Review of the iPad Pro 2018: "What is a computer?"



[ad_1]

  • The 12.9-inch iPad Pro 2018 features the Smart Keyboard Folio.


    Samuel Axon

  • The iPad Pro from 2018, 12.9 inches.


    Samuel Axon

  • The iPad Pro is only one-quarter inch thick.


    Samuel Axon

  • The rear camera of the iPad Pro, with a vertically aligned flash.


    Samuel Axon

  • The Smart Keyboard Folio makes it a laptop, in a way.


    Samuel Axon

  • This screen is huge, which is great for drawing.


    Samuel Axon

Earlier this year, Apple aired an ad featuring a girl using an iPad as the main computer. An older woman asked the girl about her computer and she replied, "What is a computer?"

We laughed a lot about advertising. To begin, an iPad is a computer. But also, the hypothetical future where kids do not even know what a desktop or laptop looks like at best is very far away. Yes, tablets and smartphones have replaced laptops and desktops among a large number of young people for personal uses such as social media, web browsing and games. However, despite some high school students who sometimes write their academic journals on their smartphones, mobile devices are still not the ones where the real work is done. The real work is done on a laptop or a desktop computer.

But Apple has just released an iPad Pro that he has very explicitly positioned as a computer, uh, to do this real job. Really. The "Why iPad Pro" page from Apple says, "Here are some reasons why your next computer might be the iPad Pro."

After using the new iPad Pro 12.9 inches of 2018 for a week, I almost wondered how much the computer is too. This device breaks many rules and challenges some preconceived notions about what a real productivity machine looks like, especially for creative work.

But the iPad Pro 2018 is both impressive and deeply disappointing. It delivers unmatched performance to anything we've seen before on a mobile device. Its Pencil accessory is a really powerful art tool. In addition, some robust applications such as Photoshop and AutoCAD are heading to the platform, challenging conventional wisdom that a tablet should be a compelling experience.

But it became obvious in a day of use that iOS, if not an excellent operating system for phones, is still not designed with this kind of work in mind. Limitations on how the new USB-C port can be used end up compromising the fact that this tablet is a real workaholic.

The new iPad Pro is trying to redefine the computer, but in many ways it looks like a technical demonstration of this redefinition. , not the final product. Despite incredible progress in terms of performance, the software seems to lag behind.

Table of Contents

Specifications

Specifications at a Glance: 2018 Apple iPad Pro
Display 2,388 x 1,668 11 "Touch Screen or 2,732 x 2,048 (264) PPI)
OS iOS 12.1
CPU Apple A12X CPU
RAM 4 GB or 6 GB
GPU GPU A12X GPU
Storage 64 GB, 256 GB, 512 GB, 1 TB
Network 802.11a / b / g / n / ac, Bluetooth 5, GPS, LTE
Rear Camera (19659024), Digital Camera Front End 7MP
Ports USB-C
Dimensions 9.74 "x 7.02" 0.23 "(280.6 x) 214.9 x 5.9mm) for the 11 inch; 11.04 "x 8.46" x 0.23 "(280.6 x 214.9 x 5.9mm) for the 12.9
Weight 1.03 lb (469g) Wi-Fi, 470g with the battery
Cell
19659024] 29.37WHr for the 11 inch; 36 , 71 for the 12.9
Starting price $ 799, plus $ 179 for the Smart Keyboard Folio and $ 129 for the Apple Pencil
Price as revised 1 899
Other advantages Charger, USB-C cable [19659053] We will dig in a moment on silicon (perhaps the most exciting thing about this device). Let's start by deducing other specifications.

Starting at $ 799 but up to $ 1,899, the new iPad Pro comes in two sizes: 11 inches and 12.9 inches. The 11-inch unit measures 247.6 x 178.5 x 59 mm (9.74 x 7.02 x 0.23 inches) and the other 12.9 inches, 280.6 x 214 , 9 x 5.9 mm (11.04 x 8.46 x 0.23 inches). Apart from the size and resolution of the screen, the technical specifications are identical. Both come in configurations with or without LTE support. The smallest weighs 468g and the largest weighs 1.4kg (633g) for the LTE model or 1.39lb (631g) for the Wi-Fi model only.

You can configure them with 64 GB, 256 GB, 512 GB.

or 1 TB of flash storage. Curiously, the developers using the devices discovered that there are two different RAM configurations, and they are not advertised. The configuration of 1 TB seems to come with 6 GB of RAM, but the others with 4 GB – identical to the iPad Pro from last year and the iPhone XS or XS Max this year. Our 1 TB exam unit has 6 GB of RAM. Apple has probably increased RAM on the 1 TB configuration because users who need 1TB of flash storage need it, for example to open large Adobe Photoshop files. More RAM would help that to work well. (A full model of Photoshop will be available on the iPad Pro next year.)

