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New iPad Pro with LiDAR Scanner and trackpad support

• owenversteeg 7y ago
  Anyone here use these for webdev (or development work more generally) as a replacement for a laptop? How well does that work? I'm very curious.
  • baybal2 7y ago
    You can't install your own software on ios without jailbreak (which is not available since iphone 5 or so)
    • saagarjha 7y ago
      Yes, you can. You just need to sign it appropriately. Also, there's been multiple jailbreaks since iPhone 5.
      • thejsa 7y ago
        Having to re-sign one’s apps every seven days (or pay $99/yr) barely counts, IMO; but yes, jailbreaking is easier than ever on any iPhone s as recent as the X/8.
    • mattkevan 7y ago
      Take a look at AltStore.io. A workaround for sure, but definitely simplifies the process of signing and sideloading apps without jailbreaking.
  • scarface74 7y ago
    I can’t imagine anyone wanting to use this for development. But then again, I don’t see how people develop without at least one, preferably two external monitors. The new MacBook Air for $999 would be a lot more appropriate.
  • kbumsik 7y ago
    Definitely not for a web dev. 1. iPad doesn't have a serious IDE. And syncing your workspace with a local computer is not trivial. 2. Safari for iPad doesn't have a dev mode. 3. However, if you only use terminal and vi, iPad has a great terminal app: Blink. Honestly Blink is better than most of desktop terminal in the market. https://blink.sh/ https://blink.sh/
    • saagarjha 7y ago
      Does Blink ship with vi? It's not listed in the set of utilities on its website.
      • kbumsik 7y ago
        Not locally. Its pre-shipped commands are useless. Blink is basically for SSH (or mosh, it is better than ssh). So you run vi on the remote machine.
      • cygned 7y ago
        It does ship with ed, though.
        • saagarjha 7y ago
          I don’t see it on the list…
  • mattkevan 7y ago
    I use an iPad Air for light webdev work. Built my personal website with it, using a few handy apps. Working Copy is an excellent Git client and pretty good text editor, Shellfish is great for FTP/SFTP. Other good editors include Buffer and Textastic. Terminus is a great terminal client (though the pro edition is pricey). Pythonista is a surprisingly powerful Python environment – with a bit of work I got Django working on it. Codea is the same for Lua. DraftCode is good for PHP, though more limited. Can run Wordpress and other PHP CMSs. There's other apps for JS/Node. Inspect gives on-device browser developer tools. Not the best but still useful. Plus, there's iSH, a Testflight-only app that provides a mostly complete Alpine Linux environment. Managed to get Git/Ruby/Jekyll running on it to develop a site locally, though it was slow.
    • robenkleene 7y ago
      Have you written about these workflows anywhere? If so, I’d be interested in the links. This sounds like by far the most sophisticated iPad development workflow I’ve ever heard of anyone using.
  • welly 7y ago
    At a stretch you can, although probably not as a primary/sole machine for web development. I bought an iPad Pro about a year ago with the intention of doing just that (and using it for other stuff). Essentially you need to be able to work from a remote server to do anything that could be considered serious web development. So prepare to spin yourself up an EC2 instance or a Digital Ocean droplet that you will be working from. There are some good tools available now - Working Copy (https://workingcopyapp.com/ https://workingcopyapp.com/) is a very good Git client Blink(https://blink.sh/ https://blink.sh/) is the terminal app you'd need And I've used a mixture of Kodex(https://kodex.app/ https://kodex.app/), Textastic(https://www.textasticapp.com/ https://www.textasticapp.com/) and GoCoEdit(https://gocoedit.app/ https://gocoedit.app/) for my editor. None of these are as good as something like SublimeText or a proper IDE but they are good, basic text editors with FTP/SFTP/etc. integration, code highlighting/folding/auto indentation etc. GoCoEdit I found to be probably the better of those three but they all offer something the others don't. There's a SQL Client you can use (if you're not that comfortable on the CLI with your chosen SQL server) called SQLPro which I believe is available for MySQL, Postgres, MS SQL Server or you can get one that covers all but it's not especially cheap - £55 a year or £150 one time payment. I've downloaded and used Dash, which is a documentation app that gives you offline access to API documentation for all your favourite languages and tools. So there are plenty of tools available - some of them integrate with each other more tightly but I've found you're still really limited in how much development you can do. There's nothing like Docker or Vagrant available, you couldn't run your favourite language locally in a terminal although I recall seeing a PHP parser and a Javascript environemtn available for iOS that gives you some ability to code locally. Nothing you could use for any serious work. Until Apple gives us the ability to get to the guts of iOS and install our own tools, realistically you're always going to be limited to working off a remote server for any serious work. I think the tools that are currently available are great but are limited. You may find a workflow that gets around the limitations and if you do, please share!
  • kache_ 7y ago
    I use sidecar when I'm on the go with my iPad.
• k__ 7y ago
  What has the Android faction planned? Serious question. I like the idea and Android users are always running around with "we had that years ago". Well, I don't see that in this case, but would be happy to be told otherwise :)
• rustyconover 7y ago
  Top question: Is the keyboard a butterfly keyboard or is it more like the new MacBook Pro's 16 inch keyboard?
  • mjlee 7y ago
    At least if this keyboard goes bad, it's a simple component swap instead of RMAing an entire computer. IT departments could keep them in stock like they do other spare parts.
  • samcat116 7y ago
    It’s called the “magic keyboard”, which is the same branding that Apple used on the 16” MacBook Pro to signify that it’s not the butterfly. So I think this should be good
  • cjg_ 7y ago
    "A full-size keyboard designed for iPad Pro brings individual hard keycaps and a scissor mechanism with 1 mm travel for a responsive, comfortable and quiet typing experience." Seems very similar to the new Pro keyboard!
  • saagarjha 7y ago
    It's a scissor keyboard, similar to the new MacBook Pro's. Here's a picture of key depth: https://www.apple.com/v/ipad-pro/y/images/overview/ipados_cursor_static__fzvuvh3mm9im_large_2x.jpg https://www.apple.com/v/ipad-pro/y/images/overview/ipados_cu...
• KMnO4 7y ago
  Wow, I was just about to buy a 3rd generation. I’m really glad they brought back 128gb storage — 64gb is too little and 256gb is overkill for my needs.
  • klaustopher 7y ago
    Always check the [buyers guide](https://buyersguide.macrumors.com/ https://buyersguide.macrumors.com/) before buying Apple stuff :)
    • saagarjha 7y ago
      They're very quick to update!
    • bryanmgreen 7y ago
      That's a surprisingly neat and useful page.
• luigi23 7y ago
  Any ideas what you could develop with new lidar scanner?
  • vxxzy 7y ago
    I am thinking masonry/fireplace door installation. Each fireplace needs measured accurately before one can order a Fireplace door. Often times, customers opt to measure themselves. In a previous life, the company I worked for ran into so many issues and so many "rejected" doors that were used for floor/clearance models. Even if the customer did not do the measurement, installers would get it wrong. The measurements necessary for a Fireplace door include up to 12+ distinct measurement. The type of door (zero clearance, etc..) as well as door accessories are heavily dependent on the measurements. Imagine placing an order, waiting 4-8 weeks for it to be built and all to discover that it doesn't fit. Anyone interested in tackling this problem, get a hold of me.
    • luigi23 7y ago
      Sounds interesting! I thought about indoor coach training tracker, but it’s apparently available with front faceid camera as well.
