Great article to consider.

[Kendo]

I was starting to get worried that I ordered a 16gb but i'll be fine. I pretty much only download news/sports news apps and notetaking apps. I have my iphone for games, my ipod classic for music, my macbook for storing movies and my imac for other movies and the rest of my stuff as well. And the only magazine I read is ESPN, which I get in physical form anyways. I'll probably just use that extra 100 dollars for Applecare or squaretrade

I'd hate to spend $500 and have to convince myself to make so many concessions just to be able to use it. For example it seems like you are sacrificing yourself by saying you have your iPod for music, iPhone for games, iMac for movies, etc. You're even making excuses by saying you can get the print version of ESPN.

The iPad is built for all of those things. You should spend that $100 on some more storage so you can utilize it to the fullest.

It is one thing if you say, "I only want to browse the web on the iPad" and then a 16GB model is fine. But it seems you are the PERFECT candidate for all the iPad's great functions. Games, movies, magazines, music. You are the target audience for a 32GB iPad my friend.

 

[erawsd]

There was some research data a few weeks back that showed that a huge chunk of iPad's owners only have ~2 dozen apps and they've only paid for ~5 of them.

That would suggest that a lot of iPad users (if not most) are using the device for web browsing and streaming content. A lot of the most popular apps are also very tiny, and only take 10-20MB in size. So even with ballooned up app sizes, its still possible that 16gigs is enough -- which is why Apple is keeping it around.

Lets experiment:

Lets say I'm a way above average -- yet still casual -- user. I have all of iLife, iWork, both the top 20 paid apps and top 20 free apps (~42 apps total). Lets also say I went out and bought the remaining 37 apps in the App Starter kit too because I trust Apple.

Apple Apps: 2.2GB

The other top apps = 1.2GB. x2 for Retina = 2.4GB.

Remaining Apps from starer kit = 2.4GB. x2 for Retina = 4.8GB

So with ~ 79 apps (nearly 4x the average), I've only used up 9.4 GB. I've still got another 4.6gb free.

 

[soco]

*off topic*

I like your avatar.

lol thank you. She's a good girl.

 

[findwaldonow]

I got the 16GB. I'm super psyched about getting it Friday. And it's getting a little tiresome reading some of the people posting like what I or some other people bought is going to be unusable or somehow insufficient. It truly is how you plan to use it. Here's how I figure it.

I have my iPhone on me all the time 32 GB. Never leaves my pocket. I got that size because it handles my entire 20 GB music collection and in addition does all the wonderful things iPhones do. I have pretty much everything I need on it and it never leaves my pocket.

I won't be putting song 1 on the iPad because first, I have my phone with me as I said. And second, I would rather not have a dinner plate sized item working with tethered to my head. I've already taken to using my phone for music even while working on my laptop because when I get up to go get something I don't have to unplug. Just keeps going. Add in that your iPad is sometimes meant to turn and be passed and flipped around and I'm just fine only having pandora or spotify on there for rare times when I have music needs with it and that's it.

Two, movies. I have a TV. I'm sure movies will look great on this new iPad but is this really how you will constantly watch movies? To the point where you need to store more than 2 or 3 full-length films on your iPad? If you do, fine, I'm not saying that's bad. But leave me alone if I don't. The speaker blows and high res or not it's 10 inches. I'd rather watch a movie in a theater or on a big-ass tv with a sound system. I think 16gb can fit a few movies if you're traveling and need it or you're stuck on a flight. Otherwise watch movies on bigger screens. It's better. Remember?

Third, pictures. I'll have a few here and there but really, people are starting to look like dorks, stop taking pictures with your iPads. Edit your pictures and video on a more capable machine. Make an album for your iPad and offload the 90 extra pictures of your cat eating birthday cake to a hard drive and be done with it.

At the end of the day I'll have a mix of things on it. A few lighter footprint games. I'll draw on it. Read books and comics. Do web stuff. Type a blog post or an e-mail here and there, and just generally enjoy my machine. That's why I picked the size I did and then paid money for it. If it's not enough or I'm inconvenienced managing content to the tune of $100 worth of trouble in a year I'll upgrade next time. Simple.

I think the point is some of us don't need every bit of media we've ever accumulated from birth with us at all times ready to go. At very least for some of us with iPhones we are really saying we don't need all that stuff with us at all times...x2.

