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iPad Pro Tidbits: A9X Outperforms MacBook, Apple Pencil is Weighted, T-Mobile Financing and More
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I have the surface pro 1 and 3. one thing i always find is that the surface requires a surface (no pun intended) to work effectively.
So you want a laptop? Good thing Apple still makes those.
Apple released the iPad Pro on the Apple Online Store and at select Apple Retail Stores and resellers earlier today, and we have rounded up some interesting facts and news announcements surrounding the 12.9-inch tablet.
iPad Pro Delivers Notebook-Level Performance
Geekbench results show that the iPad Pro's A9X processor is a dual-core chip running at about 2.25 GHz, as reported by Ars Technica.
The A9X chip had a 3,233 single-core score and 5,498 multi-score score in browser-based CPU tests, outperforming the iPad Air 2 and other recent iPhones and iPads by a significant margin.
iPad Pro also outperformed the 12-inch Retina MacBook, equipped with an Intel Core M dual-core processor clocked at 1.1 to 1.2 GHz, but the A9X chip's CPU performance falls short of devices like the 2015 MacBook Air and Surface Pro 4 with Intel's latest Broadwell or Skylake U-series processors.
The iPad Pro's GPU performance is much more impressive, with GFXBench OpenGL test results showing the A9X chip outperformed the 2015 15" Retina MacBook Pro with Intel Iris 5200 integrated graphics, in addition to the 12-inch MacBook, 2015 MacBook Air, 2015 13" Retina MacBook Pro, Surface Pro 4 and all recent iPads.Apple Pencil is Weighted
Lauren Goode of The Verge shared an interesting anecdote about the Apple Pencil in her iPad Pro review:Read our iPad Pro review roundup.
T-Mobile Financing for iPad Pro
T-Mobile has announced the iPad Pro will be available November 18. Eligible customers can finance their iPad Pro purchase through the carrier's JUMP! On Demand program, starting at $199.99 upfront with $34/month payments.
T-Mobile has a sign-up page to receive an email alert when orders can be placed. Apple Pencil and Smart Keyboard will also be available on T-Mobile for $99 and $169 respectively starting November 18.
Apple Store Availability
iPad Pro launched today with limited in-store stock at select Apple Retail Stores in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom and some other countries. Personal Pickup is available in U.S. stores.
Most Apple Stores have not received stock of the Apple Pencil and Smart Keyboard, while online shipping estimates currently range between 3-4 weeks in the U.S. and many other countries for the accessories.
Tim Cook Calls Microsoft's Surface Book "Deluded"
The Irish Independent has published an interview with Apple CEO Tim Cook about the company's plans to expand in Ireland, iPad Pro and more, with his comment about Microsoft's new Surface Book drawing some attention:Follow our iPad Pro timeline for the latest news about the 12.9-inch tablet.
Article Link: iPad Pro Tidbits: A9X Outperforms MacBook, Apple Pencil is Weighted, T-Mobile Financing and More
Remarks like that from Cook Tarnish Apple.
I couldn't agree more. I was at the Genius Bar one day and another customer was working with a "Genius" and I overheard the customer asking how to enlarge the desktop icons. After about 3 minutes of watching him try and figure it out, I showed him. Crazy!!
I have no problems using it in my recliner or as a tablet. No surface required on my part.
Please, please, please never design products. You can't come up with these things in a vacuum. You are describing a backward reality than never pushes things forward. In actual fact you just want a laptop. You say you want both but you Sir are very much a truck driver. Drive a truck, keep driving a truck and the iPad will evolve underneath and around you to become something you can't imagine in a 30-second MacRumors post.
I use my SP4 sitting back with my legs up all the time. It works perfect there.
But if I were sitting straight up in a small chair, it wouldn't work nearly as well as a traditional laptop. But that isn't that big of a deal for me, since 99.9% of the time, I have a surface to put my Surface on. And when I don't, I use it as a tablet.
