razmataz

Rayz2016 said:

elijahg said:

It’ll be interesting to see whether Apple reduces the price of the Macs to correspond to the much cheaper ARM CPUs, I bet they won’t. 

Wouldn't have thought so. 

With Intel, Apple didn't have the R&D costs associated with building its own processor. Now that they're doing the processor themselves, this won't make things necessarily cheaper. Bear in mind that these ARM chips aren't actually ARM. They're  custom-designed silicon from the ground-up that just happens to run the ARM instruction set, and have been crafted to bleed the last iota of performance out of MacOS/iOS. Apple will use every trick in the book to surpass what they had with Intel.

Well, if the rumor is correct (big if) then they aren't going after the Intel high end at first since they are aiming for the lower end Macs. And, unlike Intel, what would be the rush for Apple to invest early in user IPs such as PCIe 5.0 if they integrate the GPU and do something for solid state storage. Apple already architects their own ARM SOCs on rather powerful iPads, lots can be leveraged from that without adding so much cost. If you time it right, you can buy a very good iPad for $300 these days, with a decent processor and a tremendous screen. So it is not a stretch to think they could do better on the Mac price. But I also don't expect prices to be reduced, one of the goals is probably to increase margins to sustain the valuation of the company even though the Mac business doesn't seem so big. The ever rising iPhone prices do a better job of achieving that.

I can't help but think one of the main goal is to gain substantial battery life and better cooling solutions. In turn this will improve the form factor a lot. Then throw in lots of hardware IP to give it an edge over the competition which will require years of standard deliberation to come to similar solutions that are universal and necessarily more complex. I see Windows as the Swiss Army knife of computers, whereas Apple aims to do the mainstream simpler and usually gets there faster. The possibilities are endless with their kind of resources.

 

