Hey guys, before we label the ipad as an underperformer, let's wait for OS4? There's about a billion reasons why, architecturally speaking, software written for a 3GS won't run well on an iPad. The whole bus, interconnect, memory controller, etc. has changed. The "SGX is 1.5 times faster" is a bit mysterious too, considering it has 5 times the number of pixels yet outperforms the MBX, isn't it? I'd personally like to know how much geometry it can push purely GPU compared to the 3GS, that would be a better tool (since its unified shader)... but anyway, I keep getting the feeling the iPad was release with a hacked, bastardized version of OS3 because OS4 wasn't ready. It screams it left and right. The biggest thing EVERY REVIEWER criticized was no multitasking; surely Apple would've been aware of that sentiment. The iPad was designed for OS4 was designed for the iPad. I'd like to reserve judgement 'til OS4 arrives.
Sorry but you have to judge a release as it is, not what it could be. If Apple meant 4.0 top go with the iPad they should have waited until 4.0 was ready for release' it's not like they'd lose sales, given the insane amount of fanboys they have.
Personally, I think the release of a dumbed downed tablet running OS3 that didn't utilize its full potential was part of Apple's business strategy. It's been a publized fact that MANY other tablet developers specifically waited to see what apple would put out before designing their own tablet so they could beat Apple's (apple almost literally halted the market). So to deal with this, the released a dumbed down OS. Now table designers have started producing their own tablets with "better features" than apple. Then, this fall, once several other tablets have hit the market and try to compete, Apple will release OS4 and be like, "oh, btw, here's what the tablet can REALLY do." Just speculation though.
I doubt that's the case.. With just about everything Apple has put out there have been competing products with superior specs and features, and that hasn't affected Apple at all. It isn't some master plan, Apple just wasn't ready with the 4.0 OS, that's nothing new if you know their history either. Who's calling the iPad an underperformer anyway? It seems to be selling well. Is it because the app store is moving products much more slowly? That would only make sense, since people aren't going to buy $10-20 games on a whim the same way they do $1-5 games on the phone.
The iPad is underperforming? Do you mean in terms of sales? I would've thought a completely sold out product, even to the extent of causing a month's delay to the international release date, would indicate it was doing quite well
It hasn't been sold out here in Phoenix. I've seen them all week in Best Buy, Fry's Electronics, and a couple of other places. However, given the economy, the price for the iPad, and the fact it's a niche product right now I'd say it did surprisingly well (and this coming from someone who doesn't really like Apple). I want to see what sales are for the 3G enabled version when that comes out.
Publicized where? Most of the tablets due for release have been in development for a long time. You can't just whip one out like it was a cake. The only one that can be considered to have waited, would be google's pad-and even then that's been in a drawing board stage for awhile.
I don't know that they're underperforming, but they're not sold out. I suspect the international release date has more to do with Israel's determination that the WiFi signal doesn't comply with their regulations (Europe's regulations are similar).
Well, it may depend on where you live but they have been sold out by me. I ended up ordering one from Apple and I should have it late next week.
I ordered direct from apple last week and got it in 4 days. They're selling on ebay for 150 over list... some money to be made there.
Maybe that would explain why the Israeli's are confiscating them... http://www.itproportal.com/portal/news/article/2010/4/16/israel-bans-apple-ipad/
Who would label the ipad as an underperformer at this point? It was just released, and the 3G isn't even available yet. I suspect that the only people who are giving the iPad a premature burial are the same ones who have been so negative about it from the start...even before it was released!
Isn't this thread talking about the actual performance of the hardware, and not the sales of the iPad? I mean, both are interesting but I think the thread kind of changed topics. From what I can tell from the little development i've done on iPad, the A4 performs quite well, seemingly a lot better than the 3GS. I haven't done any gaming tests yet though, so I don't have a lot of new info in that area.
The CPU is a lot faster, but the GPU is the same as the 3GS, with 5X as many pixels to draw. So you have to be somewhat careful what you're doing and not automatically assume that everything will be faster. --Eric
Actually, it's surprising that a GPU based on effectively the same line of hardware as the Dreamcast doesn't perform better on the iPhone handsets. I suspect that one of the core differences between the iPhone and the iPad is the size and/or speed of the bus. Being able to better feed the rendering pipeline may very well do wonders for performance.
was pretty underwhelmed after running a test on the iPad, but the 2x iPhone games run great. Unfortunately thats not the point.