An Unreproducible Advantage Hated by the Trolls

One of the cornerstones of science is that the result of any experiment must be reproducible. If it isn't, the test or experiment is considered invalid — an idiosyncratic result rather than an example of the rule.

It is equally true that many of us aren't concerned if our responses don't fall into this reproducible category. We want things that are tailored to us and our idiosyncrasies rather than a statistical average that has been determined to be the rule.

In brief, scientific and statistical validity doesn't make us happy — no matter how useful or necessary it is. Our experiences do.

I was thinking of this the other day as I listened to the subscribers portion of an episode of App Stories+, in which Federico Viticci discussed his own personal preference for iPads Pro larger screen sizes even when there are ways to provide external screens.

Unlike some of the internet trolls who can't pass up a post about an iPad Mini without telling the poster that they are wrong to like the device, Viticci focused on what he liked and why — what made the larger screened iPad Pro the device that was best for him.

I had already been thinking about writing this post when I listened to that episode of App Stories+ and was continuing to mull over it a day or two later as I read the trolls' critiques of people's preferences for the Mini on Threads.

After listening and reading, I wanted to do a little more than just return to the theme of how much I like the iPad Mini’s form factor. Somehow, I wanted to make this post as much about you, gentle reader, as it is about me.

Because YMMV based on your preferences, needs, and pleasures, the device that you want to use will be the best-choice-for-you and not be the "best" choice.

Over the course of this experiment, I have come to the surprising but, in hindsight, obvious conclusion that the iPad Mini is the best-choice-for-me* and the more technologically impressive eleven inch iPad Pro, which is the "best" choice for me, is not.

There is a lot to like about the iPad Pro and there are still times I will reach for it instead of the Mini (FaceTime calls to my family leap to mind — although the AppleTV's ability to make FaceTime calls may change that). But the slower pace of handwriting on the Mini brings me a greater sense of contentment with my work than typing does.

* As I've written before, my ability to work on and with the iPad Mini and Apple Pencil is due to my work being primarily text based rather than image or video based.

Cognitive Dissonance and the iPad Mini 7’s Timeline

I am having some difficulty reconciling three of the latest bits of news/rumors about next year's iPad Mini 7

Recent rumors have pointed to the iPad Mini 7 coming out in the second half of calendar year 2024. Those reporting this timeline have also started putting the A16 chip in this revision. Finally, there are the reports that next year's versions of iOS and iPadOS will be major updates.

These three pieces of information have set up a certain cognitive dissonance, as the rumors do not feel like they play well together.

First, why release a device that is often associated with university students after they would have planned or purchased (or have purchased for them) their new year's devices in the late spring/early summer rather than in the fall?

This question is doubly applicable for the education-bulk-purchase focused iPad.

It feels like an odd timeframe for such release. It feels even stranger if the chips being used in the iPad and the iPad Mini are of an older generation than the M-series and the 3 nanometer process chips going into the rest of the iPad line.

Second, Apple has a history of tying major software advances to their hardware development. Pundits and users alike are routinely surprised that the latest software developments can be run on older than anticipated hardware.

There are two obvious ways to dispel this cognitive dissonance. The first would be for Apple to release the Mini earlier than the rumors indicate. This would permit students to order and buy before the start of the fall semester and not feel like the chips were old, relative to what we are expecting to see in the iPads Pro and Air that are rumored to be released in the spring.

But that solution does not solve for my (self-imposed) criterion that the new hardware be ready to leverage whatever is coming in iOS and iPadOS.

There is another explanation, of course — one that may be more wish fulfillment on my part than reality.

But hear me out.

If the reason for the delayed timeline is to put a three nanometer chip (e.g.. the A17) into the Mini and an MI into the iPad, the entire line may be capable of running Stage Manager, unifying the multitasking approach across all of its iPad and Mac platforms in advance of the Vision Pro’s arrival.