    • baybal2 7y ago
      I doubt they shoved a real continuous wave lidar there. Most likely some tof sensor with difraction grating
  • nemacol 7y ago
    I would like an app that lets me map the dimensions and floor plans of an indoor space. Without really knowing a ton about lidar or the specific implementation of it in this device, I imagine that could be done? The apps that use the camera are all pretty clunky. If I could just walk around the inside of my house for a while and let it map it out, that would be nifty. (put on tin foil hat) Then the iPad can track my movement around my house and play ads based on which room I am in. Example - walks into bathroom and I hear "Try new lemon toilet bowl cleaner."
• Yabood 7y ago
  The Magic Keyboard for iPad Pro will be available for purchase in May for $299 (US) for the 11-inch iPad Pro and $349 (US) for the 12.9-inch iPad Pro Wow. This must be one hell of a keyboard..
  • deleted 7y ago
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  • gregoriol 7y ago
    It's an Apple keyboard, just like the Apple screen stand or the Apple wheels for the Mac Pro
    • dmos62 7y ago
      Why is this being downvoted? Apple does price its products as luxury items. It's part of the brand.
  • deergomoo 7y ago
    Even the current one that's literally just a run-of-the-mill keyboard is £159 (£199 for the bigger iPad!). A plain keyboard should not cost more than the Pencil.
    • deleted 7y ago
      [deleted]
  • nailer 7y ago
    Well it's also a display stand, to raise the iPad Pro up (insert joke about Apple's 20K stand here). Anyone with a current Mac who's been using it for a while want to tel us how the keyboard is? I'm typing this on one of 2018 ones and it feels like I'm typing directly on a desk.
    • dhosek 7y ago
• excalibur 7y ago
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4wjhTt9fqYY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4wjhTt9fqYY
• evgen 7y ago
  The only question I have, and the only question I ask regarding any external keyboard for an iOS device: can I remap caps lock?
  • deergomoo 7y ago
    As of iOS 13.4, yes
  • gganley 7y ago
    Yes with i(Pad)OS 13.4[0] 0: https://www.idownloadblog.com/2020/02/06/ipados-13-4-hardware-key-remapping/ https://www.idownloadblog.com/2020/02/06/ipados-13-4-hardwar...
  • technofiend 7y ago
    Mine would be when can we get a Pro keyboard too like the one on the MacBook Air? Escape and F keys are too useful to lose if this is a potential laptop replacement. Maybe Brydge will make a full function aftermarket keyboard.
  • xattt 7y ago
    Tangential, but I’ve observed that preferences of what caps lock should be is dependent on your domain. I write and use a browser in my work. Caps lock as backspace makes the most sense. There will be others that will (unnecessarily) argue with me that caps should and always will be escape. A possible (mainstream) solution is to change the caps to a custom key that’s configured in the initial setup of a device.
    • saagarjha 7y ago
      > Caps lock as backspace makes the most sense. But you have a backspace key on your keyboard?
      • xattt 7y ago
        Reach is less.
• filleokus 7y ago
  Hard to say without knowing the component cost, but I would really like a non backfacing camera (or very cheap back camera) option in the future. I could see myself having a beefy desktop, this iPad with the keyboard, and my phone. But if you're not into the whole AR-scene, the camera seems redundant as I always have my phone with me. But I guess there's not enough people like me to justify that model...
  • saagarjha 7y ago
    > I would really like a non backfacing camera I'm fine with a backfacing camera. I'm not a fan of a camera that protrudes.
  • Invictus0 7y ago
    I agree. Taking photos with an iPad looks so ridiculous anyhow; the photo in the press release where they're using the thing to do a photoshoot is really bizarre.
  • Flockster 7y ago
    Yes! I'm currently deciding between the new ReMarkable2 and an iPad Pro. Having a cheaper iPad Pro without these AR/Camera-Stuff as an option would make this decision easier.
    • tachion 7y ago
      There's three of them already: iPad, iPad Air and iPad Mini.
    • lancesells 7y ago
      What about the last generation iPad Pro?
    • pepelepuanteur 7y ago
      I'm in the same boat. While I much prefer the more natural feel of the ReMarkable, I want to use apps like GoodNote that allow for a seamless transition between typing and handwriting, and let you move around images that you've drawn in your notes. I'd be curious to hear what criteria you're using to make your decision.
• satysin 7y ago
  The new MacBook Air looks really nice as well. Here's hoping we see a new 13/14" MacBook Pro in the next day or two as well. I want to upgrade from my 15" but I don't want this form factor anymore. 14" in a slightly bigger 13" form factor would be ideal.
  • xyst 7y ago
    I loved the form factor of the 2015 MacBooks. It was perfect for college and I took it everywhere. It only lasted ~2 years before the mobo failed and it longer booted up. I think there was a known heating issue with these laptops.
    • saagarjha 7y ago
      What’s a mobo?
      • bluehatbrit 7y ago
        Motherboard, I think.
      • deleted 7y ago
        [deleted]
      • xyst 7y ago
        Motherboard
    • rock_artist 7y ago
      I have here a 2015 1.2Ghz/8GB/512GB live and kicking. but for cpp development it was very slow. but it was great form-factor. though my fav machine is still my MBA 2013" I have upgraded it with 2TB and it's still a great machine.
    • abakker 7y ago
      That issue was actually recalled and given an extended service warranty period, I think. Otherwise, those 2015 ones responded well to being baked in the oven, if you still have yours.
• mberning 7y ago
  I love it. The new keyboard looks great. I have a first gen 12.9 iPad pro and it has completely replaced a laptop for everything but my development work. I can't wait for Apple to put A series processors into a Macbook pro.
• baggachipz 7y ago
  > adds trackpad support > adds keyboard So... a laptop?
  • saagarjha 7y ago
    One that runs iOS and has a detachable screen, sure.
  • braythwayt 7y ago
    It is a laptop in the same way that a penguin is a fish. Same in so many ways, yet different paths to get there lead to different trade-offs.
• Idajas 7y ago
  Not going to buy something from Apple, as i am not interested in paying tons of money just for the brand name.
  • philistine 7y ago
    You’d also receive an iPad with your purchase.
    • Austin_Conlon 7y ago
      As well as a couple of stickers of fruit.
      • inscionent 7y ago
        Someone bit into mine. Gross.
  • nicky0 7y ago
    Thanks for letting us know.
  • matchbok 7y ago
    Samsung tablets are basically the same price. Your argument has been false for years.
    • vetinari 7y ago
      As an owner of Galaxy Tab S6, I can assure you, that's not true. The comparable configuration (256 GB/LTE/pen+keyboard) is around ~$670 cheaper for Samsung than Apple. I.e. Apple: $1049 (11", 256GB, LTE) + $129 (pen) + $299 (keyboard); for Tab S6 bundle I paid £684.25 (before VAT), which makes it around ~$806. So if by basically the same price you meant almost half the price, then yes, otherwise no.
  • josefresco 7y ago
    Who do you buy from then?
