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

[LagunaSol]

"Troll invasion"?! What sort of an image have you got about the world? The iPad is out, so people do criticise it.

I'm not talking about people who are critical of the iPad (or anything else about Apple). I'm talking about the people who join MacRumors (typically right around the time a new Apple product launches) and immediately spam the board with a flurry of "Why Apple sucks and (insert other company here - usually Microsoft) is better."

Have a glance at miketheannoyed's post history if you want to know what I'm talking about.

Aren't you the one that used to end EVERY post with something like "ADOBE IS DEAD, MS IS DEAD?" I always thought that that was kind of stale, as you would say it.

Sorry, not me. I think that was BR-Lawyer. And yes, that was stale. About as stale as the old "Apple customers and Starbucks" schtick.

Yes, that's why I registered for MacRumours in Feb 2003 - I knew that the Ipad was coming.

No one questions your status as the veteran anti-Apple shill around here.

 

[kernkraft]

Sorry, not me. I think that was BR-Lawyer. And yes, that was stale. About as stale as the old "Apple customers and Starbucks" schtick.

Sorry, my deepest apologies, if I mixed you with BRLawyer.

 

[LagunaSol]

Would you elaborate?

I don't like or own Dell products, nor do I care one bit about Dell. So when Dell comes out with a new product, the last thing on my mind is joining some Dell-centric forum (is there such a thing?) as a new user to post (repeatedly) my dislike for Dell's new product and all other things Dell. It would be a silly waste of my time, and it would be uncivil as well.

Yet that's exactly what you get here. All the time. What's the motivation? Seriously, you never wonder?

Sorry, my deepest apologies, if I mixed you with BRLawyer.

No problem.

 

[liamhemsworth]

You have excuse LagunaSol and L*T*D. They're the resident self-appointed Kool-Aid dispenser.

For your sarcastic "It will change the world just like [insert Microsoft and/or Google product name here] did.", you seem to conveniently exclude the failing MacBook Air, which got nothing more than mild buzz and a VERY high price w/ it's gimmicky MBA-in-a-manila-envelope ads.

What's going on w/ it today? Oh, yeah! Nothing! Ah, but you go ahead and put on your tunnelvision goggles -- not to be mixied up w/ your arch enemy Google (or anything that's not your beloved Apple)!!! -- and put me on your dippy ignore list, too. Have a nice life!

 

[Eidorian]

Yet that's exactly what you get here. All the time. What's the motivation? Seriously, you never wonder?

Honestly, I don't.

 

[jingbugle]

I am happy for all those who are happy. But am thoroughly disappointed with how Apple is future proofing its technologies.

 

[kernkraft]

I don't like or own Dell products, nor do I care one bit about Dell. So when Dell comes out with a new product, the last thing on my mind is joining some Dell-centric forum (is there such a thing?) as a new user to post (repeatedly) my dislike for Dell's new product and all other things Dell. It would be a silly waste of my time, and it would be uncivil as well.

Yet that's exactly what you get here. All the time. What's the motivation? Seriously, you never wonder?



No problem.

I don't care about Dell either, yet you called me an Apple hater and a troll several times in the past (even yesterday, if I remember well).

 

[lilo777]

Hahaha...Your reading comprehension sucks pig sh*t. If you turn down the brightness and adjust the thing to black out the screen everything you pause between keystrokes, you get UP TO 3.5 hours of use with the standard battery. If you put in the Extended Battery, and practice the same battery saving options, you get the 14 hours, but then the weight hits the moon.

The Sony Vario is a great computer, but it's an also-ran in the world of laptops and represents the best that can be done with the OLD paradigm.

So, as I said (third time now), the iPad is designed to maximize both power consumption and portability bulk. Somehow you can't seem to understand plain English so I put it in bold this time.

Well, I have a watch (which, in a way, also is a computer) with the battery life of 8 years that weights much less than iPad. So, it beats iPad both in power consumption and portability bulk by a long mile. I think you forgot one important criteria - usability. Now, if you did not notice, VAIO X has 11" screen, up to 2GB RAM, 128GB SSD and yes, with extended battery it weighs slightly more than iPad (2.2 lbs). Sure it's an old paradigm. But there is a reason why this paradigm was adopted first. It's because it's better. Just like with the wheel. The paradigm is old but there is nothing better.

 

[ten-oak-druid]

I don't care about Dell either, yet you called me an Apple hater and a troll several times in the past (even yesterday, if I remember well).

I think you missed his point.

He said he doesn't care about Dell products but you won't find him on a Dell site the day a new Dell product goes on sale just to bash it. His dislike of Dell or yours for that matter were not his point. Nice deflection.

 

[kernkraft]

I think you missed his point.

