Apple introduces M4 chip
https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2024/05/apple-introduces-m4-chip/If the iPad had better software and could be considered a first class productivity machine then it would be less surprising but the one thing no one says about the iPads is “I wish this chip were faster”
Watch a 20-year old creative work on an iPad and you will quickly change your mind. Watch someone who has, "never really used a desktop, [I] just use an iPad" work in Procreate or LumaFusion.
The iPad has amazing software. Better, in many ways, than desktop alternatives if you know how to use it. There are some things they can't do, and the workflow can be less flexible or full featured in some cases, but the speed at which some people (not me) can work on an iPad is mindblowing.
I use a "pro" app on an iPad and I find myself looking around for how to do something and end up having to Google it half the time. When I watch someone who really knows how to use an iPad use the same app they know exactly what gesture to do or where to long tap. I'm like, "How did you know that clicking on that part of the timeline would trigger that selection," and they just look back at you like, "What do you mean? How else would you do it?"
There is a bizarre and almost undocumented design langauge of iPadOS that some people simply seem to know. It often pops up in those little "tap-torials" when a new feature roles out that I either ignore or forget… but other people internalize them.
If I could actually do something with an iPad there would be a different discussion, but the operating system is so incredibly gimped that the most demanding task it's really suited for is .. decoding video.
You probably have people (like myself) trying to keep up with the latest MacBook Air who get fatigued having to get a new laptop every year (I just upgraded to the M3 not too long ago, from the M2, and before that... the M1... is there any reason to? Not really...), so now they are trying to entice people who don't have iPads yet / who are waiting for a reason to do an iPad upgrade.
For $1,300 configured with the keyboard, I have no clue what I'd do with this device. They very deliberately are keeping iPadOS + MacOS separate.
Please find a way beyond local transformer models to offer a true use case that differentiates the Pro from the Air (ideally development). The second that gets announced, I'd order the 13-inch model straight away. As it stands, Apple's stance is at least saving me from spending 3,5k as I've resigned myself to accept that the best hardware in tablets simply cannot be used in any meaningful way. Xcode would be a start, MacOS a bearable compromise (unless they start to address the instability and bugs I deal with on my MBP, which would make MacOS more than just a compromise), Asahi a ridiculous, yet beautiful pipedream. Fedora on an iPad, the best of hardware and software, at least in my personal opinion.
I really hope this comes to all Apple products soon (iPhones, all iPads, etc).
It's some of the best anti-reflective tech I've seen that keeps color and brightness deep & bright.
I didn't even realize there is other PC-level hardware with AI-specific compute. What's the AMD and Intel equivalent of Neural Engine? (not that it matters since it seems the GPU where most of the AI workload is handled anyway)
GPUs can also have AI-specific compute (e.g., Nvidia’s tensor cores.)