• wyager 7y ago
  Apple's marketing on the new iPad pros is that they can replace your computer. I bought the most recent iPad Pro model and I can say that unless the only thing you do on your computer is browse the internet (without downloading anything) you're going to have a bad time. Here are some things that don't work: * A full-featured file browser. The files app is sort of workable now, but the experience is really bad and certainly not suitable for any kind of professional or power-user usage. * SMB or any other kind of file sharing. Once again, Apple theoretically supports this now, but in practice it's totally broken and non-functional. * Video editing. The iPad only supports a few formats and refuses to show high-quality videos (the limit is 100mbps or 200mbps or something). * High quality video conferencing/streaming/recording. The iPad pro has somewhat-working support for external audio devices (although apps have to support device selection, and most don't), but it has zero support whatsoever for external video devices. This means you're stuck with the shitty built-in cameras (which, no matter what Apple marketing says, are not "pro" or "studio" quality) * No ability to do any kind of coding or scripting or anything except via SSH to a real general purpose computer Some things that do work ok: * Email * Web browsing * Photo editing (this is actually quite nice, as long as you don't need bulk processing) * It's a decent SSH thin client, with an app like Prompt * Note taking I mostly use my iPad for taking notes and stuff at work, and occasionally for photo proofing/editing. For everything else, I still use my laptop.
  • evgen 7y ago
    > No ability to do any kind of coding or scripting Buy better apps. Textastic + Working Copy FTW.
    • mattkevan 7y ago
      Yeah, working copy is so good I want it on my Mac. ShellFish, the sftp client by the same developer is also excellent. Genuinely game-changing for working with sftp sites.
    • wyager 7y ago
      Will either of those let me compile my code?
• exoque 7y ago
  Looks like they'll have reinvented the macbook air in two generations. Not that it's a bad thing. > (the lidar) operates at the photon level at nano-second speed. Whaddya say!
  • frabert 7y ago
    To be fair, my phone operates at the photon level tol, when using the radio...
    • TeMPOraL 7y ago
      Yes, and my butt is held in the seat by utilizing quantum electrodynamics, in a way we don't fully understand just yet.
• sneak 7y ago
  Still no ESC key. :(
  • ngcazz 7y ago
    But you can reassign Caps Lock to it in iPadOS 13.4!
  • saagarjha 7y ago
    If you don't mind losing your caps lock key, you can remap it to escape.
• baxtr 7y ago
  So basically it has evolved into a laptop with a detachable monitor that includes a built-in camera (which is for sure awesome)
  • braythwayt 7y ago
    Yes. But it’s interesting when two things evolve towards each other, but starting from different places. Like comparing bats and birds, or penguins, otters, and fish. In this case, evolving from a device designed for touch only into touch-first is going to be different from a device that evolved from—let’s be honest—keyboards, punch cards, and the command-line.
    • Ididntdothis 7y ago
      Judging from the (in my opinion) really clunky multi window feature in iPadOS it seems they are struggling to get even close to the usability of macOS. I don’t think so far iPadOS scales well to larger screen sizes and multitasking. A lot of things take more clicking compared to macOS.
      • braythwayt 7y ago
        The multi-tasking UX is atrocious. Daring Fireball has been posting critical essays and alternate designs for months. I hold out hope for a redesign: They redesigned WatchOS's UX, I don't think the multi-tasking in "untouchable" (heh).
      • 0x38B 7y ago
        It's ironic, but I've transitioned from using Ulysses and other apps for text editing to Blink + Mosh + Tmux + Neovim (with Goyo plugin for focusing). This is on a 12.9" iPad Pro. It's a smooth setup. I like iOS, but am tired of dragging apps from the dock. (Note: I use Working Copy as a local git client & editor for times when I'm without internet or when I need to copy to another app. Great combo.)
  • hellcow 7y ago
    With a locked down OS where you can only use Safari and devs pay Apple a 30% cut on every sale. Not the future I'm looking for, thank you very much.
• Invictus0 7y ago
  Surprised no one's mentioned the USB-C yet. Definitely an indication that Apple considers this as more of a replace-your-computer device.
  • saagarjha 7y ago
    Perhaps because it's not new; the previous iPad Pro shipped with it too.
  • rhodysurf 7y ago
    Last gen iPad Pros already have USB-C
  • deleted 7y ago
    [deleted]
• megous 7y ago
  > The LiDAR Scanner measures the distance to surrounding objects up to 5 meters away, works both indoors and outdoors, and operates at the photon level at nano-second speeds. Light travels 30cm in 1ns. That's not really a very exciting precision at 5m range. That's like 4bit resolution. Are there any specs aside from this marketing blabber?
  • colinjoy 7y ago
    ... but it „operates on the photon level“ - that’s got to be a first for an optical system /s
    • tartrate 7y ago
      It's the best thing to happen to photons since the big bang. Ok... but they actually said "The biggest thing to happen to the cursor since point and click." What, being on an iPad?
  • fmajid 7y ago
    It's a ToF sensor array, so you wouldn't expect the range of a Leica Disto, not would it make sense in this use case. Think more of gestures like a Kinect, or realtors making floor plans by scanning a room around. Probably something like this: https://www.st.com/resource/en/datasheet/vl53l1x.pdf https://www.st.com/resource/en/datasheet/vl53l1x.pdf
    • Symmetry 7y ago
      They devoured Primesense, beloved of robot makers everywhere, and they've gone and abandoned their technology.
  • cma 7y ago
    Isn't it measuring round trip time though?
• julienfr112 7y ago
  Any idea how exactly the "lidar" works ? is that like the kinect or a true lidar that project a moving laser point and measure time of flight ??
• sneak 7y ago
  lidar?! Between the 3D front-scanner for Face ID (which, incidentally, worked less well than TouchID did at the time of FaceID launch), the whole touchbar debacle, the UWB radio locator stuff in the latest iPhones, EKG support on the watch, and now LIDAR on the iPad, it seems like Apple is lately really into putting esoteric/novel hardware that nobody really wants or cares about into their newest high-end devices. There's even an argument that the now-debunked butterfly keyboard foray falls into this category (literally nothing was wrong with the scissor/mbair keyboard, as evidenced by the fact that they've returned to it essentially unmodified). You can make the argument that Face ID/3D front scanner has enough "wow" or utility to be a selling point. I'm not so sure about any of the other stuff, especially the UWB and now LIDAR. This feels like throwing stuff against the wall until something or other sticks—pretty un-Apple, IMO. I feel like Apple's hit a rough patch in terms of traditional Apple-level innovation; the AirPods and HomePod are mindbendingly great products, but outside of those, "going back to the old keyboard" is the biggest selling point they've shipped really since going all-in on Retina and then Display P3. Everything else user-facing has been incremental (e.g. TrueTone, routine CPU/GPU advances). To be clear, I don't mean to disparage the technical merit of these achievements in any way. It's a major achievement to do what they've done, and there's a lot more of it, across more product lines than ever before in their history, but my iPhone 11 pro maximum mclargehuge is not twice as good as my iPhone 7 was, CPU/GPU increases notwithstanding. (I'm really, really glad about the T2 boot security that prevents Evil Maid, and the speakers in the new rMBP 16" are astoundingly good, and the 120Hz on iPad Pro is lovely, but this comment is about marquee/headline features.) Maybe they're just more startuppy now, trying different things in different directions to see what cool technology ends up sticking around. I'm reminded of the time they shipped a bunch of speech recognition launcher/shortcut stuff and voiceprint login out of left field with os9. I still don't "get" where they think they're headed with AR (which is not to say they don't have a cool plan, just that it's not obvious from the outside what, if anything, it is). I sure hope they've got something big up their sleeve other than the impending AnX CPU macOS laptops.
  • saagarjha 7y ago
    This is actually an A12Z CPU.
  • 7y ago
• braythwayt 7y ago
  “iPad Pro will be available in stores starting next week.” If only the stores Outside of China were open...
  • joemaller1 7y ago
    was going to say, that'll be some trick
    • Grustaf 7y ago
      Does a tree falling in the forest make a sound?
• repler 7y ago
  What Apple SHOULD be working on right now is FaceTime for Android.
