Apple to Unveil New iPads, Retina iMacs, and OS X Yosemite on October 16

[wizard]

And yet in a speed test done by Cult of Android the iPhone 6 spanked the HTC One (M8), which they acknowledged as the (former) speed champion.

What does a speed test have to do with multitasking and a lack of RAM?

Take a look at their methodology before you dismiss the test as not being relevant to your concern. It would seem RAM isn't everything when it comes to multitasking.

Hell I can multitask on an Arduino if I don't expect much out of the tasks. Try to understand what people are talking about when they say iPad needs more RAM.

Maybe we need to write to 1Password (I use it, too) and tell them to write better code?

I dint know what 1Passwords code looks like but I'm pretty sure that a good portion of the problems people are seeing lie with Apple and the lack of RAM. IOS aggressively purges apps from RAM to make room for the fore ground app. This isn't debatable and is how Apple designed the platform.

 

[Duane Martin]

Is that a joke about the iPad Air build quality?

I kind of thought the poster was going for humour throughout, but I agree the first line is a good one. Personally, I liked the Touch ID as security threat; a budding Jonathan Swift!

 

[Technarchy]

Hopefully the iPad 'Pro' will get a mention!

So Apple is building a 12" iPad Pro and Macbook Air...?

That should be interesting...

 

[Duane Martin]

What does a speed test have to do with multitasking and a lack of RAM?

In case you missed the URL = iphone-6-multitasking-speed-test-destroys-concerns-1gb-ram

So the point of the test was to demonstrate how their multitasking speed test destroys concerns of 1GB of RAM. That is why I thought it might be relevant to the discussion of multitasking as it was, in fact, testing the theory that RAM was the sole arbiter of multitasking success. It may help others to have the volume up when watching and listen to the commentary.

Oh, and I have always adhered to the principle that the plural of anecdotes is not facts.

 

[wizard]

Curious why you think this is the key to improved performance? According to a recent test done by Cult of Android the iPhone 6 beat the HTC One and the Samsung 5 (both of which have more RAM and a theoretical faster clock rate) in a multitasking speed test.

First off I really don't care about what Android machine do, what I care about is the speed of the iPad. I'm not into useless comparisons to other hardware, what I want is a vastly improved user experience on the iPad itself. Beyond that speed tests don't address the issue of a lack of RAM, in fact. I don't even know why you would bring up a speed test when discussing the lack of RAM.

Not just by a little bit, either. Hey, it's Cult of Android, I don't think they designed a test for the iPhone to win.

It doesn't matter what it was designed for the test isn't applicable to the discussion or at least my point. My point is I want dramatically better performance out of the iPad. You can't get that with out more RAM and higher processor performance.

I would caution people to not get distracted by specs, rather look at results,

What in the hell do you think we are looking at. I'm using an iPad right now, don't you understand the requests for better performance is based on user experience.

but I know to some that's irrelevant; fair enough. I just don't think performance is as simple as specs.

My god are you that dense??? It isn't about specs, it is about performance! You get that conventionally by improving the parts in the system. A faster CPU and more RAM are the conventional solutions. If Apple pulls a rabbit out of the hat and finds a way to imorive performance without these improvements then I'm all for it.

By the way iOS 8 in general is a step forward performance wise but it hardly realize the potential of the platform. Even with all the upgrades that IOS 8 represents Safari still sucks performance wise and bleeding edge apps like Computable just cry out for better performing hardware. You need to realize that not everyone out there is running Notes as their most complex app.

 

[jbachandouris]

I knew I should've waited. I am still within my 14 day Apple return window.

I look at it this way: if there are no changes worth the upgrade to the Air 2, I'll just re-buy the Air when the prices drop.

 

[Paradoxally]

Like you said it's nice that high res screen are pretty much standard for medium to high end phones and tablets. It will be soon for laptops too and eventually TVs and monitors when 4k is more widely adopted and CHEAPER.

Hopefully once TV manufacturers are over the 3D gimmick they can focus on making cheaper 4K TVs. Those are much more appealing to the public, but not cost-effective yet.

 

[wizard]

the more i think about it, the more the ipad line seems to just be stagnating. the basic concept of the device has not changed since 2010.

If the basic concept changed it wouldn't be an iPad.

As for stagnating I'm not too happy with Apple either. There I believe they have this delusional idea that they can protect the Mac Product line by not including the RAM they should in iPad. This dramatically limits the capability of the apps that can be built for the iPad and effectively truncated the performance of others.

they just update it every year with a better screen and beefed up internals.