It would also explain why the release is later. Given the stories about how low the yield rate is for the nanometer chips is, the longer timeline for the is iPad Mini makes more sense, as it gives Apple and TMC more time to produce the chips they need for iPhones and the Vision Pro.

There are other explanations that would make sense, including explanations that I have not imagined. Apple may want to clear stock (chips or devices) or better recoup development costs — both of which could be cleared with more time, for example.

I suspect there are better ways to do that. I also suspect I may be trying to wish something into existence rather than be entirely dispassionate about my theories.

But it still feels like there are some surprises in store for the next iterations of the iPad and iPad Mini.

Why Haven’t I Stopped Carrying My iPad Pro?

The question isn't a rhetorical one. I am really trying to figure this out.

As I have written in my earlier posts, the iPad Mini has been serving me exceptionally well. I have been able to successfully transition most of what I do to this device seamlessly. The issues with the screen in my classroom turned out to be a glitch. When I get to the office, I can plug in a mouse, connect to a keyboard, and use a monitor for work tasks that demand more screen real estate.

And as I said in a prior post, I am enjoying Scribble, which parses my printing and cursive well enough that I suspect the occasional misinterpretation is no more frequent than the typos that creep in when I am using a keyboard.

So why am I carrying my iPad Pro with me as if it were the technological equivalent of carrying an umbrella to insure that it won’t rain?

The longer this experiment continues, the more I suspect it is a strange kind of iPad Pro FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out).

I have used the 11-inch iPad Pro for many years and, as is the case of many users like me, have come to appreciate its design and its power and the quality of the Magic Keyboard. But the more I think about it, the more I begin to accept that the design and power are there for other users. Even with the games I play, by and large, I am more likely to be pushing battery capacity than processing capacity.

So beyond adding an insufficient amount of extra weight to make any real difference when closing my exercise rings, why do I still carry it?

As I have said elsewhere, making the switch from the Pro to the Mini comfortably would require getting some additional peripherals (And who doesn't like looking into accessories?).

But that doesn't ring true as the real reason.

That's why I keep coming back to the FOMO.

It interests me.

It interests me because I suspect that the FOMO isn't being driven by Apple. I would love to lay the blame on Apple or reviewers making the devices too irresistible. But while there is a kernel of truth there, the truth lies in the context rather than the cause.

A side effect of watching YouTubers and listening to podcasters whose opinions you have come to respect is that their concerns become a lens through which you view the devices they discuss — whether they are formally reviewing them or discussing their capabilities in passing. As a result, part of my opinions of these devices are driven by how well they perform tasks that are mission critical for videographers but not the kind of thing I am likely to do.

But (and here's the FOMO) they are things I might want to do someday. (After all, how can I claim to be a power user if I'm not using all the tools and apps that they are?) What if, for example, my minor forrays into podcasting morphed into an internationally acclaimed YouTube channel?

As if that kind of thing happened overnight and as if I didn't work at a university with a Communications program that would immediately adopt the theoretical internationally acclaimed YouTuber....

These aspirational feelings aren't entirely absurd. I don't use many Shortcuts and the ones I do use are very simple. But the handful I do use were inspired by listening to Frederico Viticci’s adventures with them.

Ultimately, the FOMO is, at its heart, absurd. It is as absurd as the knowledge that I will be packing the iPad Pro into my bag tomorrow.

But it will still be in my bag and the FOMO will keep it there for a little while longer.

Experimenting with the Usual Input Devices

I am writing this from my office. From a certain point of view, what I am doing is much more normal and familiar. My iPad Mini, via a Satechi hub, is plugged into a monitor via HDMI and receiving pass through power via USB-C. A corded Logitech mouse I found in my desk drawer is plugged into the USB-C port. An older Apple Magic Keyboard with numeric keypad is connected by Bluetooth.

Other than the main computing device being an iPad Mini, it is a very standard setup.

But the setup feels strange to me. It’s true that some of these differences are to be expected but there is something more.

It feels more different than it should.