  • ceejayoz 7y ago
    Why on earth would they? My BIL married into our all iPhone family. We regularly harass him about getting one, and I suspect he eventually will. It's one of their best marketing tactics.
    • izacus 7y ago
      > We regularly harass him about getting one, and I suspect he eventually will. But... why? Are you paid by apple to harass people to buy their products... or why are you doing that?!
      • ceejayoz 7y ago
        Because we've had a family group iMessage chat going for nearly a decade now, and there's approximately zero percent chance of my Mum adopting a different platform. (It's also light-hearted teasing, not an alcoholism-style intervention.)
  • fmajid 7y ago
    They probably never will. It would be too easy for telemarketers to start using for spam.
• official151 7y ago
  Apple Airpods Pro Now in Best sale price http://bit.ly/2UfzmW6 http://bit.ly/2UfzmW6
• eugeniub 7y ago
  The new Magic Keyboard for iPad Pro 12.9" ($349) is more than the base iPad ($329).
  • singularity2001 7y ago
    Tangentially, I was thinking of using an iPad as an ergonomic keyboard (free tap layout) because the magic keyboard has a layout which is very bad for RSI.
  • ur-whale 7y ago
    Yes, but it's an Apple product ... think of all the folks you'll be able to impress at your local Starbucks /s
    • deleted 7y ago
      [deleted]
• ajeet_dhaliwal 7y ago
  I’d like a magic keyboard for Mac with a small trackpad incorporated into too! Don’t need a huge separate trackpad.
  • Austin_Conlon 7y ago
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twentieth_Anniversary_Macintosh#/media/File:Twentieth_Anniversary_Macintosh,_Berlin_2014.jpg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twentieth_Anniversary_Macintos...
  • Ididntdothis 7y ago
    And TouchID.
• fxtentacle 7y ago
  With the keyboard, it looks like my old Surface Pro 4, except that all of my Windows-based productivity apps are missing.
• exabrial 7y ago
  "Studio Quality Mics" are kinda useless if you can only monitor the sound through Bluetooth :) too much latency. You'll need a low latency ADC running through that single usb-c port. Or you know, just do what the rest of the world does and use an analog headphone jack for monitoring!
  • classified 7y ago
    But then they would be doing what the rest of the world does. Their artificial obstacles to straightforward functionality make them more money. And we pay to get solutions to problems we would never have, were we to use sane technology.
  • falcolas 7y ago
    Even an analog jack is pretty slow (for example, with a macbook) since it's still going through the OS stack. IMO, you really want your monitor integrated with your microphone in an external setup (such as a Scarlet 2). Then again, I'm exceptionally sensitive to monitor latency when talking, it might be fine for others.
    • exabrial 7y ago
      Me too actually. Especially while singing. Anything over 7ms or so and I find it really hard to not sound like an idiot
• nonane 7y ago
  Anyone know more about the new Trackpad APIs the mention in they mentioned in the article?
• singularity2001 7y ago
  Well that was an anticlimactic announcement. I understand they had to cancel the live show, but not even a promo video...?
  • deleted 7y ago
    [deleted]
• dcroley 7y ago
  I wonder if the "floating" display thing is going to wobble a lot. Looks like design over function.
• zcw100 7y ago
  It's hard to get excited about a $1000 iPad when the US is projecting 20% unemployment. A large portion of he population is facing death from a global pandemic, is wondering how they're going to pay their mortgage, utilities or food but yayyyyy an iPad!!!
• zelienople 7y ago
  Zero interest until I can: - use a native build of Firefox without webkit - have low-latency audio - do network troubleshooting with MAC address access - use VOIP with proper background operation & notification Sorry, Apple, but you created the greatest software/hardware ecosystem in history and then screwed the pooch so badly that you lost me as a customer and a developer.
  • braythwayt 7y ago
    The walled-garden iPad is a direct descendent of the “Computer as Appliance” vision that Jef Raskin had for Macintosh, which Jobs took over and continued to dream about. We can keep complaining about it in 2020, but we certainly shouldn’t suggest that Apple is pulling a U-Turn.
  • HatchedLake721 7y ago
    Oh wow, that's a well managed list of expectations... Do you realise who the iPad is made for and why? Your network troubleshooting with MAC access requirements represents <0.01% of people who would use iPad for that. Just get the right tools for your job (that exist for decades, and have been slimmed to down to portable, few mm devices knows as laptops) and don't expect Apple to suddenly make iPad do everything that your job requires you to do. Apple lost you as a customer and a developer, but it gained few hundred million more, including my parents who now know how to use computers and phones. I don't get people that don't get it.
    • wayneftw 7y ago
      You don't get why people who have full control over their current Pro computers wouldn't want to move to a locked down, walled in garden of a "Pro" device? The vast, vast majority of the hundreds of millions of customers they gained with the iPad aren't doing any work that is even remotely similar to what can be done on a general purpose OS. And furthermore, even if they can do some of the same work - they can't do it with nearly the same efficiency. The vast majority of iPad users aren't even doing any work on their iPads. They're consuming. Apple can keep trying to make the iPad appeal to users who need full control over their computer, but it ain't gonna happen until they actually give us full control.
• BooneJS 7y ago
  I still wish I could run Xcode on it. It’s too nice of a machine to have to spin up a cloud server to develop on. One concern: my iPad Pro 1 smart Keyboard died after 2 years.
  • gigatexal 7y ago
    that would be an insta-buy for me I really think it's coming -- one day anyway -- perhaps when the Macs run Arm there'll be iPad's running Xcode
  • mpweiher 7y ago
    Do you develop on your iPad via a cloud server? How? Are there alternative development environments?
    • rhodysurf 7y ago
      I use a digital ocean droplet over mosh with tmux and vim for some things and that works pretty well but its annoying not having vscode or sublime to use for sure
      • bergie 7y ago
        You could probably get vscode by running code-server on the VPS
        • rhodysurf 7y ago
          Yeah im gunna try that soon when I have a little time
• mr_tristan 7y ago
  What is the size of the app market for iPad software? Does this device matter to that market? I still feel like my own iPad usage is mostly locked by a weak software ecosystem, and while the hardware is impressive, it still seems like complete overkill for the current ecosystem. I want to use it more, but the software for things I would have expected on the iPad, like 3D design, music production, etc, are often limited, either by software or connectivity issues. I've gotten more use out of my Linux notebook running a Windows VM. Which surprised me. I just get the feeling that the only people really making serious money on iPad apps are games, which are probably just ports of phone apps.
  • claudeganon 7y ago
    It’s big on the creative side of things if you can make good software. Most artists love the iPad Pro, but absolutely despise Adobe. All my friends have spent good chunks of money on apps like Procreate, Clip Studio, and the Affinity apps, just to be free of Adobe
    • wlesieutre 7y ago
      A whole $6 on Procreate if the price hasn't changed since I got it. It's an incredible piece of software for the price and I really appreciate them making it affordable for non-professional artists. I've been priced out of everything Adobe makes, but Procreate and the Affinity apps are fantastic.
    • mr_tristan 7y ago
      For 3D modeling, I've still not found a replacement for Fusion 360. It does appear that there are products like shapr3d that are interesting for some basic conceptualization, but, there aren't things like, say, a sheet of default variables you can use to restrict your design to. It seems like these tools are for some rough sketching, but, the intent is probably to move the concepts into a desktop CAD system. This makes me wonder how big the iPad software market really is in comparison. It seems "tethered" to other platforms.
