Apple Shares New 'What's a Computer' Ad Focused on iPad Pro Features

[Monsieur Arykovère]

While I wouldn't necessarily hate a dual boot option, I bet it's pretty complicated on their end. I am no engineer, but two processors, different components that are needed to handle things on iOS and the macOS side. It would get very messy. Let alone keeping it thin, light, and battery efficient. Personally, I think they are better off doing what they are doing. Focusing on bringing more and more desktop-like features to iOS.

I don't think you would need two different processors (in the same way that you don't need two different processors in a Mac dual booting Windows and macOS). Its possible, though it would take a lot of work on the Software end (as far as I know; I also am no expert).

For a while I had a cheap tablet that could dual boot Android and Windows 10, which worked well, but a I think an iOS/macOS combo will be killer. It's also annoying to me that I have this iPad Pro, but the only app I have that really uses the processor is Affinity Photo. And the processor is so powerful, but I have to bring the Macbook into work if I'll need to print something (over USB only), organize files on a flash drive, or do some other mundane task that the iPad processor could easily handle.

I think you're right that battery life would be a huge issue, but there are Windows tablets that are able to get a decent amount of battery life, so I think they can figure it out. Plus, if I could dual boot, I wouldn't use it all day in macOS mode, just for a 20 minutes here and there when I really need it.
[doublepost=1510960967][/doublepost]

Retrofitting a desktop oriented OS would be a poor hack. The iPad’s beauty is that it’s a touch first OS. As for cannibalizing, I don’t think they care as long as people are buying Apple devices.

I don't think they'd have to retrofit it, just throw a trackpad on the Smart Keyboard and it's done. People could also just use a bluetooth mouse. That way you could use iOS for convenience and those who want to could use macOS when they need it.

 

[Altis]

Again, speak for yourself.

My exact words were:

It's more that what some people do with computers are a pain to do with an iPad.

It's far more convenient and efficient for me to edit photos hands on, directly on those photos, than it is to use a pointing device. This is why photographers and graphic designers almost universally prefer Wacom tablets, specifically the Cintiq's that have a screen in the tablet. The 12.9" iPad Pro + Pencil is like a super light, completely portable and far more affordable Cintiq.

I also prefer writing on an iPad. I stand it up vertically like a letter size piece of paper. It's like watching a book come to life in real time on a page. Then, I export the PDF and mark it up with the Pencil while sitting back in a chair rather than hunched over a screen.

Yeah, there are some things an iPad with the pencil are good at -- though the same could be said of a Surface or any laptop with pen input, or a desktop/laptop with Wacom attached.

It's funny you mention "hunched over a screen" when that's pretty much the only way people use the iPad (as well as most laptops). If you want good posture, you need the screen to be elevated and the input lowered. If the input and screen are at the same position, you're either looking down or reaching up.

As technology evolves, some people stick to the comfort of their old ways, desperately clinging to what they're used to while others look at the possibilities that new technology provides and use it in different ways. And those ways invariably becomes the norm.

"Desperately clinging", huh? It always cracks me up the hyperbolic rhetoric people use when talking about the iPad's supposed greatness.

I'm not going to go from two large monitors with lots of windows visible, precision mouse input, and the ability to attach to a vast array of devices (especially for music production), to a tiny screen and a cumbersome workflow. Even selecting text and other simple behaviors are just time consuming. It isn't a step forward just because it's "new technology."

The iPad is just one of many tools people can use for all the tasks people need of computers. It's well-suited for some things (like art or using on the go), but there's an endless list of tasks where iPad is awfully inefficient.

 

[subjonas]

One of their best ads. That ‘what’s a computer” line is perfect.

Surely this is the whole iPad debate in a nutshell. A device that people who were brought up on computers can’t quite get their heads around. So why bother trying to force the issue to please that narrow demographic? Why not just remove yourself from the argument all together?

What people fail to understand with the computer industry is that everything you know to be normal was just the way someone thought to do stuff. It’s not enshrined in some religious tablet somewhere. The file system, pci cards, task managers etc... are Just designs by someone who had an idea of how to solve a problem. They are not the ONLY way to solve a problem.

The iPad, (indeed iOS) is the first time a company has had the guts to rethink the way we “compute”. But all computer guys want to do is attack it. It’s the same how computer game guys attack console games. And the console guys attack iPad and phone gamers. Just because something doesn’t quite do something as great or perfect as some other more cumbersome to use device. It’s then seen as not worthy.

