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yegon

macrumors 68040
Oct 20, 2007
3,405
1,983
If you seriously think that the Air 2 is "under-specced", you don't understand the first thing about computer hardware.

If it has 1gb RAM it IS under specced if you think of the iPad as a work/productivity tool. For a one-use-at-a-time device, the iPad is great and in no way under specced, but anything more complex it's a joke.

I love my iPad, it's an excellent anti-boredom/entertainment device, but it absolutely chokes on doing anything beyond a single use. Hell, trivial stuff like I listen to a podcast, pause it, flip into another couple of apps, open up CC and press play...only for music to start playing as the podcast app has been flushed and it's defaulted back to the music player. I cannot imagine the frustration of using it as a work tool, eeeegh, won't be swapping it for my rMBP with 16gb ram that can do everything I throw at it wonderfully (bar games, that's what my gaming PC is for).
 

ReallyNiceGuy

macrumors member
Sep 29, 2014
51
0
Vancouver, BC
I noticed the keynote this time just didn't have the enthusiasm like prior years. I'm not talking about news of the products but in the delivery from Tim and the other 2 guys. I think they are getting into a rut in their delivery and their losing the momentum. Especially the last guy who talked about the iPads, it was like he was just going through the motions. Did anyone else notice this? Maybe it's because the audience was small?

I noticed the same with especially the last guy. He seemed almost unenthused about the new offering and was almost timid in trying to hype it.
 

MikhailT

macrumors 601
Nov 12, 2007
4,582
1,325
I noticed the keynote this time just didn't have the enthusiasm like prior years. I'm not talking about news of the products but in the delivery from Tim and the other 2 guys. I think they are getting into a rut in their delivery and their losing the momentum. Especially the last guy who talked about the iPads, it was like he was just going through the motions. Did anyone else notice this? Maybe it's because the audience was small?

Actually, Tim and Craig were great, they were more comfortable than they were in the past few years.

Phil (the guy who demo'ed iPad) looked like he was under the weather. He is usually very excited about small silly things, so he was the only one that seemed weird.
 

ReallyNiceGuy

macrumors member
Sep 29, 2014
51
0
Vancouver, BC
Given the limited upgrade of much of the product I'd be surprised if there was indeed 2 gigs memory, that they wouldn't scream and shout all over the event about that upgrade. Given it wasn't mentioned I have to believe more of the same, 1 gig.
 

MikhailT

macrumors 601
Nov 12, 2007
4,582
1,325
Given the limited upgrade of much of the product I'd be surprised if there was indeed 2 gigs memory, that they wouldn't scream and shout all over the event about that upgrade. Given it wasn't mentioned I have to believe more of the same, 1 gig.

Apple generally do not talk about RAM. They always do talk about CPU but almost never the RAM. Even when we went to 1GB, it wasn't hyped up at all.

Remember, we don't know anything about A8X yet.
 

Zinthar

macrumors 6502
Jul 10, 2006
285
0
If it has 1gb RAM it IS under specced if you think of the iPad as a work/productivity tool. For a one-use-at-a-time device, the iPad is great and in no way under specced, but anything more complex it's a joke.

There's zero evidence to suggest that it has 1GB; on the contrary the leaked motherboard seems to show it has 2GB, provided that Elpida hasn't altered their numbering scheme.
 
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jajabinks

macrumors newbie
Jun 24, 2013
12
0
Or maybe if you know its not about specs anymore. Thats 1990's thinking.

That's certainly how Apple wants you thinking. "No really, you don't need 2 or 3GB of ram in your phone or tablet like every single other person on the planet but you has...it's about the experience!!".
 

yegon

macrumors 68040
Oct 20, 2007
3,405
1,983
@Zinthar

I did say IF it has 1gb ram. None of us know for sure one way or the other yet.

If it has 2gb RAM it'll be an excellent iPad, GPU easily powerful enough to power the display, established optimised architecture that's an evolution of last years, which was no slouch. IF it is not gimped by still having 1gb ram.
 

