2018 iPad Pro With 1TB Storage Has 6GB RAM, Lower Capacities Have 4GB

[code-m]

Gut check. Why should I buy a Pro device, meant to serve as a laptop replacement according to Apple, that has the same amount of RAM as an iPhone? Matched with all that A12X power? Seriously Apple? I was all ready to buy one of these until this, now I'm seriously leaning towards not buying one at all. The longevity of this device will be called into question when comparing 4GB of RAM to 6GB.

Similarly to the iPhone X 2017 that had 3GB of RAM, only to be outdone by the XS with 4GB of RAM and the XS receiving 3GB this year. This is a introductory iPad Pro, as a transitioning spec for the next release that will come with 8GB of RAM and 4GB on the iPad line. 2GB of RAM is old in the tooth, Apple is using this years iPad Pro to provide a working concept of Photoshop CS 2019.

Do people really believe that Apple is going to give you 6GB of RAM across the iPad Pro line when it has updated to “edge-to-edge” screen, USB-C, FaceID, etc. That is way too much technology for a single product, the only time that happened recently was with iPhone X 2017 (FaceID, E2E screen, AMOLED, etc)

I have a strong suspicion that the next model will have 8GB of RAM. Not sure what people are complaining about 4GB on my 2017 iPP coupled with ARM feels better compared to any Android tablet on the market. I love that the XS has 4GB of RAM, the higher tier will blow the UI/UX out of the water. Seriously I have no complaints with 4GB.

 

[Shiro_Simba]

On the ram - this is kinda a ****** way to upsell a product , if true. If you want to future proof your purchase , 6GB is the way .

There really is no technical reason more storage requires more ram.

 

[phr0z3n]

Has Apple EVER announced the RAM capacity of an iPad?

Has Apple ever had iPads from the same line with different RAM capacities based on the amount of storage in it?

I think it would at least be worth mentioning in the keynote.

 

[Falhófnir]

It's pretty standard practice on android phones, but seems a really odd move for an iOS device, when the 1TB model is going to be a niche seller and apps are optimised for lowest supported specs. It might mean in 5 years time the tablet might be able to support some functionality the lower capacity models can't, but then that means creating a separate version of iOSxx just for these

 

[T-Bob]

An 'Introductory iPad Pro' starting at that price?

Do people really believe that Apple is going to give you 6GB of RAM across the iPad Pro line when it has updated to “edge-to-edge” screen, USB-C, FaceID, etc. That is way too much technology for a single product, the only time that happened recently was with iPhone X 2017 (FaceID, E2E screen, AMOLED, etc)

Absolutely, you had mid range phones last year with that ram spec. It's not a lot to ask for, nor that expensive. 4GB on IPP is now over 3 years old.

 

[Falhófnir]

On the ram - this is kinda a ****** way to upsell a product , if true. If you want to future proof your purchase , 6GB is the way .

There really is no technical reason more storage requires more ram.

Can't imagine it's about upselling astray don't advertise amount of RAM - the only other thing I can think is that it's somehow something to do with optimising the performance of that much memory?

 

[Shiro_Simba]

Similarly to the iPhone X 2017 that had 3GB of RAM, only to be outdone by the XS with 4GB of RAM and the XS receiving 3GB this year. This is a introductory iPad Pro, as a transitioning spec for the next release that will come with 8GB of RAM and 4GB on the iPad line. 2GB of RAM is old in the tooth, Apple is using this years iPad Pro to provide a working concept of Photoshop CS 2019.

Do people really believe that Apple is going to give you 6GB of RAM across the iPad Pro line when it has updated to “edge-to-edge” screen, USB-C, FaceID, etc. That is way too much technology for a single product, the only time that happened recently was with iPhone X 2017 (FaceID, E2E screen, AMOLED, etc)

I have a strong suspicion that the next model will have 8GB of RAM. Not sure what people are complaining about 4GB on my 2017 iPP coupled with ARM feels better compared to any Android tablet on the market. I love that the XS has 4GB of RAM, the higher tier will blow the UI/UX out of the water. Seriously I have no complaints with 4GB.

