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Forget iPad Pro - iPad Air 5 is the one you've been waiting for!
Apr 30, 2024
The new iPad Air 5 with M1 is so good, there's almost no reason to get the more expensive iPad Pro. ALMOST.... Watch full episodes of the CultCast at http://watch.thecultcast.com and catch the live show Thursdays around 11:45am PST. Search "The CultCast" in your favorite podcast player for full audio episodes.
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0:00
Let's talk about iPad Air as well, because we got an iPad Air update this week
0:05
And the more I read about the iPad Air, the more I was thinking the iPad Pro, the 11-inch, has become completely pointless
0:13
Like, I honestly don't know why anyone would buy an 11-inch iPad Pro at this point
0:20
And so let's talk about this. So we got the new iPad Air
0:24
And they put the new M-1 ship in it, right? And that, of course, makes it as fast as the iPad Pro
0:30
So now the performance in many regards is pretty much exactly the same
0:35
And I thought we could just talk about the differences now between iPad Air and iPad Pro
0:39
And by the way, this is great news for us, right? Because the iPad Air is only $599 and the iPad Pro starts at $7.99
0:47
So essentially you're getting the pro performance for $200 less now if you want it
0:51
Now there are some differences that we need to talk about. So first and foremost, it's $5.99 for the iPad Air for 64 gigabytes of storage, which, you know
0:59
is not enough. I hate that Apple does this. I think that the bottom needs to be
1:03
128 gigs for all products. 64 is not enough for the OS and for apps and for photos and for
1:11
videos and all that stuff. But that's what they do. The, if you want to upgrade to 256 gigabytes
1:19
storage, it's 749 for the iPad Air 5. iPad Pro 799 for the base model comes with 128 gigs or you
1:27
can upgrade that to 256 gigs for for 849 so it's $100 more than the iPad Air 5 for the same amount
1:34
of storage right and other than that you get Pro motion in the iPad Pro which you don't get on
1:42
the iPad Air 5 but it's like I would argue most people don't need that or would even
1:46
recognize that it's there um the iPad Pro has an 11 inch screen versus 10.9 inches of the regular
1:53
iPad air um now I was going to mention that the iPad Pro get the mini LED display, but that's actually only the 13 inch or the 12.9
2:03
inch display. So you don't get that with the iPad Pro 11 inch. And we don't know when mini LED technology
2:10
is coming to the iPad Pro at the 11 inch. In fact, I just saw a story from MinChi Quo this week
2:15
that said it's not coming anytime soon, like not this year, which is kind of a bummer because
2:20
you would guess that the iPad Pro 13 inch since it got mini LED and up the contrast ratio
2:27
from like 1 to like a million to one. So it makes a big difference
2:31
You would think it would be coming to the 11 inch iPad pro sometimes soon. Not according to Ming Chi Quo So and that I going to guess is due to supply chain problems as well because that seems like a very weird thing to do not to have the same quality screen in both iPads
2:47
You get 600 nits of brightness in the iPad Pro versus 500 nits for the iPad Air
2:54
Not a huge difference. Face ID on the iPad Pro versus touch ID on the iPad air
2:58
Yeah, there you go. That's the, that's the deal right there. Yeah, that's a deal killer for me
3:03
Couldn't kind of live without face ID. Yeah, it does suck not having face ID
3:07
And it also makes it weird to hold the iPad. Like, I was watching a review from Dave 2D
3:12
and he was talking about the iPad Air. And he was like, it's weird because if you don't hold the screen
3:17
at a very specific orientation, like if you're playing a game, then your hand will keep touching the power button
3:23
and the screen will turn off. And he's like, and if you hold it the other orientation
3:29
then your hand is covering one of the speakers. So it's like not the best
3:33
arrangement of buttons. So if you're big into gaming, that might be a reason to choose the iPad
3:41
Pro. If you want to get a 5G connection, then you want to go with the iPad Pro because it's the
3:48
faster 5G, whereas the iPad Air only has the sub 6mm 5G. And then you get a better camera
3:59
on the iPad Pro. But other than that, they're both compatible with the Magic
4:03
portfolio. They're both compatible with Apple Pencil, too. So for me, it seems kind of like a no-brainer
4:08
unless you absolutely have to have Face ID, which I love Face ID, but..