ZBoater

macrumors G3
Jul 2, 2007
8,497
1,322
Sunny Florida
Apple told you to think that did they?


They made their case. Successfully.

----------

That's certainly how Apple wants you thinking. "No really, you don't need 2 or 3GB of ram in your phone or tablet like every single other person on the planet but you has...it's about the experience!!".


And is it? About the experience I mean. Or is it about some number on a spec sheet?
 

Cool Pup

macrumors 6502a
Jun 18, 2010
724
115
Dallas, TX
Apple disagrees with you, and they have successfully marketed a number of technology devices without focusing on specs.

----------


The majority of the success of their "S" line predominately lies on their abilities to sell specs to the masses.
 

jamesrick80

macrumors 68030
Sep 12, 2014
2,659
2,216
First of all, it's definitely not 2gb of ram. Add the facts up, the iPhones are still with 1 gb ram. The iPhone 6 plus would have had 2 gb if the air 2 has 2 gb. You guys are fooling yourselves to even believe it had 2 gb ram. Furthermore, I believe Tim Cook would have mentioned doubling the ram since there was not much to discuss about with the new iPad.
 

CheesePuff

macrumors 65816
Sep 3, 2008
1,445
1,553
Southwest Florida, USA
First of all, it's definitely not 2gb of ram. Add the facts up, the iPhones are still with 1 gb ram. The iPhone 6 plus would have had 2 gb if the air 2 has 2 gb. You guys are fooling yourselves to even believe it had 2 gb ram. Furthermore, I believe Tim Cook would have mentioned doubling the ram since there was not much to discuss about with the new iPad.

Why? It's never been mentioned before when a memory increase was done on an existing device. Also the iPad is using the A8X SOC as opposed to the A8 in the iPhone 6 models. And finally the leaked parts clearly show the model for the RAM is a 2GB chip.
 

jamesrick80

macrumors 68030
Sep 12, 2014
2,659
2,216
Why? It's never been mentioned before when a memory increase was done on an existing device. Also the iPad is using the A8X SOC as opposed to the A8 in the iPhone 6 models. And finally the leaked parts clearly show the model for the RAM is a 2GB chip.

Clearly those pics are blurred, I will be back next week to prove my point after the tear down...you will get a private message once the 1gb reveal leaks. IPhone 6 plus had these same rumblings but no 2 gb ram came.....
 

MartinAppleGuy

macrumors 68020
Sep 27, 2013
2,247
889
Clearly those pics are blurred, I will be back next week to prove my point after the tear down...you will get a private message once the 1gb reveal leaks. IPhone 6 plus had these same rumblings but no 2 gb ram came.....

I will be sending you one when the iPad Air 2 inevitably get's conformation of 2GB of RAM ;)

100%
 

BigBear14

macrumors member
Oct 17, 2014
35
0
I will be sending you one when the iPad Air 2 inevitably get's conformation of 2GB of RAM ;)

100%

What i don't get, is why didn't those with hands on just sneak into general settings, click about and see the specifications on there lol. Then we won't need to be so in the dark!
 

yegon

macrumors 68040
Oct 20, 2007
3,405
1,983
What i don't get, is why didn't those with hands on just sneak into general settings, click about and see the specifications on there lol. Then we won't need to be so in the dark!

That wouldn't tell you how much RAM it had though.

A quick way of doing it, roughly, would be to run one of those ghastly 3rd party "free up memory" (derp) apps. But of course, the App Store would be locked down, so good luck getting it installed.
 

MartinAppleGuy

macrumors 68020
Sep 27, 2013
2,247
889
What i don't get, is why didn't those with hands on just sneak into general settings, click about and see the specifications on there lol. Then we won't need to be so in the dark!