Both units have a number of sensors used for various functions: an accelerometer, a barometer, an ambient light sensor and a three-axis gyroscope. 19659014] The 11-inch model is equipped with a battery of 29.37 watts / hour, that of 12.9 inches of 36.71 watts / hour. Apple promises on these models the same autonomy as that of last year: 10 hours of Web browsing via Wi-Fi or consumption of music or video content.

A12X

The star of the show is the Apple custom system a smart, the A12X. It follows the 2017 A12 iPhones of 2018 and A10X, which were already the best in their respective product categories.

The A12X is the first SoC tablet manufactured in a 7 nm process. This means that it delivers better performance while consuming less energy and taking up less space. It houses a central processing unit (CPU), a graphic processing unit (GPU), an image signal processor (ISP), a neural processing unit (NPU) called by the neural engine, a controller for storage, an integrated memory controller, etc.

The processor has eight cores: four high performance and four high efficiency. Unlike older iPad Pro, all cores can be engaged simultaneously when needed. According to Apple, A12X 's single – core processor performance is up to 35% faster than last year' s A10X of the iPad Pro and the performance of the A12X. multicore processor are up to 90% faster. The company has not been informed of many technical details about the architecture, but a recent recent dip to Anandtech with its iPhone counterpart, the A12, has suggested that increasing cache size could be part of 'equation.

Apple also claims to almost double. last year 's iPad Pro' s graphics performance thanks to improvements made to its graphics processor in the A12X. Thanks to the 7-nm process, Apple has managed to insert another heart into the GPU, bringing the total to seven.

We performed performance tests to verify these claims and found them to be globally true, allowing to the iPad Pro to stand out Some of the most powerful laptops for workstations, including the latest MacBook Pro models.

The other development to note here is that the Neural Engine has arrived on the iPad for the first time. The first iteration of Apple's automatic learning silicon was introduced in the SoC A11 of the iPhone X and a second generation arrived in the iPhone XS, XS Max and XR earlier this autumn. While the A11 neural engine could handle 600 billion operations per second, the A12 and A12X can handle 5 trillion billion. The neural engine contributes to the computer photography features of Apple, to Siri, looking, rejection of the palm when using the Apple pencil, to the face identification, to the reality increased, etc.

The A12X is the most interesting element of the iPad Pro. A much more detailed article in a related article – this article also includes our interview with Apple representatives on the company's silicon strategy.

USB-C

There is only one port on the iPad Pro, but in a large switch from the old iOS device strategy to Apple, it's USB-C, not the owner Lightning connection. This is a welcome change and brings many benefits. At first glance, it seems that we are heading towards utopia without a dongle (or at least dongle-lite) that we have long dreamed of. USB-C means support for a 5K external display, support for a wider range of headphones, support for a USB-C and USB charger. more extensive support for accessories in general, at least in theory. It even means that you can charge devices like your iPhone, an Android phone or even a Nintendo Switch from your iPad Pro.

  The USB-C is here, and it's a welcome change.
Enlarge / The USB-C has arrived, and it's a welcome change.

Samuel Axon

There is no doubt that the port situation of the iPad Pro is now better than in Lightning. But there are warnings and exasperating limitations.

First of all, iOS does not offer file system access for external drives via USB-C. Frankly, it's ridiculous. Yes, applications can access files on external drives under certain conditions if they have been specifically designed to do so, but that is not enough. No device bearing the name "Pro" should be delivered without this basic functionality. Apple has long had a "Files" application for browsing file systems, but that does not work for that.

This is a similar situation with external screens. Yes, mirroring the native resolution of the iPad Pro on external displays is supported at the scale of the operating system. But to switch to display rather than mirroring, application developers need to implement specific support for that. I do not doubt that very well-known and high-profile pro applications will do just that, but it should be built into the operating system, as is the case on a MacBook Pro, for example.

Oh, and the (curiously short)) A USB-C cable that comes in the box? This is the USB 2.0, so it is necessary to buy an extra cable to do all this.

On paper, it seems really exciting that the iPad Pro now uses USB-C. As I said, it's better than the previous situation. But that does not bring the promise that business users projected when they first read rumors that it was going to happen. I'm sure these are all limitations in iOS, not in hardware. Apple could solve this problem, and it may be the case in the major iOS version of next year. But until then, USB-C seems half-used, at least with regard to the specific needs of professional and seasoned users.

This is very disappointing. The USB-C applications here are sufficient for a consumer device such as an iPhone, but the iPad Pro has the appearance of being for professionals who need of these features. If Apple had implemented this solution as desired by the target users of this product, I would have spent half of this review happily sharing all the clever and powerful new things you can now do with an iPad. Unfortunately, these limitations mean that there is not much more to say for the moment.

Listing picture of Samuel Axon

[ad_2]
Source link