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Analyst Skeptical About Imminent Launch for 12.9-Inch 'iPad Pro'
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Absolutely agreed. They've also lost me as a customer - if they don't reintroduce the 17" line (with a 4K screen, obviously), I'm off to purchase a similarly-specced, high-end, 17"+ PC laptop or tablet capable of running OSx86.
I really wish the rumor sites would quit posting these kind of stories. Supply chain guesses aren't rumors. What 9to5Mac reported on the Apple TV is a rumor and can be considered newsworthy. This isn't either of those.
Yeah count me as someone who feels like this sized display would be better used as part of a laptop rather than a monster iPad
Same comments were said before the mini launched. Stupid, no one would use it, blah blah blah.
It will sell, plenty of people don't mind a 2lb tablet as they use them at home as the second screen while watching TV, or even use it as a primary viewing device. I'm on the fence about it as I love my iPad Air, but having used the mini it is a freaking cool device that is so light it's nice for portability but when I use my Air I like the larger screen size and most of my usage is at work or home and not walking around all day with it.
The other avenue I see a larger iPad being used is for POS systems, cash registers are already becoming iPads hooked up to a CC reader. Something larger just gives companies more screen real estate to have various buttons that make checking someone out that much faster. Definitely see a use case for a larger screen.
It will sell, plenty of people don't mind a 2lb tablet as they use them at home as the second screen while watching TV, or even use it as a primary viewing device. I'm on the fence about it as I love my iPad Air, but having used the mini it is a freaking cool device that is so light it's nice for portability but when I use my Air I like the larger screen size and most of my usage is at work or home and not walking around all day with it.
The other avenue I see a larger iPad being used is for POS systems, cash registers are already becoming iPads hooked up to a CC reader. Something larger just gives companies more screen real estate to have various buttons that make checking someone out that much faster. Definitely see a use case for a larger screen.
In the normal usage mode of holding the iPad by one edge in one hand and operating it with the other - that means that not only is it 1lb heavier, but the centre of gravity is further from your hand, so there's more torque on your hand. So, twice the weight of the current iPad, with your hand at a greater 'mechanical disadvantage'. Not good.
Comparison with the weight of a Macbook is irrelevant - you don't hold or support the Macbook in one hand - you rest it on your lap (if you are immune to heat-rash) or, more often than not, put it on a desk.
So do you always use it sitting at a desk, with the iPad on a stand? That's likely to be the only comfortable way of using a giant iPad. Maybe there *is* a market for that, but its not necessarily the same as the current iPad market, which shows every sign of preferring the Mini to the regular iPad.
Because laptops are not tablets. Nor, apart from maybe Airs and 13" MBPs, do they spend much time on peoples laps other than as a last resort - and even then, you don't need to support them with one hand. Because a large segment of the laptop market is for 'desktop replacements' who's need for mobility is limited to commuting between home and work and will spend most of their life on one desk or another.
I like my MBP 17" but it rarely gets carried further than from the desk to the car - i'd use a 13" MB or an iPad 'on the road'. In fact, it was bought on the assumption that it would only move a couple of times a year - it's only commuting because my work-provided 13" is getting a bit old.
I have actually seen people using 17" MBPs on a plane once or twice - typically, they were writing code or websites and really needed the screen real estate. They were also disgustingly young and thin (I don't think my MBP 17" would fit between me and the seat in front in Cattle Class) so they'd probably have annoying better-than-20:20 vision and (these days) happily use a rMBP in scaled mode.
...that said, as others have pointed out, Apple dropped the 17", presumably through lack of demand, and as soon as you can get a 13" rMBP with a 1TB SSD for less than an arm and a leg, I'll probably switch too.
The laptops have eaten away at the desktop market share and the tablets have eaten away at the laptop market share. I could see a larger iPad replacing the Mac Air. However, a few things would have to be done IMO to make this a viable option. A keyboard cover, ability to run multiple windows, and the final product must be lighter and slightly less expensive than the Mac Air. If you do these three things in conjunction with a large iPad, I could see a segment of the market buying the tablet instead of a laptop. Others have thrown in better pointing devices so that it could also work for handwritten note taking or true designing. I guess we will need to wait and see what Apple actually does. But to state preposterous is maybe.... overstated.
Christ alive, the original rumour has been proven? A larger iPad is on the way? Only then can be start into the timeframe rumours.
MacRumours, stop posting anything you can find.
There are 3 possibilities:
1) Large iPad. Just a large iPad, nothing more.
2) Retina MacBook Air.
3) MacPad--a MacBook Air in iPad Air form.
The last one would be enthusing. I never liked the laptop format of computers. If Apple chops off the case and throws out the keyboard and ports, and they further crunch the boards, the MacPad becomes a 1.5lb. pad with full OSX.
1) Large iPad. Just a large iPad, nothing more.
2) Retina MacBook Air.
3) MacPad--a MacBook Air in iPad Air form.
The last one would be enthusing. I never liked the laptop format of computers. If Apple chops off the case and throws out the keyboard and ports, and they further crunch the boards, the MacPad becomes a 1.5lb. pad with full OSX.
I am on the fence about a 12.9 inch iPad. I feel the only advantage to a 12.9 inch iPad is for a laptop/tablet hybrid. The 9.7 inch iPad I think is PERFECT for what it is. the iPad is not meant to be a workhorse. It surfs the web, checks emails, and dabbles a little bit in content creation. You can do all those things with or without a keyboard.