For every 1 person who can’t quite get their particular flavour of software or use case to work on an iPad there are probably a thousand others who are happily creating things or sorting out work/life on an iPad. They are still “computing”. A computer needn’t have direct access to a file system or have an x86 processor. It’s not the law.

They are different flavors with different strengths and weaknesses. The app centric OS makes sense for some. The file centric OS makes sense for others. I make good use of my iPads but I’m definitely in the latter group.

 

[jcshas]

Seriously Apple, "what's a computer?" ?! Get over yourself.

 

[Abazigal]

If everyone just used iPad Pros there wouldn't be any developers making apps.

Kids would become bored and move on.

Apple needs the next generation to be interested in computers to keep the cycle going?

Short sighted ad (no pun intended, well maybe a little).

It’s the cars vs trucks analogy all over again.

Nobody is saying that we don’t need trucks. They have their uses, and will remain indispensable for the purpose they were built for, but most people won’t ever get one. For them, a car more than suffices.

The people who need to use a PC for tasks like app development or some other complex task will still continue to use them, but they will not be the majority.

 

[nvmls]

It’s the cars vs trucks analogy all over again.

Nobody is saying that we don’t need trucks. They have their uses, and will remain indispensable for the purpose they were built for, but most people won’t ever get one. For them, a car more than suffices.

The problem is when you cripple the truck and juice the car only.

 

[DNichter]

And remember. To those saying an iPad is not a computer. That is your individual opinion and pertains to your specific use cases. Those are not the same for everyone. Same applies to me. An iPad doesn’t work for all tasks.

 

[AirUncleP]

Well clearly this is how Apple is treating it's Mac product line, suggesting a media consumption device brings more/equal power. Must be working really well that they are even repeating this bs all over again.

Consumption? You need to watch the commercial again. Consumption only happening on the bus. I see lots of creation.

 

[ventricle]

until iPad has a proper filing system, it will never replace my laptop

/\First post, lol. If I could connect by cable or BT to a desktop or laptop, and drag and drop stuff to an iPad’s virtual desktop or any of its folders then they’ve got my attention. I accept its usefulness to others though.

 

[viizi]

A computer is another product Apple sells Also used in the making of this video for iPads to consume

 

[melendezest]

The iPad is a "computer" for people who don't need a computer.

It really is that simple.

A computer, particularly touch-enabled PCs, can do EVERYTHING a "computer" (iPad) can, but not the other way around.

Apple is just playing with the jargon here.

Computer enthusiasts KNOW an iPad is NOT really a computer. The Surface, for example, IS one.

Consumers and some prosumers/pros-in-certain-fields treat the iPad like a computer, and in many situations it is all the "computer" they'll ever need.

It is those customers Apple is targeting this marketing to, and it is not wrong in doing so.

 

[Abazigal]

This assertion (of an iPad sufficing as a computer for the masses) has been parroted many times, and it’s good to be reminded of it from time to time.

I do find it amusing that as the iPad gains more and more functionality, the goalposts of what constitutes a computer (or even real work) keep shifting.

Not too long ago, the phrase “you can’t do real work on an iPad” was thrown around a lot, but as more people have shown that they totally can do their work on iPads, the PC defenders have had to become more specific in their criticisms. Arguments for the continued dominance of the PC have been reduced to “you need it for sharing documents” or “you can’t do development on iOS or Android.” or some other niche use case.

The trend towards eliminating things iOS and Android devices can’t do is marching on and there’s no reason to think it will stop. With each passing day, people are changing their workflows in ways that make PCs less relevant, while iOS and Android are making changes to fill the gaps that are still there.

PCs will exist for a long time, and I have no doubt that they will remain relevant for many people, but it continues to become more and more clear that the future is not macOS or Windows, but iOS and Android. As such, I am neither surprised nor dismayed that Apple continues to favour development of iOS over the Mac.

We really should be beyond debating whether the iPad can be used for content creation. That discussion is over and those still arguing that it cannot are saying more about themselves than about the iPad with every passing day.

 

[everythingapplerainbow]

It's 2017 and I still have absolutely no use case for a tablet.

If I want a portable-but-not-a-phone device, I use my 11" Air.