4:15
You can live with that. Do I, yeah, do I do it. $200. And then the ProMotion display
4:23
which if you're an artist, that might be extremely important to you. But if you're not going to
4:27
be drawing a lot on your Apple pen, or on your Apple, or on your Apple iPad, on your iPad Air 5, then
4:33
And maybe that's not as important. What do you think about that? Well, I was looking at the prices here
4:38
I mean, like, you know, the iPad Air, if you bump it up to 256 gigs, you're spending 750 bucks
4:44
Yeah. But you get an iPad Pro with 256 gigs for 100 bucks more, for 849
4:48
Yep. And that was, you know, and I think, you know, for the face ID and for the better screen
4:53
for the Pro Motion, which I think is absolutely fantastic, I would spend the extra 100 bucks
4:57
So it's worth it to you. I would definitely go with a pro, yeah. Let me see here
5:01
There is one other thing that I thought, we should mention. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah
5:05
Now, this next story, I think this is a huge development in the world of iPad
5:10
especially if you want to use your iPad as an actual computer. And I send this over to you El Cated talking about but this could actually make me consider using an iPad as a portable laptop
5:27
Yeah, so apparently floating windows, floating app windows could finally be coming to the iPad, finally
5:32
So iPad users will soon be able to work with applications in floating windows if an unconfirmed
5:37
unconfirmed report is correct. This is a highly requested feature for those who want Apple's tablet to function more like a Mac
5:41
So iPadOS will supposedly offer something like a tablet mode or laptop mode depending on how it's being used
5:49
And so, quote, Apple is developing a smart system for iPad OS claims tips to Marin Boo in a tweet
5:55
Quote, apps will continue to open full screen but automatically shrink when connected to a keyboard and trackpad
6:01
Internally, it's called Apple Mixer, end quote. So Marimbu isn't able to say whether the feature will launch this year
6:11
And he says it doesn't know if it's going to be included an iPad OS 16 or not
6:17
In addition to a keyboard and trackpad, the feature will require one of Apple's more powerful processors
6:24
And he says it could be an M1 iPad exclusive. Oh, great
6:27
But most Apple tablets make that qualification. So that now the iPad Air has got the same M1 processor
6:36
So I didn't actually see this. So this is going to be if you plug in a keyboard and mouse
6:41
the windows will start to shrink? Yeah, so essentially it runs, this is kind of what I've been asking for
6:50
This isn't exactly what I've been asking for, but this is kind of a unique hack
6:54
to make it seem as though you're getting what, well, to make it seem like
6:58
you're getting a computer inside of an iPad because what I actually wanted was
7:02
for some version of macOS to run on the iPad. So you can actually use it like as a real computer
7:08
and not have all of these strange iPadOS compromises for these apps
7:18
they're like we give you multitasking but it's like some weird multitasking it's not the kind of multitasking you've got on MacOS
7:24
right? And like for this like you plug it into a keyboard and instead of having full screen
7:29
apps all the time you can now shrink those windows and you can still see the background on your iPad
7:36
like desktop. So it looks like a Mac exactly so it looks like a Mac and you can have the
7:41
the windows that you can move around, so you can see all your different windows, you could, you could resize them just exactly how you want. Like, that's pretty cool. And I think it would be
7:49
cooler because I can yeah go ahead I can well I can get I you know I I you know I I just kind of I just can you know I don like it either I don like it either I think it a very weird experience and it feels like a compromise
8:06
It just feels like they're trying to give you something that you have on MacOS, but it doesn't work as well as it does on
8:13
Yeah, all these winners keep popping up and, you know, I don't know where they're going. And like, you know, you have to have one over here and one over there
8:18
And you hit the buttons on top. It's better than it used to be. It's a little, it is a little tiny bit more intuitive, but it's not totally intuitive
8:23
Every now and again, like I'll put. two apps next to each other so you drag something across. But it's definitely not like, you know, you can sit down and, my God, you know, suddenly
8:31
you're like you're doing this. It's too hidden. And I don't know anyone who uses it. I don't either
8:36
I know people, there are people who keep trying to tell me that it's possible and that you can
8:40
make it all work and you can use an iPad as your main machine. And I think that's true for certain people
8:44
But the point is, is you really have to try. It's not just something that you can sit down and do
8:49
You have to decide that you're going to do it and then figure out how you're going to actually
8:53
make all these apps work. I don't know why they won't just put MacOS on the iPad
8:57
I really don't know why. It seems like it would be exactly what you would want
9:02
Like you could have the iPad run in an iPadOS mode when you're not using it as a computer
9:08
but then as soon as you plug in a keyboard or mouse, it's like, poof. All of a sudden it just turns into MacOS
9:13
This is going to make it feel like MacOS. I think there's a huge move in the right direction because now you'll have resizable windows
9:20
You can place them wherever you want. You can see your desktop behind you, which is something
9:24
something that I don't know why, but it's something that when I can't see what's going on
9:29
I can't see everything there like I can on my Mac. It's like claustrophobic. Like
9:33
I don't like that the apps are always covering the entire screen and I can't see what's going
9:40
on behind them or the other windows that I want to have open. So I think this would be a really
9:44
cool, a really cool feature. I don't know if this would make the iPad something that would be
9:50
I don't know if I would want to use the iPad as like a notebook replacement
9:55
but this would make me consider it. I would at least consider it. Well, it sounds like it would be, exactly, wouldn't it
9:59
A notebook replacement? You know, iPad plug it in and suddenly it's a laptop. It's a MacBook
10:03
I mean, the only thing is, like, you still don't have a normal file system. You still don't have normal apps
10:09
You know, you don't have normal Mac apps. So there are still going to be some compromises
10:13
I don't know why they don't just put Mac OS. Why are they resisting? Why don't they just put MacOS
10:18
and they'll call it iPad OS hybrid or something. It's like where it's like it has two different modes
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