All iPads iPad Air - how severe is the RAM problem?

[sracer]

You haven't made any point against what I said. I never said Apple has no intention of bringing more functionality to the iPad, I said they've always marketed it to be an assistive device. They still do and that hasn't changed. Those features you mentioned are common. Bluetooth peripherals and wireless printing and being independent of a computer in terms of downloading and installing apps. That doesn't bring the iPad closer to a full fledged computer. You can do all of that currently on a cell phone.

The fact that cell phones can do those things doesn't negate the claim that iPads are getting closer to computers. It can mean that smartphones are getting closer to computers too.

But it all depends upon what one means by "full-fledged computer".

 

[Max(IT)]

I really have no idea who is saying this issue is solved. It's not solved on my iPad Air or my wife's Retina iPad mini. We were both on the beta for 7.1, and each time a new release would come out - we'd both say, "NO, not fixed!"

For me is completely solved, and I can use 3-4 or even 5 tabs without reloading, including rich contents websites with photos and embedded videos

To have a tabs reload I had to open Mail and real racing 3 .... which is completely normal.
Right now this forum, phonearena, gsmarena and a newspaper 's website opened and I can switch between them without a problem.
Checking with my system memory app I still have 127 Mb of free ram !!!

 

[zhenya]

3-4 tabs and no other programs running is extraordinarily light usage. Many of us have 8-10 (or more) tabs open frequently and want to be able to multi-task between other programs. Try that and you'll have constant reloading.

 

[Max(IT)]

3-4 tabs and no other programs running is extraordinarily light usage. Many of us have 8-10 (or more) tabs open frequently and want to be able to multi-task between other programs. Try that and you'll have constant reloading.

This is a 9.7" tablet, not a 15" notebook ...

3-4 tabs , iTunes and a Mail app opened are definitely NOT light usage on a tablet.

Speaking about 8-10 tabs on a tablet .... Now I can understand your whining: just plain wrong expectations.

If I need 10+ tabs and multitasking I use my MacBook Pro, not the iPad.

 

[zhenya]

This is a 9.7" tablet, not a 15" notebook ...

3-4 tabs , iTunes and a Mail app opened are definitely NOT light usage on a tablet.

Speaking about 8-10 tabs on a tablet .... Now I can understand your whining: just plain wrong expectations.

If I need 10+ tabs and multitasking I use my MacBook Pro, not the iPad.

On my laptop it is typically 20-30 tabs, so that is light usage for me. Fortunately with a 3rd party browser it handles that number of tabs pretty seamlessly.

The point is, there is no technical limitation that prevents the iPad from multi-tasking better other than Apple's somewhat arbitrary choice to limit the RAM. The Air is nearly as powerful CPU and graphics wise as my top of the line laptop from 5 years ago.

 

[Max(IT)]

On my laptop it is typically 20-30 tabs, so that is light usage for me. Fortunately with a 3rd party browser it handles that number of tabs pretty seamlessly.

The point is, there is no technical limitation that prevents the iPad from multi-tasking better other than Apple's somewhat arbitrary choice to limit the RAM. The Air is nearly as powerful CPU and graphics wise as my top of the line laptop from 5 years ago.

Well, everyone has different needs, but I still think your usage is not average of what to expect from a tablet.
I strongly suspect that with 30 tabs opened, my 8 Gb MBP could be a little bit unresponsive ...

 

[s2mikey]

This is a 9.7" tablet, not a 15" notebook ...

3-4 tabs , iTunes and a Mail app opened are definitely NOT light usage on a tablet.

Speaking about 8-10 tabs on a tablet .... Now I can understand your whining: just plain wrong expectations.

If I need 10+ tabs and multitasking I use my MacBook Pro, not the iPad.

Or, it could be said that if you need ten tabs open at one time and are actively working on or surfing in all of them you may want to find a hobby or go get some fresh air.

 

[Count Blah]

3-4 tabs and no other programs running is extraordinarily light usage. Many of us have 8-10 (or more) tabs open frequently and want to be able to multi-task between other programs. Try that and you'll have constant reloading.

I have 3-4 tabs opened with no other apps, and I get refreshes all the damn time. Crappy user experience

 

[petvas]

Or, it could be said that if you need ten tabs open at one time and are actively working on or surfing in all of them you may want to find a hobby or go get some fresh air.

