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Apple Shares New 'Float' iPad Pro Video Highlighting Magic Keyboard

AZREOSpecialist said:
Apple's advertising is becoming cheesy. A fake, CG hummingbird that is obviously fake and CG? People are applauding this? Apple's marketing has taken a nosedive judging by the last few ads. Have they switched marketing firms or something? The new stuff is utter garbage. Apple fans need to raise their standards to where Apple was 10 years ago. It led the world with marketing, now it's a cheap me-too.
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Yeahhhh no. The marketing is still very good, if not better. Not every ad is a hit. It wasn’t back then and it isn’t now.
 
This would've been a perfect ad had they not "caged" the bird. Would've been so much sweeter if the bird came to the front after its photo was just taken, and looked at the unseen user in a sweet, puppy-like way, while he/she were editing it's photo.
 
Kylo83 said:
exactly, apple went away with what they said many times now they are giving up and admitting the iPad isn't a touch device, for me I love my iPad but it will NEVER be a computer
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This is just silly. The iPad is a computer, as is the iPhone. It has a CPU, RAM, non-volatile storage, I/O, and an operating system, and is capable of running a wide variety of software, just like a Mac.

It's all just a question of potential uses. The iPad has always been a computer, just as the iPhone has always been a computer. The iPads are now faster than most of the Macs that Apple sells. They're getting capable enough that some people can have all their computing needs met by them. They're far from reaching that point for others (I'll need a proper local terminal - not just ssh to other systems - with the filesystem exposed, the traditional Unix command line utilities and scripting languages, and a reasonable shell, like bash).

I have a funny feeling, now that they have the iPad Pro and this Magic Keyboard with trackpad, that we'll see some substantial new capabilities for the hardware, in iPadOS 14.
 
Kylo83 said:
but apple always made a big deal about keeping the iPad as a touch device now they want it to not be and a mouse and keyboard device so why not use the same logic for the Mac, give us a choice, is windows can do it they can
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exactly, apple went away with what they said many times now they are giving up and admitting the iPad isn't a touch device, for me I love my iPad but it will NEVER be a computer
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He said exactly why MacOS isn't a touch device. It is in no way touch friendly. Think about just the red/yellow/green lights on the windows - how are you going to finitely tap one of those and not smash more than one? That's just one small spot. But that problem is everywhere. On Surface, this in on full display. It's a terrible touch screen experience, even though it's a great full Windows experience. These OS's just aren't touch friendly yet. They're converging together, but still a ways off.

As for iPad being a computer. It's damn close. What stopped me at a personal level? The annoyance of manipulating Excel documents. Life would be so much easier, so I got a MacBook - my first, actually. And now...... here we are.
 
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I know we’re in a pandemic, and everyone is struggling to be productive, but this is one of the worst Apple ads of all time. Whoever was involved with this concept should stop what they’re doing and go work on Charmin Ultra Soft or Honey Nut Cheerio ads. Apple doesn’t need this embarrasment.
 
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jmgregory1 said:
What Apple did, that is distinctly different than how Microsoft went about trying to make Windows a touch capable OS, is they kept the touch interface iPad that operates exactly as it has for years, and they've added non-touch keyboard/trackpad/mouse driven input that makes it the iPad work very much like a laptop.

Apple isn't taking anything away from you, if you just want to interact with the iPad using your fingers. They're simply making it easy to interact using a keyboard/trackpad too - as an additive feature.

And Apple isn't copying Windows. Microsoft tried to jump on the touch interface bandwagon back when they recognized a lot of people and companies were shifting away from MS hardware because of the iPhone and overall Apple ecosystem and they thought they had to do something touch based. But their trying to make touch input work with a system and applications never built with touch input in mind, has been a flop for them. Their PC builder customers aren't lighting the world on fire selling convertible touch laptops / tablets and for the few devices that have that capability, all I have ever heard of from users has been that they're terrible to try to use in tablet form.