  • graeme 7y ago
    For music (and video) production, check out Henny Tha Bizness. He talks a lot about the music apps he uses: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a5kUpbeRgPA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a5kUpbeRgPA (I follow him for the video side, so I only know Lumafusion)
• DelightOne 7y ago
  How much RAM does it have and how many cores? I can't find any mention.
  • HatchedLake721 7y ago
    When did this ever matter on an iPad?
    • zxcb1 7y ago
      Safari and app switching
• chadlavi 7y ago
  Let me install macOS on one and I'll buy it in a heartbeat. It's not "pro" until I can use a terminal, an IDE, desktop apps, etc
  • anentropic 7y ago
    Exactly! It's a nice form-factor and hardware etc, but I couldn't and wouldn't want to live solely in iOS-land
  • hbosch 7y ago
    There really is no reason at all to not support macOS apps when you've given the device a keyboard and a trackpad+cursor. In a lot of ways, this form factor is exactly what I would want my Macbook to be... ultra-portable, touch-screen with Pen support, more dynamic hinge, and no touch bar.
    • thirdsun 7y ago
      > There really is no reason at all to not support macOS apps when you've given the device a keyboard and a trackpad+cursor. That would turn the keyboard and trackpad into a requirement rather than an option. If you want macOS you already have options. The iPad is great because it's tablet first with touch as primary input method.
• brailsafe 7y ago
  It doesn't seem to have any differences with the current model that are really important, so it should bring down the price of 2018 models significantly on the used market. Being a whole 2 years old instead of the latest version is a big difference, and iPad pros in general aren't holding their value like macs do. For me, they've always been "kind of neat to have, but not for $2200".
• nirav72 7y ago
  wish apple would seriously do something about safari.
  • snazz 7y ago
    Now it runs most desktop web apps (like Google Docs) just fine, so they've obviously been making a lot of improvements. Everything that came with iOS 13 has been a huge improvement for web browsing on the iPad.
• burgerquizz 7y ago
  Apple, please make the ipadOS eco system developer friendly. I'd buy it instantly. If Visual Studio Code was available there, that'd be amazing. There is some projects[1] going on but using some non-viable workaround [1] https://github.com/microsoft/vscode/issues/70764 https://github.com/microsoft/vscode/issues/70764
  • alexgaribay 7y ago
    I'm in the same boat. I'd love to have a real terminal where I could run emacs.
    • ogre_codes 7y ago
      There is one: https://ish.app https://ish.app Open beta, but sadly not released to the App Store yet. Works quite well.
  • Someone1234 7y ago
    This is a device that doesn't support other browser rendering engines or even toy compilers, long way to go before something like VSCode could be possible, a product that let's you trivially slipstream in any renderer/script engine/compiler you want at a single click. Plus would it really be an "iPad" with you sacrifice the whole security model to allow debugging?
    • amluto 7y ago
      How exactly would debugging sacrifice the security model?
      • eugeniub 7y ago
        Yeah and the iPad already allows code execution/debugging with Playgrounds, Pythonista, etc. You can even run a full Linux shell locally on an iPad with iSH (https://ish.app/ https://ish.app/).
        • 7y ago
• bartq 7y ago
  Those kinds of laptops/tablets are great for one reason: no heating components under keyboard. I hate "heated keyboards". I hope Apple will at some point allow to install macOS on iPads. Seems like it's possible, until that moment it'll be only consumption/sensors input device which is a shame. Unfortunately not a programmer machine.
  • braythwayt 7y ago
    I did development for Github on an iPad for a while while my Macbook Pro was getting serviced. If you look around the threads here you'll hear from others who have also done development on an iPad. it's certainly lighter weight than developing on a mac pro (understatement!), but for web development, especially in a n environment where you have staging environments to host services... It gets the job done. And while this is a matter of taste, when I was working remote, I preferred a lighter, smaller machine for going to cafés.
  • anentropic 7y ago
    Reading your comment I realised I actually love "heated keyboards"... I often lay my hands on my laptop to warm up cold fingers :)
• gozzoo 7y ago
  What's up with the CPU? The recent iPhone has A13 Bionic and now, half year latter theier flagship iPad has A12z?! How do both compare?
  • whoisjuan 7y ago
    They actually do that a lot. They usually release A(n)X when there's already an A(n+1) available. Usually, the X version (or in this case, the Z version) is the same architecture as a previous non-letter architecture but with optimized and improved multi-core performance achieved with new components and likely some overclocking. They are also likely optimized to handle workloads differently since they are put in devices that are meant to work differently than a handheld phone. The X versions seem to be optimized to take full advantage of the larger batteries available in the iPads or for non-battery devices like the Apple TV. I don't think there are X CPUs that were put in iPhones, so far (I could be wrong, though).
    • gozzoo 7y ago
      When the previous duo of iPad Pros was released the current iPhone was using A12 and respectively the iPads had A12X Bionic. iPad Pro is the most powerfull device in their mobile line, it's very starange that the are doing a step backwards with it. My question was rather how A12z compares to A13. They have already explained many times how A(n) compares to A(n)X.
      • ksec 7y ago
        This. It is always A12, then A12X, A13, then A13X. But they got A12z this time round.
    • AgloeDreams 7y ago
      I think it's a timeline issue. They likely have skipped A13X due to TSMC's fast cadence of 7nm+ and are working on A14. I'm guessing that A14X is destined for the Mac and next iPad Pro but that's maybe 9 months out? This CPU should be an A12X + extra GPU performance, but who knows what it brings.
    • 7y ago
• freewizard 7y ago
  I'll continue to be skeptical about the "next computer" marketing of iPad Pro before there can be some breakthrough of multi-tasking design.
• Someone1234 7y ago
  The front facing camera is seriously neglected. They keep on adding more powerful/fancy cameras to the rear that people likely under-use in the common case, while the front camera that is commonly used for work, video conferencing, selfies, etc remains on the wrong edge and is under-powered. It is almost farcical with the new keyboard setting the top to the non-camera edge. The front facing camera should be the premiere camera on the iPad, and should exist on the top and side, with triple microphone array (top, left, and right). Scrap two of the rear cameras to offset the cost.
  • braythwayt 7y ago
    I don't, but I see plenty of people who shoot pictures with their iPads. If the best camera was on the front, what would they use for a viewfinder? Also, I used to be 100% remote, and I WFH plenty, so I'm on videoconferences all the time. I do not perceive the need for insanely good cameras for this. Selfies, maybe, perhaps Instagram influencers need super-high-res selfie photos and movies. All that being said, maybe there are uses I haven't even imagined for an iPad that has a better front-facing camera than rear-facing camera. But for my current use cases... I would say not.
    • Someone1234 7y ago
      With the new keyboard attachment the front camera isn't even at the top of the iPad, it is on the left/right edges. That's a large oversight. As to video conferencing, it depends on what you're doing. If you're presenting a meeting and are being projected onto a conference room's TV/projector, the quality matters.
      • endorphone 7y ago
        It clearly isn't an oversight. When people hold their pad they predominately use it in portrait mode. When people use it with a keyboard, they want it in landscape mode. This is pretty universal. And, guessing, I would imagine people use this sans keyboard >95% of the time. So they gear it for that. Or should they put two cameras on it? I highly doubt Apple was oblivious to this, but there are always compromises. As to quality, the quality of this camera is equivalent or better than the overwhelming majority of webcams. Maybe people are doing xxx streams or something, but for a corporate meeting this is about three tiers above the average.
