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SellYourMacBook

macrumors member
Feb 18, 2012
66
0
They're not going to give it a new design and call it the 3S. All the iPhones ending with "S" retained the exact same design.

the iPad 3 will have the tapered edges so its a semi-new design then release iPad 3S with quad-core processor, then iPad 4 will have complete redesign.
 

daleski75

macrumors 68000
Dec 10, 2008
1,907
402
Northampton, UK
I think it will be a higher clocked A5 like what was mentioned in a previous post (1.2-1.5ghz) with a 543MP4 to cope with the retina display.

My wishlist would be a dual core A15 with 543MP4 and 1Gb RAM.
 

ramuman

macrumors regular
Mar 7, 2005
222
0
i'm geting most things i want. i'd like to see 2 64gb memory chips from hynix.

I never thought I'd say this, but I feel like iTunes Match has removed the incentive for me to get anything other than the lowest memory model.

I've been getting 32GB versions of iPhones (from the 3G onward) and iPads mainly to fit in my 256kbs music. With iTunes Match, I'd have access to my entire library at anytime (with a network connection) and I can store my most listened to songs (easily under 16GB) on the device itself.

I'm sure Apple realized the potential for Match to cannibalize higher margin device sales. I'm sure it's a minor effect, but Apple got 25 bucks from me this year for Match and will likely lose 100 bucks on my iPad 3 purchase.
 

ThisIsNotMe

Suspended
Aug 11, 2008
1,849
1,062
Who cares if it is dual core, quad core, or unicorn core?

The only thing that matters is that is sees signification performance increases and continues to out perform Android tablets.

Apples hardware specs are consistently "underwhelming" in terms of raw specifications but when you put them up against competing tablets that are "overspeced" the Apple product continually win out.

Apple could release a single core iPad and as long as it was faster than that iPad 2 and had better battery performance, I couldn't care less and I am not sure why everyone else cares either.
 

AppleHater

macrumors 6502a
Jun 9, 2010
788
104
[url=http://cdn.macrumors.com/im/macrumorsthreadlogodarkd.png]Image[/url]


A forum post at Chinese site WeiPhone offers a photo of what is claimed to be the iPad 3's logic board showing an "A5X" system-on-a-chip.

Apple is expected to introduce an upgraded processor and graphics package for the iPad 3, with the assumption being that it would be called the A6 after the A4 initially appeared in the original iPad and iPhone 4 and was succeeded by the A5 in the iPad 2 and iPhone 4S. But if this photo is to be believed, that assumption appears to have been incorrect, with Apple instead having branded the upgraded package with the A5X name.

A date code of "1146" on the A5X indicates that it was manufactured in the 46th week of 2011, which would have corresponded to November 14-20.

Several other features are also visible on the logic board, including a pair of 16 GB flash memory chips from Hynix and a rectangular Apple-branded chip. That chip appears to correspond to power management chips found in previous iPad teardowns but which carries a higher part number, suggesting an upgraded part.

Apple is expected to introduce the iPad 3 at a media event on March 7, with the device also receiving an ultra high-resolution display and LTE capabilities. Other claims have suggested that it will carry a slightly more tapered case design and perhaps offer an 8-megapixel rear camera.

Article Link: Photo of iPad 3 Logic Board with "A5X" System on a Chip

That's expected as Apple will bring the next generation chip design for iPad 4, sped up A5 makes sense. A5 is the fastest in its class anyway.

Regarding 32GB memory chip, here is my hope for 32GB being the minimal size with 32, 64, and 128GB.
 

Peace

Cancelled
Apr 1, 2005
19,546
4,556
Space The Only Frontier
Unless that chip has some kind of cover on it it looks fake.
 

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Apple Knowledge Navigator

macrumors 68040
Mar 28, 2010
3,525
11,674
Obviously, this is the iPad 2S then.

Apple are clever - they've always held back from raising specs too early for the simple reason that, once they do introduce a major spec-bump, it appears more earth shattering.

The fact that the form factor is basically the same suggests this as well, since the product will be compatible with current Smart Covers. Once the iPad 3 arrives, that will be a new excuse for a new design cover, a quad-core CPU and several other features.
 

gnipgnop

macrumors 68020
Feb 18, 2009
2,173
2,889
What about this possibility: the A5X is a modified dual core chipset for the continued production of the iPad 2, while the quad core A6 is used in the iPad 3?
 

damir00

macrumors 6502a
Oct 30, 2011
744
7
I never thought I'd say this, but I feel like iTunes Match has removed the incentive for me to get anything other than the lowest memory....

You're not alone. Just last week I chose an MBA/128 over the 256 for pretty much this reason.
 

Mr. Gates

macrumors 68020
Obviously, this is the iPad 2S then.

Apple are clever - they've always held back from raising specs too early for the simple reason that, once they do introduce a major spec-bump, it appears more earth shattering.

The fact that the form factor is basically the same suggests this as well, since the product will be compatible with current Smart Covers. Once the iPad 3 arrives, that will be a new excuse for a new design cover, a quad-core CPU and several other features.

I would argue that the iPad 2 WAS only a slight spec bump.

By your logic the 2 should have been called the 1s and this new iPad with a Retina Display is the 2 :p
 

gorskiegangsta

macrumors 65816
Mar 13, 2011
1,281
87
Brooklyn, NY
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 5_0_1 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Mobile/9A406)

To all those talking about "how powerful" the iPad 3 is going to be, you are missing the point of this post!

A5X is implying that this WONT be an A6 chip and thus not quad core. If this is true, which I'm thinking it could be photoshopped, then this is a big negative.

I'm still buying one, but I'll be jelous when the quad core A6 version comes out a year later and blows the A5X iPad 3 out of the water in speed.

I'd take a dual-core A15 based design over quad-core A9 based design any day.
 

ramuman

macrumors regular
Mar 7, 2005
222
0
Unless that chip has some kind of cover on it it looks fake.

It could be a heat spreader that contacts the EMI shield. Cortex and PowerVR are low power, but might be approaching levels where heat dissipation is a minor issue. Pure speculation.

I'm guessing this is still made on Samsung's 45nm process which would almost two generations older than Intel's non-planar 22nm and definitely more than two generations in power consumption.
 

fs454

macrumors 68000
Dec 7, 2007
1,976
1,822
Los Angeles / Boston
Think though. X has been used to mean "4" all the time, like in BMW's X-Drive system, to denote all wheel drive...four wheels powered.

It'll probably be quad core, if not really powerful dual core.

Also, the chip is silver. Does that suggest a small heatsink or something to be attached?
 

stordoff

macrumors regular
Aug 24, 2009
132
0
A dual core would seem to make more sense than a quad core in terms of power consumption and the number of things you'll be doing on the iPad at any one time.

The CPU can be designed so that the extra cores can be disabled when not required. Existing AMD and Intel CPUs already do this at a sub-core level, so there is no reason why Apple couldn't run the chip at dual core by default and enable additional cores as needed.

The A5X name would make a lot of sense if it is essentially an A5 with extra cores and power management added.
 
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