iPad 1Gb of RAM is enough, be happy :)

[atlatnesiti]

I don't get it. Since you can only LOOK at one app at a time on an iPad, what's the point of having other apps running in the background at the same time? Its not like Windows, where I can have Word and Outlook spread across my screen simultaneously. When I open a new app on an iPad, it takes mere milliseconds. What's the difference whether it is already running or I wait a few milliseconds?

You obviously don't use your iPad as music production studio and therefore you have no understanding what it's all about.

 

[AppleRobert]

It is a fact that the 1gb of ram will cause crashes due to low memory. To deny that fact is asinine.

It is up to the user to accept that or not accept it. Damn people for having different expectations and reasoning right?

Ridiculous. 99% of the folks that use iPads do not use it as much as I do everyday nor as extensively either and it has not crashed since I bought it at 8:00am on Nov 1st. All of a sudden those 99% are going to start doing rocket science with the IPad? Geez!

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You obviously don't use your iPad as music production studio and therefore you have no understanding what it's all about.

I do not think Apple envisioned the iPad for heavy duty tasks. I feel for some who cannot do "power" things on the iPad but were some of those tasks even QC'd to begin with?

 

[rui no onna]

1. Right now they have mostly the same features, although iPad Air will receive the optimizations first (I think). Also I'm 100% sure Apple is going to add some Air feature like Airdrop, Airplay in iOS 8 or 9, which won't work on devices before iPad Air.

That may be true but there are probably going to be features on iOS 8/9 that will only work in future devices and not in the Air. Plus, future iPads will be faster than the Air. 🙂

I don't see anything wrong whether you're keeping your older iPad, buying a used/refurbished older model or buying a new iPad Air/Mini 2. It's not like there's one correct way to do things. Which decision is best for an individual depends on that individual's requirements, preferences and circumstances.

 

[007p]

You are missing the point. Low memory errors are only common when you are running the last OS before your device is unsupported. Im not saying it will only run iOS7, but iOS 8 will be stripped down for the iPad Air...

The Air won't have a stripped down version of iOS 8, aside from maybe any hardware dependent features e.g. TouchID. There is nothing wrong with the 1gb of RAM, the problem lies with iOS 7. Are you comparing iOS 7 to iOS 6? You probably shouldn't be. Regardless, if anything happens iOS 8 will be BETTER optimized and run better than iOS 7 on 1gb of RAM.

If the Air is going to get a stripped down version of iOS 8, what the hell do you think the ipad 2 / ipad Mini are going to get? They can hardly deny the ipad mini 1 iOS 8 if it only came out last year can they?

My iPad 2 has been filled with these low memory 'errors' (logs?) since iOS 4 and yet the device still works perfectly fine, even on iOS 7. I agree there might be some rare cases where a specific task requires more RAM (I'm not talking xxxx number of tabs in safari..) but in that case the iPad probably isn't aimed at them in the first place. Sure an iPad pro might be, but I won't be surprised if the iPad Air 2 doesn't get 2gb of RAM tbh, there just won't be a need for it, there isn't now and there won't be then if an iPad Pro exists.

 

[deeddawg]

It's not like there's one correct way to do things. Which decision is best for an individual depends on that individual's requirements, preferences and circumstances.

Careful... this simple realization could cut MacRumors traffic by 80% if everyone thought this way... 😀

 

[ZBoater]

It is a fact that the 1gb of ram will cause crashes due to low memory. To deny that fact is asinine.

It is up to the user to accept that or not accept it. Damn people for having different expectations and reasoning right?

Well, I would dispute that "fact". That depends on applications and usage.

 

[csrini1]

Searches on just 6mb colored pdf file using bluefire reader keeps crashing the app, may be 2 gb ram would have worked better. I know people are now going to say it is the application fault and has nothing to do with 1gb or 2gb ram. Search on a 1000 page pdf is also slow.

 

[caesarp]

You obviously don't use your iPad as music production studio and therefore you have no understanding what it's all about.

Its my understanding that the iPad is generally meant to be more of a consumption device. Perhaps using it as a music production studio is asking a little too much of it?

 

[MartinAppleGuy]

The Air won't have a stripped down version of iOS 8, aside from maybe any hardware dependent features e.g. TouchID. There is nothing wrong with the 1gb of RAM, the problem lies with iOS 7. Are you comparing iOS 7 to iOS 6? You probably shouldn't be. Regardless, if anything happens iOS 8 will be BETTER optimized and run better than iOS 7 on 1gb of RAM.

