[somestranger26]

Quote:

Originally Posted by derek800 /img/forum/go_quote.gif It is similar to a large ipod touch but it should be much faster with it's 1Ghz chip. It's not meant to be a full computer, it's just meant to be a browser/photo viewer/email client, that also runs app's. It has it's audience that it's targeted towards, if you don't like it don't buy it, simple as that.

Inability to multitask is game over. What if you want to listen to music while awkwardly typing up a document on it's 4:3 touch screen? Too bad, so sad.

 

[tosehee]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Operandi /img/forum/go_quote.gif The Apple CPU is ARM, just their design iteration of it. The CPU was choose for battery performance and price, and to keep compatibility with iPhone apps. It was designed in house (through an acquisition several months ago) to help keep the design from leaking, not for any performance reasons. A non ARM CPU would be required to run full OSX but that would drive up cost, complexity, and kill battery life and its already a very expensive device thanks to the huge multi touch screen.

That is not absolutely true. OSX is based on Unix/Darawin, and many Unix variants were already ported to many ARM based CPU in the past.

If they really want it, they could have done it, given enough time and resources.

On top of this, how bad is the scaled down version of Atom in terms of power consumption?

Add just enough controller that provides video/network/bluetooth/wifi into a controller chip. Add atom or similar, but less powerful cpu.

If not, come up with the port of OSX to ARM based cpu. We are not asking for a full scale port of OSX here.

Bingo.

 

[jmmtn4aj]

Honestly? The first turd Apple has passed out in awhile (AppleTV wasn't a hit, but at least that had an arguably better defined market). The screen is backlit, so to use it as an ebook reader would be akin to gouging your eyes out with a spork, and due to it's modified iPhone/Touch OS it's pretty much a gimped netbook (already gimped as far as personal computers go). No multi-tasking- bad for productivity, no flash support- bad for a pretty big portion of the web, sub-par graphics- not quite a portable gaming platform (get a PSP), no built-in physical keyboard- bad for productivity, no stylus support- useless for note-taking in meetings and lectures, backlit screen, stupid price.. see what I'm getting at? Of course Apple hasn't developed a cult of personality for nothing so I have no doubts that this will sell at least enough to not make it a failure in the tech world, but objectively jesus christ.

I would have been happier with a minor update to the iPhone or MBP.

 

[krmathis]

I think it is just a bigger and less feature rich iPhone.
At least they could have used an x86(_64) CPU, allowing it to run Mac OS X...

 

[DrBenway]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jmmtn4aj /img/forum/go_quote.gif [...]and due to it's modified iPhone/Touch OS it's pretty much a gimped netbook (already gimped as far as personal computers go)

Quote:

Originally Posted by krmathis /img/forum/go_quote.gif I think it is just a bigger and less feature rich iPhone. At least they could have used an x86(_64) CPU, allowing it to run Mac OS X...

Yep and yep.

With netbooks going routinely for $200 -- $300, this device is looking pretty pricey and underpowered. If they drop the starting price by a hundred bucks, it might start looking like an alternative to a netbook, but I don't see how it will compete on features/capabilities.

On the other hand, the success of the iPhone might bode well for this thing. I think there are a lot of people who really want just a very limited set of computer capabilities: light surfing, social networking, media viewing. Could this possibly be the "only computer" that folks like that need? If so, it could be huge...

 

[derek800]

Quote:

Originally Posted by DrBenway /img/forum/go_quote.gif I think there are a lot of people who really want just a very limited set of computer capabilities: light surfing, social networking, media viewing. Could this possibly be the "only computer" that folks like that need? If so, it could be huge...

I completely agree with this, I really believe this would work great for an older crowd of people that don't want anything more complicated than casual email and web surfing. This does appear to be almost the same as a larger ipod touch, and I don't see how anything could be easier to use/navigate.

 

[Palpatine]

Quote:

Originally Posted by derek800 /img/forum/go_quote.gif I completely agree with this, I really believe this would work great for an older crowd of people that don't want anything more complicated than casual email and web surfing. This does appear to be almost the same as a larger ipod touch, and I don't see how anything could be easier to use/navigate.

x2. I think that is what the design purpose was.

 

[vo328]

I can see this device taking off if the iBooks folks make deals with textbook providers such that textbooks can be offered on the iPad for a fraction of their paper counterparts. Just imagine... university students are paying up to $1000 on books/semester and might be able to save quite a bit over a 2-4 year period of time using such a device. Also, imagine the convenience of not having to carry a stack of books.

 

[Operandi]

Quote:

Originally Posted by tosehee /img/forum/go_quote.gif That is not absolutely true. OSX is based on Unix/Darawin, and many Unix variants were already ported to many ARM based CPU in the past. If they really want it, they could have done it, given enough time and resources. On top of this, how bad is the scaled down version of Atom in terms of power consumption? Add just enough controller that provides video/network/bluetooth/wifi into a controller chip. Add atom or similar, but less powerful cpu. If not, come up with the port of OSX to ARM based cpu. We are not asking for a full scale port of OSX here. Bingo.

Thats pretty much what the iPhone OS is; a stripped down version of OSX written for ARM.

Atom could probably get the job done and it would be a boat load faster but all the iPhone apps are written for ARM not x86.