This is very one sided. There are many people that use the Internet for research and need to have many tabs open at the same time. Most of the times I need 5-10 Tabs at the same time. I know other people that have 30-40!
The iPad has a problem with these usage scenarios.

 

[iPhysicist]

This is very one sided. There are many people that use the Internet for research and need to have many tabs open at the same time. Most of the times I need 5-10 Tabs at the same time. I know other people that have 30-40!
The iPad has a problem with these usage scenarios.

The iPad's Safari is not made for 10 to \infty tabs open. Safari is not made for research at all. The fact you can use it to some extent for this use case is what I would call a "nice feature" but not more.

 

[s2mikey]

This is very one sided. There are many people that use the Internet for research and need to have many tabs open at the same time. Most of the times I need 5-10 Tabs at the same time. I know other people that have 30-40!
The iPad has a problem with these usage scenarios.

Maybe so. Didn't mean to downplay anyone else's usage scenarios. Being a tablet would lead me to believe that there will be some eventual limitation on usage. Resources are finite on any tablet or computer. And, memory management can only do so much. I'm just a lightweight user, I guess.

 

[AppleRobert]

I would some some have very high expectations on what a device with this kind of ram should be able to do with browsing.

If you are on the low end and have problems, I would bring it to Apple.

 

[Max(IT)]

I have 3-4 tabs opened with no other apps, and I get refreshes all the damn time. Crappy user experience

Give me the link please because that is simply not true in my daily experience
I can make a video: I have 4 tabs right now, with pictures and videos, and no reload at all
I can understand people saying that Safari still refreshes tabs because they keep 10-20 opened all the time. I just think their expectations for a tablet are a little bit too high.

But you are the only one keep saying that with 3 tabs the experience is awful.
In this moment I have Phone arena (photos+embedded videos), gsmarena (the same), this forum and La Gazzetta (a sports newspaper website with photos and videos as well), with Mail in background, and I can switch between tabs without any refresh/reload.

Yes, it is light workload, but it is what a tablet is mainly supposed to do, and your complaining about an awful experience also with "3 tabs opened" (your words) is incredible to me.
Maybe you have a faulty unit ?
Or a jailbroken unit with no iOS 7.1 installed ?



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This is very one sided. There are many people that use the Internet for research and need to have many tabs open at the same time. Most of the times I need 5-10 Tabs at the same time. I know other people that have 30-40!
The iPad has a problem with these usage scenarios.

Surely it has problem with 30 tabs (or even 10).

What I think is that if you need a device for such a work, a notebook is much more suitable

In a future where tablet will sports 8 Gb of ram maybe the situation will change (but a 10" display isn't the best choice either for multitabbing or multiwindows)

 

[petvas]

Give me the link please because that is simply not true in my daily experience
I can make a video: I have 4 tabs right now, with pictures and videos, and no reload at all
I can understand people saying that Safari still refreshes tabs because they keep 10-20 opened all the time. I just think their expectations for a tablet are a little bit too high.

But you are the only one keep saying that with 3 tabs the experience is awful.
In this moment I have Phone arena (photos+embedded videos), gsmarena (the same), this forum and La Gazzetta (a sports newspaper website with photos and videos as well), with Mail in background, and I can switch between tabs without any refresh/reload.

Yes, it is light workload, but it is what a tablet is mainly supposed to do, and your complaining about an awful experience also with "3 tabs opened" (your words) is incredible to me.
Maybe you have a faulty unit ?
Or a jailbroken unit with no iOS 7.1 installed ?



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Surely it has problem with 30 tabs (or even 10).

What I think is that if you need a device for such a work, a notebook is much more suitable

In a future where tablet will sports 8 Gb of ram maybe the situation will change (but a 10" display isn't the best choice either for multitabbing or multiwindows)

You are right. I decided to sell my iPad Air. The problem is me, because every time I use it I feel limited by it. It doesn't make any sense for me to have this device, but that doesn't mean that the iPad is bad. Just not suitable for me.

 

[Max(IT)]

You are right. I decided to sell my iPad Air. The problem is me, because every time I use it I feel limited by it. It doesn't make any sense for me to have this device, but that doesn't mean that the iPad is bad. Just not suitable for me.

That is perfectly understandable and I'm not going to question your needs: everyone has different necessities ...

Actually I can't live without my iPad, but every time I need to do something more demanding I use my quadcore MBP .... and sometimes I'm limited by its 8 Gb of ram.

