Pretty much as we expected. \u00a0New thinner iPad, new retina iPad mini, new Mac OS X, new updates to the software all round, speed-bumped MacBook Pros. \u00a0The only real surprises were that OS X 10.9 can be downloaded gratis\u2026and that Apple is still selling not only the previous generation iPad mini, but the iPad 2 as well.<\/p>\n
This is a little strange. \u00a0Sure, keeping the iPad mini as a cheap entry level option is crucial – but it still gets kicked pretty hard by the 2013 Nexus 7 tablet, which brings a retina-class display for $100 less than the non-retina iPad mini. \u00a0But the iPad 2 – a tablet two and a half years old! – for the same money as the retina MBP? \u00a0Is having a display just a hair under two inches larger that desirable, especially when the larger screen has half the resolution?<\/p>\n
Part of the case to be made, I suppose, is that every inch matters (PAUSE) – that a 10-inch tablet is somehow materially superior to an 8-inch version, even with inferior resolution on the 10-inch display. \u00a0And that people are willing to pay the difference, to the tune of even hundreds of dollars. \u00a0I could almost see this working for most Android tablets, given the lack of a real tablet ecosystem and the constant risk that you\u2019ll never get an OS update for an Android device\u2026but then, there\u2019s the Nexus 7 for $229 for a 16 GB (undercutting the retina 16 GB iPad mini by $170) or the 32 GB with LTE for $349 (as opposed to a whopping $529 for the iPad mini-retina).<\/p>\n
And then there\u2019s the Kindle Fire series. \u00a0Amazon has blown off Google altogether, taken the core of the Android Open Source Project and built their own OS around it, with their own media ecosystem and their own app store, and for their trouble they have technically become the leading Android tablet vendor. \u00a0And they\u2019re offering something completely unique in the tablet world\u2026real live remote tech support.<\/p>\n
Basically, Apple\u2019s continual offering of the older version is of a piece with the iPhone 5C or even the iPhone 4S still being on the market. \u00a0There is a sense than the two-year-old hardware, equipped with iOS 7, is good enough<\/em> – basically that the iPad will be replaced on more of a laptop timetable than a phone timetable. \u00a0If hardware from spring 2011 is still salable as new, there\u2019s probably not going to be a whole lot of reason to run out and replace your tablet just because you\u2019re approaching 24 months.<\/p>\n Which is good. \u00a0I\u2019m in very little hurry to run out and buy a new tablet; the old Dynabook is still a complete laptop replacement for 90% of my purposes. \u00a0The interesting question would be\u2026would a free first-generation non-retina iPad mini be a satisfactory alternative? Asking for a friend…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Pretty much as we expected. \u00a0New thinner iPad, new retina iPad mini, new Mac OS X, new updates to the software all round, speed-bumped MacBook Pros. \u00a0The only real surprises were that OS X 10.9 can be downloaded gratis\u2026and that Apple is still selling not only the previous generation iPad mini, but the iPad 2 … <\/p>\n