We've been hearing Apple defend iOS this way from the start, we don't really need to hear the same nonsense repeated by fans. As has been explained in every thread it's come up in, to run a touch OS on a small display, you need an optimized OS and applications. Together, they make an unbeatable mobile device. A full-sized tablet, with 13 or 15 inch display and full featured OS and application suite, is not first & foremost a mobile device. It is a big work surface for doing real on-screen professional work. It works fantastically, and we don't even have to argue hypotheticals, we can simply point to our large touchscreen Wacom cintiq's plugged into our Macs, as evidence that it's the finest Mac experience there is. Unfortunately, it's also about a $6500 package and is in no way even really practically moveable from one desk to another, much less a lap, at all.
Apple is simply milking sales off the status quo product line for as long as they can by prolonging the inevitable. Ten years from now, when Apple is finally on board with everyone else, the excuses explaining the delay will flow like wine.
My British cousins say "die-lute"; we westerners say "dil-lute". To an Irish reporter, "diluted" is going to sound like "deluded". That's almost a classic diplomatic problem--what you say isn't what they hear.
It's not like the iPad Pro is in its own world of difference compared to the SP line. It does have one big advantage: every app on it is designed for touch. But it's about as heavy, and a little larger. It wont' be as comfortable for iPadish stuff as the classic 10" iPad is.
And the keyboard? It's nice, but without a trackpad, you'll be doing the gorilla arm thing more often than not, which has always been the traditional bugbear for hybrids. The iPP doesn't do a thing to solve that.
So it's not like we're seeing an entirely new revolution of usability here. It has a couple of big advantanges, and a couple of big disadvantages compared to the SP line, which ultimately puts them both about on par with each other.
If traditional laptops and PCs are trucks, and tablets are cars, then the iPP and SPs are Camaros with a lift kit.
Thank you. Based on his interview it would appear he intended to use diluted, but possibly created a pun.
Huh? It does sell well and is growing quarter over quarter where iPad is declining. iPad is selling more, but they have to do something to reverse the trend. Hence the (poor) surface pro replica: iPad pro.
The Pro's score is impressive in that by having an extra core it only manages to his mid 5000's while the Air 2 hits mid 4000's. I really thought the Pro would hit the 7's or even 8's. I don't think a gain of 1000 points after adding an extra core is that great.
The single core score is incredible though, up in the 3,000's.
The problem isn't "daily" mundane "web" surfing tasks. It's those times when you need to kick it into a "advanced" use mode to power through a task. Which iOS just doesn't have the capacity to do without prior modification (be it 3rd party apps to add pseudo-file systems, or outright Jailbreaking).
If all I'm going to do with the "tablet" is "web surf" and check email, those "non-gaming daily activities", I can get a far cheaper tablet either from Apple's own lineup OR from a competing OEM.
When you're selling Laptop like performance, at laptop like prices, without an OS that can actually do Laptop level tasks, you have a failed/nich device. Hurts even more that those laptops come with more storage capacity/options to boot (lack of USB and lack of SD card on iPad 'Pro').
Turn it around and look at the Surface Pro 4, in tablet mode it runs more or less like iOS, when you use Touch focused applications for those "daily" things. But when you need the utility spike for something more serious you can flip it around and drop an external keyboard and mouse on it. Plus you can access additional storage solutions very simply. At about the same price point.
Think "diluted" not "deluded". Diluted focus is true, deluded capability is not (at least recently).
A shame they don't pay the same attention to bugs lately.
That's app store apps only.
Things like the Adobe suite or Steam or Cinema4D would require a full rewrite.
Then I suppose you're willing to spend 6500$ for the OS X Pad?
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Where's that "I for one welcome our..." or "try not to choke on that" emoji when you need them?
I'm glad Apple doesn't listen some users that most likely come with windoze/pc/microsoft tendencies of putting everything that exists in one single device, don't matter of that is. I must say that it is a much better experience to paint/draw on an iPad with Procreate than have the bloatware of Photoshop trying to run smoothly with a bunch of buttons and preferences not needed for a tablet.
Every jack to his trade.
Every jack to his trade.