Sadly that would not give RAM spec. Anandtech's review will tell us in just a few days time :) What day is it that the Air 2 comes out?
 

wolfboy

macrumors 6502
Sep 28, 2010
366
531
I find it odd that in the tech specs section on their website for their iOS devices, they'll include stuff like this:

Frequency response: 20Hz to 20,000Hz
Audio formats supported: AAC (8 to 320 Kbps), Protected AAC (from iTunes Store), HE-AAC, MP3 (8 to 320 Kbps), MP3 VBR, Audible (formats 2, 3, 4, Audible Enhanced Audio, AAX, and AAX+), Apple Lossless, AIFF, and WAV

Video formats supported: H.264 video up to 1080p, 60 frames per second, High Profile level 5.0 with AAC-LC audio up to 160 Kbps, 48kHz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4, and .mov file formats; MPEG-4 video up to 2.5 Mbps, 640 by 480 pixels, 30 frames per second, Simple Profile with AAC-LC audio up to 160 Kbps per channel, 48kHz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4, and .mov file formats; Motion JPEG (M-JPEG) up to 35 Mbps, 1280 by 720 pixels, 30 frames per second, audio in ulaw, PCM stereo audio in .avi file format​

But, they leave out the common RAM specs? I would not be surprised at all if it's 1GB still and the 2gb leak was for the iPad Pro.
 

kycophpd

macrumors 6502a
Jun 7, 2009
902
1,457
Louisville, Kentucky
We are talking Apple here not Microsoft or Android. As a general rule, Apple products run great at half the RAM of the other two. It has to do with software design. I would love to have 2GB of RAM but I guarantee that 98% of the time no one would notice the difference. It's an iPad not a Mac Pro.
 

MartinAppleGuy

macrumors 68020
Sep 27, 2013
2,247
889
That wouldn't tell you how much RAM it had though.

A quick way of doing it, roughly, would be to run one of those ghastly 3rd party "free up memory" (derp) apps. But of course, the App Store would be locked down, so good luck getting it installed.

Correct, but with new devices, these apps usually need an update as otherwise they will see it as a Air 1, which would then state as having 1GB of RAM in total. Geek bench should however determine that RAM.

I personally see with the leaks of the A8X along side the 2GB of RAM, they got the CPU (and CPU colour ;) ) correct so I see it being 2GB. When Apple used the A7 for the iPad Air, they wanted it to be the same SoC across all devices. The GPU on the A7 gave hardly any increase over the A6X though, so that is why Apple will have used a "X" series SoC: because they release that the iPad requires more power than the iPhones. The same will most likely go to RAM, as the iPad Air had quite a few RAM salvation issues (tabs reloading, apps being kicked from memory, low memory error logs...) but the iPhone 5S was not affect as much (due it it not only running on a lower resolution (where by there would be less 'virtual' VRAM in use) but also an iPhone app usually is much more basic than the iPad app, and the same goes for websites (mobile vs desktop)).

----------

We are talking Apple here not Microsoft or Android. As a general rule, Apple products run great at half the RAM of the other two. It has to do with software design. I would love to have 2GB of RAM but I guarantee that 98% of the time no one would notice the difference. It's an iPad not a Mac Pro.

The iPad Air did not run great with 1GB of RAM. Even on its original OS (iOS 7), there was several tab reloading, as well as apps getting forced out of memory as well as low memory logs). Every time iOS gets a major update, the RAM usage increases due to new features taking more resources. The iPad Air also ran the 64 bit A7, and due to it being 64 bit, any apps made for the A7 would have an increased RAM footprint of around 30%. Both Anandtech, I and others have noticed this (use Xcode and you will see how bad the RAM usage is). When these same apps running on an older iPad (i.e run in 32 bit), they take up less RAM. To put this in perspective, the iPad Air running 64 bit apps is the same as an iPad with around 700MB of RAM running 32 bit apps (30% lower RAM footprint over 64 bit). This makes the iPad Air 1 a downgrade in RAM usage over the iPad 3 and iPad 4.

This is why the iPad Air 2 needs and will have 2GB of RAM.
 
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