iPad iPad Air RAM test: Safari Tabs

[ZBoater]

I can't believe the number of delusional fanboys that defend Apple selling a $500 tablet with 1gb of ram...

So it's delusional to question this supposed "fact" that the 1GB of RAM is the cause of the crashes?

Ok, riddle me this Batman. If the iPad had 2GB of RAM, what would cause it to magically stop crashing? Because when you successfully load 10 tabs, the next guy will load 20, and the next one 30. Eventually the 2GB will run out. Then what? More crashes?

Whether it's 1GB or 2 or 10, low RAM has always been handled much more gracefully prior to iOS 7. Throwing more RAM at the problem is not the answer. Having an OS and apps that handle low memory situations without crashing is.

Oh, wait. I'm delusional. Never mind...

 

[alex2792]

So it's delusional to question this supposed "fact" that the 1GB of RAM is the cause of the crashes?

Ok, riddle me this Batman. If the iPad had 2GB of RAM, what would cause it to magically stop crashing? Because when you successfully load 10 tabs, the next guy will load 20, and the next one 30. Eventually the 2GB will run out. Then what? More crashes?

Whether it's 1GB or 2 or 10, low RAM has always been handled much more gracefully prior to iOS 7. Throwing more RAM at the problem is not the answer. Having an OS and apps that handle low memory situations without crashing is.

Oh, wait. I'm delusional. Never mind...

You're right, in fact Apple should reduce the ram to 256mb! /s

The fact remains that charging $500 for 1gb of ram is insane.

 

[pocketpenguin]

So it's delusional to question this supposed "fact" that the 1GB of RAM is the cause of the crashes?

Ok, riddle me this Batman. If the iPad had 2GB of RAM, what would cause it to magically stop crashing? Because when you successfully load 10 tabs, the next guy will load 20, and the next one 30. Eventually the 2GB will run out. Then what? More crashes?

Whether it's 1GB or 2 or 10, low RAM has always been handled much more gracefully prior to iOS 7. Throwing more RAM at the problem is not the answer. Having an OS and apps that handle low memory situations without crashing is.

Oh, wait. I'm delusional. Never mind...

Magically stop crashing? You'd be surprised. I've seen lots of software reach an equilibrium when given enough headroom. This is particularly true if the environment does garbage collection, for example java. You are probably right, eventually the extra RAM will run out, but the number of people affected would decrease. I'd venture to say that more people run 10 tabs, than those that run 30. An additional gig might be enough to tip the balance to a more enjoyable experience for a significant number of people.

I disagree that throwing more RAM at the problem isn't an answer. It may not be the best answer, but it might be more practical from a user's perspective. Would it be easier to simply give more headroom via more RAM, or magically train all iOS programmers to be highly skilled at writing memory efficient code? Given my 25+ years dealing with my own and other people's code, I would go for more headroom.

I don't think we're going to get a good solution to this problem until Apple fixes IOS 7 and WebKit, and even then it wouldn't hurt if the next ipad had more RAM. Whether they do either one any time soon is anyone's guess. Given the number of complaints here and in the Apple support forums, I hope there is a software solution out soon. Waiting for a hardware refresh could be bad news for iPad's overall reputation.

Regarding your delusion, it happens to everyone at some point.

 

[zhenya]

You're right, in fact Apple should reduce the ram to 256mb! /s

The fact remains that charging $500 for 1gb of ram is insane.

Then go buy one of the alternative options for your money. I guarantee you every single one of them has a lot bigger issues than this. I hope you're an equal opportunity complainer.

 

[ZBoater]

...An additional gig might be enough to tip the balance to a more enjoyable experience for a significant number of people.

And it might not. It's fun to speculate, eh?

... Would it be easier to simply give more headroom via more RAM, or magically train all iOS programmers to be highly skilled at writing memory efficient code? Given my 25+ years dealing with my own and other people's code, I would go for more headroom.

Then as a pro you should know iOS programmers already know how to write memory efficient code since this has been a iOS device limitation since day 1.

I don't think we're going to get a good solution to this problem until Apple fixes IOS 7 and WebKit...

This we can agree on.

Regarding your delusion, it happens to everyone at some point.

