I sort of wonder the value of my “Pro” model (M1 11-inch 2021, cellular, 512 GB storage, rarely used) is compared to the latest Air models, which use M2 processors.
Does my older Pro model lag behind the new Air models in power/abilities/performance?
I guess I shouldn’t worry about it.
On the one hand, I feel if I had a better keyboard I might use the M1 Pro 11-inch 2021 model I have a bit more. The Apple portfolio keyboard is so slim and light (the reason I went for it) that the keys are actually hard to use for lots of typing.
On the other hand, the Magic Keyboard weighs a ton, which might make it even less likely to carry with me when I go out.
I obviously overpurchased. I guess I didn’t really need a Pro to begin with. Especially with 512 GB storage.
My Air 4 is just three years old this week and I really don’t need to upgrade it anytime soon. But I did price out a new Air 6 vs an iPad Pro M4 (which is this - 7th generation?) with the same storage and it’s a $350 difference; both would need a new pencil, though really I rarely use it, so I could probably wait until it’s on sale (Verizon has in the past sold them at a discount which is how I got the one I have now).
I really can’t see getting the Pro over the Air for my use. I guess I’d prefer FaceID but I’ve been living with TouchID for the last three years and it’s fine. I have been thinking lately about getting the magic keyboard, so now I know that I can and it will work with a replacement if I need to upgrade in the next year or so, at least until Apple updates the Air again. (My plan is generally to upgrade my iPad every 4-5 years, so anytime after about this time next year, unless this one fails.)
I didn’t notice that the Air uses Touch ID instead of Face ID. That’s touched on the side somewhere? Hmm…
I guess I can wait too. I honestly can’t believe it’s been 3 years already! It feels like I just recently got it. But time passes quickly. It’s on monthly AppleCare warranty now, as is my iPhone 13 Pro.
Interestingly enough, I don’t feel any urge to upgrade my iPhone. I thought I might wait until the iPhone 17 came out.
I supposed I might as well just wait with my iPad too. Maybe as mentioned in the article Apple might give in in a couple of years and let and iPad run MacOS. Or make a MBP with a removable screen that turns into a tablet on the run. Or… something new.
doug
I’ve done that with my 11" Mac Book Air - hold it with one hand and type with the other. But it’s awkward and I’m always afraid I’m going to drop it. So not really a good idea. And I’d never want to try that with a larger computer.
Touch ID on an iPad is incorporated into the wake/sleep button.
12 posts were merged into an existing topic: Apple Apologizes for Tone-Deaf “Crush!” iPad Pro Ad
Reputable refurb stores are selling that model with a warranty for around $750 in the USA. I just did a search of recently completed eBay sales, and the price range has been much wider ($450-850), but most of those are from before this week’s new product announcement.
On the low end, I see that third parties like Amazon still have “new” 9th Generation iPads with physical Home buttons available at $249 and as little as $189 for refurbs.
I guess it doesn’t make sense to even think about upgrading with that much of a loss. Especially since I hardly use it. Even though it now has the monthly warranty, I would say it’s still in “like new” condition.
I felt the same way about the pricing of the Magic Keyboard until I bought one. It’s a remarkably engineered accessory. I would have been happier paying $250, of course, but I understand why its not $99.
Absolutely true…they’re dropping the ball here. I remain convinced that a dual boot or dual interface iPadOS makes the iPad as both a laptop and tablet a compelling idea. CPU wise…even the M1 iPads could run macOS easily…and while bumping up the memory and storage to mimic what a laptop can do would cost more…I for one would love to have a device that could do either, even if it cost the price of an MBP. In an ideal world…a dual interface device that could either automatically or via control center shift between the mouse/pointer macOS interface or the tap iPadOS interface…it could choose based on keyboard being attached or not or manually. Federico at macstories has built himself what he calls the Macpad…and it’s a brilliant idea I would adopt if it was available, although I personally would like to have the macOS available on iPad mode if I wanted it. I wouldn’t think that adding the second interface to macOS and running the combined OS on the iPad would be that difficult from a programming standpoint…and it would make the single device life work excellently.
This Apple page (https://www.apple.com/apple-pencil/#features) implies the gen 2 pencil will NOT work with new iPads as it only lists the new and USB-C pencils as compatible.
Example:
Yep…saw that page just now but I did see n Apple page yesterday that said gen 2 worked with the new iPads…so either they changed the page or something…shrug. No worries though.
I’m on computer (MacBook Pro) reading this Washington Post article before making dinner. I’m at my desk all the time, since my work involves programming and dealing with host computers for clients.
