[HN Gopher] iPad Pro with M5 chip
___________________________________________________________________
iPad Pro with M5 chip
Author : chasingbrains
Score : 188 points
Date : 2025-10-15 13:10 UTC (9 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (www.apple.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.apple.com)
| seviu wrote:
| I really want this but I can't justify such a machine just for
| watching YouTube.
|
| I cannot even give it to my kids since I don't have multiple
| accounts with it.
|
| Kind of sad that the most interesting device Apple has will never
| show its true potential due to their greed.
| ErneX wrote:
| For watching YouTube you just need the cheapest iPad not a Pro.
| mwexler wrote:
| Or an even cheaper android tablet.
| seviu wrote:
| A generalization I would say
|
| I really dig that Oled screen
| ErneX wrote:
| Those will trickle down eventually I suppose.
| qingcharles wrote:
| I bought an $80 8th Gen iPad off eBay and it runs 26 great
| and works perfectly for watching brain-rot and doing my
| Duolingos.
| dylan604 wrote:
| People keep saying their iPad is a YT consumption device, but
| without ad blocking, how do you stay sane? I'm assuming if
| you're consuming that much YT content you've moved to a premium
| account or something? I don't use my tablet primarily for YT
| content, so it's rather jolting when I click a link somewhere
| and see the hell that is unblocked YT
| ako wrote:
| Yes, YouTube premium, use it a lot to practice my guitar
| playing by playing along YouTube music videos with chords
| displayed.
| akdev1l wrote:
| > I'm assuming if you're consuming that much YT content
| you've moved to a premium account or something?
|
| Yes
| Krssst wrote:
| Even with YT Premium, sponsor announcements are still an
| annoyance. Firefox with SponsorBlock helps with that, not
| sure if that's usable on iPad.
| sylens wrote:
| I have a 2018 iPad Pro that is due for replacement but I cannot
| bring myself to spend the money on a new iPad. No matter how much
| I think I'll use it, it becomes a web browsing and YouTube
| machine on the couch. It's a shame because I think the hardware
| design is quite good, but the OS itself is so limiting, even with
| the "improvements" iPadOS 26 introduced.
| bombcar wrote:
| Every iPad I've bought was going to be "the one where I find a
| use case that uses it" but every time it ends up being a
| YouTube machine.
| nkotov wrote:
| Same but just entertainment device. I still don't understand
| where the iPad Pro makes sense.
| coldtea wrote:
| It's great for image retouching and illustration,
| especially on the go.
|
| It's also very handy for running VSTs (well, AUs really)
| and jamming with keyboards or guitars (with something like
| iRig)
| bluescrn wrote:
| iOS doesn't even make for a very good YouTube machine, you
| need uBlock Origin for that.
| rg3 wrote:
| Side comment: when I watch YouTube content on my iPad, I
| normally use the Brave browser instead of the app. It has a
| built-in ad blocker that works well on YouTube.
| neckro23 wrote:
| Psst, you can get uBlock Origin (lite) for Safari now.
| Works pretty well.
| cyberpunk wrote:
| Got a vpn subscription? Try exiting in albania, no ads.
| rafram wrote:
| You could also subscribe to YouTube Premium. It pays
| creators better than ads do (versus an ad blocker, which
| pays them nothing), and it includes YouTube Music, so you
| can ditch Spotify.
| apples_oranges wrote:
| Garageband and Books for me.. iPad 1 or 2 would suffice..
| recursive wrote:
| I bought one just to run Loopy Pro. It has never run anything
| but the app store, the system settings, and Loopy Pro.
|
| But I had the use case before I bought it. If not for that, I
| wouldn't own one.
| threetonesun wrote:
| Loopy Pro is as compelling an argument for buying one on
| the audio side as Procreate is on the graphics side.
| SSLy wrote:
| Try Drambo, haha
| recursive wrote:
| Looks super interesting. I may give it a shot sometime.
| But I'm mostly interested in recording loops generated
| and sound-designed outside the box.
| SSLy wrote:
| Yeah, it's a different kind of... instrument.
| polynomial wrote:
| I literally use mine for the Books app and to play chess.
| gh0stcat wrote:
| You could consider getting into drawing/design. They compete
| incredibly well against the display-based tablets made by
| wacom, especially these days where you can also do 3d and
| animation in procreate.
| sylens wrote:
| If I was starting this as a hobby, my first step would not be
| to spend several hundred dollars on a tablet and pen. I'd
| probably grab some sketchbooks and pencils first for <$50 and
| see if it sticks for more than a month.
| gh0stcat wrote:
| I mean yes, but if you have an incredibly impressive
| machine compared to SOTA 10 years ago just lying around,
| I'd have fun with that too. :) Plus you can use it for more
| "practical" stuff like logo design or editing or even just
| note taking... I wanted to provide some examples of not
| just youtube machine.
| drcongo wrote:
| But then they wouldn't have anything to moan about on HN.
| criddell wrote:
| If you aren't into drawing, what about music? You can
| download GarageBand for free and it's pretty great once you
| figure it out.
|
| Or if you aren't a music person, are you into making
| movies? Final Cut Pro does have a subscription, but it's
| only $5 / month and the subscription is easy to start and
| stop. If your needs are simple, the free iMovie is pretty
| good.
|
| Or maybe video isn't your thing. Are you a writer or poet?
| There are a lot of great choices for writing apps and the
| battery life of the iPad means you can work away from your
| desk all day.
|
| Or if you like writing software, Swift Playground is fun. I
| found this to be a great resource:
|
| https://github.com/uraimo/Awesome-Swift-Playgrounds
|
| If you are into photography, Affinity Photo is fun. It
| doesn't have the AI features that Photoshop has, but for
| amateurs, it can get you pretty far. Plug in an external
| drive to your iPad and you can use it with a huge photo
| library.
| ncphillips wrote:
| All of this is cool...but you can do them all on a laptop
| and you'll probably have a better time.
|
| And those cheap/free things are only available after
| dropping $1000 on a new iPad
| criddell wrote:
| The person I replied to already has the iPad.
|
| As for having a better time on the laptop, YMMV. My iPad
| is my most used computer by a mile.
| skylurk wrote:
| Drawing with undo, layers, gradients, transparency, and
| infinite brushes is very different from sketching on paper.
| I don't think a sketchbook is anything like it.
|
| Just borrow someone else's underused ipad if you want to
| give it a try.
| kimbernator wrote:
| Gear Acquisition Syndrome. It's interesting how many people
| try to pick up new hobbies to justify large purchases when
| it rarely works out that way
| kgwgk wrote:
| "I really want that large truck that I don't need. Maybe
| I should start a landscaping business!"
| thewebguyd wrote:
| It'd be better if we could just all be honest with
| ourselves.
|
| If you have the disposal income, no need to justify it
| outside of "it's a cool gadget and I want to play with
| it."
| runjake wrote:
| I did this. I bought a Pencil Pro. I bought Procreate.
| Doodled for a couple weeks.
|
| Now it's just a YouTube device.
|
| Just buy a sketch book and some colored pens and pencils.
| Teever wrote:
| Can you use your iPad as a Wacom quality comparable table for
| input on your macbook?
| stormed wrote:
| I use my iPad solely for just artwork at this point. I don't
| respect the App Store and needing to pay subscriptions for
| things you can get for free on a computer. That, and having to
| rely on web apps
| drcongo wrote:
| I've produced two albums and done quite a few remixes on mine.
| Trying hard not to sound like a dick here, but if you pick up
| an iPad and all you can think to do with it is watch YouTube it
| seems weird to blame the iPad for that.
| whycome wrote:
| Can you share your stack? What hardware are you using if
| you're doing vocal/instrument inputs?
| drcongo wrote:
| I don't do vocals, so hardware is a TD-3, a Roland T-8,
| TB-03, Arturia MiniFuse 4 as the audio interface, Arturia
| MiniLab keyboard / controller and various Intech
| controllers (highly recommended). I believe the MiniFuse
| would do your vocal inputs pretty well.
|
| Even with all that though, I do 99% of it directly in Logic
| on the iPad, sometimes 100%.
