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New iPad Air, powered by M4
- ijustlovemath 7mo agoI wonder how well local inference would work on these.
- bigyabai 7mo agoThe M4 has been out for a while, it's not anything special for inference.
- joezydeco 7mo agoThe word "value" appears four times in that press release. I sense a theme in the marketing this week.
- 2OEH8eoCRo0 7mo agoIf they wanted to provide value they'd add MacOS to their tablets.
- geerlingguy 7mo agoYeah, instead we'll have a slightly cheaper MacBook Air, I'm guessing, that still costs more than the perfectly adequate iPad.
- tonyedgecombe 7mo agoI hope they never do that. It would compromise macOS too much.
- ta9000 7mo agoIt’s been 16 years. Move on already.
- dylan604 7mo agoAt least they are not using "affordability"
- harperlee 7mo agoAlso "upgraders" (11 times, meaning a kind of buyer), that's a new one for me in these introductions.
- jajuuka 7mo agoBetween the iPad Air and iPhone 17e it's definitely the "value" day. It will just be a ramp up to the MacBook Pro. Makes a good contrast and marketing scheme.
- zamadatix 7mo agoThe next day and the cheapest thing seems to be $1k (base M5 MacBook Air) sitting alongside new MacBook Pro variants and Studio Display XDR :D. I hope the budget MacBook appears this week nonetheless.
- bm5k 7mo agoHeavier than the iPad Pro. Again. Still.
- unstatusthequo 7mo agoFFS I cannot believe this. I went and looked it up, and you’re 100% right. It’s slight, but it’s real.
- deviation 7mo agoI know it's semantics, but Apple has never actually marketed their Air products as lighter than their Pro counterparts. The 11" variant is ~460g.
- halapro 7mo agoWhat are you talking about? Air literally always meant thin and light. Now they're treating it a premium product between normal and pro instead (see iPhone Air too)
- crazygringo 7mo agoYeah they should never have tried to copy "Air" from MacBooks, precisely where it meant thinnest/lightest, to the iPad/iPhone line where the products are already thin and light. That has always seemed like a bizarre branding move to me. If they need a mid-tier brand between entry-level and Pro, just call it Plus. The iPad Plus would make a lot more sense.
- knallfrosch 7mo agoAre we meant to associate it with "hot air" marketing or what else?
- vintagedave 7mo agoMy current iPad is the iPad Air 3 (the one with the backlight issue that's never been acknowledged, to my understanding.) Can someone explain to me why an iPad at all, let alone an iPad Air, needs as powerful a processor as a M4? That's stronger than my laptop (a M2) where I run multiple VMs and more.
- AnthonyMouse 7mo agoIn theory an iPad is a computer and then you could run whatever you want on it. So maybe the better question is, why can't you run whatever you want on it?
- nozzlegear 7mo agoThey make those, don't they? They're called MacBook Air?
- nomel 7mo agoSo the difference is a keyboard? If I attach a keyboard into my iPad, why can't I do all the same?
- aNoob7000 7mo agoThey don't need it. Apple is introducing new hardware for the sake of introducing new hardware. Personally, they need to put the iPad on a two-year release cycle and focus on improving iPad OS.
- deleted 7mo ago[deleted]
- kandros 7mo agoPure marketing, in a couple years it will start lagging doing basic web surfing, like every other iOS device
- 7mo ago
- deleted 7mo ago[deleted]
- easton 7mo agoMemory increase to 12GB, guess they still have reasonable pricing.
- jghn 7mo agoAt this scale, don't companies lock in their prices well in advance instead of paying spot prices?
- deleted 7mo ago[deleted]
- functionmouse 7mo agoDon't vendors as big as Apple lock in their prices and contracts years in advance?
- wpm 7mo agoRumor has it that Samsung hit them with a 100% price increase on RAM and Apple took it without even trying to negotiate
- xd1936 7mo agoBringing their profit margins down from ludicrous to just absurdly high.
- bombcar 7mo agoIf that rumor's true then Apple has a memory fab hidden somewhere that's going to be revealed soon.
- throwaway85825 7mo agoApple is likely a large enough consumer to fully utilize a fab.
- lm28469 7mo ago
- chorkpop 7mo agoI wish Apple hadn't decided that colors weren't for pro users. I would love to have any of those.
- criddell 7mo agoI'm still upset that they dropped the Smart Keyboard Folio. For me, that was the perfect keyboard case. I was hoping some third party would copy the design and release a new case but it never happened.
- Marsymars 7mo agoThe Smart Keyboard Folio is great! I got one on clearance a few months ago and use it whenever I'm using the iPad around house/town. (If I'm travelling out of town with my iPad where I won't be able to use my desktop keyboard, I bring my Magic Keyboard instead.) It's so good that if Apple changes the form-factor of the iPad Air, I'll probably take that opportunity to buy the last Smart Keyboard Folio-compatible iPad Air to stretch my use of it as long as possible. (Though I worry that at that point I'll wear out the internal ribbon connectors eventually.)
- mayoff 7mo agoSomehow Woot still has a supply of the Smart Keyboard Folio for certain 11" iPads Pro/Air. My wife is still using an older gen 11" iPad Pro and her keyboard folio stopped working (they fall apart after a few years ), so I took a gamble and ordered one. It arrived in the original, sealed packaging. As far as I can tell, it had never been opened, and it is perfect condition and works great. My wife is very happy. I bought a second one for when this one falls apart. https://www.amazon.com/Apple-Smart-Keyboard-11-inch-iPad-Pro/dp/B08635GZ8H https://www.amazon.com/Apple-Smart-Keyboard-11-inch-iPad-Pro...
