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Comment by giancarlostoro | Hacker News Reader

Call me crazy, but I want all that power in a 7" tablet. I like 7" tablets most because they feel less clunky to carry around and take with you. Same with 13" laptops, I'm willing to sacrifice on screen real estate for saving myself from the back pain of carrying a 15" or larger laptop.

Some of this is insanely impressive. I wonder how big the OS ROM (or whatever) is with all these models. For context, even if the entire OS is about 15GB, in order to get some of these features locally just for an LLM on its own, its about 60GB or more, for something ChatGPT esque. Which requires me to spend thousands on a GPU.

Apologies for the many thoughts, I'm quite excited by all these advancements. I always say I want AI to work offline and people tell me I'm moving the goalpost, but it is truly the only way it will become mainstream.

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I've been using the iPad Mini for years.

I'd love to see them add something to that form factor.

I do see a lot of iPad Minis out there, but usually, as part of dedicated systems (like PoS, and restaurant systems).

On the other hand, I have heard rumblings that Apple may release an even bigger phone, which I think might be overkill (but what do I know. I see a lot of those monster Samsung beasts, out there).

Not sure that is for me. I still use an iPhone 13 Mini.

I suspect that my next Mac will be a Studio. I guess it will be an M4 Studio.

I loved my ipad mini. It's super long in the tooth now, and I was hoping to replace it today. oh well...

I wish they would stop doing this weird release cycle where some of their tablets don't get the updated chips. It's really frustrating. Makes me hesitant to buy a tablet if I feel like it could get an upgrade a week later or whatever.

It certainly seems less than ideal for pro/prosumer buyers who care about the chips inside.

I would guess that Apple doesn't love it either; one suspects that the weird release cycle is at least partially related to availability of chips and other components.

I probably would have pulled the trigger on a price drop, but at 600+eur for an old version, I'm just not as into that, as I really expect it to be lasting many years.

I was ready to buy one today, too. Disappointing.

I miss my old iPad mini 4. I guess I could try the 11" iPad, but I think I'd prefer it to be smaller.

Yeah, We've got a full sized iPad here and it's really strange to hold and use. It's all what you're used to.

I wanted to buy a Mini, but they had not updated the processors for them when I was buying, and they cost way more than a regular iPad at the time, I wanted to be budget conscious. I still sometimes regret not just going for the Mini, but I know eventually I'll get one sooner or later.

You know whats even funnier, when the mini came out originally, I made fun of it. I thought it was a dumb concept, oh my ignorance.

I have an iPad Pro 13", and never use it (It's a test machine).

I use the Mini daily.

It's a good thing they made the Pro lighter and thinner. May actually make it more useful.

I have access to multiple iPad sizes and I personally only use the mini. Is almost perfect. Last year of its long life cycle you start to feel the age of the processor but still better than holding the larger devices. Can’t wait for it to be updated again.

If your back is hurting from the ~1lb extra going from 13" to 15", I would recommend some body weight exercises. Your back will thank you, and you'll find getting older to be much less painful.

Regarding a small iPad, isn't that the iPad mini? 8" vs 7" is pretty close to what you're asking for.

I highly recommend doing pull-ups for your posture and health. It was shocking to me how much the state of my spine improved after doing pull-ups as a daily exercise.

set and rep protocol?

I just have a bar in my apartment in a doorway. Sometimes when I walk by I do 3 - 8 pull ups, then go on my way. Do that a few times a day and you’re doing pretty good. Sometimes I’ll do a few L pull ups as well.

If I’m doing pull ups in the gym I’ll do 3 sets of 7. That’s the most I can do at the moment.

The average HN based-boy apple user has almost negative arm strength. You're asking them to start with pull ups? They need to be able to do a real push-up first!

> Call me crazy, but I want all that power in a 7" tablet. I like 7" tablets most because they feel less clunky to carry around and take with you.

iPhone Pro Max screen size is 6.7" and the the upcoming iPhone 16 Pro Max is rumored to be 6.9" with 12GB of RAM. That's your 7" tablet right there.

The thing is - You're an extreme edge case of an edge case. Furthermore, I'm guessing if Apple did roll out a 7" tablet, you'd find some other thing where it isn't exactly 100% perfectly meeting your desired specifications. For example, Apple is about to release a high powered 6.9" tablet-like device (the iPhone 16 Pro Max) but I'm guessing there's another reason why it doesn't fit your needs.

Which is why companies like Apple ignore these niche use cases and focus on mainstream demands. The niche demands always gain a lot of internet chatter, but when the products come out they sell very poorly.

> Call me crazy, but I want all that power in a 7" tablet

Aren't phones getting close to 7" now? The iPhone pro is 6.2", right?

Yeah, big phones have become the new small tablet.

https://phonesized.com/compare/#2299,156

Take away the bezels on the tablet and there's not a lot of difference.

I'm not a huge fan of it, but yeah they are. I actually prefer my phones to be somewhat smaller.

Biggest difference is aspect ratio. Phones are taller and less pleasant to use in landscape, tablets are more square and better to use in landscape.

You could technically make a more square phone but it wouldn’t be fun to hold in common positions, like up to your ear for a call.

I’ve got an iPad mini. The main issue is the screen scratches. The other main issue is the screen is like a mirror, so it can’t be used everywhere to watch videos (which is the main thing the iPad is useful for). The third main issue is that videos nowadays are way too dark and you can’t adjust brightness/gamma on the iPad to compensate.

(Notice a theme?)

search amazon for matte glass screen protectors. thank me later

How does one differentiate between cheap and good products? How do I know they actually work? How does one know they don‘t destroy the coating on apple devices?

Apple doesn‘t even sell an official matte screen protector last I checked.

I buy the cheapest. Have for years. no issues ever

> I always say I want AI to work offline

I'm with you, I'm most excited about this too.

Currently building an AI creative studio (make stories, art, music, videos, etc.) that runs locally/offline (https://github.com/bennyschmidt/ragdoll-studio). There is a lot of focus on cloud with LLMs but I can't see how the cost will make much sense for involved creative apps like video creation, etc. Present day users might not have high-end machines, but I think they all will pretty soon - this will make them buy them the way MMORPGs made everyone buy more RAM. Especially the artists and creators. Remember, Photoshop was once pretty difficult to run, you needed a great machine.

I can imagine offline music/movies apps, offline search engines, back office software, etc.

I am not a large person by any means, yet I have no problem to carry a MBP 16...But then I have a backpack and not a messenger like bag, which I would agree, would be a pain to carry.

You can’t have all that power in a 7” tablet because the battery will last half hour.

Well, maybe. The screen (and specifically the backlight) is a big drain. Smaller screen = less drain.

The next iPhone pro max will be 6.9 inches

That fits all your wants

a 7" tablet was a really cool form factor back in the day when phones were 4".

but when 6.7" screens on phones are common, what really is the point of a 7" tablet?

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