| runjake wrote:
| Point noted. For me, I find too much friction and distraction
| using the iPad for creative. Sure, I'll do something in a
| pinch, but there's just something about it where I can't
| focus on non-consumption activities.
|
| I'm not sure what it is about the iPad -- maybe the physical
| ergonomics? It's kinda hard to position comfortably for
| focus.
| drcongo wrote:
| I specifically use my iPad for the music because it's _not_
| the MBP I spend all day on for work. I 'm sure there's
| music stuff that would be much easier to achieve on the
| laptop than the iPad, but the second I open my laptop I'm
| basically on-call and the distractions too great - the
| separation helps.
|
| Do agree with the ergonomics point though - it can be hard
| to spend a lot of time actually working on it.
| whalesalad wrote:
| Agreed. I am forcing myself to start using my iPad Air more and
| more but it generally just collects dust. The 10Hz refresh rate
| has made me want to look at getting a proper one with a fast
| display - but then I remind myself that it will also probably
| collect dust most of the time.
| dialup_sounds wrote:
| This may be a controversial statement, but: you don't have to
| replace things that you're not using.
| sylens wrote:
| That's the decision I've made here, I was merely using the
| framing as a way to talk about how my view on the iPad has
| changed in the intervening years
| calciphus wrote:
| But won't someone think of the shareholder value?
| 0x457 wrote:
| I can understand the reasoning behind - maybe new revision is
| more usable and make them use it more.
|
| I use my 2018 iPad Pro every day, though. Ironically, that's
| the reason why I'm not replacing it - it works just fine.
| w-m wrote:
| The A10X processor in my 2017 iPad Pro has always felt
| ridiculously overpowered for a couch machine. Recently it had
| gotten sluggish, hot, hung for times and lost battery quite
| quickly and I thought its time had finally come.. but no, after
| resetting the OS, it's as fast as ever. So hopefully it'll last
| me til Apple finally gives the iPad Air a 120Hz display.
| raw_anon_1111 wrote:
| What else does the OS need to do? There are real windows and
| real background processing.
| wlesieutre wrote:
| It's a useful device if you're an artist, if you're a
| developer the best thing you can do with it is buy the
| cellular model and use it as a very thin VNC client
| raw_anon_1111 wrote:
| Yes and developers are a very small slice of the computer
| using consumers.
| fkyoureadthedoc wrote:
| There's a whole spectrum of use cases between artist and
| software developer. Honestly most people that I see at work
| just use Office software, web browser, and Teams.
| wlesieutre wrote:
| Office is a great use for a $350 regular iPad. Honestly
| the same one I'd recommend to developers, or worst case
| an $800 iPad Air for the 13" screen size.
|
| The $1000+ iPad Pro isn't helpful for any of that.
| fkyoureadthedoc wrote:
| That's true, and I would have gone for a 13" iPad Air
| when they were introduced, but ultimately went for the
| iPad Pro because I liked the OLED and 120Hz.
| 0x457 wrote:
| > buy the cellular model
|
| You probably have your iPhone with you every time you got
| an iPad with you, so just use that.
| akdev1l wrote:
| Except the iPad battery will last longer and will not
| kill your phone while you do stuff
|
| >inb4 buy a battery bank
| 0x457 wrote:
| Hmm, I will be honest, I was either always close to a
| power outlet or it lasted long enough for me. You only
| need to tether if there is no Wi-Fi.
|
| I have a 20000mAh with me when I intend to work remotely
| though. Either way cheaper than paying for another plan
| for iPad and buying a more expensive iPad.
| raw_anon_1111 wrote:
| With T-Mobile, I have unlimited data on my iPhone and
| iPad. But limited tethering data. My iPad data plan is
| $20-$25 a month.
| gedy wrote:
| Normal-ish files and filesystem access, and dev types could
| use access to the terminal (on the system)
| raw_anon_1111 wrote:
| What's not "normal" about the files and why do most people
| need access to the file system and not a method to share
| files across apps that's already available?
| JodieBenitez wrote:
| > a method to share files across apps that's already
| available
|
| like a filesystem ?
| reaperducer wrote:
| _like a filesystem ?_
|
| https://apps.apple.com/us/app/files/id1232058109
| raw_anon_1111 wrote:
| You didn't answer the question, what feature can't you do
| with the Files App and the ability to save and load files
| across applications?
| monkmartinez wrote:
| How do you know you have the right application to open
| the file? I have tried at least a dozen apps to open
| *.stl files... some work, most don't. Some have features
| I need and don't work opening files. Some are sensitive
| to stl's that require repair and stop working... and I
| could go on and on for different file types. The point
| is; sharing isn't "guaranteed" to work across apps and is
| generally far, far from "it just works". You have almost
| zero control over the actual files because there might
| not be a way to save different formats from the app you
| are using, or the files app doesn't recognize the
| extension, or you can't find the folder for the other
| app, or it doesn't have a user accessible folder, or it
| will not load files from the "files app"... or <insert
| 50000 more "what if's here>. The whole things just sucks
| so, so bad.
| raw_anon_1111 wrote:
| And how do you know a Word file will work seamlessly
| across other word processors on a computer that are
| suppose to read Word files or export to Word? What modern
| productivity software doesn't support using the Files
| app? It has been around for well over a decade.
| mbgerring wrote:
| - Rename, organize, and delete files that span across a
| number of different applications
|
| - Convert one file type to another
|
| - Choose which application to use to open a file
|
| - Inspect the details of files in a consistent manner
| raw_anon_1111 wrote:
| On your computer, do you inspect the details of a file
| using Explorer? On the Mac do you do that with the
| Finder. Or do you actually open the file with an
| application?
|
| Do you expect to use Windows explorer or the Finder to
| "convert file types"?
|
| Using iOS 26 on my phone, I held down a file and there is
| an "Open With" option that gave me a choice of how to
| open the file.
|
| Across applications? Applications these days save files
| using the File dialog, they may by default store them in
| a folder accesible by Files. Yes I know some apps still
| store their data in their own sandbox. But that's not the
| case generally for standard productivity apps.
| mbgerring wrote:
| If I need to know the details of a file (eg file
| extension, size, location, etc) I generally use the
| Finder for that, yes.
|
| I do frequently convert file types through the Finder.
| Bulk converting a bunch of photos, for example, is easier
| to do through a file browser. Even if I were opening a
| different app to do that, a standard file browser would
| be the interface I would want for that.
|
| It's great if more iOS applications are storing files as
| regular files on the filesystem now. Apple should have
| encouraged that in the first place. There was some goofy
| notion they were going to get rid of the idea of "files"
| with iOS, but that's not actually a good idea.
| raw_anon_1111 wrote:
| > If I need to know the details of a file (eg file
| extension, size, location, etc) I generally use the
| Finder for that, yes.
|
| As you would with the Files app...
|
| > Even if I were opening a different app to do that, a
| standard file browser would be the interface I would want
| for that
|
| Which iPad apps that allow you to work with files don't
| use the standard files app interface when you open and
| save a file? How else would they work?
|
| > It's great if more iOS applications are storing files
| as regular files on the filesystem now. Apple should have
| encouraged that in the first place.
|
| The Files app and the APIs were introduced in 2017.
| monkmartinez wrote:
| Do you use "files"? Its garbargio on steroids. You can't
| just open a <insert about 100 file extensions here> file
| from the files app. Moving files around is cumbersome at
| best and downright infuriating most of the time. The
| "sandbox" nature of iOS is simply not intuitive enough to
| know how things will react when you move and try to open
| a file in another app. It just sucks so bad.
|
| Furthermore, "sharing" is broken. Does it copy the file?
| Does it move the file? Am I duplicating this 200mb pdf
| when I move it to books? How the ____ do I know? There is
| a dearth of information and I imagine most people, like
| myself, give up and use it to read before bed or watch a
| few videos on the couch. I am never going to by another
| iPad until the OS is useful beyond drawing, creating
| music or reading.
| raw_anon_1111 wrote:
| You can't open random file extensions on a computer
| either unless you have an application that understand the
| format.
|
| Moving files around works just like on Windows and Macs -
| cut and paste.