 

[Zorlac]

I have 3 tabs open now, and each goddamn tab is reloading no matter what so it is an issue. I have the synology home page in one, this one typing this post, and another on arstechinca. I switched over to the arstechinca tab, and it reloaded. Switched to the synology site and reloaded. Switched to this one, and actually I had to retype this post becaue my previous one was you guess it: reloaded and all was lost.

This is ridiculous. 7.1 DID NOT fix the tab issue, it's as simple as that. Not for the air it didn't anyway.

 

[HenryDJP]

I have 3 tabs open now, and each goddamn tab is reloading no matter what so it is an issue. I have the synology home page in one, this one typing this post, and another on arstechinca. I switched over to the arstechinca tab, and it reloaded. Switched to the synology site and reloaded. Switched to this one, and actually I had to retype this post becaue my previous one was you guess it: reloaded and all was lost.

This is ridiculous. 7.1 DID NOT fix the tab issue, it's as simple as that. Not for the air it didn't anyway.

I find that there is less reloading or next to no reloading if you close all other apps and just use Safari with 3 tabs.

 

[AppleRobert]

I never see any responses about how one is accessing the internet for browsing. Is not possible the network one is on may have something to do with it since some have tried to reproduce reloads with the same sites and are not having problems?

 

[Max(IT)]

I have 3 tabs open now, and each goddamn tab is reloading no matter what so it is an issue. I have the synology home page in one, this one typing this post, and another on arstechinca. I switched over to the arstechinca tab, and it reloaded. Switched to the synology site and reloaded. Switched to this one, and actually I had to retype this post becaue my previous one was you guess it: reloaded and all was lost.

This is ridiculous. 7.1 DID NOT fix the tab issue, it's as simple as that. Not for the air it didn't anyway.

I have the SAME THREE SITES OPENED RIGHT NOW on my air, with iTranslate and Mail opened in background and NOTHING IS RELOADING ON MY IPAD AIR.
NOTHING AT ALL.

now, do I have a special version of the iPad Air or your is defective ????

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I never see any responses about how one is accessing the internet for browsing. Is not possible the network one is on may have something to do with it since some have tried to reproduce reloads with the same sites and are not having problems?

Me too.
I don't use so many tabs, but I find ridiculous that people couldn't keep 2-3 tabs opened, since on my iPad Air I can do it without a problem.

 

[Plutonius]

This is ridiculous. 7.1 DID NOT fix the tab issue, it's as simple as that. Not for the air it didn't anyway.

Many people have had the tab loading problem mostly resolved by replacing their iPad.

You have bad hardware. Demand Apple replace it.

now, do I have a special version of the iPad Air or your is defective ????

It is most likely defective.

 

[BittenApple]

Many people have had the tab loading problem mostly resolved by replacing their iPad.

You have bad hardware. Demand Apple replace it.



It is most likely defective.

Don't have an iPad Air, so I'm more curious than anything. What what hardware aspect of the iPad is defective that leads it to reloading tabs?

 

[rocknblogger]

3-4 tabs and no other programs running is extraordinarily light usage. Many of us have 8-10 (or more) tabs open frequently and want to be able to multi-task between other programs. Try that and you'll have constant reloading.

Yup, agree 100%. I've had my Air for about two weeks now and once I started using it the way I did my previous iPad, the page reloads and app reloads started and haven't stopped. Had I stayed on iOS 6 on my iPad 2 I would have waited for the next iPad as I do believe they'll increase the RAM. For now I just have to be conscious of what I'm doing to avoid copy/paste frustrations, and filling out forms in Safari, or creating documents in apps.

Overall I'm happy with my iPad Air but it's not as efficient to my workflow as my previous iPad on iOS 6 was. And that's a shame as it should be better than any previous version of the iPad.

 

[Nautilus007]

It should have shipped with more. Its not as instantaneous as it should be.

 

[boast]

I get tab reloading, but at least the crashes stopped- which I found much more annoying. I use Chrome though.

 

[irnchriz]

The reason isn't money. RAM isn't expensive and WP is a LOT lighter of an OS than iOS or Android. The reason is if Apple put more RAM in people would have less of a reason to upgrade to the next one.

Nana, it is money. If you save even 1 dollar per device manufacture cost that's a ton of extra cash made per quarter.