He said he doesn't care about Dell products but you won't find him on a Dell site the day a new Dell product goes on sale just to bash it. His dislike of Dell or yours for that matter were not his point. Nice deflection.

I don't dislike Dell. There is great need for reasonably priced computers. I have only checked out their offerings when I was planning to do a Hackintosh, but I didn't fancy the difficulties and a slow processor. Professionally, I came across various Dell computers and displays. Some of them were pretty good, but I never really checked them out.

I just don't care about Dell. That's not dislike at all.

 

[lilo777]

Gotta love the know it alls in this thread. iPad is doomed because it has 256 mb of RAM...no matter that none of you know sh*t about the way the device was designed or, even why it has this much RAM, you all know that 256 is low because you've had more in your computers for a while, and in your iPhone since last year. Great, congrats. WTF does that have to do with the iPad? Besides nothing, I mean?

None of those other devices have an A4 chip. I don't care what you think it is, 1 core 1 Ghz, the fact is it was built to run this particular device, with this particular software..nothing.. Else..matters.

Most of this RAM is used for storing data and it has nothing to do with the design of the device. Sure you can store data in flash memory (or SSD, or HDD) and use virtualization. This technique has been used for decades. But there is a reason (or at least one of them) why modern computers are faster - they use more RAM. There is simply no way around it even if device was designed by Apple.

I skipped thru 22 pages just input my two cents.

More ram more CPU ghz more resolution more ambled more multitasking more lightweight more cameras more apps sheeees.

This is 100% American nonsense where bigger is better. This country is the biggest country to waste everything from food to environmental hazards to even a $500 iPad being beat down for shiits and giggles.

How many here code on iPhone platform? A pc is nothing more than superfluous waste of heat energy and precious time. You stuff in a 1000w psu just to overclock to a faster CPU becAuse u were too cheap to buy a tested higher clock CPU in the first place. Then u load your hdd up with huge chunks of bootleg bluray rips and porn. Then claim you have the best heater per watt hour to your Internet buddies. You also write these so called specs for people to see so they can say you have an amazing pc.

It doesn't matter what specs you have in the iPad. I only care about the user experience. I do not find myself opening up nine Internet safari pages then cycling thru each bandwidth intensive web site that I loaded just to see how much ram the iPad uses before the pages need to be recached.

You see, the entire point of apple is to make money. But at the same time they put a lot of effort into designing the iPad iPhone and apple products. If you think any other company in the world can do better go buy their mass produced hardware instead. All the specs analysis and ram being low is just stupid ass bickering.

I for one am enjoying this new iPad. I wrote this using my iPad. So instead of wasting time complaining about low ram return your iPad please. Also write more efficient code to make maximum use of the allotted ram. I see this as a trend in all Americans. Wasting precious resources just because more is better and so the lazy programming takes over.

This is an embedded device not a ****ing pc. You would still complain if the iPad had 1gb of ram because your ****ung pc can have 16gb for the price of one iPad 3G

Well, all of a sudden iPad now is an embedded device. That's deep.

 

[ten-oak-druid]

You know criticism is one thing. But regardless of whether the criticism is warranted or not, I do have to say the "troll invasion" comment did not appear far fetched to me. I have posted on political sites before and witnessed such behavior. WE even found a law firm representing that represented one political party was the site of origin of several posters.

Let's just say the supporters of this party were not too bright and they tended to all show up with the same talking points like a bunch of bots. No originality whatsoever. So when I see the first page of posts all on the same point: "only 256mb of RAM!..." from posters who claim to be mac users but disappointed I get a little suspicious. Granted it is a legitimate topic of conversation about the ipad, but I find it hard to believe that several people came onto a board and this was their first thought. Individually they all had this thought on their mind when they decided to visit this site? I'm not buying it.

 

[ten-oak-druid]

I don't dislike Dell. There is great need for reasonably priced computers. I have only checked out their offerings when I was planning to do a Hackintosh, but I didn't fancy the difficulties and a slow processor. Professionally, I came across various Dell computers and displays. Some of them were pretty good, but I never really checked them out.

I just don't care about Dell. That's not dislike at all.

Still not his point. Nice deflection.

 

[Eidorian]

I don't dislike Dell. There is great need for reasonably priced computers. I have only checked out their offerings when I was planning to do a Hackintosh, but I didn't fancy the difficulties and a slow processor. Professionally, I came across various Dell computers and displays. Some of them were pretty good, but I never really checked them out.

I just don't care about Dell. That's not dislike at all.

Stop being so reasonable.

You know criticism is one thing. But regardless of whether the criticism is warranted or not, I do have to say the "troll invasion" comment did not appear far fetched to me. I have posted on political sites before and witnessed such behavior. WE even found a law firm representing that represented one political party was the site of origin of several posters.