The target market of this campaign and the idea of using an iPad as a primary computing device is not aimed at the general audience of this community. It's OK, folks. No need to get defensive.

yep, we all want the security, great notifications, great Spotlight, apps like Messenger, News, Feedly, GG Maps, GG Drive, GG Sheets, iTunes U of iOS, doesn't have to deal with iTunes, or windows management mess, and still have XCode ...

And why the heck that most of the services on a Mac/PC has to go through the web?

 

[threesixty360]

A computer does not crash your app(lication) when the RAM is full or resprings, but rather stores it in the page file so multitasking is also not compromised, nor is work progress.

Have no idea what you mean here. Software on computers crashes all the time due to lack of memory. Visual Studio on my pc, Ableton on my mac with Kontakt just crashed 5 times for me because it ran out of memory.
[doublepost=1510997348][/doublepost]

I think you overestimate how many businesses tolerate having working files in the cloud. As a backup, sure. As a means of transferring, sure. But I think it is still wildly irresponsible to store working files in the cloud.

First, the obvious concern is privacy and security. Medical? Need to comply with HIPA. Legal? Need to comply with ethics and many other rules. Financial? It's a whole alphabet soup of regulations. Doing business with the EU - a different set of rules. There are certainly cloud services that comply with each one, but they aren't quite as easy as iCloud is, and some aren't well integrated with iOS.

Second, many businesses do not trust their files to a third-party. What happens if the server goes down? What happens if their rates suddenly go up? Most companies still try to keep a lot of this in-house, especially large companies. Not only does it give them control over security and privacy, but it also gives them ultimate control.

I'm not arguing that progress needs to stop. I welcome it, daily. I always try to politely convince my employer to try new technologies. But progress isn't progress if it's actually worse. Not only am I not convinced that iOS is better for a large number of tasks, I actually think in many instances it's a significant regression.

For example: Only two apps displayed at once. That's a huuuuuge limitation. I didn't think it would be at first, but it wasn't until I tried using the iPad for my day to day work that I realized how limiting that was.

As another example: No shortcuts. They're ancient and not very user-friendly, but man did I miss being able to hit Ctrl-F or Ctrl-X whenever I needed to find or undo something. Not only does not every app have a search function, but even those that do, it isn't nearly as quick as a twitch of the fingers.

My post was just saying that Apple (and google, amazon) are pushing in the direction of thin (or semi-fat) client computing and are using their power to drag everyone with them. Yes some companies have legal and security issues but they are changing. It wasn't long ago where banks would not let you do anything much with an online application. Now they do. Times do and will change.

I work for a pretty big financial company as a developer and even they want us to go to AWS or Azure now. They are weighing up the cost of manning data servers and IT Ops guys vs just letting AWS or Azure do it all. The EU data laws will relax and MS/Amazon will do more to find a middle ground.

Some people like the fact that they control everything and hate giving things to third parties. But the reality is third parties do better work (sometimes!) because they concentrate their effort on solving a specific problem whereas everyone else has other concerns. You will never beat the reliability / uptime / cost structure of cloud services with your own infrastructure. Because your company just isn't investing as much as MS or Amazon are in solving that issue. Simple rules of capitalism and specialisation.

I understand the issue with multiple apps. But you are talking about a 9.7/10.5 inch screen here. Having multiple apps on screen sounds great but psychologically you cant focus on more than 1 thing at any one time. For comparisons its hard to look at more than 2 windows at a time too. Viewing multiple windows at once is not the same as having access to multiple things when you need them. They are slightly different things. PC's are normally attached to bigger monitors and allow you solve the access problem by just having greater screen estate. So we are talking physical limitations of tablets by size that is limiting the use of multi windows.

I'm not sure replicating every way of working we have on a pc with 15-30 inch monitors makes sense on a portable 10 inch device.

I agree that shortcuts and stuff are very useful for some kinds of pro work.
And to be fair, a qwerty keyboard after decades of use and muscle memory learning is the ultimate remote control. You cant beat it. We have burned in our brains how to access 50+ individual keys without actually thinking (or even looking at them). That is the true power and benefit of traditional computers. The time we have invested in them to do lots of complicated tasks without thinking.

But it takes years to learn that. Traditional computers are not intuitive in any way. People complain about difficult swipes on iPads etc.. but forget that there is no way in hell you would know what ctrl+z or ctrl+A does if you hadn't learnt it. Its not obvious. However, a whole society has learnt this because we had to. Now a newer crowd (as illustrated by Apple's adverts) does't have to learn random key combinations, formatting of hard disks and so on. They can do similar things in a more intuitive way and be productive. That is the future. It won't stop.