Having a 12.9 inch iPad would make it easier to do "content creation" stuff and make the iPad more usable in that respect, but I think with the added weight and bulkiness, people will end up using it more like a touchscreen laptop. Everyone will buy a Bluetooth keyboard for it and treat it like one of those windows 8 tablet/laptop hybrids. I also think it would cut heavily into Macbook Air sales. The 11 inch Macbook air would become obsolete overnight in my opinion and the 13 inch would definitely see significant cannibalization. If the 12.9 inch iPad is suppose to replace the Macbook air, I could somewhat see that, but with Apple's stance on touchscreen laptops/desktops I do not see that happening.
Having a 12.9 inch iPad would make it easier to do "content creation" stuff and make the iPad more usable in that respect, but I think with the added weight and bulkiness, people will end up using it more like a touchscreen laptop. Everyone will buy a Bluetooth keyboard for it and treat it like one of those windows 8 tablet/laptop hybrids. I also think it would cut heavily into Macbook Air sales. The 11 inch Macbook air would become obsolete overnight in my opinion and the 13 inch would definitely see significant cannibalization. If the 12.9 inch iPad is suppose to replace the Macbook air, I could somewhat see that, but with Apple's stance on touchscreen laptops/desktops I do not see that happening.
*Sigh*
"Pro Users". "Serious work". Why does everyone like to oversimplify everything and put it in a box?
People are using the iPad for "serious work". They are getting paid for it. Hence, "Pros" are using iPads. Perhaps you mean "computing intensive tasks" as the only instance of "serious work"?
Who is this product aimed at? Anyone who likes or can benefit from a bigger screen, more typing real-estate, the iPad app ecosystem, and does not require the high-powered laptop to do autocad or whatever. Musicians would definitely be all over it.
Something like this:
or this:
or this:
Why would Apple support Xcode development on a iOS device? They want developers to purchase a Mac (in addition to iOS devices) for writing software.
It wouldn't make sense for Apple to pay their software engineers to write software (for Xcode on iOS systems) that would then sell fewer Mac notebook and desktop computers.
The last thing I want to be doing is have look 'through my hand' to guess what the tip of my finger is doing when I need to produce pixel perfect work. Photoshop is only ever going to be a mouse/stylus input thing.
They'd sell slightly few Macs, but more iPads. It'd be a transition between products in their own line up, so they'd still be making money regardless.
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I agree with you that using Photoshop with just your fingers would be all kinds of terrible suck, but a big iPad with stylus support would make for an excellent Photoshop-on-the-go machine.
edit: imagine a lighter, thinner version of this...
Im skeptical about any such launch at any time. Sure I bet Apple tested that size but that doesn't equal them doing it. They may have rejected it for the same reasons the reviewers didn't like the Samsung of that size
I can see the advantage in a tablet device versus a laptop in terms of mobility, but when it comes to doing most types of work, a tablet still falls rather short on the ergonomic scale (yes, even with a keyboard attachment). Don't get me wrong, I love my tablet and I have lots of uses for it, but seeing the number of users who aren't email/facebook checkers that bought a tablet as a "primary device", only to later buy a laptop anyway, is quite telling in itself.
But do you really need a bigger screen, or just one that writes better. If you could work with a smaller tip stylus and a screen that picks up a smaller tip with fluid writing, might that be enough. And the latter would be something that could benefit all users not just Pros.
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At that point they had no idea that folks would want to carry it around everywhere all the time. They learned real fast how wrong they were and the very next iPad had a major shape adjustment.
Not unlike their oops in thinking web apps would be fine for the iPhone and they didn't need an SDK etc.
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I'll give you on that. I wish they would fine tune the UI to work with the iPad better. Like why can't we zoom in icons for the visually impaired. Why aren't there more than 9 icons in a 'box' etc
And I think you are wrong about a MacBook Air with Retina. I don't think the airs will ever get that. See I think they are moving to the Air being essentially the MacBook and the Retina line will be THE MacBook Pro. But with that in mind might there be a MBPR at an 11 inch size, sure there might be.
Or this could be a leak of something tested that was rejected and will never happen.
Finally... someone mentioned it.
This isn't a "Pro" device in the "production" sense.
It is a "Pro" device in the "profession" sense.
Displaying larger documents or graphics, plans, charts, etc at a reasonable size, instead of paper, with the option of mirroring to an enabled projector.
Kiosk duty.
Point of sale duty.
Other specific-role duties.
Smaller iPads are personal multi-use devices, that many are adapting to professional, educational, or other specific-role uses, some replacing old-tech like cash registers or multi-component kiosk computers, some are completely new roles that computers didn't do before, and move towards paperless uses.
Whether a 12-13" iPad would be for portable use, or affixed in a specific location, it isn't likely as targeted at personal hand-held longer-term uses as the 9" iPad air, or the more mobile iPad Mini Retina.
A 13" screen is also an easier display to not get as close to, or showing to other people whose eyes aren't within 36" of the screen.
Don't think of it as a bigger, heavier iPad Air alternative for your personal use... think of it as an alternative to iPad Air for other use roles and collaboration, rather than personal use.
Whether laying flat on a surface, in a standing case, or on a device mount... weight might not be that much of an issue, in terms of holding it for long periods while using it... and even if it is 2 lbs., that is lighter than most pro laptops to carry in a bag from point to point, just for presentations and collaboration. Even with a bluetooth apple keyboard, it still may come in at an acceptable carry-weight.
And for some of the other criticisms in terms of iOS usability... there is nothing to suggest that an iOS update won't have usability upgrades and new features to go with the expanding real-world implications of a device like this. Just because iOS has been a certain way, doesn't mean that it won't expand, as processing power on these new devices exceeds previous generations.
Condemning a new hardware paradigm variation due to current and past software limitations is short-sighted.
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I really can't imagine the purpose of an iPad Pro. You could do much more on a MBA and MBA. I can't make sense of any of this.
I can't draw directly on a MBA. I can't mount it on a wall as an interactive display. More is subjective.