4 ms·

Honestly, as someone deeply invested in the Apple ecosystem, I still find myself scratching my head over the random segmentation of the iPad lineup. There's th

Honestly, as someone deeply invested in the Apple ecosystem, I still find myself scratching my head over the random segmentation of the iPad lineup. There's this whole circus with the Apple Pencil compatibility: one iPad works with the 1st generation Pencil, another supports the 2nd, a two others support the third, and i guess a new magic pencil pro? That's 4 pencils out in the wild. The real kicker for me is how both devices are hamstrung more by their software than by any hardware limitations so, really, what can an iPad Pro can do off that the Air can't? Apple’s product marketing isn't doing us any favors here. Their comparison table is laughable: https://www.apple.com/ipad/ https://www.apple.com/ipad/ There's a reason why I loved the simplicity of Steve Jobs' product quadrant when he came back to Apple. And a great part of it was the fact that each product addressed a specific category of user. Whereas the iPad lineup has created categories in search of a user.

ebiester 2y ago
Isn't faster and prettier screen a difference?
pixelmonkey 2y ago
This is a more detailed comparison table that does new iPad Pro 11in (M4) vs new iPad Air 11in (M2) vs old iPad Air 11in (5th Gen, M1). There are some differences but you're right that they are pretty minor. https://www.apple.com/ipad/compare/?modelList=ipad-pro-11-m4,ipad-air-11-m2,ipad-air-5th-gen https://www.apple.com/ipad/compare/?modelList=ipad-pro-11-m4... I guess the big difference is the display. OLED for the iPad Pro (which they weirdly call "Ultra Retina XDR") whereas the new iPad Air and the old one have a similar "advanced LCD" display (which they weirdly call "Liquid Retina"). Otherwise, the M4/Pro also has a higher core count, more storage options (up to 2TB) and even more storage available via Thunderbolt (e.g. USB storage devices), so long as you don't mind wires or Thunderbolt/USB hubs. Then there are some differences that are just pricing or upgrade cycle wedges, like the "pro" keyboard support (only on M4) and the new Apple Pencil "pro" (on M2/M4). I think I'll personally stick with the iPad Air line, especially since I much prefer Touch ID to Face ID, and I just use a full-blown Apple Bluetooth keyboard anyway rather than the iPad-specific ones. I described my iPad "fancy typewriter" setup here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37643678 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37643678 Hard to say whether this particular iPad Air release will warrant an upgrade over my iPad Air 5th Gen, though. Doubt it. Identical dimensions, nearly identical core count, identical RAM, and I got the 256 GB option last time around, so it has plenty of storage.

ebiester 2y ago

Isn't faster and prettier screen a difference?

pixelmonkey 2y ago

This is a more detailed comparison table that does new iPad Pro 11in (M4) vs new iPad Air 11in (M2) vs old iPad Air 11in (5th Gen, M1). There are some differences but you're right that they are pretty minor. https://www.apple.com/ipad/compare/?modelList=ipad-pro-11-m4,ipad-air-11-m2,ipad-air-5th-gen https://www.apple.com/ipad/compare/?modelList=ipad-pro-11-m4... I guess the big difference is the display. OLED for the iPad Pro (which they weirdly call "Ultra Retina XDR") whereas the new iPad Air and the old one have a similar "advanced LCD" display (which they weirdly call "Liquid Retina"). Otherwise, the M4/Pro also has a higher core count, more storage options (up to 2TB) and even more storage available via Thunderbolt (e.g. USB storage devices), so long as you don't mind wires or Thunderbolt/USB hubs. Then there are some differences that are just pricing or upgrade cycle wedges, like the "pro" keyboard support (only on M4) and the new Apple Pencil "pro" (on M2/M4). I think I'll personally stick with the iPad Air line, especially since I much prefer Touch ID to Face ID, and I just use a full-blown Apple Bluetooth keyboard anyway rather than the iPad-specific ones. I described my iPad "fancy typewriter" setup here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37643678 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37643678 Hard to say whether this particular iPad Air release will warrant an upgrade over my iPad Air 5th Gen, though. Doubt it. Identical dimensions, nearly identical core count, identical RAM, and I got the 256 GB option last time around, so it has plenty of storage.