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macdogpro

macrumors 6502a
Jul 22, 2020
656
494
So with the 11” Pro (£769 base) vs iPad Air (£579), what does an extra £190 get you.

-Slightly larger screen
-Face ID
-Quad Speakers (not Dual)
-120Hz Promotion Display
-Double the storage
-Better cameras
-Better microphones
-Thinner device
-Brighter screen
-LiDAR
-Probably similar chip performance A14/A12Z (the A12Z will likely be better for multi-tasking)

Anyone who has the 11” Pro right now, just think you have enjoyed that device for however long you have had it already, and everything is better about it over the new air except that the air will perform a bit better at doing single tasks, but your pro will perform a lot better at multitasking.

IMO, the extra £190 currently for the PRO vs the AIR is still worth it, and a refurb 2018 pro will bring you even better value over the current AIR...

PLUS, let’s be honest here, not many people who purchase the AIR at £579 are going to splash out over half of that on the magic keyboard and get the full experience of their iPad.

Can we confirm the pros are thinner?

I got the impression by visual only on the event.
The new Air does looks thicker.
 

James Godfrey

macrumors 68020
Oct 13, 2011
2,068
1,710
9E3A3C02-C10F-486A-B010-32BF6C7BD852.png

Can we confirm the pros are thinner?

I got the impression by visual only on the event.
The new Air does looks thicker.

The air is marginally thicker, with thicker bezels.
 

aevan

macrumors 601
Feb 5, 2015
4,541
7,237
Serbia
I am pi**ed off! Apple just introduced Apple Air that is more powerful than my iPad Pro 2020. Really cannot understand this. They should include Bionic A14 is iPad Pro. What are your thoughts?

It’s not more powerful than your iPad Pro 2020. It is a 6 core CPU compared to an 8 core one in your Pro + I think the GPU has more cores on the Pro, too. Single-core performance will probably be similar or better on Air, but in general, it will probably be a less powerful CPU overall.

Also, let’s be honest, it’s not like you would be able to feel the difference beyond the benchmarks either way.

X-series CPUs are traditionally one or two generations behind, but they come with more cores and higher clock speeds.
 

pdoherty

macrumors 65816
Dec 30, 2014
1,491
1,736
Single core is pretty much all that matters on an iPad. What apps or use cases actually take advantage of multiple cores? Does anyone have a list or examples of usage models where it would matter that much? Maybe recording audio tracks or editing images... and what else?
 

EugW

macrumors G5
Jun 18, 2017
14,961
12,926
Single core is pretty much all that matters on an iPad. What apps or use cases actually take advantage of multiple cores? Does anyone have a list or examples of usage models where it would matter that much? Maybe recording audio tracks or editing images... and what else?
Multi-core makes a big difference in all sorts of things including just surfing. The single-core-is-all-that-is-important thing hasn't been true for a very, very long time now.
 

Dave245

macrumors G3
Sep 15, 2013
9,857
8,084
Single core is pretty much all that matters on an iPad. What apps or use cases actually take advantage of multiple cores? Does anyone have a list or examples of usage models where it would matter that much? Maybe recording audio tracks or editing images... and what else?

Video editing on LumaFusion?
 

pdoherty

macrumors 65816
Dec 30, 2014
1,491
1,736
Multi-core makes a big difference in all sorts of things including just surfing. The single-core-is-all-that-is-important thing hasn't been true for a very, very long time now.

Absent some evidence I’d disagree. Developers have to specifically work to make such parallel aspects happen (the OS can’t make their program multithreaded if it’s not capable) and there’s so few aspects in most apps that can or would use it. Safari - maybe it uses parallel threads to gather resources (images, links, etc) when a page initially loads but that’s it - then it’s single-core city for the 99% of the time the page is loaded and the user is looking at it or typing.

This topics has come up before, too:


The best test of the impact would be if someone had a utility to disable all but one CPU core on the iPad chips and then benchmark various apps both in that state and with the additional cores enabled and measure the difference.
[automerge]1600287304[/automerge]
Video editing on LumaFusion?
Yeah that‘s one I’d expect to benefit.

The typical things iPad users do, not so much \:

- Email
- Browsing the web
- Watching videos
 

EugW

macrumors G5
Jun 18, 2017
14,961
12,926
maybe it uses parallel threads to gather resources (images, links, etc) when a page initially loads
Indeed. Plus video. Plus background tabs/apps are separate processes too.

If all you are doing is loading up a single simple page and no background tabs, you don't need very much performance in the first place anyway.
 