Maybe use the new iPad Pro, 4GB v 6GB, might be that there is nothing to complain about , it it could be like the iPhone 6 Plus - which was poor .

2017 iPad Pro is fine with 4GB
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Can't imagine it's about upselling astray don't advertise amount of RAM - the only other thing I can think is that it's somehow something to do with optimising the performance of that much memory?

That is very plausible- In which case , 4GB is already on the edge for 2018 iPad pros . Fingers crossed there are no use ability issues

 

[Moonlight]

Mind-boggling fragmentation.

Uhhh...no

 

[Apple_Robert]

I was considering getting a new iPad, depending on what was announced. Given the pricing and the fact that the iPad can't replace a laptop for me, I am going to pass. For that kind of money, I can get a brand new MB or MBP.

I will keep using my XS Max in lieu of an iPad.

 

[code-m]

An 'Introductory iPad Pro' starting at that price?



Absolutely, you had mid range phones last year with that ram spec. It's not a lot to ask for, nor that expensive. 4GB on IPP is now over 3 years old.

Think of this iPad Pro accouncement as the iPhone X 2017 introduction. I am glad I waited for the XS and 4GB of RAM.

Yep, 4GB is old in the tooth for iPad Pro line, however it meant for those who have the previous generation iPad/Pro to upgrade not the 2017 models. Given Apples direction with iPhone X E2E screen, we all knew this was coming to the iPad Pro line, where do you think Apple is going to make the next update to this line. It is holding out on the RAM for a reason, as if these devices came with 6GB and 8GB today, the product will last you 6-8 years considering iPhone 8 and iPad still have 2GB of RAM, those will be supported for awhile.

I have 4GB of RAM in my 2017 iPad Pro model, never felt it was slow in any situation. This is just a spec junky thing. Should Apple upgraded the RAM to 6 and 8, absolutely for that price. However not in this round unfortunately.

 

[Falhófnir]

That is very plausible- In which case , 4GB is already on the edge for 2018 iPad pros . Fingers crossed there are no use ability issues

4, I would say, is fine for the foreseeable future, particularly if these new pros are shipping with it. Maybe in 18 months you might start to see functionality requiring at least 4GB, but I can't imagine you'll start to see anything needing at least 6GB until theres at least an entire generation of pros that have it (and there's therefore incentive for the developers to start targeting that spec for their apps). With the mini 4 and iPad 6 still on 2GB, for general functionality I think 4GB is going to be plenty for a long while yet!

 

[macfacts]

You might want to ask someone with some tech knowledge to explain what “fragmentation” means, in this context...

Briefly.... if Android tablets can be running any one of over a dozen different graphics chips, with over a dozen different resolutions, & anywhere from one to eight gb of ram; it could be hard for a developer to know what to target their app for, & near impossible to test it on anything but a sliver of these configurations. That is called fragmentation.
If two people are rendering huge photos & transcoding massive videos on the new iPads Pro... where one does so infrequently & has a 128gb model, and one does so as their primary use & has a 1tb version- the added ram would likely speed these tasks a bit for the latter user. The developers don’t have to create separate apps, or do anything differently at all. This wouldn’t be considered fragmentation.

Every hear of hardware drivers? They allow the OS to use any hardware that was made for it.

The android fragmentation that was so often repeated was about devs having to make their apps for multiple screen sizes. When devs make apps, they don't deal with software drivers. Devs deal with the APIs of the OS. it doesn't matter if each android device has different graphics hardware.

With multiple iOS devices having different amounts of ram, you get devs having to make their apps to the lowest common denominator. No killer pro apps cause it isn't worth it to make them cause not all iOS devices will be able to use them. Fragmentation.

 

[NT1440]

Let me ask you this question , have you ditched your desktop and / or laptop for an iPad Pro ?

My Apple Watch is a real computer, though not the right tool for productivity tasks.

The iPad Pro is a very powerful tool, it’s jsit that for many it’s like hammering a nail with a screwdriver, sure, can be done , but is it as efficient as a hammer ? Some will tell you so ..... but that also means , maybe these people don’t need a hammer in the first place . Hope you see my point

I do get your point. What I was trying to ask is why is it always the same people who harp endlessly about an iPad being useless who come into these threads to complain about a spec that makes literally no difference to them?

