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TR4L

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Nov 5, 2013
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As soon as I found out about the 128GB iPad I "knew" I was going to get it! Now I'm having doubts because of the price tag. I will not be getting the LTE version because I have an iPhone with tethering capabilities. I want the 128GB because it seems like I'll be able to have a lot of storage but I'm not sure if I will actually need it because I've never actually used one. So far, I've had storage issues with every piece of electronics I have ever had so I feel it's safe to assume that it will be the case with my iPad. What do you guys think!?
 
If you plan on putting a lot of movies and TV shows on it, you need 128gb.

If you just have a few movies & lots of music, go for 64.

No movies, some music & lots of apps, 32gb

Just apps & books? You can probably squeak by with 16gb.
 
If you plan on putting a lot of movies and TV shows on it, you need 128gb.

If you just have a few movies & lots of music, go for 64.

No movies, some music & lots of apps, 32gb

Just apps & books? You can probably squeak by with 16gb.

I plan on using it for all of the above and then some... So it sounds like the 128GB is what I should get. Anyone think it's worth it?
 
I was really hoping for a 256GB iPad, but since Apple didn't cooperate, I went with the 128GB. It's not enough, but it's better than the 32GB I replaced it with.
 
If you plan on putting a lot of movies and TV shows on it, you need 128gb.

If you just have a few movies & lots of music, go for 64.

No movies, some music & lots of apps, 32gb

Just apps & books? You can probably squeak by with 16gb.

I think if you have tons of apps and photos, 64GB. If you frequently use the camera connection kit to dump RAW files, 128GB.

I have a huge load of apps. Games are notoriously bad with the huge retina screen. 32GB wasn't enough for me to store my apps and photos. I'm going to go with 64GB and try to only load the apps I really need and games I really want to play. Next generation I'll get 128GB when I think RAW photo editing will be possible on iPads using higher-end specs.
 
I just put the current playlists I listen to on my iPad and iPhone. Saves lots of space and I don't miss having my whole library on my mobile iDevices. 16GB is fine for me if I don't bog them down with photos and videos.
 
I have a 32 GB Air and a 64 GB 2. I am constantly adding and deleting music and movies from iTunes. I don't mind the 32 at all. Plenty of space for how I use it.
 
I just get 16Gb as i update yearly, less of a loss. And this time just got wifi as i can tether. Have 7.6 free at the moment. Always get 64 for iPhone though.
 
I run my own media server using PLEX, so I typically don't keep TV shows or movies on my iOS devices, leaving the remaining space for photos (which is obviously less the case for an iPad vs. an iPhone), general apps (social networking, financial things, etc.), and games (which typically take up the most space).

Historically I've gone 64GB Wi-Fi (prior to my PLEX server), but this year I might go 32GB Wi-Fi + Cellular.

Having a 2006 Mac Mini (4TB), 2011 MacBook Air (128GB), and iPhone 5S (32GB)... I can't personally see the use of a 128GB iPad in my scenario, especially considering it at its current price point. But even a 32GB iPad Mini with cellular is $630 + tax which is crazy =\
 
I plan on using it for all of the above and then some... So it sounds like the 128GB is what I should get. Anyone think it's worth it?

I am guessing they are approaching a million that think it is worth it. Will you?

Hard to say?
 
I have 128GB and I don't even have any music or videos on my iPad. Those can be streamed. Apps and comics, however, need to be stored locally.
 
128GB here. 85GB free at the moment.

But it's like a garage. At first there's plenty of room to park inside. Then one day you just end up parking in the drive. :(
 
Depends on what your usage will be and how much you travel.

I have lots of files for work on mine, that range from videos to large PDFs. As well as quite a few photos, for both work and personal.

Games will also take up quite a bit of space.

If you travel it might not be as convenient to swap stuff around. Also if you plan to keep it for more than a year, you may find you want more space.

I had a 64gb wifi each time prior (1st and 3rd gen). Was shifting stuff around all the time to make room for more. This time got the 128gb, and added LTE. As someone else said, if they offered a 256gb would have gotten that.
 
How about absolutely no games. Some music, movies, books, and 2-3 pages of apps? 16 or 32?
 
I went with 64 GB this time around, had 32 GB in my old iPad 4. I only put movies/TV-series on my iPad for when going on vacation/business trips, otherwise it is all being streamed from my network drives or via Netflix. With 32 GB I had to convert movies to a lower bitrate to fit enough on it, but with 64 GB it should be enough.
 