MistrSynistr

macrumors 68000
May 15, 2014
1,721
2,135
The only way this grip makes sense is if the Pro was released side by side with the Air and the Air had a better processor.

This is not the case. You are fine.
 
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Falhófnir

macrumors 603
Aug 19, 2017
6,146
7,001
Single core is pretty much all that matters on an iPad. What apps or use cases actually take advantage of multiple cores? Does anyone have a list or examples of usage models where it would matter that much? Maybe recording audio tracks or editing images... and what else?
It's definitely what people will notice the most, being the biggest CPU factor in general system fluidity. The A14 will have other benefits from upgraded components like the ISP and neural network too. With chips already being overkill for iPad OS I don't know how much of a practical difference it will make though, OTOH the higher TDP of the A12Z will help a lot with sustained performance for heavier workloads, alongside the extra cores.
 
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rui no onna

Contributor
Oct 25, 2013
14,921
13,274
Multi-core makes a big difference in all sorts of things including just surfing. The single-core-is-all-that-is-important thing hasn't been true for a very, very long time now.
Multi-core makes a difference up to a point. It's not like the A14 is a single-core chip. At 6 (2+4) vs 8 (4+4) cores, I expect we're entering diminishing returns territory.

I expect the extra RAM on the Pros is really useful for those background tabs/tasks, though. Gaming is also a win for the Pro.
 
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ScreenSavers

macrumors 68020
Feb 26, 2016
2,125
1,677
Bloomingdale, GA
I bought a 2020 iPad Pro 11” in May, and I’m not upset about it at all. That’s how technology works. Usually the iPhone gets the next chip architecture before the iPad anyway, and that never upsets anyone.
 
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EugW

macrumors G5
Jun 18, 2017
14,961
12,926
I know it's apples to oranges but... to make a point...

I started iOS update on my iPhone 11 Pro Max before I started the update on my iPad Pro 11 (2018). My iPad Pro 11 finished the update WAY before my iPhone did. ... Way... way before - and they both downloaded the update at the same time.
The various iPhones and iPads have different sized updates. My A10X iPad Pro actually took longer than my wife's A10 iPad. I note that the update on the iPad Pro was much larger.
 
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Moyapilot

macrumors regular
Aug 14, 2015
248
246
I'm very glad that they made the air as powerful as they could make it, but I feel the frustration of iPad 2020 owners

The a14 has a single core speed of around 1600 versus about 1100 for the pros. That will definitely be noticeable in certain scenarios. Multicore is about 600 points faster for the pros however.
 
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rui no onna

Contributor
Oct 25, 2013
14,921
13,274
I'm very glad that they made the air as powerful as they could make it, but I feel the frustration of iPad 2020 owners

The a14 has a single core speed of around 1600 versus about 1100 for the pros. That will definitely be noticeable in certain scenarios. Multicore is about 600 points faster for the pros however.
1100 vs 1600 ~= 45% increase

4600 vs 4000 ~= 13% decrease

Honestly, I doubt most people will notice a 10-15% difference. A14 likely uses less power, too, while delivering similar or better performance (not counting the GPU at least).
 
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Moyapilot

macrumors regular
Aug 14, 2015
248
246
1100 vs 1600 ~= 45% increase

4600 vs 4000 ~= 13% decrease

Honestly, I doubt most people will notice a 10-15% difference. A14 likely uses less power, too, while delivering similar or better performance (not counting the GPU at least).
So would it be reasonable to assume that for most operations, the A14 CPU gets the win?

The crazy part about this whole thing is that the A14 could have been a lot more powerful if Apple wanted. They used a significant portion of the die realestate for a 2x faster neural engine. Not sure IOS even uses that chip very much other than for photo/video editing software? Not sure really where they will go with this.

The 5nm process is a huge deal it seams.
 
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rui no onna

Contributor
Oct 25, 2013
14,921
13,274
So would it be reasonable to assume that for most operations, the A14 CPU gets the win?

The crazy part about this whole thing is that the A14 could have been a lot more powerful if Apple wanted. They used a significant portion of the die realestate for a 2x faster neural engine. Not sure IOS even uses that chip very much other than for photo/video editing software? Not sure really where they will go with this.

The 5nm process is a huge deal it seams.
Probably yes if you can actually notice the difference. :p

Honestly, most of the time my bottleneck is the internet connection rather than CPU.

That said, I always appreciate improved efficiency.
 

Ethosik

Contributor
Oct 21, 2009
8,144
7,119
Its not just all about the CPU. The pros also have more storage, higher refresh rate, more RAM and more. Does the extra refresh rate also help with the pencil too?
 
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