iPad iPad Air RAM test: Safari Tabs

[Lambros]

Thanks man, I'm so happy. I was really disappointed, but this is giving me hope. It's actually a lot better than the current mini.

----------

And yeah, that's the reason I chose the verge for testing. It's always a performance hog

Surprisingly on MacRumors I only hit around 8. That's...unusual. Get me on Google Docs and we'll be losing count

 

[Kimcha]

You probably didn't reboot your ipad before testing macrumors? There might be more stuff going on

 

[Lambros]

You probably didn't reboot your ipad before testing macrumors? There might be more stuff going on

Very good point ^^

 

[nemesis4670]

You use an iPad Air and instead of noticing the insanely incredible leap in speed and performance, the only thing you take away from it is that you're disappointed that you can't open 500 more tabs in Safari in a completely unrealistic scenario, on a BRAND NEW device that's still yet to be optimized? An entirely new 64-bit architecture on a brand new device and you guys are acting like this is a deciding factor on whether the device sucks or not!?

Not to mention a horribly unscientific test... where you basically just used your personal iPad Mini versus a demo model at a store. Yet you start a thread like it's an official test but you offer zero information to base it off of.

If you aren't looking at a page for a certain amount of time it will dump it... and when you return to it it'll reload. I don't see how this has to do with performance. It just dumps the page when you aren't using it.

On my iPad 4 I just tested having 11 tabs open and none of them will reload unless I haven't looked at the page in over 5 minutes or so. The ones that reload take literally 1 second to reload the page.

1st world problems guys... you're being really nitpicky. You find anything to complain about. How about we enjoy the amazing weight, thinness, and extremely faster CPU.

Picking up my 128GB Air at Apple store today with In Store Pickup option. Already paid for and not regretting it one bit! See you on the flip side folks.

 

[Kimcha]

You use an iPad Air and instead of noticing the insanely incredible leap in speed and performance, the only thing you take away from it is that you're disappointed that you can't open 500 more tabs in Safari in a completely unrealistic scenario, on a BRAND NEW device that's still yet to be optimized? An entirely new 64-bit architecture on a brand new device and you guys are acting like this is a deciding factor on whether the device sucks or not!?
.

Yes I do, because FOR ME (and probably many other) this is a very important issue. I couldn't care less about 64bit. My iPad mini is plenty fast. Apps open quick and I never felt I needed a faster CPU or GPU, since I rarely play games on it. BUT tabs constantly reloading and apps being quit due to low memory has been annoying me for the whole year I have had my ipad mini. That and the non retina screen. The only two things I wish to be changed about the iPad mini is more ram so my tabs stop reloading constantly and the retina display. And I am not talking about having 10 tabs, but even just 3 or 4 are often a struggle.

Once again he goal was not to find out whether I can open 8 tabs at once, but to compare what the performance of a freshly booted air is compared to a freshly booted mini to be able to estimate whether it will have same, worse or better memory performance compared to the mini.

This was the best and most scientific test I could come up with. I have described the conditions and I have performed the test on both devices in the same way.

 

[ElectronGuru]

Once again the goal was not to find out whether I can open 8 tabs at once, but to compare what the performance of a freshly booted air is compared to a freshly booted mini to be able to estimate whether it will have same, worse or better memory performance compared to the mini.

+1 here

You gotta find the limits to know where the limits are. And those of us plagued by lost posts and other work are rightfully paranoid that the issue isn't going away.

 

[Lambros]

As a side note guys...this device is amazing. It feels like you're holding an iPad Mini, but with a bigger screen. It is so slim and light that you can easily hold it in one hand, and the thinner bezel allows you to type using two thumbs, without splitting the keyboard.

 

[Tyrion]

If you aren't looking at a page for a certain amount of time it will dump it... and when you return to it it'll reload. I don't see how this has to do with performance. It just dumps the page when you aren't using it.

And that's the reason I'm not buying another iPad until they get 2 GB RAM at the very least. The ability to retain websites in memory even if I haven't looked at them for a couple of minutes is very important to me. It obviously doesn't matter much to you - great, have fun with your Air. For my use case, though, this tab reloading Safari does has been a huge issue since the days of the very first iPad.