|
| And it has the same semantics as Windows and Macs - if I
| drag a file from one place to another on the same drive -
| it moves it. If I drag it to another storage location -
| ie another hard drive on a computer or another storage
| provider in Files - iCloud, Google Drive, etc it copies
| it.
|
| It never ceases to amaze me that when computer "experts"
| criticize people for not wanting to learn how things work
| - do the same.
| majormunky wrote:
| It would be great if they allowed JIT compilation in apps.
| This would allow things like Dolphin (Wii, Gamecube emulator)
| to run.
| fuzzy2 wrote:
| What's wrong with the iPad being a pure consumption device?
| It's really great at this. Granted, you don't need an iPad Pro
| for consumption, but you could always go for an iPad or iPad
| Air, no?
|
| I have a 2017 iPad Pro and once the battery finally dies will
| replace it with a non-Pro iPad.
| crims0n wrote:
| I agree with this sentiment, but if you _are_ using it
| primarily as a consumption device, the OLED screen is
| probably worth sticking with the Pro line.
| whimsicalism wrote:
| the walled-garden completely destroys the ipads potential as a
| productivity device.
| walkabout wrote:
| _How_? I 've never understood this. There's tons of good
| software for creating things in the App Store.
| reaperducer wrote:
| _There 's tons of good software for creating things in the
| App Store._
|
| But none yet that will automate the essential task of
| posting the phrase "walled garden" on social media.
|
| There could also be an in-app purchase which uses AI to
| grind ancient axes about butterfly keyboards and Snow
| Leopard.
| whimsicalism wrote:
| or a terminal or a decent ide or an ability to script
| anything. lots of companies rely on custom bespoke
| software made by an employee who got fed up by something,
| basically no possibility of doing that on an ipad, etc
| etc.
|
| but sure, just call me an NPC, you're so unique and good
| at noticing patterns and not rude
| reaperducer wrote:
| _or a terminal_
|
| Here ya go: https://panic.com/prompt/
|
| There have been terminal programs for the iPad since at
| least 2017, when I started using the one above.
|
| As for "custom bespoke software," why would you try to
| run that on an iPad in the first place? My company has
| plenty custom in-house programs, but I don't complain
| that they won't run on a toaster, or a Commodore 64, or a
| Cray. That's like saying you won't buy a speedboat
| because it can't carry all the iron ore that your
| company's dump truck can haul. It just makes no sense.
| 1-more wrote:
| Prompt lets you log into some other computer and run
| programs there, not run programs on your iPad. Hell, I
| used it to fix a production bug from my phone in like
| 2013.
| walkabout wrote:
| > Hell, I used it to fix a production bug from my phone
| in like 2013
|
| LOL, there are tens of us, I'm sure!
|
| Fixed a production bug on my phone from the passenger
| seat of a friend's car, somewhere around 2013 or 2014.
| hylaride wrote:
| I did the same, but with iSSH (which I still mourn).
| ApolloFortyNine wrote:
| It's wild to me the levels someone will go to defend a
| corporation's right to lock away the ability to install
| anything the user wants.
|
| In a perfect (from their pov) world Apple would prefer
| the internet didn't even exist, that way they could put
| up a walled garden AppleNet and take 30% of everything
| there too.
|
| I chose your comment to respond to but there's a handful
| of you going to war in the comments, it's just wild to
| me.
| nickpp wrote:
| You can't know what is missing because it hasn't even been
| invented - because of those limitations.
|
| Devices usually have killer apps that determine their
| success. The iPad is conspicuously lacking one.
| sylens wrote:
| I want to be able to write code in an editor or IDE and
| push that to source control from the device.
| 0x457 wrote:
| You can do that. As long as you're okay with VSCode or a
| very specific build Vim:
| https://docs.blink.sh/advanced/code
|
| Please don't move the goal post to "I also want to
| compile and run code" because I got nothing for that. I
| just ssh to my home server and use my normal shell and
| neovim there.
| skinnymuch wrote:
| A lot of extensions don't work well with that. Like the
| UI is all messed up.
| whimsicalism wrote:
| i don't find the code-server experience particularly
| good. this "functionality" in blink is basically just
| safari
|
| also no local git
| 0x457 wrote:
| What do you mean, no local git? There is local git...it's
| just another app. I know it sucks. Also pretty sure code-
| server has working git functionality?
|
| I don't find that experience good either, but I mostly
| write rust, so not having rust tool chain and its
| component is a dealbreaker for me.
|
| I'm just saying you can write code and commit from iPad
| directly. I'd rather get the ability to use jetbrains
| IDEs via their remote client, but I don't think it will
| ever happen.
| 1-more wrote:
| My relaxing on the couch creative activity is writing code
| in compiled languages, running a server, and seeing it go
| in the browser. This is impossible on an iPad.
|
| There are many other creative workflows possible on an
| iPad, but I'm not really interested in getting good at
| those when I have the one that I'm already working on, you
| know?
|
| And I own exclusively Apple hardware; I'm not some
| contrarian anti Apple fanboy, I promise.
| bluescrn wrote:
| Far less open-source software for it, no compilers,
| emulators banned until recently.
|
| And as for paid software, almost everything a bloodys
| subscription even for things like note-taking apps, that or
| loaded with ads and microtransactions.
|
| And anything touch-centric encourages dumbed-down limited-
| functionality software to begin with. More advanced
| software requires more precise input devices.
| bottlepalm wrote:
| iPad has the power to play a majority of Steam games,
| Windows apps, linux distributions, etc.. but due to it
| being so locked down, it's essentially a youtube machine.
| iPad is a joke.
| fkyoureadthedoc wrote:
| > it becomes a web browsing and YouTube machine on the couch
|
| My 4090 and m4 iPad Pro share this fate, with some occasional
| gaming.
| diamondfist25 wrote:
| I rented pcs from shadow game, cuz i know if i build a pc w
| gpu it'd face the same fate
| walkabout wrote:
| I'm still on an older 12.9" Pro but will definitely upgrade at
| some point--and may not bother with another (personal--work-
| supplied is another matter) MacBook when my M1 starts to get
| long in the tooth in a couple years, now that Preview is
| available on iPads.
|
| It beats the hell out of either laptops or phones, for me, for
| these tasks:
|
| - Music. Excellent as a sheet music display; can record and
| edit midi quite well; play tutorial videos; act as a tuner,
| tone generator, or metronome (my phone beats it on that front
| due to portability, but still, if I already have the iPad out
| on the stand...); plenty good enough at audio recording and
| editing for my extremely-amateur purposes, plus its ability to
| play loops and beats and such.
|
| - Reading. It's especially amazing for comic books (in
| landscape mode a 12.9 incher is _almost_ the same size as an
| open comic book! You can read two-page side-by-side on it, no
| problem) and PDFs. I prefer iPad mini sized devices for prose
| books in ordinary ebook formats, but the 12.9 " pro is damn
| near perfect for those two things. Laptops and desktop
| computers also work for comic books and PDFs, but are a pretty
| big downgrade, UX-wise.
|
| - Drawing. Obviously.
|
| - Long-form writing. Laptops work great for this too, of
| course, but you still need a separate keyboard if you want
| decent ergonomics. iPad doesn't have an attached keyboard
| taking up space that I could instead use for a separate
| keyboard.
|
| It's also just as good as a laptop (to me) as a remote SSH
| terminal, VNC terminal, video/music player, web browser et c. I
| can't really think of much I do on my (personal! Not work-
| supplied) laptop that I can't do just as well on an iPad, maybe
| supplemented by a headless RPi hanging off my router, or a
| cheap VM rental (or just the Linux server in an old desktop
| workstation tower that I already have anyway).
| Washuu wrote:
| I have an iPad Mini. I got it mainly for studying and
| reading. However, it also has become great for being an
| instrumentalist. I can toss it in my bag, setup it up with
| the folding case for sheet music, tuning, and everything
| else. It saves me from having to carry my sheet music books,
| tuner, and other bits around.
| GeorgeTirebiter wrote:
| I have an M1 12.9" iPP -- I find it's almost useless for
| reading because it weighs so much. I ended up buying a $ 90
| Android 11" tablet which has a 'good enough' screen for
| reading. (Obv also does email, photos, AI, etc).
