Or too late?
If the iPad 2 is the runaway success it appears to be, its competitors will have a lot of catching up to do.
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iPad 2: GPU Benchmarked with Impressive Gains
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Or too late?
If the iPad 2 is the runaway success it appears to be, its competitors will have a lot of catching up to do.
Except that this is not the first time that the graphics performance on the Tegra 2 has been brought into question. It's a decent chip but not a true equal to the dual-core SGX543. The Xoom proponents have been overhyping the Tegra 2's GPU even while benchmarks have shown it to be somewhat mediocre in comparison to some of the more recent mobile GPU designs. Just as Apple fanboys sometimes do with Apple products, the Xoom fans fell prey to NVIDIA's somewhat over-inflated marketing hype.
And in case you're wondering whether I'm just piling on now after the fact, here is what I said about the Tegra 2's GPU on March 2 (in response to a pro-Xoom, anti-iPad post by user lilo777):
And as for that last statement, I was assuming a single-core SGX543, not the dual-core that the iPad 2 is apparently using.
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So Freyqq...
First you got the pixel counts wrong (look on the chart you say isn't a level playing field, where the counts for each product are clearly given. Correctly.). As other posters have noted, Xoom is 1280 X 800, not 1280 X 1024.
Using Xoom as the baseline, the change in pixel count is
((1024 * 768) - (1280 * 800))/(1280 * 800) = -23.2%
That is, the move to iPad2 would drop your pixel count 23.2% relative to the Xoom. You overstated the pixel drop by a factor of about 2.6.
The framerate comparison, again with the Xoom as the baseline, is
(44-11.8)/11.8 = 273%
So switching to the iPad2 you have 23.2% fewer pixels, and a 273% increase in framerate. You could change to using the iPad2 as the baseline, but it doesn't change the basic story. Now decide which factor is more important to you.
(calculated on my abacus...)
First you got the pixel counts wrong (look on the chart you say isn't a level playing field, where the counts for each product are clearly given. Correctly.). As other posters have noted, Xoom is 1280 X 800, not 1280 X 1024.
Using Xoom as the baseline, the change in pixel count is
((1024 * 768) - (1280 * 800))/(1280 * 800) = -23.2%
That is, the move to iPad2 would drop your pixel count 23.2% relative to the Xoom. You overstated the pixel drop by a factor of about 2.6.
The framerate comparison, again with the Xoom as the baseline, is
(44-11.8)/11.8 = 273%
So switching to the iPad2 you have 23.2% fewer pixels, and a 273% increase in framerate. You could change to using the iPad2 as the baseline, but it doesn't change the basic story. Now decide which factor is more important to you.
(calculated on my abacus...)
I really dont agree. The whole point was for iOS to be a touch based os and osx to be a mouse and keyboard os. Also, osx is built for x64 and ios is built for ARM. Finally, you can't multitask very well in iOS and you can't have 2 windows on the same screen. Not very efficient if you actually want to get work done.
So does the wait for the current iPad 2 models......... all ship dates have now moved to 3-4 weeks.
said the new iPad was up to 9x faster, and this says it's only up to 5x faster. I want 4/9ths of my money back! I'm going to the store tomorrow to ask for a credit.
i read the resolution wrong for some reason. You are correct. I fixed it in my post too.
It's nice to see some real competition in ARM chips
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The new GPU looks mightily impressive on this benchmark. Developers should have a field day with the thing. The performance difference between the iPad 2 and 1 is mind boggling.
For anyone belittling the spec bump this time, (IMO) you are wrong. Amazing update.
The new GPU looks mightily impressive on this benchmark. Developers should have a field day with the thing. The performance difference between the iPad 2 and 1 is mind boggling.
For anyone belittling the spec bump this time, (IMO) you are wrong. Amazing update.
Apple had no competiion when they made the iPad1 and no competition for the iPad2 as no competition was even out by the time they had wrapped up the development.
People want to always claim that competition is some huge important force in the world of development, but not when you have a company who is pushing to be the best for themselves and their customers like Apple is.. then it is pretty irrelevant. It is hard to see what Android has done to make iPhones better.. It is unlikely the iPhone 4 would be much different then it is today if Android never existed.