BTW, I got a Tibook G4 with 1 GB RAM in 2002. I regularly had 100+ tabs open in, like, Camino and Safari 1.0. Never once did that laptop reload a tab when I revisited it. And that Tibook was magnitudes slower and less capable than an iPad Air. It's obviously a question of memory management; Apple just don't seem to want to make mobile Safari a truly capable browser, so they force it to dump tabs out of memory.

 

[erawsd]

If this becomes a serious issue moving forward as more apps are updated to 64bit, I wonder how Apple will respond? Will they quietly upgrade ram to 2gb? Or is this by design so they have something to offer with the rumored "iPad Pro".

 

[nemesis4670]

Yes I do, because FOR ME (and probably many other) this is a very important issue. I couldn't care less about 64bit. My iPad mini is plenty fast. Apps open quick and I never felt I needed a faster CPU or GPU, since I rarely play games on it. BUT tabs constantly reloading and apps being quit due to low memory has been annoying me for the whole year I have had my ipad mini. That and the non retina screen. The only two things I wish to be changed about the iPad mini is more ram so my tabs stop reloading constantly and the retina display. And I am not talking about having 10 tabs, but even just 3 or 4 are often a struggle.

Once again he goal was not to find out whether I can open 8 tabs at once, but to compare what the performance of a freshly booted air is compared to a freshly booted mini to be able to estimate whether it will have same, worse or better memory performance compared to the mini.

This was the best and most scientific test I could come up with. I have described the conditions and I have performed the test on both devices in the same way.

Has this test been done with Google Chrome app browser instead? Another missed opportunity in your "scientific" test.

What are you a rocket scientist? Why would RAM be important to you and not me? I just know the difference between an actual pertinent issue and something ridiculous being blown out of proportion.

First off my point was the 64-bit architecture is NEW and iOS 7 is the first time iOS has been completely redesigned since it's inception in 2007. It's NOT going to be perfectly optimized on launch day. You clearly don't understand how significantly different the architecture of a 64-bit chip is to the 32-bit chip in your iPad Mini.

You don't care about 64-bit because you clearly have no idea what it means for us. Maybe do a little research. The benefits will casually slip into your fingers and you'll have no idea how because you were busy being cynical about it.

Ironically, one of the benefits serves your very purpose of increasing the maximum RAM for mobile devices to beyond 4GB.

http://whitenoise.gizmodo.com/64-bi...ans-and-what-it-means-f-1295764870/1299910455

The issues you claim to have seen would have to be SOFTWARE related or the fact that it was a demo model. Notice the people who actually own one are reporting different results?

A device with better specs running on the exact same operating system cannot logically be WORSE. Especially two Apple devices which are developed in tandem. It only makes sense if there was issues with software optimization for that specific architecture.

Did you try using OTHER apps on the iPad Air and noticing how the A7 makes iOS 7 blazing fast? On my iPad 4 I experience lag with iOS 7 in many places. Your iPad Mini is equal to an iPad 2 in specs so it's even worse. iOS 7 is only going to get slower on your iPad Mini the more features and enhancements they add.

Good Luck with that.

And that's the reason I'm not buying another iPad until they get 2 GB RAM at the very least. The ability to retain websites in memory even if I haven't looked at them for a couple of minutes is very important to me. It obviously doesn't matter much to you - great, have fun with your Air. For my use case, though, this tab reloading Safari does has been a huge issue since the days of the very first iPad.

BTW, I got a Tibook G4 with 1 GB RAM in 2002. I regularly had 100+ tabs open in, like, Camino and Safari 1.0. Never once did that laptop reload a tab when I revisited it. And that Tibook was magnitudes slower and less capable than an iPad Air. It's obviously a question of memory management; Apple just don't seem to want to make mobile Safari a truly capable browser, so they force it to dump tabs out of memory.

Have fun with that.

Interesting logic though. Considering if both new and old devices have the same reloading page issue, yet the newer one has a significantly better CPU that blows yours away in every other aspect, and is significantly thinner and lighter for the first time, then the upgrade should still make sense for you.

In your attempt to be self righteous by boycotting the iPad, the result is being stuck with a heavy/bulky old iPad that has the exact same issue with significantly less performance overall.

So you're not doing yourself a favor at all. Especially since you can sell that old fossil towards the price of the new one.

