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All iPads Does 1GB of RAM run smoothly?

V

vmflapem

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Dec 27, 2013
432
68
I'm deciding whether to buy an ipad air now or later.
The only reason I was waiting for the next generation was because of RAM.
I'll be using it heavily to view textbooks (>500 pages in PDF) and I'll also be using it to watch videos on youtube.

Do you think 1GB will not cause any problems on me?
 
RAm isn't an issue when watching YouTube videos, the key there is your internet connection speed.

Large PDF files, could possibly be an issue. If yu can wait, I'd wait.
 
I'd wait. If the next version has 2 gigs of ram, it will be effective for two more versions of iOS than the present 1gig version.
 
Last edited:
I suppose it depends what you want to do with your iPad. 1 gig is more than enough for me, hell even the 500 mb on my first gen iPad mini is enough.

I do web browsing, Facebook, YouTube, Netflix, iTunes video and music and some games
 
vmflapem said:
I'm deciding whether to buy an ipad air now or later.
The only reason I was waiting for the next generation was because of RAM.
I'll be using it heavily to view textbooks (>500 pages in PDF) and I'll also be using it to watch videos on youtube.

Do you think 1GB will not cause any problems on me?
Click to expand...

I'm not sure any tablet is right for reading 500 page PDF files. iBooks work great though.
 
Buy the device you need when you need it. The amount of RAM is irrelevent to most users. I have zero issues with my ipad air, and still use my 1st gen ipad (how much RAM is in that one?) around the house.
 
mizzouxc said:
I'm not sure any tablet is right for reading 500 page PDF files. iBooks work great though.
Click to expand...
I regularly read 500 page PDF and cbz/cbr files on my iPad 4 without any problems. Actually, out of all of my tablets and ereaders, the iPad is the only one that handles them perfectly and smoothly.
 
Mine seems to run very smoothly. Games like Hearthstone, Real racing, etc are as fast as ever. Pretty much everything I do is quick and smooth. Now, that being said, some people have issues with safari being a memory hog but IMO that's more safari than the lack of RAM. Not going to argue that again for the millionth time here but it is what it is.

I believe they will optimize safari and that pesky java engine and that will make things much better. Now, more RAM is always a good thing unless it somehow compromises battery life badly but I doubt that will happen.

I say buy an iPad Air right now and enjoy it. Mines been a beast since day 1 and I will NOT being getting the next version as I always skip a few iterations.
 
vmflapem said:
I'm deciding whether to buy an ipad air now or later.
The only reason I was waiting for the next generation was because of RAM.
I'll be using it heavily to view textbooks (>500 pages in PDF) and I'll also be using it to watch videos on youtube.

Do you think 1GB will not cause any problems on me?
Click to expand...

Get one now if you need one now. The next iPad may or may not have additional RAM.
 
vmflapem said:
I'm deciding whether to buy an ipad air now or later.
The only reason I was waiting for the next generation was because of RAM.
I'll be using it heavily to view textbooks (>500 pages in PDF) and I'll also be using it to watch videos on youtube.

Do you think 1GB will not cause any problems on me?
Click to expand...

I am using my ipad air to read some very long technical books 600+ pages. I even had one pdf that was scanned from a physical book (so very large file size) and besides the inital loading it worked ok. I'm really enjoying using my ipad air for reading textbooks in pdf format.

The memory issues are more likely to impact you if you try to multitask (switch quickly between your 500pg pdf and some note taking app for example) and even then the experience can be great if you pick the right apps. I'm using iannotate, goodnotes, and evernote for the majority of my academic needs and so far so good.

Safari will crash on you though so be prepared for that. (It isn't as horrible as some here make it sound but it does happen)
 
if you can wait, wait. Otherwise buy and then sell. In my usage the single gb of ram is keeping the iPad air behind, especially in safari and multitasking
 
sracer said:
I regularly read 500 page PDF and cbz/cbr files on my iPad 4 without any problems. Actually, out of all of my tablets and ereaders, the iPad is the only one that handles them perfectly and smoothly.
Click to expand...

It is depends on which application are you using I think. I never use iBook, I think it is clunky and not really responsive.

I am using Duokan reader on both iOS device and Android devices. All device I am using including Android handles 500+ ePub and PDF files with lots of graphics smoothly.
 
Go to an apple store or Sam's club or best buy and just use on for 30 minutes to verify it doesn't bog down when watching youtube and reading ebooks.

I can tell you my iPad 2 is perfectly fine for those activities and you would be getting a significantly better machine.
 
It's not that it's not smooth - everything will still work okay, Safari pages will still scroll snappily - it's just that the iPad will toss those pages of memory very quickly. In my experience just typing a comment on a forum post and trying to cross-reference it with just one other tab is impossible - it would always reload the forum page and I'd lose my text.
 
mizzouxc said:
I'm not sure any tablet is right for reading 500 page PDF files. iBooks work great though.
Click to expand...

I'm not sure where this opinion is coming from. I recently taught a semester-long class directly from my iPad, using a 700+ page PDF version of the textbook, which I had annotated heavily. There was never even a hiccup -- it worked beautifully for this purpose.
 
mizzouxc said:
I'm not sure any tablet is right for reading 500 page PDF files. iBooks work great though.
Click to expand...

I read 500-page PDF documents on my iPad Air all the time, and before that I did the same on the my iPad 3 and iPad 2 (which had 512MB of RAM). It's never been a problem.

OP: The current iPad Air will be fine for your needs. If you need something now, there's no reason to wait. On the other hand, if you absolutely want the latest and greatest, and can wait until around November, then do that. Or you could buy one now and then sell/trade it in when the next model comes out.
 
Ezhik said:
It's not that it's not smooth - everything will still work okay, Safari pages will still scroll snappily - it's just that the iPad will toss those pages of memory very quickly. In my experience just typing a comment on a forum post and trying to cross-reference it with just one other tab is impossible - it would always reload the forum page and I'd lose my text.
Click to expand...

Every time I try to replicate this "post and change tabs, then go back to the first tab" defect nothing ever reloads. Ever. Did it with the tabs just now. I have this site, a precious metals forum, and Apple.com opened.

I'm either doing it wrong or the fact that I have a cellular model might be saving me from this? I dunno.....??? :confused:
 
s2mikey said:
Every time I try to replicate this "post and change tabs, then go back to the first tab" defect nothing ever reloads. Ever. Did it with the tabs just now. I have this site, a precious metals forum, and Apple.com opened.

I'm either doing it wrong or the fact that I have a cellular model might be saving me from this? I dunno.....??? :confused:
Click to expand...

I really have no idea anymore. I just try to avoid browsing on my iPad when possible now.
 
My iPad mini runs fine, I'm happy.

I use it to surf, play some games, open up and edit spreadsheets. Its a great little work horse.
 
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