• mason55 7y ago
  I thought solid state Lidar was still under development, at least as far as cheap mass production goes. Is that not the case? Or is that just true for lidar that’s powerful enough for self-driving cars? Or is this not solid-state lidar?
• rock_artist 7y ago
  The iPad would become Pro only when I'll have the ability to run unsigned code, get custom apps / sideload without 1year/1week certs limits.
• dharma1 7y ago
  What's the Apple pencil to use with this? Still Pencil 2?
  • ericlewis 7y ago
    correct.
• partiallypro 7y ago
  Apple has come around to basically just outright copy the Microsoft Surface. It does look very nice though.
  • duxup 7y ago
    I was pretty skeptical of the Surface myself but man I see them everywhere. At least a heck of a lot more often than I anticipated.
  • AgloeDreams 7y ago
    From the hardware, yeah, Microsoft got that pretty spot on though I have to say this keyboard cover has some major advantages in thickness. and the ability to remove the stand. The part they didn't copy is the software, because the Surface is little more than windows on a tablet still. The tablet life sucks, the interaction is poor, the performance slow and buggy (esp in comparison), but Windows makes a great dev OS. It's funny how different they are.
• Goosee 7y ago
  Love my 2018 iPad Pro, use it everyday for school work and for personal things. Hope to see more options for development on the iPad in the near future (requires Apple to open up developer options). There are some cool apps that I think you guys would like. They don't have a lot of marketing behind them.. Carnets (offline Jupyter notebook) [free] and a-Shell (interactive terminal) [free]. Took some digging, but note that the new trackpad keyboard is compatible with the 2018 released iPad Pro models. Looks like the keys are bigger, resembling their laptop keyboard a bit more. I really enjoy typing on my smart folio so I hope the experience will be similar!
• GeorgeTirebiter 7y ago
  There is exactly one attribute which will convince me the iPad Pro is a 'real' computer: when I can develop apps for the iPad on the iPad. Until then... nice, but ...
  • jtth 7y ago
    This is what blows my mind about their decisions regarding software priorities. Being able to build Macintosh apps on a Macintosh was fundamental to the survival of the platform. Hell, there isn't even a coherent story about developing client-side web applications on an iPad, something much simpler—the interpreter's already there!
    • rchaud 7y ago
      A very long time has passed since then. Apple is hardly at risk of having iOS collapse because of lack of developer support.
    • saagarjha 7y ago
      Didn’t many people develop Macintosh software on the Lisa?
  • tasogare 7y ago
    Same here. My iPad mini is nice to read and annotate PDF (love the pencil) thanks to its retina display but that's it. And any task involving inputing more than two words is super painful anyway (pairing an external keyboard with bluetooth is painful too).
  • tluyben2 7y ago
    Same here. I like my (cheap) iPad and I use it a lot, but before I can develop software on it, it's definitely not a real computer. It's something which is nice to read, watch movies on etc. I must say; if I could program on it, I probably would not have a laptop anymore. 2 years ago my laptop was being repaired and I had to spend 2 months (don't ask) with my iPad Pro; I worked with Termius + Remotix for developing apps + sites + api's and it works fine as long as the connection is good. I was in HK and the 4g internet is great all over the place, even on the ferry. It's not ideal but it's really quite good.
• jrochkind1 7y ago
  How long until they stop making MacOS devices, do you think?
  • developerdylan 7y ago
    If this is a real question, this is unlikely to ever happen.
  • rtkwe 7y ago
    A while still I think. The tablet laptop form factor is still not quite as good as just a laptop in a lot of situations. It only really works well when you have a large enough space to move the tablet around to make the limited angle options work for example.
• dade_ 7y ago
  I've already ordered one. I sold off the last of my Apple products a few years ago. Since then, the MacBook Pro has improved, but MacOS was getting so buggy that I didn't really see he benefit over dealing with Windows (also, I love WSL). iPhones with lightning connectors and no headphone jack offend me. So no thanks. Besides, have you tried the Xperia 5? But man I miss my iPad. My very expensive and high performance toy with the nearly endless choice of very high quality applications and games. Android tablet apps are plain awful. There are a few good apps on Windows (6 of them and half haven't been updated in 3+ years) and there are always random lags and endless strange issues with Tablet mode. Never mind that a Windows machine often needs to wake up from suspend vs iPad instant on.
  • 0xff00ffee 7y ago
    > I didn't really see he benefit over dealing with Windows What possible nightmare bugs could macOS have that would lead you to this claim? I'm really curious. They'd have to be big ones because I've been developing on Lin/Win/Mac for 6 years and nothing comes close to the pain of developing on Windows.
    • dade_ 7y ago
      The cat versions since Tiger were pretty much flawless upgrades and never had any issues. Then the mountains came, and upgrades never went as smoothly and problems would crop up. Display driver issues, Wifi would just disconnect, strange performance issues (I think caused by CPU throttling to keep the fan quiet), it was a while back. Then the display developed a bright yellow vertical line DURING the upgrade to Sierra. So annoying. The Apple store people said I needed a new motherboard. Nothing helped, downgraded to Mountain Lion. I don't like the new MacBook Pros that came out since, so I switch to a Surface. However, High Sierra came out so I pulled out the machine with its bright yellow line and upgraded. The line was gone. Honestly, Apple software and machines have way too much magic locked away and hidden. This was acceptable to me when everything was perfect, but those days are gone. I check the Apple support forums from time to time. MacBook keyboards come to mind.
      • 7y ago
• pier25 7y ago
  Can you finally use the keyboard/cover properly on your lap or in positions like sitting with your legs crossed?
• neuronic 7y ago
  At what point on this trajectory will MacBook Pro merge with iPad Pro? When macOS and iPadOS converge?
  • 72deluxe 7y ago
    I hope that day never occurs. iPadOS is like a toy compared to macOS, although recent macOS has got more locked down (no directories in root, separate OS partition with incorrect total size reporting etc.). When the 2 converge I am outta here.
• rowanG077 7y ago
  You can't even imagine how hard I wish I could run Linux on this thing. The hardware is just so good. But it's just not possible to work with the useless OS that's on there...
  • 72deluxe 7y ago
    With X or Wayland????
    • rowanG077 7y ago
      I don't care.
• lostgame 7y ago
  When Logic Pro is available on the iPad Pro, I will concede to its name being acceptable. Even developing on it is secondary. You have Pro apps. Start acting like it. By their own software definition - this is not a Pro machine. If I need a Mac to run your Pro software, what makes this device fit into the ‘Pro’ category?
• bryanmgreen 7y ago
  So, is Apple on discontinuing Lightning now? Will USB-C be on the next iPhone?
  • thedance 7y ago
    The writing has been on the wall for a while. They already nuked one generation of iThing connectors (two, if you count the FireWire iPods) and we survived. We will quickly get over the death of Lightning. The only people who will be seriously upset will be people owning the original Apple Pencil.
• ben7799 7y ago
  I already had an iPad Pro + smart keyboard + pencil once... and got rid of it and switched to a Surface Pro. We still have an old 10" iPad 2 + an older iPad Mini in the house and they get use for typical iPad consumer stuff. When I add up this new iPad in the minimum 128GB/Wifi/11" config this one is about $400 more than I paid for the Surface Pro + KB cover + MS Pen. (Which is i5/8GB/128GB/Wifi-only) The Surface has been so much more useful due to it's "real" software ecosystem and ability to just plug devices & memory cards right into it. 4 years on it seems like this new iPad Pro is no better except for even slicker hardware + touchpad. Not there for me till they fix the software and make it a lot easier to do real world tasks that require working with files on other pieces of hardware you have local. Some of the use cases like traveling and doing photography or video on the road have just been so much easier with the Surface Pro. Even just doing things like downloading a spreadsheet from the bank. Maybe you can do that now but you couldn't when I had my iPad Pro. Safari wouldn't let you download a file and open it in the app of your choice. So even though Numbers (or Excel) would have been fine to do finances there was no way to get the files. If the bank had made it so the app could generate a spreadsheet and then let you share it with Numbers that would work, but those use cases never got enabled, and there were so many cases like that.