Well yeah that is the history of the computing world.

Intense-PC2
there needs to be some kind of fundamental change/breakthrough in the device like maybe combining the macbook air with the ipad line into some kind of surface pro 3 thing,

Why? IPad can remain as is for a very long time simply because it serves a different class of use cases than a laptop/tablet hybrid. Having said that I really believe that Apple needs an ARM based "laptop" like device. Ideally it would run Mac OS with iOS apps supported in Windows.

or letting it act as a 2nd display when paired with an OS X machine or something.

You can already do that. At least to the extent that USB allows for.

 

[smoking monkey]

And finally how about an iPod Touch/6G with 4.7" screen and possibly in 32/64 & 128 GB?

Don't get your hopes up!

I wonder how many iPod touches apple have sold this year? I can't imagine it's a lot in comparison to iPads and iPhones.


But... maybe the Apple gods will look down upon you with pity and release something!

 

[wizard]

It's mystifying to me that the iPad still runs what is essentially the same GUI that was designed for a 3.5" display. Those huge icons and wide spacing are inexplicable. Lots of room for GUI innovation.

I hear this a lot but I really like the layout on my iPad. So they can leave the icons alone. As for gui improvements there is always room for improvements. However that doesn't bother me as much as apps not having decent file browsing capability. Even if they have to restrict it to the apps bundle a. Decent file browsing API would do wonders. It seems like every app out there has a half assed method of accessing the files the user creates.

For the next iPad mini, I'd love to see a 400 ppi or higher display similar to that of the 6+. Bump the A8X GPU from four to six cores, add 4GB RAM, and it will eat Android tablets for breakfast.

At this point higher resolution screens have little to offer.

As for an A8X and lots of RAM I'm completely on board there. I really don't know what Apple problems with RAM are but it is a critical problem with the iPad. 4GB would be a smart move.

At 264 ppi, the iPad Air is no longer competitive. It needs over 326 ppi minimum.

Not really. You would have to see a noticeable difference due to the higher resolution screen. Apple would do well to increase the quality of the current screens.

Back in the real world, my expectations are that PPI remains unchanged and iPad sales continue to lag.

PPI will have zero impact on iPad sales. A lackluster CPU/RAM upgrade will however. I'm really interested in an upgrade but Apple needs to meet consumer needs here. Performance is a real need.

 

[cult hero]

I wonder when they're going to refresh the Mac Minis. Now seems like a decent time. I really want one for a home server but man alive... even the used market is still overpriced.

 

[Mago]

Unless the next iMac - Mac Pro - Thunderbolt Display both comes with Thunderbolt 3 integrated and dual GPU on the iMac (plus Haswell-E cpu) it's unlikely to have 5K resolution besides it's cost (an 5k Thunderbolt Display will go on 2-3K usd). And having dual GPU and Haswell-E on an iMac will require an radical redesign just to handle the heat (3x than current iMac).

 

[wizard]

You have to be kidding right?

I bypassed this post because I had a hard time believing that you believed what you posted

I want an iPad Air but am hesitant because:

Build Quality
The iPad Air is just that - AIR. I can't imagine Steve Jobs approving the cheap build of this thing for such an extravagant price. They don't compare with the iPad 4. They are easily bendable whereas the earlier iPads had a SOLID build. Grasp the Air at the ends and you can easily bend the thing. also the back is so thin that even slight pressure from your fingers propagate to the screen, creating ghost images. Unbelievable!

Yep unbelievable. Did you make that up?

Touch ID
I hope that this so-called feature is made optional. i don't need it and don't want it. All the fan boys act like this is an absolute necessity and would sell their mothers to have it, but to me it's a privacy threat.

Fanboy or not it has absolutely nothing to do with privacy. If you think Touch ID is a privacy the prett then you don't understand privacy nor the technology that Apple has implemented.

Storage
Why is Apple so stingy with storage options? Come on Apple, don't you have enough $billions stashed away so that you can give customers what they want?

Actually I agree here. Apple has been down right pathetic with respect to the last two iPad releases. Not enough RAM and ripoff pricing for flash upgrades. So yeah I hope this is addressed because the value equation on current hardware went south two years ago. It is also the primary reason I'm on an iPad 3 still.

Many of us iPad users prefer using it over laptops and we need an appropriate amount of storage. Even Steve Wozniak said TWO YEARS AGO that he wants a 256GB model.