But of course... everything is your choice and I could care less. I'll be enjoying the Air and loving every moment of ditching my bulky iPad 4.

 

[Kimcha]

Has this test been done with Google Chrome app browser instead? Another missed opportunity in your "scientific" test.

What are you a rocket scientist? Why would RAM be important to you and not me? I just know the difference between an actual pertinent issue and something ridiculous being blown out of proportion.

First off my point was the 64-bit architecture is NEW and iOS 7 is the first time iOS has been completely redesigned since it's inception in 2007. It's NOT going to be perfectly optimized on launch day. You clearly don't understand how significantly different the architecture of a 64-bit chip is to the 32-bit chip in your iPad Mini.

You don't care about 64-bit because you clearly have no idea what it means for us. Maybe do a little research. The benefits will casually slip into your fingers and you'll have no idea how because you were busy being cynical about it.

You are being a real smart ass now, aren't you? I am very well aware what 64bit means for the future of tablet devices, but once again: I, personally do not care. It is not important to me, because right now all I want is to be able to open 5 tabs while doing research and comparing stuff as well as switch applications without apps being killed and tabs reloaded. I don't care that 64bit will allow "desktop class" applications, amazing 3D games, audio and video processing. Do you know why I don't care? Because my BASIC need of browsing the internet just like on a desktop is not being fulfilled.

Ironically, one of the benefits serves your very purpose of increasing the maximum RAM for mobile devices to beyond 4GB.

Why would I care when buying a device TODAY whether today's technology will allow more RAM in the future? The ability to address more than 4gb of ram is the most useless benefit of 64bit today. Once again, I am not saying that 64bit doesn't matter overall or is a bad update. I am saying this particular benefit doesn't matter.

http://whitenoise.gizmodo.com/64-bi...ans-and-what-it-means-f-1295764870/1299910455

The issues you claim to have seen would have to be SOFTWARE related or the fact that it was a demo model. Notice the people who actually own one are reporting different results?

A device with better specs running on the exact same operating system cannot logically be WORSE. Especially two Apple devices which are developed in tandem. It only makes sense if there was issues with software optimization for that specific architecture.

I am actually an iOS software developer and understand what 64bit means and how it affects applications on a software level very well. Which you obviously don't. So let me explain it to you:
Pointers in 64bit are twice as big as on 32bit devices. This means 64 optimised apps use A LOT more memory. They can run a lot faster due to many benefits of 64bit, but they do use up more memory. According to anandtech it is 20-30%, which is very significant. On top of that the air's resolution is twice as big as the minis, which also contributes to increased memory usage.

You are right, these factors should make the air at least as capable as the mini or more, which is why I have been surprised by the issues too and specifically mentioned the demo mode and asked real users to test this. Nonetheless it can very logically be worse.

Did you try using OTHER apps on the iPad Air and noticing how the A7 makes iOS 7 blazing fast? On my iPad 4 I experience lag with iOS 7 in many places. Your iPad Mini is equal to an iPad 2 in specs so it's even worse. iOS 7 is only going to get slower on your iPad Mini the more features and enhancements they add.

Good Luck with that.

Once again you simply don't get it. You come here and you try to push your opinion like a complete idiot. I have already explained it to you: I don't particularly care about the increased speed, because I was never annoyed by it. I have and I am annoyed by reloading tabs. That's what is important to me and that's what I want to see fixed. Just because it is not important to you, doesn't mean it isn't an issue for other people.

I'm happy you are happy with your device, but I and other people are discussing an important issue for US here. If it's not important to you, just stay out. Nobody is saying your new toy is bad or anything. We are just trying to evaluate whether it fits our needs.

 

[nemesis4670]

You are being a real smart ass now, aren't you? BLAH BLAH BLAH

I am actually an iOS software developer BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH


Once again you simply don't get it. You come here and you try to push your opinion like a complete idiot.BLAH BLAH BLAHBLAH BLAH BLAH.

Somehow my playful sarcasm results in you resorting to personal insults? "Why u mad bro?" The rocket scientist comment was not an insult. Just pointing out that your needs can't be so astronomically different from mine in regards to the RAM of a device. ie; One of the most basic specifications on every iDevice.

