isn't it? Without app developers the platform is dead.
(Lightning also seems prone to arcing or overheating damage to the power pins. Source: visual inspection of my many failed Apple and third-party Lightning cables.)
Strange enough I've not seen this happen to a lot of other people.
Yeah, I've never had that happen, and I've been using Lightning cables since they were a thing. I've rarely had any problems with Lightning cables, though. (The same couldn't be said for their predecessor 30-pin cable.)
I'm trying to think if there could be anything weird about your environment doing that, but I'm drawing a blank. "You're holding it wrong" seems even less applicable here than it would to antennas. :)
1) here is one example https://ipadcarts.com/univault-charging-cart/ (although the one we bought had the power backplane installed already)
2) It's incorrect to say that "now" some iPads will have USB-C and others Lightning. That was already the case. This simply continues the status quo.
3) It's also incorrect to say that "users" in the Apple ecosystem will "need" a dongle. That's only the case for those with MacBook Pros. That's a minority of users.
4) You also got it wrong about the iPhone. You don't need any cable at all to connect an iPhone to a Mac; they connect wirelessly. For those who want to do this, the majority of users are still on Macs with USB-A.
Unforced errors like this seem to be occurring more and more often. Seemingly minor pragmatic issues that will prevent many users from upgrading or leaving the ecosystem altogether, that could easily be avoided.
The 3rd generation iPad was heavy, slow, and had horrible battery life and was discontinued six months later as they transistionef to a better processor and the lightning port.
So what are tablet users going to leave the iPad for? All of the great Android tablets available?
Yeah, this is the sad thing about the current situation. The Apple lineup is a mess, but everyone's "competitive" devices are even messier.
I have only Android phones, but my tablet is an ipad.
The 3rd generation iPad was also the first iPad with a high res screen. I used it happily for many years, because I loved that screen.
Macbook, iPad, and iPhone: Mini, Air, Plus? Air, nothing, Pro? Why is it a Macbook Pro and an iPhone Plus and then a Max? They need one word and one world only for big and powerful, not 3.
They’re using old components and designs where they think it makes sense, but are being uncompromising about the compute power (e.g. A12 Bionic, AR capabilities).
It means they can give lower-end customer what they want, without compromising the software capabilities of the devices or ultimately the margins of their business.
It makes sense as a strategy and obviously comes with trade offs which it seems like they’re willing to make. I mean, the old pencil isn’t THAT old. The new iPad Pros and new Pencil were announced only months ago.
These products just feel like “component pipeline optimization” instead of working backwards from customer needs. There should be 3 iPads, all with the same form factor, same connectors (can’t believe I even have to specify this): small medium large, and they should be called iPad mini, iPad, and iPad Pro. The iPad should serve the vast majority of the market. The pro should really feel like it’s for Pros. The mini should feel like it cannot be beat on a hike taking nature photos. Stories based on use, not price. The way I imagine them talking about iPad uses cases instead is: “imagine you want to buy an iPad, but you only have $399. Boom: iPad mini, the perfect fit!”
One thing I think it’s important to remember is that Apple today isn’t the same small, quirky company it was in 2007 when the iPhone came out.
It’s now one of the largest companies on the planet with a global customer base of over a billion people in hundreds of countries. They need to run a different strategy and they need to have more product choice at different price points. I think they’re navigating it the best they can - and obviously no business is without mistakes. They will make mistakes (iPhone 5C) and that’s OK.
However, trying to pattern match Apple’s decisions from the 90s and comparing them to decisions today is just poor thinking imo. That’s what people in this thread (not you @tolmasky, I’m just on a tangent now) seem to be trying to do. The Ballmer comparisons are poor as well, imo.
But, going back to the stories affecting the product design, I feel that increasingly Apple products rely on incidental and manufactured differentiation vs. essential differentiation. I can tell that they have refrained from putting the better chip into a certain model (since that better chip fits into an iPhone just fine), instead of the very nature of that model of course not allowing that sort of chip. I know this is harder, but fundamentally what I'm saying is "take the low end seriously". Like I mentioned in my other comment, if the "iPad mini" was more like an "iPad Active", and perhaps was more resistant to wear and tear (could survive being dropped if you're skateboarding for example), then all of a sudden the model takes on a personality. It is less powered, but more rugged, there is a tradeoff that feels earned. Instead, the tradeoff feels entirely driven by budget windows.