Just realize it is both a RAM and flash storage problem. I'm more concerned about the rip off pricing for at times $10 worth of chips. It really makes Apple look bad.

Migration Assistant
Apple, make it easy to transfer ALL the apps and their data to a new iPad with a migration assistant app similar to the way we can upgrade from one iMac to a new one connected with a lightning connector. I don't want to have to pay a small fortune to transfer all my data to the cloud then slowly download it to my new iPad, with questionable results.

Backup to a Mac?

By the way I do beleive Apple could imorive things here. I just don't think it is a reason to stay away from the platform.

If Apple puts the quality back into these iPads and don't force their fingerprint collectors on us I will be happy to buy a new one.

You seem to have a problem with Touch ID. I will tell you straight out it is not justified at all.

Otherwise, I have been looking at the Samsung models but they are crap and don't have the app infrastructure of Apple.

Which is the primary reason many of us still have iPads. My big problem with the current crop of iPads is that the performance offered doesn't justify the price anymore to me. I'm hoping the next iPad addresses that. If not I may stick with the iOad 3 for another round and write Tim a long letter explaining why. I don't want Apple to loose the intitiative it has with iPad but it is pretty obvious that they have purposefully restricted its potential.

So far Apple post-Jobs is more like Apple under Sculley. Quality control down the crapper, silly ideas, smug, don't listen to customers, etc.

Well that is pure baloney. I returned to the Apple world in 2008 after a long period in the Linux world. Believe me, even with all the issues seen in iOS 8 it is a far better release than some of the early iPhine SDKs. Is quality control perfect - nope - but there is this concept that you need to ship sometime. The bugs in iOS 8 are documented and I expect them to be fixed sometime.

As for listening to customers sometimes that is true but the vast majority of the time I see just the opposite. Bug reports are taken seriously for example. Like it or not Safari has been through a major overhaul this year to make it better and faster and that has been accomplished with few regressions. From my perspective iWatch is a silly idea but then again I don't wear watches.

 

[RockSpider]

I'll wait for another 5 years for Apple to invent 2GB ram on an iPad, and minimum 32GB storage.

 

[rGiskard]

really? i generally agree with your other points but the ppi is one of the ipad's last 'problems'.. if they wanted drastic change, they'd go AMOLED, but i hope they don't, as the color and contrast is considerably less natural and not as good a representation of the actual file/cotent you're looking at. beautiful mostly, but 'enhanced', so no good for my uses, or anyone else with strict photography/design requirements.

i'm a stickler for higher ppi on my phones, but i think tablets are generally held quite a few inches further away from your eyes than phones are. i may be wrong, but i don't see much room for improvement there until a new viable display tech emerges that apple could capitalize on (...hopefully not amoled)

If you hold a 400 ppi tablet next to a 264 ppi tablet the difference is palpable. Above 450-500 the advantages grow negligible, but below that, the extra density is a joy to use.

It's true that a larger tablet will often be used a bit further away from the face, but a lot of people still use it for reading, in which case it's probably held fairly close if your laying down on a couch or bed. Or for viewing images or drawings with areas of fine detail, the viewer can move in to inspect it closely, then move back out to take in the entire image. In real life viewing distance is more dynamic than "Retina" specs suggest.

iOS's heavy use of white backgrounds suggest AMOLED is not in Apple's immediate future. LCDs are most efficient when displaying lots of white vs. AMOLED having the advantage for darker average content. But a flexible display could make for some stunning designs...

It will be interesting to see if Apple keeps betting on IGZO or turns to LTPS backplanes. Seems like LTPS would be a no-brainer since it's more efficient and so lets Ive go thinner, but IGZO is cheaper and if Apple like anything more than thinner it's margins.

 

[poematik13]

Why? IPad can remain as is for a very long time simply because it serves a different class of use cases than a laptop/tablet hybrid. Having said that I really believe that Apple needs an ARM based "laptop" like device. Ideally it would run Mac OS with iOS apps supported in Windows.

There are prototypes of ARM-bases macbook airs in the wild being tested. I think that 12" MBA that is coming out soon might have some kind of iOS-OS X hybrid system, like continuity/handoff on steroids.

You can already do that. At least to the extent that USB allows for.

Yeah they have 2nd display apps for iOS but they run on wifi and lag heavily.

 

[rGiskard]

I hear this a lot but I really like the layout on my iPad. So they can leave the icons alone. As for gui improvements there is always room for improvements. However that doesn't bother me as much as apps not having decent file browsing capability. Even if they have to restrict it to the apps bundle a. Decent file browsing API would do wonders. It seems like every app out there has a half assed method of accessing the files the user creates.