|
| If I could _develop_ on the iPP, FOR the iPP --- build
| professional-quality apps on the iPP --- I would be happier.
| The Logitech detachable kbd is remarkably good, I have no
| complaints typing on it all day. iOS is a straightjacket.
| f311a wrote:
| > - Long-form writing. Laptops work great for this too, of
| course, but you still need a separate keyboard if you want
| decent ergonomics. iPad doesn't have an attached keyboard
| taking up space that I could instead use for a separate
| keyboard.
|
| The screen is still small. Also, for technical writing, I
| think a lot of software is missing. There are a lot of small
| tools that technical writers use to do diagrams,
| illustrations. Also, long-form writing can be in different
| file formats. I think support for LaTeX and typst is very
| limited.
| SkyPuncher wrote:
| I follow largely the same path. I basically find that mine ends
| up used for only two things:
|
| 1. Reading technical papers where I use the pen to make notes
|
| 2. Sketching household projects (a few of the apps are very
| nice for this).
|
| Outside of that, I simply want a real, physical keyboard most
| of the time.
| ncphillips wrote:
| I love my Kindle, but I have never been able to use my iPad
| for reading.
|
| I got HumbleBundle with a bunch of Pathfinder 2e PDFs cheap
| but I'm still tempted to buy the physical copies.
| ako wrote:
| I really like using my iPad with the Nuphy air 75 Bluetooth
| mechanical low profile keyboard, physical keyboard is a
| solved problem.
| WillAdams wrote:
| This is why I replaced my Samsung Galaxy Book 12 w/ a Galaxy
| Book 3 Pro 360.
|
| I'd give my interest in Hell for there to be a tablet Mac w/ a
| Wacom stylus --- as it is, I'm seriously considering a Mac Mini
| and Wacom Movink 14 and a 3D printed shell.... (but first, I'm
| going to try out an rPi 5 w/ Wacom One 13 Gen 2 w/ touch).
| lolive wrote:
| As a synth, the iPad is a GODSENT !
| forgotoldacc wrote:
| I use it professionally as an art machine. It's excellent for
| concept art and drawing in general.
| minimaxir wrote:
| I have a M1 iPad Pro and I'm open to doing a trade-in for a new
| M5 iPad Pro: however the problem is the accessories. I rely on
| the Magic Keyboard and Apple Pencil and they would have to be
| repurchased since they are not compatable, which upps the total
| price too much.
| coldtea wrote:
| Sounds like you don't have a tablet specific use case though,
| you just want to use it as a glorified laptop, so why not just
| use a laptop?
|
| A tablet specific use case would be as portable writing machine
| on the go, for illustration, for audio units, or something like
| that, all the way to flight maps for recreational flying.
| ljlolel wrote:
| It's the standard for musical notes
| bschne wrote:
| This. I've started thinking of it like this -- the iPad, in my
| case, has an absolutely abysmal cost to usage ratio. On the far
| other end of the spectrum (and in a similar form factor if you
| squint) is probably my Kindle.
|
| That being said, _some_ people I know consistently seem to get
| lots of work use out of their tablets, and I can't quite put my
| finger on where we differ.
| stillworks wrote:
| Note taking and Reading are my primary use cases.
|
| Goes without saying YMMV but it works for me.
|
| I had to hand down my iPad Pro 3rd Gen (the one with A12x
| Bionic chip) to my daughter for her school use.
|
| I got myself a 13" iPad Air (M2 chip) this time and Apple
| Pencil Pro (from Apple Refurbished store). The larger screen
| size isn't that much of a botheration as I thought it might
| be. On the flip side, the screen size is a lot closer to an
| A4 sheet and writing on it feels much better. I use Paperlike
| screen cover and pencil tips too.
|
| I don't have Netflix or YouTube installed on it.
|
| I only use it for Apple Books, Kindle, Notes and now Preview
| app is there as well.
|
| I might this time even use it as Sidekick and remote access
| IDEs running on my MBP but not sure if I want to do that yet
| on the iPad.
| zb3 wrote:
| Definition of the most useless machine - doesn't fit in your
| pocket, has good specs but refuses to run anything not signed by
| Apple.. worst of both worlds.
| robinhood wrote:
| For you. Not for many other users who definitely do not agree
| with this statement.
|
| To me this will be the kind of computers I'll tell my parents
| to use as soon as their crappy laptops die. They do not need
| literally anything else: sending emails, write a few ones,
| check Youtube and browse the web. For this use case, it's the
| most useful machine. Never breaks, infinite battery, no support
| needed.
|
| And I hate Apple. So this says a lot.
| maleldil wrote:
| You don't need an iPad Pro with M5 for that, though.
| robinhood wrote:
| Of course not. I was just answering the comment about the
| form factor and the device's philosophy as a whole.
| ErneX wrote:
| The iPads have become very capable for 3D and illustration, I
| think they are good also for music.
|
| I don't have a use for the Pro model but I use my Air a lot.
| zb3 wrote:
| My laptop folds and has a touchscreen too.. there are ones
| which support advanced pens - none of this requires the OS to
| be as locked as iOS.
| raw_anon_1111 wrote:
| I have never used a touch screen laptop that wasn't
| compromised - heavy, wrong screen ratio and if it's an x86
| laptop it runs hot with poor battery life
| walkabout wrote:
| Yeah the nice thing about (non-cellular) iPads vs. the
| competition (including Android tablets last time I tried
| them, but maybe they've gotten a ton better since then)
| is that you can leave them in a drawer for a couple
| weeks, take them out, they'll wake up ~instantly, and
| still have a useful amount of charge. x86 laptops and
| (again, last I tried) Android tablets always gave me
| "where's the nearest outlet?!" anxiety, or were just dead
| when I picked them up to use them. iPads are _chill_.
| criddell wrote:
| You've chosen your computer and OS and are looking for
| compatible apps. I've gone the other way. I want to run
| Procreate and the best environment for running it is the
| iPad with Apple Pencil.
|
| Both are reasonable ways to make a decision.
| hbn wrote:
| No desktop OS works as well with a touchscreen as iPad OS.
|
| It's a touch-first OS, for better and for worse. Anything
| else it was tacked onto a UI/UX made for a keyboard and
| mouse
| pjmlp wrote:
| Great hardware spoiled by a toy OS.
| micromacrofoot wrote:
| they very clearly don't want to cannibalize their macbook
| sales, lots of people still buying both
| raw_anon_1111 wrote:
| What doesn't the OS do as of OS 26 that most ordinary people
| care about?
| dmitshur wrote:
| A random recent example off the top of my head: view photos
| in AVIF format. It does work in Photos app, but not in
| Preview app nor in Messages app somehow. At least this the
| case on iOS 26 and so I suspect iPadOS 26 too. It works on
| macOS 26.
|
| Edit: I realize that ordinary people might not yet care about
| exporting to AVIF, but they may receive such photos from
| other people.
| fkyoureadthedoc wrote:
| No much imo. I feel more constrained by screen size than I do
| OS limitations
| poisonborz wrote:
| "Ordinary people" wouldn't care about anything above even an
| M1 CPU. The post is about the iPad Pro. The target audience
| would care about having the software features that macOS has.
| raw_anon_1111 wrote:
| Im talking about the operating system.
| eptcyka wrote:
| The ability to run Xcode? Maybe run Linux in a VM (no,
| emulation does not count). Maybe run nvim with
| python/node/rust/go/gcc toolchains on the iPad? How about
| Wireshark? I really liked using Nixdroid on my Pixel, why
| can't I have something similar on iOS/iPadOS?
|
| Android can run Android Studio. Why can't an iPad run
| Xcode?
| raw_anon_1111 wrote:
| Yeah those are things most people want on an iPad with
| 6GB RAM...
| eptcyka wrote:
| The pros come with 12 and 16 GB of memory. That is
| plenty.
| raw_anon_1111 wrote:
| I would not want to run XCode let alone Android Studio
| with an Android emulator with 12GB RAM or a VM. Even the
| lowest end MacBook Air comes with 16GB RAM.
