It would suck if they go 512mb. The iPad should be > the iPhone. I can understand they wanted to cut every corner, not knowing the iPad was going to bomb, but now that it didn't, and with competition heating up, 1gb should be the way to go.
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iPad 2 RAM?
- Thread starter whocaresit
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You say the iPad should have more than the iPhone, but when looking at the non-contract price the iPhone is actually more expensive than the iPad. I think Apple would want to keep their current price points.
Absolutely 512 MB.They will not go to 1 GB now because they don't have to. Apple is always slightly behind to make you wanting for the next version shortly after buying the current one, and they have the momentum and fan base to do this. They'll save 1 GB as a feature of iPad 3.
Tony
Tony
Whoa, what a boldly stated, utterly incorrect conclusion! 🙂
Specs mean nothing in the end, it's user experience. Android 3.0 is most likely a pig, and horribly inefficient, not to mention it has no hardware graphics acceleration, either, so all those (still) choppy and laggy UI elements will (still) be present, even with a dual-core blah, blah, blah.
Conversely, iOS is lean and mean, and can do infinitely more with less, regarding system resources. You must be a Windows user, right?
Wanna see what 256mb RAM and the current A4 chip can do? Check out EA's new release "Dead Space"...
Piggie
macrumors G3
I'm not really sure that's right in the way you are making it out to be.
You are saying Tegra 2 has no graphics acceleration?
I think he's trying to say that the software isn't optimised for the hardware.
That would be where he is wrong. Google release Android 3.0 with a few pre-loaded drivers (allowing the hardware to communicate with the software). However, the company that supplies the hardware, (lets say Motorola for this example) can edit the drivers / optimise it / ask the Nvidia to make a driver. Just like Windows; however, it won't be rubbish, as the tablets will need all that optimisation to run smoothly and jerky animations, lead to bad reviews and they lead to less sales.
But, there is that inconsistency and you have to put trust in the tablet's maker to optimise them, Motorola could optimise the drivers for the Tegra 2 and Honeycomb, but another company (for example) Samsung, may just use the one supplied by Google, which will be more jerky / slower (but the question is: will you notice it?)
That's mainly the GPU, hardly anything to do with the RAM. But, with more RAM, they can have higher textures, so an android tablet with a dual core GPU and 512mb RAM, will have high quality textures, at the same framerate.
Try opening five web pages, on the iPad, with 256mb RAM.
Try opening five web pages, on the iPod Touch with 256 RAM.
Try opening five web pages, on the iPhone 4 with 512 RAM.
Which one hold all five pages in the RAM, without the need to clear one or more from the RAM / cache? (hint, it's the one at the bottom) iPhone 4.
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It's true, I was referring to previous iterations of Android, and was not aware that they finally have some hardware optimization going on with 3.0 particularly with the Moto hardware. I guess we'll see what happens once the deluge of other 3.0 tablets hit the market.
And yes, the iP4 will hold those webpages and 256mb on the iPad is lacking. However, the original post I was replying to stated that anything less than 2gb for a tablet in 2011 will be a failure, which is just nutty-talk.
Still, good luck getting a dev to even make an app like Dead Space on Android, let alone have it run half as nice as it does on iOS. I'm just saying...
http://www.engadget.com/2011/01/26/google-not-happy-with-android-market-purchase-rates-many-chan/
And yes, the iP4 will hold those webpages and 256mb on the iPad is lacking. However, the original post I was replying to stated that anything less than 2gb for a tablet in 2011 will be a failure, which is just nutty-talk.
Still, good luck getting a dev to even make an app like Dead Space on Android, let alone have it run half as nice as it does on iOS. I'm just saying...
http://www.engadget.com/2011/01/26/google-not-happy-with-android-market-purchase-rates-many-chan/
Guess you missed this from yesterday.
http://www.appcelerator.com/company/survey-results/mobile-developer-report-january-2011/
Expect most devs to be working on both platforms by the end of Q2 of this year.
I agree that people thinking 2GB is needed is off base but not putting 1GB is short sighted.
jmpnop
macrumors 6502a
No company is so stupid. They knew 256MB would not be sufficient but if they provided 512MB RAM, many would not upgrade to iPad 2. Same goes with facetime. They provide these two features and call it an upgrade.