On the former, I do think they’ve lost the product/customer narrative in the last couple years and I think it’ll take another WWDC and another iOS update for them to find their way. They’re just now re-focusing on both iPad hardware AND software. For a few years (mid 2010s?) they doled out a few hardware updates that moved the needle moderately but the software didn’t (and you can argue still doesn’t to the fullest extent) take advantage of iPad to provide the functionality leaps it needs to have a compelling narrative. We’re just now in the past year or two starting to see the narrative develop with iPad Pro, Pencil, and iOS 11/12. A similar strong narrative probably needs to develop for the lower end iPads though I’m sure they’ll continue to sell simply because everyone else in the market is either asleep or incapable.
On the latter point, I agree with the spirit and I love how you phrased it. However, I’m not actually sure how much it matters in this case. I’m not completely convinced it matters to the extent you seem to think it does. I think the supply chain optimization is fine and the whole point is that it’s not crazy different from last-year’s iPad but it’s a lower price point and meaningfully more capable (think schools buying in bulk, etc). It would be nice if they FOCUSED on the lower end but that has never been Apple’s style and they are very very deliberate about what things they choose to focus on. It’s both the greatest strength of the company and one of the weaknesses - two sides of the same coin as things tend to be.
A ruggedized iPad mini is a great example of a differentiation that I can get behind and use. Right now, if I had to purchase a new iPad for my Mother I'm not sure which one I would get, and it almost wouldn't matter. Almost. But I'm not 100% positive which would be the best value+performance+portability+convenience combination. If there were "only" 3 the decision would be much easier. Heck, I could even tell her to "go to the Apple store at the mall and tell them you want the iPad Active (or whatever)". At this point I don't think I could guide her even if I was on the phone with her while she was standing in the Apple store surrounded by iPads. :(
It was confusing to have so many options when tablets and smartphones were new, or when a person could say “I don’t really do computers” and have a successful career. None of those are true now; babies can and do use tablets, middle schools have carts of iPads or Chromebooks. My grandma has an iPad. She calls it her “Facebook,” but she has one.
Simplicity has its appeal, but I trust the market analysts at Apple have a plan for market differentiation with a wide lineup.
It's important to make a distinction here: I think there is certainly more room for configuration within a product line ($x upgrade for a faster version of product X), but this is very different than essential feature axises that define a product line itself. Some of them are unavoidable, sure, like a smaller form factor often needing to have less cpu/ram/whatever. However, that's certainly not the case here -- the iPhone Max is smaller than the iPad mini, yet much much faster. Per your own argument, why is Apple not serving the part of the market that needs the portability of the iPad mini but wants the best CPU? Well, because the real point of the iPad mini is to satisfy some budget window probably, not a deep empathy with the user.
Also -- I keep forgetting to bring this up in these situations, but I would not be surprised if the actual purpose of the iPad mini is point-of-sale terminals, conference room check-ins, and office visit terminals. That's the number one place I see these particular devices, and in fact the number one place I see iPads in general.
In my mind, I'd build... Two sizes of iPad Pro (12" and 10" roughly) One iPad (10" and thin enough that an "Air" model is redundant) One iPad Mini
All would use the same connectors (or, at least adopt them over time, as I'd expect Pro models to see new tech a generation before the iPad & Mini) and accessories (pencil, etc).
I feel that the "MacBook Pro" name was a fundamental mistake, and the root cause of 15 years of "pro" naming issues.
Not only is it a bad name on its own [1], but "professional" is so broad that it can describe literally every working person on the planet, in some capacity. All that label is doing is causing everyone to say "This isn't a perfect machine for my professional use" and then try to shame Apple for it.
Half the professionals I know aren't even using "pro"-labeled machines -- it's neither necessary nor sufficient. It's just an awkward label that the internet is taking far too literally.
Of course, if they dropped it today, everyone would say "See? Apple admits they aren't making machines for professionals any more!" They can't win.
[1]: "Apple marked the transition to Intel by discontinuing the well-known, long-respected PowerBook name. The Intel-based pro laptop is known as the MacBook Pro, a name that met with a less-than-enthusiastic reception at the Expo keynote." --lowendmac.com, 2006
Step back and think for a moment. How absurd is it that, suddenly, bigger = better? Not just for technical reasons but for marketing reasons? I think it demonstrates just how far gone Apple is.
There's a Steve Jobs quote in the Walter Isaacson biography to the effect of Tim Cook not being a product guy. Truest thing I've ever read.