- jajuuka 7mo agoThat's true of most OEM's. Most phones will be cases so I can at least understand that argument, but I don't think as many tablets are in cases.
- spudlyo 7mo agoI'm about to head to the gym with my 12.9-inch 2017 vintage iPad Pro, which is still going strong. I prop it up on the elliptical trainer every other day or so for entertaining me while I grind out an hour of cardio. I use it for reading, watching YouTube, listening to music, audiobooks, etc. It's been my regular gym buddy for years, and is showing no signs of needing to be replaced. It's stuck on iPadOS 17.7.10, which is fine. I can only imagine that these new generation iPads will easily go for the next 10 years.
- Almondsetat 7mo agoThey can only go as far if Apple doesn't deprecate them, unfortunately
- dylan604 7mo agoDepends on how you look at it. While the hardware might keep functioning and current software might keep running, some devs also deprecate their software. I have an old 6S+ that I keep software that I don't want to install on my actual device. Slack informed me that it will no longer function after a date set later this year. Other apps have already stopped working on it because the devs do not want to deal with it. TL;DR sometimes it's not Apple, it's the app devs that deprecate them.
- swiftcoder 7mo ago> TL;DR sometimes it's not Apple, it's the app devs that deprecate them. Are the app devs deprecating just because their support matrix is too big, or because current SDKs will no longer build apps compatible with those devices? I think the later case is less common on the Android side of the fence, but Apple is not great about keeping old versions of the dev tools functional, and you end up needing to keep elderly Macs around to target older versions of the OS.
- mantas 7mo agoAs ex-iOS dev, usually it's because devs want the new shinny APIs. And after some point stakeholders are OK to stop supporting a tiny percentage of users stuck on old iOS versions. In my experience it was never because of Apple.
- franze 7mo agoI love my iPad, best TV i have ever owned.
- Noaidi 7mo agoHa, yes. I have a Galaxy A7 lite that is my TV. Much cheaper and has a 500GB SD Card in it as well.
- css_apologist 7mo agoThis is an incredible piece of hardware, I just don't know what to do with it how is music production on it these days?
- dgxyz 7mo agoI had the same problem with my M4 Pro. So I sold it.
- piva00 7mo agoStill subpar, only real DAW available is Logic Pro, the audio stack behaves differently than macOS, no support for VSTs but has support for the AU format. A friend who I make music together had an iPad that we tried to add to the setup, in the end after some months we chucked it aside and just got a MacBook for our shared studio instead.
- css_apologist 7mo ago> no support for VSTs yup, that kills it for me
- mauflows 7mo agoI agree you won’t find a DAW as powerful, but some of the purpose built DAWs are so much fun. Loopy Pro you can build whatever interface you want via widgets. And while VSTs don’t run, the AUv3s on the App Store tend to be much cheaper. If for nothing else, I think it’s an excellent replacement for a guitar effects processor like Helix. Plus everything is backed up / restorable and you don’t have to suffer with a knob-based interface
- DamnInteresting 7mo agoGarageBand is fun, and capable of making surprisingly complex music. Logic Pro is also available on iPad now, but it's only available with a $15/month subscription, so I haven't tried it. For artists, there are a lot of good tools: Procreate, Art Set 4, Adobe Fresco, Artrage, etc.
- Archit3ch 7mo ago
- magnio 7mo agoTo me, the tablet form factor is dead with the arrival of the trifold. 90% of the people who use tablets I know (including myself) only has four use case: watching video, reading PDF and comics, taking notes, and playing mobile games. All of which are very mobile-oriented tasks that are done on tablets solely for their screen sizes. With trifold bridging the gap between screen sizes and, more importantly, screen ratios, I would love to merge them into one device. This is in contrast with laptops, whose differences in OS and use cases are, to me, much bigger and necessary. Of course, right now they are very much afar from consumers' pockets due to price and reliability. But normal foldables were once in the exact same state, and the fact that Apple is releasing one soon is a sure tale sign of the future of foldables.
- herrherrmann 7mo agoI wouldn’t put too much hope into foldables, at least not because of Apple’s involvement. They also released the Vision Pro. And there’s still the unsolved(?) problem of the screens getting easily scratched/destroyed if they’re not heavily protected and kept clean. (There are some informative teardown videos, e.g. by JerryRigEverything.)
- LoganDark 7mo agoDunno if Apple's foldable will support Apple Pencil. (For that matter, not sure a touchscreen MacBook would either.) That's one use case for a properly rigid, solid, flat surface.
- nerdjon 7mo agoA properly built tablet OS UI would also have those differences in the OS that make it more than just a larger phone screen, which so far seems to be most of what the foldables are doing with a gimmick thrown in here or there. iPadOS may not fully be to the point of being an OS UI that really utilizes the benefits of a tablet sized device, but it does have elements that are unique to it that would not really make sense on a phone. That being said, if your tablet use case really is just a larger phone than a foldable would be great. But i know for myself the way I use my iPad it would not be a suitable replacement. Especially not now, maybe in 5+ years once someone figures out how to make an OS that actually manages different ways of interacting with it in different form factors work, but that has yet to happen.
- manmal 7mo agoTangential, iPadOS 26 is absolutely unusable on iPad Minis. Who needs window management on an 8" screen?
- crims0n 7mo ago-you can turn it off globally in settings -some people use it docked -if it wasn't available, someone else would be complaining about that
- bigyabai 7mo ago> if it wasn't available, someone else would be complaining about that Really? I genuinely know no one that uses Stage Manager.
- hbn 7mo agoThe Apple of the past never thought twice about people complaining about the lack of them implementing something that would be bad UX because they were confident in their design prowess.