As soon as I found out about the 128GB iPad I "knew" I was going to get it! Now I'm having doubts because of the price tag. I will not be getting the LTE version because I have an iPhone with tethering capabilities. I want the 128GB because it seems like I'll be able to have a lot of storage but I'm not sure if I will actually need it because I've never actually used one. So far, I've had storage issues with every piece of electronics I have ever had so I feel it's safe to assume that it will be the case with my iPad. What do you guys think!?

Its holiday time, just get a 16gb and see how you go, return is 7th January.
Happy days.
 
16 GB cellular for me

I plan on using smb file shares from my windows PC as external storage with documents by readdle and nplayer.

Also planning on getting more external portable storage with one of those Wi-Fi hard drives.

Streaming movies works great from both and for me movies/shows are the only thing that gives me storage problems.
 
Its holiday time, just get a 16gb and see how you go, return is 7th January.
Happy days.

I doubt the 32GB would be even close to enough space, I know for sure the 16 GB will be much too small.
 
I have lots of photos, videos and apps so I needed the 128GB. Had the 64GB iPad 3 before and it was almost filled up.

I must admit the price tag was hard to swallow. For a few hundred dollars more I could have had one of the new MacBook Pros. This is getting expensive.
 
What surprises me is how much space you lose with the installed apps and iOS. It seems more is lost than my iPhone 5. Granted, my IP5 did not come with iOS7 installed.

I believe I've seen a post listing a 16gb Air out of the box has 12.5gb available. IIRC, the 32gb Air I returned had 27.5gb avail. The 64gb I now have starts with 55.8gb avail. Someone posted a new 128gb had 115gb avail. So if I have these amounts right, here's the loss of gb's for the initially installed iOS7 and apps:

16gb = 12.5gb = <3.5gb
32gb = 27.5gb = <4.5gb
64gb = 55.8gb = <8.2gb
128gb = 115gb = <13gb


For the uninitiated, can someone explain why the iPad eats up more compared to the iPhone (size of the device, iOS & apps?) and why with each iPad storage step up, you lose more initial gb's available?

The answer is probably obvious, but I honestly don't know & want to understand why.
 
The "Other" issues rears its ugly head even moreso on the 128GB. I suddenly developed what appeared like 5-6GB of "Other". It seems like left overs from a failed sync. With no way to find out, I restored the iPad, and I still have a decent chunk of "other". I've read all the Google articles, and no, don't have magazines or comics. I have very few apps that store their own files, like PDF Expert and GoodReader, and it is easy to see what those use under Settings General Usage.

These "is it worth it" threads all end up the same. Worth is relative and it all depends on your usage, your budget, and your tolerance for managing files. Some people use the cloud, some manage their files aggressively, some prefer to store everything locally (like me). I use Music Match to store my 20GB of music in the cloud and have an unlimited data plan, but I still rather keep my 16,000 picture collection with me. That's about 20GB. I have about 40GB of apps, several games at over 1GB each. That leaves me enough space for an entire season of 24, which is not on the cloud because I ripped it from my CDs. The stuff I bought from iTunes is available from the cloud, which is nice, but it is all a push for you to buy stuff from iTunes.

The jump from 64 to 128GB is only $100, and is the cheapest jump. It was worth it.... to ME. YMMV.
 
If you have the money get the 128gb unit as you can not add more later. It will also increase the resale value some so you will get some of it back.
 
If you have the money get the 128gb unit as you can not add more later. It will also increase the resale value some so you will get some of it back.

I tend to find that the $100 for each double in storage size does not help resale value that much. Maybe that is just my experience.

I buy each device with 32GB. I use about 8 GB. I am sure that I could easily get by with the 16GB models. All my music is on iTunes Match - I'm not an audiophile and lossless tracks aren't important to me - I use the apple EarPods if that's any indication. My pictures are frequently downloaded to iPhoto. I'm not a gamer. I get the 32GB models "just in case," but I know the 16 would be more than enough for me. I really should start buying the 16Gb models because the 32's certainly haven't brought me an extra $100 in resale value.

It all depends on what your usage will be. Asking how much storage to get for an ipad is a classic YMMV situation. Only you can make the decision.
 
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