Fraser Speirs comments on the practical advantages of the iPad Air’s “desktop-class” CPU:

What I know about the iPad Air is that I’m constantly being surprised by these apps being ready and waiting for me as soon as I try them. I’m having to speed up my muscle memory as the iPad is ready sooner than I anticipate.

I notice this in two particular situations. The first is in launching and resuming applications. Multitasking on the iPad has been around for a while now and has grown in capabilities over time. There was always a small wait when switching between applications before the resumed app became active. In large part, that delay no longer exists - except for apps where the resumption depends on some network activity, such as launching Netflix from a cold start.

I work on the iPad every day, and I can’t wait to get these improvements with the Retina iPad mini.