 

[asiga]

Whenever I see this kind of nonsense attitude from Apple, I tend to believe my road and Apple's road are going to diverge soon. Then some people at Apple realise they forgot they also have the Mac, and tell the press "how important is the Mac", blah, blah, blah... but seeing again yet another idiot video like this, reinforces my belief that I really need to plan a future without Apple products.
[doublepost=1511001708][/doublepost]

My post was just saying that Apple (and google, amazon) are pushing in the direction of thin (or semi-fat) client computing and are using their power to drag everyone with them.

Yes. When I say that I need to plan a future without Apple products, it's not only Apple, but all companies who are designing their benefit strategy from storing and accessing the user's private data. It's overwhelming how most people don't care about where is stored their private data: their emails, their private photos, their GPS tracking, their work documents... nobody cares where their data is stored nor who has access to it, nor how is it used.

It's really overwhelming. Somehow I believe my future tech way of life could get closer to that character from Bladerunner who designed his own pet-robots at home in a fugitive-like fashion. Because, 20 years from now, if you use a computer with an OS that doesn't send any data to the Internet, you'll ve a fugitive (even maybe it won't be legal to live without sending data anymore).

 

[DeepIn2U]

until iPad has a proper filing system, it will never replace my laptop

You’re not really the target market for the iPad, not ideally according to Apple. Their pushing iPads HUGE in K12 education more than their Mac’s.

I’ll bet your line above will change when Xcode using Swift 5 debuts with native coding on iPad Pro’s next summer. The more advanced these iPads come the more that statement you make sounds like Charleston Heston’s “from cold seas hands” line. Right now I’d surmise kids under 15yrs old already think like that.

The purpose for a File Manager is a great debate in today’s world. There has got to be a thread here on that where we can join in. Especially with what Apple has done in Finder for years: tags, colour coding etc.

Nice commercial, but the "what's a computer" line made it so lame. Please, like a kid that age wouldn't know what a computer is...? Come on.

Considering huge strides in K12 with iPads in the USA alone I’d say kids under 14 in less than 5yrs may not even know until high school. Depending on the state it’s possible kids don’t think or their families don’t use the word “computer” vs the products brand name: MacBook, iMac, iPad. Remember with this gem of kids brands play a huge role in their world vs older definitions. Anything old is bleh to them.

I think it’s a great commercial & targeting a specific market segment.
[doublepost=1511006348][/doublepost]

Hey Apple: A computer is that thing that allows you to run software without requiring your permission. That allows you to connect local storage devices. That allows you to run any operating system. That allows you to make software.

Best current definition I’ve seen yet.

Started thinking:
Smartphones - can’t load your own OS by choice due to boot loader. Apps - android but still somewhat controlled by Google in Android even in apk that’s their mandate of control.
Mac’s yes we can use our own OS of choice. A while back we couldn’t not easily in RISC (G5 or earlier) cpu days.
Accessories exist to connect to local storage. Did you mean connect the devices local storage to be accessible by other devices? With encryption this presents a bit of a challenge. Apple could enable some sort of Target Disk mode on iOS to get to MacOS but that’s what their cloud services and continuity is for right?

Still good argument which I cannot dispute nor Apple fully. I guess you haven’t purchased an iPad for self use yet.

This commercial also shows how out of touch Apple senior staff is with America and the world.
You don't hand a young child a $800 iPad Pro to carry around all day like a toy.
Maybe Mr Cook is handing his grandchildren iPad Pro devices but that's not normal. Children would be dropping them breaking them and loosing parts taking them outside or on the street or worse, stolen at the child's peril.

Now if iPad Pro devices started at $49 you just might see this in Mr. Cook's utopian world.

Lol would you trust a kid unsupervised around an $800 computer?
- drink juice and eat near, take upstairs to their room outside in the yard?
Spills, drops, dust. Doesn’t matter what you instruct the kid the monetary expense they’ll not get until a) they’ve bought it saving their own money or b) they can’t use it when broken and have to wait for a replacement. Same principle. Parents buy their kids iPads or iPad Pros if they see their kids potential: like encyclopedias, books, classes for arts (drawing photography music etc). Unless the cost of the device is prohibitive to your wallet as a parent the goal of the tool to help your kid is what I think your challenge is here.

