Finally! More RAM than the Performa 550!
Apple's New iPad Air Equipped With 4GB RAM
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Finally! More RAM than the Performa 550!
GeoStructural
macrumors 65816
Of course it does, one is for working, saving, it is faster and available offline (think: field work, airplane travel, etc.). iCloud is just back up and for continuity between iDevices.
I think there are a few tasks that might benefit a lot from more RAM, the upcoming LiDAR data is one of them, video editing, photo editing apps, web apps that are now supported by Safari, AI/AR, etc.
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Laptopdog78
macrumors member
The new Pro will definitely go up in price, and I have a feeling it will be pretty substantial... I could see the base model at 899 if not a touch higher!
Sadly, though, Apple shows no sense of fun with its iPad Pros. No way in hell will those ship with the cool colors. And for everyone who thinks that's how it's always been (and therefore ought to be), remember the old Power Mac Pro G3, which for a time came in in a beautiful blue.
en.wikipedia.org
I loved my dark gray iPad Pro but... I've kinda been there done that. Ready for some color. It's sad to think I'll probably have to toss aside performance just to get it though.
Power Macintosh G3 - Wikipedia
I loved my dark gray iPad Pro but... I've kinda been there done that. Ready for some color. It's sad to think I'll probably have to toss aside performance just to get it though.
tfresquezdxs
macrumors regular
I really debating if its worth it to upgrade from iPad Pro 10.5 to this iPad Air. I’ll prob miss the motion screen and quad speakers but I wonder how the dual? Stero speakers will be. The plus side is faster performance and also with newer cellular advantages since my iPad doesn’t support bands like 66 and 71 for example.
victor.cardona
macrumors newbie
I have an original iPad Pro from 2016. I don't really use the camera on my iPad that often, and at this point any new iPad should have an improved camera. So the multiple cameras on the Pro don't really interest me. Lidar is cool, but I haven't seen an explosion of useful AR yet. Processors are comparable. Only reason I would consider a Pro right now is for the display, but I don't know that that outweighs the bump in price.
GuruZac
macrumors 68040
I can say, I honestly believe for the way in which the iPad Pros are marketed, and with their CPU/GPU perfomance, they should be shipping with 8GB of RAM, and the iPad Air with 6GB of RAM minimum. Doesn’t make sense for devices Apple compares in their marketing to be faster than most laptops and traditional computers that they would be shipping with 4GB of RAM (as is the case with my 2018 iPad Pro). I notice it when I use my Anatomy apps especially, I will get a refresh of the app every time.
iBluetooth
macrumors 6502a
More memory reduces battery life. 4 GB on iOS is equavalent to 8 GB on Android, due to that Java is using garbage collection. Why increase something unless needed?
GuruZac
macrumors 68040
The Display alone is worth it. But the extra RAM, FaceID, and quad speakers make the iPad Pro easily worth the price increase.
Does anyone have thoughts on how the IPad Pro 2018/2020 will compare to IPad Air 4 when using LumaFusion? Is the 120HZ refresh rate that much more significant than 60HZ for video editing? If the 2018 pro only has 4GB ram (I don’t need the 1 TB of storage version) like the new air 4 screen refresh rate seems to be the only significant difference for needs of video editing. And I understand the multi core will be slightly faster with the pros. Aloha
erniefairchild1
Suspended
Benchmarks leaked over the weekend gave us some insight into the performance of the A14 Bionic chip in the iPad Air that's set to launch soon, and also revealed another tidbit -- Apple's newest tablet has 4GB RAM.
That's 1GB over the prior-generation iPad Air that had an A12 Bionic processor, but less RAM than is available in the iPad Pro models. Apple's 2020 iPad Pro models all have 6GB RAM.
With the jump in RAM and the impressive performance of the A14 chip, the new iPad Air is quite a bit speedier than the prior-generation model, plus it has the all-display design with Touch ID Home button, a first for Apple.
The A14 iPad Air Geekbench result that was leaked featured a single-core score of 1583 and a multi-core score of 4198, a solid improvement over the single-core score of 1112 and multi-core score of 2832 earned by the third-generation iPad Air with A12 Bionic.