| eptcyka wrote:
| It depends entirely on your target - you don't need an
| emulator if you are already running an android device.
|
| Xcode on my macbook doesn't need 12GB. It is of course a
| different story if you need to also run clang-analyzer or
| rust-analyzer in addition to xcode/studio, but still,
| 16GB would be enough to get by for a sizeable chunk of
| devs.
| raw_anon_1111 wrote:
| (I replied to the wrong comment originally)
|
| I haven't done mobile development for ages, but isn't it
| always slower to have to update the app on the phone all
| of the time?
| pjmlp wrote:
| My first computer had 48 KB, 6 GB are a lot when not
| juggling Electron processes.
| raw_anon_1111 wrote:
| Really? Are we going to compare development in what 1980
| to today? I got my start programming on an Apple //e in
| 1986 in assembly and it had 128KB of RAM.
|
| 6GB is not _plenty_ when you are expected to run an IDE
| _and_ in the case of Android an emulator that is also
| emulating a phone with 4GB+ RAM.
|
| iOS development has never used an "emulator", when you
| ran in the simulator even on x86 computers, it compiled
| your code to x86 and ran against an x86 version of the
| iOS framework.
| pjmlp wrote:
| Really, because iPadOS fails short of being a proper
| Dynabook.
|
| Who needs an emulator when running on device?!?
| raw_anon_1111 wrote:
| Now you are going to list exactly how. Just a reminder
| before you start playing the old guy card - I'm 51 and
| started coding in 1986.
|
| You would need an emulator if you wanted to run Android
| Studio or use the much flowery process of updating the
| phone every time you made a change.
| pjmlp wrote:
| Than I wonder why you think using Android Studio on an
| iPad is the only reason to have a proper OS experience
| with the same capabilities as macOS.
|
| As for Dynabook like experience, given our age, you can
| certainly find the difference on your own.
| raw_anon_1111 wrote:
| This is where this part of the thread started
|
| https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45594747
|
| > _The ability to run Xcode? Maybe run Linux in a VM (no,
| emulation does not count). Maybe run nvim with python
| /node/rust/go/gcc toolchains on the iPad? How about
| Wireshark? I really liked using Nixdroid on my Pixel, why
| can't I have something similar on iOS/iPadOS? Android can
| run Android Studio. Why can't an iPad run Xcode?_
|
| How much of that could you do on your Dynabook? How was
| web browsing? The office suites? Video and audio editing?
| The office suites? Even the games?
| pjmlp wrote:
| Maybe one day iPadOS users will get what using a full
| blown OS on a tablet actually means.
|
| https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/surface/devices/surface-
| pro
|
| Think different.
| raw_anon_1111 wrote:
| The very first review I found
|
| https://www.pcworld.com/article/2795490/microsoft-
| surface-pr...
|
| _This compact tablet runs on a Snapdragon X Plus chip
| and is built for casual browsing and office work. It's
| not high-end_
|
| _The screen has a semi-high brightness IPS panel,
| 2196x1464 pixel resolution, and a 60 or 90 Hz frame rate.
| You'll have to set it up manually; dynamic frequency is
| not supported. It's not full pro quality on the screen,_
|
| _With a 12-inch screen and 3:2 aspect ratio_
|
| The processor doesn't even stack up well against the
| cheap base model iPad.
| pjmlp wrote:
| That is not thinking different.
| raw_anon_1111 wrote:
| So it's slower, a worse display, a worse aspect ratio for
| a tablet, and Microsoft's x86 emulator is notoriously
| slow and there are many fewer ARM native apps?
| icedchai wrote:
| Modern software is absurdly bloated, no matter how you
| look at it. I started programming on an Apple II, but the
| first computer I ran anything approaching an "IDE" on was
| an Amiga 500 with 3 megs of RAM. (Lattice C!)
|
| The only reason you can't run a full blown OS on an iPad
| is Apple doesn't want you to. It would eat into low-end
| Mac sales.
| raw_anon_1111 wrote:
| Did you run an IDE _and_ a separate emulator /simulator
| for a completely different computer? The video memory of
| a modern computer is much more than 3MB of RAM.
|
| Why wouldn't Apple rather you spend more on an iPad Pro +
| keyboard than a MacBook Air?
| raw_anon_1111 wrote:
| I haven't done mobile development for ages, but isn't it
| always slower to have to update the app on the phone all
| of the time?
| pjmlp wrote:
| Why should mobile development the only reason for a rich
| OS experience?
| raw_anon_1111 wrote:
| I replied to the wrong comment - my bad
| ako wrote:
| Not true, it's a pretty good machine to edit videos on,
| extra cpu/gpu power is welcome there. I connect it to an
| external monitor, keyboard and mouse and use Final Cut Pro
| to edit videos. On holidays I can connect my action cam to
| the iPad, download the videos and edit them, without having
| to bring a laptop.
| pretext-1 wrote:
| A lot of small things. For example importing Live Photos. On
| macOS when you drag and drop an image and video file with the
| same name into the Photos app, the Photos app combines both
| into a single Live Photo. On iOS/iPadOS this does not work.
|
| There is bigger things too. A proper web browser for example.
| Google Docs is barely usable in Safari on iPad with larger
| documents. The permanent banner at the top asking you to
| install the app is so annoying. The Google Docs app is
| somehow even worse. And it's not just Google apps. Many iPad
| apps are just upscaled iPhone apps with lots of features
| missing compared to the web version. And don't even think
| about support for multiple tabs or windows in apps.
|
| For YouTube and Netflix my iPad Pro is great but anything
| beyond hurts. And this is the ,,Pro" model. You can say maybe
| I'm too advanced for the ,,Pro" but most users have
| _something_ besides of YouTube and Netflix they want to do
| and will feel these limitations sooner or later. It's it not
| a laptop replacement and Apple wouldn't want it to be.
| raw_anon_1111 wrote:
| Why would you use the web app for GSuite instead of just
| using the apps?
|
| I use GSuite on my iPad all of the time.
| tempoponet wrote:
| Everyone has their own hill to die on, that's the thing about
| personal computing. It's the same if you ask why they can't
| switch mobile OS. It's some seemingly trivial app or feature
| that almost nobody cares about.
| omnibrain wrote:
| They will probably keep the other iPads at 60Hz displays in
| future. I don't need the other Pro features.
| alberth wrote:
| I'm be curious to know the breakdown of Pro vs Air vs Base iPad
| sales.
|
| Because I have to imagine very few people buy the iPad Pro (and
| for those who do, what use case are they buying it for).
| criddell wrote:
| I'm going to order one of these to replace my 2018 iPad Pro
| which is the computer I use the most.
|
| I'll spend around $2k and I want to get at least 5 years of use
| out of it. That will make it cost me a little more than $1 /
| day which, fortunately, I can afford.
| cyberpunk wrote:
| What size you going for?
| criddell wrote:
| 13 w/ 512 GB + Pencil. I want the nano screen but that
| would require me to bump the storage to 1 TB and I don't
| need that. Instead, I'll get a paper-like screen protector.
| I've had good luck with those in the past.
|
| If the Smart Folio Keyboard was still available, I'd buy
| that too. It's not, so I'm going keyboard-less for now.
| mark_l_watson wrote:
| Looks wonderful but I have an old iPad Pro with an M1 and 16G
| memory and I already feel my old iPad Pro is powerful enough to
| run local LLMs, write books, use SSH/Mosh to my servers, etc.
|
| EDIT: oh, the prices are much lower now than what I paid 3+ hears
| ago, that's nice.
| cheeze wrote:
| You're running local LLMs on an ipad?
| ChrisArchitect wrote:
| Related:
|
| _Apple M5 Chip_
|
| https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45591799
| overgard wrote:
| I get the impression they're trying to market this to laptop
| users. I'm still very skeptical of iPads as a productivity
| device. The problem isn't the hardware, it's the OS, the app
| store and the model for selling apps. Apple's app store policies
| make it hard to sell expensive software (which most productivity
| apps are somewhat expensive), it also makes it hard to distribute
| free software (as in open source -- because someone has to pony
| up for a developer account and deal with the app store feedback),
| and the App-centric focus of the OS itself is a problem (most
| projects need to be file centric)
| SkyPuncher wrote:
| My sister in law has used an iPad as here primary compute
| device for school. Frankly, it works absolutely fine for her.
