iPad mini Good news: Mini 5 has 3GB of RAM!

[joshwithachance]

I just ran a GeekBench test of my just picked up Mini 5 and I am happy to report there’s 3GB of RAM. While it’s not as stacked as the Pro with 4GB it’s definitely a step up from the 2GB in the base model iPad. I’m pleased. As for the GeekBench results I scored 4800 single core and 10800 multi. Not bad!

 

[Apple_Robert]

Plenty quick for a mini powerhouse. Looking forward to getting mine some time this week (depending on shipping).

 

[Hazzer]

I just ran a GeekBench test of my just picked up Mini 5 and I am happy to report there’s 3GB of RAM. While it’s not as stacked as the Pro with 4GB it’s definitely a step up from the 2GB in the base model iPad. I’m pleased. As for the GeekBench results I scored 4800 single core and 10800 multi. Not bad!

How did you get your Mini today?

 

[joshwithachance]

How did you get your Mini today?

Best Buy has them (WiFi models) in stock for pickup today!

 

[EugW]

I don't think many are surprised by this, as all the initial iPad11 benchmarks are 3 GB.

Good to have confirmation though.

 

[EvilEvil]

Would have been nicer if it had 4gb of ram. 3gb is such an odd number.

 

[EugW]

Would have been nicer if it had 4gb of ram. 3gb is such an odd number.

3 GB is the amount in lots of iPhones, so it’s not a surprise. Even the iPhone X has 3 GB RAM.

But yeah, 4 GB would better. It is one of several reasons I bought the 2017 iPad Pro 10.5” (4 GB RAM) in 2019 instead of the iPad Air 3 (3 GB RAM).

 

[lcseds]

Would have been nicer if it had 4gb of ram. 3gb is such an odd number.

I agree. But that probably would have added about $8 to the cost, thereby reducing profit. Not acceptable when they can get by with less. "-)

 

[EugW]

I agree. But that probably would have added about $8 to the cost, thereby reducing profit. Not acceptable when they can get by with less. "-)

For the iPad mini customers, the vast majority won’t care.

I care but then again, I bought a 3 GB iPhone XR for my wife, who doesn’t care.

Mind you, I drew the line at 1 GB vs 2 GB. After 2013 I refused to buy any iDevice that only had 1 GB RAM. We waited for the 6s for the wife and the iPad Air 2. (I ended up waiting another year for myself actually for the 7 Plus which turned out to get 3 GB RAM.)

 

[AutomaticApple]

3 GB is the amount in lots of iPhones

Like the iPhone 7 Plus?

 

[EugW]

Like the iPhone 7 Plus?

Yes... and 8 Plus and X and XR.

 

[EvilEvil]

3 GB is the amount in lots of iPhones, so it’s not a surprise. Even the iPhone X has 3 GB RAM.

But yeah, 4 GB would better. It is one of several reasons I bought the 2017 iPad Pro 10.5” (4 GB RAM) in 2019 instead of the iPad Air 3 (3 GB RAM).

I can't wait until all iDevices have 8gb of ram as standard.

 

[EugW]

I can't wait until all iDevices have 8gb of ram as standard.

I suspect you jest, but in all seriousness, I probably won't upgrade my iPad until it comes with 6 GB RAM or more. No, I'm not going to buy a 1 TB iPad Pro to get 6 GB RAM. At that time... in a few years... I'll probably just need a 128 GB - 256 GB model 11" iPad Pro. Probably the 1-2 TB models will have 8 GB RAM at that time.

 

[tps3443]

I can't wait until all iDevices have 8gb of ram as standard.

I think in spring 2020 iPad pro’s will make a drastic jump in memory size.

I think Apple will keep it split up though, offering a standard memory size. And a enthusiast level memory size and charge a silly premium for it too.

I just hope they do not keep going up in price.

Spring 2020 there might just be a iPad Pro that cost $2,299 or more for the high end storage model.

 

[dgdosen]

can't help it

 

[joeblow7777]

I suspect you jest, but in all seriousness, I probably won't upgrade my iPad until it comes with 6 GB RAM or more. No, I'm not going to buy a 1 TB iPad Pro to get 6 GB RAM. At that time... in a few years... I'll probably just need a 128 GB - 256 GB model 11" iPad Pro. Probably the 1-2 TB models will have 8 GB RAM at that time.

How much does it actually enhance your iPhone/iPad experience? Some people are like, "my iDevice needs to have 6GB of RAM (or 8GB)". iOS is such a light weight OS with such restrictive multitasking features that I just don't understand the actual practical benefit of having a lot of extra RAM. I feel that iOS is the bottleneck now. If an iPad is going to have as much RAM as my laptop, it should be able to multitask like my laptop.

 

[Samut]

In addition to Lightroom and video editing one of the reasons why I would prefer more ram are the games.

