• Apple and Mac Discussion
    5,112 replies, posted
Is an iPad Mini worth getting? (i would only use it for games and youtube).
[QUOTE=meppers;45982956]there are lots of phones that have faster CPUs than the A7 in multicore performance, the A7 is only good at single threaded applications. do cell phones still use single threaded applications?[/QUOTE] That's totally possible but yes most applications on mobile do not scale effectively beyond 1 thread, 2 in heavier applications like Photoshop Touch or iPhoto. That's why Apple hasn't shifted to quad core. It's not a die area or cost thing, A5X shows they don't care about that. Single thread is the primary driver of performance. I would imagine Exynos 5430 is probably faster in multicore but it doesn't translate into the real world. Implementing multithreading is still an issue in the PC world to an extent still.
[QUOTE=robotman5;45983108]Is an iPad Mini worth getting? (i would only use it for games and youtube).[/QUOTE] The mini with retina totally is. Avoid the regular mini at all costs, it has iPad 2 hardware and it shows. I would still wait for them to refresh the iPads, November is coming up soon.
[QUOTE=meppers;45982956]there are lots of phones that have faster CPUs than the A7 in multicore performance, the A7 is only good at single threaded applications. do cell phones still use single threaded applications?[/QUOTE] From what I've seen is that most applications use 1 thread for UI Rendering and interaction and 1 for Application logic.
[QUOTE=Kaabii;45981342]Yeah but those sorts of phones are slow devices that developers don't care about. You frequently run into [URL="http://gameovenstudios.com/bounden-on-android-delayed/"]hardware fragmentation[/URL] with cheaper devices, which is an even bigger issue with Android than software fragmentation because it's not just confined to the low end.[/QUOTE] They will have to care about those devices, because Google wants to make on them another bilion users on world. Idea behind Android One is giving cheap good phones to markets like India or Africa. Also, Android Kitkat and L is better on low end devices and is not sluggish like before. Imagine that just 1/5 of India buys cheap Android One phone. thats 254 MILIONS phones. Thats alot of people, that could spend that one dolar or two on app here and there if they want to do that for fun. [QUOTE=Kaabii;45983208]That's totally possible but yes most applications on mobile do not scale effectively beyond 1 thread, 2 in heavier applications like Photoshop Touch or iPhoto. That's why Apple hasn't shifted to quad core. It's not a die area or cost thing, A5X shows they don't care about that. Single thread is the primary driver of performance. I would imagine Exynos 5430 is probably faster in multicore but it doesn't translate into the real world. Implementing multithreading is still an issue in the PC world to an extent still.[/QUOTE] Point of Exynos CPU is not having more cores to be faster, but to have 4 faster cores for stuff like gaming and other important stuff, and other 4 slower cores for more battery doing system "stuff".
[QUOTE=Xanoxis;45983663] Point of Exynos CPU is not having more cores to be faster, but to have 4 faster cores for stuff like gaming and other important stuff, and other 4 slower cores for more battery doing system "stuff".[/QUOTE] and it doesn't really work out like that in reality as much as samsung would want people to think
[QUOTE=.Lain;45984794]and it doesn't really work out like that in reality as much as samsung would want people to think[/QUOTE] How so? Are there any tests? So far what I noticed that Samsung's self-made CPU is better in benchmarks than Snapdragon versions of phone.
[QUOTE=Kaabii;45938242] One final note. There's something I've complained about in this thread, particularly relating to iPads. I don't think this is officially confirmed except via Geekbench so I'm not going to say how I know for certain already, but this thing has not been resolved with the Apple A8 and it's a massive disappointment. [/QUOTE] Are you hinting that the 6 plus won't have 2gb of RAM? That's the one thing that would keep me from upgrading. Though my L925 is really starting to slow down and I don't want to mess with Android again...
[QUOTE=Xanoxis;45986199]How so? Are there any tests? So far what I noticed that Samsung's self-made CPU is better in benchmarks than Snapdragon versions of phone.[/QUOTE] Except it's not a lot of the time. [url]http://www.anandtech.com/show/8296/the-nvidia-shield-tablet-review/4[/url] Tab S is Exynos Octa platform. S805 is what's in the other Note 4. These tests are also biased against S805 because it was done on Qualcomm's dev platform which will do worse in browser tests due to the software. I'm sorry but antutu (where it does do significantly better) is not a valid benchmark. The developers don't document the tests, there's no way to interpret what the hell the numbers mean because they're unitless, and the developers don't communicate. [url]http://anandtech.com/show/7200/the-anandtech-podcast-episode-24[/url] This from 23:30 onward is a good explanation of why benchmarks like antutu, quadrant, etc are not good for comparing different SoCs, or even different generations of the same architecture overall.
Is there really any proper Macbook Pro Retina palmrest guards? The one I ordered a month ago, I tried applying to it but it was thicker than I thought it'd be. I shut the lid slightly and it was touching the display. I don't think Moshi isn't as good as I thought they'd be.
[QUOTE=Fat White Lump;45983593]The mini with retina totally is. Avoid the regular mini at all costs, it has iPad 2 hardware and it shows. I would still wait for them to refresh the iPads, November is coming up soon.[/QUOTE] Ah i will probably go for the retina iPad Mini then.