| 95% of her need is reading, email, and writing papers (in
| Google Drive).
| lostlogin wrote:
| This probably matches most users experience. It's just that
| the remaining 5% makes you want to hurl the device out the
| window.
| monkmartinez wrote:
| My parents use their iPad(s) for 100% of their compute needs.
| At 70+ years old, they will tell you those needs are minimal.
|
| If you use one program at a time, do not need an actual file
| system, have no need to install software from a variety of
| places (Github, Vendor sites, etc), have no problem
| installing multiple "apps" that only work behind paywalls or
| not at all and you don't care about replacing a functional
| device whenever Apple obsoletes it... iOS is the best thing
| since sliced bread.
|
| If you need anything outside of iOS's limited list of
| abilities, its a trash operating system that has crippled
| amazing hardware.
| yjftsjthsd-h wrote:
| > 95% of her need is reading, email, and writing papers
|
| Sure, it's great for that kind of (computationally) light
| work, but then what's the point of putting a monster like the
| M5 chip in it?
| recursive wrote:
| Smooth animation for throw-away-coded SPAs.
| overgard wrote:
| The target hardware for vibe coded startups!
| SkyPuncher wrote:
| My understanding is battery life. I have no idea how
| accurate this is, but somebody basically graphed what I was
| thinking: https://techboards.net/threads/power-curves-
| of-a17.4348/
|
| You put a bigger chip in so you can run it at lower power
| consumption levels. Essentially, there are two ways this
| can pan out:
|
| * Overall utilization can remain lower, keeping it in a
| more power efficient band.
|
| * Expensive actions complete faster, thus using less power
| (since they run for less time).
|
| From an overall business perspective, there also doesn't
| really seem to be a reason to _not_ standardize the lineup
| on a single chip. I have to imagine is less overhead from a
| manufacturing standpoint and it's not like there's a
| particularly meaningful difference in manufacturing costs
| of these chips.
| apparent wrote:
| Yep, I have the original 11" iPad Pro from 2018. It still
| works flawlessly and would be perfect for this use case.
| Someone who needs a device for school should buy a used
| iPad like this, not a new one that would be overpowered for
| the task and would cost double. Even with the edu discount,
| it's over $1k with the keyboard case. Why not just buy an
| MBA at that point?
| thaw13579 wrote:
| Two reasons for are the cellular connection and smaller
| form factor. Would love to have a MBA with those
| overgard wrote:
| I guess that's fine, but if that's all you're doing you could
| easily just get a hundred dollar chromebook. The marketing
| for this references things like transcode performance for
| Final Cut Pro. Implying that you would use it for some sort
| of serious computing task.
| JumpCrisscross wrote:
| > _you could easily just get a hundred dollar chromebook_
|
| Terrible battery life by comparison. Worse display. Not as
| swift at video playback. And with LLMs on the rise, less
| locally capable.
| overgard wrote:
| I don't think the "I just need to edit things in google
| drive crowd" overlaps much with the "I want to run a
| local LLM on a tablet" crowd.
|
| Anyway my point isn't that people shouldn't buy iPads, my
| point is that it's silly that Apple has hardware that is
| incredibly capable and is held back entirely by terrible
| software policies.
| tyleo wrote:
| I did a performance test over the weekend of compilation times
| across 4 projects using 4 devices.
|
| My M4 MacBook Pro is faster than my modern i9 desktop that work
| spent $$$ on...
|
| iPad feels like a genie trapped in a bottle to me. It has that
| same M4 but there's so much less to use it for. Too bad I can't
| just set it by my PC and throw workloads at the processor or
| something. Continuity works well enough as a second screen but
| I'd love a second M4 CPU.
| wslh wrote:
| I am looking forward for real competition to Apple which
| ironically will be better for Apple users/developers. You
| don't buy a McClaren for transporting your kids to the school
| faster.
|
| PS: I don't think GPU continuity will work well over USB-C.
| adav wrote:
| EXO Labs are doing interesting things with LLM clusters on
| commodity hardware. I'd quite like to plug my MacBook next
| to my iPad and get the extra local AI oomph.
| dstroot wrote:
| Second CPU idea is brilliant. I'd buy an iPad for second
| screen, second CPU and occasional plane/hotel
| Netflix/Youtube.
| joshmn wrote:
| For those just looking for a second screen with their iPad
| or MacBook, Universal Display does exactly this, given
| you're already in the Apple ecosystem.
|
| Second CPU would be nice, too.
| tyleo wrote:
| What is Universal Display?
|
| The built-in MacOS feature that does this called
| continuity... but I know it was renamed once (used to be
| sidecar). Maybe you're referring to an old name? Or is it
| a product?
|
| Edit: I looked it up and it appears that the app is
| continuity and "Sidecar" and "Universal Control" are
| features. IDT those names show up in the OS UX though.
|
| https://www.apple.com/macos/continuity/
| walterbell wrote:
| Mac Mini = iPad minus screen, minus iOS restrictions, with
| Apple Silicon and optional 10GbE wired.
| varispeed wrote:
| I bought iPad Pro M4 and I am yet to find a use case for it.
| Combined with non-secure cloud backup in the UK, I see it as a
| toy device.
|
| Watch YouTube, casually browse web (I am yet to install VPN).
|
| So far the most use I had with it was recording meetings, so
| that later I can relisten.
|
| If I was able to run Ubuntu on it or even macOs - that would
| have been a different story...
| thaw13579 wrote:
| Thanks for mentioning the non-secure backup in the UK, I
| missed the memo on that, and fyi, for any one else who did:
| https://support.apple.com/en-us/122234
| Tade0 wrote:
| You're not far off, as over the years it grew into a capable
| gaming machine:
|
| https://github.com/albertquiroga/awesome-ios-game-
| ports?tab=...
| ARandomerDude wrote:
| iPad is also the best ebook reader in my opinion, which is
| pretty much the only reason I have one.
| red_hare wrote:
| I've gotten 7 years out of my 2018 iPad Pro and, for my use
| case of video, browsing, and Procreate, it feels like new.
| And I believe a big part of that is that the A12X was wildly
| overpowered when I bought it.
|
| I think someone deciding between an M4 and an M5 today should
| consider its value 5 years down the road, rather than its
| value today.
| davidcollantes wrote:
| For work I need an SSH client to access remote servers, and a
| web browser for when ClickOps is needed. Long battery life, and
| a tack sharp touch screen are gladly accepted. An iPad is the
| perfect "laptop" for me.
| AppleBananaPie wrote:
| Do you use this as your main driver or just to check on
| things?
|
| Just trying to imagine the workflow :)
|
| I personally prefer a ~32" 4k screen for main work but I
| could see the convenience of an iPad to quickly remote in and
| check on stuff or maybe it's enough on it's own and I can
| learn from ya'll!
| vel0city wrote:
| Por que no los dos?
|
| Just dock your iPad in the office and get a desktop class
| experience. Pick it up and go and have your same apps and
| sessions and data anywhere.
|
| Would be nice. It's the experience I had with a Surface but
| I get Windows isn't applicable to all users and workloads.
| AppleBananaPie wrote:
| Yeah I need a local mac for builds / debugging :( Thanks
| for the info, I'll dream of better days ;)
| ragazzina wrote:
| > Just dock your iPad in the office
|
| The fact that you can't turn off the iPad screen while
| it's docked drives me crazy.
| ahmeneeroe-v2 wrote:
| You can? As long as you have keyboard/mouse (which the
| Magic Keyboard qualifies as)
| masklinn wrote:
| GP is not talking about "an iPad" tho, but an iPad Pro with a
| literal laptop-class CPU.
| bobbylarrybobby wrote:
| There's also the issue of iOS virtual memory limitations.
| Whereas macOS lets apps use swap space (duh), on iOS apps will
| be killed if their memory use is too high and they move into
| the background. (And possibly if it's too high while they're in
| the foreground, idk.) Which means you can't leave apps open in
| the background -- they might be killed at any moment. And this
| makes true productivity basically impossible.