 

[kschles]

I never have that many tabs open at once (maybe 2 or 3 usually), yet Safari crashes for me maybe 3-5 times a week. It seems to happen when I try to go to a new page. I guess my point is I'm not sure why it's crashing (never crashed much with my Ipad 2 and IOS6). Hoping it's a software issue that will be addressed.

 

[Count Blah]

I never have that many tabs open at once (maybe 2 or 3 usually), yet Safari crashes for me maybe 3-5 times a week. It seems to happen when I try to go to a new page. I guess my point is I'm not sure why it's crashing (never crashed much with my Ipad 2 and IOS6). Hoping it's a software issue that will be addressed.

We can only hope. We know apple had a choice, and they opted for a much greater chance to have a negative user experience by maintaining the same amount of ram with a transition to 64bit AND a known buggy iOS7.

Apple - bottom line is #1, the customer experience is #2

 

[zhenya]

We can only hope. We know apple had a choice, and they opted for a much greater chance to have a negative user experience by maintaining the same amount of ram with a transition to 64bit AND a known buggy iOS7.

Apple - bottom line is #1, the customer experience is #2

Whatever buddy. Apple's bottom line is user experience, FAR more so than any other company. If that wasn't the case, the iPad wouldn't be the best and most popular tablet on the market, by a large measure, despite being considerably more expensive than most of the competition.

Go ahead and use those other tablets with 2GB of RAM or whatever other spec you decide to focus on. Overall, despite those paper specs, the user experience is nowhere near the class the iPad is in.

 

[Count Blah]

Whatever buddy. Apple's bottom line is user experience, FAR more so than any other company. If that wasn't the case, the iPad wouldn't be the best and most popular tablet on the market, by a large measure, despite being considerably more expensive than most of the competition.

Go ahead and use those other tablets with 2GB of RAM or whatever other spec you decide to focus on. Overall, despite those paper specs, the user experience is nowhere near the class the iPad is in.

Apple's bottom line is Apple's bottom line - PERIOD.

Your retort of "Go ahead buddy, use anther tablet with 2 Gigs of RAM" is meaningless because we are talking about the experience with Apple's tablets.

What the Apple zealots done appreciate is that most folks who criticize, do so because we want better Apple products/experiences. It's SOOOOOOO frustrating to see something that is 90% of what we want, but Apple being Apple, they have to botch that last 10%. That is why there is a lot of passion from the part of those wishing for Apple to fix that last 10%. You see it as totally bashing Apple, I see is it as trying to get the powers that be, to correct that last 10%.

Yes, the user experience HAS been the focus of Apple's for a VERY long time. It doesn't mean that it's immutable. Here we have a clear case of iOS7 producing WAY more errors and poorer user experience than the prior version of iOS. There are problems with both the older 32Bit tablets and the newer 64bit tablets. How much of this problem is iOS7 solely? How much is it due to 1Gig of RAM on the new 64bit tablet? I don't know, and YOU don't know. Would 2gigs of RAM lessen the problem for 90% of the user base? IMHO - Most likely.

 

[zhenya]

What the Apple zealots done appreciate is that most folks who criticize, do so because we want better Apple products/experiences. It's SOOOOOOO frustrating to see something that is 90% of what we want, but Apple being Apple, they have to botch that last 10%. That is why there is a lot of passion from the part of those wishing for Apple to fix that last 10%. You see it as totally bashing Apple, I see is it as trying to get the powers that be, to correct that last 10%.

Yes, the user experience HAS been the focus of Apple's for a VERY long time. It doesn't mean that it's immutable. Here we have a clear case of iOS7 producing WAY more errors and poorer user experience than the prior version of iOS. There are problems with both the older 32Bit tablets and the newer 64bit tablets. How much of this problem is iOS7 solely? How much is it due to 1Gig of RAM on the new 64bit tablet? I don't know, and YOU don't know. Would 2gigs of RAM lessen the problem for 90% of the user base? IMHO - Most likely.