- manmal 7mo agoClick targets on window controls are too small to ever make sense. Nobody needs this.
- layer8 7mo agoAs the sibling says you can turn it off, but even the non-windowed UI is still not well-adapted to the small form factor. Apple doesn’t put any work into it. One can hope that some improvements might carry over from the upcoming foldable iPhone, whose inner display will only be slightly smaller, but I’m not holding my breath.
- jonplackett 7mo agoBet they were hoping for a quieter news week for these announcements.
- Noaidi 7mo agoPlease do not buy any Apple products until Tim Cook takes that gold bar back from Trump? Thanks.
- Mindwipe 7mo agoThe Pro really looks like it's struggling for a reason to exist given how much cheaper this will be and the difference in feature set.
- Hamuko 7mo agoI fucking love my OLED display on my iPad Pro.
- butterlettuce 7mo agoi hate mine. when watching movies, scenes that slowly transition to another view look jaggy. Does that happen to yours?
- game_the0ry 7mo agoFWIW, my wife is a student and her ipad has probably helped out her out a lot, for a lot of reasons: * compact form factor allows her to study anywhere easily, especially on public transportation * can access the internet almost anywhere * note taking and drawing diagrams with apple pencil * communication wit for both personal (imessage) and school study buddies (discord) * can entertain herself with netflix, youtube, games etc when she wants to wind down * ai apps like perplexity has helped her a lot with writing and research She also has a laptop, but is rarely used. She even tends to type on her ipad keyboard. The larger form factor for the pro helps with that too.
- bubblewand 7mo agoMaybe a minor thing, but the largest pro in landscape is just barely smaller than a two-page spread in a comic book, making it possibly the best way to read digital comics. Though, I personally don’t need all the horsepower and would get lower-end iPads in that size if they existed and were cheaper.
- Hamuko 7mo agoThe iPad Air and iPad Pro are both available in 11" and 13" variants. 30% savings if you want like-for-like storage, almost 40% if you can do with less.
- t1234s 7mo agoAny chances of getting a new Apple TV 4k this week in time for F1 launch on AppleTV+?
- mikestew 7mo agoSure, there’s a chance. Don’t know why you’re asking, though, because those that know aren’t talking and those that are talking…
- raw_anon_1111 7mo agoWhat’s wrong hardware wise with the current one?
- t1234s 7mo agoI think its at least 3 years old
- raw_anon_1111 7mo agoAnd? What do you expect from a new one?
- amoss 7mo agoNo side profile pics on the page. My only concern would be can it lay flat on a table for taking notes or does it have a camera bulge that makes it wobble?
- fumeux_fume 7mo agoFWIW, the iPad Air I bought a couple years ago has a small protrusion for the single camera lens, but does not wobble when laying flat and is not really noticeable. This latest iPad Air has a similar design.
- morganw 7mo ago> does it have a camera bulge that makes it wobble? Yes https://www.apple.com/v/ipad-air/af/images/overview/closer-look/all-colors/slide_3A__ehn3imt75qc2_large_2x.jpg https://www.apple.com/v/ipad-air/af/images/overview/closer-l... from https://www.apple.com/ipad-air/ https://www.apple.com/ipad-air/
- halapro 7mo agoI hate apple. Can't they just add a second bump on the other side? They're being a PITA with this wobble and it's been going on for like 15 years now (iPhone 7 forward)
- irenetusuq 7mo ago[dead]
- eknkc 7mo agoI still have no idea wht to do with my previous gen iPad Pro..
- ErneX 7mo agoimo the Pro are for serious creative types who do either 3D modelling, illustration, photo editing, video editing or music. If you just browse the web and stuff like that you might just get a regular iPad.
- waynecochran 7mo agoWhen will I be able to run Xcode on one of these?
- css_apologist 7mo agolooks like never
- waynecochran 7mo ago:(
- fudged71 7mo agoWait for the alleged touchscreen MacBooks to drop, possibly this week
- waynecochran 7mo agowait .. what ... for real? Take my money Apple.
- revolvingthrow 7mo agoI don't understand the target audience of ipad air. The base ipad is "really big iphone, with a few laptop-esque features". It's reasonably cheap for what it offers, especially if you want a highly mobile media consumption device and handwritten input. Then there's ipad pro, which is wildly overpriced for its specs -- m4 pro has half!! the ram that the cheaper m4 macbook air has, which is laughable for a 'pro' anything, especially if you have apple intelligence enabled - you get what, 3GB of usable ram once you take OS and apple intelligence into account? Yet, aside from the crazy sticker price, the hardware is a lot better - the 120 Hz OLED display looks amazing and is way brighter, the speakers are quite an upgrage, full blown thunderbolt port for external display and so on. The OS is still toy-like, and ram is pitiful, but there is place for an ipad pro. And then there's air which is... base ipad with an M-series chip and pretty much nothing else? The display is barely any better than base ipad, the storage and ram are pitiful, the speakers are from the baseline ipad and so on. Just about the only saving grace of the M4 one announced here is 12GB ram, which is the absolute lowest those really ought to have, and really puts into perspective how utterly miserly Apple was about ram pre-AI. I don't understand the value proposition - you want the baseline you buy a much cheaper base model, you want more you get the pro, right? To be fair the asking price is far less than pro but the upgrades over base model seem so minuscule that I just don't know.
- piyh 7mo agoIt's the cheapest iPad that supports pressure sensitivity on the better apple pencil.
- halapro 7mo agoI live in Asia and I see all students using iPads instead of laptops. The limitations of the OS are really not felt by the general public. Whatever you listed doesn't even make sense to them, they buy things based on what they can afford. Every iPad works the same to them.