Perhaps it's because the new Apple Pencil charges by docking with a host iPad, and there's no place on an iPad Air or iPad mini to put a dock.
The Surface line made it obvious years ago that the magnetic docking was essential.
Would have made much more sense to wait than to have two different pencils not cross compatible at all, I mean even if you bought the first iPad Pro and the Pencil then decided to upgrade to the next iPad Pro you can't use the old pencil with the new iPad with the excuse of it needing a lightning port to pair when plenty of other pens exist using wireless technology that just have a button to kick them into pairing mode.
For a company that claims to care about e-waste I find all this ridiculous.
Side note: can you seriously not use the original pencil with new ipads, even with a cable adapter of some sort to pair them? I was planning to pick up a used or refurb of the current gen when the next one comes out, but that might throw a wrench in those plans, unless I luck out and find one used including the new pencil, like I did with my Gen 1 ipad pro.
It's also surprising how many Apps optimized UX are just nicer and more fluid to use on iOS, like News, Bank/Stock/Real Estate Apps, Houzz, Maps, Starbucks, AirBnb even Twitter/FB/Pintrest are nicer on iOS.
It's also become my parents primary computing device, they've never really felt comfortable using their iMac, Laptop or Chromebook (which are now dust gatherers), but they absolutely love their iPads. They always feel "lost" when using a PC, but never on their iPads where I believe the restrictive UI/functionality of iOS leads to more enjoyment from feeling their more in "control" of their device.
Given most people are content consumers instead of content creators it's not hard to see why the trend is towards most people using Smart Phones / Tablets as their primary computing device.
Which breaks my heart a bit because the model they have right now is a 2011 MBP and it's starting to show its age. Also my Dad spilled a cup of tea on the keyboard which was expensive to repair. They're not in a position financially to shell out a lot of money for Apple products, and they've squandered a lot of over the years on sub-par windows ones (not a dig at windows - just the 'buy cheap, buy twice' mantra sticks here, good quality windows laptops are expensive for a reason!)
So I'm thinking about giving them my iPad Air (2013) but I'm not sure if they'd like it, for one they tend to use the computer on their laps rather than a desk so I don't think the form factor would help, and my Dad likes to maintain a bunch of spreadsheets in open office for various things.
The only other thing (as far as I know) they use the computer for is browing the web, but it's the productivity stuff that concerns me as a laptop replacement.
I'm an Android guy, fed up with the clunky experience on Android / Amazon tablets, and thinking of making the switch & getting an air, mainly for media consumption during business travel. The last thing I want is a unique-to-me charging adapter that I'm sure I'm going to leave in a hotel or on a plane and only realize when the battery is dying with 3 hours left in a flight. If it's USB-C, then I can just carry my phone charger (and backup) and not worry about it.
This could be a way for them to save on some manufacturing costs and also offer a 'new' iPad Air and iPad mini with USB-C and Pencil 2 support later.
Usb c would obviously be more convenient for your use case, but I wouldn’t make this into a big deal.
Interesting it still seems visually identical to the last one. So while iPhones change their "look" to be recognizably new as a status symbol (e.g. the notch), nobody seems to care about that with their iPad. (I mean, I certainly don't.)
With a phone you grip the phone by its back, so you can go bezelless without impacting visibility and causing too many phantom screen taps. With a tablet, however, you will usually grip it by its sides. Having the bezels is almost a necessity here.
The device is pricey and niche, but credit where credit is due: they deserve praise for bucking market trends and just making a device really comfortable to hold.
If I'm holding it one-handed to write/draw with the pencil, I'm generally supporting it on the inside of my forearm and gripping the top corner with my hand to keep it there.
Two-handed I'll hold by the bottom corners to use the split keyboard once in a while.
In either case I don't really need the bezel. I do have a slim hard case on it though, maybe without that people are doing more of the "thumb on the front" for grip leverage.
> If the original title begins with a number or number + gratuitous adjective, we'd appreciate it if you'd crop it. E.g. translate "10 Ways To Do X" to "How To Do X," and "14 Amazing Ys" to "Ys." Exception: when the number is meaningful, e.g. "The 5 Platonic Solids."
> Otherwise please use the original title, unless it is misleading or linkbait; don't editorialize.
This is not quite clickbait, and perhaps not objectively misleading either, but definitely falls in the "amazing Ys" category.