That point of view I can get behind. We just disagree on the details. I don't necessarily automatically subscribe to the notion that RAM amounts in iOS devices are dictated solely by cost. I believe, for good reason, that Apple keeps these limits low for much bigger reasons that I have described here many times before. Apple is FAR less concerned about building hardware to a cost point than any of their competitors, so I just don't believe that the only reason they choose the RAM sizes they do is to save a few dollars. It's a much bigger, much more complex problem than that. And comments like your earlier one completely minimize that reality.

 

[Count Blah]

That point of view I can get behind. We just disagree on the details. I don't necessarily automatically subscribe to the notion that RAM amounts in iOS devices are dictated solely by cost. I believe, for good reason, that Apple keeps these limits low for much bigger reasons that I have described here many times before. Apple is FAR less concerned about building hardware to a cost point than any of their competitors, so I just don't believe that the only reason they choose the RAM sizes they do is to save a few dollars. It's a much bigger, much more complex problem than that. And comments like your earlier one completely minimize that reality.

True. Though I'm not in marketing, I like making up snazzy catch phrases.

Apple had a couple points of fact that they had to balance when it came to the decision on what specs to include for the air/rMini.
1) We make $X per unit/model by sticking with 1Gig of RAM
2) We lose $Y per unit/model by increasing RAM to 1.2Gig, 1.6, 2.0, etc..
3) We are being promised by the iOS7 team that the new memory compression/optimization makes 1Gig of RAM the functional equiv. of 1.6gigs of RAM - throwing numbers out there.
4) Regardless of compression/optimization, browsers will be impacted if we remain at 1Gig of RAM. Our early iOS7 tests indicate result A, we hope to hit result B by ...
5) A move to 64Bit will impact memory by Z% in each of these situations(a,b,c,d, ...)
6) We have decision deadline of July 1(pick any date when iOS7.0 was still being worked) for a November1 launch.
7) We have to build in planned obsolescence to encourage upgrading in the future. Is the fingerprint sensor enough? Lets get some estimations.
8) Will the % return of tablets, due to issues with low RAM eat away at the revenue we reatain from NOT upgrading the amount of RAM.
9) Estimate on poor user experience effecting subsequent future purchases of Apple products.
10) etc...

LOTS of factors at play. They are an amazingly smart and well run organization. Nothing was left to chance. The known and potential challenges were clearly stated and laid out in front of the decision makers, and they chose to NOT increase the RAM, in spite of how safari was acting. They trusted what the software leaders were telling them, and went with the cheaper/more revenue option. I'm sure they were confident in their decision at the time. And if #8&9 holds true to form, I honestly think that the Apple of today, does not care.

 

[JoeRito]

So it's delusional to question this supposed "fact" that the 1GB of RAM is the cause of the crashes?

Ok, riddle me this Batman. If the iPad had 2GB of RAM, what would cause it to magically stop crashing? Because when you successfully load 10 tabs, the next guy will load 20, and the next one 30. Eventually the 2GB will run out. Then what? More crashes?

Whether it's 1GB or 2 or 10, low RAM has always been handled much more gracefully prior to iOS 7. Throwing more RAM at the problem is not the answer. Having an OS and apps that handle low memory situations without crashing is.

Oh, wait. I'm delusional. Never mind...

Well said Zee... I feel that memory management could improve in iOS 7 and this would alleviate much of the limitations of the 1gb physical ram.

 

[Tsepz]

Glad I'm not the only one with this issue. I thoroughly enjoy using my iPad 4 but the lack of RAM drives me up the wall. Sometimes I load 3 tabs and I get reloads on two of them, especially in iOs7, memory management has either gone south or iOS7 has too much bloat, either way, web browsing multiple tabs is not that great now, sometimes I just open one tab, if I want multiple I cues my Galaxy S4.

 

[ovation802]

For what it's worth - turning on reduce motion helped with reload issues. Can't say why nor do I care

 

[s2mikey]

Glad I'm not the only one with this issue. I thoroughly enjoy using my iPad 4 but the lack of RAM drives me up the wall. Sometimes I load 3 tabs and I get reloads on two of them, especially in iOs7, memory management has either gone south or iOS7 has too much bloat, either way, web browsing multiple tabs is not that great now, sometimes I just open one tab, if I want multiple I cues my Galaxy S4.

Doesn't the fact that people with pretty much every generation iPad see this issue mean it has to be safari and/or software related? I think iOS 7 is where the bug is here.

