It’s probably telling that with my laptop less than three meters away, and my tablet’s keyboard/mouse more like seven meters away; I opted to go with the tablet approach.
For sitting on my couch: tablets are generally an ideal formfactor. For being at a desk often the lure of a large keyboard and an even larger display is hard to pass out. But there are times where I’d rather be at my couch just like there are times I would rather be at my desk.
Generally, I’ve found that my laptop and desktop aren’t devices I reach for as often for their form factor as I do for the ease of using an X-Terminal, or simply doing things on it through a glorified X-Terminal and associated trappings. Or for very specialized tasks: because good luck cramming a massive GTX into a tablet, lol.
Considering how much of Edge is Google, and both companies histories, I do find this kind of amusing. Given the isolation it almost makes me wonder if some Googly interface somewhere has changed its response in a funny way, or if a Microsoft change relative to Chromium induces a crashola.
In any case, looks like people using Edge should stop sending their address bar inputs to Google ala Chrome.
While I’d doubt a wristwatch will ever replace a hospital for something like an electrocardiogram: I’d like to think that as far as canaries go an Apple Watch is better than feeding it to the cat.
Coming from a family tree where hearts are among leading cause of death, the health features are about the only aspect of the device I find intriguing. But then in lays the real problem: even if you could convince me to pay that much for a watch the fact remains that I do not want an iPhone to go with it.
Kind of happy to see this. While I don’t envision Apple ever releasing a Mac that both appeals to me, and falls within my price range, I do very much want to see more “Conventional” computers with ARM processors.
Based on my iPad Pro, and nearly a decade of working Android tablets to death, I think the crossover point works. High end ARM SoCs are up to snuff for missions like the MacBook Air and iMac. For the general computing tasks the problem is more that ARM based PCs aren’t really a thing you can go out and buy. Not so much a lack of horse power. The processors kickass at this point.
Rather the main use case I see for x86 in Apple’s world: is for devices like the Mac Pro. Where uncompromising horse power should be what comes along with that absurd price tag. For regular people, we just want our computers to do our job promptly.
And I’m pretty sure that even the basic iPad far out sells the Mac Pro, lol. For better or worse the demand for Uber powerful computers often go hand in hand with the software packages for highly specific and very resource intensive business tasks. Not Joe Blow checking his email or doing office files.
I find this timing a touch interesting myself. Until circa 1998 our family PC was an old Tandy 1000. But it was Web TV that introduced us to the World Wide Web in around 1995 or 1996. It wasn’t that long before this became known as MSN TV, after already getting strong influences from the new corporate overlords.
Actually, I find it kind of interesting that Microsoft was an ISP for a time. In the era between getting our first Pentium based machine, and eventually going to aDSL, they were actually one of the better dial up options available in our area.
The other day, I decided to plug in my old Thor model HDX7, since I couldn’t remember the last time I had bothered to charge it. Was surprised to find it with 6% remaining. But, my relationship with it regarding battery life has been kind of like the Energizer Bunny commercials with “Going, and going, and going”; or whatever it is they use as a slogan. I don’t think I ever managed to really ding its battery, aside from leaving it idle for a couple weeks.
Extra surprising: the last update it got for Fire OS was 4.5.5.3 installed February, 2019.
That’s really not bad for a device I got free from a Dolby developer raffle. Still running a form of Android 4.4/K, but considering the device came out around 2013, and had internals on par with the Nexus of the day—I’d say the little thang has faired pretty well.
I suppose one of these days, I should probably finish turning it into a digital picture frame, or something.
This is an interesting perspective IMHO. Even more so, as a Pro 11 user: who debates a larger model as an upgrade path in 3-5 years. The physical difference between the 11”, and my 9.7” Samsung isn’t big enough to really mind, but the 12.9” is rather heavier.
I kind of abuse my tablets enough that a larger screen is a plus. But my experiences with 12” tablets has mostly been phrased by too heavy, too expensive, and too big to be a main device. But that’s more to do with 16:10. When I saw the 11” and 12.9” models side by side, I kind of decided the aspect ratio made the two iPads close enough in physical screen size, not to care about the greater size, so much as the greater weight to heft.
For me, coming from a Galaxy Tab S3: I found the 11” Pro a pretty safe bet. Comparable enough in size and weight that it shouldn’t interfere with my couch surfing, or being my bench notebook. In practice the difference is minor, just large enough to make a keyboard case a more practical option than before. While still maintaining that near perfect size that 9.7” tablets achieved.
Having a SoC that should be suitable for about as long as the iOS updates keep coming, or until hardware makes a notable difference, I’m also quite thrilled by the lasting power being closer to my laptop’s life expectancy than my tablets. Well, give or take that my true reason for the hardware change was my Samsung’s screen getting cracked….lol.
Something I also like is Ali’s point about the Pro. Because to be honest, selecting the Pro for me, was more about not rewiring all my things from USB-C to Lightning than about the performance jump from an Air to a Pro. Let’s just say, I’m not interesting in the fruity connector instead of what the rest of the world is doing 😛.