  • wlesieutre 7y ago
    It does support files on external storage devices now with the USB-C port. It also supports SMB shares, which is great since I keep most of my stuff on a NAS and can access it over my VPN. Developer tools are an obvious weak point, but FWIW I sold my Surface to buy an iPad Pro a few years ago and I'm happier with this. Considering an upgrade from 2016 model (9.7" with lightning) to the new ones. It wouldn't work as my only computer, but I have a much beefier desktop for gaming and whatever workloads the iPad isn't suited for. That list of workloads is getting smaller and smaller though.
    • ben7799 7y ago
      Yah.. USB-C, so I carry a dongle with the iPad Pro that I don't have to carry with my Surface Pro. I wouldn't have to buy the dongle cause I already have a great collection of them because I have a USB-C-only MacBook Pro. But I still have bought 0 actual devices that have USB-C. And it's not just external storage devices. It was always such a mess. E.x. with the Camera connection kit on the iPad Pro: - My Canon 5D worked - Go Pro cameras did not work - My external card readers didn't work (which could take the cards from the GoPro), sounds like maybe they fixed this I could go on and on, Apple chips away a little by little at what works and what doesn't work. But meanwhile life goes on with OSX and Windows where everything just works. I used the iPad Pro for 2-3 years.. stuff just improves glacially on the iPad, that's the issue, they fix like one or two things in a year and you still have a list of 25 things that are a PITA. Some of this stuff with USB-C is tough. There's no way I'm going to buy a new $3000+ camera to get USB-C for example.
• jiveturkey 7y ago
  don't know if i am a customer of this product yet, but this is the best ad i've seen from Apple. they are firing on all cylinders.
• talentedcoin 7y ago
  I have tried very hard for the last few years to do Python development on the iPad Pro with a combination of Termius (to ssh into my home machine) and Pythonista. They are both great apps but it's not enough -- time and time again I ran into fussy little roadblocks that were taking too much time to resolve. I finally got flummoxed enough to buy a refurbished HP Elitebook 820 instead. Mind you, I work on financial applications so YMMV. I love my Mac -- I wish the iPad was there, but it's not there yet. Great for watching Netflix though ...
• mmaunder 7y ago
  Anyone here work in VFX and/or CG in the film industry? I suspect the lidar scanner is borrowing from film sets where they'll do a lidar scan to model the 3d environment. But I'm out of my depth. I'd like to know what the current pro workflow is and then speculate at how this might translate into consumers using the tool.
• adrianhel 7y ago
  I just hope it doesn't use a butterfly keyboard. Man, Apple is making home office worse than it needs to be.
• karmicthreat 7y ago
  My mechanical engineer co-worker loves the depth sensor on the old iPad Pro. He uses it all the time to shapes into solidworks that he then designs parts to fit onto. I'm sure he will be excited about this if the sensor is that much better.
  • AgloeDreams 7y ago
    It should be the real deal. This should enable pure 3D mapping instead of layer maps like the current sensor does.
  • antimetropic 7y ago
    Any software recommendations for this? I really like my iPad Pro for all sorts of other reasons, but until seeing your comment I didn’t realize that 3d scanning with the depth camera was a thing, and am now interested in trying it out.
• jordache 7y ago
  only using ipad because of procreate. I don't know if that's sad or good of apple.. Is the iOS ecosystem a unique enabler of procreate? As an os for a large form factor device, iOS is a JOKE in terms of UX. It's still just a giant iPhone.
• vermaden 7y ago
  This iPad (with this new keyboard) is the first step for Apple to provide ARM powered Macbook, but now its called iPad Pro to not make unneeded noise ...
• fellellor 7y ago
  Can I finally develop apps on this one?
• gridlockd 7y ago
  "Your next computer is not a computer." That's the marketing slogan for the new iPad Pro. Indeed, it's not a computer. Anything that does not let me compile and run programs for the platform itself is not a computer, it's a toy. There's nothing wrong with toys, of course. I enjoy video game consoles, handhelds just as much as I enjoy the iPad.
• localhost 7y ago
  Anyone considering using iPad Pro + VS Online + remote VM-based compute for their development workflows?
  • tzmudzin 7y ago
    Hell, no. With all due respect: KISS.
    • localhost 7y ago
      This is exactly how my friends at FB work every day (not necessarily from an iPad Pro), but the remote VM thing is very real in some parts of the world.
      • tzmudzin 7y ago
        Great if it works for them. From the operations point of view every additional layer and every new dependency hurts. [OK, I'm going back to my cave now...]
• geniium 7y ago
  Looks nice, but I won't invest another dime until I can launch all my macOS app on it.
• pronouncedjerry 7y ago
  The main thing Apple still hasn't addressed that it doesn't need new hardware for is multiple profiles. One of the most prevalent environments the device is used is at home, shared by the family.
• bcheung 7y ago
  Really wish they would stop hijacking the scrolling on their website. It's absolutely horrible to navigate and makes it hard to find information. I kept scrolling and scrolling and finally had enough and just closed the page.
• sbr464 7y ago
  It seems there is still no escape key. It’s super annoying to have to pick up your hand to touch the screen to escape out of random UI tasks. I haven’t found a hack or remapping ability like on macOS etc.
  • greggh 7y ago
    This is how you do an ESC key on iPadOS: Command + [
    • sbr464 7y ago
      Have you tested recently? I’m familiar with a few of the key combinations that should work (by sending the replacement key for escape), but they haven’t been working. Just tested and it doesn’t work (to confirm).
• tdhttt 7y ago
  The rear facing camera seems to have a nice upgrade. However, apart from AR applications, I found it weird to hold a 12 inch tablet in the air to take pictures while everyone could see my screen.
• cronix 7y ago
  What a time to be releasing new devices. The sales will be an embarrassment.
• jimnotgym 7y ago
  IPad Pro. Oxymoron? Apple make beautiful high end consumer electronics. This is the kind of gadget that every IT manager wastes their time accomodating for flash execs. If Apple made professional equipment it would work properly with AD and Azure AD.
• deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]
• SomeHacker44 7y ago
  I'm not certain, but I'm pretty sure they are misspelling the alphabet. It's supposed to be A24Z, not A12Z. Unless it's half off right now.
• sevencolors 7y ago
  The animation in the canvas elements is slick! I want to learn how to create something like that. Looks like highly optimized sprite animations to do the faux 3d rotations.
• deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]
• LordOfWolves 7y ago
  Like other commenters, I will never buy another iPad unless it comes preloaded with a desktop-like operating system (like macOS) versus iOS. One would think Apple has explored doing this - putting OSX/macOS on an iPad - given that Microsoft put Windows on the Surface and gained market share as a result. Why they haven't released any consumer/commercial iPads with a desktop-like operating system, an OS whose first versions were able to run on a 7.8 MHz processor (the Motorola 68000) and 128 KB of RAM, is beyond me. Of course the more recent the OS, the greater the hardware requirements, but I do not see it impossible to "fit" a version of OSX/macOS to a tablet. Does it all come down to avoiding cannibalization of Macbook Air sales?
