Re:iPad Pro M1
by enos_feedler on Tuesday April 20, 2021 @04:06PM
(#26880784)
If ipad’s limitations were arbitrary they wouldn’t exist. The product design is shaped by the use cases it optimizes for. This is no different than saying a GPU has arbitrary limitations for running general C++ code. In some sense yes, you could make a single thread c++ compiler target the GPU, but 1) it wouldnt fit the design well and 2) changing the design to make it work well would mess up the original intended use case.
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The limitations were born of hardware weaknesses when mobile devices were brought to market. The do seem arbitrary now, but they made sense 10 years ago. Those hardware weaknesses are long gone (it's not just Apple Silicon that is blazing fast in ARM land). Maybe it's time to rethink the whole mobile OS thing.
That's fair, arbitrary wasn't the right word. They were chosen for the use case of a smart phone, not a general purpose computer. People pretending that they are reasonable for a general purpose computer are missing the boat IMO.
But some things are arbitrary. For example, only allowing one web browser engine is 100% arbitrary (or worse, an abuse of monopoly power).
Re:iPad Pro M1
by enos_feedler on Tuesday April 20, 2021 @06:32PM
(#26882779)
MacOS allows arbitrary web browser engines, yet I just use safari. My mac has never felt less like a general purpose computer because of this. How is this related?
I’m a developer that often does web work. I need to test on multiple browsers, which is literally impossible on the iPad for no good reason.
Additionally: I have this beautiful device with great computing power but I can't install my favorite extensions on its browser.
Re:iPad Pro M1
by enos_feedler on Tuesday April 20, 2021 @06:33PM
(#26882792)
Yes those people are missing the boat. We don’t have to worry about them though. Let’em suffer the pain of ignorance ;)