- cj 7mo agoYou're not wrong, but I hate the idea of an entire generation growing up without ever using a full powered computer. (Full powered is the wrong word, more like fully capable computer) We have an entire generation who only knows how to interact with "usability optimized" interfaces with zero friction and zero learning curve. Not knowing how to use a regular computer creates a barrier to entry for programming and other computing industries that didn’t exist before.
- miohtama 7mo agoIs it fast enough to run Liquid glass?
- sneilan1 7mo agoThat's very funny. Bravo.
- sneilan1 7mo agoIf it can be used for inference, who cares right? Just have claude vibe code some objective-C or run the Enclave app.
- anentropic 7mo agoand Claude is remote inference anyway, just an http api
- Havoc 7mo agoTo what end? I genuinely don’t get the purpose of these high end processors in a tablet. Like more power is nice but what would I do on it that needs it? Serious gamers mostly steer clear of Apple. Video editors presumably use desktops/laptops. Browsing doesn’t need power. Video watching doesn’t need it. Programming on iPads is cumbersome. Who is the target audience that gains from this?
- etchalon 7mo agoPeople who buy things, mostly.
- _neil 7mo agoBut is that really a market worth going after?
- JV00 7mo agoI don't understand why they still have such thick borders, compared to smartphone screens that almost get to the edge. Anybody knows if there's a technical reason for it?
- OberstKrueger 7mo agoTablets need an edge where you can grip it. Without thicker bezels, it’s harder to hold it without your fingers being on the screen. This is much less of an issue for phone-sized devices.
- starkparker 7mo agoThis has always bugged me. - Why is grip a feature of the bare tablet and not part of a case accessory? - Why is the grip point the flat glass front of the display, instead of anything more ergonomic for actually holding it? Phones don't do this, not even 7" phablets, nor for holding them horizontally, nor holding them with two hands gamepad-style during gameply. Why do tablets?
- yborg 7mo agoBecause most tablets are intended to be as thin and compact as possible while being too large to wrap a hand around. Imagine the complaints if Apple told people to buy a case so they could hold the product. Imagine putting a ledge on one side to hold it oh hey, it's a Kindle Scribe (and still ALSO has a bigger bezel than the iPad Pro.)
- davidcollantes 7mo agoI don't think it is technical. Because of their size, they would be hard to hold without covering portions of the screen, if the bezels were thinner. As is, my fat fingers get in the way already.
- Y-bar 7mo agoTo each their own, but I would rather have a larger border where I can rest my thumb without causing an accidental press/scroll a few times a day. The software-based rejection is not good enough and I am very willing to go back to the older look of the iPad if offered.
- ohcomeonlol 7mo agoSo base iphone 17 is 256 GB, and the iphone 17e which is the cheap version is 256 GB, and… the base version of the midrange ipad is 128 GB? What a spiteful company
- russelldjimmy 7mo agoI have an iPhone and an iPad Pro, and I use far less local storage on my iPad than I do on my phone. I know it sounds counter intuitive. I wouldn’t be surprised that this is the norm.
- hbn 7mo agoI'm not really sure what's spiteful about that I'd hazard a guess that people use significantly less storage on iPads than their phones. Phones get filled with photos and videos, whereas people use iPads primarily to browse social media and stream videos.
- crazygringo 7mo agoPeople take tons of photos and videos on their phones. Download 40 GB of music and podcasts on Spotify. Keep 50 GB of videos in their messages. All at once. iPads usually aren't used as much for these things. They're used for browsing, streaming, gaming, reading... mostly things that don't take up nearly as much space. It's not spite, just matching device capabilities to user needs without unnecessary upgrades that will lead to a higher price point. I use tons of storage on my phone. Not much on my iPad. Pretty much just downloading TV shows before a flight, but 128 GB gives you plenty of hours of that.
- jbellis 7mo agoWhen the M1 ipad came out I said I'd upgrade from whatever my model year 2020 ipad is once I could run a Linux VM on it without rooting it. Still waiting.
- mervz 7mo agook
- nozzlegear 7mo agoWhy did you get an iPad if you wanted to run a Linux VM? Wouldn't a Macbook Air have been a better choice?
- bigyabai 7mo agoBecause they like the hardware? The better question is why Apple pretends these devices can't run VMs.
- jbellis 7mo agoI bought an iPad for the same reason ~everyone does, for media consumption. But if I could use the hardware to do more interesting things then I'd be willing to spend more on a more powerful model.
- thewebguyd 7mo agoThe iPad Air is in such a weird spot. Heavier than the Pro, 60Hz, but more Ram in the M4 Air than the M4 Pro? It makes no sense. Who is this for?
- pjmlp 7mo agoIdeally Apple would finally do their Surface/2-1 with iPads, but Apple being Apple, rather sell an overpowered tablet, and a Mac laptop to go alongside with it Some places even do a bundle "discount".
- thewebguyd 7mo agoI don't think even Apple knows what they want to do with the iPad. I could buy the "companion device" niche for a while until iPad OS 26 came along, which took away most of the "touch first" multi tasking and replaced it with a model that heavily favors mouse and keyboard use. I actually use my iPad less now since the update, because I still primarily used it as a tablet, I don't even own the magic keyboard/trackpad for it. Now it's essentially a gimped macbook, and it's not really clear on where it fits in their product lineup. Is it supposed to be a laptop replacement? A companion device? An art tool? An expensive e-reader? No one, not even Apple, knows. So yeah, they either need to come up with a clear vision for what it's supposed to be, or finally just let it be a 2-in-1 macbook with apple pencil support.