[QUOTE=robotman5;45987868]Ah i will probably go for the retina iPad Mini then.[/QUOTE] Refresh is in 1 month. Predicting Apple A8 + proper calibration and sRGB from the Mini Retina 2 if that matters to you.
i bought a 13" retina pro with a 128 gb SSD and still haven't got around to getting an external, which i've been meaning to get around to. I've looked around but thought I'd post here for any recommendations requirements: 500GB - 1TB, small (like passport sizeish), just basically portable. affordable would be great too i recall someone posting here about a 1TB external for around ~60 bucks that was fair thin, and small in size but i haven't been able to find the same one oh and if anyone has any recommendations on cases for the 13" retina I'm all ears
pretty much all USB3.0 2.5" externals are a similar size, just get the one that's the best price. I own a WD My Passport Ultra 2TB and it works fine.
Took the dive and bought a 6 today. 64GB, Space Gray. I did want to ask you something about it, Kaabii, since you seem to know almost everything about these things. What's the deal with the internal downsampling, and is that going to affect the user experience? I'm upgrading from a 4S, so anything's going to look better than this, but I do want to know what I'm in for.
[QUOTE=fishyfish777;45991791]pretty much all USB3.0 2.5" externals are a similar size, just get the one that's the best price. I own a WD My Passport Ultra 2TB and it works fine.[/QUOTE] I was thinking of getting the same WD portable external hard drive off Costco for $119.99
[QUOTE=fishyfish777;45991791]pretty much all USB3.0 2.5" externals are a similar size, just get the one that's the best price. I own a WD My Passport Ultra 2TB and it works fine.[/QUOTE] saw some reviews for that and heard it wasn't very good, someone i know personally told me to avoid WD externals too whatever that means any merit to his claims
[QUOTE=lum1naire;45992471]saw some reviews for that and heard it wasn't very good, someone i know personally told me to avoid WD externals too whatever that means any merit to his claims[/QUOTE] I got external WD's for years, and I still have to see a problem with them.
So NFC in the 6 will be locked to use for Apple Pay only. You could've had something good here, Apple.
[QUOTE=Sir Whoopsalot;45993327]So NFC in the 6 will be locked to use for Apple Pay only. You could've had something good here, Apple.[/QUOTE] I never used NFC on my Nexus 5 when I had it, I still really don't see the purpose.
NFC will be nice when you can replace your physical wallet with it. It's just not there yet. Would have been nice to have some of the automation android does with NFC though.
[QUOTE=OogalaBoogal;45993534]I never used NFC on my Nexus 5 when I had it, I still really don't see the purpose.[/QUOTE] The only thing I've used mine for was to read and write nfc cards or stickers for fun.
Public transit cards here use NFC so I use my phone to check how much money I have on it or if my season ticket is still valid. That's pretty much it though. The Android beam stuff is pretty much useless, I just use Pushbullet.
Yeah I use push bullet too because most computers in the world don't have nfc so you can tap and send stuff.
[QUOTE=Sir Whoopsalot;45993327]So NFC in the 6 will be locked to use for Apple Pay only. You could've had something good here, Apple.[/QUOTE] That's a bit disappointing... They could have had something like the Skylanders/Disney Infinity thing, or NFC-enabled Apple Gift Cards, or a way to scan NFC-compatible credit cards into the system... NFC has a lot of uses, why limit it?
This one guy in my class really hates Apple anything. Says Apple anything is shit.
NFC can be used for fun geeky stuff. I have tags around house, one for WIFI password to onetime connect for quests (unless they dont have a phone with NFC :P), one for setting alarm for the morning, one on keys with my contacts so I can easly give all my info to other persons phone contacts, one as gps tag where I live in my keys. I can do alot more, like waking up PC when I wake up by tapping phone to tag near my bed, or changing profiles of phone when leaving to school, work, or just to hang out with friends (each tag with different settings according to where I go). Im not even starting about turning on all lights, tv and I dont know, radio in house by tapping tag when coming home. Or close and open doors. Its all possible. But I really see why Apple dont allow that yet, or never. Its just something that average Joe dont do and probably will never do. Why should he?
[QUOTE=Sir Whoopsalot;45993327]So NFC in the 6 will be locked to use for Apple Pay only. You could've had something good here, Apple.[/QUOTE] They'll probably open up the API like they did with touch ID in a year or so. I guess it has something to do with privacy/security being a core element in the company
[QUOTE=garychencool;45994965]This one guy in my class really hates Apple anything. Says Apple anything is shit.[/QUOTE] There's someone in my class who believes Apple puts something in either the hardware or the OS that makes the battery degrade extra fast over the years and make the OS run like shit on purpose to force you to buy their new phones.
[QUOTE=Sir Whoopsalot;45995100]There's someone in my class who believes Apple puts something in either the hardware or the OS that makes the battery degrade extra fast over the years and make the OS run like shit on purpose to force you to buy their new phones.[/QUOTE] Any mention of apple: it's garbage Any argument of apple: it's a piece of shit No point in arguing with this guy unless any of you want to take a stab at it.
Sorry, you need to Log In to post a reply to this thread.