Ok so I went into the about section of my iPad 2 and noticed it said I only have 13.5gb capacity. I have the 16gb wifi only ipad 2 and I know with most apple products you usually lose 1-2 gb of storage for software so I just want to know if this us correct for my iPad or something I should have one of the apple genius bar people check out. Also for people with the 16gb iPad 2 what did your capacity read fresh out of the box.
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iPad 2 only has 13.5 gb capacity..?!
- Thread starter DntBiteTheApple
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It's not only Apple products - it's anything with a hard drive. "Actual formatted capacity is less." You be the judge - if you think 2.5 GB is too much, take it in.
My 16 GB iPhone is actually 14 GB.
My 16 GB iPhone is actually 14 GB.
Thanks ...anyone else's input appreciated
so I'm not alone on this I guess..
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Yes it is correct, somewhere between 13.5 and 14GB for the 16GB model. Remember there is a difference in total bytes between binary and decimal math. Hence 16GB is considered 16,000,000,000 bytes. Same way hard drive capacity is sold and calculated. Then you have to account for the operating system and metadata, etc.
Odd that iOS would be different from OSX in this area. Apple switched OSX to be 1GB = 1,000,000,000 so a 16GB drive formatted under OSX shows up to the OS as 16GB instead of the 14.31 it actually is.
But you won't have 16GB available on that hard drive either, because OSX will take up a gig or so itself. That's the main issue; iOS has to be stored on the iPad. as does Safari, the iPod app, etc.
Hey. OSX on a Mac will suck up 10GB. Windows 7 like 50 or 75GB. 
That is why the cheapest model isn't always as good a deal as it seems.
That is why the cheapest model isn't always as good a deal as it seems.
I feel bad for people who get the 16GB and then get surprised by how much usable space they actually get. My first iPad was a 16GB last year. After realizing is was only 13GB and then seeing how much space was absorbed by the yellow "other" category I went for 32GB.
Hey. OSX on a Mac will suck up 10GB. Windows 7 like 50 or 75GB.
That is why the cheapest model isn't always as good a deal as it seems.
lol my windows 7 install takes up 9Gb.... so mac osx takes up a little bit more.......
I ordered two iPad 2/16GB/White/Wi-Fi + 3G, one for myself and one for my neighbour. Day 1 -- before adding any apps or connecting to iTunes -- we explored. His capacity (Settings/General/About) showed 14.0 GB while mine showed 13.5 GB. Fresh from the box, same configurations, yet different capacity. (No SIM card installed in either.)
Using Safari, we both ran speedtests on the same Wi-Fi (separately with nothing else affecting the WAN bandwidth) several times to different locations, and each time his iPad 2 got at least 25% faster download than my iPad 2. Our uploads were comparable.
Our conclusions -- there are definitely differences between iPads with the same exact configurations.
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Just imagine the poor saps that buy the Kindle Fire. It's advertised to have 8gb, but in reality will only have about 6gb.