Can you explain to me why you're even buying one?
I can't see ANYONE besides the spec illiterate people who would actually buy one of these... Im sorry, but this infuriates me. 1GB of RAM, OMG
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All iPads How much RAM is on iPad Air and iPad mini w/ Retina?
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Can you explain to me why you're even buying one?
I can't see ANYONE besides the spec illiterate people who would actually buy one of these... Im sorry, but this infuriates me. 1GB of RAM, OMG
RAM is not important in an iPad, the OS is so tightly controlled there is no way you can push any of the hardware at all, let alone to a limit. The Apps are all curated by Apple so nothing gets through that is beyond the capabilities of the hardware.
Sure more RAM could be utilised, but it doesn't have to be and if it saves a few bucks then so be it.
I can't say I have ever used my iPad and thought that more RAM would be required, I forgot that it even had any!
I'd suggest 99% of buyers are in this boat.
For those that find this unbearable may I suggest a lap top or desktop.
Sure more RAM could be utilised, but it doesn't have to be and if it saves a few bucks then so be it.
I can't say I have ever used my iPad and thought that more RAM would be required, I forgot that it even had any!
I'd suggest 99% of buyers are in this boat.
For those that find this unbearable may I suggest a lap top or desktop.
This isn't true at all. On the iPad mini and ipad 2 you run into a ton of constraints with the ram. It's true that if an application tried to use up all the ram and constantly crashed because of that, apple would reject it. But that is not the point. If I want to use just one app that's fine, but I usually want to multitask and use many apps.
The simplest example is safari reloading tabs if you have too many open. Happens constantly on the iPad mini. Right now I have a few tabs open and I am scared of switching tabs because that could cause this tab to be reloaded and I could lose everything I wrote. It's not acceptable.
On the iPad 3 and 4 apple improved the condition considerably with 1gb and it's definitely enough for most uses, but considering that 64bit requires 20-30% more ram is SIGNIFICANT. I really hope apple did implement mavericks ram compression and that it will help otherwise we will be in a situation where we are JUST at the limit of having a useable device.
2gb would have been a very wise choice. I'll still buy the mini but I am very disappointed.
Meh, I have an ipad 1 and I'm still waiting for 2 changes.
1. 2GB ram
2. 32GB entry level storage.
Until both of these are met I'll not be getting a new ipad, despite how constrained the ipad is with only 256mb of ram. Flash prices have come down tremendously since 2010 and it hasn't been reflected at all in their pricing tiers, and that's just ridiculous.
Apple have said they are all about the user experience. If it works fine with 1GB Ram then why change it? As has been mentioned before, more RAM requires more power which would have an impact on battery life; albeit a relatively small one as well as extra cost, extra physical space required etc. Apple may value using the space saved from extra RAM to use a larger battery?
The jump from iPad 1 to 2 was a breath of fresh air as the extra RAM was noticeable. The jump to retina necessitated extra RAM and that was apparent but I never had any real issue with memory management on the iPad 4. The only time I ever noticed it was when running with multiple browser tabs and even that is set to be improved with the A7 performance.
The jump from iPad 1 to 2 was a breath of fresh air as the extra RAM was noticeable. The jump to retina necessitated extra RAM and that was apparent but I never had any real issue with memory management on the iPad 4. The only time I ever noticed it was when running with multiple browser tabs and even that is set to be improved with the A7 performance.
Bingo! That's why people need to look at the whole package and not focus on individual specs. If you looks at individual specs the Surface RT is a better tablet and value for your money. If you look at the whole package there is no comparison the iPad Air crushes the Surface RT!
Mobile Safari usually crashes at least once a day on me on the iPad 4 likely because of RAM (tends to happen when I have lots of tabs open and then open webpages with tons of graphics). Unfortunately, this is normal usage for me so I'd definitely appreciate it if the iPad had more RAM. That said, I'm not really disappointed. I already expected Apple wouldn't upgrade RAM on this iteration.
Did you ask yourself if Apple actually wants you (and many others) not to buy a new device for the next 2 years?
