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How quickly will 16GB get eaten up with the new iPad?

E

efyou

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jun 9, 2009
174
16
I've never owned any iPad but I've been wanting one and have been waiting for the new one or the price drop on the iPad2.

Well that day is here.

It seems like 16GB might get eaten up quick on the newer iPad, what with the 1080p vids and pics and games all being in higher definition. I prefer the price of the 16GB obviously but am worried I'll be fighting the GB's on the new iPad.

Maybe I should just get an iPad2?
 
efyou said:
Maybe I should just get an iPad2?
Click to expand...

Thats definitely not the answer to a capacity problem. Movies and large games take up the most space. Every now and then I ask myself if I ever use this, if no, then delete.
 
I give casual consumers a few months to notice they are hitting the maximum.

I give veteran consumers a few days to notice they are hitting the maximum.

EDIT: These are considered when more apps are updated to the iPad's new resolution.

/bradllez
 
This will be my first iPad, and I ordered a Verizon 16GB. I'll let you know if I fill it up :eek:
 
I'm a veteran at dancing with the gigabytes but am a tad worried this higher def stuff will eat more memory than we are used to. I could get an iPad2 16-32GB and not even worry about it. The display on the 2 is still great right? As long as you've never seen the new one haha..
 
astral125 said:
This will be my first iPad, and I ordered a Verizon 16GB. I'll let you know if I fill it up :eek:
Click to expand...

This is all imo, and so forth, but if you are getting a 4G/3G model I would say get the 32GB, bc it will fill up fast. If it is just WiFi then the 16gb would suffice for some, but I would say go with 32GB as well. Personally, I get by with the 16GB b/c all I have are a couple hundred songs and apps. And I tend to have around 6-8GB of free space. As well, and maybe it is just me, but a 32GB and 64GB run a bit smoother bc of the huge memory capacity, especially if there is a lot of free space. This is just my conjecture, but with 16GB the memory is always active and scrambles multiple functions all at once, while the large capacities have more breathing room to roam around and respond to the data that you want.
 
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It does if you are big on having lots of big games/apps/videos if not then for photos and music web browsing mainly it's good
 
i have an original OG wi-fi + 3g, and i'm always near capacity without having any media on it at all ...only apps. if you plan on having any media (music or videos) stored, the go bigger than 16gb.

i predominately use it at home so any music or videos i have, i just stream it from my desktop or laptop with airvideo and local sharing, but i was tempted to go bigger this time due to game apps more than likely increasing in size due to being more complex and requiring more space to take advantage of the beautiful new screen. time will tell though :)
 
I have a 32g iPad 2. I don't keep a lot of music but I do travel a lot. Many times I don't have good wifi for streaming so I try to have some movies, etc. I ordered the 64g model because with a couple of movies, and some TV shows I'm running into storage issues. If I didn't travel for weeks at a time and could switch out stuff more often 32g would be enough.

Only you know what your habits will be. My husband gets along just fine with his 16g model. But he doesn't have much music, only a few podcasts and a few apps. His use-model is completely different from mine.

After 25+ years in IT and being a veteran of 'gadget-buying' my rule of thumb is always buy the most storage you can afford. For me, and probably for most folks, storage is like an empty room and you data/music/etc is like any gas. It will expand to fill the room, no matter the size.

Have fun!
 
efyou said:
It seems like 16GB might get eaten up quick on the newer iPad, what with the 1080p vids and pics and games all being in higher definition. I prefer the price of the 16GB obviously but am worried I'll be fighting the GB's on the new iPad.

Maybe I should just get an iPad2?
Click to expand...

Games will still have the higher resolution art assets included (and taking up storage space) whether you install them on an iPad 2 or an iPad 3. Buying the older iPad won't make your apps smaller!
 
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This thread is making me second guess my 16GB purchase. D'oh!
 
I think 16GB will be fine if you are not planning to use it for music or videos. That said, I'll probably still end up getting the 32GB.
 
It all depends on what YOU store on it. If you want tons of software and music you could fill it up rather quickly. At 16GB you will have to be selective.
 
Both versions of the iPad that I had, we're 16GB models.
I found myself struggling to maintain storage space, after adding even a modest amount of apps, one or two movies, and a few photos.
With file sizes set to increase by default, along with the camera taking higher quality(and bigger) images and videos, I'm going 64GB wifi this time around.
I can afford it this time, and it'll be good to load it up with content, without worrying.
 
efyou said:
It seems like 16GB might get eaten up quick on the newer iPad, what with the 1080p vids and pics and games all being in higher definition. I prefer the price of the 16GB obviously but am worried I'll be fighting the GB's on the new iPad.
Click to expand...

Well..here is an example. I am currently developing a photo book application. The app with a full 180 page book pages & a number of videos takes about 200Mb on an ipad with 1024x768 resolution. The retina 2048x1536 resolution version takes about 320Mb.

As you can see retina apps will take more memory to store. Conclusion, 16Gb might be a bit lean!
 
tmoerel said:
The app with a full 180 page book pages & 200Mb on an ipad with 1024x768 resolution.

The retina 2048x1536 resolution version takes about 320Mb.
Click to expand...

The important thing to note, however, is that due to the nature of compression the size has not, as folks might be forgiven for assuming, doubled.

I always go in at 16GB. I'd like more space, but buying a new iPad every year would be unsustainable at ~£700
 
I'm getting my family a new iPad for photos, movies, games and books. My youngest especially is into his camera and he needs something to show them on. I ordered the 32GB Wifi, then was going over things with my wife and she just said to get the 64GB.

Actually its not a big jump in price for twice the storage capacity. One thing I've learned over the years with my computers - you can never have too much storage space.
 
Set up air video server app for all your media. That will stream from your pc, Mac or Linux. Then only keep the apps that you use all the time and 16gig will be fine. Stay away from tomtom and garmin apps they are huge.
 
Very. Even my 32GB fills up quickly and the majority of that is apps. I use iCloud for music and Home Sharing for movies now.
 
efyou said:
I've never owned any iPad but I've been wanting one and have been waiting for the new one or the price drop on the iPad2.

Well that day is here.

It seems like 16GB might get eaten up quick on the newer iPad, what with the 1080p vids and pics and games all being in higher definition. I prefer the price of the 16GB obviously but am worried I'll be fighting the GB's on the new iPad.

Maybe I should just get an iPad2?
Click to expand...

VERY quickly, but it depends on how much stuff you plan on putting on it.

I like to have everything (videos, music, apps, books, photos), though I find that most of the times i use 5% of the stuff stored on it.

The thing is I don't like to have to go back to the computer the rare times I need the remaining 95%.


Edit: maybe it would be a good idea to invest the money you save in buying a 16gb model on icloud (or equivalent) for extra storage?
 
Last edited:
I'm the opposite - I treat my computer like the "library" which my iPad pays a visit to every now and then to borrow new stuff. I had a 32 gig iPad2 but never filled it higher than 16gb.

This is one of those questions that each individual must answer for him or herself. ;)
 
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