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All iPads How much RAM is on iPad Air and iPad mini w/ Retina?
- Thread starter whtrbt7
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Check iFixit in a week. Until then, only Tim Cook knows and he is not telling.
Unfortunately I'd say there's a 75% chance it's still 1 GB.
This is the biggest problem I have with the Mini. Switching back and forth between Notability and Safari triggers a reload of the apps EVERY SINGLE TIME.
I hope not. With the big price price increase the Mini is taking, it better be up to par in every way, and not be gimped on memory.
I hope not. With the big price price increase the Mini is taking, it better be up to par in every way, and not be gimped on memory.
I'm sure they have the same amount of ram. Both models have the same A7 processor and the same resolution screen. So why would they bump up the ram in one but not the other. This isn't an android device we're talking about.
I suspect that's not true, at least for the Mini... But everyone is just guessing until the first one gets torn down.
Clint
I really wish I could find out the answer to this question. People say it doesn't matter, that this isn't an Android tablet, specs don't matter, etc. But RAM is extremely important in these types of devices for getting more life out of the device since they aren't upgradeable. It's why I ordered 16GB in my rMBP last year.
You see, I may not require 2GB today but what about when iOS 9 or 10 launches? Or when Adobe launches that version of Lightroom for iPad that they've been working on? To me, an iPad is more of a buy every 2-3 years kind of device. It also influences my decision on storage size. If this thing only has 1GB of ram, then I'll probably buy a smaller size as that will get me by for a shorter period of time. 64GB might get me through 2015, but will that be enough in 2016? Whichever device is 2GB I'm going to get in 128GB/LTE/Space Gray and baby it for the next few years. That is, unless...
Then there's also the fact that this is called an Air. Does that imply a Pro is coming? Is that why they got rid of the X (just A7) from what is now the Air line? A quad-core A7X with 2GB of ram or A8X with 4GB of ram and some Apple Pro apps? Perhaps built-in pressure sensitivity for drawing? 802.11ac WIFI? SD card reader and/or USB 3.0 port for hooking up an external drive, a nice photo printer, a Wacom tablet, or external sound device? That would be one heck of an iPad Pro to me. I don't necessarily think the screen size needs to be bigger, maybe just a little bitperhaps to fit some extra stuff? Idk.
You see, I may not require 2GB today but what about when iOS 9 or 10 launches? Or when Adobe launches that version of Lightroom for iPad that they've been working on? To me, an iPad is more of a buy every 2-3 years kind of device. It also influences my decision on storage size. If this thing only has 1GB of ram, then I'll probably buy a smaller size as that will get me by for a shorter period of time. 64GB might get me through 2015, but will that be enough in 2016? Whichever device is 2GB I'm going to get in 128GB/LTE/Space Gray and baby it for the next few years. That is, unless...
Then there's also the fact that this is called an Air. Does that imply a Pro is coming? Is that why they got rid of the X (just A7) from what is now the Air line? A quad-core A7X with 2GB of ram or A8X with 4GB of ram and some Apple Pro apps? Perhaps built-in pressure sensitivity for drawing? 802.11ac WIFI? SD card reader and/or USB 3.0 port for hooking up an external drive, a nice photo printer, a Wacom tablet, or external sound device? That would be one heck of an iPad Pro to me. I don't necessarily think the screen size needs to be bigger, maybe just a little bitperhaps to fit some extra stuff? Idk.
They took the iPads to the A7 to ease the transition to 64bit for everyone and to make it more worthwhile for developers to code for 64bit. That's obvious. What should also be obvious is that they will both have 1gb of ram to match the 5s, for the same reasons. I seriously doubt the rumours of an ipad pro. Oh and I don't think that they needed an A7X because the A7 has basically six graphics cores.. Now I think the A7 will be clocked a little higher on the iPads, because iPads are generally clocked higher than iPhones. I just wouldn't be waiting for a 2gb ipad or a A7X processor. Oh, and if you want all that other stuff, I'd suggest you look at the Modbook Pro...
I agree with everything you said. Plus, Apple has a history of not upgrading the amount of RAM until they absolutely have to. Also their OS runs much leaner than Android, so people should keep that in mind.