Think:
An iPad is easier to carry than a similarly priced laptop.
It can be connected via LTE:
Great if stolen, kid is lost, has a camera x2, microphone and speakers, battery lasts a LOT longer than most laptops 3x the weight and thickness.
Great for drawing on,
Great for spontaneous music creation - faster and easier at it for kids who’s ideas race in/out of their minds in half the time of adults.
See that kids mad keyboard cover skills? No more excuses catching bus ride home from school.
Faster for collaboration with most of their peers (iOS) at least in N.America.
Parental Controls! Once set the kid can DFU all they like those settings will remain. Can you say the same to a Windows or smack computer wiped and reimaged? Hmmm.

Meanwhile, Apple's marketing team is asking the more important question:

"What's a Mac?"

Boom! Drops the mic!

Damn subtle but it’s true makes you wonder.

 

[threesixty360]

. Because, 20 years from now, if you use a computer with an OS that doesn't send any data to the Internet, you'll ve a fugitive (even maybe it won't be legal to live without sending data anymore).

To be fair that is already the case!
I think if you haven't got some sort of online footprint (facebook etc..) I'm sure intelligence officials are very suspicious of you anyway.

It's always of trade off. We have CCTV which helps solve crime but is also intrusive.
Should we do away with CCTV because it may infringe our civil rights? no. But we must manage it and police it so it helps citizens.

Its the same with data in the cloud. It's not like I'm not slightly worried about of all of this. I sort of am, in a sense that I'm not worried about who owns these companies now but who will in the future. I'm worried about credit rating systems becoming so widespread using data processed by facebook/google/apple etc.. that you won't be able to even eat food without these companies saying yes or no.

We maybe (probably are) going head first into a very dystopian future. We just need to make our governments limit the abilities of these companies.

 

[makitango]

Have no idea what you mean here. Software on computers crashes all the time due to lack of memory. Visual Studio on my pc, Ableton on my mac with Kontakt just crashed 5 times for me because it ran out of memory.
[doublepost=1510997348][/doublepost]

My post was just saying that Apple (and google, amazon) are pushing in the direction of thin (or semi-fat) client computing and are using their power to drag everyone with them. Yes some companies have legal and security issues but they are changing. It wasn't long ago where banks would not let you do anything much with an online application. Now they do. Times do and will change.

I work for a pretty big financial company as a developer and even they want us to go to AWS or Azure now. They are weighing up the cost of manning data servers and IT Ops guys vs just letting AWS or Azure do it all. The EU data laws will relax and MS/Amazon will do more to find a middle ground.

Some people like the fact that they control everything and hate giving things to third parties. But the reality is third parties do better work (sometimes!) because they concentrate their effort on solving a specific problem whereas everyone else has other concerns. You will never beat the reliability / uptime / cost structure of cloud services with your own infrastructure. Because your company just isn't investing as much as MS or Amazon are in solving that issue. Simple rules of capitalism and specialisation.

I understand the issue with multiple apps. But you are talking about a 9.7/10.5 inch screen here. Having multiple apps on screen sounds great but psychologically you cant focus on more than 1 thing at any one time. For comparisons its hard to look at more than 2 windows at a time too. Viewing multiple windows at once is not the same as having access to multiple things when you need them. They are slightly different things. PC's are normally attached to bigger monitors and allow you solve the access problem by just having greater screen estate. So we are talking physical limitations of tablets by size that is limiting the use of multi windows.

I'm not sure replicating every way of working we have on a pc with 15-30 inch monitors makes sense on a portable 10 inch device.

I agree that shortcuts and stuff are very useful for some kinds of pro work.
And to be fair, a qwerty keyboard after decades of use and muscle memory learning is the ultimate remote control. You cant beat it. We have burned in our brains how to access 50+ individual keys without actually thinking (or even looking at them). That is the true power and benefit of traditional computers. The time we have invested in them to do lots of complicated tasks without thinking.

But it takes years to learn that. Traditional computers are not intuitive in any way. People complain about difficult swipes on iPads etc.. but forget that there is no way in hell you would know what ctrl+z or ctrl+A does if you hadn't learnt it. Its not obvious. However, a whole society has learnt this because we had to. Now a newer crowd (as illustrated by Apple's adverts) does't have to learn random key combinations, formatting of hard disks and so on. They can do similar things in a more intuitive way and be productive. That is the future. It won't stop.