Seeing that there are already some pretty good looking games on Ipad and that the GPU is pretty good the shared 4 gigabytes of memory will be soon the limiting factor.

Its also pretty annoying to multitask and switch apps when the pages refresh seemingly randomly.

 

[EugW]

How much does it actually enhance your iPhone/iPad experience? Some people are like, "my iDevice needs to have 6GB of RAM (or 8GB)". iOS is such a light weight OS with such restrictive multitasking features that I just don't understand the actual practical benefit of having a lot of extra RAM. I feel that iOS is the bottleneck now. If an iPad is going to have as much RAM as my laptop, it should be able to multitask like my laptop.

1 GB is a big bottleneck.
2 GB is a bit of a bottleneck, but it’s not bad.
3 GB isn’t a real bottleneck for most usage in my experience but that’s in 2019. Who knows in 2021 though? Also, in my case I wanted to try dabbling in some video editing and I figure it’d be better to have more RAM than less, especially since Apple already sets the Pros at a mininum of 4 GB but allow you to buy up to 6 GB RAM.

It seems that when Apple sets a baseline in iOS, that baseline starts to become a bottleneck in a few years even just with regular consumer type usage, not just more complex stuff like video editing. The other thing is that the machines with less memory seem more prone to weird behaviour like random software crashes, although this is just anecdotal. It should be noted that no iDevice that came out after the release of iOS 12 has shipped with less than 3 GB, so Apple has set its new baseline now at 3 GB... even for the iPad mini.

In this scenario, with the 10.5” iPads, we were presented with a dilemma. Either buy an Air with 3 GB RAM and a bunch of missing features, or else buy a Pro that came out two years ago meaning it will likely be updated for maybe 1 year less (or worst case scenario, two years less), but with 4 GB RAM and which has a bunch of really nice features like ProMotion and quad speakers. I struggled with this decision for a while, but then I figured I’d probably upgrade in 2022-2023 anyway, which is about when the iPad Pro 10.5” might stop getting iOS updates. In the meantime though, I’d get to enjoy the extra features, and would have the extra RAM just in case I need it for stuff like video editing apps. As mentioned, at least anecdotally it seems machines with less memory sometimes can cause random software crashes more, so having the 1 extra GB might actually help in more complex usage. I’m not just talking about tab reloads here anymore.

The other thing to remember is that typically with iOS, apps usually support versions about 2-3 years old, even as they continue to become more complex. So even if a 10.5” Pro were to lose iOS updates in 2022, it would still remain a viable machine in 2024 in terms of software support. I would be shocked if by 2024, 4 GB wasn’t Apple’s chosen minimum RAM configuration.

 

[tps3443]

In addition to Lightroom and video editing one of the reasons why I would prefer more ram are the games.

Seeing that there are already some pretty good looking games on Ipad and that the GPU is pretty good the shared 4 gigabytes of memory will be soon the limiting factor.

Its also pretty annoying to multitask and switch apps when the pages refresh seemingly randomly.

You can render some performance issues right now on a iPad with 4GB of ram.

They only have 3.69GB of ram before it is even powered on, then after iOS starts up you’ve got about 2.8GB free sitting on an empty home screen.

Open up ark Survival evolved: turn on maximum detail, maximum texture resolution. It’ll micro stutter once loading in the map looking around, and anytime you minimize it and open it back up. The frame rate is smooth, but it feels like low ram issues obviously.

iPads with 6GB of ram do not have this issue at all.

iPads are at a minimum threshold with how much memory they have already. We’ve had 4GB of ram since 2017. Only now we are getting more demanding games, and desktop equivalent production and editing software too?

 

[EugW]

You can render some performance issues right now on a iPad with 4GB of ram.

They only have 3.69GB of ram before it is even powered on, then after iOS starts up you’ve got about 2.8GB free sitting on an empty home screen.

Open up ark Survival evolved: turn on maximum detail, maximum texture resolution. It’ll micro stutter once loading in the map looking around, and anytime you minimize it and open it back up. The frame rate is smooth, but it feels like low ram issues obviously.

iPads with 6GB of ram do not have this issue at all.

iPads are at a minimum threshold with how much memory they have already. We’ve had 4GB of ram since 2017. Only now we are getting more demanding games, and desktop equivalent production and editing software too?

You compared the 4 GB A12X vs the 6 GB A12X? If so, that’s pretty convincing.

I can’t comment on games so I don’t play anything demanding. Angry Birds and Solitaire for me.

 

[tps3443]

You compared the 4 GB A12X vs the 6 GB A12X? If so, that’s pretty convincing.

I can’t comment on games so I don’t play anything demanding. Angry Birds and Solitaire for me.

Yep running the game side by side on each device.

It is nothing major, and it does go away after a few seconds of spinning around in the game.