I'd bet money the Air and the Mini will both come with 1 GB of RAM.
If you had an ipad 3/4, you would know that when surfing the web, safari and all other browsers I've tried (so this isn't limited to bad browsers) have trouble "keeping tabs". What I mean is after you open several links with new tabs, when you go back to previous tabs, they will need to be reloaded. This is EXACTLY the problem with 1gb ram. The whole point of using tabs on a web browser is to eliminate loading time and to remember my reading spot right where I left it. Having to reload the pages entirely renders the tabs pointless; I might as well open links on the same page and using the back button to go back.
Want more proof? Open 2 or 3 games, and when you switch between them, instead of getting the pause screen, you have to reload the entire app again, wasting another minute or 2 in the process.
This problem does not happen to my note 3. With its 3GB ram, I can open many tabs and the pages will always be there when I go back to them. None of the reloading crap Apple gives me. Apple gets away with shi.t like these because Apple fanboys buy their products without really thinking about these things.
Want more proof? Open 2 or 3 games, and when you switch between them, instead of getting the pause screen, you have to reload the entire app again, wasting another minute or 2 in the process.
This problem does not happen to my note 3. With its 3GB ram, I can open many tabs and the pages will always be there when I go back to them. None of the reloading crap Apple gives me. Apple gets away with shi.t like these because Apple fanboys buy their products without really thinking about these things.
You realize of course that Apple doesn't want you to get more life out of the device. They want to sell you a new one every year.
Hope not.
For the price they charge and 2 devices are identical in specs only diff in size so they should offer same ram at 2GB. Apple stop being stingy.
2 GB wont drain more battery than 1GB so there is no reason for them not to or it would just be small improvement over the Ipad 4 they discontinued. To me, Ipad 2013 is nothing on the "wow" size, just another smaller, lighter same same everything else. How Long can apple rely on their apps and ecosystem. They already kill it on the user experience with IOS 7. How long, how long??? No innovation.
A lot of what Apple seems to be doing lately is simplifying the marketing.
I'm curious if the A7 in an iPhone and A7 in an iPad Air are identical.
In the past the X has been upgrades to graphics. The drop of the X could mean nothing and the A7 is literally just the family of processors it belongs to.
If it actually has 2X, then I'd expect at the very least a clock speed increase between the two as the A6X had a good lead over the A6.
Memory could go either way. I hope for more memory obviously.
I'm curious if the A7 in an iPhone and A7 in an iPad Air are identical.
In the past the X has been upgrades to graphics. The drop of the X could mean nothing and the A7 is literally just the family of processors it belongs to.
If it actually has 2X, then I'd expect at the very least a clock speed increase between the two as the A6X had a good lead over the A6.
Memory could go either way. I hope for more memory obviously.
Want a lil cheese with that wine? If you hate it so much, don't buy it!
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Let's see, can you change the ram on a MacBook Air? How about a retina MacBook Pro? No? How about the 21" iMac? You get what Apple gives you and you like it.
On the older ones (2011 & earlier), you can. There's always the option of not buying if you don't like Apple's restrictions.
I think I see the problem now. As with the new MBPs, some people don't like the lack of options, and are making their feelings known. Same here.
Perhaps you can start a new site where only positive things can be posted. I'm sure you'd be much happier there.
If that's the case, then what was the point of the 1GB in the iPad 3? It probably wouldn't have mattered since it was already underpowered with an A5X. Or why does Apple allow you to order more ram in your MacBook Pro? I got 16GB so I don't have to buy another one the next year. I'm not much of a green tree hugging hippie crackpot, but I do wonder how long these yearly upgrades will be sustainable for the planet. The thing is Apple talks about how "forward thinking" these devices are with 64-bit. But to leave the same ram amount for the third generation in a row would be kind of dumb.
I think we'll see an upgrade of memory. I'd imagine the changes in iOS 7, plus the the much higher resolution would definitely help the A6 handle the iPad Air considering the differences in screen size between Air and 5S
I'd be amazed if it was more than 1gb in either, which is a real shame. I fully intend to keep my imminent purchase of a 128gb LTE retina Mini for a minimum of 2 years, hopefully longer - it basically ticks all the boxes I need from a tablet, preferring laptops/desktop for graft, and it's only the ram that'll really age it in a couple of years.