 

[Southernboyj]

I got the 16GB. I'm super psyched about getting it Friday.

You and all the rest of us!

 

[ZipZap]

I got the 16GB. I'm super psyched about getting it Friday. And it's getting a little tiresome reading some of the people posting like what I or some other people bought is going to be unusable or somehow insufficient. It truly is how you plan to use it. Here's how I figure it.

I have my iPhone on me all the time 32 GB. Never leaves my pocket. I got that size because it handles my entire 20 GB music collection and in addition does all the wonderful things iPhones do. I have pretty much everything I need on it and it never leaves my pocket.

I won't be putting song 1 on the iPad because first, I have my phone with me as I said. And second, I would rather not have a dinner plate sized item working with tethered to my head. I've already taken to using my phone for music even while working on my laptop because when I get up to go get something I don't have to unplug. Just keeps going. Add in that your iPad is sometimes meant to turn and be passed and flipped around and I'm just fine only having pandora or spotify on there for rare times when I have music needs with it and that's it.

Two, movies. I have a TV. I'm sure movies will look great on this new iPad but is this really how you will constantly watch movies? To the point where you need to store more than 2 or 3 full-length films on your iPad? If you do, fine, I'm not saying that's bad. But leave me alone if I don't. The speaker blows and high res or not it's 10 inches. I'd rather watch a movie in a theater or on a big-ass tv with a sound system. I think 16gb can fit a few movies if you're traveling and need it or you're stuck on a flight. Otherwise watch movies on bigger screens. It's better. Remember?

Third, pictures. I'll have a few here and there but really, people are starting to look like dorks, stop taking pictures with your iPads. Edit your pictures and video on a more capable machine. Make an album for your iPad and offload the 90 extra pictures of your cat eating birthday cake to a hard drive and be done with it.

At the end of the day I'll have a mix of things on it. A few lighter footprint games. I'll draw on it. Read books and comics. Do web stuff. Type a blog post or an e-mail here and there, and just generally enjoy my machine. That's why I picked the size I did and then paid money for it. If it's not enough or I'm inconvenienced managing content to the tune of $100 worth of trouble in a year I'll upgrade next time. Simple.

I think the point is some of us don't need every bit of media we've ever accumulated from birth with us at all times ready to go. At very least for some of us with iPhones we are really saying we don't need all that stuff with us at all times...x2.

You totally disregard the wow factor of newer applications, photos and games. I suspect you will regret the 16GB down the line (sooner rather than later). I have always regretted buying minimal at some point.

The real issue here is that Apple overcharges for the memory upgrade aspect of their models (and not just on the ipad). Its not reasonable that its $200 more to go 64GB. Thats a huge profit point for something that costs Apple significantly less. They have pretty much bought all the chip production. These days $499 should buy you at least 32GB.

That said, for those that are reconsidering, Go to an apple store and exchange it on Launch day.

 

[Southernboyj]

You totally disregard the wow factor of newer applications, photos and games. I suspect you will regret the 16GB down the line (sooner rather than later). I have always regretted buying minimal at some point.

The real issue here is that Apple overcharges for the memory upgrade aspect of their models (and not just on the ipad). Its not reasonable that its $200 more to go 64GB. Thats a huge profit point for something that costs Apple significantly less. They have pretty much bought all the chip production. These days $499 should buy you at least 32GB.

That said, for those that are reconsidering, Go to an apple store and exchange it on Launch day.

Not only do they overcharge you for the memory upgrades, adding a 4G or 3G network card probably cost them 10 dollars tops, and they tack on a $129 premium. Plus I believe AT&T/Verizon gives them a percentage of the revenue generated from usage of the 3G/4G.

But back to memory, its pretty crazy that it is $100 dollars to jump from 16Gb to 32Gb, $100 for 16 extra gigs when you can buy 1 TB hard drives now for that price...

 

[JasonR]

I got a 16gb, just like my iPad (1st gen) and I'm pretty sure I'll be fine. I use it mainly as a pass-through item. (Watch a lot of netflix or play music/movies through home sharing).

I can't imagine books are going to take up too much space and dropbox also helps hold files.

Ditto! Picked up a iPad 3 16 GB w/ Verizon LTE. I have Spotify, Google Music, and Dropbox. If I need to load a few movies for an airplane that'll be fine then can dump them when I land...or load them up in my macbook air.

 

[MacAgnostic]

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