Yet then you resort to calling me an idiot for doing the exact same thing as you, giving an opinion? You've basically dissolved any validity your opinions may have had. You want to go there? The fact that you use "iOS Developer" as a title shows me you know nothing. Being an iOS app developer doesn't make you intelligent or more informed than anyone else. iOS is possibly the most simplistic platform to develop for and doesn't serve to defend your expertise very well.

You are basically a cookie cutter developer. Try programming actual fragmented desktop applications in a real programming environment with a real programming language, and not some "make an app" program with visual hand holding for a single device with a dumbed down OS. We can compare the sizes of our junk all day. But instead of listing my resume out of insecurity like yourself, I will leave one last comment on the ACTUAL topic at hand and then move on. Sorry but I have to pick up my iPad Air in less than 2 hours

64-bit is backwards compatible with 32-bit and so a 32-bit Safari could be used if memory management became an ongoing problem and they wanted to fix it.

Also, once jailbreak is available there is a Cydia tweak that stops the tabs from reloading in Safari. I've seen it before. Problem solved again.

Just as you have the right to point out that tabs reload, I have the right to point out that you're being crybabies. I'm done with this thread.... enjoy your flintstones iPad and continue your whimpering.

 

[Tyrion]

Has this test been done with Google Chrome app browser instead? Another missed opportunity in your "scientific" test.

What are you a rocket scientist? Why would RAM be important to you and not me? I just know the difference between an actual pertinent issue and something ridiculous being blown out of proportion.

First off my point was the 64-bit architecture is NEW and iOS 7 is the first time iOS has been completely redesigned since it's inception in 2007. It's NOT going to be perfectly optimized on launch day. You clearly don't understand how significantly different the architecture of a 64-bit chip is to the 32-bit chip in your iPad Mini.

You don't care about 64-bit because you clearly have no idea what it means for us. Maybe do a little research. The benefits will casually slip into your fingers and you'll have no idea how because you were busy being cynical about it.

Ironically, one of the benefits serves your very purpose of increasing the maximum RAM for mobile devices to beyond 4GB.

http://whitenoise.gizmodo.com/64-bi...ans-and-what-it-means-f-1295764870/1299910455

The issues you claim to have seen would have to be SOFTWARE related or the fact that it was a demo model. Notice the people who actually own one are reporting different results?

A device with better specs running on the exact same operating system cannot logically be WORSE. Especially two Apple devices which are developed in tandem. It only makes sense if there was issues with software optimization for that specific architecture.

Did you try using OTHER apps on the iPad Air and noticing how the A7 makes iOS 7 blazing fast? On my iPad 4 I experience lag with iOS 7 in many places. Your iPad Mini is equal to an iPad 2 in specs so it's even worse. iOS 7 is only going to get slower on your iPad Mini the more features and enhancements they add.

Good Luck with that.



Have fun with that.

Interesting logic though. Considering if both new and old devices have the same reloading page issue, yet the newer one has a significantly better CPU that blows yours away in every other aspect, and is significantly thinner and lighter for the first time, then the upgrade should still make sense for you.

In your attempt to be self righteous by boycotting the iPad, the result is being stuck with a heavy/bulky old iPad that has the exact same issue with significantly less performance overall.

So you're not doing yourself a favor at all. Especially since you can sell that old fossil towards the price of the new one.

But of course... everything is your choice and I could care less. I'll be enjoying the Air and loving every moment of ditching my bulky iPad 4.

Congrats on being able to blow hundreds of buckaroos every year for marginal upgrades. I'm not that privileged. And my boycott of the new iPad isn't self-righteous, it's grounded within reason: the new Air can be as fast as a Mac Pro for all I care, as long as it's not significantly better at retaining Safari tabs than my bulky old iPad 3, I'm just not interested.

 

[Kimcha]

Just pointing out that your needs can't be so astronomically different from mine in regards to the RAM of a device. ie; One of the most basic specifications on every iDevice.

And I'm pointing out AGAIN and for the last time since you are obviously still not getting it: my needs are obviously astronomically different than yours. It is VERY important for me that tabs don't reload and apps are not being quit. That's why I opened this thread and I am investigating this issue before buying my new ipad. You don't care about that and it's fine, but stop trying to prove to US that this is a great device for OUR needs based on YOUR needs.