As an aside, I’ve never once seen anyone complaining about the RAM in the IPP effecting their actual usage of the device. It’s the best tablet around, period. If it’s not the tool for your work it’ll never make a difference how much RAM it has. Realtors commonly use iPads as their primary device but the spec hounds here always insist that simply can’t be, disregarding over 5 years of certain professionals using them primarily.

I just wish the tech enthusiasts would get it through their heads that THEIR desired use case is the extreme minority, not the other way around.
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Every hear of hardware drivers? They allow the OS to use any hardware that was made for it.

The android fragmentation that was so often repeated was about devs having to make their apps for multiple screen sizes. When devs make apps, they don't deal with software drivers. Devs deal with the APIs of the OS. it doesn't matter if each android device has different graphics hardware.

With multiple iOS devices having different amounts of ram, you get devs having to make their apps to the lowest common denominator. No killer pro apps cause it isn't worth it to make them cause not all iOS devices will be able to use them. Fragmentation.

Can you point to a single developer having this complaint on the pro line? We’ll wait.

 

[Jetfire]

To the people complaining: Do you do anything on your iPad that would warrant 6GB over 4GB? Personally it’s not an issue for me, but just really wondering about others.

Some Apps would like more memory. Some Apps won't come to IOS because of the limited Memory. Since Apple limits developers to use the what resources are available. We get into the Chicken and Egg problem.

 

[Shiro_Simba]

I do get your point. What I was trying to ask is why is it always the same people who harp endlessly about an iPad being useless who come into these threads to complain about a spec that makes literally no difference to them?

As an aside, I’ve never once seen anyone complaining about the RAM in the IPP effecting their actual usage of the device. It’s the best tablet around, period. If it’s not the tool for your work it’ll never make a difference how much RAM it has. Realtors commonly use iPads as their primary device but the spec hounds here always insist that simply can’t be, disregarding over 5 years of certain professionals using them primarily.

I just wish the tech enthusiasts would get it through their heads that THEIR desired use case is the extreme minority, not the other way around.
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Can you point to a single developer having this complaint on the pro line? We’ll wait.

Got you . And I agree . It’s the best tablet out there . I love tech, and I cant complain about my 12.9 and 10.5 .

As for the same people , the way I see it , the opposites on each side , constant complainers , and everything is the best ever , feed each other . Don’t get caught up the best feedback is from rationale users near the middle
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4, I would say, is fine for the foreseeable future, particularly if these new pros are shipping with it. Maybe in 18 months you might start to see functionality requiring at least 4GB, but I can't imagine you'll start to see anything needing at least 6GB until theres at least an entire generation of pros that have it (and there's therefore incentive for the developers to start targeting that spec for their apps). With the mini 4 and iPad 6 still on 2GB, for general functionality I think 4GB is going to be plenty for a long while yet!

I hope so - though at the same time , the pro is doing so much since the launch of the original 12.9

 

[thisisnotmyname]

Let me ask you this question , have you ditched your desktop and / or laptop for an iPad Pro ?

My Apple Watch is a real computer, though not the right tool for productivity tasks.

The iPad Pro is a very powerful tool, it’s jsit that for many it’s like hammering a nail with a screwdriver, sure, can be done , but is it as efficient as a hammer ? Some will tell you so ..... but that also means , maybe these people don’t need a hammer in the first place . Hope you see my point

or everyone else is happily pounding away with hammers while you're hitting your nails with this...


[doublepost=1540934949][/doublepost]I tried to ask the Apple presales help and got a complete non answer...

We don’t publish the amount of memory on our iOS devices because iOS manages memory differently than other systems, and we have designed it so there isn’t anything you would run on iPad that it wouldn’t have adequate memory to accomplish.

After checking with our technicians, It’s not a configurable option and doesn’t effect user experience by virtue of iOS memory management. So it’s not a specification we publish. I am sorry!

 

[Shiro_Simba]

or everyone else is happily pounding away with hammers while you're hitting your nails with this...