If the Air is going to get a stripped down version of iOS 8, what the hell do you think the ipad 2 / ipad Mini are going to get? They can hardly deny the ipad mini 1 iOS 8 if it only came out last year can they?

My iPad 2 has been filled with these low memory 'errors' (logs?) since iOS 4 and yet the device still works perfectly fine, even on iOS 7. I agree there might be some rare cases where a specific task requires more RAM (I'm not talking xxxx number of tabs in safari..) but in that case the iPad probably isn't aimed at them in the first place. Sure an iPad pro might be, but I won't be surprised if the iPad Air 2 doesn't get 2gb of RAM tbh, there just won't be a need for it, there isn't now and there won't be then if an iPad Pro exists.

Apple have denied the 3rd iOS upgrade for a few devices(boat noticeably the iPad 1). And iOS 7 uses ALL efficiency techniques that mavericks uses including RAM compression. I had 2 iPad Airs crash/force quit on me in the time of 3-4hours. The OS itself uses 750Mb of RAM when using all 64bit processes for the OS. The leaves about as much RAM (well slightly more) than the iPad 2 with its stripped down version of iOS 7. And because RAM is used as VRAM due to there being no dedicated graphics memory, the 4X resumption for the retina deus play makes this worse. Trust me; never buy at the end of a RAM cycle.

 

[007p]

I had 2 iPad Airs crash/force quit on me in the time of 3-4hours.

What did you do that caused it to crash/force quit though? Are you completely sure its related to RAM?

 

[DFZD]

To degrade the performance to a point that gives the customer incentive to upgrade. It's no surprise that as an operating system adds functionality that it will require additional horsepower.

IMO, Apple should be very conservative in what device generations they allow to upgrade. Especially because Apple offers no supported way of downgrading back to the previous version. It's a one way street.

Some will claim that people should "investigate" what others are experiencing with an upgrade to help them decide, but does anyone really want to rely on overly optimistic claims (made by fanboys) or overly pessimistic claims (made by trolls)? And none of that investigation will help one to determine THEIR OWN sense of "good performance" on THEIR device.

Whether or not you believe that Apple has a planned obsolescence strategy doesn't make it untrue. 😉

What do you base this on?

Reports you read on "Blogs"? Benchmarks?

I have used iOS 6.1.3 on iPod Touch 4th Gen, for a good 6 months, recently.

Going by the specs, that device is so ancient, it makes the entry level Android phones look like future tech. That device has 256 MB RAM.

That being said, it worked quite well, as a PDA, as a wake up alarm, as a Portable MP4 player. The safari was alright as well. It's $200 device. Heck $200 androids don't even get the minor .1 upgrades in some manufactures. And most entry level androids see EOL before they complete 24 months.

Best part I could still sell the iPod touch for around $80.

 

[prism]

Apple have denied the 3rd iOS upgrade for a few devices(boat noticeably the iPad 1). And iOS 7 uses ALL efficiency techniques that mavericks uses including RAM compression. I had 2 iPad Airs crash/force quit on me in the time of 3-4hours. The OS itself uses 750Mb of RAM when using all 64bit processes for the OS. The leaves about as much RAM (well slightly more) than the iPad 2 with its stripped down version of iOS 7. And because RAM is used as VRAM due to there being no dedicated graphics memory, the 4X resumption for the retina deus play makes this worse. Trust me; never buy at the end of a RAM cycle.

What you are suggesting is intriguing because you are insinuating that Apple released a "crippled" product purely because they are stingy and maybe power consumption considerations. This is now their flagship iPad and the user experience with iOS 7 is clearly not up to the standards that we have become accustomed to with apple products. For this very reason I would be incredibly surprised if it is due to suboptimal hardware and believe that it is because the iOS is not yet fully optimized for the iPad. I remember when ios7 was released someone was complaining that it had was in fact optimized for the iPhone and that the iPad would be the next step.

 

[sracer]

What do you base this on?

Reports you read on "Blogs"? Benchmarks?

I have used iOS 6.1.3 on iPod Touch 4th Gen, for a good 6 months, recently.

Going by the specs, that device is so ancient, it makes the entry level Android phones look like future tech. That device has 256 MB RAM.

That being said, it worked quite well, as a PDA, as a wake up alarm, as a Portable MP4 player. The safari was alright as well. It's $200 device. Heck $200 androids don't even get the minor .1 upgrades in some manufactures. And most entry level androids see EOL before they complete 24 months.

Best part I could still sell the iPod touch for around $80.