I'm splitting the difference... 768!
I think they should use 1 gb.. ram is CHEAP, and they are hurting in feature comparison to use less than that... remember all of the android tablets coming.. web os, rim...
they are all going to get 1 gb. and honeycomb looks sick as hell.
I think they should use 1 gb.. ram is CHEAP, and they are hurting in feature comparison to use less than that... remember all of the android tablets coming.. web os, rim...
they are all going to get 1 gb. and honeycomb looks sick as hell.
wackymacky
macrumors 68000
Come on guys, how does Apple market the ipad. It is marketed to the masses as a mysterious and magical box.
You look at the ads for any computer or tablet and they being promoted on the bases of specs. Not the iPad.
You guys forget that people on MacRumors are not the average iPad user, Apple is no longer a niche computer maker.
The average iPad user doesn't know how much ram the current iPad has, and if S Jobs says that the iPad II can be better that a no-name tablet which has twice the RAM because of Apple's Magical Technology people will buy it.
They are on a roll and will happily only chuck 512 in.
You look at the ads for any computer or tablet and they being promoted on the bases of specs. Not the iPad.
You guys forget that people on MacRumors are not the average iPad user, Apple is no longer a niche computer maker.
The average iPad user doesn't know how much ram the current iPad has, and if S Jobs says that the iPad II can be better that a no-name tablet which has twice the RAM because of Apple's Magical Technology people will buy it.
They are on a roll and will happily only chuck 512 in.
applemike
macrumors 6502
I think you are absolutely right, Most users are ignorant "ooh thats shiny and good" people. so I doubt they would care about the change from even the 256MB of RAM to even 1GB. as long as it works for what they want and its Apple.
It's not more expensive, but it is close. 16GB iPhone 4 is $599, while the 16GB iPad 3G is $629. Add $100 for 32GB in either case.
It would be nice if the iPad had more memory than the iPhone, but I agree it's unlikely. But it's unacceptable for a tablet to have less RAM than it's same-generation smartphone counterpart, even if the phone is released 2 months later.
I'm guessing they'll do "just good enough", at 512MB. I'm almost certain the iPhone 5 will stay at 512. 300+ MB of memory available for programs will be sufficient for the majority of iPhone customers until next year. It'd be great to have 1GB, but I just don't see it happening.
BergerFan
macrumors 68020
No way they're gonna stick with 256MB. 1GB would be nice, but I can totally see Apple opting for 512MB, which I'm sure they consider to be just enough.What do you think the iPad 2 RAM capacity will be?
256 MB (Very likely)
512 MB (Less likely)
1 GB (Very unlikely, Too good for)
What I've learnt from the past is that, as long as there's no retina display, Apple will stick with 256 or at max 512 MB since it should suffice.
Heck, if they can make 256MB work, then I'm sure 512MB would be ok.
I agree, what an underwhelming offering for the new iPad 2 if that what it ends up being.
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I assume that the ipad will use the same chip as the iphone 5 this time around. Last time both were an A4 but the iphone chip was smaller and had more memory. I expect this time they will both use the same chip and get 1gb of ram...if they dont use the same chip the ipad will get 512 and then the iphone will get 1gb and people will be pissed all over again. No chance they will keep it at 256
I assume that the ipad will use the same chip as the iphone 5 this time around. Last time both were an A4 but the iphone chip was smaller and had more memory. I expect this time they will both use the same chip and get 1gb of ram...if they dont use the same chip the ipad will get 512 and then the iphone will get 1gb and people will be pissed all over again. No chance they will keep it at 256
Add less weight and an "enhanced" A4 which could use less power and remember the SGX543 is a very nice improvement over the original and yes that is most likely what it will be.
that's why a media event would not be required.
What do you mean by "smaller"? Was the physical packaging smaller or are you talking about the wafer geometry (or both)? As far as the geometry is concerned I thought that they were both 45nm but I hadn't really given much thought to the package size.
As far as RAM is concerned, I would be amazed if Apple stuck with 256MB given that the IPhone 4 already has 512MB in its A4. I think the guessing game is between the 512MB and 1GB option and I'm really not sure but, if pushed, I'd guess at 512MB.
- Julian