The analogy is about efficiency

 

[Digital Skunk]

The two real questions are:
1.) Does the extra 2GB of RAM matter now and in the years to come; before the iPad reaches EOL?
2.) What the hell was Apple thinking?

Should have at least made 6GB of RAM standard across the 12.9" model.

 

[GregJohn]

I hope this is not the case... guess we will know in a week

 

[thisisnotmyname]

Every hear of hardware drivers? They allow the OS to use any hardware that was made for it.

The android fragmentation that was so often repeated was about devs having to make their apps for multiple screen sizes. When devs make apps, they don't deal with software drivers. Devs deal with the APIs of the OS. it doesn't matter if each android device has different graphics hardware.

With multiple iOS devices having different amounts of ram, you get devs having to make their apps to the lowest common denominator. No killer pro apps cause it isn't worth it to make them cause not all iOS devices will be able to use them. Fragmentation.

I mostly heard fragmentation on Android in reference to OS versions in active use.

 

[AVentheusiast]

You’re right. So lets NEVER update our tech. How does that sound?

I use an Occipital Structure Sensor, attached to my iPad, to capture 3D Models of interior rooms; which can be easily converted to 3D CAD Files. Unfortunately, the entire capture is processed with available RAM, and is not written to your main storage, until the room capture is complete. With large / complex rooms, I find it is virtually impossible to finish a capture, before I run out of RAM. (I can get 80-90 percent there, before the application converts whatever it has, into a 3D model, with plenty of holes / missing detail.) The extra 2 GB RAM would be EXTREMELY helpful; but I'm choking on the price premium that Apple is charging for going from 512GB of storage to 1 TB.
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To the people complaining: Do you do anything on your iPad that would warrant 6GB over 4GB? Personally it’s not an issue for me, but just really wondering about others.

I use an Occipital Structure Sensor, attached to my iPad, to capture 3D Models of interior rooms; which can be easily converted to 3D CAD Files. Unfortunately, the entire capture is processed with available RAM, and is not written to your main storage, until the room capture is complete. With large / complex rooms, I find it is virtually impossible to finish a capture, before I run out of RAM. (I can get 80-90 percent there, before the application converts whatever it has, into a 3D model, with plenty of holes / missing detail.) The extra 2 GB RAM would be EXTREMELY helpful; but I'm choking on the price premium that Apple is charging for going from 512GB of storage to 1 TB.

 

[thisisnotmyname]

The analogy is about efficiency

There's also balance. We seem to have some folks who think anything that doesn't require 128GB RAM or access to a render farm to not be pro. On the flip side I think there are a lot of "Pro" workers who are completely overbuying and possibly not even understanding where their true bottlenecks reside (if they even have any).

Pro means different things to different people but if your computer is a tool for your profession (beyond simple communications and document authoring) then I think you're a Pro user. Many of those Pro users could be perfectly capable on an iPad for most of what they do and shouldn't be derided as somehow being less Pro than others just because they don't consume as many resources as the next person.

My own computing tasks range from code compilation to 3D rendering to VR/AR to remote access and administration to all the typical non-pro day to day stuff (docs/spreadsheets, email, IM, VoIP, video chat, watching movies, listening to music, browsing, etc...). I use a variety of tools to get all of that done but my primary computing device when I travel is an iPad Pro, I don't even bring my MBP on the road anymore. It serves me well and isn't a screwdriver I'm using to pound nails

 

[Abazigal]

Waiting for a rational reason by and Apple apologist for why this makes any sense

My guess is that the 1 Tb iPad is the “photoshop” version, so you will want more ram to better run these more demanding apps.

 

[nat510]

Just cancelled my 512GB iPad Pro 11 and get a 256GB instead.
No 6GB ram mean no future proof

 

[luvbug]

I'm sad to see fragmentation like this.

Fragmentation of what? I have no idea what these "fragmentation" comments are referring to, since none give any context. I must not be "in the know" I guess. Is this about Apple offering too many configuration options? Mass storage fragmentation (which I'm not even sure is a problem with APFS)? Virtual memory fragmentation? Somebody dropped a glass on a hard surface? A description of stepping on a landmine?