At this point higher resolution screens have little to offer.

As for an A8X and lots of RAM I'm completely on board there. I really don't know what Apple problems with RAM are but it is a critical problem with the iPad. 4GB would be a smart move.

Not really. You would have to see a noticeable difference due to the higher resolution screen. Apple would do well to increase the quality of the current screens.

PPI will have zero impact on iPad sales. A lackluster CPU/RAM upgrade will however. I'm really interested in an upgrade but Apple needs to meet consumer needs here. Performance is a real need.

To my eyes there is a world of difference between 268 ppi and the 401 ppi of the 6+ (despite some of the difference in sharpness being obscured by the funky downscaling). Maybe part of it is that I have poor far vision and thus tend to hold screens close to my face, but imo even those with 20/20 would benefit. Sometimes you just need the detail, and sometimes you move in to examine stuff. Imagine viewing CAD drawings on a high ppi screen - it's incredible.

I agree though that a good screen needs more than only increased pixel density, didn't mean to imply otherwise.

 

[Fattytail]

I can't be the only one on here who is absolutely not interested in this event. Doesn't seem like there will be anything too exciting in these upgrades.

 

[iPadCary]

no new ipods?!? Are they dead now?

i demand an answer!!!

 

[appleye]

The Retina iMac is going to be one of those products where you wished you waited for Rev. B. Trust me.

n-evo, my emotional part of my brain says go for it but my logic side says NO, it’s too early, be patient and wait for the broadwell processor. As of now my logic side is winning out. I can wait. My question is, how long will I have to wait for a new iMac with a Broadwell processor? Would there be much fanfare when Apple uses this processor?

 

[Mal67]

mac mini is waiting for broadwell

Maybe. Maybe not.

 

[dfs]

Big question

I. m. h. o., the big question regarding a Retina iMac is whether Apple will settle for TN technology or insist on IPS. This oght to make a huge difference with the price. With TN, they could perhaps bring it in at not very much more than the current model, but with IPS the price would probably be a good distance north of $5000.

 

[rGiskard]

I. m. h. o., the big question regarding a Retina iMac is whether Apple will settle for TN technology or insist on IPS. This oght to make a huge difference with the price. With TN, they could perhaps bring it in at not very much more than the current model, but with IPS the price would probably be a good distance north of $5000.

IPS. Countless studios depend on iMacs - it would be a disaster if Apple went with TN.

I predict many will be surprised at how "low" the price is on Retina iMacs. Of course by the third revision the price will be back to current pricing, which is also about the time it will take to refine the new design.

 

[BSben]

Hopefully once TV manufacturers are over the 3D gimmick they can focus on making cheaper 4K TVs. Those are much more appealing to the public, but not cost-effective yet.

Considering that most TV viewers only have a handful of HD channels, I would think they couldn't care less about 4 or more K TVs. At the moment here in the UK there is absolutely no need for a 4K TV. A lot of so called HD channels have a dreadful picture quality ( a picture that looks like it has been made of Lego), due to compression to squeeze as many channels as possible onto one transponder.
As people are disillusioned with 3D, HD, Blu-ray etc. I think the general public will be cautious to throw money at yet another dead format.

 

[whirldy]

Humm...not even a mention of the mac mini....

Though I NEED a mac mini right now, it may be worth the wait for Broadwell processors and POSSIBLY a redesign and will not be disappointed if Apple waits..

Dilemma: IF updated Mac mini's come out in October with Haswell processors, would Apple THEN do a refresh or redesign immediately when Broadwell comes out or wait a few more years with Haswell and then do a redesign?

I got caught buying a mac mini 2009 and then three months later the 2011 version came out...

BUT...I upgraded to a flash drive and 8 gigs of memory and though it is a dual core 2009 tech, seems relatively fast still...

Many people need a new mac mini and if one was updated EVEN with small specs, Tim Cook will make TONS of money, BUT if Apple updates 6 months later (just like I was screwed with the iPad 3) MANY people will be upset...

Kind of a dilemma: Apple has to make a decision to either wait or put out to please....

We haz the Mac mini Server (Mid 2011) with an OWC 6GB (x2=Striped RAID Set) SSD and 16GB RAM ... so a Mac mini "refresh" would be nice. We'd take the goods out of the 2011 and move 'em over to the 2014/2015.

.