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

[scaredpoet]

It clearly demonstrates

...that outsize bloat and poor memory management techniques can cause an excessive amount of resource usage, which are magnified when switching from 32-bit from 64-bit. But it doesn't always have to be that way. While yes, a 64-bit platform will take some higher resources, it's still possible to keep a platform lean and optimized. Just throwing more RAM at the problem is a lazy way out, and blaming the hardware is not the solution.

In any case, 7.1 is out and we've already seen lots of users reporting drastic improvement in Safari and other app performance. Did another gigabyte of RAM magically appear in these devices? Of course not.

 

[Apple_Robert]

Using my iPad normally since updating, I have only had 1 Safari crash, whereas with 7.06 I would have had many crashes by now. I appreciate the improvement.

 

[ron7624]

Only my Safari crashes, I think it's just a software issue.

I use only Safari. On my iPhone and iPad Mini retina and an iPad 3. I have had a crash maybe twice in the last year through all if the various iOS versions. My iPhone will surprise me with 20+ tabs open at any one point in time and I have six to eight open on both of the iPads always. I cannot remember the last crash, but I do remember that I have had a couple.
My experience.

 

[Max(IT)]

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.

Do you really think so ? You have read too much on this forum, I think ...

Just here that could be confused with the reality.
Ram is expensive, and if you think that is is "only 10$ more expensive" maybe you don't understand that what for you is "only 10$" has to be multiply for millions in Apple production.

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Of course it's money. Apple has a certain price they want to sell at and any increases eat into their margins. Assume that an additional Gig cost them only one dollar. When you sell 20 million iPads, that's 20 million dollars of additional cost. For people that say Apple earns billions, 20 million dollars is still 20 million dollars. If the Apple engineers / software people tell management that it will run well with 1 Gig RAM, Apple isn't going to put 2 Gig in. If Apple thought they would have issues with 1 Gig, they would have put 2 Gig in.

Note - Don't assume they are going to 2 Gig this fall.

Exactly that.

And it's not only 1$ the difference between 1 Gb ddr3 and 2 Gb.

 

[WilliamG]

7.1 solves the crashing issue, not the tab reloading. Some times it doesn't bother me when a tab refreshes itself, but some times I hate it, depending what I was doing before. Imagine wanting to copy information from some other app and then wanting to go back to Safari, only to see that the webpage has been loaded again.. It can be very frustrating.

It's more frustrating when you're in the check-out process and switch tab/app mid-way through and then try to go back...

The tab reloading is a REAL joke and a SEVERE crutch in iPad Air/mini usage. For some of us it's not an issue, but for many of us it's a real annoyance.

 

[petvas]

It's more frustrating when you're in the check-out process and switch tab/app mid-way through and then try to go back...

The tab reloading is a REAL joke and a SEVERE crutch in iPad Air/mini usage. For some of us it's not an issue, but for many of us it's a real annoyance.

I agree. The iPad is such a great gadget, from a technology point of view, but is severely crippled because of its OS.

 

[meistervu]

I agree. The iPad is such a great gadget, from a technology point of view, but is severely crippled because of its OS.

Yes, as a consumer I wish there were other OS choices

No body in their right mind would use such a "severely crippled OS" if there were any other choice. The iPad is pretty much a paper weight, and getting worse at that with the introduction of the iPad Air. It's so light that you have to buy 2 make up for the weight difference.

 

[Rodster]

Yes, as a consumer I wish there were other OS choices

No body in their right mind would use such a "severely crippled OS" if there were any other choice. The iPad is pretty much a paper weight, and getting worse at that with the introduction of the iPad Air. It's so light that you have to buy 2 make up for the weight difference.

There ARE other viable choices such as Android and Windows 8.1 Pro. I personally like Android and i've also tried W8.1 on the tablets and it's a pretty nice experience although you need a larger display to take advantage of the W8 UI.

For me i've gotten comfortable with iOS and the package it offers but I agree it's not for everyone but there are choices out there.

