Two iPad Airs, major performance difference

[MacRazySwe]

Hello all,

I bought an iPad Air (1) last autumn, the base model, 16GB WI-FI. Brand new. My grandparents have the exact same one.

When I got mine, I was surprised by the amount of UI lag, compared to my grandparents model. Back then they were both running iOS 8. I tried resetting it and setting it up as a new iPad. For a moment I thought it had helped. Now, both running iOS 9 it's still evident how mine runs very poorly. For example, my iPad Air completely bogs down while having only a few apps open. Everything becomes sluggish. Now, using my grandparents iPad, it usually has pages, and pages of open apps (they don't know how to close them) as well as many, many tabs open in Safari. Still, it never bogs down at all. No UI lag.

I'm beginning to think there is something wrong with my iPad. It doesn't run that much better than the old 1st gen Mini I used to have, whereas the other runs similar to my iPhone 6 and my GFs Air 2.

Any advice? It's still under warranty but I doubt they'd replace it after so many months.

Thanks in advance!

 

[TechGod]

Take in to an Apple Store??

 

[c1phr]

While it sounds a little strange that the UI slows way down, it does depend on the app that you're using. Also, the fact that your grandparents' device has lots of apps open and yours doesn't is irrelevant if not a counter-point. Closing apps by swiping them up from the multitasking screen can be detrimental to performance and battery life, leaving them open should have no negative impact unless a rogue app is staying awake and using resources for some reason (I'm looking at you, Facebook).

Read: https://www.macrumors.com/2016/03/10/force-quitting-apps-doesnt-help-battery/

 

[masotime]

Any advice? It's still under warranty but I doubt they'd replace it after so many months.

You'd be surprised. Apple Customer Service policy is legendary.

 

[Channan]

This has me wondering if there's also something wrong with my iPad mini 2. I just figured it was the low amount of RAM and high resolution display, but if you have two iPad Airs with completely different performance on each, maybe I have the same problem with my mini. My iPhone 5s still runs great, just the battery life kind of sucks now. The performance of my iPhone 5s is WAY better than my iPad mini 2, despite having the same processor and same amount of RAM.

 

[EldonChew]

The performance of my iPhone 5s is WAY better than my iPad mini 2, despite having the same processor and same amount of RAM.

iPad Mini 2 needs to push 4 times the pixels(3,145,728) compared to the iPhone 5s(727,040).

 

[Channan]

iPad Mini 2 needs to push 4 times the pixels(3,145,728) compared to the iPhone 5s(727,040).

I know. That's why I said I just figured the higher resolution causes my iPad mini 2 to perform much worse than my iPhone 5s, but if OP has a much different experience on one iPad Air, then I'm wondering if the terrible performance I'm experience is related to something else.

 

[Count Blah]

The graphics in my air died/was on its way to dying. The symptoms were flashing of the display. I did not experience slowness, only constant browser reloading, due to the crappy amount of RAM in the air. They replaced my device, under warranty.

Not sure if this helps, just giving you a other data point.

 

[Velin]

Any advice?

Yes. Do a clean software reinstall via iTunes. Search these forums, or even my posts. This is a very simple process, just do it right -- a clean install, not a "restore."

Especially with the iPad, I've found clean installs really improve performance, including the UI. It's something about doing three, five, ten OTA upgrades and the detritus they leave behind that starts to degrade performance. If your UI is sluggish, you may very well notice a big improvement with a clean install.

I also do the same with my iPhones every once in a while. Clean install, phone runs fast and great.