Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

iPad 1 owners, do you really need more than 16Gb?

HD video foule be the decider

One difference with the iPad 2 is of cause the HD video recording feature - you need to consider if that's something you will use, if so then I suggest going higher than the 16 gig because hd recordings eat gigs for breakfast! :eek:
 
Last edited:
16 g was fine for my wife. She usually had 3 movies on it. She used it as a true moblie device. When she left home she only downloaded the music and movies she wanted for that trip, rest of her inventory stayed on her IMac., So the 16g was more than enough. But if you plan on using the device to hold all of your music, photos and movie library, then go with the larger capacity. She did not go the 3G route, and found out she rarely would have needed it to justify the cost. When she needed to surf she was usually at a location that had wifi or she used her phone if she needed to be on the internet. She kept thinking she would need the 3G but now she can work around it vs the monthly cost and extra price for the 3G. If you have the funds go for it. But all of these extra monthly subscriptions start to add up.


Brett
 
Remember, Apple TV "HD" is basically half 1080p at 960x540 pixels. If you stick to that with Handbrake (Apple TV preset) you can fit more movies.

Also great since iPhone 4's Retina is 960x540. So encoding at this resolution is a good balance for all of your devices.

Although I think Apple is quickly adopting 1280x720 for HD. Apple TV 2 preset in Handbrake is now 720p default.
 
My main concern with the storage space is how much is going to be taken up by GarageBand. A quick look at Google shows that the files could span from 200-300MB to ~2GB. If one keeps goofing around in GB and saves all the files, they can add up pretty quickly.
 
16GB was full after 1 month of use!

I have to swap out what I want on my iPad because it is full.

Get the most amount of memory you can pay for! 16GB will fill up, no matter what you do with it:

i.e.: some magazine issues that have their own iPad app are 300-800MB each issue.

some game apps can be as large as 500MB each

I have a navigation app that is 1.8GB in size (offline maps)

the iPad 2 has photo/video capability...the reason the cameras are not higher megapixels is because of how much memory they will take up.

This is not like a computer, there is no hard drive, no port to add a hard drvie, ...you cannot add more memory or swap out for larger memory later on, 16GB will run out if you use the iPad. If it is just a toy gimmick, you just want the latest gadget sitting around, or if you are only going to read books with it, then go ahead and get the 16GB.
 
I have a 64GB and its a little more than half filled. However, I definitely could get away with a 32GB if I put some limits on what music, etc I throw on my iPad.

I'm probably going to sell the 64GB and go with the 32GB iPad 2. At least thats the plan now.
 
16GB was full after 1 month of use!

I have to swap out what I want on my iPad because it is full.

Get the most amount of memory you can pay for! 16GB will fill up, no matter what you do with it:

i.e.: some magazine issues that have their own iPad app are 300-800MB each issue.

some game apps can be as large as 500MB each

I have a navigation app that is 1.8GB in size (offline maps)

If you want to sync to movies in iTunes, these take up GIGAbytes, not megabytes, I have so much on my iPad I cannot sync w/my movies.

the iPad 2 has photo/video capability...the reason the cameras are not higher megapixels is because of how much memory they will take up.

This is not like a computer, there is no hard drive, no port to add a hard drive, ...you cannot add more memory or swap out for larger memory later on, 16GB will run out if you use the iPad. If it is just a toy gimmick, you just want the latest gadget sitting around, or if you are only going to read books with it, then go ahead and get the 16GB.
 
I have the 64gb and it's not enough. I was hoping for at least 128gb in this release. I will keep mine - don't need the cameras - I have a camera in my Droid, and point n shoot, camera overload here. The other improvements in my opinion are just fluff. I like mine and can't see the why or wherefor's in getting an updated one.
 
I'm definitely getting 64g
I have the 16g iP4 and it's full. I have to keep removing audiobooks to add new ones. I want to use my iPad for storing audiobooks, movies, photos (I'm a photographer)
 
Keep in mind that this iPad now has a camera which shoots HD video which eats up storage like no tomorrow.. If you do any amount of productivity you can certainly fill 16gb in no time.
 
I'm glad I found this thd bc I'm in exactly the same boat. I am still on the fence, but at least I can read through others experiences!
 
16gb is good for me. I had the 16gb first ipad and that was perfect.

unless you are going to be away for a long amount of time, don't see how you can use so much.
 
I don't need more than 16 gig. My entire itunes movie/tv library wouldn't even fit on a 64 gig iPad. So I just put the stuff I want to use when I'm on the go, and take it off when I want to put another movie on.

That might strategy most people might not like to do, but it has worked fine for me since I've owned the iPad.
 
Happy with 16 gig but I will upgrade to 32 when iI get my iPad 3. Don't want music on the ipad but when traveling I'd like at least 3 movies.
 
BrunoMac said:
Happy with 16 gig but I will upgrade to 32 when iI get my iPad 3. Don't want music on the ipad but when traveling I'd like at least 3 movies.
Click to expand...

With Handbrake, I'm getting on average a movie per Gigabyte of space.
 
I got the 16GB and my next iPad will be 32GB.

I have a ton of apps on there, but after downloading a few video podcasts and have some movies on there you will be wanting more space. I only have about 4 albums on there because I keep my music on my iPhone. I also have some photos on there, but not a ton.

If you want to put a lot of HD movies you are going to want a bigger model. I'd say you can get by if you have maybe 2-3 HD movies on the 16GB, but more than that and you are going to have to cut back in other areas.
 
with Home sharing I don't think I need as much as I would have needed before.
 
I've always kept all of my media on my computer and streamed it to my iPad. I can see this being an issue with some people who don't have Internet access all the time though. :p
 
i had 20gb on mine, 3 months into ownership.

i am disappointed that we don't have 32,64,128GB options
 
I have a 32 GB iPod touch and I've only got about 1.5 GB left of space. I suggest buying the highest you can reasonably afford. I plan on getting the 64 GB iPad because I travel and I like to select from TV shows and movies that I put on my device, Right now I have 3 seasons of some TV shows and about 8 movies. This way I have options as to what I want to watch without having to swap them out as often.
 
Originally had a 16GB WiFi then sold it and bought a 32GB 3G. I now have 11GB worth of apps and only 8GB free. I never figured the biggest slice of storage would be Apps. I don't have a lot of apps but they seem to get bigger an bigger. 500MB sized apps are not uncommon anymore.
 
16GB is OK for me so far.
I've got a ton of 2-minute videos, a couple of 10 minute ones and an hour long movie as well as a bunch of music and some pictures.
Result: It's got almost exactly half left! :)

Maybe I'll go with 32GB on the iPad 2.

Have Fun,
Keri
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back