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Apple Announces New iPad Pro With M4 Chip, OLED Display, and More
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For anyone who hasn't seen it in the M3/M4 thread: First (?) GB6 report from M4 iPad.
These numbers are not very surprising, and yet at the same time totally remarkable. They show Apple crushing not only *all* current x86 and Arm chips in single-core, but also the next generation incoming. And these M4s are not the last word from Apple - expect the Max, at least, to run even faster, possibly another 5-10% in desktops.
Multicore is also excellent, though Apple clearly isn't interested in competing with the really high-core-count processors out there.
These numbers are not very surprising, and yet at the same time totally remarkable. They show Apple crushing not only *all* current x86 and Arm chips in single-core, but also the next generation incoming. And these M4s are not the last word from Apple - expect the Max, at least, to run even faster, possibly another 5-10% in desktops.
Multicore is also excellent, though Apple clearly isn't interested in competing with the really high-core-count processors out there.
BTW, anyone know why GB's browser search is so unbelievably crappy? If you search for "iPad16,6" you won't find the result listed above. Or am I doing something wrong?
Nothing like planning ahead before lounging….
Honestly, is there nothing people won’t complain about?
You give a workaround option to deliver what people complain about and STILL they complain…. Having worked in It support I’ve seen this all my working like. Someone always whinges. With such third world problems. Apple devs must shake their heads too.
Kind of makes me go “Ok, forget about iPadOS offering a Mac mode. If they are getting off their couches, let them pick up their MacBook instead”. Easier option.
No, I have my iPad exactly the same distance away as I would with a laptop, considering I always use it in a keyboard case with trackpad. It looks exactly like a laptop.
OLED emitters age more quickly the brighter they are driven. One of the benefits of the dual layer display is that an individual emitter doesn’t need to be driven as much to get greater brightness because there are two emitters instead of one.
Do you use your iPad outside a lot that you need the anti-glare of the nanotexture? If not, I would worry about the effect of that nanotexture on colors and black levels. I listened the the Upgrade podcast today and the hosts were at the press events and had the iPads in their hands. They said that the nanotexture makes the blacks look less black and that colors looks odd when viewed off angle. They felt that, unless you had a need to work on images and videos outdoors, then the regular screen might give a better image. Of course you’ll make your decision based on your needs, I just thought I would pass on this impression.
FYI @highdefjunkie , @GregJohn
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The removed the ultra-wide camera. Likely they have data on how often people use each camera and I would expect that very few iPad users ever used that ultra-wide.
From what I’ve heard, this nanotexture is not an etching. It is a chemical treatment of the top layer of glass. That means it isn’t rougher and not prone to damage from fingerprints, fortunately.
Wonder how many use the regular camera too?
I’ve seen grey nomads taking snapshots (it is easier to view if you have poor eyesight) but very few other cases have I seen it used.
Hopefully it will hold up to pencil use, esp from 3rd party pencils which may have harder tips than the Apple Pencils.
Honestly - I do it more than I thought. It’s clunky to put the iPad to one side when out, get the phone, take the shot and then go back to what you were doing - so I often use the iPad for taking pictures, even though the iPhone 14 has a better final result!
Cool. That’s one…
Most people do make the effort if they want better photo quality.
And most people walk around with phones in their hands rather than iPads.
I imagine field data collectors who carry iPads would use the camera in iPad more too.
I see lots of older people at dog shows using iPads to take videos.Cool. That’s one…
Most people do make the effort if they want better photo quality.
And most people walk around with phones in their hands rather than iPads.
I imagine field data collectors who carry iPads would use the camera in iPad more too.
Yeah that was my original use case… older people. They find the big screen easier to see. (And most people watching them use it have funny looks on their faces watching them do it. Hahaha.:
And they generally don't care if the youts think it's silly.
Still not what I'm talking about. In the x86 world, these days, really high core count is 64 or more. Apple's not trying to compete with that, at least for now, nor are they likely to with any 2xMax-ish Ultra. Now, if they get a 4-way system going, as has repeatedly been rumored, they could start to get close. Though probably still not enough to keep up with the 2024 top-end chips (128 cores).
I have no doubt they could wipe the floor with Intel and AMD if they wanted to build a 128-core processor, but they clearly have other priorities.
Right. But it's not like a Threadripper Pro 7995WX with all its 96 cores has four times the multi-core performance of a 24-core M2 Ultra. Apple seems more interested in eventually trumping the performance with fewer cores than in offering products (to a very small niche) that offer many cores.
You're mostly right - though multicore workloads can vary *wildly*, with the single most important factor being how independently subtasks can run. The more independent, the closer to perfect scaling you're going to get, and the more the Threadripper/EPYC/Xeon will pull ahead of the Ultra. On a simplistic level, that's the key distinction between GB5 and GB6 multicore scoring.
The other key issue here is that you only have so many watts to distribute among all your cores. Intel and AMD have gone big here, with their biggest chips, drawing hundreds of watts. Apple has declined to play that game so far.
Apple is unlikely to "trump" their performance at the high-multi-core end any time soon. They're not interested in that market... at least, not enough to try something there yet. Perhaps with the rumored 4xMax-type configuration, if they ever release it. It's easy to imagine a unit with a single Max and three additional CPU/GPU units with anywhere from 16 to 32 P cores each, coming to 108 P cores (32*3 + 12) or more. But do they think there's a market for that? There isn't right now, but perhaps they will have the patience to develop it.
I think this is actually looking more likely than it was a couple years ago- the need for more data center processors may drive Apple to build their own, and if they do go to that trouble (as they have recently been rumored to), why not share those dev costs with a product they can sell, not just consume?
And when you don't have the screen keyboard and mouse connected, your data is incredibly hard to access.
Touch targets are either too small or the screen is blown up beyond native resolution. Menu bars require multi-step interactions, while keyboard combos require you to set the device down on a flat surface. In fact, all text entry causes half the screen to go away. Apps that rely on mouse movements become difficult to work with. You need to learn and remember multitouch gestures to differentiate a mouse drag from a mouse move from a window scroll from a screen scroll (when you are in text entry mode).
You do realize how esoteric 'dual-booting' an iPad into macOS like this would be?