 

[Statusnone88]

For what it's worth - turning on reduce motion helped with reload issues. Can't say why nor do I care

Unfortunately I've had Reduce Motion on since release and it's done nothing to help reloading on my Air. Closing previously used apps seem to be the only thing that helps, but it's ridiculous that I have to close out everything just to use my web browser properly.

 

[007p]

I think iOS 7 is where the bug is here.

I'm not sure its a bug with iOS 7 anymore. It's definitely a 'software issue' but only so much so that the problem is iOS 7 is taking up 80-85% of the RAM...so you could argue that's a hardware issue as well but then that isn't going to help the older devices (unless you denied them iOS 7). Whether iOS 7 can be optimized a lot better I don't know, but the only real solution at this point I guess is to find a way to get more RAM (reducing iOS 7 eye candy) or wait it out for a device with 2gb >.<

 

[alex2792]

That point of view I can get behind. We just disagree on the details. I don't necessarily automatically subscribe to the notion that RAM amounts in iOS devices are dictated solely by cost. I believe, for good reason, that Apple keeps these limits low for much bigger reasons that I have described here many times before. Apple is FAR less concerned about building hardware to a cost point than any of their competitors, so I just don't believe that the only reason they choose the RAM sizes they do is to save a few dollars. It's a much bigger, much more complex problem than that. And comments like your earlier one completely minimize that reality.

Yes, Tim Cook wants to make sure that you're not getting outdated information so he made sure that Safari always refreshes websites. What a great guy this Tim Cook is!

 

[Grolubao]

Unfortunately I've had Reduce Motion on since release and it's done nothing to help reloading on my Air. Closing previously used apps seem to be the only thing that helps, but it's ridiculous that I have to close out everything just to use my web browser properly.

Exactly the same for me. At least give me a shortcut to kill all apps to make it easier

 

[Statusnone88]

Exactly the same for me. At least give me a shortcut to kill all apps to make it easier

It's getting worse every day now too. Just had my Air crash and reboot itself with only 2 safari tabs, clash of clans, and iBooks running. Let's hope for a software fix sooner than later.

 

[snow755]

i have not had one crash on my new ipad air and i only have one tab the ipad is not made too have 10 to 20 tabs open you want too have more tabs open like that then ues your laptop the ipad is only made for gameing surfing the web and face time and looking up e mail not for haveing 10 two 20 tabs open the ipad will work for you vary well if you only have one tab open

 

[Count Blah]

i have not had one crash on my new ipad air and i only have one tab the ipad is not made too have 10 to 20 tabs open you want too have more tabs open like that then ues your laptop the ipad is only made for gameing surfing the web and face time and looking up e mail not for haveing 10 two 20 tabs open the ipad will work for you vary well if you only have one tab open

It will also work as a paperweight, but it was designed to do a lot more. It was designed to support multiple tabs, only problem is the apple decided to maximize profits over the user experience, and released it will precious little RAM.

 

[richardbb85]

i have not had one crash on my new ipad air and i only have one tab the ipad is not made too have 10 to 20 tabs open you want too have more tabs open like that then ues your laptop the ipad is only made for gameing surfing the web and face time and looking up e mail not for haveing 10 two 20 tabs open the ipad will work for you vary well if you only have one tab open

lmao, i didnt pay $500 to open just one tab.

 

[mikew3]

Regarding your delusion, it happens to everyone at some point.

numerous people have pointed out just how extreme his fanboyism is

yet he turns a blind eye each time and continues his defense of one of the biggest problems in ipad history

 

[calvol]

Relative to the competition, 1 GB RAM puts the Air squarely in the budget tablet segment selling for $50-125. All of the premium tablets costing $200+ have 2 GB RAM such as the Nexus 7.2, and some have 3 GB. This must have been a decision by the finance guys, because no Engineer or Marketing guy would have compromised the Air's specs like this. I wonder how much more a 2 GB module would have cost Apple, maybe $3 ? On a $500 item, that's less than a 1% hit to gross profit. Seems like Apple's greed got the best of them to take advantage of its market brand to sell an underspec'd machine to the unwashed masses.