I’ve recently bought an iPad Pro 64GB 3rd gen (I use cloud storage, 64GB is plenty) and an Apple Pencil 2. I’m still learning the ropes. I’m not an artist, my goal is to save time and lots of it. My main purpose is for note taking, documentation that I need to generate for math, simple engineering diagrams (not CAD level). Proper pen computing could save hours of typesetting while not limiting myself to the formatting mindset of a text editor or some form of word processing. The amount of time I feel I’m wasting typesetting equations, drawing some simple schematic in tools like Visio, plotting, etc. makes me feel unproductive. A means of pen(cil) expression would be a boon. I’ve absolutely no need for a keyboard with this beautiful tablet. If my comment is long it is because I’m hoping someone knows a solution to some of the limitations I am facing. This is my second foray into Apple Pen(cil) computing, I was profoundly disappointed with the fully maxed out Apple Newton I got in the late 90’s. It just was not there yet, the lag was pathetic, and even worse the recognition when left handed. It is one of the few tech products I literally tossed in the bin out of pure frustration. But that’s a long time ago. Unfortunately Apple had made little effort until recently and I looked elsewhere in the meanwhile. Over the years I’ve seen some great active pen solutions on Microsoft platforms and Wacom, but there were lag limitations and early Windows Tablet OS was clunky. But today full fledged Microsoft OneNote and xThink MathJournal (and Calculator) are great tools if you are willing to invest a bit of time learning them. But still modern solutions do not come in a hardware format as portable as an iPad. Although some of the current laptops are getting closer and closer each year (HP Specter x360 is pretty sweet to use, some Chromebooks seem to be heading in the right direction too but I’m not in a position to comment). On a tablet I’ve even seen surprisingly a good and cheap “capacitive” software solution with very minor lag and great palm rejection on the NVIDIA Shield Tablet 1st gen. But ultimately it is not an active pen and more importantly the screen was just too small for proper note taking. So it was of limited use for me beyond My Script Calculator and the pen keyboard. And then the second gen tablet came out without an included pen. Samsung has something but I feel it is awkward, slowly supported and their version of Android just confuses me. Believe it or not, I prefer the flexibility of Android over iOS (I know, I’m a heretic saying that here) but that is definitely not true of Samsung’s version of Android. The second gen iPad Pro was tempting but the storage and charging of the original Pencil looked just awful to me (very un-Apple, it does not follow their modus operandi of making things better than the competition which already had better solutions at the time). Then came the third gen with a much smaller footprint, still a great screen size all while having a proper charging and a trivial pairing solution. The hardware aspect is there except having to own a case that exposes the metal sides to scratches, mine issue is very similar to the reviewer’s gripe. To me the storage of the Pencil is not an issue, I just buy a case with a small stretchable pouch where I can slide the pencil in. What finally convinced me to get this generation are some of the great reviews I saw on note taking from medical students. A lot of what they need to write is not easily achieved with traditional text editing and they seem to need a proper pen solution as much as I do. But in retrospect I’m finding my demands to exceed theirs and the iPad is coming short (although I am definitely keeping it). On the note taking side I’ve found the iPad Pro meets my requirements for meeting notes or simple thought exploration. I bought the bundle of MyScript Nebo and MyScript Calculator on the App store. It automatically recognizes hand writing, does math typesetting, I can draw simple hand diagrams that automatically get formatted, I can search handwritten text, it works well in multiple languages (English and French work well in my case), etc. But I haven’t found a nice way to convert handwritten tables, plot a graph, solve for a simple variable, or go beyond basic shapes in the diagrams. And despite my best attempt I can’t seem to embed an object into another object (such as math equation into a diagram). It also needs a lasso mode and simple actions like object deletion without going through drop down menus. Exporting to other formats could be more friendly. I also found their tech support to be a bit curt. The price of the app bundle is amazing and just for the meeting note taking with this tool makes the iPad worth it to me. But I don’t see MyScript having enough resources to revamp their tool to the next level, it even feels like they are reducing their portfolio of apps (music anyone?). Beyond note taking in meetings what I need is something like the full blown MS OneNote app with the full glory of its handwriting recognition, math equation solving, plotting, etc. I’m an Office 365 subscriber, I don’t want a gimped free app, last I tried Ink-to-Text does not work and have found no evidence that it now does. Has this changed? I don’t know how easy it would be for them to have this (do the need some Ink libraries that don’t exist on iPad?), or if the issue is the dichotomy between Office on screen 10.1 inch smaller or bigger which breaks down on the iPad 12.9 but I need such an app to meet most of the current shortcomings and clearly I’m willing to pay. Basically I want a pro documentation App for an iPad Pro device. There are places where Apple falls short with the Pencil. The Notes app is a toy for the Pencil. Perhaps because Notes long precedes the Pencil in existence but the Pencil support feels like a third wheel. Apple’s quality app absence would be fine if there were better third party tools. Sure there is Evernote, Notability, etc. but they seem to be better designed Notes and still fall short of Nebo which is still not enough. Grafio 3 would be a good first step for diagrams but it needs an overhaul for Pencil, and then some. If it is the high cost of development then Apple could amortize a proper app within the exorbitant price of the Pencil 2, but that does not strike me as the Apple way. It does seem that Apple has some form of basic writing recognition but it does not look ready yet (for example when Notes fishes out an automatic title for your new document it is amateur hour for recognition). I’ve no indication that this will improve, so I’m not holding my breath on that. Then the double tap to switch between erase and writing was nice at first glance but I think this was done by someone that did not use the product they made in all of its intended contexts. For note taking purposes it works if your goal is to check out the feature, but not if you are using it in practice. I often myself pausing after erasing something and when I later resume I invariably forget what mode I was in and often start writing with erase mode on. Frustrating having to restart. Outside of artistry I think the scratch erase method and text insertion found in Nebo is much better (double tap is a needless extra step for erasing notes). And scratch out concept works in every environment with any brand pen with no special hardware, unlike double tap. I’d even prefer having to flip the pen to erase over the double tap approach as I know which mode I’m in without diverting any attention elsewhere (IF I were to remember). Scratch out is my favorite and actually beats physical pen(cil) and paper. Otherwise the Apple Pencil 2 itself is extremely responsive, palm rejection is flawless where I’ve tried it, and the processor speed means no lag in most apps. I’d like Pencil 2 to be hexagonal like a typical pencil but I suspect that the issue is only one side would be best for the charge port, a hex would complicate connecting it. Having one flat edge eliminated the problem while similarly giving an explicit location for the double tap. But the uncomfortable feeling that is slowly sinking into me is that only Microsoft has a large enough user base to justify a powerful Pro pen documentation tool that has all the bells and whistles with few limitations. And it took them more than decade to get this (mostly) right. How important is this to Apple? Even on their Pencil totem pole it seems third in importance to photo editing, artistry which are always mentioned (i.e. what some people too narrowly call “creative work”). My only hope is that there is an Apple desire to make a dent in the growing Chromebook presence in the classroom to achieve this, I can see that market being big enough. But they would need to achieve this before Google does it. And even then I think Microsoft already has two tier pricing for Office on Chromebooks on larger screens (10.1), so that removes one of my perceived barrier to OneNote. In short I don’t think the limitations on the iPad Pro are technical, perhaps just something not worth pursuing? With Google seemingly yielding to Apple on tablets I’m dearly wanting for Apple to come through here (again I don’t care for Samsung’s subpar software work here, there is a point where it doesn’t matter how incredibly beautiful the physical device is). Outside of Pro documentation usage I want Pencil to come to more apps. I’d love to do my favorite crosswords with Pencil, make me forget I am using a tablet. I think there is more chance of that happening. Finally on a device as large as an iPad pro 12.9 without a keyboard or mouse make the pencil is very useful even in simple scenarios, the long device has far more reach than any of my fingers. The fact that it does not include tips ? That was a good thing for me. I went and bought a “like new” unboxed Pencil 2 on eBay for I price I could agree to and I’m not missing anything. Works like a charm and I don’t see myself needing a replacement tip anytime soon. Let me buy tips separately and share some with someone else if need be. The missing tips probably affect the “creatives” much more. This Pencil should not cost more than a high end Wacom pen (and for my use more than an N trig). Outside of Pencil usage the iPad 12.9 is an absolutely beautiful device. Textbook reading is just simply amazing (even without a Pencil), the only thing that I could see beat it is an e-reader device with an equally large screen, with full color e-Ink and similar resolution, a powerful processor and a better battery life. The iPad exists now, I don’t think the other device is even contemplated by anyone. Qualcomm Mirasol gave me hope for a while but that is long dead. That alone makes the 12.9 iPad a gem, this device will last me a very long time. Again if anyone has a good suggestion for a documentation handwriting app with fast recognition, math typesetting, powerful diagramming, table making, handwriting search, etc. please chime in. Something beyond Nebo’s concept. I’ve real use for this, I’ll be extremely happy to learn I missed something or to learn I’ve got it wrong.