nubus

Luis.A.Masanti said:

2— As far as I know… a public traded company has the obligation to get the best… revenues… to its shareholders.
Where comes the fact that tha Judge asks to ’protect’ developers' revenues?

Investors have the right to be heard (voting) and the board is in control, but investors don't want only profit. Apple installing a local fossil fuel plant at Apple Park and doing "100% recycled materials" isn't revenue maximizing. Offering discounts to all students isn't only about getting young people hooked on the devices - then the discount would be for all young people. The board could move all production back to the US.

Marvin said:

nubus said:

discountopinion said:

Woah.. NPU in M4 seems to be 2x of TOPS than M3... Memory bandwidth is also up 20%. GenAI here we go.

Can't wait to see an Ultra or Extreme version of this baby.

M4 is delivering A17 Pro (2023) level NPU performance. Is it enough for 2024/2025 outside iPad Pro? Intel Lunar Lake is aiming for 45 TOPS. Will M4 Pro and Max deliver more?

The TOPs numbers are not quoted the same way by different manufacturers. If they use INT8, they can double the number over FP16, if they use INT4, they can quadruple the number.

Snake oil is everywhere in the AI race. Just 2 months ago MBA 13 launched as "best consumer laptop for AI" with 18 TOPS. Microsoft is demanding 40 TOPS. Intel, AMD, and Qualcomm all plan for 42-45. Are all TOPS the same... clearly not as INT8 TOPS require more memory. Is MBA capable of delivering 18 INT8 TOPS with just 8 GB? And for how long?

If Apple is designing for 37 TOPS then iPhone 15 Pro and M4 are the only products to deliver. Based on transistor count the M4 is M3.5. Is it enough? We simply don't know, but that is part of what makes this interesting. I would love for Apple to be at the front but at least the company is able to move very, very fast. There are great articles, products, and discussions ahead.

canukstorm said:

With the improved base storage, M2 and landscape camera (finally), the new iPad Air is a great value.

Air is the only option if you want a better display than iPad 10. Now the gap just increased by another $100. That is a big step up for what is mainly a musclePad with a really big CPU and not much else. Do most users really need M2 in such a device? And iPad is the only portable device that can't use MagSafe + iPad Air is still not getting Face ID. 

discountopinion said:

Woah.. NPU in M4 seems to be 2x of TOPS than M3... Memory bandwidth is also up 20%. GenAI here we go.

Can't wait to see an Ultra or Extreme version of this baby.

I'm really surprised that Apple decided to launch M4. M3 with support Tandem OLED could have worked.
M1 to M2 and M2 to M3 were both exactly +25% in transistor count. M4 is a +12% bump and feels like a M3.5.

M4 is delivering A17 Pro (2023) level NPU performance. Is it enough for 2024/2025 outside iPad Pro? Intel Lunar Lake is aiming for 45 TOPS. Will M4 Pro and Max deliver more? With M4 on TSMC N3E the power consumption and performance could be worse than M3. It is however fantastic to see it this soon. Clearly this in not the time to buy a MBP, Studio, or Mac Pro.

danox said:

And there are still many people even today who still say Apple should go cheap to pick up marketshare......

Apple should go lower to sell more devices. To sell into markets where people aren't either white or rich and way too often a combination. To let kids and elderly have access to a device that isn't riddled with malware. And... to sell services, AirPods, family subscriptions, cases etc. as the total value of the customer isn't limited to the cost of a single device.

And Apple should go higher. Perhaps make some colors more expensive like the current MBP and the former black iBook. Give it 24 GB RAM or something that doesn't require a lot of R&D.