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Desktops (Apple) Hardware Apple Technology

The New iPad Pro Features Apple's M1 Chip (techcrunch.com) 75

Posted by BeauHD from the new-and-improved dept.
At today's Spring Loaded event, Apple unveiled a new version of the iPad Pro, equipped with the M1 chip that was first introduced on the company's Mac line. TechCrunch reports: The new chip sports an 8-core CPU, with performance up to 50% faster than the A12Z Bionic found on the previous generation. There's also an 8-core GPU, which it claims is up to 40% faster. The system can be decked out to up to 16 GB of RAM and 2 TB of storage. The device further blurs the line between the company's tablet and desktop offerings, as well as improved battery life now listed as "all day." The Pro also adds Thunderbolt support to the USB-C, which allows for a number of new features including external display support and wired transfers up to 40 Gbps.

As reported, the new tablet (12.9-inch only for now) features an improved display -- Liquid Retina XDR, according to Apple's marketing terms. Among other things that brings much improved high dynamic range. The display is powered by 10,000 micro-LED. That allows for a hugely improved contrast ratio and 1,000 nits of brightness, without hammering the battery life. The 11-inch version starts at $799 and the 12.9-inch, which adds the Liquid Retina display, starts at $1,099. Pre-orders on the tablets starts April 30 and the product is set to start shipping in the second half of May -- along with a number of other products introduced at today's show.
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The New iPad Pro Features Apple's M1 Chip More

The New iPad Pro Features Apple's M1 Chip

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  • how hard to sideload finder?

  • For a 2021 release the top end specs seem a little underwhelming

  • Like putting gold in an Etch A Sketch (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward

    Like putting gold in an Etch A Sketch

  • The lines are blurring (Score:5, Insightful)

    by hdyoung ( 5182939 ) on Tuesday April 20, 2021 @04:44PM (#61295352)
    The same near-top-line cpu in both tablets and desktops. Its a recognition that the space between a tablet and a full blown workstation isnt in the processor anymore. Its pretty much the size of the screen, and the presence or absence of a keyboard and mouse.

    • Re: (Score:2, Interesting)

      by Anonymous Coward

      Its a recognition that the space between a tablet and a full blown workstation isnt in the processor anymore.

      It certainly shows how far the manufacturers of desktop CPUs have fallen.

    • Re:The lines are blurring (Score:5, Insightful)

      by DontBeAMoran ( 4843879 ) on Tuesday April 20, 2021 @05:10PM (#61295428)

      Everyone was afraid that Apple was going to turn Macs into iPads.
      This makes me think Apple are going to turn iPads into Macs.

      • I don't care what they do with the iPad operating system as long as they fix the god-awful multi-tasking interface. It's the least discoverable and jankiest way to try to do two things at once on a computer. Truly execrable.

        • Re: (Score:1)

          by Ed Avis ( 5917 )
          The obvious thing is to let you link two iPads and use them as a single device, with different apps on different screens. It wouldn't matter if the second iPad just became a slave device showing video and sending back touch events. There are surely those who would buy a second or even third iPad to use it that way. (Not me, but we all like to mock those who buy every possible Apple product, and this would be a good way to milk them further.)

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Tom ( 822 )

        There's still the difference between iOS and macOS and I wonder which way that'll end up.

        • IMHO there is no point in putting the M1 in an iPad if the end goal is not to run macOS at some point.

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by Tom ( 822 )

            Well, that's the question.

            Either iOS evolves into a desktop OS, possibly a crippled one.
            Or macOS evolves into a mobile OS, basically: Same OS under the hood, but different interfaces.

            Or the two merge at some point and become compatible but different "flavours" of the same underlying code.

    • Its a recognition that the space between a tablet and a full blown workstation isnt in the processor anymore. Its pretty much the size of the screen, and the presence or absence of a keyboard and mouse.

      No. Maybe the difference between a tablet and a normie desktop PC you'd be right, but there's a shitton more to an actual workstation than a processor, GPU screen size and input device. Unless you use your workstation as a playstation that is, but even that term has a distinctly high performance meaning these days.

    • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

      by serviscope_minor ( 664417 )

      What do you think a workstation is?? I don't think the iPad can hold a candle to my workstation on you know workstation tasks. It had a weedy little CPU, a weedy little GPU and not much storage. Because it's a tablet not a workstation.

      My workstation has a 12 core ryzen, 64G ram, as 2080 Ti, and a big spinning disk in addition to the flash storage.

      • Fair enough. Yes, if you're a hardcore video editor doing massive rendering tasks, computational engineer, or theoretical scientist, yup you need every bit of power you can get and a dedicated GPU with as many cores as you can afford.

        That's about 1% of the market and, yes, it's a pretty darn important part. And buying Apple for those applications is probably not the way to go.

        For the other 99%, Apple products are great.

        • yep that's what a workstation is for. For me, video editing, deep learning and other miscellaneous computation tasks. My work workstation similar, except not video editing and much more compiling. It's faster than the much newer macbook pro I have for work and importantly doesn't sound like a tornado when it gets under load.

          My 10 year old Thinkpad W510 gets more use because I do more websurfing than video ediing, and the workstation is not located in a convenient place for doing such things casually.

          For th

        • ..., if you're a hardcore video editor doing massive rendering tasks, computational engineer, or theoretical scientist, yup you need every bit of power you can get and a dedicated GPU with as many cores as you can afford.

          That's about 1% of the market and, yes, it's a pretty darn important part. And buying Apple for those applications is probably not the way to go.

          For the other 99%, Apple products are great.

          Actually, to contradict the both of you somewhat...anyone doing serious scientific computation in the modern era will be using a grid somewhere quite distant from their workstation, and can use a fairly low-spec machine on their desktop. I haven't asked a computer near me to do anything tough for nearly a decade.

          Powerful GPUs, big memory and big storage in a workstation are the domain of video editors, gamers and dilettantes.

    • The architecture is the same but the form factor is not. With active cooling, a bigger power supply, and access to bigger storage and more bulky peripherals, the desktop will still be a much more capable machine and have different scenarios for usage.

      • People have done comparisons of the uncooled M1 (MacBook air) vs actively cooled M1 (mini). There were performance differences, but they were surprisingly small. As in "cooling barely budges the needle" small.

        My take is that the M1 is designed around cooling efficiency. If you have hundreds of watts to burn and can tolerate a 12 pound heat sink, go Intel or AMD with a dedicated graphics card. They're designed for that scenario. You'll get more computing power AND heat your room for the winter.

  • Apple Introduces M1 Chip-Powered iMac

    followed almost immediately by

    The New iPad Pro Features Apple's M1 Chip

    ,

    Apple Announces $29 AirTag, a New Tile-like Item Tracker

    followed almost immediately by

    Tile Bashes Apple's New AirTag as Unfair Competition

    , they've captured almost half the front page already. Why not

    This Week's Apple Product Announcements

    , which covers all of that?

  • IOS soon to be merged into osx, with the iPad essentially being a convertible laptop now indistinguishable from a MacBook?
  • If Apple wants their Ipad-Pro to be judged as a computer and not a tablet--then it shall be.
    • The iPad Pro is an almost notebook. Does tablet consumption and basic editing nicely , light, compact. Like a multi tool versatile but not going to beat a specialist tool. Pay a premium but if it fits work flow design does well for its intended use. Wish I could rationalize one. But use a mini for basic tablet most work prefer dual screen and more processing, keyboard , trackball.

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by Anonymous Coward

      You've totally and utterly misunderstood the "pro" here -- the iPad Pro is used by people whose jobs and workflows are enhanced by mobility. Sports coaches. Field engineers. Medics. Artists. Real estate agents. And on and on. They will use iPads to analyse athletes' movements, get an exploded AR view of a machine they're repairing, document wound progression, draw an image on-site, create a floorplan. All of those tasks are much better done with an iPad than with a desktop computer.

      • Re: (Score:2, Funny)

        by DamnOregonian ( 963763 )

        They will use iPads to analyse athletes' movements, get an exploded AR view of a machine they're repairing, document wound progression, draw an image on-site, create a floorplan.

        LOL. You watch too many commercials, dude.

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