the SOC is fine. I haven't run into any problems , its running everything just fine. I also don't get the wireless connectivity complaint. The highest selling ipads are wifi only . Not to mention who would want to enter into a 2 year contract on a single device ?
the SOC is fine. I haven't run into any problems , its running everything just fine. I also don't get the wireless connectivity complaint. The highest selling ipads are wifi only . Not to mention who would want to enter into a 2 year contract on a single device ?
Well frankly Apple has sort of painted themselves into a corner resolution-wise due to letting/encouraging app writers to target specific resolutions. Thus, they can only really double/pow2 the resolution of stuff without breaking apps or adding letterboxes. It's clear that the ipad mini is primarily 1024x768 to avoid such issues... it's simply not really an option for them to make it anything in between without forcing apps to be more general (which they should have been from day one frankly).
but they could of changed if they wanted, eg iphone 5 new aspect ratio. bang! take it suckers. now we have 3 different aspect ratios, prolly nearly as many as android has (with its hundreds of devices). I think they done 1024x768 so when they release the ipadmini2 with 2048x1536 everyone goes wow, I must buy this & chuck the mini1 in the bin. Its a sound business decision, not good for the punters though.
according to apple PR it is, opening weekend ipad4+mini == ipad 3 opening weekend
I don't disagree with your assessment that the weekend sales might not overall be as impressive as some might have expected. However, PR from apple stated that ipad3 sales over its launch weekend were evenly matched between wifi only and wife+cellular models. Neither the iPad mini nor the 4th gen ipad were orderable with cellular at launch, which might explain some of the difference. One might conjecture that cellular could be an even more appealing feature on the more portable mini, than it is on the regular iPad, and hence might steer people to alternate makes, or defer until cellular is available.
http://appleinsider.com/articles/12...s-sales-of-ipad-mini-fourth-gen-ipad-reach-3m
"Unlike the third-generation iPad launch earlier this year, Apple just sold Wi-Fi-only models of its latest iPads, and none with cellular connectivity. The company said this weekend's sales doubled the 1.5 million Wi-Fi-only third-generation iPads sold at launch earlier this year."
I think it's pointless to compare opening day sales when everything sells out: it only shows that there's enough demand to sell out the launch stock and thus debunks claims that there's no initial demand.
But it doesn't say a think about relative demand over a longer time period.
But it doesn't say a think about relative demand over a longer time period.
Another thing is that a lot of people bought the cellular model because the WiFi only model was unavailable. They would otherwise never buy the WiFi+cellular version, they just wanted it right then and there instead of having to wait.
Ah but iphone5 only changed one dimension and letterboxes, like I mentioned. It's not so much about ratio as raw resolution... if they were to use - say - 1600x1200 they would need to scale... either scale up the 1024x768 version or scale down the 2048x1536 one (and this thing probably doesn't have enough power for the latter anyways). Now scaling for 3D stuff looks okay, but scaling for text at lower DPIs does not, hence why they are avoiding it. You really need the applications to be able to scale via actually rendering fonts at different sizes.
Silent_Buddha
Legend
Well, finally put Win8 on my slate. Pretty damned impressed. I didn't think anything could make a first gem Atom feel fast, but now it does. Minus the longer program load times, my 2010 Atom based slate feels just as smooth as an iPad. Impressive. And good enough that I can hold out for just the right Win8 slate.
Regards,
SB
Regards,
SB
Silent_Buddha
Legend
I've got an ExoPC slate. It's the only older slate that will support Metro snap, IIRC. IE - 1366x768 resolution. Almost all other Win7 based slates were lower resolution than that.
It's not bad, but it doesn't have a good SSD (hence you get the old 1st gen and 1.5 gen SSD stutters at times. Damn 1st and 2nd gen Jmicron controllers were just poo. And it's capacitive touch only, which sucks (for me), but works fine in the Metro UI and even in many desktop programs/games.
3D performance of the first gen Atoms are nothing to write home about. So it's not the greatest for 3D gaming (low framerates in Defense Grid for example, which is a fantastic tablet game on Steam if you like Tower Defense).
Regards,
SB
It's not bad, but it doesn't have a good SSD (hence you get the old 1st gen and 1.5 gen SSD stutters at times. Damn 1st and 2nd gen Jmicron controllers were just poo. And it's capacitive touch only, which sucks (for me), but works fine in the Metro UI and even in many desktop programs/games.
