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Apple Announces Thinner, Lighter iPad Air With 64-Bit A7 Processor
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Good for you, i'll enjoy my super speedy super slick iPad Air while you worry that the "processor might not be up to it"
(p.s. your processor in the iPad 3 definitely isn't up to it, that was Apple's worst ever release, a rushed retina job to get it there first, the iPad 4 was the correct version of the retina iPad and I was so glad to dump the 3rd gen dog the day the 4th came out and get back to iPad like performance)----------
it doesn't matter
This administration is about renaming and resizing. And when they come up with a new product (Mac Pro) the price is sky high. The entry level used to be always around $2K, now is $3K.
... what ever...
Pros and Cons
Well the new iPad is here, as expected in time for the holiday season. I'm going to assume that this iPad Air has a faster chip than the iPhone 5S; anything less would put people off it, especially in the graphics department, where that retina display eats cycles. That said, here's what I see here and what's missing-
Pros
-Much lighter and slimmer, making it more pleasant in the hand.
-Faster technology for more sophisticated apps, which as ever are more usable on an iPad sized screen.
-More software bundled. I know a lot of people who won't buy an app and this will improve their experience with a 'stock device'.
-IOS7 and 64bit processing finding a home on a suitable iPad.
Cons
-Even if it's faster, still the same generation innards as an iPhone.
-No touch ID (though I know the supplies are constrained).
-No 8mp camera. Even if I wouldn't use it much, it'd be nice to have.
-A surface-style type cover would be great.
-Basically a lighter and faster iPad 4, without all the new refinements in the iPhone 5S.
-All this giving the feeling that a better, perhaps iPad Pro is around the corner, putting me back in the waiting game. Really, it should be a complete device now and new innovations later, not these compromises.
-Nothing game changing here. The Apple of today is slower to innovate than before and this gives the competition more of a chance to move into the 'high end tablet market'. Though the advantage is still with Apple here.
So let's not miss the fact that this is the best tablet in the market right now in most areas (except productivity) and a beautiful, slim device with leading processing owner. It keeps the retina display whilst getting back to refining the form factor, which after all is a big reason to use an iPad rather than a laptop, or for that matter, MacBook Air.
It all makes me hope for
An iPad Pro with
-12 inches or so of screen.
-Retina beautifully scaled to that size.
-More processing power and ram (4gb plus?), making productivity easier.
-A pressure-sensitive screen.
-Touch ID.
-Newer wifi and cheaper storage options, from 64gb-256gb.
-Not too expensive. Please!!
Well the new iPad is here, as expected in time for the holiday season. I'm going to assume that this iPad Air has a faster chip than the iPhone 5S; anything less would put people off it, especially in the graphics department, where that retina display eats cycles. That said, here's what I see here and what's missing-
Pros
-Much lighter and slimmer, making it more pleasant in the hand.
-Faster technology for more sophisticated apps, which as ever are more usable on an iPad sized screen.
-More software bundled. I know a lot of people who won't buy an app and this will improve their experience with a 'stock device'.
-IOS7 and 64bit processing finding a home on a suitable iPad.
Cons
-Even if it's faster, still the same generation innards as an iPhone.
-No touch ID (though I know the supplies are constrained).
-No 8mp camera. Even if I wouldn't use it much, it'd be nice to have.
-A surface-style type cover would be great.
-Basically a lighter and faster iPad 4, without all the new refinements in the iPhone 5S.
-All this giving the feeling that a better, perhaps iPad Pro is around the corner, putting me back in the waiting game. Really, it should be a complete device now and new innovations later, not these compromises.
-Nothing game changing here. The Apple of today is slower to innovate than before and this gives the competition more of a chance to move into the 'high end tablet market'. Though the advantage is still with Apple here.
So let's not miss the fact that this is the best tablet in the market right now in most areas (except productivity) and a beautiful, slim device with leading processing owner. It keeps the retina display whilst getting back to refining the form factor, which after all is a big reason to use an iPad rather than a laptop, or for that matter, MacBook Air.
It all makes me hope for
An iPad Pro with
-12 inches or so of screen.
-Retina beautifully scaled to that size.
-More processing power and ram (4gb plus?), making productivity easier.
-A pressure-sensitive screen.
-Touch ID.
-Newer wifi and cheaper storage options, from 64gb-256gb.
-Not too expensive. Please!!
It would have been nice if they bumped up the base storage capacity to 32GB for the same price since the touch id won't be included for now. It looks like a solid upgrade, not much to complain about. IMO, 32GB should be the starting point for storage today.
Where is the gold option and TouchID? Only a A7 and not an A7X? Is Apple nuts? Guess I'm waiting till the iPad 6.
The "X" we saw in previous releases was to give it quad core gpu processor. The A7 is already a quad core gpu processor. There is no need for an "X" release.
It is already over clocked (or rather, running faster compared to the iPhone 5S version).
Have you ever even used an iPad, or at least browsed the web with one? It matters immensely.
Also, really disappointed that they just gave it the A7. We can't be sure yet, but I think that means it only has 1 GB RAM (not enough) and not the six-core Rogue graphics everyone here (myself included) was looking forward to. They could have at least bumped the base storage to 32 GB, but no... I really want to get rid of my piece of junk iPad 3 (worst iPad ever), but this isn't very tempting at all. In fact, the lackluster spec upgrade screams iPad 3 Mark II.
Not at all. Guess when you have a monopoly you can do what you want. It's just unfortunate for the masses.
It would be nice to say Apple was ethical with their pricing, but if there was ever a time when that was true, it's long gone.