The strangeness of the keyboard is to be expected. For years now, I have used the Magic Keyboard case for the iPad Pro, which has the keys spaced closer together. With this desktop-focused keyboard, with its standard key spacing, I am making a lot of typos. In time, the typos would go away as I got used to the spacing. But, truth be told, I think that I would be more inclined to finding a more compact keyboard if I were to keep this setup than adjusting to the standard keyboard layout.

The mouse is frustrating, which is also to be expected. I am not used to having an input device that does not respond to gestures and the scroll wheel, which seemed so fantastic when I first used one — is now an irritation. Don’t misunderstand me: There is nothing bad about this mouse. But it does feel like it is a little tired and/or is not entirely happy with the high gloss surface.

What I did not expect to hit me so forcefully is how this arrangement changes the way I am interacting with the device. As I have conducted this experiment, I have become keenly aware that the way I relate to the device and the work I am doing on it changes based on whether I am holding the Apple Pencil and writing on the screen resting on the table or desk in front of me or whether I looking up at a monitor and typing on a keyboard.

Working with the Pencil is not as fast — even with the typos. There is, unquestionably, a decrease in “efficiency” when I use the Pencil.

But working with the keyboard makes me feel more like I am working as part of a machine rather than being someone using a device to accomplish something.

More like I am a cog than a contributor.

It isn’t what I am working on that matters. I have experimented with both creative work (and quasi-work like this post) during lunch and with writing work emails with the Pencil. It is how I am being asked/required to do the work based on the needs of the device that matters.

There are absolutely conveniences with the screen connection. I don’t want it to go away. Webinars, for example, are much easier when they are on the larger screen. But the longer this experiment runs, the more aware I am growing of how the inputs I am using change the way I am responding to the work I do.

But I am less and less happy with the keyboard. But I am not sure if it is a function of the experiment or a desire to change the way I work.

I am not sure what to do with that yet. But I am aware that the change to how I interact with the devices I use may have a greater impact on my relationship to my work than the software I am required to use.

Apple's Scary Fast Event and the iPad Mini

No, I am not hallucinating like some overly exuberant large language model. I know that 30 October 2023 was all about the M3 chip and the new Macs with some bonus attention to the iPhone 15 Pro, which was used to film the event. (An impressive one more thing-esque flex at the end.)

The iPad line wasn't mentioned or shown in the product shots — product shots that made room for the iPhone and Apple TV. While I did not do a frame by frame study, I'm pretty sure the Mini (and the rest of the iPad line) wasn't even seen.

So why bring this up?

A number of commentators have focused on Apple’s messaging associated with the M3 chips, which focused on users who still are using intel-based Macs and/or MI Macs — a much more reasonable group to try to get to upgrade than the M2 Mac owners who have bought in the last year.

The part of the messaging I want to focus on is where Apple talked about the kind of pros Apple expects to invest in machines using the M3, M3 Pro, and M3 Max — including not only the jobs (researchers v. programmers v. Video editors) but the kinds of software packages.

These guidelines may help those who wonder where they best fit in the M3 line up. Doubtless, this will help individuals and companies who want the best bang for their buck without defaulting to buying the most expensive machine they can.

Where this connects to my experiment with the iPad Mini begins is my absence from the list of target users for these computers. Neither Apple nor I think I need one of these machines.

That is not only good to know, it is potentially liberating.

There is a certain amount of professional pride (or ego) and desire for geek street cred that drives people like me to want to be associated with the pro computers. To begin, I am a full professor. I am in the top tier of 'pro’ in my profession — even thought most Professors of English are not pushing a Mac’s computing power.

And the kind of professional pride is not what Apple is trying to signal with the marketing title ‘Pro’. That title is a legacy of a time when all power users could and would gravitate to the same machine(s).

If I (and others) don't tie myself to the device with Pro in the title, that frees me up to consider devices like the iPad Mini. Considering the iPad Mini is making me rethink the implications of my input device(s).

