Apple's Trick to Make You Pay Twice

There is much overlap in the capabilities of the different Apple devices. Phones and tablets have gotten very powerful, with some of them being as powerful as desktop computers. However, for anything that requires effort, a desktop computer is far easier to use.

I can use my phone to write an email. For a short email or text message, it is convenient. However, long messages take too long to write, and I would rather use a computer.

I have found tablets useful mainly when I was traveling and a portable screen was handy, but my phone is also a portable screen. Tablets are also useful in businesses where a portable screen is necessary.

The Android Tablet Problem

The Android Tablet Problem

This says what I have been saying for a long time: most people don't need a tablet. We have phones with 6+ inch displays that can handle most of our portability needs, and we have PCs with large, comfortable displays for when we don't need portability.

I have seen professionals, such as medical personnel and mechanics, carry tablets with them to do whatever work they need to do. In these cases, a larger screen makes sense. Tablets could also be useful for students who need some sort of portable screen to do their schoolwork.

I feel the same way about laptops. For decades, I have known many people who wanted a laptop instead of a desktop computer, but they really didn't need the portability. They just thought laptops were "cool." However, laptops often cost more than desktops and are full of compromises. The components are designed for portability, which means you take a hit in performance, while the keyboard and screen are far worse than what you can get with a desktop.

Portable devices are also almost never upgradeable, even for things like memory and storage.

If I needed a portable screen, then a tablet would make sense, but I don't. I paid around $420 for a 16-year-old 32-bit iPad, and I never got my money's worth out of it. I still have it, but it is so out of date that it won't run anything.

The best tablets, which cost quite a bit of money, can outperform a desktop computer, especially the ones from Apple, which are almost always more powerful than their Android counterparts. However, who needs super-desktop performance in a handheld device? Only people who do high-productivity work, such as video editing, really need that kind of performance. But for this kind of work, why not use a desktop computer?

The low-end iPad (https://www.amazon.com/Apple-iPad-11-inch-Display-All-Day/dp/B0DZ77D5HL) has performance comparable to that of a good-quality laptop and outperforms some older desktops. For the mundane tasks that most people will perform on a tablet, this is more power than they need. In past years, budget iPads have been discounted on Black Friday to around $220, which would be a steal today. I suspect they won't be quite that cheap this Black Friday.

I've seen budget Android tablets that aren't as powerful, but they are less expensive and still perfectly adequate for basic tasks.

When it comes to Apple versus Android, I definitely prefer Apple's operating system. It is more intuitive, far less complicated, and, in my experience, less prone to viruses. I've seen people get viruses on their Android phones. My past experience with tablets is that I also prefer the feel of Apple devices in my hands. They seem to have a better tactile experience.

Amazon makes the Fire line of tablets. Although they retail for $150 or more, they are often half-price on Black Friday, and I paid $80 for mine. The newer models aren't much more powerful than the 2019 model I bought, and their processor performance is poor. However, they were designed for streaming video, listening to audiobooks, and reading books, whether from Amazon or another company such as Netflix. At these tasks, these cheap tablets work amazingly well. They can also play some Android games.

If I needed a portable screen for watching videos, then a Fire tablet would make sense, but I don't. I found mine useful exactly once, when I took it on vacation.

For basic Internet tasks such as web browsing and email, Fire tablets work, but they are slightly slow.

New Advanced Chip Fab

On Sat, May 9, 2026 at 12:31 PM Larry wrote:

(1401) New American Chip Factory That Terrifies TSMC - YouTube

Processor on my 2009 i7 iMac:       i7- 860

Processor on my 2017 i5 iMac:       i5- 7500K
Processor on my 2017 i7 iMac:       i7- 7700K
Processor on my 2020 i7 iMac:       i7-10700K

The first iMac was 45 NM.  The next three are 14 NM.  

My complaint about the time period from 2010 to 2020 is that advances in processors seemed to be very slow.  The i7-10700K is only twice as fast because it has twice as many cores.  It wasn't until Apple came out with the M1 that we saw a big change.

The Ryzen 9 7940hs processor on my Minisforum computer is 4 NM.  In theory, it is about 60% faster than the  i7-10700K, but I think that the mini-computer thermal throttles.  Maybe the iMac does too, but it has a big cooling system relative to the compactness of the all-in-one computer.

Compact computers tend to use laptop parts.  The "M" in M1 is for "Mobile".  iMacs use smaller versions of memory and storage, and so does my mini-computer.

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Best wishes,

John Coffey

http://www.entertainmentjourney.com

So This is Peak Foldable

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eFUB_jL_XcM

@john2001plus
0 seconds ago
When a phone unfolds from 6.6 inches to 8.1 inches, why bother—especially with a $1700 price tag? Normal phones range from 6.1 to 6.9 inches, which is fine for everyday use.

It seems to me that people want a tablet in a phone, but an 8.1-inch display falls short of my 11-inch tablet.  Maybe the argument is that you can have one device instead of two, but for this price you could get two devices.