Poll: *** The Official 2024 iPad thread (the Pro has the M4 chip and everything!) ***

Which 2024 iPad are you going to buy?


  • Total voters
    91
It seemed an odd choice to debut M4 in the iPad, the hardware that can make least use of the power.

Android is ahead of iPad OS in several ways that I can see (proper mouse support/DEX/multi-window support). If Apple want to sell their hardware at these prices they need to sort the software.
Dex has been legit for quite a while. It is actually quite insane.

Having said that I have no use case which could justify it or warrant it. Other than it new and shiny.

The limitations of iPadOS while aggravating a lot of people actually suits me over say traditional macOS. And even though I enjoy all Mac devices the iPad is the one I reach for the most.
 
It seemed an odd choice to debut M4 in the iPad, the hardware that can make least use of the power.

Android is ahead of iPad OS in several ways that I can see (proper mouse support/DEX/multi-window support). If Apple want to sell their hardware at these prices they need to sort the software.
They get to make use of defective cores from the early use of a new process, they also ensure when they push their AI that more current devices can use it. Makes sense skipping the M3 for iPad Pro also they may not release new ones yearly anymore as they didn't release one last year so keeps it current for longer.
 
I wonder if you guys could recommend 3 things for my iPad setup. A monitor, currently using Samsung Neo g7 which is fine for gaming and it’s not bad but for my iPad I would like a flatscreen at least 32 inches, has usb c charging or a ultrawide prefably 38 inch. In the past I have used LG monitors for my mac stuff. I am a bit out of the loop with current monitors for mac.

Usb dock - there are so many choices but which do you think are the best choices.

Power banks for when I am out and about or away from a outlet.
 
What do you mean by this?
When CPUs are manufactured, they all have a set number of cores. Picking a number at random, let’s say 30 cores.
There will be some CPUs with defective cores. So perhaps they have some particularly bad ones with 20 out of those 30 cores defective. There’s nothing wrong with the 10 working cores so they use those.

There’s some technical term for this.
 
When CPUs are manufactured, they all have a set number of cores. Picking a number at random, let’s say 30 cores.
There will be some CPUs with defective cores. So perhaps they have some particularly bad ones with 20 out of those 30 cores defective. There’s nothing wrong with the 10 working cores so they use those.

There’s some technical term for this.
Would this be like binning like the M4 chips. So the 1tb and 2 tb iPad Pro have an extra core. And the rest that didn’t make the cut goes into the peasants iPad Pro m4?
 
Yes, they do it for their MacBooks too.
I don’t know why but I have always disliked this practice and this not solely Apple. You can bet all chip vendors does this like intel, nvidia etc

Got a skanky core you will be the 4080. Oooo shiny and good core you are now the 4090.

On an off note question. I am sure I have asked you this before like 10 years ago. Are you any chance the Broken Hope of a long since defunct battle field commuinity 50 klicks
 
When CPUs are manufactured, they all have a set number of cores. Picking a number at random, let’s say 30 cores.
There will be some CPUs with defective cores. So perhaps they have some particularly bad ones with 20 out of those 30 cores defective. There’s nothing wrong with the 10 working cores so they use those.

There’s some technical term for this.

Thanks for the explanation but still not sure I understand, to put it in terms I can. Say an engine is supposed to put out 540bhp but it varies slightly from engine to engine during production. Say you then have one out the production line that only puts out only 490bhp. Are you saying Apple would still use this and sell it in a lower-trim version of that same car? Are you basically saying the lower spec iPad Pros are getting chips that don’t work to their full potential and therefore performance is lower?

If I’ve understood correctly that is appalling (apart from a sustainability perspective but even then the consumer should get a discount and be aware)
 
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Thanks for the explanation but still not sure I understand, to put it in terms I can. Say an engine is supposed to put out 540bhp but it varies slightly from engine to engine during production. Say you then have one out the production line that only puts out only 490bhp. Are you saying Apple would still use this and sell it in a lower-trim version of that same car? Are you basically saying the lower spec iPad Pros are getting chips that don’t work to their full potential and therefore performance is lower?

If I’ve understood correctly that is appalling (apart from a sustainability perspective but even then the consumer should get a discount and be aware)
It’s not appalling, it’s normal and is the way semi conductors have been produced since the beginning.

Yields from wafers are not 100%, defective cores are normal. Not all cores are created equally, think of it more like cake baking than injection moulding. The term ‘silicon lottery’ exists for a reason.

Sections of the wafer with defects, have those cores disabled and they are sold as lower tier products.

The more complex the chip, the lower the yields, if you can’t sell the ‘didn’t quite make’ it chips as something else, the prices would skyrocket.

