Specs no longer matter?

[CosmoPilot]

I would LOVE it. I dont hate journalists, but I do hate how lazy they've become and how they're so obsessed with webhits and clever comments that they forget that their job is to ask the hard hitting questions. So when they go home after a meeting with a powerful dictator, an irresponsible car manufacturer or an Apple event then the only info they have is the stuff they are told but no original thoughts of their own.

If a presentation went "new iPad 2...it's definitely better, sales begin on 11 March...questions?" and a journalist was given a blank slate then a journalist would be forced to work in a compelling question and the public would have a lot more useful info rather than corporate slides turned into article headlines.

Yeah, but in the real world that's just not gonna happen. Again, Apple never went into great detail about these hardware upgrades. In fact, (IMO) they did so because it led to the comment about how Apple can put all that crap into a devise and beat the competitions price. Steve Jobs spent more time rubbing salt in Samsung's wounds than he did bragging about hardware.

At the end of the keynote, he tried to stress again that it's in Apple's DNA to merge hardware/software with the humanities. Now, you can take that many different ways but I for one kinda believe that's what the big Apple thinks.

In terms of all out, world changing specs...I think Thunderbolt is gonna be a game changer. But when it was released, Apple was fairly quiet about it. No fanfare, etc.

At the end of the day, Apple controls the market. They have over $60B in cash assets. They do not need to get into a pissing match with anyone over specs, etc. They know they're business model works because of the whole DNA thing above.

I'm just not certain Apple is using hardware to fashion their devices like you think they are. They are merely pointing out the iPad 2 now has a dual core processor (no specs on clock speed), and better graphics (no specs either). It also now has a gyro for developers to play with. For Facetime, expect a 720p camera on back...and expect the same battery life (no mA/h specs). These comments just illustrate that the new iPad is not a run of the mill update, but a significant engineering jump for the device.

Now, you can either buy a Samsung...or stay with Apple! That's the whole point of the keynote. "We build high quality devices with significant hardware at a much cheaper price....and by the way, the user experience is much better."

 

[nooaah]

Ok, so there's been a lot of discussion about the ipad specs and the how the xoom is more powerful specs wise.

I think i read in the Engadget review(can't remeber for sure) that specs are not really important anymore, it's more about the expereince.

With the ipad, most of the reviews say the experience was very pleasent with the first ipad, nothing was so slow that you felt it needed an upgrade specs wise, but the increase does provide more possibilites for devs.

Do you feel that there is less emphasis on tech being an arms race of ghz and GB and why so?

The specs matter in the confines of the iPad from generation to generation (hardware and iOS). In this context, horsepower matters in that you want to be able to handle new software feature and support hardware additions like HD video or "retina".

When people say specs don't matter, they're talking about comparing hardware on an iOS device to hardware on a Honeycomb device. Both OSs have different requirements to perform the same tasks. Android, for instance, just isn't as finely optimized as iOS for iPhone and itouch. It also has a lot going on with widgets and multitasking. The iOS devices need less in terms of memory and CPU to do the same thing. In fact, since apple uses its own processor, comparing MHz and ghz is a waste of time. Like comparing certain generations of AMD and Intel chips.

 

[thedon1]

The specs matter in the confines of the iPad from generation to generation (hardware and iOS). In this context, horsepower matters in that you want to be able to handle new software feature and support hardware additions like HD video or "retina".

When people say specs don't matter, they're talking about comparing hardware on an iOS device to hardware on a Honeycomb device. Both OSs have different requirements to perform the same tasks. Android, for instance, just isn't as finely optimized as iOS for iPhone and itouch. It also has a lot going on with widgets and multitasking. The iOS devices need less in terms of memory and CPU to do the same thing. In fact, since apple uses its own processor, comparing MHz and ghz is a waste of time. Like comparing certain generations of AMD and Intel chips.

This is what i was trying to get at in my previous post. Spec comparisons are more justifiable if your running the same software, eg 2 Windows 7 PC's. Your totally right, comapring specs between Android and iOS doesn't mean much but cpmaring specs between 2 iOS devices (ipad 1 and 2) is useful.

The apple using their own processor thing get's overlocked so much. It's a big advantage having chips that are made based exactly on your needs.

 

[bossxii]

IF you build a device in which you control the OS running it, spec's are less important, than building a device in which your using a generic OS that may or may not take full advantage of the hardware you have.

Dual core CPU is great if the SDK and Dev's can actually take advantage of it. Same goes with memory, do you put enough memory to run your apps, or just add in "just a bit more" than the competition and hopefully no app crashes because you have no clue how the OS will really perform or how it will take advantage of resources?

Faster/larger is great when it's utilized, wasted and just cost the consumer $$ when added in for a "spec list" as that is the only way you can attract buyers.

Aka Windows desktops, Android phones/tablets. HP, Dell, Acer and a whole string of computer manufacturers have very little to separate themselves from one another. They all run the same OS, so trying to get your computer buying $$'s is done via a spec sheet and adding in as much as they can while remaining as cheap as they can.

The fact that the modern computer even in a dual core CPU is not even remotely taxed by the majority of users just makes it a waste. Gamers and power users can take advantage of Quad core CPU's and 8 gigs of ram. The other 90% of the world could use a computer as powerful as an iPad/Xoom/Galaxy tab to do 99.99% of the things they need. So for people reading forums (the very small minority) yes spec's clearly matter to some, but even some of us understand the limits of our needs.

The rest fall back on it as the only argument they have to differentiate themselves from the crowd. Because it's truly all they have when the OS is generic.