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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?
 

Night Spring

macrumors G5
Jul 17, 2008
14,598
7,768
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.
 

Count Blah

macrumors 68040
Jan 6, 2004
3,192
2,748
US of A
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:

Shanghaichica

macrumors G5
Apr 8, 2013
14,617
13,107
UK
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
 

mizzouxc

macrumors member
Apr 12, 2010
85
0
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?

I'm not sure any tablet is right for reading 500 page PDF files. iBooks work great though.
 

Q-Dog

macrumors 6502a
Sep 9, 2007
651
989
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.
 

sracer

macrumors G4
Apr 9, 2010
10,271
12,994
where hip is spoken
I'm not sure any tablet is right for reading 500 page PDF files. iBooks work great though.
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.
 

s2mikey

Suspended
Sep 23, 2013
2,490
4,255
Upstate, NY
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.
 

mangomind

macrumors 6502a
Mar 15, 2012
542
5
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?

Get one now if you need one now. The next iPad may or may not have additional RAM.
 

Saturn1217

macrumors 65816
Apr 28, 2008
1,263
832
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?

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)
 

canesalato

Cancelled
Jan 31, 2010
1,387
1,321
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
 

MisakixMikasa

macrumors 6502a
Aug 21, 2013
776
2
Waterloo, Ontario, Canada
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.

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.
 

grockk

macrumors 6502
Mar 16, 2006
365
5
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.
 

Ezhik

macrumors regular
Apr 28, 2011
147
0
Cupertino (No, really)
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.
 

bluespark

macrumors 68040
Jul 11, 2009
3,088
3,989
Chicago
I'm not sure any tablet is right for reading 500 page PDF files. iBooks work great though.

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.
 

scaredpoet

macrumors 604
Apr 6, 2007
6,627
342
I'm not sure any tablet is right for reading 500 page PDF files. iBooks work great though.

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.
 

s2mikey

Suspended
Sep 23, 2013
2,490
4,255
Upstate, NY
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.

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:
 

Ezhik

macrumors regular
Apr 28, 2011
147
0
Cupertino (No, really)
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:

I really have no idea anymore. I just try to avoid browsing on my iPad when possible now.
 

maflynn

macrumors Haswell
May 3, 2009
73,416
43,304
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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