| pancsta wrote:
| iPad Pro is a great terminal, I shred code on it daily. Running
| a build server on a portable is a bad strategy (battery, wait
| times, session resume). It's the top layer of 3 layers in total
| (portable, GUI, build server). It handles realtime audio /
| video well, which are the only things that cant be remoted. You
| dont need OS26 for it to be a very productive terminal, it's
| been possible for years. You do however need a proper backend
| stack, which can also be portable (but separately).
|
| Do you know whats better than an iPad? 2 iPads (yes, shredding
| code on 2 simultaneously).
| GeekyBear wrote:
| The additional GPU performance will be very helpful for the
| upcoming Blender port to iPad.
|
| > The M5 chip is built on TSMC's N3P node and has a faster GPU
| that can deliver 1.6x more FPS in games, 20% faster multi-core
| CPU performance, and 1.7x quicker render times in Blender -- all
| versus the M4.
|
| https://www.tomshardware.com/laptops/macbooks/apple-launches...
| throw-10-13 wrote:
| Put a grown up OS on it and I'll consider it.
| dmitshur wrote:
| Glad to see that unlike last time with the M4 release, this time
| they released M5 in more devices than just the iPad Pro at the
| same time. That said, there's still room for improvement: the
| MacBook Air and Mac mini weren't updated yet.
| UltraSane wrote:
| iPad OS is very bad
| vessenes wrote:
| For the haters here - Apple sells roughly 2x as many iPads as
| Macs (including MacBooks). Roughly as many iPad Pros as laptops.
|
| I've cycled through using an iPad Pro as my main device on and
| off over the years - particularly the cellular modem has been a
| draw. For coding, they're terrible, as they are for longer form
| writing. I've ultimately shrunk down to the small size and use it
| as a kindle/gaming replacement. I think with a foldable iPhone
| I'd probably skip buying one.
|
| All that said there's a large market for them. I use mine enough
| that every two cycles I update just for battery reasons.
| bertili wrote:
| I didn't believe this at first, but it seems valid.
|
| Apple earnings on Mac and iPads are in the same ballpark and if
| iPads cost half of a Mac its indeed a 2x.
|
| https://www.macrumors.com/2025/05/01/apple-2q-2025-earnings/
| zeroq wrote:
| To me it makes a lot of sense.
|
| iPads have way more common with phones than laptops. They are
| more prone to damage and many people treat them like fashion
| accessories, promptly buying new devices upon launch even if
| the old one is perfectly fine.
| tristor wrote:
| I mean, that makes sense given what the "haters" are saying,
| and indeed what you yourself admit. If this is just a device
| for passive consumption of entertainment, then ultimately it's
| a consumer-facing use case, and there are MANY MANY MANY more
| consumers than there are creators, whether that creation is a
| photo or a line of code. So of course more devices are sold,
| because you need a laptop (due to mostly software, rather than
| hardware reasons) to do most forms of creativity, from writing
| code to editing photos.
| thewebguyd wrote:
| It could be a great device for certain types of creation
| also.
|
| I use mine for editing photos. But, I still have to start and
| end the process with Lightroom classic on my Mac because of
| stupid decisions by Adobe to rent-seek with cloud storage,
| offering no local-stroage workflow option with the iPad app
| (and deliberately leaving out some features only available in
| LR Classic).
|
| Likewise, I would love to do all of my photoshop work on the
| iPad. It's a great immersive experience with the Apple Pencil
| vs. sitting down with a mouse and keyboard on a computer, but
| yet again, Adobe cripples the iPad app compared to the
| desktop app.
|
| And those particular use cases aren't Apple's fault. I'm less
| and less frustrated with iPad OS as a whole, particularly
| with windowing in 26 (though it could use some polish). It's
| got external display support, a file manager, access to
| external storage, audio input select now, etc. But Adobe (and
| others) are still making crippled _mobile_ applications for
| it instead of just doing work to port over the full desktop
| experience on a device that is now just as capable.
|
| Sure you can't code on it (very well), but I feel like Apple
| should start putting some pressure on Adobe and the other
| creative-suite of software companies to beef up the iPad
| experience, maybe offer some incentive or something.
| tristor wrote:
| Even on the laptop, Lightroom Classic is missing
| capabilities and has poor UX for common workflows. I've
| used Lightroom for 15 years, and at this point I primarily
| use DXO Photo Lab for editing, I only use Lightroom as a
| digital library management tool. I can't even fathom using
| the current Adobe products on iOS to try to do my workflow.
| That's mostly due to software, but also because I can't
| connect a high performance CF Xpress reader to a tablet,
| given the port performance limitations. I have a TB4/USB4
| reader and high speed cards for my camera.
| thewebguyd wrote:
| I'll be honest I haven't tried DXO Photo Lab yet. I've
| tried CaptureOne but could never get used to it, although
| I do prefer it's far more advanced color tools. Lightroom
| is really basic in comparison.
|
| But I'm going to end up with a subscription anyway
| because of Photoshop so I've just always stuck with LR.
| That, and I used a LUT I built using Davinci Resolve,
| blended with the Camera Standard profile that I use as a
| slider in Lightroom (Classic) and I haven't found a way
| to do something similar in any other program yet (you can
| create these creative profiles in photoshop too but
| Davinci's color grading tools are so far superior). It's
| a key part of my look.
|
| Also FWIW M1 and newer iPad Pros have thunderbolt 4
| overgard wrote:
| I wouldn't call myself a hater, just disappointed. The hardware
| is incredibly powerful, but it's being held back but an OS
| that's locked down beyond reason. Maybe they just don't want to
| cannibalize Mac sales or something.
| vessenes wrote:
| I thought that too until I turned on the window mode on the
| new iPadOS. Blech. I gave it a month; I really just didn't
| want it, even though I thought I did.
|
| I would like a full screen shell that's got a reasonable unix
| variant underneath it. But I do find other uses for it.
| jillesvangurp wrote:
| My mother (75) is on her fourth ipad now. They are amazing
| devices for non technical users. My father bought her a laptop
| (some cheap windows thing) before she got her first ipad and
| asked here "are you happy with it". And she went "it's just a
| computer". She's not a gamer. Computers were for boring admin
| and banking stuff in her mind. Something that lives on a desk
| far away from the living room. Having to go there to browse the
| internet wasn't fun. She just had no interest in the whole
| thing. So he brought it back to the store and got an ipad
| instead. Life changing event.
|
| Key feature: she can sit on the couch and use it. She does that
| all the time. It's a much more approachable device. She does
| everything on it. She plays a lot of bridge both on the ipad
| and in real life. So, she's even playing online games. Really
| fun when she randomly starts swearing at some dumb witted
| random co-player on the internet.
|
| I'm not into IOS myself but I appreciate it for what it is and
| does. Steve Jobs nailed that one. I have a mac book pro but I
| have an Android phone. For me a phone is dumb read only device.
| Typing on it sucks. The screen is to clumsy and tiny for
| properly enjoying content, the camera is alright but I don't
| use that a lot. It's a device for reading hacker news and a few
| other things. I actually take most calls via my laptop. It even
| fails its primary job as a communication device for me.
|
| Anyway, the key thing with this ipad is the built in apple
| phone chips. No more qualcomm. They can just put this thing in
| any device now. I'm not sure what's holding them back with
| their laptops. I'm guessing there's some Qualcomm IP and
| patents that might make that a bit expensive. But it's 2025.
| Why can't my laptop not connect to 5G networks without dongles,
| thethering, or other nonsense? The key blocker was always
| Qualcomm. Problem solved you'd think. Apparently, they are not
| going there yet. Maybe next year.
| hirvi74 wrote:
| The most common use case I typically see for iPads is serving
| as a PoS system for a lot of local businesses in my area. So, I
| wonder how many are purchased for personal usage vs. some sort
| of functional purpose, e.g., business, education, etc..
| jmull wrote:
| I'm waiting for them to put macos on the ipads (or touch/pencil
| on the macbooks).