- gyomu 7mo agoI think they’re very happy to have the 2 parallel product lines; they might overlap a bit but who cares, business is about the numbers, not ideological purity of product lines. The line they’ll probably never cross is that the Mac can run software in a (mostly) non sandboxed mode, with unrestricted background processes, which means it’ll always be the platform of choice for developers. Those extra restrictions on the iPad makes them more free to push it/experiment with it in the direction they wish (for better or worse, as we’ve seen with all the wonky windowing implementations, although the current one is mostly fine) I love my iPad for drawing/photography, reading comics, and its extreme portability; I love my MacBook as a developer and as my main productivity machine.
- grogenaut 7mo agoCan you run openclaw on it?
- sccxy 7mo agoCan you connect it to USB-C/Thunderbolt monitor/dock and use it with keyboard and mouse?
- znpy 7mo agoI was about to ask the same. I'd like to get an ipad for the same purpose. The iPad pro can for sure, but I don't want to spend ipad pro money.
- rllearneratwork 7mo agoyes. Has been possible since at least M1. Buy M-based iPad, nice monitor, keyboard and mouse. Connect mouse and keyboard to monitor via USB. Then iPad via USB-C/Thunderbolt to monitor. Everything "just works" and you can handle surprisingly high amount of work this way
- eagerpace 7mo agoCan you share more about this experience please? To me, you're still left with apps that are designed for a touchscreen and consumption.
- konart 7mo agoIf you are using an iPad as a second screen - you get the same app you have on your mac (obviously, iPad just acts as a second screen: https://support.apple.com/en-us/102597 https://support.apple.com/en-us/102597). If you are using an external keyboard and a mouse with it - you will get the same touch UI, yes.
- thinkling 7mo agoMany apps are missing many keyboard shortcuts that you may be used to if you’ve used the equivalent on the desktop. You’ll need to keep the iPad screen accessible to tap on UX elements. There’s also the issue that shortcuts that do exist may be hard to discover because there’s no menu bar to look in.
- 7mo ago
- jmyeet 7mo agoI have an M3 iPad Air. I only upgraded after my M1 iPad Air 4th generation (IIRC) stopped turning off and it was way too expensive to get a replacement board. I am desperately clinging on to these because they still use TouchID. Words cannot describe how much I hate FaceID as a person with poor vision. When I'm forced to use it on my iPhone (which is all the time), I have to move it away from my face or I get the "Try again". Super-annoying. But it gets worse: after a certain number of unsuccessful tries, you're forced to use your passcode anyway and FaceID has false negatives ALL THE TIME. It's even worse on n iPad form factor where the iPad often isn't facing you directly. It might be attached to a keyboard, on a stand, on your lap or on your chest (when lying down). Many of these angles just don't naturally work with FaceID. If only Apple would give me a FaceID OPTION on an iPhone. I haven't bought a keyboard or anything. If I wanted a device to work on in any way, I'd still use a Macbook Air. But I do love my iPad Air.
- quesera 7mo agoI prefer TouchID over FaceID also. But I'm curious, why does FaceID work less well if the user has poor vision?
- aalam 7mo agoAs always, I _wish_ I had a use case for an iPad. Seem like such powerful machines hindered by where they live in the serious-computing space. The iPadOS being much more restrictive doesn't help either. I wish they could repurpose macOS to touch screens... Oh well.
- zikduruqe 7mo agoSame here. I have tried my dangedest to want to need an iPad. Once the new wears off, I just cannot find a use for them.
- deleted 7mo ago[deleted]
- joshkojoras 7mo agoI had a 2008 iPad until few years ago and I think it was the most impressive device I ever owned. I couldn't believe how much performance and longevity you can get out of such a small and simple device, for the price which hasn't changed in 8 years. I sold it because I spent most of my time on a laptop, but looking at this new M4 Air iPad makes my wallet tingle. I first want to see what the low cost Macbook is like, hopefully that's tomorrow.
- pier25 7mo agoThe iPad 1 was released in 2010
- kridsdale3 7mo agoUnless you had a prototype.
- joshkojoras 7mo agoI made a typo, it was supposed to say 2018.
- mythz 7mo agoHad an M4 iPad Pro for nearly 2 years. Everything's so fast and fluid I doubt I'd notice if the CPU were twice as fast. If this ever died I'd likely replace it with an Air - the Pro is overkill for what's basically a consumption device.
- codeptualize 7mo agoI think the big difference why I would go for a pro if I ever replace my mini is ProMotion. It seems like even in this new model you are stuck with the old lower refresh rate which is quite jarring. Performance wise, even older ipads were well beyond what I need so if you can handle lower refresh rate for sure a better deal.
- moolcool 7mo agoThe iPad would go from a never-buy to a buy-right-away for me, if they added user profiles. It'd be a nice thing to have on your coffee table, where anyone in the household can pick it up and be logged into all of their stuff. Windows XP had this feature. Chromebooks have this feature. It's inexcusable that such an expensive gadget can only have one user.
- girvo 7mo agoThe funny thing is that my Apple TV has profiles! Surely the iPad can too.
- lreeves 7mo agoCould not agree more, it's wild my AppleTVs now ask for which profile is using it but the iPad still hasn't gotten this.
- moolcool 7mo agoProfiles don't work well on Apple TVs at all though. You choose a profile on the device, and then you still have to choose a profile whenever you launch any given streaming app as well. I don't know what changing profiles on an Apple TV actually does.
- hvjackson 7mo agoApps can hook into the Apple TV user profiles if they want, but many don't.
- moolcool 7mo agoAs a developer myself, I respect and understand that it's not their fault that profiles are useless As a consumer, I don't care whose fault it is that profiles are useless.
