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New 9.7-Inch iPad Teardown Confirms It's Basically an Original iPad Air
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That the APFS is something I am excited about.. quite a bit. No, I am not confusing the file browser and file system.
This iPad makes me think of the iPhone SE in terms of how Apple made the price point affordable, but in order to do so, they had to sacrifice certain options more exclusive to the larger iPhones. I agree this iPad is a huge advantage for those who wanted an affordable iPad and can now have one, just with a slightly thicker casing and a speed increase with the A9 processor lacking the Pro features. I think this was a really smart move by Apple.
I am sorry but in the real world where you work with multiple systems etc on a personal computer, vs an iPad, it's just no comparing. Yes, I use the wireless keyboard for both.
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Thanks, cool link.
Well I am sure you are not tech savvy at all. If you see through the marketing of a product and analyze its engineering, you can see how many steps Apple has stepped down from the edge of possibilities. The product differentiation of Apple today is diminishing in the competitive market. It's increasingly difficult for Tim to ask for a fat margin. It is still among the best, but no longer the best in every aspect by absolute standard. Steve made sure Apple products were astronomically better than the closest substitute, and at least one magnitude (10x) better than the closest alternative on secondary products. Can you still say this today?
I would absolutely buy the 2017 iPad. It has better performance and a brighter screen and will likely be supported longer than the Air 2. In fact I pretty much did exactly this for a relative, ordering them a 2017.
I understand the reasons some would choose the Air 2 instead. I love mine and am not replacing it yet. But if it was a choice for me, today between (only) the Air 2 and this 5th-gen 2017 iPad, I would absolutely pick the latter. It's a downgrade in some respects, yes, but in others it is an upgrade. It just depends on your priorities.
I understand why, and how it's a relative thing internationally, but the prices have changed for people in the UK. The Mac Pro went from 2499 to 2999 over night and is was a ~3 year old product. That is unacceptable, and they should have absorbed the currency fluctuations on their old, already overpriced products, IMHO. No-one getting the 3+ year-old Mac Pro for even the equivalent of £2499 is getting a bargain if you ask me!
Not really. The true innovation was the Air 2 which combined the price point of the iPad and that of the Pro at an average price point. The Air 2 remains a legend even among this new lineup
Absolutely, releasing downmarket and upmarket simultaneously is a great innovative strategy by Apple.
On the whole un-repairability and un-upgradabilty of Apple products, I'm taking a very much dimmer view of Apple lately.
The story: I inherited a Macbook Pro from the spouse, and hoping that I could upgrade it, I popped it open. DENIED! The memory, a skimpy 8G is hard soldered on the motherboard. BOO! The SSD is in a socket, surprisingly, but not the system memory. What's the sense now of swapping the SSD for a larger one when the system RAM is so small.
Perhaps I'm going out on a limb here, but I think there is no justifiable reason on this planet to not allow users to upgrade memory on their computers. NONE! ZERO! NADA! ZIP! I am so discouraged by the ridiculous attitude of Apple to deny people that ability. Even using those cheeky 'pentalobe' screws is ridiculous. Who doesn't have a set of them now. It's like those 'security' Torx screws from like a decade ago.
Apple wants to greenwash themselves a lot about their use of solar power and recycling, but forcing people to dump their old and inadequate hardware because they can't upgrade the memory is just abusive.
And repairability: My old Macbook Pro needs a battery, as the one it has just blinks the battery meter and refuses to startup. That original is glued to the inside of the case. Why? That is ridiculous too! I'm reminded of the IIcx that I had in college that turned out to have 'dirty ROM's'. There was a 'ROM slot' on the motherboard expressly for ROM replacement. Apple did not come up with a card to fix the dirty ROM problem, they came out with a new model, the IIci.
I used to scoff at people whining about such issues with Macbook's here before. Hah, karma, right? Just duck it! DUCK IT!!! I'm done... I can't afford a replacement. I shouldn't have to replace it, I should be able to UPGRADE it... I should be able to easily replace the battery in my nearly perfectly good old Macbook. ARRGGGGGGGGG!
Sorry for the vent, but ZANG!!!
The story: I inherited a Macbook Pro from the spouse, and hoping that I could upgrade it, I popped it open. DENIED! The memory, a skimpy 8G is hard soldered on the motherboard. BOO! The SSD is in a socket, surprisingly, but not the system memory. What's the sense now of swapping the SSD for a larger one when the system RAM is so small.
Perhaps I'm going out on a limb here, but I think there is no justifiable reason on this planet to not allow users to upgrade memory on their computers. NONE! ZERO! NADA! ZIP! I am so discouraged by the ridiculous attitude of Apple to deny people that ability. Even using those cheeky 'pentalobe' screws is ridiculous. Who doesn't have a set of them now. It's like those 'security' Torx screws from like a decade ago.