It can let us all (Dare I say?) think different about our devices and how to make them better suit our needs rather than aligning with some predetermined paradigm that aligns best with what is easiest for a marketing department to package.

Incidentally, I hope you are going to be good enough to forget that I said all this if Apple releases a Mini Pro (one that permits Stage Manager’s dual screen set up).

I hope Apple continues this trend with its other devices. I would be very interested to hear the extended list of job classes that correspond with the devices they sell. There is bound to be overlap, of course. The iPad Air and the MacBook Air leap to mind here. I suspect their user profiles would primarily differ only in whether the user could better leverage iPadOS or MacOS.

Users will know if they need to take a step up to the "next level” of the benchmarked tiers of the chips and devices — whether it is due to a real need or a pride-based desire for the more expensive machine. But giving them these guidelines is a great step on Apple's part.

Confused by the Confusion (or, What iPad Should I Buy?)

With the release of the newest version of the Apple Pencil, I have begun to see a number of pundits and journalists talk about how confusing the iPad line has become. It is tempting to respond to this with a condescending claim about their own condescension towards "average" consumers — even if it would be wrong to do so.

Those poor, benighted non-techies really can't handle anything beyond the good/better/best progression ninety percent of the time so Apple needs to get rid of those extra models in the lineup, they might say.

Well, I might respond with equal condescension, you just don't get the iPad because your frame of reference is bound to the fourfold division of the Mac promulgated by Steve Jobs when he returned from NEXT, with desktop/ laptop on one axis and consumer/pro on the other — a model that doesn't fit the iPad. (Even though the model kind of does fit...)

Other than providing the smug satisfaction that comes along with any good strawman logical fallacy, this does no one any good. The pundits and reviewers claiming confusion and citing the clarity that adding a larger iPad Air would bring are expressing a real problem that they face every time a friend or family member asks what device they should buy.

It's one thing to offer the wrong advice to a reader or viewer you will never meet. It's another to get to hear the griping every holiday dinner and suffer through the implication that you are bad at your job.

It is equally true that the new Apple Pencil appears to be hinting that there is some kind of change coming. Whether it is a hardware redesign (Does USB-C signal a move away from magnetic charging to make space for a repositioned FaceTime camera?) or a shift in design philosophy (We need a good/better/best progression for the Apple Pencil.) remains to be seen.

That said, the decision tree as to which iPad to buy is simple.

1. Is price the most important thing for you? If yes, get the basic iPad. If not, go to question two.

2. Are you a videographer or professional (or similarly serious) photographer? If yes, get the Pro. If not, go to question 3.

3. Are you looking for maximum portability? Get the Mini.

4. If not, get the Air.

Yes, at each of these steps, there are other questions but those answers come easily. How much memory should I get? How much are you using? What about the screen size? Those who need a big screen or just love the Mini know who they are already.

Those are questions that can be walked through simply enough and most consumers can figure those out.

That said, I want to go back to that two-by-two grid for a second, because it is hiding in the iPad lineup. If you look at those four questions, and don't get distracted by form factor, you can set up the grid -- based on most likely place of use -- with laptop replacement/desktop replacement on one axis and consumer/ professional on the other. The consumer laptop is the Mini. The consumer desktop is the Air ( living in its Magic Keyboard case). The pro laptop is the 11 inch Pro and its desktop counterpart is the 12.9 inch.

The more peripherals you add (e.g., keyboards, track pads, and external monitors), the clearer the alignment becomes.

If Apple were to add a larger iPad Air to the lineup, the grid gets simpler and the Mini becomes more of a specialty item, much as the base iPad is targeted at the education market. Like the Pro, you will know if you need it — either because it speaks to you or because you want a un companion for your Mac.

I am not going to argue iPads and Macs have become interchangeable. They aren't and each comes with strengths and limitations. What I will argue is that there is more consistency and less confusion than may meet the eye for the average consumer than we techies might initially think.

Dreaming of an iPad Mini Pro

Is this thing still on?