- lurking_swe 7mo agothe developer needs to write code to detect the current profile. Most app’s don’t do this, and they explicitly ask a 2nd time. Not apple’s fault. There are some apps that get this right. Infuse recently added support for this.
- DiabloD3 7mo agoThis would go from "toy for children" to "instant buy" for me if it ran Linux and not an entertainment pipeline with a captive app store.
- CafeRacer 7mo agoYes, exactly. Second this. I've run nixdarwin + aerospace now for a while on the older macos version and it's insanely how the customized workflow can improve productivity. Recently I started experimenting with nixos/asahi and it's waaaaay more better than even what I had on macos.
- deleted 7mo ago[deleted]
- ivanjermakov 7mo agoEven JIT-enabled Linux VM on an iPad would make it a perfect travel workstation. Too bad Apple won't let iPad eat the MacBook pie.
- ta9000 7mo ago“If this was not remotely like what it is it would be an instant buy for me”. Ok.
- DiabloD3 7mo agoNot true. Apple made a non-technological and purely artificial and somewhat capricious decision to not sell a product that was worthy of the Apple brand. They continue down this road because next quarter is more important than next year, and sycophants continue to buy unusable products just to show off the Apple logo to people who don't view it as a Veblen good. Apple could choose to sell to everyone, but instead sell to a minority. This is a choice. During recessions, it is not a good choice, and we have been in an almost persistent global recession since 2008. As long as Apple can claim they have a $1T market cap, nobody wants to hear that the emperor is buck naked.
- siva7 7mo agoI still have the 2017 pro and i can't imagine a good enough reason to buy almost 10 years later a new gen. And i'm the guy who loves buying new stuff without need. It's a dumb consumer device with the hardware of a pro device but you can't use it as a pro device. So what's the point of upgrading? Watching Youtube with 10x more powerful hardware than 2017? Really?
- upmind 7mo agoI owned a few iPads as a kid but as I get older I see less and less reason to buy one. It kinda sits in the middle of usefulness of a phone and laptop for me. Larger screen than phone yes, but can't run any of the applications I need from a laptop. If it had MacOS, I'd be much more inclined to buy it.
- selectodude 7mo agoI'm kind of surprised that Apple hasn't full throttle on foldables. I'm more apt to spend $2500 on a foldable iPhone than I am $1500 on an iPhone and an iPad. I don't think I'm alone here.
- stackskipton 7mo agoRumor has it this year will be release of iPhone fold. They wanted to fix the creases. Which seems pretty standard Apple. Let others do something, see how it plays out then launch their version of it.
- ebbi 7mo agoI'm hyped for a iPhone Fold as a concept. But the leaks I've seen of the size, makes me less excited about it. The phone when folded looks a bit wider and squatter than my Pro Max. And when open, it's smaller than my 11" iPad. I see the promise of this concept with the tri-fold phones, where when expanded is closer in size to an 11" tablet.
- selectodude 7mo agoYeah, that Galaxy tri-fold is gonna be the sweet spot.
- CharlesW 7mo agoWhen they introduce their first foldable device this year, keep in mind that Apple has been ideating on and prototyping concept devices with foldable displays long before working prototypes of foldable screens existed. The first Apple patent related to devices with flexible displays was filed in 2011. The first Apple patent related to hinges for foldable devices was filed in 2015. Foldable device prototypes were publicly demonstrated in 2013. It took five years for the technologies required to enable foldable devices to become mature enough to ship bad products. It took another five years for them to mature enough to meet Apple's scale and quality requirements. This isn't a "moonshot" (which take decades to build), but hardware innovations like this regularly take a decade to properly productize.
- BashiBazouk 7mo agoI have a 6 with cracked glass and won't buy another one until 3rd party browsers can release without webkit. The net is an awful place without uBlock, which I am reminded about every time I try to surf with the ipad...
- silentOpen 7mo agoDNS-based blocking is the way (possibly via conditional VPN if you can tolerate the minimal latency bump).
- lucasverra 7mo agonextdns.io works fine on my iphone so ipad shall be fine
- brycewray 7mo agoYou might try wBlock: https://github.com/0xCUB3/wBlock https://github.com/0xCUB3/wBlock
- Jaxan 7mo agoDoesn’t AdGuard work?
- spectre3d 7mo agoYes, AdGuard works. That’s what I use, although I appreciate the other recommendations in the sibling comments above.
- potwinkle 7mo agoYou can get Wipr 2 for iOS and (for me) it's been as good as uBO.
- n8cpdx 7mo agoAfter having tried Firefox with UBO on Android, I can’t say I noticed any difference compared to Orion on iOS.
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- speedylight 7mo agoI have the M3 iPad Air… I won’t have to replace it for at least 4 years because it’s stupidly powerful but both of its hands are tied because of iPad OS. Apple needs to get serious and make a version of MacOS for the iPad otherwise these upgrades are meaningless for most users.
- pmdr 7mo agoI bought a regular iPad in 2017, I'm really impressed that almost 9 years later it's still working and the batter is still great (especially for reading).
- KolmogorovComp 7mo agoWas I the only stunned by the quality of the video ad? It’s really advert at its peak, to the point yet artistic.
- fgfvbh 7mo agofeflefkwekwflry e2
- MerrimanInd 7mo agoThe iPad and MacBook teams have been in market competition for nearly a decade now while clearly Apple corporate strategy has been trying to nerf each line to prevent them from actually competing. It's an artificial tension that gets more pronounced as the devices get more capable in other ways and the induced limitations are more glaringly obvious.