Notably, the benchmark results suggest other devices equipped with the A14 chip, such as Apple's iPhone 12 lineup, will also see notable speed improvements. The A14 is a step up in terms of performance and efficiency because it is Apple's first chip built on a smaller 5-nanometer process. Reduced node sizes result in higher power chips that use less power, bringing gains in battery life and speed. The 5-nanometer A-series chips are also expected to be used in upcoming Macs with Apple Silicon, though the Macs may use an upgraded A14X variant that's even faster.
Apple is planning to release the new iPad Air with A14 chip at some point in October, though no launch date has been announced. It's reasonable to expect the new iPad Air to come after the debut of the new iPhone 12 models because the tablet does contain new technology (the A14 chip) that Apple may not want inspected thoroughly ahead of the debut of its flagship iPhone lineup, despite the benchmark leak.
Article Link: Apple's New iPad Air Equipped With 4GB RAM
It does not have a Touch ID home button. Please correct.
confusedpurple
macrumors member
I know people like to complain that there isn't ever enough ram. Fact is though iOS doesn't need it, and wouldn't make worthwhile use of it. All it would do is reduce battery life.
RAM's great if you've got a desktop os with multiple apps performing tasks at once. It's useless if you're on an OS with suspended and reduced usage on background apps.
Desktop grade OS' also make use of RAM for in-memory cachine and storage. When you control the hardware and have a 100% guarantee that every device is using high speed flash that doubles up to handle some tasks normally handled by ram.
TL;DR 4gb is absolutely enough on iOS right now.
RAM's great if you've got a desktop os with multiple apps performing tasks at once. It's useless if you're on an OS with suspended and reduced usage on background apps.
Desktop grade OS' also make use of RAM for in-memory cachine and storage. When you control the hardware and have a 100% guarantee that every device is using high speed flash that doubles up to handle some tasks normally handled by ram.
TL;DR 4gb is absolutely enough on iOS right now.
gaximus
macrumors 68020
I have an original iPad I can sell you.
Zdigital2015
macrumors 601
The same is true whether you’re buying a toaster, a blender, a washer and dryer, a 4K HDTV, a car or a private jet. This is not unique to Apple, I hope that’s not your assertion?
AvisDeene
macrumors regular
Future proofing. I like to hold on to products for as long as possible and get as much use out of them as I can. More RAM will allow me to use more apps at the same time, allow me do have more layers in image editing apps, and be able to update to future versions of iOS that will more than likely operate better with more RAM.
Power consumption isn't much of a concern when you can keep it plugged in.
Hyperchaotic
macrumors 6502
Not enough unobtanium has been the reason for both my iPad upgrades, it makes good business sense. Their CPU's are too good and could otherwise last even longer.
Hyperchaotic
macrumors 6502
The OS yes, but 2GB is difficult to work on, apps will be constantly reloading. Trying to multitask on my 2GB iPad is very painful. 4GB is fine but only for now.
RAM is one of the components in a tablet with lowest power usage. Screen first of all and and CPU/GPU are much much worse. You can comfortably add several more GB's of RAM and not feel a real difference on battery life.
I've just noticed that on the Polish version of Apple site, there is a big information that the iPad Air will be available in October, but there is also a footnote that the cellular version is coming this year... is is something limited to selected countries or is it a global thing?
Depends...does the toaster only start at 64gb? Hope my iCloud holds enough toast so I don’t have to upgrade.
TraceyS/FL
macrumors 601
I’m looking to upgrade our 12.9 2nd gen. I’m trying to hold out for the next Pro upgrade, or at least the Apple Silicon offering. I wouldn’t be looking if it didn’t have a delainating screen and an area the fails a lot. Like the other my daughter was trying to write down a phone for me from soeaker phone. It didnt work for he until she moved to another part of the score, its kinda annoying.
I upgraded our 1st gen Pro to the Air 3 earlier in the year, no regrets - doesn’t it’s job.
‘’I’m totally tempted by a green air though.... lol
CarlJ
Contributor
Keeping RAM running takes power. And iOS is more efficient with memory and Android is. They put in the amount they think hits the balance between running for a long time yet handling everything a normal user would throw at it. I'd like more RAM too, but I don't think it's a matter of them being stingy.
CarlJ
Contributor
They have that already. It's called an Etch-a-Sketch.