Exactly... While the NAND flash chips used in the iPad are likely much higher quality/higher performance, It is pretty pathetic when the average USB flash drive in your pocket has as much capacity as Apple's top of the line tablet in its base model config. There is absolutely no reason why Apple couldn't eat the $10 to make the base model 32GB, and I still HATE their artificial segmentation. Charging a 1000% markup to go from 16GB to 32GB is ridiculous when nothing else is different but a few more NAND chips.
Yes, they exist to make money, but there is no reason they have to do so in a way that is so aggravating.
Thank you for being the first logical post ive read on MR for a long time. You said everything I thought.
Marketing tactics
That's because they don't really care about selling any. It's all about marketing. If you go into an Apple store you'll pick up an iPad Air and compare it to the iPad 2 sitting right next to it. The Air will look and feel amazing next to the 2, it will feel really light and new, you'll be sold.
It's clever marketing, nothing wrong with that.
That's because they don't really care about selling any. It's all about marketing. If you go into an Apple store you'll pick up an iPad Air and compare it to the iPad 2 sitting right next to it. The Air will look and feel amazing next to the 2, it will feel really light and new, you'll be sold.
It's clever marketing, nothing wrong with that.
I can't quite see what you think is unethical.
They advertise the products on their store, with prices, and they charge the advertised price. That's ethical.
It will work very well.
Customer sees an iPad 2 for $400. Likes it. Looks at iPad Air. For just $100 more they get an iPad that is soooo much better. They buy the iPad Air.
iPad 2's job is done
And there will be a few places, like point-of-sales devices, where you don't care about Retina display and faster processor, and $100 less is $100 less.
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But you look at it wrong.
The Standard iPad Air with 32 GB costs $599.
By removing 16 GB, you save $100.
BTW. How fast is that 64 GB Micro SD card? Does it have a speed that is usable for an iPad?
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An iPad is not a "personal" device. In most families, an iPad lives on some table, and whoever needs it picks it up. An iPhone is much more a personal device, but even then it would be great to have a "guest" account so I can give an iPhone to someone else who then has limited access.
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Many WiFi networks have to switch down to the speed of the slowest device. If your iPad was the single slowest device, then your whole WiFi network may suddenly be faster. So even a user who doesn't need the WiFi speed on the iPad may suddenly have their Macs or even PCs get better WiFi speed.
How do we know it's clocked faster? Let's wait until someone confirms it before making such claims.
Ive owned every iPad since the first one including the mini - and no it doesn't matter, they all worked fine - apart from, as the one thing you correctly say, the iPad 3, which was horrible and rushed just to get retina out - the iPad 4 however worked just fine with its "1gb of ram". If it made a difference the experience Apple would include it, it doesn't. Another one complaining about a chip name for a chip that doesn't' exist, brilliant. Also base storage, what you're really complaining about is price, you want the 32gb for the price of the 16gb.
It's a double dip for the average consumer.
POS for business does not require more than 16gb
Not following you here. The number of devices shipped by Apple using flash memory has increased year over year, thus economies of scale yield falling prices. Not sure about Apple's total consumption of flash as a percentage of the entire market, but I'm pretty sure they are still the leading buyer of NAND, again, augmenting their bargaining power.
Both of these should lead to Apple getting lower prices than ever before, reinforcing my initial argument.
----------
Yes, Apple has chosen price differentiation based upon storage, which is not a bad way to go, even though it doesn't exactly match their costs. However, they can still differentiate based on storage costs (and still have nice fat margins), while bumping up base storage to match the falling costs of flash. They don't lose a dime that way (the cost to them would be exactly the same), and consumers would feel less gouged.
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Its not that outlandish of a claim. Thermal limits increase, so clock speed also increases. That's not just an iPad trend, it happens all over. Smaller devices that can't handle as much heat are undervolted (or you could also say larger devices are "overvolted" -- flip sides of the same coin).
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Is this true of the number of streams, or merely of the wireless generation (a/b/g/n/ac)?
Isn't that why he said it's immoral?----------
My gf always uses those first 3 words when referring to me. My dad uses the last.
+1 (mostly).
I just cannot understand Apple sometimes. I really want their device, but they're practically making me look for alternatives when obvious stuff like #1 (and perhaps #2) keep getting omitted gen after gen. That, and the competition, while not quite there yet, keeps getting closer and closer.
That said, Apple still has several (very compelling) advantages: horsepower, ecosystem, reliability, and resale value.
That gap is getting narrowed fast, though. In my view, iOS used to be the best looking OS out there. Now it sits comfortably in 3rd place behind Android and Windows 8. Sad. In my (newfound) quest for better-looking alternatives, however, I feel the iPad is still too compelling overall, iOS 7 be damned.
Agreed on all accounts.
We will probably never see 1 and 2 because Apple has a never-ending obsession with making their products thinner.
Totally agree on 1. and 2. The lack of multiple user accounts on iOS is bizzare. Maybe Apple would rather each user buy their own iPad? Considering the price of iPads, there are just going to be some households which opt for a single tablet.
As for the charging port, that's just a slimey move by Apple not to use micro-USB. It's very close to being a deal-breaker for me, but at least Apple doesn't update to a new format every generation so they can suck even more cash out of their loyal user base.
The lack of SD card capability is also a big deal for some, but adding such capability would require some deep changes to iOS, like adding Finder. Personally I'd like to see it, but I can at least understand why Apple prefers a simpler solution.
Now I'm on the fence between an iPad mini or a Nexus 7. I'd really like to be able to easily sync info between my Mac and a tablet, but the more I compare the mini to other tablets, the more the $399 bothers me.