Also, hard to fathom that it took them so many years just to launch a refreshed iPad mini, just with a minor incremental upgrade. Glad to see it happened though, but it was a missed opportunity to really make a bezel-less, beautiful mini. I'm sure it will come around soon enough.
He unraveled the product line when he came back to apple and famously put up 4 quadrants on the board with consumer/pro on one axis and notebook/desktop on the other.
And "Pro" seems more prosumer, like the prosumer cameras with no viewfinder or manual focus.
I run a lot and miss the iPod Nano (7th Generation). It was a really good single purpose device. It worked perfectly and was super light.
I realize the replacement is the Apple Watch. But the Apple Watch still doesn't replace my Garmin from a running perspective.
Plus, I haven't found a pair of Bluetooth headphones that work as well or reliably as a pair of $15 Sony ear buds.
> Apple Pencil (1st generation) is available for purchase separately for $99 (US).
So Apple are releasing new devices not compatible with their newer 2nd Gen Pencil?
Go with an iPad if you're in the market for a tablet.
I think that the Lenovo Tab 4 8 is a decent tablet, much better than the Amazon Fires both in terms of hardware, and also because it supports Google Play. But when you're spending only about $120 there are compromises: you notice the slowness when rendering webpages and scrolling, and the screen is pretty low PPI. On the plus side the Lenovo tablets have built-in FM radios, which is kind of neat.
For smallish tablets where blown-up phone apps (which is all you usually get) aren't so bad, Android is ok. Functional, even if iPads really do have much better apps across the board. Recent versions have made it much harder for apps to access USB OTG drives, which is sort of a bummer, as I used to have Wikipedia offline on a USB stick and now the app I used to access it can't.
Android's been an absolute fucking disaster (I'm responding on one now). All the more frustrating because it's so near to what I'd like, but is intentionally crippled in dozens of ways.
iPad lacks a local userland. Termux has been one of the few delights on Android.
This leads me to think that in spite of the name change, this is really the third or fourth motherboard refresh on an old assembly line somewhere in China dating back to the iPad Air 1 or 2 and first iPad Pro.
Otherwise please use the original title, unless it is misleading or linkbait; don't editorialize.
But, I really wish there was a solid affordable android or windows alternative to the iPad with good pen support.
The surface Go was the closest competitor, but it was too chunky (very large bezels) and Intel's mobile CPUs are just too slow. Android on the other hand seems to have completely dropped the ball on this one.
I would kill for an updated MiPad with basic pen support.
A nice note taking and media consumption machine. Is that too much to ask for?
I've always had the feeling that RAM becomes the limiting factor for long-life of such a device (because newer iOS/apps/websites use more and more of it - once you are healthily into multi-core you don't have to worry so much about CPU/GPU performance). I think 2GB has been around for years in non-Pro models, but 4GB also for years in Pros. Getting 2GB now seems like a step back even for a mid-range model.
I would have returned that thing in an instant if apple came out with a Mini Pro. I also have a mini that I’ve had for years. It’s the perfect size. Don’t feel inconvenienced when carrying.
Damn damn damn.... maybe another year.
I'm sorry, but there are generations of tablets in the sub-$300 range that were high enough end at the time. The Nexus 7 was great, I've got a Huawei tablet that's been very good (around $240 a year and a half ago iirc).
No: there are 4
The "clicking" device is not really the bottleneck in 3D design. Some people prefer normal computer mouses (high DPI), a 3D mouse (maps to 3D more directly) or touch (intuitive) but whatever.
The crucial part is key presses, all 3D software I've ever encountered can only be used in a efficient manner with intense shortcut using. On an iPad, that's hard, u either sacrifice a lot of screen space for non-physical keys, or use and external keyboard, at which point a laptop/desktop is better; especially with the second key element of smooth 3D editing in mind: GPU and CPU.
- Read eBooks (yes, it is great, BUT Kindle is better for this)
- Watch movies, netflix, etc.
- Give to your toddler/kid on a trip as pacifier. (Yes, it is the main usage) :-)
Ultraportable
Stylus enabled
Fully capable desktop operating system
Ports to allow hook-up to external monitor
I wanted something like this as a frequently traveling and programming, conference hand written note taking engineer. Then I notice some of the designers in my office experimenting with iPads, Pencils, and Mac minis (seeing if they could depend 100% on the iPad for portable work). The main complaint has always been, why didn't they stick osx on this thing?