I also have an iPad Pro (M1, 11-inch, bought in 2021) that is basically like new because it just sits here and I rarely use it.
I could have read this article on my iPhone 13 Pro. And I might have posted this comment that way. But it’s easier to type on a keyboard. On my iPhone I probably would have dictated it.
There are a lot of people, including note-takers in class, and people on the go, who get more out of an iPad (especially with cellular) who need something bigger than an iPhone but less bulky than a computer to carry around with them.
Sometimes when going out I will take my iPad with me in case of emergencies, or if I want to show photo albums to people. I had a 40th anniversary get-together in October and made videos and slideshows and brought my iPad to hook up to a projector to show them to everybody. That was more convenient than disconnecting my Mac from everything and lugging that around.
On the other hand, I took my iPad along on a recent two week trip to the U.S. and I don’t think I used it even once!
My conclusion? It might be nice if an iPad ran MacOS with a touchscreen. I might use it more.
Oh, and I read books on my iPhone.
But it depends on the person. If you are a simple user and don’t need multitasking, and most of your use is watching and doing emails and you need something easier to edit with than an iPhone then an iPad might be just the niche for you.
If you need to get more technical work done, then I guess a computer is better.
And your smartphone is ubiquitous. It’s always on your person and fills in with everything.
Ditto! I finally snagged one on sale on Amazon a while back for around $220. I thought paying $300 was crazy. I would connect $20 bluetooth keyboards. Then I got a Logitech case that connected to a keyboard and liked it, but you always had to have the case part on the iPad which made it much heavier/bulkier. After years of use that way I couldn’t believe how thin and light my iPad was when I took off the case. With the Magic Keyboard, there’s no need for that extra case and you can rip off the magnetically attached iPad instantly any time you want.
The addition of the trackpad is also huge. I could never figure out why I didn’t like writing/editing on iPad. It seemed like with a keyboard it should be fine. The problem is that writing and editing involve a lot of rewriting and moving pieces of text around. Having to do that with touch is awkward. It takes forever to get your text selection just right. Having a trackpad made all the difference. While I still prefer my Mac (mainly because there I have BBEdit), I no longer hate doing such work on the iPad.
Now that I have a Magic Keyboard, I’d totally buy a new one at full price. Still steep and not cheap, but it’s such a solid piece of engineering and totally transforms your iPad, I wouldn’t have an iPad without it.
When I compared the third-generation iPad Pro to the iPad Air of that time, the differences were minimal except for Apple Pencil lag, which was noticeable with the Air. The iPad Pro exhibited no perceptible lag. In the published comparisons I read, th reviewers recommended the iPad Pro for artists who draw on their iPads. I do not know if the latest iPad Air suffers from the sam problem.
I think that cannibalisation is the main Apple worry for an iPad dual use scenario. But there is perhaps an opening for another device: the most expensive iPhone (at any given point). To be able to say “Oh, and one more thing: this Pro Max iPhone can also be your Mac in a pocket for ultimate [or emergency] portability.” No big fanfare or anything, just presented as an interesting and unique option, and implicitly highlight the power of the device.
Sure, you would need a screen (that iPad? A hotel TV? Your office screen?) and input device(s), but if you for instance commute between your home office and the city office, then that scenario may become a true benefit…
Sort of reminds me of the old Motorola Atrix 4G. This Android phone was advertised as being able to dock with a screen/keyboard and be usable as a laptop/desktop system.
Unfortunately, it was woefully underpowered compared to even cheap computers at the time.
I suspect that if someone tried it today - offering to convert it, not to a PC, but to a Chromebook, it might have more success.
I’m not at all convinced Apple is afraid of that. An iPad with KB is usually more expensive than a MBA. The Apple of old was actually very public about not being concerned with cannibalism as long as it was an Apple product that was cannibalizing another Apple product.
Samsung has for several years offered that. They call it DeX. I have no doubt Apple could do it better because of Apple Silicon and them being king of integrating across different form factors. But they’d likely need to do it a whole lot better since almost nobody knows or really uses DeX in spite of it being pushed as a a key selling point by Samsung ever since 2017.
You know what, I have a Mac. I don’t need something that imitates it. I also have an iPhone. I don’t need something that imitates it. My iPad is currently my general use computer: not for work(Mac), not for comms and mobility (iPhone) but for general computer consumption and production in most spaces. I like it as that.
I have maintained from the beginning that the iPad operating system should be mimicking the Mac OS. After all, the original iPhone operating system was derived from Mac OS X by Steve Jobs’ own admission, right on stage. Why are they then trying to make the Mac behave more like the iPad and iPhone’s iOS?? It should be the other way around.