The only thing I have to say about your amazing qualifications is that they didn't shine through in your previous comments and the stuff you based your argument on was pretty weak.

Thanks for finally leaving the thread, I appreciate it.

 

[nemesis4670]

Congrats on being able to blow hundreds of buckaroos every year for marginal upgrades. I'm not that privileged. And my boycott of the new iPad isn't self-righteous, it's grounded within reason: the new Air can be as fast as a Mac Pro for all I care, as long as it's not significantly better at retaining Safari tabs than my bulky old iPad 3, I'm just not interested.

Indeed. I must have been born with a silver spoon to be able to splurge the $350 once a year that I spend after offsetting the cost by $500 with my previous iPad. The $350 I earned by working my butt off 60 hours a week to afford it. All so I can spend a few hours relaxing at home with a cool new iPad in those brief moments of heaven.

You know... a job? Which for all intent and purposes is specifically designed to cover the necessities. But at times can reward you with a little bit extra to fulfill your desire to splurge and get some enjoyment in life.

I totally get it buddy. If I worked at McDonald's making minimum wage I could only afford to get a brand new iPad model once every 2 years instead. Hard times BRO.

 

[Kimcha]

Indeed. I must have been born with a silver spoon to be able to splurge the $350 once a year that I spend after offsetting the cost by $500 with my previous iPad. The $350 I earned by working my butt off 60 hours a week to afford it. All so I can spend a few hours relaxing at home with a cool new iPad in those brief moments of heaven.

You know... a job? Which for all intent and purposes is specifically designed to cover the necessities. But at times can reward you with a little bit extra to fulfill your desire to splurge and get some enjoyment in life.

I totally get it buddy. If I worked at McDonald's making minimum wage I could only afford to get a brand new iPad model once every 2 years instead. Hard times BRO.

What happened to you moving on from this thread? Nobody cares about your opinion. It's not relevant here. None of it. Please stop derailing my thread.

 

[nemesis4670]

What happened to you moving on from this thread? Nobody cares about your opinion. It's not relevant here. None of it. Please stop derailing my thread.

Your thread was never on rails to begin with. Your thread was on a thread, and you were hanging by it this entire time. You basically started this to poop on parades and basically request that everyone else do the actual work of researching the issue respectfully, to see if there was validity to it. Yet act disappointed before you even got the answer.

You wouldn't have the knowledge to know if what I said in my comments was valid to begin with.

I said the following:

32-bit (x86) applications can run in a 64-bit environment
The A7 chip being 64-bit means they need to optimize apps
You're a crybaby

Where exactly did I say something false?

Your items are ready for pickup.
Just follow these instructions. We’ll see you soon.

Good day Sir! Enjoy that poop sandwich.

 

[Kimcha]

You wouldn't have the knowledge to know if what I said in my comments was valid to begin with.

I said the following:

32-bit (x86) applications can run in a 64-bit environment
The A7 chip being 64-bit means they need to optimize apps
You're a crybaby

Where exactly did I say something false?

How about the fact that you don't know the difference between what 32 bit means and what x86 is? x86 is intels 32bit architecture and most certainly won't run on the iPad And "optimizing" apps for 64bit won't make the apps use less memory so it's not relevant here. In fact none of the things you have said are in any way relevant to the topic we are discussing or to the point you are trying to make!

Look mate, nice try, but now everyone can see you have no idea what you are talking about.

 

[TroyBoy30]

dont care. it only takes a second to reload tabs

 

[nemesis4670]

How about the fact that you don't know the difference between what 32 bit means and what x86 is? x86 is intels 32bit architecture and most certainly won't run on the iPad And "optimizing" apps for 64bit won't make the apps use less memory so it's not relevant here. In fact none of the things you have said are in any way relevant to the topic we are discussing or to the point you are trying to make!

Look mate, nice try, but now everyone can see you have no idea what you are talking about.

You sir, are a dolt. Mentioning x86 is referring to the past as proof (intel as the example, very good! Did you need Wiki for that?) that 32-bit applications can run in a 64-bit environment. Hence why it was in parenthesis. Do you need help with reading comprehension and intuition or do I have to spell everything out?

32-bit Safari would provide the SAME memory management performance as Safari on your iPad Mini if it was swapped out. Additionally, OPTIMIZING SURROUNDING APPS would free up memory to reduce the frequency in which even 64-bit Safari would require page refreshes, since the 30% increase would have less of an impact.