I base that on personal first hand experience with various generations of iPod Touches, iPhones, and iPads. I have found that the "best" experience is staying with the version of iOS that shipped with that particular device. Point and sub-point updates are good to apply. (eg. a device that shipped when iOS 5 was the latest could safely update to 5.1.1 and still retain the level of performance)

Those times that I (or acquaintances) did not adhere to that rule of thumb, there was a noticeable degradation in performance.

It's a general rule of thumb. Others may and will disagree, but that does not invalidate what I myself have experienced.

 

[DFZD]

I base that on personal first hand experience with various generations of iPod Touches, iPhones, and iPads. I have found that the "best" experience is staying with the version of iOS that shipped with that particular device. Point and sub-point updates are good to apply. (eg. a device that shipped when iOS 5 was the latest could safely update to 5.1.1 and still retain the level of performance)

Those times that I (or acquaintances) did not adhere to that rule of thumb, there was a noticeable degradation in performance.

It's a general rule of thumb. Others may and will disagree, but that does not invalidate what I myself have experienced.

Well I do understand your point and think what you're saying is entirely true. But is it really worth the sacrifice? You might as well disable the App Store from under 'Restrictions', and never update a new app, this would really keep your device running smooth and stable.
And that's exactly like buying a GT car and never taking it to the track, worrying that might wear out the tyres and the brakes.
Well to each his own. 🙂

 

[MH01]

I wonder how no one sees it. They're saving the 2GB ram for the iPad Pro due in March. It's coming, and even more so now.

Expected specs and features -
10" and 13"/12" screen options.
2GB RAM
A8 Quad Core Processor
100% True Multitasking - Quasar-esque maybe.
Thicker, Better Glass, Wider Color Gamut.
Multi User Logins (Maybe in iPad Pro 2)
An optional Apple Mac Keyboard style Qwerty.

The Macbook Air & iPad are really just two totally different systems for mostly the same job. They have to kill the MBA, later if not sooner.

Is that based on the growing trend that Apple is putting back pro features into its hardware???? I think you might find that it's in fact going the other way. There will be no pro version of the iPad , just like there will be no 17 rmbp.

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What you are suggesting is intriguing because you are insinuating that Apple released a "crippled" product purely because they are stingy and maybe power consumption considerations. This is now their flagship iPad and the user experience with iOS 7 is clearly not up to the standards that we have become accustomed to with apple products. For this very reason I would be incredibly surprised if it is due to suboptimal hardware and believe that it is because the iOS is not yet fully optimized for the iPad. I remember when ios7 was released someone was complaining that it had was in fact optimized for the iPhone and that the iPad would be the next step.

Most obvious reason has been that 3rd party apps were crashing on the new 64bit hardware . This is how all upgrades have happened from 32 to 64 bit, painful updates to the apps/os. When OS X switched to 64, it was not any different, driver hell.

 

[DFZD]

Is that based on the growing trend that Apple is putting back pro features into its hardware???? I think you might find that it's in fact going the other way. There will be no pro version of the iPad , just like there will be no 17 rmbp.

It's simply based on the on going pattern that shows that Apple wants the iPad to slowly replace the laptops to do more tasks.

 

[zhenya]

I'm beginning to think there might be some kind of memory leak in iOS 7 as last night I rebooted my Air to see what effect that had. I did the same thing with my iPad 4. Both are effectively running the exact same software as I restored the 4's backup to the Air.

I started by opening only Safari on both units, then opening tabs one at a time with the same web pages. I got to 10 tabs and still did not see any reloading. I exited Safari and began to open a number of my more intensive applications. My pictures library, iPhoto, edited a photo, Evernote which has a huge notes database, a magazine app that has 300mb issues, etc. went back to Safari. Still no reloads on either device. This morning I'm using the Air again with 7 tabs open and still no reloads. Before I rebooted the device last night I had just 4 tabs open and it was reloading constantly.

There is hope.

 

[Ries]

Considering the surface pro 2, and the improvements and surface pro 3 would have, the iPad need to step up and give some real multitasking. I would almost kill to have my youtube app running in a little window while surfing on the iPad. Its the number 1 reasons i still use my laptop mostly, having some entertainment running while doing X.

 

[Count Blah]

It's simply based on the on going pattern that shows that Apple wants the iPad to slowly replace the laptops to do more tasks.

And ironically, the air can't handle as many tasks in memory as the iPad 4.

 

[deeddawg]

I'm beginning to think there might be some kind of memory leak in iOS 7 [...] I got to 10 tabs and still did not see any reloading. [...] Before I rebooted the device last night I had just 4 tabs open and it was reloading constantly.