 

[TacticalDesire]

Do you really think so ? You have read too much on this forum, I think ...

Just here that could be confused with the reality.
Ram is expensive, and if you think that is is "only 10$ more expensive" maybe you don't understand that what for you is "only 10$" has to be multiply for millions in Apple production.

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Exactly that.

And it's not only 1$ the difference between 1 Gb ddr3 and 2 Gb.

I can't find anywhere where I expressed a specific monetary figure. Can you find it for me?

 

[Plutonius]

I can't find anywhere where I expressed a specific monetary figure. Can you find it for me?

You said it's a very cheap upgrade from 1GB to 2GB so Apple should have done it. How much more do you think it would cost per iPad to increase to 2GB ?

 

[meistervu]

There ARE other viable choices such as Android and Windows 8.1 Pro. I personally like Android and i've also tried W8.1 on the tablets and it's a pretty nice experience although you need a larger display to take advantage of the W8 UI.

For me i've gotten comfortable with iOS and the package it offers but I agree it's not for everyone but there are choices out there.

I was being sarcastic.

I bet that 99% of the consumers out there have no idea what the "severely limited" comment was about. Given any OS, people always want to do more with it. There is almost always a trade off between "power" and ease of use. Heck, if I were to design an OS for myself to use, I am sure I have to make compromises between the two, let alone an OS designed for millions of users of difference level of technical aptitudes and preferences.

As for the comment of "severely limited," I don't get it. What is so severely limited about iOS? There are millions of happy customers out there, and I doubt that they were severely limited by the OS.

 

[Rodster]

I was being sarcastic.

I bet that 99% of the consumers out there have no idea what the "severely limited" comment was about. Given any OS, people always want to do more with it. There is almost always a trade off between "power" and ease of use. Heck, if I were to design an OS for myself to use, I am sure I have to make compromises between the two, let alone an OS designed for millions of users of difference level of technical aptitudes and preferences.

As for the comment of "severely limited," I don't get it. What is so severely limited about iOS? There are millions of happy customers out there, and I doubt that they were severely limited by the OS.

That'll learn you for not inserting [sarc]

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You said it's a very cheap upgrade from 1GB to 2GB so Apple should have done it. How much more do you think it would cost per iPad to increase to 2GB ?

Can't be that much since going from 16 to 32GB cost them around $16 and that was back around the iPad 2. But they did turn that $16 hit into an $84 profit.

 

[petvas]

I was being sarcastic.

I bet that 99% of the consumers out there have no idea what the "severely limited" comment was about. Given any OS, people always want to do more with it. There is almost always a trade off between "power" and ease of use. Heck, if I were to design an OS for myself to use, I am sure I have to make compromises between the two, let alone an OS designed for millions of users of difference level of technical aptitudes and preferences.

As for the comment of "severely limited," I don't get it. What is so severely limited about iOS? There are millions of happy customers out there, and I doubt that they were severely limited by the OS.

Actually I said "crippled".
There are might be millions of happy iOS customers, but the operating system is not for power users, because of its limitations. Some things that I hate:

• No real multitasking
• Safari tab reloading
• Safari performance as a browser and lack of features (for example, no plugins support)
• Email client has no support of adding attachments (other than pics)
• No common file repository (it could be an iCloud repository, accessible from every app...)
• Notifications are intruding
• Standard apps are weak in features, especially Calendar and tasks (but of course 3rd party apps fill the gap)
• Not possible to set default apps for Mail, browser and calendar
• Siri sucks big time. It doesn't work all the time, doesn't work offline and cannot be used from 3rd party software
• The OS on the iPad doesn't display side by side apps. This could be really useful...

That doesn't mean that iOS is a bad OS, it is just not suited for power users that need the above functionality. I am mainly referring to the iPad iOS version. On an iPhone, I believe iOS to be really great.

I prefer using OS X instead of iOS almost all the time. It makes me feel that I use something with enough power and no limitations.

 

[Q-Dog]

Maybe Apple needs to make a "Power Pad!" for all these "Power Users!"