The whole idea of touch screen laptops or even desktops was and remains a terrible idea. It's neither efficient nor functional to move your hands away from the keyboard/mouse/trackpad up to a screen to do something that is easier and better to simply use a cursor to do. It's what made using my iPad Pro with keyboard folio far less efficient when writing or creating spreadsheets, as I constantly had to stop typing, lift my arm, hope I could touch exactly what I needed, then go back to the keyboard to continue typing. It's different when you're using an iPad app that was designed around easy finger-based inputs, but it isn't easy to do things like create spreadsheets using finger input. That's where it's clear you really do need a keyboard and trackpad to efficiently and effectively work.

Another thing that makes touch screen laptops a terrible idea, especially as screen resolutions keep increasing and we're viewing higher resolution images, is working on a fingerprint smudged screen. Who in their right mind wants to have fingerprints and smudges all over a large screen. It's one thing with a handheld device like an iPhone, where you can literally wipe the screen on your pant leg in 2 seconds and go back to using a clean screen.

But an iPad Pro or a 13"-17" laptop screen with fingerprints takes a more purposeful cleaning using a microfiber cloth. In fact, I bought a Pencil prior to iPadOS 13.4 in an effort to minimize fingerprints on my iPad Pro, which it did do, but it slowed my work down as I was picking up and setting it down constantly.
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I don't actually agree with all of your points, but it was well thought out and written, so +1 like from me. :)

Completely agree RE: Windows.
I'd also say, as much as I am not a MS fan - they did a reasonably decent job with the Surface lineup in current years, as well as the Surface Hub screens for conferences/meetings ( https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/surface/business/surface-hub-2 ). But yes, it's a different plan of attack, while they tacked on 'touch' to essentially a laptop/workstation OS, while Apple kept them split into iOS/now iPadOS + MacOS/OSX and associated hardware lineups.

Also agree on spreadsheets via fingers (doesn't work well), or randomly being forced away from a keyboard or mouse to touch the screen - it's disruptive.

Where I still believe the possibility likes, eventually - consider the new Magic Keyboard. Make the OS, or MacOS, or HybridAppleOS, run on it. Use it like a laptop. Better, use it as an expansion doc, perhaps eventually with added storage, GPU, and outputs. Perhaps the dock adds heat sinks or fans if need be. (Hope not but ... )

Want to pick up the Pencil/stylus for a team white boarding session, drawing, etc. ? Remove it, grab the Pencil and off you go.

Want to just read some news, browse forums with coffee? Remove from 'magic dock,' magnetically, no style required, you're basically in 'original iPad mode' and fingers are just fine.

'One device' is possible, and it can be done well, but certainly we're not there yet, and there are various considerations and differences in specific user's needed.

I've used a Dell Surface clone for work, with pen. Yeah, not a great tablet, but an overall OK enough laptop + pen input device (for some things - some pen input/behavior is definitely not there yet).

I'd love to be able to use an iPad Pro for <iPad consumption + laptop productivity + pencil usage>, and could make compromises if the result was 'close enough' in each, but it's not..not today, anyway.

What would it take to get there? Probably like for some others - a fair amount, for me - ideally it would wind up as a hybrid between the two, and not come about quickly(coding environments, SQL, CLI, ... ), but I'd be initially happy with being able to use the iPad Pro for normal non-dev productivity work without requiring use of a finger, while using the Pencil or finger when not in productivity mode.

YMMV as usual - be interesting to see where things go.
 
Give me a MacBook Air with a touch screen and stylus support.

No need for this otherwise pointless Pound To Fit, Paint To Match attempt to shore up iPad sales.

Interesting how people once again conflate PR drivel with actual Product Capability.
 
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Northern Man said:
Apple has no idea what it is doing. They don't care as long as it brings in the $$$$. They bend with the wind. Talk about no strategic direction.
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Yes that’s what they’ve been doing for decade since The OG iPhone, having no strategic direction, just announced the iPad, the Apple Watch, services and AirPods and all. Gosh, no strategic direction at all 😏
 
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jmgregory1 said:
What Apple did, that is distinctly different than how Microsoft went about trying to make Windows a touch capable OS, is they kept the touch interface iPad that operates exactly as it has for years, and they've added non-touch keyboard/trackpad/mouse driven input that makes it the iPad work very much like a laptop.