That program which crashed on you five times is a 3PP developer issue, my issue is that the OS itself makes apps crash or lose its progress simply by reaching the RAM limit. There is no failsafe and you have to get a feeling for the memory usage on iOS in order to keep your progress, especially with apps in "multitasking", or they will reset. This will never happen on a PC because the first thing they did was create a failsafe which is called page file. Every desktop OS has it and it has benefitted every use case every time.

I understand the benefits of going 3PP all in, but rest assured they are, even if they're perfect in doing so (which MS never was, even if they're better now) providing a mass service good enough for most while an average IT can give you a service which is at least good enough for you. They can cancel the service at any time, alter it against your wishes and needs, and they can even cancel you. You cannot develop the perfect software for its use because you don't know the depth of its integrity and subsystems.

Hire great IT and their goal is the perfect system, which boosts all your systematical approaches exponentially. Just imagine when you have a system fallout and you have to depend on a third party to put it back up. The countermeasures of capable local IT are at least fail-saves in terms of data loss, downtime replacements and standby systems are inexpensive when time is money. It is just that IT has a bad reputation because they're human and most humans suck at their jobs because it's not in their nature and they don't pick the jobs they're good in but rather the jobs they like. Just find the folks who understand people and let them hire the right ones and you have you have a running system to complement your business in no time. Of course that also means investing, but if you don't invest you lose.

Real multitasking does not mean that you have eight cores in your head to use eight different sources of input to control eight instances of work, but it sure as hell means that you can have as many programs and tabs open as you wish and look at and control them how you see fit. There is an invaluable benefit of being able to just use your eyes to see all the cars on the street. It might not be everyone and not everyone needs to have a mass of open programs, windows and tabs, but it helps to give them the tools if they need to be able to if they want to leave the country road and drive into town.

I agree that traditional shortcuts can be overcome with new ways, but they have not been invented yet. I wish someone would solve that problem because I too am not fond of having to use the same decade-old input techniques just to be productive. There clearly is a better way to compute but the interface has not been set straight for creators, only for consumers.

I am on your side. I believe tablets and especially iPads are capable in terms of hardware to pull most things off which prosumers (hate that word) need from a PC specifically and they will and should supersede desktops because their interface possibilities (not capabilities) are superior. Have you seen the foldable phone/tablet on Westworld? Total device porn and it's perfectly clear there is no 3PP involved. If you follow tech and science news you know it's possible to deliver even today, and even battery-wise. Of course it needs visionaries like Steve Jobs to see and want it and put all R&D together to make it usable.
It's just the stance of Apple (only App Store-approved sandboxed apps besides enterprise-only certificate-based apps which are also just sandboxed, preventing me to install the simple likes as Little Snitch which prevents other programs or the OS itself to simply go haywire, plus only one possible OS so no way to get the software you need on it) and the seemingly incapability to create an interface and OS to close the gaps of basic input problems (that's why smart keyboards exist). Things like this make me buy a Pixelbook and dualboot another linux distribution on it to complement Chrome OS, which I think is a step towards the future because fast and secure browser-based computing is a stellar user experience.

I just wish Apple wouldn't concentrate on mainstream lifestyle so much and rather innovate. Their hardware design approaches are top notch (hehe) but the software is just code being added on top again and again. There are just no snappiness, integrity and interface improvements achieved.

 

[Abazigal]

Nice commercial, but the "what's a computer" line made it so lame. Please, like a kid that age wouldn't know what a computer is...? Come on.

After rewatching the commercial, I don't think the intent is that people in the future won't know what a computer is, or that the computer will necessarily be obsolete. Instead, the commercial wants people to rethink what it means to be a computer and re-evaulate what it is they want from one.

Think about what it is you do on your computer, and then ask yourself if it is indeed the best tool for the job or if there is a better alternative out there. For many people, the iPad could actually be capable of taking care of the majority of their computing needs.

The iPad has become a lot more capable, and I wish the people here would start acknowledging that, rather than dismiss it outright just because it can't perform some niche task most people won't need.

 

[George Dawes]

.

 

[cgsnipinva]

The problem is when you cripple the truck and juice the car only.

I don't think Apple has crippled the Truck - the MacOS has a series set of under the hood upgrades and enhancements. The hardware line was refreshed. Not sure what you mean about crippling the Truck.

 

[nvmls]

I don't think Apple has crippled the Truck - the MacOS has a series set of under the hood upgrades and enhancements. The hardware line was refreshed. Not sure what you mean about crippling the Truck.