- stingraycharles 7mo agoThings are only to get more interesting with the MacBook with an A chip instead of an M chip, and the MacBook Pro with touchscreen later this year. I fear at some point we’re going to lose macOS.
- kristianp 7mo agoHopefully linux support improves by then to take the defectors if MacOS goes away.
- stingraycharles 7mo agomacOS is the main reason I’m using mac, though. the whole integration with the Apple ecosystem is the important thing, the hardware itself is overpriced
- tristor 7mo agoLet me know when I can buy an M5 Max Macbook Pro that can run local open weight LLMs. Until then, nothing else is particularly interesting, everything I already own gets the job done.
- tristor 7mo agoApparently today: https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2026/03/apple-introduces-macbook-pro-with-all-new-m5-pro-and-m5-max/ https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2026/03/apple-introduces-macb...
- godelski 7mo agoI still don't get what they're for. Most people I know end up in the same situation as me, buying one thinking you'll use it mostly as a writing device but then either it ends up in a closet or just a web browser you use while sitting on the couch watching TV. In that case what does any of the improvements matter? With first party native apps it's not great for writing, editing pdfs, nor drawing. I mean the notes app doesn't even have simple things like letting you zoom in. You'd think a common use case would be to use it as a drawing tablet for your computer? Maybe not a common use case but I think something a lot of people would end up using a few times a year (countless times I'd love to have a whiteboard on a zoom call but setting that up is annoying) There's great third party apps to do this but I think it just shows that either Apple is disconnected or just trying to get money from developers. It's also not great as a computer. I mean in another thread I've mentioned my laptop (macbook air) is a glorified ssh machine and frankly, an iPad should the perfect device for that because its size. But it seems they don't want me to use it like a computer and idk why iOS locks down third party terminals so much. It also sucks as a second monitor (why is everything monitor related so bad with Apple?). Keeps disconnecting, I need to restart Bluetooth/airdrop constantly to detect it, and the angle it sits at when sitting on my desk... really? I really want to know what you guys use it for because mine just really feels like expensive ewaste.
- skybrian 7mo agoThe iPad mini is great for reading books (what I bought it for) and if you don't have an iPhone, any other iOS apps you want to run. I also use Chrome a lot for general web browsing. Also. I inherited an older, full size iPad that I plan to leave on my piano for sheet music.
- godelski 7mo agoFor reading I've honestly found e-ink way better. Not just on the eyes (neither blinded at night nor makes me squint if I'm outside or by a window) but the UI. The iPad gets the job done but it just feels like Apple doesn't want people to be using it that way and god Fitbit if you do something the non-Apple way. For browsing the web, yeah I think my comment reflects that experience. But I won't go to places like HN because typing is just a shitshow on iOS. Don't get me started on swipe... and how is it 2026 and there isn't a universal gesture for back? Idk, anyone with a remarkable browse the web? How is it? I'd get one in a heartbeat but that price is outrageous
- jadenPete 7mo agoApple’s hardware teams are seriously running laps around their software teams. Which is odd, because historically, it’s been the opposite. Until iPad OS actually becomes capable for complex work and multitasking, I can’t see what the benefit of strapping such a powerful chip to an iPad is.
- NetMageSCW 7mo agoiPad OS is already capable of complex work and has been capable of multitasking since it was iPhone OS v1.
- bigyabai 7mo agoChromeOS is "capable of complex work" on $200 tablets. And it can compile C++, run Windows games and use full-fat web browsers. In a head-to-head comparison with real desktops like macOS or Windows, iPadOS can be generously described as a no-show.
- pixelmonkey 7mo agoIf you were utterly confused, like I was, how the iPad Air M4 compares to the iPad Pro M5 and the iPad Pro M4, this 3-column comparison table from Apple's website might help: https://www.apple.com/ipad/compare/?modelList=ipad-air-11-m4,ipad-pro-11-m5,ipad-pro-11-m4 https://www.apple.com/ipad/compare/?modelList=ipad-air-11-m4... The quick summary: - iPad Air has 2 stereo speakers, rather than 4 speakers as Pro models - Touch ID in top button rather than FaceID as Pro models - iPad Air is slightly heavier (???) than either Pro model - screen of iPad Air is a bit less bright - no nano-texture display option on iPad Air - no true Thunderbolt connectivity through USB-C port on iPad Air - all devices can use same Apple Pencil Pro... - ... but the iPad Air takes a special Magic Keyboard (supposedly due to form factor) - camera array is slightly different on iPad Air (no ProRes video)
- TheAngush 7mo agoYou left out IMO the biggest difference (and the only one I'd pay for): the Pro is the only iPad model with ProMotion (aka. 120Hz refresh rate).
- moriero 7mo agowhat's a computer?
- jraph 7mo agoThere's even a paragraph saying it's good for the environment. This means Apple really cares about the environment. That's good! So I suppose I can install my community OS of choice painlessly after Apple decides to stop supporting it so it doesn't turn into e-waste that day despite being perfectly good hardware for many more years? I also suppose parts can be easily replaced without also replacing everything including the motherboard should something stop working? Sarcasm, obviously, but until they do these things, their environment selling point is just irritating and scandalous and they should just focus on the other selling points.
- NetMageSCW 7mo agoApple will repair or recycle for you.
- hu3 7mo agoRecycling when it could run Linux after Apple stops supporting it? That would be much better for the environment.
- swe_dima 7mo agoMaybe my pockets are not deep enough, but I completely fail to understand the value proposition of iPad Air vs the regular iPad. If you want something powerful or big - go with Pro, if not - choose the "regular", much cheaper. What am I missing?
