“Apple has created the world’s thinnest and lightest full-size tablet, the iPad Air. By adding a 64-bit A7 processor, Apple has also made the device extremely powerful,” Tim Bajarin writes for PC Magazine. “This desktop-class processor is already in most mainstream PCs and laptops but for the first time it’s now in the skin of a tablet. After using the iPad Air for the past week I’m convinced it is the perfect personal computer for the masses.”
“When most consumers are at home, the iPad is the ideal personal computer and in fact it has become as versatile as any PC on the market,” Bajarin explains. “My research shows iPads have taken over as much as 80 percent of computing tasks traditionally done on a PC or laptop. While consumers are not ditching their laptops or PCs completely—since they still use them to write school reports, create documents, manage media collections, and edit movies and pictures—it is now only used the remaining 20 percent of the time.”
Bajarin writes, “That could change for those who buy an iPad Air. Now the device has tools powerful enough to handle those heavy-lifting tasks. Given its enhanced processing power and App Store that takes full advantage of the chip, many consumers may find it could become the primary PC in their digital lives… The iPad, iOS, and the more than 470,000 available apps are simply easier to use, less intimidating, and often more empowering than many apps that exist only on notebooks and desktops. The iPad Air is not computing dumbed-down; it is computing simplified. And simple solutions require sophisticated technology.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take:
If I were running Apple, I would milk the Macintosh for all it’s worth — and get busy on the next great thing. — Steve Jobs, February 19, 1996
Related articles:
The Verge reviews Apple’s 64-bit iPad Air: The best gets better – November 4, 2013
Ars Technica reviews Apple’s 64-bit iPad Air: Very impressive – November 4, 2013
Bloomberg News reviews Apple’s 64-bit iPad Air: Hands-down the best tablet on the market – October 30, 2013
CNET reviews Apple’s 64-bit iPad Air: The best full-size tablet, Editors’ Choice – October 30, 2013
AnandTech reviews Apple’s 64-bit iPad Air: In a completely different league – October 30, 2013
USA Today’s Baig reviews Apple’s 64-bit iPad Air: Best of breed, superior to each and every rival – October 30, 2013
Mossberg reviews Apple’s 64-bit iPad Air: ‘The best tablet I’ve ever reviewed’ – October 29, 2013
Fox News reviews Apple’s 64-bit iPad Air: Best in class – October 29, 2013
The Independent reviews Apple’s 64-bit iPad Air: Super-light and most powerful – October 29, 2013
True story! And shout out to Tim, one of the more extremely level headed and classy pundits out there.
I love mine! This is my 4th iPad upgrade. I’m Done. (for a while). This is it. Everything has been addressed.
New stuff will come. You will succumb.
He might be able to hold out for TWO years before upgrading… 😉
My original iPad will be FOUR years old when I finally upgrade! 🙂
Ok, that is one that gets it. Now, we will see how long it take the rest of the lemming herd to see the PC cliff.
Had no idea “most mainstream PCs and laptops” used the 64-bit A7 processor. In fact, I’m quite certain only new Apple devices use it…
I read that a few times, I assume they just mean 64-bit, but it’s a poorly worded sentence.
I’m pretty sure most of the tech industry would say the iPad Air isn’t the perfect personal computer for the masses because most of the critics claim the iPad Air is too expensive for most consumers. Most consumers are not looking for high-end, high-powered tablets. They just want cheap tablets. They’re looking for things like the Kindle Fire HD and such. General consensus says no one wants to pay more than $300 for a tablet. Most analysts are claiming Apple is trying to price itself out of the tablet market so there must be some reason for saying that.
As for heavy-lifting, Microsoft says the Surface is perfect for that sort of stuff and claims the iPad Air is incapable of doing any serious work because iOS 7 is seriously crippled and made for media consumption use only even with a 64-bit processor. Microsoft says simplified means dumbed down. Microsoft believes the more complicated an OS is to use the more powerful it is. It doesn’t make much sense, but that’s what they claim.
This isn’t my point of view. I’m only repeating what most of the industry is saying about Apple’s newest creation. Personally, I want Apple to sell tens of millions of iPad Airs so Apple’s damn share price will go up a few dollars, at least.
You’re as bad as the tech media repeating all the lies they pedal. But you know that, don’t you?
Get real. No one *WANTS* a cheap tablet. Some people have to settle for less.
Yes Dell’s tactics seems a perfect fit for Apple to me too. Oh hang on a moment…
After purchasing mine last Friday, I couldn’t imagine life without it. I’ve already switched some of my magazines over to the iPad. Reading the New York Times and Washington Post is great on the iPad. Going green I guess. Too bad for my friend who I’d pass my old magazines onto. I also like to cook. Nice being able to bring up my recipes on it when cooking. Plus I use it as a portable TV by using the Optimum app. I prop it up right in front of me when I’m cooking or washing dishes. What an incredible piece of technology. Everything is so elegantly done. I just retired my Kindle I got for free from Optimum when I signed a new contract with them a year and a half ago. It’s a real POS compared to the iPad. And the apps on the Kindle look like half baked kludgy thrown together at the last minute knockoffs at best compared to the iPad equivalents.
I was watching Terminator (Salvation) yesterday. At 1:30:00 to 1:30:13 watch what hits the floor after the glass shatters. Complete with the Apple logo too. Not only is it for the masses, it appears to be for Skynet too.
“The iPad Air is not computing dumbed-down; it is computing simplified. And simple solutions require sophisticated technology.”
Jony Ive himself couldn’t have put it any better.
Working on my iPad Air…my son comes down with his Macbook Air asking me to look at something. While poking around his Macbook Air I realized just how good the machine is. Maybe I should have just bought another macbook Air instead of the iPad Air.
Point is, the Mac is still a killer product….don’t kill it!
… the Eight Million players of World of Warcraft need to start looking for another game. WoW can be played on Macs, on non-Mac PCs, and on Game Consoles. Tablets need not apply. Not iOS, not ‘Droid.
True, the game is losing players. In a year, or two, or three?, it will not matter. Will I be limited to iPad Solitaire then?
Sorry, but the key word with iOS is “consumer”. Creators are hobbled in iOS. I wish it was not so, but to claim iOS can do anything that can’t be done better on a Mac is willful ignorance.
…and yes, that includes touch or pen interface.
Excuse me, Wacom makes a beautiful stylus for the iPad that is supported by a plethora of applications. Troll somewhere else fool.
Here’s the link for the Wacom Stylus: http://www.wacom.com/en/us/creative/intuos-creative-stylus
Beautiful piece of technology. If you draw, it’s an absolute must.
Starting to wonder if the reason TouchID wasn’t included on the new iPads is because Apple hasn’t yet solved the multi-user problem…