Devices that have come close, besides the iPad:
Acer Chromebook tab 10: stylus support great, ultraportable, but abysmal battery life and lacking peripherals to turn it into a reasonable laptop alternative. Chromeos though, with Linux Apps on Chrome combined with Android Apps on Chrome, now seems a powerful contender in this niche. USBC. Stylus built in.
Lenovo y500: ticks all boxes but ultraportable - thing is a tank. For now I swap between this and the x1 yoga on trips. Runs chromeos which means I take notes in onenote for Android, and program in a vscode for Debian binary or emacs or vim. Getting localhost to work kosher is tricky. USBC. Stylus built in.
Lenovo x1 yoga: not ultraportable, just a damn good laptop. Unfortunately, there's no good handwritten note taking app (at the level of onenote, anyway) for Linux, so I swap between Ubuntu or windows 10 depending on what I'm doing. Same for photo editing, which is a deficiency I forgot to mention for the chrome books. Usbc. Stylus built in.
Surface pro line: probably actually ticks all the boxes, I just hate programming in windows and haven't touched one of these that are powerful enough to run Ubuntu in a VM in a reasonable fashion. Also, the keyboard is awful imo. And, I don't know if they do USBC yet? That would mean no charging from the backup battery if so. Finally, the stylus isn't built in, which is obnoxious.
I've heard fun things about Linux on Android and other Samsung specific offerings that I'm looking forward to experimenting with. The hunt for this device has become a mild hobby.
So far it's just a couple Chromebooks and a surface go that fits the bill. Lenovo had the Tablet 10 but I believe it's been discontinued, looked like one of the better options but impossible to say until I get my hands on one (nobody even has one up on eBay).
I hate Windows too but you're not going to see a macOS device like this for obvious reasons (well, Apple can do anything, but I wouldn't count on it). If you don't mind running Linux natively, most Surface models do reasonably well there.
Microsoft released a Surface Connect adapter only last year, and it has terrible reviews: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/p/surface-connect-to-usb-c-a...
The Surface Go, Surface Book 2, and Surface Studio 2 are the only Surface devices with USB-C ports.
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/p/surface-pro-6/8zcnc665slq5...
1 x full-size USB 3.0
3.5 mm headphone jack
Mini DisplayPort
1 x Surface Connect port
Surface Type Cover port6
MicroSDXC card reader
Compatible with Surface Dial*
Doesn't seem to...
I have a hard time understanding where this sentiment comes from. WSL is categorically better than using Homebrew on macOS. It is basically an Ubuntu userspace with apt, running directly on the Windows kernel. Using Ubuntu in a VM seems pretty superfluous when all the useful parts are already there with fully native performance. As a longtime Linux user, I am increasingly convinced that Windows is the best desktop Linux distribution.
Also i always had trouble configuring my windows tools to talk to my Linux tools. Simple stuff like vscode or emacs magit talking to git in wsl
If I could run gnome or cinnamon on windows I'd agree
To be fair, the environment is nice, and the WSL is certainly an impressive technical accomplishment (no question there!), but it doesn't have the feeling of a Linux to me. The freedom, control, and transparency just aren't there.
Exactly this. A good part of the joy I get in seeking out an awesome ultra-portable (and in doing so, experimenting with my mobile workflow) is the high customization I get from Linux machines. Sadly the two best portable contenders (ChromeOS and Windows) in terms of feasibility, don't meet this.
I had a touchscreen laptop before and to me it was just incredibly useless. I am quite happy that Macbooks do _not_ have a touchscreen.
If I want that, I get an iPad Pro.
I've done the vast majority of research, planning, organizing, and documenting my new house build on the iPad and it's massively better at pretty much everything.
Of course the MBP kicks ass for my day job as a developer. Different form factors, different software, different use-cases.
Touch is a great input method. Cursors are a great input method. Apple is the only computer company not offering a device with both.
Apple has outright dismissed touchscreen MacBooks as inappropriate for their customers, as recently as mid-2018. This implies not only that they focused on macOS devices with respect to touchscreens, but then decided they were a bad idea, and further decided to share that with the press.
https://www.wired.com/story/wwdc-2018-federighi-ios-apps-on-...
then again nothing in the ipad lineup really even has a competitor anymore
If not, does anybody here have experience running Linux on a tablet?
It could make a nice experience to have a tablet instead of a laptop, so you can put the tablet a bit higher and use it with an external bluetooth keyboard. I think that would work, right?
