Apple iPad Pro TV Commercial - What's a Computer? [2017] ❤️
Why Hacker News recommends it
Cited as a concise example of Apple and the wider tech industry framing devices as anything but a personal computer.
What it is
A 2017 Apple TV commercial for the iPad Pro in which a kid asks "What's a computer?" while using the tablet. It pitches the all-screen iPad Pro as something that goes beyond what people think of as a computer.
Recommended by 0 HN commenters across 0 different months, 2021 to 2025.
What Hacker News said
Cites sudosysgen · 2024-05 · on “Apple introduces M4 chip”
> I'm saying this would not be an average user. The average user would not be comparing AI capabilities, they open an app that uses AI, with a high chance of not even being aware of it What is the point here? If the average user doesn't care about comparing AI capabilities, then clearly Apple wasn't targeting that user in their AI capability comparison. > What should they have compared it to? There's only one other tablet on the market, with an old chipset and a fraction of the performance, that just received its first real video editor late last year [1]. It's very clear that Apple is trying to make the case that the iPad Pro is a replacement for a laptop. In fact, that was their core marke
Cites nkrisc · 2025-04 · on “Kids can't use computers and this is why it should worry you (2013)”
I think Apple captured this very concisely (for better or worse) in one of their ads: [this video] "What's a computer?"
Critical nightcracker · 2021-08 · on “Windows 11 available on October 5”
Yes they think this, but not in the way you or I think about it. At least this is my admittedly cynical take. There is a strong push across tech to erase the concept of a Personal Computer, and make everything function like a tablet. Calling tablets/phones PCs is part of this, by muddying the water, as well as attempts like these: [this video] Interfaces and functionality keep being dumbed and locked down like they are on tablets and phones. Microsoft and Apple are watering at the mouth for the day when the true personal computer is gone and every computing device is a walled garden where every user uses their pre-approved apps doing only the pre-approved tasks, preferably as thin clients into th
Critical smoldesu · 2023-05 · on “Arm announces the Cortex X4 for 2024, plus a 14-core M2-fighter”
Apple is obsessed with their lifestyle designation: [this video] They publish ads and write all their copy with the intention of framing their products as anything other than a computer.