Following me yet, dingus? The problem is that they already changed Safari to 64-bit with the iPhone 5S. But they could change it back if convinced, optimize the surrounding protocols to reduce memory usage, or you could simply get a cydia tweak that stops page refresh!

Jailbreak has a tweak that can stop tabs from reloading through Cydia. Another point I made that you overlooked like a doofus. Which would directly solve your problem. (Jailbreak team is making good progress so far, and so your page refresh issue would definitely be solved that way at the very least within a month or two)

I can go tit for tat if you want. You're desperately trying to design flaws in what I'm saying to make yourself feel better. I do have a few more minutes to kill before driving to the Apple store and being ahead of the curve. Just wanted to remind you of that.

dont care. it only takes a second to reload tabs

OMG he's wasting precious thread space with a perfectly sound attitude towards crybaby tactics to poop on parades! ATTACK!

 

[rovex]

I only have 8 tabs open max.... Don't get why people have loads, it gets annoying when they have to be shrunk to fit in you can't find the one you want.

 

[FranksWildYears]

Do tabs still reload?

Yes.

Do they reload as frequently as on iPad 4? Absolutely not. It holds up to the stress more robustly.

 

[monk fish]

As someone stated restart your iPad.
Mine was refreshing tabs.a restart and it's sorted

 

[Kimcha]

You sir, are a dolt. Mentioning x86 is referring to the past as proof (intel as the example, very good! Did you need Wiki for that?) that 32-bit applications can run in a 64-bit environment. Hence why it was in parenthesis. Do you need help with reading comprehension and intuition or do I have to spell everything out?

32-bit Safari would provide the SAME memory management performance as Safari on your iPad Mini.

Fine lets say this was what you meant, which I highly doubt. How does it make a point for yourself? You ARE, no doubt, a complete idiot if you are suggesting Apple decided to use a 64bit CPU, which causes apps to use more RAM and did not include enough RAM with the logic of updating safari for 64bit and then later downgrading it again to 32bit to make it use less memory.

The stupidity of this point is astounding, especially since making just safari use 20-30% less memory wouldn't impact the whole thing nearly enough. The problems is that the whole system and all other apps are also using 20-30% more ram. What is your next suggestion? Not make ANY apps 64bit and just run everything in 32bit compatibility mode to safe RAM?

OPTIMIZING APPS would free up memory to reduce the frequency in which even 64-bit Safari would require page refreshes, since the 30% increase would have less of an impact.

Once again there is no magical 64bit optimisations that will suddenly make 64bit apps use less memory. Making an app 64bit compatible will INHERENTLY increase memory usage because the variable sizes double. If you had ANY idea what you are talking about, any understanding of c you would know and understand that. You wouldn't make a stupid surface argument like "OPTIMIZING APPS" to convince anyone.

Just give up man, the more you say, the more you show how little understanding you have.

Following me yet dingus? The problem is that they already changed Safari to 64-bit with the iPhone 5S. But they could change it back if convinced, optimize the surrounding protocols to reduce memory usage, or you could simply get a cydia tweak that stops page refresh!

Jailbreak has a tweak that can stop tabs from reloading through Cydia. Another point I made that you overlooked like a doofus. Which would directly solve your problem. (Jailbreak team is making good progress so far)

I am a big fan of the jailbreak community, in fact I am part of it and have created a very popular cydia store app, but once again this is an incredibly bad argument. I shouldn't need to jailbreak my ipad for something that fundamental and it will not solve the problem of apps being quit when the iPad runs out of memory.

The way you speak and type suggests your reading comprehension is pitiful. You need people to hold your hand and explain everything instead of having a bit of intuition. Just like developing for iOS. Either that or you're desperately trying to design flaws in what I'm saying to make yourself feel better.
!

Right, that must be it

 

[nemesis4670]

Do tabs still reload?

Yes.

Do they reload as frequently as on iPad 4? Absolutely not. It holds up to the stress more robustly.

There you go Kimcha. Your "thread" is now official derailed and debunked to boot. Now go cry poop that you didn't order one in time.

Just for fun I'll also do a comparison test myself with the Air versus my iPad 4 in an hour when I have both.