There's still time for them to announce a refresh of the 12" Macbook, right?
4 separate iPad lines, plus extra screen size variation? How is an "Air" variant useful? Why does the iPad Pro have a screen size choice, but the mini is a separate line?
It should be iPad and iPad Pro, with screen size choices in each line.
- Pro: iPad Pro (11" and 12.9" - FaceID, Bezel-less)
- Consumer: iPad mini, iPad Air and iPad (TouchID, Bezel)
I don't see how this differs too much from Steve's approach?
I don't think he aimed for 4 products in a specific line, so he'd probably be miffed about how many variants there are between each.
I think the 4 iPads would be forgivable if there was consistency between the various product lines naming. iPhone _ Plus vs iPad Pro vs iPhone XS Max? That by itself is 3 different "descriptors" for their big screen devices (granted, Pro is less about big screen and more about spec stuffing, but non-tech consumers I know think iPad Pro = big screen iPad = expensive iPad).
The Apple website is a mess:
https://i.imgur.com/iGnlSUl.png
A more Jobs approach would be more akin to this:
https://i.imgur.com/R15IcVS.png
The Mini would simply be another "iPad" size.
They introduced the "air" model (550€) to fill the gap between the 350€ iPad and the 880€ iPad Pro 11".
They should have just released it as "iPad (2019)" with the new CPU at a higher price and kept selling the 6th gen. iPad (2018).
Yup, confusing, I agree. They could do three which wouldn't be terrible, and I'll explain why: because [cont]
> How is an "Air" variant useful?
the "basic" iPad went back to an older design for the display to cut costs, it has a non-laminated display that can really bother you if you are accustomed to the more recent iPad models.
If they were still selling the 1st/2nd gen iPad Pro models this wouldn't be an issue, but the 3rd gen iPad Pro had a massive price jump that puts some quality of life features like a laminated display behind said price jump. Bringing the "Air" line back let's Apple have a middle tier of high quality tablets between the entry-level and (for most) overkill.
Ultimately the iPad Mini remains as it always has, the 7.9" variant of the larger standard iPad (Air) Model. If Apple wanted they could simplify down to three product lines: iPad (9.7"), iPad Air (7.9", 10.5"), iPad Pro (11", 12.9"), but I guess marketing research probably suggests that keeping the Mini separate is good for product awareness.
I have an ipad air 2 and our screen is cracked. I went to have it replaced and I believe the cost was $299 which was more than I paid for it BF a few years back.
I am very much looking forward to purchase a new ipad with laminated display (on sale).
They should be given model and year designations like how cars had them in the 1980's. There was cachet to having a 'GL' ford instead of a base 'L' model and you didn't have to know the engine size. The model year and the badge enabled you to know what you needed to know. Nobody 'needed' anything better than the 'L' model to go from A to B but you had to have the 'GL' or better and didn't have to know what 'GL' stood for, all you knew was it was better.
These naming schemes changed with the times, probably because the likes of Citroen started complicating it with things like 'GLDTI16' that were getting silly.
Some sports variants just had a spoiler and speed stripes tacked on to get an extra 'S' on the badge. They still had the stock lame engine and brakes. The 'GTi' version had real performance benefits.
By this way of thinking, Apple could do a 'sports' iPad that just comes in a rugged case. People would fall for that. Same with the 'GTi' moniker, people would pay for a red line around the bezel, the black anodised body and a top yield CPU that was notionally faster.
The 'eco' model could be the lame version without the RAM and pixel density and maybe a plastic case, only saving grace being battery life. 'pro' could be the 'air' variant, the base model merely 'deluxe'.
'Max' could be the big screen variant of all the above.
I think customers could relate to the auto-analogy names and spend accordingly.
Henry Ford only ever wanted the Model T, no GM style built in obsolescence and variations beyond necessary with fancy names. He has probably been rolling in his grave for decades now.
What really characterizes the two different iPad lines? Numbers and technical features. The Pros support USB-C, have different pens which do the same thing as the old ones, but are not compatible, plus a slew of other features that a total noob won't and does not want to understand. I don't see how this is not bad; it's arguable that Apple wouldn't have done this a decade ago, and that it's getting closer to the disastrous naming schemes used by companies such as Dell (and in some ways Apple itself in the nineties).
A total noob is going to spend the least possible
[1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19421612]
Pilots trained for Boeing’s 737 Max airplane with “an iPad lesson for an hour” (qz.com)