Careful, you're contradicting an "accepted fact"... 😉 😀

It is a fact that the 1gb of ram will cause crashes due to low memory. To deny that fact is asinine.

 

[txa1265]

I do not think Apple envisioned the iPad for heavy duty tasks. I feel for some who cannot do "power" things on the iPad but were some of those tasks even QC'd to begin with?

Its my understanding that the iPad is generally meant to be more of a consumption device. Perhaps using it as a music production studio is asking a little too much of it?

These are BS apologist answers - and absolutely, totally wrong.

If Apple didn't envision use 'for heavy tasks', why provide Core Audio, Core Midi, AudioCopy and their own AudioBus system for multitasking apps on a signal chain?

No, sorry, Apple didn't just know, they DESIGNED that functionality into the iPad and iOS ... then crippled it.

It is the same as if they had released a laptop with a top-end graphics card, screaming quad-core i7 processor - in other words an absolute gaming monster - and then limited system RAM to 2GB without possibility of expansion. Games will run, but never up to the potential of the hardware, you will always be compromising features, and will deal with too many crashes.

 

[master-ceo]

I like when people try to justify settling for less.

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Its my understanding that the iPad is generally meant to be more of a consumption device. Perhaps using it as a music production studio is asking a little too much of it?

Not when Apple itself sells Garage Band for it and recently updated GB to run 32 tracks simultaneously. Far from "just a consumption device".

 

[AppleRobert]

These are BS apologist answers - and absolutely, totally wrong.

If Apple didn't envision use 'for heavy tasks', why provide Core Audio, Core Midi, AudioCopy and their own AudioBus system for multitasking apps on a signal chain?

No, sorry, Apple didn't just know, they DESIGNED that functionality into the iPad and iOS ... then crippled it.

It is the same as if they had released a laptop with a top-end graphics card, screaming quad-core i7 processor - in other words an absolute gaming monster - and then limited system RAM to 2GB without possibility of expansion. Games will run, but never up to the potential of the hardware, you will always be compromising features, and will deal with too many crashes.

If it cannot do what one wants to do and it should be able to then there is no alternative but not buy it or return it. I do not utilize those apps and don't even know what they are.

As far as the above post settling for less, 99% of folks owning the Air and doing the basics things most do got an upgrade over their previous ipad and are happy. Doesn't sound like settling to me.

 

[gotluck]

I like when people try to justify settling for less.

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Not when Apple itself sells Garage Band for it and recently updated GB to run 32 tracks simultaneously. Far from "just a consumption device".

I am admittedly a spec whore most of the time and the 1 gig of ram is my main complaint about the device.

Even I have a hard time being cynical enough to think Apple is handicapping the iPad over it seems a $10 ram chip. Feel free to look up my post history, I love to bash apple when they deserve it, but if there is one thing iOS has got right in the past, it is memory optimization. They've almost always been half of what alternative OS devices have and been fine.

The limits on multitasking/running in the background seem to do wonders for memory management (and battery life, but that's aside the point).

 

[txa1265]

If it cannot do what one wants to do and it should be able to then there is no alternative but not buy it or return it. I do not utilize those apps and don't even know what they are.

As far as the above post settling for less, 99% of folks owning the Air and doing the basics things most do got an upgrade over their previous ipad and are happy. Doesn't sound like settling to me.

Your first line should be: if it cannot do what it was DESIGNED to do, that is a problem. If many people do not notice a problem - that doesn't mean there is not a problem.

Personally I don't live in a binary universe - Apple's iPads are the best mobile music solutions ... and by such a large margin it is laughable. Android / WinRT music software is the equivalent of 'fart apps' at this point.

But the reality is that 1GB is insufficient at this point - the bare-bones Chromebook has 2GB of RAM and can manage to open a half-dozen tabs and copy-paste between them. The iPad is technically incapable of doing that. You WILL lose information trying to do a multi-hop between pages. As a web browsing tool therefore, the iPad Air is less capable - albeit much faster - than the crappy Chromebook.

The decision to NOT upgrade the 1GB RAM - which was just barely sufficient 1.5 years ago for the iPad 3 - demonstrates a deliberate decision on the part of Apple, and shows where they are focused ... and it is NOT on the customer or the customer experience.

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I am admittedly a spec whore most of the time and the 1 gig of ram is my main complaint about the device.

1GB RAM is my ONLY complaint ... I absolutely LOVE my Air ... which only makes the 1GB issue even more frustrating.

Heck, if they had made the 128GB model the only one with 2GB I would have sighed and coughed up the extra money ...