 

[tosehee]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Operandi /img/forum/go_quote.gif Thats pretty much what the iPhone OS is; a stripped down version of OSX written for ARM. Atom could probably get the job done and it would be a boat load faster but all the iPhone apps are written for ARM not x86.

iPhone apps are developed on Mac using OSX. If they can be developed, debugged, and ran there, I am sure it can be made run if not already on Atom.

That's not an excuse at all.

A4 is nothing more than a re-branded Nvidia Tegra 2 platform.

Quote:

For some of us, amid all the hubbub about revolutions and whatnot yesterday, the most significant announcement on hand was Apple's supposedly custom A4 CPU. Alas, in the cold and brutal light of the morning after, we're hearing that it is in fact a system-on-a-chip driven by a Cortex-A9 MPCore CPU "identical" to the one found inside NVIDIA's Tegra 2, while besting the iPhone 3GS significantly with its 1GHz speed and multicore architecture. The A4 is composed of that Cortex barnburner, an integrated memory controller, and the Mali 50-series GPU, making it an all ARM affair -- though we still don't know how much Apple and PA Semi did in terms of arranging and integrating those components within the silicon. While still not 100 percent confirmed, it would seem there were no revolutions on the iPad's processing front -- just a rebranded bit of well engineered hardware.

 

[DrBenway]

Quote:

Originally Posted by vo328 /img/forum/go_quote.gif I can see this device taking off if the iBooks folks make deals with textbook providers such that textbooks can be offered on the iPad for a fraction of their paper counterparts. Just imagine... university students are paying up to $1000 on books/semester and might be able to save quite a bit over a 2-4 year period of time using such a device. Also, imagine the convenience of not having to carry a stack of books.

I'm not convinced that I like eBook readers overall, but I think they are a great idea for textbooks. The publishers constantly (intentionally?) revise them, so even a lightly used book loses a large proportion of its value as soon as it is purchased. It would greatly reduce waste if their wasn't that avalanche of used books piling up at the end of every semester.

Even decades after I finished school, that particular scam still annoys the heck out of me.

 

[Uncle Erik]

I'm planning to buy one. It's the only way I can get unlocked 3G coverage I can travel with.

A lot of people are bashing this as a bigger iPhone. That might be a valid criticism if the iPhone was a howling failure. It isn't. The only thing holding back the iPhone is carrier exclusivity. Otherwise, Apple would probably have an iPod-like grip on the phone market.

As for school texts... my guess is that publishers are about to run into the same chainsaw Big Music did. It's not difficult to chop and scan a book these days. The copier at the office will do that in minutes. If students find book sharing as convenient as music sharing, the publishers will get what they deserve. I'm still bitter about the cost of books I had to buy.

As for features, etc., keep in mind that a new OS will roll out with this. Multitasking is certainly possible and it will get implemented sooner or later.

You also have to look at the bigger picture here. If you read the tea leaves, Apple is probably looking for a way to merge all of their platforms. They've invested heavily into learning how to make gestures work and ease the transition to not having a keyboard. This is the beginning of the transition right now. Maybe the products won't meet your needs, but at least Apple is making an effort to rework how we deal with information and communication.

OS XI is certainly in the works somewhere in Cupertino. My guess is that it'll run across all of Apple's platforms and there will be seamless integration between phones, pads, computers, and whatever else they're getting into. My guess is that the iPad is sort of an experiment to see if people will do basic computing on a tablet. If it flies, the MacBooks will probably look a lot like an iPad in a few years.

 

[Operandi]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Uncle Erik /img/forum/go_quote.gif OS XI is certainly in the works somewhere in Cupertino. My guess is that it'll run across all of Apple's platforms and there will be seamless integration between phones, pads, computers, and whatever else they're getting into. My guess is that the iPad is sort of an experiment to see if people will do basic computing on a tablet. If it flies, the MacBooks will probably look a lot like an iPad in a few years.

Macs are now all x86, the iPhone / iPod Touch is ARM.

There really isn't a good way to support two different architectures in one OS so if Apple wants to merge the platforms they should have bit the bullet now with the iPad and ditched ARM.

 

[EchoRepairs]

ARM is the easiest way to have the apstore repoavaliable on the iPad... though the iPad those seem to have the ability to use usb otg by the looks of things, on the bad side for 3g data it will be using a micro-sim, complicating things... OS X can run on ARM devices (hacked netbooks?),... all depends on the community to hack the bootloader. We shall see what happens.

 

[Cyphir]

Its the ****tiest product apple have churned out by far. The other product in the apple line at least have a purpose despite being overpriced.

What is the point of the iPad? The hard drive is ridiculously small compared to the 250gb hard drive of a 300$ netbook. The ARM cpu is inferior to the intel atom. It will not be able to handle 1080p video playback. It will not be able to run a full fledge OSX, window, or any variation of linux. No ability to multi-task. Clumsy "keyboard", not usable for any real work. Apple did not even reveal how much RAM the iPad have either, probably because it is abysmally low.

Its an over sized iPhone without the phone. It is a toy, not an equipment for doing any real work, nor is it a replacement for a netbook/laptop. If you want a 500$-800$ touch screen toy so you can brag to your friends, this is the perfect product, but than again the iTouch and iPhone does the same job at a lower price.

My biggest gripe is the lack of expandable storage. You can't replace the hard drive, or solid state drive in this case, for a bigger one, nor is there a SD memory slot for storage expansion. The reason why there isn't one is quite clear, to force you to pay more for the "high end model" of the iPad.