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Everything looks nice, but I really don't mind these devices if I can't install my own desktop software on them. Seems nice for things like casual content consumption though


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iPads are good companions for making music, for making art, for non-casual content consumption like reading textbooks or reference manuals, drilling flash cards, watching lectures, et c. The mini's maybe not as good for the latter as an 11.9" Pro (great size for reading textbook PDFs, even large enough to do two pages at a time if you have good eyesight), but still. With an external wireless keyboard, they can be better than a laptop for writing, because you can position the screen separately from the keyboard (without having to wastefully carry around a whole attached keyboard that you're not using) and you can draw (e.g. diagrams) directly on them if you want to, plus the semi-modal operation is great for focus.

*12.9

Well, I was 75% correct, anyway.

This reads like a comment from January 2010. When have you ever been able to install your own desktop apps on a device running an ARM-based SoC?

Raspberry Pis have been around since 2012. Sure they're not really portable but they do have an "ARM-based SoC".

I can run my own desktop apps on my M1-based MacBook.

No desktop apps. Dead on arrival. I bet they barely even sell twice as many of these things as their laptops and desktops combined.

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