A 6 core AMD chiplet started life with the intention of it being an 8 core, 2 were defective and layered off and it was put into a X600 product instead of a X800 product. An 5600 is a chip that didn’t quite meet the requirements of one that could be sold as a slightly faster 5600X.

It’s actually laptops and mobile which get the best chips. These are the best chips that need less voltage to work for the same speed. Desktop chips tend to be the ones that use more power to get them to work but they have the cooling to deal with it.
 
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If I’ve understood correctly that is appalling (apart from a sustainability perspective but even then the consumer should get a discount and be aware)
There’s nothing appalling about it.

Look at all Apple’s current offerings. You have various core options on everything. All these chips were probably made using the same process. The ones with fewer working cores are the ones that are in the base model devices.
 
People overhyping the M4 based on geekbench again.. what a horrible benchmark. The gains shown on geekbench seems to come mostly from the neural engine test, actual performance uplift is pretty low from what ive seen.

Still though, excited to see these chips and the pro/max variants in the upcoming macbooks. Really hoping for a design upgrade though
 
People overhyping the M4 based on geekbench again.. what a horrible benchmark. The gains shown on geekbench seems to come mostly from the neural engine test, actual performance uplift is pretty low from what ive seen.

Still though, excited to see these chips and the pro/max variants in the upcoming macbooks. Really hoping for a design upgrade though
Can’t see a design change coming personally. The current design is only 3 years old which isn’t a long time in Apple land.
Additionally, I think the current design is right on the money, certainly the best I’ve used since moving to Mac in 2014. Of course the removal of the notch would be nice but it doesn’t bother me day to day.
 
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Thanks for the explanation but still not sure I understand, to put it in terms I can. Say an engine is supposed to put out 540bhp but it varies slightly from engine to engine during production. Say you then have one out the production line that only puts out only 490bhp. Are you saying Apple would still use this and sell it in a lower-trim version of that same car? Are you basically saying the lower spec iPad Pros are getting chips that don’t work to their full potential and therefore performance is lower?

If I’ve understood correctly that is appalling (apart from a sustainability perspective but even then the consumer should get a discount and be aware)
Yep, again they do that for CPU's that can't quite reach certain clock speeds, they will sell them as lower speed versions.

You'd rather them toss a ton of chips in the bin rather than sell them as a lower spec version of that chip?

The consumer is aware and getting a discount, you get the chip you pay for, they aren't misleading you, they state exactly how many cores you get for the price you're paying.
 
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Thanks for the explanation but still not sure I understand, to put it in terms I can. Say an engine is supposed to put out 540bhp but it varies slightly from engine to engine during production. Say you then have one out the production line that only puts out only 490bhp. Are you saying Apple would still use this and sell it in a lower-trim version of that same car? Are you basically saying the lower spec iPad Pros are getting chips that don’t work to their full potential and therefore performance is lower?

If I’ve understood correctly that is appalling (apart from a sustainability perspective but even then the consumer should get a discount and be aware)
The process is called binning or cpu binning, and has been going on for absolutely ages now. Look at all your Ryzens and Intels and their cpu types - rather than throw away a lesser spec CPU they'll sell it at a lower cost and spec for which has been given by the yield.

iPad Pros will be at the top of the M4 fabrication yields, they will be the SoCs that run best thermally and speed wise. Any other M4s will go elsewhere on other apple models as a loose example. Yield from a single silicon wafer is never wasted, any imperfect chips will be used elsewhere.

Ordered me an 13" 128GB iPad Air this time, and have got my 2019 iPad Pro 12.9" going in for a trade in. Also ordered a HomePod Mini to try and play with as I figure it'll be good on my desk where my M2 Mac Mini resides. It should work way better than the Anker Soundcore BT speaker I use.
 
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Thanks for the replies. I used the term ‘appaling’ as I misunderstood the process. To use my car analagy again, an engine off the production line putting out 490bhp instead of 540bhp would be used to go in, let’s say, a BMW M2, whereas one putting out 540bhp would be used in a more expensive BMW M3. What I thought was happening is they still put the lower output engine in the M3 and some poor owner gets a car with lower power output. I now understand that isn’t the case.
 
Can’t see a design change coming personally. The current design is only 3 years old which isn’t a long time in Apple land.
Additionally, I think the current design is right on the money, certainly the best I’ve used since moving to Mac in 2014. Of course the removal of the notch would be nice but it doesn’t bother me day to day.

Me neither which is a shame. By design upgrade I dont mean the chassis, im thinking more like upgraded display to OLED potentially, maybe some extra type C ports - that sort of thing
 
Going to pick up the standard iPad 10 at the new price.

Does anyone have a recommendation for a case that's kid-proof? I don't need any handles or silly characters or anything, but it needs to be fairly rugged to handle the abuse. We also go away in our campervan a fair bit, so being able to survive the travel would be good.
 
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