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Apps Reportedly Limited to Maximum of 5GB RAM in iPadOS, Even With 16GB M1 iPad Pro
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It’s pretty easy for developers to read the iPad model and dynamically allocate RAM for their app based on that. Early models could be allocated 2Gb per App for example without needing a seperate section on the App Store.
But they don’t have a huge inventory of 16Gb Models or they’d be easy to buy in-store. When I ordered my 16Gb Mac mini, I had to wait 2wks for delivery whereas the 8Gb model was able to be shipped right away and was available in-stores.
Even now, there’s a 10 day wait here for the 16Gb model. If I order the 8Gb model before 9am today, it will be delivered by 12PM….3hr delivery vs 10 days.
this isn't the 'pro' experience I had in mind. if they don't fix this at WWDC, kinda makes me feel like I was conned.
Note that iPad OS itself can use all 16GB RAM, ie. By keeping more apps in RAM. It’s just that the individual app is limited in the amount of RAM it can access.
Making my very expensive iPad 'pro' only in the sense that I can leave lots of crap open in the background.
Steve Jobs? The guy who shipped the first iPad with just 256MB of RAM?
This may very well be opened up with an update, but this why I would never get an iPad for serious productivity. A MacBook is so much more productive IMO.
„Pro“ is just a marketing term, nothing else. It shows that this is the high end iPad, the best you can get. Nothing else. The iPad is still a great device for what it is. I am using it mainly as a tablet and do not even think about to use it differently. It has become more capable the last two years, especially after getting trackpad support. It can also work nice in many professional workflows, but just not as a standalone solution.
I could for example use my iPad to write long concept documents for my customers. I would take these documents and enhance them on my Macs though, since MS Office doesn‘t support many basic features. The iPad is great for concentrating on a single task. I take it for what it really is.
If you want something like a Mac, then get a Mac. They are great computers and I love them. The iPad will surely get better and better, but its road is a different one than the roadmap of a Mac. Will they converge? Not in the next 3-5 years. What will happen after that we will see.
I could for example use my iPad to write long concept documents for my customers. I would take these documents and enhance them on my Macs though, since MS Office doesn‘t support many basic features. The iPad is great for concentrating on a single task. I take it for what it really is.
If you want something like a Mac, then get a Mac. They are great computers and I love them. The iPad will surely get better and better, but its road is a different one than the roadmap of a Mac. Will they converge? Not in the next 3-5 years. What will happen after that we will see.
For some use case, like heavy multi tasker, that by itself is already quite useful for productivity. If you expected something different, then you probably needed a Mac, not an iPad. If you already think your iPad Pro is expensive, why did you even buy it?
the iPad Air is cheaper and will do what most regular people do with a tablet.I thought that, but Apple wouldn’t replace the screen on my MacBook Air when I broke it by drawing on it. I said ‘but the mac is more productive and can do everything’. They didn’t know what I was talking about.
I hope we get a lot more. Just tempering my expectations. The Files app needs a major overhaul. Tired of getting random errors when trying to copy files from external drives.
Probably required retooling the underlying OS. Apple loves to segment teams so they don't fully know what the other is doing so they can minimize leaks. If it's not resolved in iPad OS 15 then I would be pretty surprised. More RAM is pretty useful for apps like Photoshop and similar apps where you have a ton of layers or large canvas sizes. Not sure why they would start advertising RAM only to put artificial limits on it. This has to be an OS thing, and may be why Apple has been limiting iOS/iPad OS devices to 6GB for a number of years. Even the higher end 2018 iPad Pros had 6GB of RAM, and the latest iPhones do as well. I always through that was weird because Apple has always used multiples of two before now, and then suddenly we're jumping up to 8/16GB. Something is in the works, and I think that this hints at underlying bigger changes to iPad OS. A decision was likely made that they should work on the new OS rather than trying to patch the old one.
Perhaps the new iPadOS will have a completely rebuilt pipeline, which could also be an explanation for why Thunderbolt 4 runs slow compared to the Mac. I've been doing my own testing recently in some posts on the iPad forum and it seems to be running around 2.7X slower than my 2019 iMac for transferring RAW files between a high-end UHS-II SD card from Sony and a Samsung T5 SSD.
Perhaps the new iPadOS will have a completely rebuilt pipeline, which could also be an explanation for why Thunderbolt 4 runs slow compared to the Mac. I've been doing my own testing recently in some posts on the iPad forum and it seems to be running around 2.7X slower than my 2019 iMac for transferring RAW files between a high-end UHS-II SD card from Sony and a Samsung T5 SSD.
Well that single thing proves that the mac is not better at everything, but taking handwritten notes, editing images, portability, iOS infrastructure, simplicity and ease of use, scanning images, AR, Face ID, accessibility, price (model dependent), security… I don’t know. I love macs, but they’re not better than iPads for doing plenty of things.
You don't buy an iPad based on how much RAM it has though, you buy it based on the storage space you want.
Yeah I agree! Bugs me a bit. Macs are ace. No denying. iPads are not macs. Get over it 😂
No such thing. Cheapest 16gb is the 1TB model at $1799. Not including a keyboard or accessories (pen etc). Anything under 1TB is 8gb RAM.
So you're basically talking 2 grand. More than a good comparable screen size 13" laptop really well specced out. The top M1 13" Macbook Pro 16gb RAM 1Tb config is $1899; so cheaper than a comparable iPad with any basic keyboard case (and much less than adding the Apple Magic one for $350).
That is where it gets odd for me and what value proposition they are trying to push. When other than touch, the Mac can run iOS apps now PLUS MacOS
$1800+ iPads aren't flying off the shelves. They don't break it down by model, but my guess is the $329 one is the top seller by a long long ways (remember education settings) Then the Air. The iPhone has taught us the lower model of the lineup is typically top seller.
Expensive iPads are niche configs.
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Expensive anything is a niche config. Why when it’s an iPad it annoys you so much, I have no idea.
Annoys who? And who are you?
I was simply responding to someone's inaccurate comment who was not you. Stay out of it since you clearly have nothing constructive to say or add.
I have not once quoted to you in this thread or responded to one of your posts.
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I am not really bothered by the iPad Pro running iPadOS. While we are talking about analogies, putting macOS on an iPad would be like giving a 2-handed sword to a fencer. It's a powerful weapon, but wholly unsuited for that particular wielder.
To me, the biggest issue is that despite its specs, we still aren't seeing more powerful software that really elevates the hardware. Yes, I am aware of apps like Lumafusion, Lightroom and Infinity Photo, but I think are still waiting for the big names like Final Cut Pro and photoshop to come.
What I believe is more likely to happen is that between the M1 chip and Catalyst, developers will finally be incentivised to port their Mac apps over to the iPad as well (most of the assets are already there, it's mostly just a matter of rethinking the UI to make sense for a smaller touchscreen).
I doubt Apple is going to create a touch-optimised version of macOS just for the iPad Pro.