MBP vs iPad

[iOrbit]

i was just playing air supremacy, and it had me wondering, how is it iPad Retina (pushing more than 1920x1080) can play this game, with no fans, and a less powerful cpu supposedly, and handle the game fine, and my macbook pro, full fledged computer, spins up the fans full speed and gets hot?

its probably a silly question but i wondered about it.

 

[iThinkergoiMac]

i was just playing air supremacy, and it had me wondering, how is it iPad Retina (pushing more than 1920x1080) can play this game, with no fans, and a less powerful cpu supposedly, and handle the game fine, and my macbook pro, full fledged computer, spins up the fans full speed and gets hot?

its probably a silly question but i wondered about it.

Because they are fundamentally different devices. Your MBP does actual multitasking, whereas the iPad, for the most part, does not. Yes, Apple has included multitasking in iOS now, but except for a select few apps, they don't really run in the background, they just get suspended.

Your MBP, OTOH, is running a lot in the background. You've got a full desktop OS and so many more processes to work with. It's similar to the question: why can my PS3 put out much better graphics than my 2009 MBP? The PS3 runs a benchmark score in the mid-900s, whereas my MBP is well over 3,000. The GPU score of my MBP is also far, far better. Same kind of answer.

The iPad has 3 different hardware combinations (not including changes in capacity). Macs have several hundred different hardware combinations (if not over 1,000). I'm sure the game is better optimized for the iPad than it is for Mac.

 

[Orlandoech]

You also have to realize the games are optimized for different platforms since they have different hardware to work with.

 

[bill-p]

i was just playing air supremacy, and it had me wondering, how is it iPad Retina (pushing more than 1920x1080) can play this game, with no fans, and a less powerful cpu supposedly, and handle the game fine, and my macbook pro, full fledged computer, spins up the fans full speed and gets hot?

its probably a silly question but i wondered about it.

I'm not sure what the deal was with all that "your MBP runs more apps in the background"...

The actual explanation has to do with the hardware being fundamentally different. Your iPad 3 has CPU and GPU that require very low amount of power (read: voltage, current, etc...) to operate. As such, they don't emit as much heat as your full-fledged MBP.

Your MBP is still faster than your iPad by far, but faster at the expense of more heat since your MBP takes more power to operate.

So in short, it just means your iPad is inherently more efficient than your computer. Though that doesn't mean it runs faster.

Think of your iPad's performance as being 1 on a scale.

To be at 2, you need: 2^(2 - 1) = 2x the amount of power to push.
To be at 3, you need: 2^(3 - 1) = 4x the amount of power to push.
To be at 4, you need: 2^(4 - 1) = 8x the amount of power to push.

So... to be at 10, you need: 2^(10 - 1) = 512x the amount of power to push.

That's a rough estimation.

And your MBP can't scale from 10 down to 1 to save power. It can only scale down to about 6, 7, but that's still using significantly more power than the iPad does.

 

[iOrbit]

thanks for the replies, it makes a lot more sense now. though i meant to write GPU not CPU, as i clearly understood why the cpu would get hot, indeed its runs way more power than the iPad. but i was very curious as to how or why the ipad can push such high resolution display graphics on a game like sky gamblers/air supremacy and be as cool as a cucumber. i think me and my mac envy the iPad.

can a computer ever be like this?

p.s. i own an iPad 2, but obviously i know about the retina.

 

[Mrbobb]

Rejoice for those who wants a long-lasting iPad but must use office tools.

MS announced they re gonna have Office for IOS in 2013, so hopefully this is a trend.

 

[bill-p]

The iPad 3 (Retina) actually heats up a lot more than the iPad 2.

With great "power" comes great "responsibility"...

Can a computer ever become like this? Yeah, they can. Just not now or next year.