- gyomu 7mo agoBetter chip (A series vs M series), better screen (sRGB vs antireflective fully laminated P3), more options available (1TB, 13”), little qol things like a better WiFi chip. It’s just a nicer device for a bit more money ($349 to $599). Not everyone wants to jump all the way to $999 for the Pro.
- swe_dima 7mo agofair enough, thanks for elaborating
- NetMageSCW 7mo agoSo you drive a Chevy Spark or a Mercedes Benz S-class?
- journal 7mo agoipad is one of those devices that doesn't need to exist, along with apple watch.
- elAhmo 7mo agoI don't understand people complaining about Apple using ~nearly latest processor on a device refresh. What are they supposed to do, not put a year old CPU inside, use something from a decade ago? If you are on an iPad from 5 or so years ago there, or happy with your device, sure - there is no reason to upgrade. But the very same reason that you do not have to upgrade is that Apple put a fairly powerful chip in your device a while ago that is still holding today. It should be a common sense that these devices are for first time buyers or for users of very old devices that finally end up upgrading, and why would those people not be treated with a fairly recent internals?
- sh4jid 7mo agoI doubt the gripe has ever been about putting the latest tech in it. It’s more about putting the latest tech in it and then having very little to actually do with it.
- darkr 7mo ago> iPad Air is a fantastic value TIL American English treats “value” in the financial sense as a countable noun
- rcarmo 7mo agoI just hope they update the iPad mini. That's the only model worth the money for me, at least.
- yalogin 7mo agoiPad’s seem to be in some netherworld with no real purpose to them. They are not phones or laptops and so the main use case outside of consuming media at times is for conference room and reception kiosks?
- unstatusthequo 7mo agoYou lay not travel much where opening a 16” MacBook Pro even in economy plus is a lean back risk and typing misery situation. iPad much better for tray table things. I have the 11” just for this purpose
- batiudrami 7mo agoI didn’t understand iPads for years. As a half engineer half email monkey, doing work on them is still next to impossible, especially with nerfed versions of Office applications. But, they are excellent for media consumption, particularly reading and marking up PDFs. I am able to focus while reading in a way I cannot on a computer. Procreate is amazing (drawing brushes with a pressure sensitive pen and layer/mask support all in one). Great for playing Civ on a flight. And it does all those things in a comfortable form factor while being fundamentally a pleasant device to use. All that considered, the iPad Air is not that expensive, and it will probably last you a decade before it needs replacing.
- nashashmi 7mo agoI am still waiting for iPad to support docking stations and multiple 2-3 monitors. Until then, they are not serious about productivity and making ipad a forst class product. They should do the same for iPhone.
- CharlesLau 7mo agoI think the perfect combo is a powerful Mac Mini plus a portable iPad — let macOS handle the productivity work, and just use the iPad as a big-screen AI terminal.
- kristianp 7mo agoSo no new Macs today, but there may be 3 days of announcements in total. https://www.macrumors.com/2026/03/02/apples-next-launch-starts-tomorrow/ https://www.macrumors.com/2026/03/02/apples-next-launch-star...
- grahar64 7mo agoHOMM3 on an iPad mini was peak iPad
- lazycouchpotato 7mo agoDisappointing to see 128 GB base storage. I thought they were done with that after all the iPhone 17 models got the bump to 256 GB.
- ulfw 7mo agoI honestly don't know why anyone would want to get this over an Honor MagicPad 4 with OLED, more storage and a less restrictive OS environment
- aljgz 7mo agoMy iPad wins by a large margin the lowest bang for bucks of any competing device I ever purchased A locked down device with no multitasking, even the browser download is interrupted if I switch away. The true embodiment of paternalism, it protects you from all the scam in the world, except the noble ones who are willing to pay the 30% share.
- gyomu 7mo agoIt’s 15% if you’re not a (revenue) millionaire.
- bigyabai 7mo agoNot automatically, you have to apply and qualify for Apple's Small Business Program: https://developer.apple.com/app-store/small-business-program/ https://developer.apple.com/app-store/small-business-program... It's 30% until they approve you.
- mr_toad 7mo agoIt has some multitasking on the latest versions of iOS. You can drag a YouTube window up by the bottom right corner and open a Reddit window on another part or the screen if you truly need to be distracted from distraction by distraction.
- lostapathy 7mo agoYou're complaining about things that were changed years ago.
- techpulse_x 7mo ago[flagged]
- roysting 7mo agoThat’s nice. Now how about Apple put some engineering resources on squashing the seemingly proliferating fundamental glitches all across their OSs. I’ve recently started experiencing a new-to-me glitch where the Safari unibar just drops the input. Apparently, it’s been a thing that’s been around for several years though. How is it a thing to drop inputs in your browser and it’s not fixed at least 9 years later? On a related note; that’s what always concerns me the most about things like AI and robotics, the frontier is constantly pushed, in spite of the rather major, fundamental flaws and glitches … as people are pushing AI and robotics into taking over everything. What happens when the glitch is in the do not start Ai robot nuclear war routine?
- gverrilla 7mo agoYes buy an iPad and have it be laggy like a 90's computer within 2 years because of "updates".
- dkrich 7mo agoI’ve been astonished at how bad the battery is in my base iPad I bought last year. Granted I’m switching to it from an iPhone 17 pro max but still the thing goes from 100% to 80% overnight without being used and a 40 minute Zwift ride routinely drains 15-20%. Makes me much more reluctant to buy another as it has to be tethered to a charger.
- bitsoda 7mo agoDoes nobody care that iPadOS lost its old Split View workflow? I would never consider another iPad until it's brought back. Their multitasking story is a total mess at the moment. Hopefully Lemay can work it into iPadOS 27