Apple isn't taking anything away from you, if you just want to interact with the iPad using your fingers. They're simply making it easy to interact using a keyboard/trackpad too - as an additive feature.

And Apple isn't copying Windows. Microsoft tried to jump on the touch interface bandwagon back when they recognized a lot of people and companies were shifting away from MS hardware because of the iPhone and overall Apple ecosystem and they thought they had to do something touch based. But their trying to make touch input work with a system and applications never built with touch input in mind, has been a flop for them. Their PC builder customers aren't lighting the world on fire selling convertible touch laptops / tablets and for the few devices that have that capability, all I have ever heard of from users has been that they're terrible to try to use in tablet form.

The whole idea of touch screen laptops or even desktops was and remains a terrible idea. It's neither efficient nor functional to move your hands away from the keyboard/mouse/trackpad up to a screen to do something that is easier and better to simply use a cursor to do. It's what made using my iPad Pro with keyboard folio far less efficient when writing or creating spreadsheets, as I constantly had to stop typing, lift my arm, hope I could touch exactly what I needed, then go back to the keyboard to continue typing. It's different when you're using an iPad app that was designed around easy finger-based inputs, but it isn't easy to do things like create spreadsheets using finger input. That's where it's clear you really do need a keyboard and trackpad to efficiently and effectively work.

Another thing that makes touch screen laptops a terrible idea, especially as screen resolutions keep increasing and we're viewing higher resolution images, is working on a fingerprint smudged screen. Who in their right mind wants to have fingerprints and smudges all over a large screen. It's one thing with a handheld device like an iPhone, where you can literally wipe the screen on your pant leg in 2 seconds and go back to using a clean screen.

But an iPad Pro or a 13"-17" laptop screen with fingerprints takes a more purposeful cleaning using a microfiber cloth. In fact, I bought a Pencil prior to iPadOS 13.4 in an effort to minimize fingerprints on my iPad Pro, which it did do, but it slowed my work down as I was picking up and setting it down constantly.
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That's the most thoughtful post I've read on MR in a long time!
 
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I don't get the direction Apple is trying to push iPad into. It's great for some specific tasks, for writing notes, graphic designing, illustration, for reading ebooks, Media consumption. Some app translate really great into this form factor like Mathkey (text to latex key), Goodnote, Procreate, Affinity designer, Affinity Photo, Affinity Publisher, PlanGrid, Fieldwire. Even on a touch based Windows laptop It's hard to find the same precision you get on iPad.

3D scanning with structure sensors from Occipital or normal 2D documents scanning with Microsoft lens, iPads are best for these sorts of work. I can guarantee you can't do it with same precision with your iPhone or surface pro. There are things where iPad excels really well. That's how it was meant to be. Some interactions are great on tablets that can't be done on smarthphone or Laptop/Desktop. It fills its own niches & it is fine.

It doesn't need to run IDE or 3D modelling software or run simulations. Pushing it towards a more laptop territory kinds of makes it lose its identity. It doesn't have to be a pro-device. Macbook/iMac & iPad can co-exist on their own.
 
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AceFernalld said:
macOS is not designed for touch. As far as I'm concerned it is easier (and more sensible) to adapt touch-based operating systems for keyboard and mouse than it is to go the other way. Sort of a one-way street.

Basically you can click large targets with a small cursor, but can't touch small targets with a beefy finger.
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I predict iPadOS will grow in capability and eventually completely merge with MacOS. An apple laptop will be a tablet and a tablet will be a laptop — no more either/or. Maybe the iPad will drive large displays with built-in video cards and become a "one device to rule them all" kinda thing. I would love that as long as it has capable power.
 
I can imagine this bieng like a mirror.. don't use it near a open window or a slight windy day..
 
Trying not to jump to conclusions, but it's hard to imagine this stand balancing on a lap. To work in the lap you gotta be able to cross your legs, shift, lean etc. It it works the way it looks it would never compete with a clamshell for that purpose.
 
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