| tristor wrote:
| I have never figured out what the point of a tablet is, except
| for entertainment. I keep wanting to buy an iPad every time a new
| one comes out, yet I've never bought one, and keep failing to see
| any point to it. I have a reMarkable device, which is a sort of
| tablet, but I use it exclusively for taking notes by hand in
| meetings, which is basically what it is designed for. I have a
| Kindle, which is kind of like a tablet, and I use it exclusively
| for reading which is what it is designed for. An iPad feels like
| it should replace both, but when I actually analyze it, it cannot
| replace either one.
|
| What really are tablets for other than being a passive
| entertainment consumption device?
| pretext-1 wrote:
| I travel a lot for work and don't want to bring a second
| MacBook Pro. iPad works well in the plane for watching movies,
| MacBook not so much, at least not in Economy class. Can't use
| my work computer for personal stuff anyway unfortunately. Also
| can't download Netflix content offline on desktop.
|
| Another use case is in the kitchen. Recipes, YouTube, FaceTime,
| etc. I use my iPad Pro in the kitchen every day when I'm at
| home. Easy to clean up. Using a MacBook while cooking will make
| it gross very fast.
| DamnInteresting wrote:
| Apart from watching videos, I use mine for making music
| (podcast scoring) and for drawing (formal illustrations,
| doodling, and sketching out designs). There are also a few
| games that I feel play best on an iPad, such as Balatro.
| dcreater wrote:
| At this point, I think its just very irresponsible of Apple
| putting these kind of chips in the iPad and then given 99% of the
| users no way to actually harness that power. Occupy TSMC line
| time and cause global geopolitical struggles for what??
| tempodox wrote:
| So they can ruin this beautiful hardware with shitty and locked
| down software. For most people, games are the only kind of
| software that comes close to actually utilizing all this power,
| but dedicated game consoles are cheaper. So what's the point
| any more?
| cedws wrote:
| I think Apple hardware must be incredibly underutilised across
| the board. Every new generation of iPhone or MacBook they boast
| about lofty performance gains, but who is actually complaining
| about their iPhone not being fast enough? Nobody I know pushes
| their iPhone so hard it starts to lag. It's not like you can
| really do anything computationally heavy on your phone besides
| games, but people mostly play simplistic 2D games on iOS
| anyway.
| leakycap wrote:
| Having performance available when you need it is the
| alternative to waiting.
|
| Even a simplistic 2D game loads data, runs routines, and
| while the person is doing that they expect the phone to stay
| connected to a network, keep up with notifications... you act
| like Apple is doing something bad.
|
| Intel/Chromebooks still are being sold in the USA at Best Buy
| with the Celeron N4000-series and Pentium-4200 series chips
| if you prefer to have zero performance overhead on your
| devices.
| bottlepalm wrote:
| Somehow the most powerful capable chips hardware wise, are at
| the same time the least capable software wise. I thought Apple
| was supposed to be the 'bicycle for the mind', what happened?
| leakycap wrote:
| "bicycle for the mind" was something from the late 1970s-era
| Apple
|
| > what happened?
|
| 1978 was 47 years ago
| gsibble wrote:
| This obviously isn't a tablet meant for people who own M4/M2
| iPads to upgrade. You wouldn't be getting your money's worth
| (although the tandem OLED on the M4 is stunning).
|
| This is just a minor update for anyone with an older iPad/iPad
| Pro in case they want to upgrade.
|
| Many of the people here complaining don't seem to understand they
| are not the target market.
|
| Also, I love using my iPad as a social media / YouTube content
| consumption device. It's a fantastic experience. I also use it
| for a lot of home control (mostly audio but also lighting). It
| sure is an expensive device but it lasts forever and I get my
| money's worth.
|
| Oh, and Lightroom on it is fantastic!
| Insanity wrote:
| I currently have an m1 iPad pro, and I use it daily. Do I get the
| pro performance out of it? Probably not. I might still upgrade to
| the m5 for the better display though. These are my use-cases
| FWIW:
|
| - Goodnotes w/ the apple pen during work
|
| - YouTube during dinner
|
| - Kindle App for technical books (and regular Kindle device for
| fiction)
|
| - Browsing the internet
|
| - Streaming games with Xbox streaming
|
| I travel for work one week per month-ish, and I don't take a
| personal laptop anymore since getting my iPad.
|
| Now.. do I really _need_ to upgrade? Probably not, my M1 still
| runs fine. Decisions Decisions :)
| steelbrain wrote:
| Unrelated to the discussion at hand but information for people
| that game stream on their Apple Devices: If you experience
| unexplained stuttering, change the 5ghz wifi channel to 149.
| bottlepalm wrote:
| These use cases are so sad for a device with so much power.
| Look what Apple has reduced us to.
| leakycap wrote:
| Life's most precious resource is time. A newer device is
| often much faster at a person's current routines. Why would
| you want a fast device to do harder things? Fast alone is
| worth it.
| max51 wrote:
| because if they allowed you to boot linux/macos/windows and
| dock it to get a full desktop experience, it could replace
| laptops and even desktop PC for most people. It legit has
| the cpu power of a >2k$ gaming PC. For the average person
| buying the ipad pro, the ipad will be the fastest computer
| in the house, by a very very wide margin.
| bottlepalm wrote:
| Not even an iPad, iPhone A series are as powerful laptops
| and can do just about everything users need to do - even
| gaming. A19 has over 20 billion transistors it's absurd.
| How restricted it is, is absurd as well. The most capable
| chip that has been constrained to tiny subset of
| potential applications and use cases.
| medlazik wrote:
| I don't understand why there isn't a market for 15"+ iPads. 13"
| is just too small for home use and too heavy for using it without
| a stand, might as well make it much bigger
| prmoustache wrote:
| What is the use case for an iPad Pro vs the regular iPad or the
| iPad Air that I didn't knew even existed?
|
| I have the feeling that everything one could do with the Pro
| could be done as well with the less expensive models. Apart from
| the handful of travel youtubers that might want to edit and
| render their videos in an airport terminal I think the use cases
| would be very niche. Yet a lot of people seem to prefer it over
| the other variants, I guess just because it exists and it is at
| the top of the line?
| gyomu wrote:
| As a photographer, the OLED screen is truly gorgeous and it is
| kind of ironic that it is the best display available on any
| Apple device (the blooming on miniLED is pretty horrendous, and
| it's beyond me how anyone deemed it a viable technology to ship
| in products aimed at professional visual artists/designers).
| _ph_ wrote:
| Yes, I got the 13" M4 Pro mostly because of the display. I
| use the iPad Pro as my photo album and its just fantastic for
| that. The M4 flies of course. Thanks to more and more multi-
| windowed support on iPad OS it gets more useful for light
| tasks.
| pretext-1 wrote:
| All my other devices have 120Hz and switching from any of these
| to my 5 year old 60Hz iPad Pro gives me physical pain. If the
| iPad Air had 120Hz I would probably buy that right now. I think
| I'll wait for another year though as I'm pretty sure the next
| iPad Air generation will have 120Hz, now that the non-Pro
| iPhone has it as well.
|
| I know not everyone is as sensitive to this as I am, so I
| recommend going to the store and trying both the Air and the
| Pro. If you're like me you will notice the difference
| immediately.
| prmoustache wrote:
| I think I never had a screen with more than 60Hz and 1080p.
| Ignorance is bliss I guess as I don't miss something I never
| experienced.
| amelius wrote:
| Locked down by nanny Apple, therefore a toy.
| fkyoureadthedoc wrote:
| Any tablet or tablet mode laptop I've used on windows is
| fucking miserable, so I've always assumed it was more a user
| experience thing rather than some plot to artificially limit
| neckbeards
| medhir wrote:
| would buy this in a heartbeat if I could run macOS... it's such a
| shame iPad hardware has been so held back by Apple's lackluster
| software strategy for this long
| pedalpete wrote:
| Is it just me, or does anyone else notice the contrast on this
| page, as well as the Macbook page almost hides the devices
| themselves for most of the images?
|
| Maybe it's just my old eyes, but black background, black trim,
| dark grey device with dark grey keyboard.
|
| What are they selling here?
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