  • kylec 7y ago
    You can't just take a non-touch OS and release it on touchscreen devices. It makes more sense to try and add additional power/functionality/versatility to the already touch-based iOS, which Apple is doing, than it does to try and redesign macOS for touch.
  • ellis0n 7y ago
    Apple is working on a common core for iPadOS and OSX that's should be a way, but a memory limit is important for performance for your browser tabs. I'm waiting for iPad Pro with a minimum 16G RAM.
• airnomad 7y ago
  I would love to use iOS devices but somehow I just can't accept I can't run Linux on them. I understand, it's all great and neat and etc. but I also believe IT professionals should use open source OS if possible at all. I don't have strong arguments for this so I understand people have different expectations and understanding.
  • saagarjha 7y ago
    You sort of can: https://ish.app/ https://ish.app/
• pradn 7y ago
  People in this thread are comparing the iPad Pro to a laptop. I would like to get one just to serve as a powerful consumption machine. Websites will load faster with the powerful CPU. It has a great screen and a pencil for occasional doodling. Yes, I know it's expensive, but iPads also last a long time so it's a good deal.
• m0zg 7y ago
  I wish they'd do something about battery discharge when off. I had an older model iPad, and it could be left alone for a week and it'd still have charge. Previous gen Pro is pretty much dead after a couple of days. I know it's not fully "off" when it's off, but come on, throw on some more lithium or something. At that price I shouldn't worry about charge when I'm about to get onto my stationary bike and would like to watch a movie.
• gerardnll 7y ago
  What do you guys do with an iPad? I cannot barely imagine working with it. I just see it useful for emails, web surfing and not much more... It's a very expensive device, I don't see any justified use. You can get a macbook air for less and have a full blown Photoshop, IDEs, Word...
  • thirdsun 7y ago
    Personally, I have no use for a laptop and use my desktop for "real" work (development, audio production). In a mobile setting I prefer my device to actually be lightweight and mobile and the iPad beats any laptop in that regard. It's also my most used device when it comes to casual usage like internet browsing, reading, research, writing, watching, sketching out audio ideas etc. - frankly, these days I can't imagine being bound to my desk to do these things. It's incredibly comfortable to have these abilities at hand whether you're on the couch, preparing meals in the kitchen or laying on the deck.
• yakkers 7y ago
  I’m a bit disappointed in the new iPad Pro, since it seems to be just as thin as the previous. As someone who had nothing but trouble with the 2018 model because of this, it’s disappointing to see that Apple’s trend of reducing thinness for things such as better battery life (iPhone 11 (Pro)) or better thermals (MacBook Pro 16”) didn’t carry over to the iPad Pro, which arguably suffered the most from its thinness.
• mamon 7y ago
  Addition of LiDAR seems consistent with my theory that Apple is actualy a branch of NSA: * first they put fingerprint scanner in the home button, so they could collect fingerprints of all their users. * then they put FaceID, so now they have a high-res scan of everyones face * now they are putting LiDAR so that they can scan your whole body, and map all your surroundings.
• Swaglord333 7y ago
  If these things are finally as quick as desktops can we go back to "you're-allowed-to" operating systems?
• ccktlmazeltov 7y ago
  I've given up writing on the iPad pro, because you can't really hold it on your knees with a keyboard and because the screen is not well positioned (back pains). This new keyboard thing is amazing. Really expensive but I think I might take the bullet on this one.
• ppeetteerr 7y ago
  Cool. Now to get the first version of the pro
• King-Aaron 7y ago
  > iPad Pro is faster and more powerful than most Windows PC laptops This is such a frustrating comparison that Apple continues to make. They factor in that most Windows PC laptops are very low-spec and low-price. If you compared performance with similarly priced machines it would likely be a different story. But come on, Apple. It's not 2001 anymore. You don't need to keep up with the 'us vs them' mentality.
  • ianai 7y ago
    Eh as someone who works in IT, there’s a lot of hate spread around. It’s an awful part of the entire industry. People neglect whole ecosystems of the industry and thus their career paths because of the Mac, windows, Linux hate war. If someone’s stuck to a single tribe they’re a lot less interesting as a professional. I take it as a sign of lack of experience and professionalism.
  • greggman3 7y ago
    The late 2019 iPad Pro is faster and more powerful than the late 2019 Macbook Air. I bought both and tested. It made me wish for an iPad Pro hardware based Macbook Air but ultimately I sold the iPad Pro 4 weeks later since I never used it. My workflow is decidedly not tablet oriented.
    • eugeniub 7y ago
      Late 2018* iPad Pro. Apple didn’t release an iPad Pro in 2019.
      • greggman3 7y ago
        right! Sorry
• zoom6628 7y ago
  While everybody is 'discussing' the technical and use-case merits in that manner for which HN is (in)famous i would like to point out that this device looks like somebody decided the iPads could do with some design flair so they took a photo of an iPhone SE and enlarged it and then basically said "Done!". Specs, users, emotion aside at least as a physical device it actually has some style. At last. Thank you somebody inside Apple for not producing yet another round edge, nearly anonymous, soap-bar slab.
• dippersauce 7y ago
  Funny how Apple went from a mindset that mice were only intended to be accessibility peripherals in iOS, to fully support for them so quickly. I think it was only a year or so ago that someone high up at Apple said something to reaffirm that mindset.
• Keyframe 7y ago
  Not sure about floating keyboard design. I have latest (well, before this one) ipad pro with keyboard and it sits really well on an actual lap. I have doubts about this. Looks like it would bounce on a lap when typing.
• igammarays 7y ago
  I don't think trackpad support adds much value to the "serious" use cases of the iPad. If my work gets complex enough to require a trackpad, I get on my Mac. The trackpad looks more like a band-aid solution for those who are insistent on using the iPad as a serious computer (even though it's not), because nothing so-far-invented beats the traditional keyboard-mouse-window paradigm for productivity. The only "serious" use cases for the iPad, which are actually better on iPad than on Mac are: - Document review and annotation with tools like LiquidText or PDF Expert - Sketching and drawing with apps like Paper - Data collection and demonstration in the field (showing other people stuff, and asking them to enter info) Anything else you "could" technically do on an iPad is just a dumbed-down version of what we already do better on a Mac. Lots of pretty marketing and very little productivity - I feel bad for the generation of college kids raised on this pretty piece of glass while being deprived of the experience of "real" computing.
  • jungturk 7y ago
    What is it about the Mac that makes these doings more efficient? Is that just a certain comfort about being able to more closely approach the OS abstractions like file and command?
    • djbeadle 7y ago
      I can only speak for myself, I bought an 11" iPad Pro to have something much lighter and portable than my laptop that I could carry everywhere, write long form text on, and edit photos. Importing and editing a single photo is easy, but if I want to work on a whole batch it becomes a pain trying to manage many files using file system. So far the best solution I've found is to pay for Adobe cloud storage, import my photos to the Lightroom app (thus not polluting my camera roll) and let Adobe sync everything to my desktop where the photos eventually live on an external hard drive. Side note: Despite this the actual act of manipulating photos on the iPad are fantastic. I love being able to shoot an event and then start editing a couple photos for promotional purposes right then and there. Overall I love my big expensive tablet. If other people have developed iPad / iOS photography workflows I'd love to hear them!
• ngcc_hk 7y ago
  Got 3 ipad not pro. I am on reading paper and writing. The sync, ability to comment then back to mac to touch up is great. But 11 need rudder ... horse of course as one said.