Apple's tablets are great, but I think we're just pretty close to the limit for these entertainment devices.

I have a now 7(!) year old Tab S5e that I use to consume media, and it's 5.5mm thick, with 10 hours of battery, a 1600x2560 super AMOLED, and quad firing speakers.

Nothing on the market makes me feel I need an upgrade over what was a $400 mid range tablet, because I have an incredible media experience on all my streaming apps.

I don't know whether to consider the fact that you find a device lasting 6 years an impressive feat as testament to how crappy devices, especially mobile ones, have been for the past decade, or how used everyone is to abandon perfectly good devices just because "it's X years old".

> only specific types of users need a tablet

In my case I use my 8.4" tablet to watch free to air TV with a TVHeadend client for Android (no idea if there is one for iOS.) I run a couple of YouTube alternative apps that Google would love to kill. Firefox. Not much else. It's handy as a portable TV set.

The only Apple product I still have is a 2010 ipad 1. Only use it as a clock, violin tuner, and workout timer, but am amazed it's still going like an old volkswagen.

> The o.g. iPad Air we bought in Nov 2020

o.g. ?

I had an iPad that Appled forced into obsolecence. I had to throw a perfectly ok piece of hardware on the trash because it was madr unusable by the manufacturer. It's the main reason I despise Apple, including its hardware.

I replaced it with a Samsung A7. It's even better than the iPad as I could sideload a manga reader that syncs with Komga, amazing stuff to read manga.

And I can install LineageOS if need be.

Objectively a better choice than iPad for me.

Yeah I soon as I saw the price, this article fell apart completely.

The Neo has a great screen and an older iPhone processor. You can take the keyboard off a Neo add a touch screen but you still have to make a device that fits the battery and has all the same technology. You're back to at least a $600 tablet.

I’m confused as well. Did the author not consider the existing product line? iPads are not that expensive for the base model especially during the holidays.

I think the idea not explicitly said is it’d be MacOS not iOS.

They should rename it the iPad Neo so we don't refer to as "the just iPad" or plain ipad.

You can also buy very cheap laptop prior, but the hardware wasn't that good... Until MacBook Neo came along.

The hardware is great, but it has been crippled by the software. That still makes it a bad product, imho.

Apple hardware isn't exceptional, it's maybe slightly above average, sometimes, and still costs more than it should - even the neo with its paltry 8GB of RAM. Apple has had plenty of hardware problems and design foibles. So many.

Their software is equally average in most respects, and has a far smaller market share worldwide across all form factors they support.

iOS is the reason I'll never own another iPad.

I mean, it's fine that you like it, but "spoilt" seems like an exaggeration.

Google just sucks at this.

The Nexus and early Pixel eras have been a series of weirdly positioned and priced models year after year. Google didn't even bother trying to sell them in more than a handful countries.

Then Google switched to a pretty bad Exynos based SoC and consistently shipped underwhelming hardware at price points aligned with Apple... requiring absolutely insane discounts or promotion campaigns, even at launch. Can you imagine Apple giving you AirPods Pro or a Watch if you buy the next iPhone 18 on day 1?

We've seen things like the Pixel tablet that should have been sold at half its MSRP to stand even a small chance against the iPad.

And I won't even talk of the many hardware issues... my dad's Pixel 7a was fully reimbursed for 25% more money than he actually spent buying it.

They need to be competitive to some degree for the hardware to actually work as a valid reference and explore those spaces. They also need the business to be successful enough to be a proper threat to would be rebellions from the hardware partners. In general, it is about the software.

It's an iPhone Pro Max without the cellular radio!

Not what words mean