Certainly competition had NOTHING to do with the iPad and iPad2 and they are both remarkable products.
This is a common response when anyone bashes competitors of Apple who make inferior products.. but saying competition is good is not always true, and in the case of the last several years it is not true at all. It is mostly irrelevant.
Competition is good if there is something creative and challenging going on, if the competition is just copying what the other guy is doing then the competition is pretty much meaningless. Now if the competition just copies what the other guy does, comes up with an inferior result, and charges more for it.. well its existence is just fail and it is not helping or pushing anyone.
The thing is too though is it does not take a linear increase in gpu processing to power more pixels. If there are 23% more pixels it doesn't take 23% more gpu/cpu to push them, it might take like 10% more... However you dice it up and even if you include the increased pixel count on the XOOM the iPhone 2 is clearly out performing the Xoom by a significant margin when it comes to graphics processing.
Perhaps Motorola will let everyone send their xoom in for a couple weeks to get a graphics upgrade. Maybe they can wait and tie it into a 4G upgrade as well!
Or, you could order online when they first become available, rather than waiting..... just a thought.
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I love this. I love apple. I love my new iPad 2. And I will be the frost in line again for iPad 3
I love this. I love apple. I love my new iPad 2. And I will be the frost in line again for iPad 3
Anandtech has determined the iPad GPU to be the PowerVR SGX543MP2, a more advanced dual-core version of the PowerVR GPU found in the original iPad and iPhone 4.They found that the new graphics processor offered over 3-5x the speed in simple geometry tests over the original iPad.
Anadtech then used the GLBenchmark 2.0 to provide a broader range of testing and included the recently released Motorola Xoom tablet. They found that in this overall benchmark, the new iPad 2 ran at 5.4x the framerate of the original iPad and 3.7x the speed of the Xoom.
Other benchmarks showed improvements ranging from 3x-7x the speed of the original iPad. Ultimately, this will mean that developers will be able to offer significantly higher graphics quality and performance on the new iPad 2 over previous generation devices. We've already seen some early results in Infinity Blade, but the changes should become more dramatic as developers have time to sit down with the new devices. Of course, the iPad 2 represents a small percentage of iOS devices, but Apple is widely expected to integrate the same CPU/GPU into their upcoming iPhone 5 and future iPod Touch product lines.
Article Link: iPad 2: GPU Benchmarked with Impressive Gains
I was not expecting this! The Xoom has more ram and a Tegra 2 but yet it still took a beating when compared to the ipad 2! I was expecting the A5 chip to be kinda soft and deliver only a margin increase over the original ipad. Apple Delivered! The iphone 5 will be awesome!
I got my iPad *15 days before iPad 2 was announced...
And it's already feeling outdated.
Why don't you return it and get the new one!
This was amusing to read.
Motorola: "Our GPU is essentially on par with the iPad 2's single SGX543!"
Apple: "We put two of them in there"
Motorola: "Okay".
Free upgrade to 4G is nothing more than a cheep incentive to buy something. They know that most people wont upgrade. Just like most people don't bother with mail in rebates.
As for those that do upgrade. What will be the cost of a 4G data package.
I really wanted one of these iPad 2's, but I just can't afford it. Tuesday my new MacBook Pro 15" with anti-glare screen is arriving, so I am happy. I hope Apple put in the A5 chip and upgrade the RAM in the iPhone 5, because that is the next device on my NEED list.
Exactly what I was thinking of when I first heard of the Xoom 4G upgrade mail-in offer.
Its quite comical. When the original Tegra came out (remember the Zune). Nvidia were hyping it up saying how good it was going to be compared to the SGX535 in the 3GS and Ipod Touch and they ended up getting egg on their face. The same is happing again with Tegra 2. All that hype, and when it comes down to it they have egg on their face again. Next year it will be the same again with Tegra 3 (Kel-Al - Superman. Who do they think they are kidding). They spend that much time Hyping there products way in advance of when they actually arrive. By the time they get to market they have been superseded by the competition.