Re: the iPad 3, it's 1gb ram is VERY noticable next to the Mini's 512mb. The frequency of apps/tabs refreshing on the Mini is my chief complaint about it, after the screen. The iPad 3 handled such behaviour far better, and the criticism it gets is totally overblown imo.
Re: the iPad 3, it's 1gb ram is VERY noticable next to the Mini's 512mb. The frequency of apps/tabs refreshing on the Mini is my chief complaint about it, after the screen. The iPad 3 handled such behaviour far better, and the criticism it gets is totally overblown imo.
The point of 1GB RAM on the iPad 3 is because it was necessary for the retina display. Sure, the A5X was relatively underpowered but can you imagine how bad performance will be if they stuck to 512MB RAM? I'm guessing it'll probably feel like the original iPad.
No increase in resolution this time (at least from iPad 3/4 to iPad Air) so there's no incentive for Apple to upgrade the RAM. The iPhone 4 and iPhone 5 got a doubling of RAM when Apple increased the resolution. The 4S and 5S, however, remained the same.
It would certainly be nice if Apple upgrades the RAM on the new iPads. For obvious reasons, we'll see at least 1GB on the Mini 2. I just wouldn't count on getting 2GB on either. Would certainly be nice if they did though.
I agree completely about minimum 2 years for tablets. That should be reasonable. I'm sure Apple will support software updates but it will start to FEEL slower at a quicker pace than it otherwise would. I'm also getting a 128GB LTE model. Pretty sure I'll get Mini Retina unless it somehow gets 1GB while the Air gets 2GB. It ticks all the boxes so far except for ram. There is a chance I might go down to 64GB if it only has 1GB of ram because then I know for sure I probably won't be keeping it as long. I also know some other power users who are forgoing 128GB if it only has 1GB of ram.
I wish Apple would just unveil the Pro version for us designers, photographers, and especially developers who want to take the iPad to the next level with pro apps. I said the summer after the first iPad launched in 2010 that within 5 years this tablet will be used for all types of content creation and I believe that reality is coming true as we speak. Give it a couple more years and the iPad might start replacing MacBook Pros for certain tasksespecially for photographers. An 11-12" iPad Pro with a quad-core A8, 2-4GB of ram, digitizer, and USB port (for external drive, audio equipment, cameras, etc), along with a better iOS multitasking system/more advanced file storage system would make a great replacement for SOME higher-end users. Or at worst an excellent supplement to their desktops while out in the field. My dream setup is the new Mac Pro with an Apple Thunderbolt 2.0 4K display, an 11" iPad Pro with Adobe CC, and a 5" iPhone 6.
I don't think ram has a whole lot to do with the resolution. It's more to do with the power behind the graphics chip, though I'm sure more ram helps a little. Apple also doubled the ram from the 3G to 3GS (128MB to 256MB), even though they had the same resolution. The original iPad was 1024x768, or 5.12 times as many pixels as the 3GS, yet only had 256MB of ram. The only thing that has remained consistent is ram upgrades every two or fewer generations:
iPhone 1, iPhone 3G: 128MB
iPhone 3GS: 256MB
iPhone 4, iPhone 4S: 512MB
iPhone 5, iPhone 5S: 1024MB
iPad 1: 256MB
iPad 2: 512MB
iPad 3, iPad 4: 1024MB
iPad 5: ?
As you can see, it would certainly be an anomaly for Apple to keep the same amount of ram across three generations of the same device. The iPad is usually a higher-end device when it comes to specs vs. the iPhone. Even the same A4 and A5 chips were spec'd higher on the iPad 1 and iPad 2 than on the iPhone 4 and 4S. Even though I'm starting to cave to the idea that the new iPads only have 1GB of ram (because Apple is often stingy like that), I still think it's up in the air until the teardown. Then I'll shut up. I'm a student of historyif I see a pattern, I let the people know. The only discrepancy is the weird short lifespan of the iPad 3, which might throw off the pattern? Still it has been 1 year, 8 months since the iPad 3 and it's 1GB of ram came out. Closing in on two years pretty fast. I think the iPad 4 was a significant enough of a speed increase to consider it a separate generation.