The big hubbub now is about how warmer it runs under certain circumstances compared to the iPad 2. This is a Captain Obvious moment.
The new iPad has twice the number of GPU cores over the iPad 2, it has double the resolution with more pixels packed into its display, and to power all of this, it has a larger battery in order to maintain the same battery life as its predecessors. Anytime you charge a device with a rechargeable battery, it will get warm (the bigger the battery, the warmer it will be when charging). Apple is not immune to the law of thermodynamics so of course it’s going to run warmer, especially if you run apps which tax the processor and/or graphics.
Naturally, the cretins start crawling out from the woodwork; even the long irrelevant Consumer Reports jumped in (what better way than to garner quick eyeballs) just like with the whole iPhone 4 “antennagate” issue. No one really gave a damn as Apple ended up selling a record number of iPhone 4’s (which highlights just how little sway CR has compared to the past).
This heat issue with the new iPad is no different. CR testing found NO surprises. It does run warmer (duh) and when playing a game (Infinity Blade II) which taxes the graphics processor, it runs even warmer (double duh). But the warmer is not uncomfortable and is still below the temperatures which many laptops run at. Apple even came out and said the product runs within their thermal envelope. Yet, where were these bozos with all the crap that has been shoveled out in the PC market?
What you have are certain parties who want to make a mountain out of a molehill and they end up twisting the words (using hot and uncomfortable for example) to fit their agendas. Someone mentioned that one of the CNBC announcers basically going on that this could lead to a product recall and making too huge a deal out of the 16 degree increase (being totally disingenuous in the process that this occurs only under the most intensive of uses and its temperature is still far below what an average laptop would be running at). I’m not saying there might be some units out there which might be defective and running much warmer than expected (quality control at 3 million units will always have some issues). Apple will normally quickly take care of that via a replacement and they provide a variety of means to be contacted. And if you still aren’t satisfied, they’ll issue a refund (per their refund policy). There are no excuses for being ignorant to the point where one who clearly has a defective unit, can come back weeks later, and say Apple didn’t do anything (or worse, file yet another lawsuit like the one someone filed regarding Siri).
This is just the price that has to be paid when you are at the top of the hill. There is an incessant need to knock whomever is on the top, off that pedestal. Now I have no problems with the competition gunning for that. What I do take issue with is being disingenuous to accomplish that objective as opposed to say, maybe putting that energy into more productive uses by trying to beat Apple at their own game in terms of making well designed products that doesn’t feel and work like it requires a technical degree to use. It’s also a known mantra within Apple to eventually try and be the one to obsolete what they’ve done before (by this, I mean when the objective is a major product redesign as opposed to an evolutionary upgrade).As the saying goes, talk is cheap (which is what all this potshot mudslinging is all about). Competitors always talk about how Apple’s way is bad for consumers. Well, how about putting all of that talk into action by making something better than what Apple is doing. All the Apple haters will love you for it!