Ark Survival evolved was a pretty demanding game on PC rendering everyones PC useless at 4K resolutions. And the average person below 30fps at 1080P with maximum detail.

It is much less graphically intensive on iOS, but still demands a lot of resources. The game has great graphics on a tablet.

We are playing at a pretty high resolution for a tablet, with the being said it is just hammering on our GPU’s as hard as it can lol. It is very smooth, and surprising they can make something look this impressive on something so thin and small.

The image quality is cut down after uploading, and the game looks better then my screenshots.














baby name creator

 

[kristalsoldier]

1 GB is a big bottleneck.
2 GB is a bit of a bottleneck, but it’s not bad.
3 GB isn’t a real bottleneck for most usage in my experience but that’s in 2019. Who knows in 2021 though? Also, in my case I wanted to try dabbling in some video editing and I figure it’d be better to have more RAM than less, especially since Apple already sets the Pros at a mininum of 4 GB but allow you to buy up to 6 GB RAM.

It seems that when Apple sets a baseline in iOS, that baseline starts to become a bottleneck in a few years even just with regular consumer type usage, not just more complex stuff like video editing. The other thing is that the machines with less memory seem more prone to weird behaviour like random software crashes, although this is just anecdotal. It should be noted that no iDevice that came out after the release of iOS 12 has shipped with less than 3 GB, so Apple has set its new baseline now at 3 GB... even for the iPad mini.

In this scenario, with the 10.5” iPads, we were presented with a dilemma. Either buy an Air with 3 GB RAM and a bunch of missing features, or else buy a Pro that came out two years ago meaning it will likely be updated for maybe 1 year less (or worst case scenario, two years less), but with 4 GB RAM and which has a bunch of really nice features like ProMotion and quad speakers. I struggled with this decision for a while, but then I figured I’d probably upgrade in 2022-2023 anyway, which is about when the iPad Pro 10.5” might stop getting iOS updates. In the meantime though, I’d get to enjoy the extra features, and would have the extra RAM just in case I need it for stuff like video editing apps. As mentioned, at least anecdotally it seems machines with less memory sometimes can cause random software crashes more, so having the 1 extra GB might actually help in more complex usage. I’m not just talking about tab reloads here anymore.

The other thing to remember is that typically with iOS, apps usually support versions about 2-3 years old, even as they continue to become more complex. So even if a 10.5” Pro were to lose iOS updates in 2022, it would still remain a viable machine in 2024 in terms of software support. I would be shocked if by 2024, 4 GB wasn’t Apple’s chosen minimum RAM configuration.

Well said! And, that kind of thinking is precisely why I decided not to opt for the 11” version.

 

[Azeroth1]

The numbers are always gonna change and the same arguments always repeat in a cycle.

If standard amount of ram is x, then it would be better if it was y.

In other words, as soon as they all jump to 4, we will all be saying 8 would really be better. Once it hits 8, 16 would really be best, etc.

Enjoy your devices now for what they are! Something better, stronger, faster will be coming down the pipe in the next few years - which is great. We can then buy those devices and look to the future again and dream that our new iPad Avatar pods will come with 2400gb Ram in the next release instead of a paltry 1200gb Ram we have to live with when traversing Pandora.

 

[EugW]

The numbers are always gonna change and the same arguments always repeat in a cycle.

If standard amount of ram is x, then it would be better if it was y.

In other words, as soon as they all jump to 4, we will all be saying 8 would really be better. Once it hits 8, 16 would really be best, etc.

Enjoy your devices now for what they are! Something better, stronger, faster will be coming down the pipe in the next few years - which is great. We can then buy those devices and look to the future again and dream that our new iPad Avatar pods will come with 2400gb Ram in the next release instead of a paltry 1200gb Ram we have to live with when traversing Pandora.

That’s exactly what some people said when the iPhone 6 came out. However, the iPhone 6s, which has more RAM, has held up MUCH better. I’m glad we waited for the 6s. I’m also very glad I waited for the 2014 Air 2 instead of getting the 2013 Air.

BTW, my MacBook Pro shipped with 2 GB RAM. I have 8 GB in it now since I’d get slowdowns with 4 GB. Luckily I could upgrade the RAM in it. You can’t upgrade RAM in iPads.

Now, in this situation with the mini, it’s a no brainer since the older models are worse in every way, including with RAM. Furthermore, one is less likely to use some of the RAM hungry applications with the mini, due to its small size. However, with the Pro vs Air it’s a harder decision since the Pro has nice extra features like ProMotion, better speakers, better camera, and more RAM, and is more suited for RAM hungry applications, but the Air will likely get updates for longer as it is a newer machine.

 

[PBz]

I don't think many are surprised by this, as all the initial iPad11 benchmarks are 3 GB.
Editing as what I am finding online does not match Apple rep comments.