 

[thelead]

Is there an ignore feature on these boards... you all know who I'm trying to block

 

[TacticalDesire]

You said it's a very cheap upgrade from 1GB to 2GB so Apple should have done it. How much more do you think it would cost per iPad to increase to 2GB ?

I'm not going to give a numerical answer because there will be people like you who will pick apart every word I say and act as if I am saying it like it's the gospel. I also know how to do 6th grade math. But the cost difference isn't worth the sacrifice in user experience due to all the low memory crashes and tab and app reloads. Look at all the people in this forum alone who have returned or exchanged their iPads due to the crashing. Now imagine how grandma Jones would feel as she's looking up crochet patterns in safari and it crashes all the time. Then she tells her friends Betty Lou and Suzy Q about how her iPad doesn't work, and then they tell their friends Barbara and Bertha, it's called word of mouth.

All in all it just doesn't make sense. Apple was cheaping out and cutting corners so they have something to add to the spec sheet for the next release. It is how they have always done things, But that's the last I'm posting about this in this particular thread. Disagree with me if you please. That is your prerogative. But I have my views and a stranger on the internet isn't going to change it.

 

[Plutonius]

All in all it just doesn't make sense. Apple was cheaping out and cutting corners so they have something to add to the spec sheet for the next release.

Apple is not stupid enough to purposely put out a defective product so I believe that management thought that it would run ok based on software / engineering recommendations. Having something to upgrade for the future is a valid strategy but Apple would never put 1GB in the iPad if they knew that the problems would be as bad as you think they are.

As people keep telling you, the main reason Apple put in 1GB instead of 2GB was cost. You keep saying that going from 1GB to 2GB will not cost much but you refuse to say how much of a cost increase that will be. You don't have to be correct but you must have some sort of cost increase in mind. I was generous and assumed only a $1.00 increase in cost. For 20 million iPads sold, that's 20 million dollars in additional cost. Do you think that's cheaping out ?

 

[petvas]

Apple is not stupid enough to purposely put out a defective product so I believe that management thought that it would run ok based on software / engineering recommendations. Having something to upgrade for the future is a valid strategy but Apple would never put 1GB in the iPad if they knew that the problems would be as bad as you think they are.

As people keep telling you, the main reason Apple put in 1GB instead of 2GB was cost. You keep saying that going from 1GB to 2GB will not cost much but you refuse to say how much of a cost increase that will be. You don't have to be correct but you must have some sort of cost increase in mind. I was generous and assumed only a $1.00 increase in cost. For 20 million iPads sold, that's 20 million dollars in additional cost. Do you think that's cheaping out ?

Apple's customers were always ready to pay a bit more in order to get the "It just works" experience, plus the great hardware quality. Yes, there might be a significant cost increase by adding 1GB of RAM, but the user experience would be so much better...

 

[Robster3]

The only Ram problem with the Air would be in New Zealand

 

[cababah]

Apple's customers were always ready to pay a bit more in order to get the "It just works" experience, plus the great hardware quality. Yes, there might be a significant cost increase by adding 1GB of RAM, but the user experience would be so much better...

Sales aren't being affected as a result = apple doesn't care

 

[Michael CM1]

Apple is not stupid enough to purposely put out a defective product so I believe that management thought that it would run ok based on software / engineering recommendations. Having something to upgrade for the future is a valid strategy but Apple would never put 1GB in the iPad if they knew that the problems would be as bad as you think they are.

As people keep telling you, the main reason Apple put in 1GB instead of 2GB was cost. You keep saying that going from 1GB to 2GB will not cost much but you refuse to say how much of a cost increase that will be. You don't have to be correct but you must have some sort of cost increase in mind. I was generous and assumed only a $1.00 increase in cost. For 20 million iPads sold, that's 20 million dollars in additional cost. Do you think that's cheaping out ?

