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A8 on iPad mini 4 = no 2GB of RAM?

007p said:
This is what it says;

'Because Apple's marketing materials show that the iPad Mini 4 can do split screen multitasking it's almost a given that this is a version of A8 with 2GB of RAM. '

Really bad statement to me, nothing is 'a given' when it comes to RAM and Apple. I'd be more inclined to say that if it has A8 it's a given it has 1gb..
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I wonder what the author meant by "split screen multitasking" - hopefully not just SlideOver.
 
newellj said:
I wonder what the author meant by "split screen multitasking" - hopefully not just SlideOver.
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According to the small print on the iOS 9 "what's new" page, SlideOver, Picture-in-Picture AND Split View are available on iPad Pro, Air and Mini 4.

I'm still hoping they've stuffed 2GB into the A8. Whilst I'm happy to be able to have split view on the new mini, my current Mini 3 (don't laugh at my poor buying choice!) struggles to keep more than two tabs running in Safari, so I can't imagine it's going to be a particularly smooth experience without more RAM...
 
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I think this will be a good upgrade over my existing iPad 3rd gen which is so slow now when running iOS 8 and most apps.
 
bat717 said:
According to the small print on the iOS 9 "what's new" page, SlideOver, Picture-in-Picture AND Split View are available on iPad Pro, Air and Mini 4.

I'm still hoping they've stuffed 2GB into the A8. Whilst I'm happy to be able to have split view on the new mini, my current Mini 3 (don't laugh at my poor buying choice!) struggles to keep more than two tabs running in Safari, so I can't imagine it's going to be a particularly smooth experience without more RAM...
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Excellent, missed that - thanks. I could be completely wrong, but I thought that SplitView needed 2GB of RAM.
 
If it has 2 GB of RAM I will buy one but with 1 GB of RAM I am keeping my older iPad Mini. Apple should 3-4 GB of RAM by now on their iPads. 1GB of RAM is just pathetic. Try opening up a Stcok trading application with 1 GB of RAM and check out the lag!
 
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CEmajr said:
It can barely hold anything in memory without refreshing so it's pretty much guaranteed to have 2GB in order to support multitasking.
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2GB and I will buy one but with 1GB I see no reason to change my old iPand Mini 2 for a 2 generation newer iPad 4 that offers the same amount of RAM as the second generation did. People are not that stupid these days unless they have money to burn. One would think Apple would learn with declining iPad sales over the last 1-2 years
 
I've been long in the tooth for a thinner and lighter Mini, so I am very excited to order this, regardless to if it has 2 GB RAM or not (but I am certain it does, given the multitasking).
 
Cool Pup said:
I've been long in the tooth for a thinner and lighter Mini, so I am very excited to order this, regardless to if it has 2 GB RAM or not (but I am certain it does, given the multitasking).
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That is a hint, plus the new Apple TV having 2GB of RAM could mean that they created a modified A8 chip.
 
Agree it *needs* 2GB RAM to be viable. I have a 1st gen Mini which is crying out for an update with RAM clearly the most constraining factor...

I know 1GB A8 won't do because it's what my iPhone 6+ has and its already way too constrained - and isn't the iPad supposed to be the productivity platform?

Issues with iOS devices suffering from low memory are well documented here with over 1k replies and nearly 170k views. It's beggar belief Apple won't join the dots between poor productivity experience and declining sales...
 
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Saberon2014 said:
I'm sure it has 2GB, if you look at this site https://www.apple.com/ca/ios/whats-new/
at the VERY bottom it says Split screen works on iPad Pro/Air 2/Mini 4
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I hope you're right. However Apple also used to sell the original iPad mini as well as other 512MB iOS devices as multitasking capable under iOS7+ and whilst it's technically true, I think what the thousand and counting folks on the discussion thread are saying is that this isn't the same as actually being usable.

(mind you, I think the thread also identifies the fact that under low memory conditions, iOS7+ will sometimes brutally flush an app's current state (instead of temporarily persisting it to longer term storage) thereby losing that app's context and quite possibly some user content in the process).
 
If they said it has the same specs as the iPad Air 2, then I'm sure that's exactly what it'll have. Where has this doubt come from?

They couldn't release a new product which doesn't support all the features of the new iOS (unless they're device-specific features) meaning the iPad mini 4 has to support split screen. Apple wouldn't have lied about the specs.

Y'all worrying me cause I have one on order.
 
newellj said:
Depends on which multitasking they're referring to. I think Apple refers to SlideOver as multitasking, but currently only the Air 2 will do SplitView. Here's hoping the 4 gets the full iOS 9 range of features.
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To quote the official Mini 4 page:

iPad mini 4 runs iOS 9, our most intuitive, advanced and secure mobile operating system yet. If it feels like iOS 9 was made for iPad, it’s because it was. With improved apps and new features like Slide Over, Split View and Picture in Picture, iOS 9 helps you get more done in powerful yet simple ways.
Click to expand...
 
The A8 is clocked a little bit slower than the A8X CPU-wise, so I don't think anyone will notice any difference there.
What the A8X has, that the A8 doesn't, is better graphics.

A8X:
CPU: 1.4x faster
Graphics: 2.5x faster
Compared to A7

A8:
CPU: 1.3x faster
Graphics: 1.6x faster
Compared to A7

So as you can see, the CPU speeds are almost the same, but the graphics on the A8X is much faster than the A8.

I think, for the use cases of iPad mini, that it will not be a problem with the slower graphics performance. At least I don't game a lot anyways. Split screen will be nice :)
 
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Second gen in tech specs it'll have 2gb
 
If it has 2GB of RAM I'm gonna definitely by it. It would be a huge upgrade compared to my actual iPad mini 1 with 500MB.
It's impossible to have a big website open end or playing a graphic intense game like asphalt. And viewing 8K photos is causing a reboot.
So RAM is very important to a tablet computer and time by time you will need more RAM bcs of heavier software. So I really hope that there are 2 gigs bcs then they could leave the mini 4 untouched for a couple of years.
 
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