Wow! It's right there on the log file. So now with 1GB of RAM, it looks like we are saving about 20% on top of the 15% from 64 bit. The problem with caching is still faced with Safari tabs even with the compression though. I think we may be hitting the upper limit of the current hardware which is good in terms of moving forward. If we go to 2GB, we face a performance hit in battery life as well as speed. In any case, larger applications need to page the NAND flash for data content which is slow as sin anyways. So overall in terms of hardware architecture, we need to develop more efficient RAM, faster NAND flash, and maybe a main board with thunderbolt speed in mind. That's a lot of tech that needs to be invented before we continue with higher end 64 bit mobile computing
Pretty much every big company's "chat with a support specialist" website features seem to be run by bots.
I mean, look at the way these "people" write. Real people do not chat like that!
Not to mention I've often seen cases where more than one person gets the same exact response, word for word, to a question.
People have given lots of examples where 1G RAM is not working. And with the transition to 64bit, remaining with 1G RAM actually would have greater negative impact.
Because it doesn't impact you, doesn't mean problems don't exist.
And if Apple is going to play those games, we have the option to shop elsewhere. The only way to get he message through to apple is NOT to buy. I was soooo excited to get this machine, now I am contemplating just sticking with the iPad2, until there is a version with 2Gigs of RAM. Apple has shown that they will support the iPad2. So they potentially LOST a sale because of this.
I agree but the examples are from where people tend to push the limits of the device i.e. opening multiple browser tabs etc. I too can see the issues of limited RAM when I open a lot of browser tabs as an example but the simple fact is I only look at one tab at a time. If I only open two or three tabs at a time and switch between them then there is no issue. Are you aware of a single application that will not work on the iPad or even a specific usage scenario that is impossible? There are apps that will open and edit 32MP images on the iPad 4. I've seen Windows machines with 1GB Ram refuse images of that size! I'm not being argumentative, I'm genuinely at a loss of real world examples where an iPad with 1GB RAM is insufficient. Of course an extra 1GB Ram would be beneficial for some things, I concede that but I think with well written apps and a reasonable user demand, the current 1GB Ram is no real limitation.
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I feel like right now, its completely fine with 1GB, but in a couple of years time it will become a bottleneck.
But then, you can always sell and upgrade.
Of course, if you have an objection with a company then the best thing to do is just avoid them and don't buy their products. If RAM requirements are a real issue for you though, don't you think moving from the iPad 2 to the Air with double the RAM would not be of benefit to you? I could notice the increase in RAM when I went from the 2 to the 3, even if processing performance did not improve.
I was really unhappy with the ram on my third-gen iPad (1GB), most annoyance was refreshing tabs when I revisited them 4-5 mins later. If it's not changed, and we're pushing towards more memory hungry apps and 64-bit, I think we're in trouble. I would really want 2GB of ram.
At least I hope they're doing what they were calling compressed memory from Mavericks to iOS, if they weren't doing that before of course.
At least I hope they're doing what they were calling compressed memory from Mavericks to iOS, if they weren't doing that before of course.
Do some work in iWork, go run some other apps, then eventually come back to iWork. Will your work still be there? Does apple allow the same saving state to non-volatile capabilities to every app developer?
Those are some questions I'd like to know the answers to. And would impact my buying decision.
Agreed. I think this is why Apple didn't reveal the RAM at the conference they knew people would be disappointed.
Re: iWork, yes the work remains there after backgrounding. With regards to other apps, I'm not sure. I believe they should but I'm unsure if the app has to be coded to allow for a graceful exit from memory - an app developer may be able to chime in here. This is an issue with how IOS deals with apps when RAM is low. To be honest, if you had 2GB RAM and had loads of apps on the go, you would still run into the same issues, albeit it would take longer to get to that stage.
The iPad 4 technically has more "usable" RAM due to the 32-bit architecture...also based on anandtech's review, the iPad 4 GPU outperforms the iPad Air GPU (possibly for the same reasons) as well as being quad core.
If I had an iPad 4, I would not upgrade to the Air unless the bulk really bothered me.