2GB of DDR3 is about $10 more expensive on Crucial.com than 1GB. So factoring in Apple's volume purchasing versus the type of RAM used in a tablet likely costing more, let's call that a wash. As you stated, another gig of RAM sets Apple back $10 per tablet. Apple sold 26 million iPads in the latest quarter. So that would be $260 million in revenue lost if all of those iPads had an extra 1GB of memory. They all weren't iPad Airs, but I think that paints the darn picture.

As much as some of us would love to trick out our iPads with 4GB of RAM, make it slightly larger with more battery life, throw in Touch ID, etc., Apple has never worked that way with iPhones or iPads. When the vast majority of people buy a 16GB WiFi model, Apple knows its customers are mostly people who want "an iPad" for $500. I just got an iPad Air today and had to drive 23 miles to the Target that had the white 32GB model I got. It had one. There were maybe 3 or 4 Target stores within 50 miles that had that model. But they all have the 16GB models because that's what sells.

 

[Dmunjal]

2GB of DDR3 is about $10 more expensive on Crucial.com than 1GB. So factoring in Apple's volume purchasing versus the type of RAM used in a tablet likely costing more, let's call that a wash. As you stated, another gig of RAM sets Apple back $10 per tablet. Apple sold 26 million iPads in the latest quarter. So that would be $260 million in revenue lost if all of those iPads had an extra 1GB of memory. They all weren't iPad Airs, but I think that paints the darn picture.

As much as some of us would love to trick out our iPads with 4GB of RAM, make it slightly larger with more battery life, throw in Touch ID, etc., Apple has never worked that way with iPhones or iPads. When the vast majority of people buy a 16GB WiFi model, Apple knows its customers are mostly people who want "an iPad" for $500. I just got an iPad Air today and had to drive 23 miles to the Target that had the white 32GB model I got. It had one. There were maybe 3 or 4 Target stores within 50 miles that had that model. But they all have the 16GB models because that's what sells.

You're assuming that Apple couldn't find $10 somewhere else in the list of parts to save. The fact is every build decision is a conscious choice. Maybe they could have cut the battery by 20%. Personally, I would have welcomed that tradeoff. This one choice in particular hurts the customer more than it should. Definitely not "It just works."

 

[Count Blah]

Is there an ignore feature on these boards... you all know who I'm trying to block

Yes, I've used it for people who are so far up apple's butt that they shriek at anything but glowing praise of Apple. It has made my time on this board soooo much more enjoyable. Absolutes - ON BOTH SIDES - are no fun.

So far 7.1 is much more stable. I have not had time to exercise safari too much since the 7.1 release, but I think I can actually say it's not a crashing horrible user experience anymore.

But the points about the lack of even rudimentary functions of mail, selecting default apps, are well placed. iOS could be so much more, so what harm is there is asking/pleading for more?

 

[nikusak]

2GB of DDR3 is about $10 more expensive on Crucial.com than 1GB. So factoring in Apple's volume purchasing versus the type of RAM used in a tablet likely costing more, let's call that a wash. As you stated, another gig of RAM sets Apple back $10 per tablet. Apple sold 26 million iPads in the latest quarter. So that would be $260 million in revenue lost if all of those iPads had an extra 1GB of memory. They all weren't iPad Airs, but I think that paints the darn picture.

Why not simply raise the price by $10 then? Apple doesn't compete on price and, according to themselves, they don't do junk.

I would happy to pay that, or even more, for a tablet that works properly and is future proof for two or three years at least. This iPad Air fulfills neither of those conditions.

 

[AppleRobert]

Why not simply raise the price by $10 then? Apple doesn't compete on price and, according to themselves, they don't do junk.

I would happy to pay that, or even more, for a tablet that works properly and is future proof for two or three years at least. This iPad Air fulfills neither of those conditions.

Folks know what they can buy to get more ram and storage space for less. Millions will disagree with you about the Air being less future proof versus those other options. Apple does not have to do a thing. Yes, they are losing some market share and they may do something but I doubt it. Folks have cried for less money to get more storage and has not happened yet.

It does not work properly? If that is case for ones needs then do without it. Millions seem to be quite satisfied.