iPad Tech Specs: Cortex A8, 256MB Ram, PowerVR SGX 535

[MacRumors]

With the iPad now in the hands on developers and consumers. we finally get a peek into the internal hardware and performance of the device.

Early benchmarks from the device show that the iPad is about twice as fast as the iPhone 3GS when running native applications. The speed up appears to be entirely focused within Apple's A4 processor, as it appears the iPad shares the same PowerVR SGX 535 GPU and same 256MB RAM found in the iPhone 3GS. Early hardware teardown reports had claimed 512MB of RAM but these have later been corrected. 256MB of RAM also corresponds to the available RAM the system reports to apps.

According to IO Registry Tree dumps, it's also apparent that the Apple's A4 processor is based on a single core Cortex A8 design rather than the new Cortex A9. In fact, running at 1GHz, the A4 sounds similar to the Samsung Hummingbird ARM processor. Readers may remember that Intrinsity is the company behind that processor. Intrinsity is believed to have been recently acquired by Apple.


Article Link: iPad Tech Specs: Cortex A8, 256MB Ram, PowerVR SGX 535

 

[Mars478]

256 Megs?
*Waits for Rev 2*
That's just puny. If this is supposed to replace a netbook, I'm not sure what they're trying to do. My MSI Wind can hold 2GB of ram.

 

[DetroitBORG]

256MB of Ram doesn't leave much room for background processing, should the iPhone OS ever support it.

 

[mac jones]

Isn't 256mb kind of small for todays computers?

I don't see how these graphic intensive games can even run on that.

 

[macintologist]

Wow nice no wonder the iPad is so quick and responsive. I wish it had 512MB though of RAM. That will be in the next rev.

 

[iigsie]

Specs are irrelevant. It's how it performs that matters, and from the reviews so far it performs really well.

 

[shadowbird423]

A Cortex A9 would have made our lives a little faster.
I guess its a selling point for the next generation though...

 

[Simplicated]

It is 512 MB and comes with an SD card slot.

Oh wait... That's second generation.

 

[currentinterest]

Battery & Weight

I believe Apple knows that the #1 competitive concern is not being a little faster (though speed is important), it is weight to battery-life. Competitors will have to blow the iPad away if they are at all heavier or have a shorter battery life. A faster, larger capacity, 4 hour, heavier device won't be able to compete. (Saying nothing of the UI.)

 

[thecartoonguy]

256 Megs?
*Waits for Rev 2*
That's just puny. If this is supposed to replace a netbook, I'm not sure what they're trying to do. My MSI Wind can hold 2GB of ram.

It's not a replacement for a netbook to to speak but a go between. But considering the apps need far less to run, that says something about the programming side... pretty nice

 

[Bevz]

Somehow i was expecting more... From the demos it seems to run at a fair pace anyway though so i guess that's all that counts.

Seems even more reason to stick the same setup in the next iPhone!!

 

[goobot]

wow 256mb of ram? fail much? well there goes backgrounding

 

[ouimetnick]

Why not at least 1GB? then you have room to make amazing future software. Oh wait... they want me to spend $699 now,and $699 next year. i'm guessing this is going to be like the iPod touch and iPhone. The next major release of software will slow it down, so we have to buy a new pad each year. They use small ****** specs. Really only 16GB storage? Give us more Apple. For $499, lower your profit margins. Now I kinda want a MBP with NEW Intel CPU, and NEW graphics. Apple seems to get away with slower, outdated, cheaper hardware than their competitors, and charge a premium for it. Thats what I HATE about Apple.

The old family Dell dimension 4550 we purchased in 2003 had 256MB of RAM. We maxed it out to 1GB later on.

 

[dxdragonious]

Specs mean nothing for this machine since it's blazing fast!

Honestly not sure what Apple did but this one of the fastest machine I have used. Everything loads really fast and performs great.

To me the specs mean nothing since this OS is blazing fast.

 

[ri0ku]

I believe Apple knows that the #1 competitive concern is not being a little faster (though speed is important), it is weight to battery-life. Competitors will have to blow the iPad away if they are at all heavier or have a shorter battery life. A faster, larger capacity, 4 hour, heavier device won't be able to compete. (Saying nothing of the UI.)

no offence but.. another 256mb of ram wouldnt effect the battery or the weight of this device.

Would have been a hell of allot useful to developers... but what the hell I guess they cut back on it to boast about it being doubled in the next rev

 

[ouimetnick]

It's not a replacement for a netbook to to speak but a go between. But considering the apps need far less to run, that says something about the programming side... pretty nice

The guy at the Apple store said it is. he also said it was way better than ANY netbook. I just wish I could sync my iPhone with my "netbook killer". Steve also said its way better than a netbook, so according to Apple it IS a replacement for a netbook.

 

[Meduolis]

A bit castrated first generation Apple device. It's awesome, but I will wait for next generation, because I need iSight and maybe more raw power. For most people it's more than enought as it is.

 

[lssmit02]

Can someone verify this?

iFixit has a link to "decoding" the stamp "K4X2G643GE". However, the part number decoder provided doesn't track exactly to the stamp on the chip. The number "64" on the stamp is not listed on the decoder page under "organization" at all. Therefore, I don't think they have the right part number decoder.

 

[German]

as it appears the iPad shares the same PowerVR SGX 535 GPU

Frequency?

 

[ouimetnick]

Honestly not sure what Apple did but this one of the fastest machine I have used. Everything loads really fast and performs great.

To me the specs mean nothing since this OS is blazing fast.

Wait for the next iphone OS, it won't be so blazing fast anymore. The iPhone and iPhone 3G used to be blazing fast when on 1.1.4 and 2.2.1. they aren't anymore. The iPad will be just like the Original iphone in 3 years. The Original iPhone was so slow when I upgraded to 3.0. It wasn't even fun to use it anymore. iPod took 8 seconds to open. I got a replacement iPhone, same thing. Even when set up as a new iPhone. Sure Apple could optimize 3.0 to run on it smoothly, but they want you to get the 3GS. Apple will do the same with the iPad. Just wait and see.

 

[Eric S.]

Specs are irrelevant. It's how it performs that matters, and from the reviews so far it performs really well.

Performance really shouldn't be much of a problem for a computer that doesn't multitask.

 

[Mars478]

With NetBooks you can Consume and create media. The create part of it is less of course than a real laptop, but you can create nonetheless. With the iPad you can only consume. There is no filesystem, you cannot browse your files.
It's a nice device, don't get me wrong, but it's flawed.

 

[dukebound85]

256MB of Ram doesn't leave much room for background processing, should the iPhone OS ever support it.

it wasnt long ago when OSX only needed 128MB (10.3 iirc) of ram

 

[briankwest77]

The guy at the Apple store said it is. he also said it was way better than ANY netbook. I just wish I could sync my iPhone with my "netbook killer". Steve also said its way better than a netbook, so according to Apple it IS a replacement for a netbook.

You can. Its called MobileMe. Duh!

/b

 

[steveh]

256 Megs?
*Waits for Rev 2*
That's just puny. If this is supposed to replace a netbook, I'm not sure what they're trying to do. My MSI Wind can hold 2GB of ram.

And your netbook isn't running an OS actually designed and optimized for tablet use, either.

That's why it really needs more RAM.