3D performance of the first gen Atoms are nothing to write home about. So it's not the greatest for 3D gaming (low framerates in Defense Grid for example, which is a fantastic tablet game on Steam if you like Tower Defense).
Regards,
SB
Thanks for info! Thought it might be the HP Slate 500. Capacitive touch only is a plus for me and I could care less about 3D. I NEVER use 3D on my personal device or even games for that matter. I strictly use my personal device for 24/7 Internet access with sites like Twitter, Facebook, Gmail, blogs, forums, short videos(not movies or TV episodes) & occasional simple photo editing etc. I'm interested in Win8 just for curiosity, have no real use for Windows anymore as I've been Linux full-time for 2 years. Games, TV, & movies get used on my Xbox 360 & TV. I might check out the ExoPC to see how much they're going for on eBay.
Tommy McClain
Tommy McClain
Surface Pro prices announced, $899 and $999, keyboard covers NOT included.
These prices seem to be getting a lukewarm reception, following what are said to be poor sales of Surface RT tablets.
Now, this may be the coup de grace:
http://www.theverge.com/2012/11/29/3707716/microsoft-surface-pro-half-battery-life-rt
An estimated 4-hour battery life for the Surface Pros.
These prices seem to be getting a lukewarm reception, following what are said to be poor sales of Surface RT tablets.
Now, this may be the coup de grace:
http://www.theverge.com/2012/11/29/3707716/microsoft-surface-pro-half-battery-life-rt
An estimated 4-hour battery life for the Surface Pros.
Not cheap, but not as bad as it could have been for what is basically laptop hardware/software. The similar Samsung Series 7 slate is >$1k and has a significantly lower resolution screen.
It's a bit pricier than I was hoping, but it's obviously not the same class of machine as the RT. I still think the Surface RT is more overpriced relative to the competition than this one is, although the Asus Vivobook or whatever at $500 is perhaps a counterpoint to that theory... I'm still trying to figure out how that one is so inexpensive.
Looking forward to review on the stylus. If it were a wacom then it'd be predictable, but it sounds like something custom? Could be good or bad...
It's a bit pricier than I was hoping, but it's obviously not the same class of machine as the RT. I still think the Surface RT is more overpriced relative to the competition than this one is, although the Asus Vivobook or whatever at $500 is perhaps a counterpoint to that theory... I'm still trying to figure out how that one is so inexpensive.
Looking forward to review on the stylus. If it were a wacom then it'd be predictable, but it sounds like something custom? Could be good or bad...
Silent_Buddha
Legend
That's not bad considering the Samsung Series 7 which also uses a Core i5 processor get's about 4.5-4.75 hours with a much lower resolution screen (1366x768). If you want better battery life, you'll want to look at the Atom based slates which should get similar battery life to WinRT Arm based slates (as well as being much closer in price to the Arm based slates).
The price also compares favorably to the Series 7. 1,349 USD for the Series 7 with a 128 GB SSD versus 999 USD for the Surface Pro with a 128 GB SSD.
Overall you get more tablet for less money.
Personally I was looking at the Asus Transformer Book since it has the option of an additional supplementary battery in the keyboard dock. Unfortunately, it doesn't appear that it will have an active digitizer pen.
So, I'm back to looking at the Kupa which at least has a 16:10 screen ratio.
Anyway, breaking down the Windows slates.
Arm based slates are more suited to media consumption and casual use, so far. We'll see whether professional apps other than Office get ported to it.
Atom based slates are more suited to media consumption and casual use with light professional duties. I haven't even used my notebook when traveling after getting my 1st gen Atom based Slate. So for the past almost 2 years, my Win7 slate has basically replaced my notebook for on the go computing. It's noticeably slower than my notebook in some desktop apps, but makes up for it in portability.
Core iX based slates are far more suited to media consumption combined with heavy consumer and professional duties on the go. This will be my next slate.
Most people would do just fine with an Atom based slate. And I expect the bulk of Win8 slates (x86 based) sales to be there.
Regards,
SB
Yeah high DPI tradeoff with battery life is a bit of an unfortunate one currently... I like high DPI but not really enough to sacrifice the battery life that it currently costs, so I'm gonna keep waiting a bit longer
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