Apple wants to greenwash themselves a lot about their use of solar power and recycling, but forcing people to dump their old and inadequate hardware because they can't upgrade the memory is just abusive.
And repairability: My old Macbook Pro needs a battery, as the one it has just blinks the battery meter and refuses to startup. That original is glued to the inside of the case. Why? That is ridiculous too! I'm reminded of the IIcx that I had in college that turned out to have 'dirty ROM's'. There was a 'ROM slot' on the motherboard expressly for ROM replacement. Apple did not come up with a card to fix the dirty ROM problem, they came out with a new model, the IIci.
I used to scoff at people whining about such issues with Macbook's here before. Hah, karma, right? Just duck it! DUCK IT!!! I'm done... I can't afford a replacement. I shouldn't have to replace it, I should be able to UPGRADE it... I should be able to easily replace the battery in my nearly perfectly good old Macbook. ARRGGGGGGGGG!
Sorry for the vent, but ZANG!!!
Yes, essentially. Updated form factor with older parts. Keeps the bottom line "Fresh". The current ipad pro body style will be retired to the bottom line devices and the new form factor is comming.
All iPhones since 2014. Thank God Samsung lit a fire under Apple otherwise we would be having that same tired old body and display for the fourth year in a row
That's it in a nutshell. I was thinking the same thing myself about this whole green thing. From a consumers perspective buying Apple computers is more brown than green these days.
Which is why it's $329. It's an entry-level iPad, not for 'Pro' consumers. As underwhelming as this iPad is for me (and mostly others on here) we are not the target market for this iPad. My 3 year old nephew on the other hand got one of these to watch educational videos and he loves it, so does a peer who's been using it for simple note-taking.
What is confusing is that it's near-identical to the current Pro and that device is almost 2x more expensive than this standard iPad. I don't see your regular customer at Apple opting for a superior device in terms of technology yet superficially similar to the 'inferior'. Apple needs to revamp the Pro iPad and then we'll talk.
What is confusing is that it's near-identical to the current Pro and that device is almost 2x more expensive than this standard iPad. I don't see your regular customer at Apple opting for a superior device in terms of technology yet superficially similar to the 'inferior'. Apple needs to revamp the Pro iPad and then we'll talk.
Like add a slot for add-on memory chips. Come up with a storage option. Something...
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I'm not one to paint doom and gloom stories of Apple. Far from it in fact, but I do feel that this devalues them somewhat. In my mind anyway.
I'll get over it though
It makes their supply chain cluttered.
The one thing that I remember from the immediate 'pre-Jobs return' era was the incredible number of products, and all with overlapping and bizarre specs. That and their purchasing department jumping on a lot of 'great deals' for outdated components, and the average consumer would walk into a Circuit City, or where ever, and see a plethora of different models and specs and some of the differences between models were just drive size, or a tweak in processor speed. It was a morass of beige and plastic, and all of it using 'exotic chips' and it was so top heavy...
Heck, with the iPad, the local Target had, at one point, five different vintages of them. They were stuck with a few original iPads, and kept them in the display case. They eventually disappeared.
But top heavy supply chain, too many options, none of them upgradable, and most of them dated older models, or in this case, older models with some bondo slapped on them and sent out the door. It makes me wonder if this 'new' iPad isn't just re-manufactured old iPads with new chips.
You get a cheap android tablet that doesn't work well and then come back to Apple and get the iPad Pro. Apple does not provide the latest tech and specs at bargain prices. Neither do car manufacturers.
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The innards have been different and thus they are far from tired as benchmarks show.
Air 2 combined the laminated display of the Pro and the same size and weight at a lower price point. That was a true mid ranger. Apple has effectively eliminated the mid range and offered an low end model from 2013. Heck the A8X from the Air 2 actually beats the iPad in multi core and that tablet is 3 years old. If Apple has made up its mind to offer different products at different price points they should stop destryoing the price brackets they created.
The Air 2 was actually selling at 299 when it was discontinued.Apple should have offered an updated iPad Air 2 with an A9 and pushed the older model to 325
Not only has the competition revolutionised the innards they have revolutinsed the design. The ball is now in Apple's court to effectively price the iphone Edition against the S8. BTW that claim of yours of Apple never removing features has now been proved false as the iPad compromises a lot of features vs the Air 2
Maybe sliding sales are because of the lack of innovation and not price?
Its an insult to call those ancient relics computers. All of my current Windows PCs wipe the floor with the current Mac Pro.
Theres only 3 products Apple sells. iPhone iPads and Watch/bands. The rest are irrelevant
And I snagged the last 256G iPad Air 2 Worst Try had in stock locally. May it last for a few more years...