Perfection. What is it? Do we know it when we see it? How is it measured? I’m not sure I have the answers to any of those questions but I do know last week was filled with near perfection.
Let’s start with Monday. I took a half day off from work to do a mountain bike ride with a friend. We rode what I call the Meadows and he calls Ridgeline (the official name). This is a group of trails in a neighborhood called The Meadows that is near Castle Rock. We have ridden this trail many times ibut for various reasons, neither one of us has ridden it for several years.
The weather was great (mostly sunny, mid sixty’s with a slight breeze. The trails were mostly empty and in great shape. Being spring, everything was green and the place was full of wild flowers!
We rode the outer loop, which is one of our favorite group of trails. The route is around 17 miles long filled with lots of up and down with many great views along the way.
Perfect weather, perfect ride, perfect surroundings, perfect company. One of, if not the best ride we have done there. A stand out by any measure.
Wednesday, after work, I had to go to Colorado Springs for a doctor’s appointment and errands. This was another day of perfect weather (low 70s, mostly sunny, slight breeze), so I decided, what the heck, and took the long way home working my way around Pike’s Peak on two lane mountain roads. I was driving my convertible sports car with the top down all the while enjoying the golden hour of the day.
Again, with spring, everything was extra green! The high mountain meadows, the forest, the distant hill tops. Everything but Pike’s Peak which still had a good amount of snow on top of it.
Like the bicycle ride earlier in the week, the roads were mostly empty so I could enjoy them at a sporting pace. Well a little slower sporting pace as the views were incredible! It did get a little cool but a light jacket and a little heat solved that.
Oh, and always remember to get your jacket under your seatbelt when putting it on at a traffic light. If not, the seatbelt ends up in your jacket…
One of the best, if not the best drive I’ve taken on that route.
Saturday. A drive up the Arkansas River Canyon for dinner in Salida. Another perfect drive in the convertible sports car with the top down. Perfect weather, great food and conversation and a cosy trip home.
A week filled with perfection!
iPads – Maybe a little less perfection?
A few weeks ago Apple released a new round of iPads, both iPad Pros and iPad Airs. The iPad Air updates were mainly a chip update from the M1 to the M2 with the big news being a new, bigger, 13 inch model. This model is similar to the previous generation iPad Pro with a little different screen. Overall a nice update and a great addition with the larger iPad Air. Also of note, the FaceTime camera has been moved to the longer side of both the iPad Air and Pro so it will work better when the iPad is horizontal.
The iPad Pro has had more significant changes. They are; a new display (OLED), thinner, lower weight and new accessories (keyboard, pencil, etc.). Oh, and a new processor, the M4. More on that later.
The main driver for all the changes was the switch to the OLED display. This allows for the additional thinness and quarter pound weight reduction on the 13 inch model. This is significant and very noticeable change when you hold the new iPad. That “magical” word that Steve Jobs liked to use comes to mind. The 11 inch model is only slightly thinner and lighter than the last version so the difference isn’t as noticeable as the larger model. The best news though is the 11 inch model now has the same screen specifications as the larger model. This wasn’t the case on the previous version.
The screen is slightly better than the previous version however I’m not sure there is enough of a difference to justify purchasing the latest release. It is what the screen allows that makes the difference. The weight reduction is very noticeable as is the thinness. This makes it easier to hold and when paired with the Magic Keyboard, it makes for a combination that is now around the weight of the 13 inch MacBook Air while being thinner. Something that wasn’t the case with the old version.
The M4, Apple’s latest and greatest CPU is fast, for sure, but so was the M1, M2 and the A series chips before that. Honestly, until Apple brings some big improvements to iPadOS, most of the power of these latest processors is largely wasted.
For most folks, I would recommend the iPad Air models. The Pro models are great as well but are hard to justify from a price / value perspective.
Finally, the Magic Keyboard is a big improvement over the previous Magic Keyboard in a couple of respects, the addition of function keys and a haptic trackpad. Both major upgrades. The aluminum portions of the keyboard are a mixed bag though. It is nice for the keyboard palm rest but bad for the hinge bar as the bare aluminum will sit directly against the surface that you are opening the case on. It doesn’t sound nice when you set it down, it is slippery and you fear scratches. Plus, it is probably the most questionable thing I’ve seen Apple do in a long time. The hinge portion doesn’t match the rest of the bar which is a bit jarring, especially for Apple. I get they were trying to reduce weight but, from my perspective, this is not a very good industrial design. The hinge does work well though and that’s the main thing. The keys however feel a little sloppy compared to the previous keyboard and the spacebar doesn’t sound like the rest of the keys which is a little annoying. All minor items and your mileage may vary.
Apple Vision Pro
I was able to demo one of these a few weeks back at the Apple Store. I don’t have a lot to add from the other reviews out there other than to say that while it was amazing from an initial perspective, it was also a little underwhelming. I will have another, more detailed, demo in the next few weeks so I’ll have more to say at that point. I’ll point out I’m not a “headset” person and this did little to change my mind.
One final thought on the Vision Pro is the environmental change you feel when you take it off after wearing it for a bit. Even though you can see and interact with what is around you with it on, when you take it off, you realize that it feels like you left another place / place time. It’s hard to explain and it was a little jarring. It was the one thing that made me think there might be more to the Vision Pro than initially meets the eye.
It will be interesting to see what happens next week with WWDC, the Apple developers conference. Maybe there will be major improvements to iPadOS and VisionOS that make these products a lot more interesting and useful.
There you have it, a few tidbits from the last few weeks. More to come…
The More We Learn, The Less We Know 