It has been quite a while since I posted here. My lack of posts has not been due to an ending of the iPad Experiment. It has continued and become my normal.

In some ways, this normalcy could be seen as the mark of the end of part one of the experiment.

Part Two began with the start of the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Much of the world was asked to rethink and re-examine their relationship with technology. What was once considered perfectly adequate (e.g., the cameras that came with their laptops and desktops ) shifted into entirely inadequate almost overnight.

The iPad fared relatively well. It was not perfect by anyone's stretch of the imagination but when you were overhearing the struggles of a teacher trying to adjust their teaching to fit within the confines of a Chromebook chosen a few years before based on its price rather than its performance, it looked great in

Now, however, the iPad line exists alongside devices that were redesigned with the lessons learned from the pandemic. And some of the limitation-based strengths of the iPad have begun to feel like weaknesses.

One of the things that enabled me to navigate the non-stop meetings of the pandemic (I was serving as an interim dean at the time.) was having access to an iPad Mini. This allowed me to have Zoom running on my iPad Pro's screen while I took notes or referenced documents on the smaller screen.

The need to do this was due to a strength of the iPad -- that it is primarily a unitasking environment. It demands a kind of focus that laptops and desktops seem to actively discourage in their users.

I have been thinking about that a lot of late.

One reason I have been thinking about this is driven by conversations in the tech media -- especially in some of the blogs and podcasts of some of the iPad's greatest champions. Wether it is the time in the wilderness that Federico Viticci felt compelled to take following his struggles with Stage Manager or Jason Snell's realization that the new M-series Macs were his better choice for one device travel, users have started to critically examine the iPad and ask the kind of questions of it that were asked of laptops during the pandemic.

These questions all boil down to a very fair, very simple question: Is living with the collection of pain points that come with this device a good trade off for me?

For tech journalists who increasingly must engage in audio and video production, it is easy to see why the answer might be no. That there are not the kind of advanced tools (hardware and software) that they need to do their job is an understandable dealbreaker. And if, in their frustration, they sometimes state their case in a way that conflates the very specific issues they face with a larger problem with the platform, who can blame them? The issues, after all, do clearly highlight the kind of limitations their readers and listeners should know about.

That said, there are more people in the world who take notes than there are who make podcasts. And the fact that I am writing this post (at least its initial draft) on my iPad Mini in Apple Notes using an Apple Pencil via the Scribble feature tells me that there are stories about the iPad line that are still not being told.

One of them requires us to reexamine our attachment to keyboards.

The other reason I have been thinking about the limits that the iPad has been bumping into has to do with my own list of "but why doesn't Apple just... " thoughts. These are exactly the same kind of things I was referring to above. For tech journalists, the question is why can't Apple allow the M-series iPads to do more with recording multiple audio streams.

My need/want probably involves asking Apple to break some of the laws of physics.

I want an iPad Mini Pro.

Specifically, I want an iPad Mini that can drive an external monitor using Stage Manager, as it functions in The iPadOS 17 betas.*

I want the iPad Mini to be my primary device — one that makes it easier to switch from a keyboard mindset to one that places the Apple Pencil in my hand and think more about what I am writing and, perhaps, makes me consider dictation more often.

This is especially true for those times when I know that giving myself the time to think about the words going down on the digital page is an improvement over the false efficiency of typing.

While I don't know if this could be done, I do know there would be a host of trade offs. The Mini would have to be plugged in while it drove the monitor because the battery would be insufficient for all day usage. The weird rotational issues that crop up with Zoom when being projected to an external monitor would be less ideally solved by keeping that app on the smaller screen. There is even less room to move the camera to a landscape edge (although iPadOS 17 may solve that via external camera support).

And I would need a long list of potentially expensive peripherals to really make such a set-up work.

*Given the battery size of the Mini, this would almost certainly require it to be plugged in. Yes, the battery could be made a little bigger but that path towards a solution eventually leads you to using an iPad Air or Pro, defeating the purpose of the Mini.