Really? tablets with more CPU/GPU power isn't enough proof?
[doublepost=1511019199][/doublepost]

Consumption? You need to watch the commercial again. Consumption only happening on the bus. I see lots of creation.

"Lots of creation", good one.

ARkit
AI
Development
Deployment
Video creation/editing
Intensive file/vm management
Unbricking/restoring your toy devices
3D modeling
Vector and pixel graphic production
Music production
Testing
Automation
Server admin via terminals
Multi-monitor setups
External hardware integration
Printing/display color management
Big data/storage/cloud services/blockchain
LAN

..and some users say "touch" is faster.. for playing angry birds it is.
When you run a business creating a few doc/pdf files, checking emails, surfing the web and/or fingering your meeting in a calendar, sounds like the future is right there and that's totally fine, but don't pretend the "truck" consumer to inhale all that smoke.

The computer is the very base foundation of every single of the so called innovation services/products/features (call it ARkit, new file systems, new file formats, blockchain, AI, voice assistance, glasses, etc). When your mobile device is able to create any of these and it's respective OS, let me know.

 

[Abazigal]

Really? tablets with more CPU/GPU power isn't enough proof?

You can’t blame Apple for intel not updating their chips on time. It’s an issue plaguing the entire PC industry.

"Lots of creation", good one.

ARkit
AI
Development
Deployment
Video creation/editing
Intensive file/vm management
Unbricking/restoring your toy devices
3D modeling
Vector and pixel graphic production
Music production
Testing
Automation
Server admin via terminals
Multi-monitor setups
External hardware integration
Printing/display color management
Big data/storage/cloud services/blockchain
LAN

..and some users say "touch" is faster.. for playing angry birds it is.
When you run a business creating a few doc/pdf files, checking emails, surfing the web and/or fingering your meeting in a calendar, sounds like the future is right there and that's totally fine, but don't pretend the "truck" consumer to inhale all that smoke.

The computer is the very base foundation of every single of the so called innovation services/products/features (call it ARkit, new file systems, new file formats, blockchain, AI, voice assistance, glasses, etc). When your mobile device is able to create any of these and it's respective OS, let me know.

And the PC is still around for the people who need that sort of stuff, but the reality is that most users are not going to need to do all those tasks you mentioned.

https://medium.freecodecamp.org/giving-the-ipad-a-full-time-job-3ae2440e1810

Here is an example of a guy who is using his iPad Pro for coding and web development. Granted, he is using his iPad to remote in to some server elsewhere (meaning there’s still a PC involved somewhere), and does make copious use of the workflow app to automate otherwise cumbersome tasks, but it just shows that the iPad is capable of a lot more than people give it credit for.

Instead of arguing about what the iPad cannot do, wouldn’t it be more constructive instead to field a discussion on what it can do and let the end user decide for himself which device he wishes to use?

Or are people really so fearful of the iPad potentially displacing the Mac that they don’t even want to acknowledge this possibility for fear of this movement gaining steam?

 

[astrocramp]

Well done. iPad is a computer. It's just that some people's perception of "a computer" has not evolved with the technology.

Agree - the iPad has been slowly evolving into a productivity device, adopting more and more features from computers. Large screen option, keyboard support, window management, file management, more productivity apps, etc. iPads are essentially laptops now, it's just that the OS is a bit different. While Apple is making their tablets more computer like, Microsoft is making their computers more tablet like - converging to similar value propositions.

The dealbreaker for iPad as a productivity device for me is the dual monitor setup. There's quite a lot of studies out there that demonstrate multi-monitor improves productivity. I personally can get more done when using multiple large displays - my MacBook can support that, iPad can't. I bet that will change soon though - you'll be able to dock an iPad and run multiple monitors soon enough.

 

[ROiNES]

Imagine what that kid could accomplish with a real computer.

If you look at function you'll realize that iPad is not a productivity tool (at least not quite there yet).

So marketing it as a replacement for a computer (which functions as a productivity tool) is inherently false advertising.

I understand the idea that for "most" people a computer is used for things you could use an iPad for (watching videos, reading news, surfing web). So sure, most iPad customers will be happy with their iPads, that is until they want to work on documents and clear email inboxes or share/get files from others. Then they will see the iPad as a scam. Because they were sold on it as a replacement for a computer when it isn't.

I wonder if this is an ill-advised marketing strategy for Apple?