Let's just say the supporters of this party were not too bright and they tended to all show up with the same talking points like a bunch of bots. No originality whatsoever. So when I see the first page of posts all on the same point: "only 256mb of RAM!..." from posters who claim to be mac users but disappointed I get a little suspicious. Granted it is a legitimate topic of conversation about the ipad, but I find it hard to believe that several people came onto a board and this was their first thought. Individually they all had this thought on their mind when they decided to visit this site? I'm not buying it.

I guess we sure got told?

 

[SandynJosh]

Most of this RAM is used for storing data and it has nothing to do with the design of the device. Sure you can store data in flash memory (or SSD, or HDD) and use virtualization. This technique has been used for decades. But there is a reason (or at least one of them) why modern computers are faster - they use more RAM. There is simply no way around it even if device was designed by Apple.

"Nothing to do with the design of the device"...??!! HUH!!

So why all the concern of it's on-CPU memory? front side or back side? 32 bit addressing or 64? Why not just virtualize it on the HD? From your perspective clock speed doesn't matter...bla, bla, bla. How about how the CPU uses RAM?

More and more RAM helps the speed up to a point, then it's just excess power sucking load on the battery.

 

[lilo777]

"Nothing to do with the design of the device"...??!! HUH!!

So why all the concern of it's on-CPU memory? front side or back side? 32 bit addressing or 64? Why not just virtualize it on the HD? From your perspective clock speed doesn't matter...bla, bla, bla. How about how the CPU uses RAM?

More and more RAM helps the speed up to a point, then it's just excess power sucking load on the battery.

I do not even understand what you are trying to tell. If you need to process a document that has a size, say, 500MB, it does not matter what type of memory bus is used or how big the L1/L2 or L3 caches are and how CPU uses RAM. Computer will have to use slow memory for storing the data and it will be much slower than a computer with more RAM. Yes, it's that simple. I see you want to defend Apple design decision. Well, you can't.

 

[MacTheSpoon]

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.

Damn... I was wondering why my iPhone got so slow!! Did not consider this.

 

[TigerWoodsIV]

Wow, just one question - are there capital letters on the iPad?

Ha sorry typed this up quickly on my MacBook Pro. I'm sure if I used my iPad the auto-correct would've changed it up a bit.

 

[mAc-warrior]

I have to say that this is one of the worst threads I have ever had the pleasure of skimming through in my entire life. There are a lot of people here who know absolutely nothing about anything, but actually think that they do. Simply amazing. A few thoughts:

1) The iPad is not a new tablet device, it is a paradigm shift. Look that up, and understand it. We are now moving from a computer industry that is dominated by Ghz and GBs into an information industry that is dominated by content. Get used to it, and forget about the specs.

This is what the personal computers were created for. The revolution in content delivery is coming, and you all get a front row seat. And all you who think that the iPad needs 2x or 4x as much RAM are going to be dragged kicking and screaming into the future whether you like it or not. Newsflash for you: It is not going to include a whole bunch of numbered specifications and technical garbage that nobody really gives a damn about, except you.

2) Now sit down and listen for a second. In 5 years, nobody is going to care what the specification of any device is. There are a few enlightened people in this thread that already know what I'm talking about. People will care instead about what a device can do for them. It will do everything that they need quickly, and efficiently. And it won't do a whole ton of useless garbage that nobody wants it to do, like PCs now. Nobody will give a damn about RAM or CPU speed or cores or any of that garbage. I just want to read my Twitter stream and see what my friends are doing on Facebook. Then I want to check out the menus from a few restaurants around town so I can decide where I want to eat. Then I want a map so I can get there. When I get home maybe I want to watch an episode of Lost that I missed last week because I have a life. And I want all this in 2 minutes flat, without having to Google all over the whole damn internet.

I'm 21 years old, and I know that 95% of my friends don't care at all about what the specs on any computing device are. They just want the thing to work, and be fast at what they want it to do. They don't want the battery to die in 2 hours. They don't want to have to hack the thing, and they don't want to spend a week trying to get it to work the way they want.

3) To all of you complaining about the RAM: You are not the target market for this device. Period, full stop. The (numerous) 14 year olds among you, even less so. You are less than 5% of the whole technology consuming public. You're a bitchy and whiny minority, and you don't really matter to Apple at all. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but they do not care about you. Buy a 5 pound HP touchsmart piece of crap with 4GB of RAM that runs Windows 7 for half an hour without the backlight on. Betcha I can get any information that I need on an iPad in half the time it takes you.

In short, you just don't get it. Come back in 5 years when you finally figure it out. Thanks for reading, and stay in school.

--mAc

 

[TigerWoodsIV]

And some advice for law school - the professors like it when you use carriage returns.

Man oh man, typing something up quickly on a forum and writing a paper for college/law school are 2 different things guys. I'm actually a psycho when it comes to grammar and presentation...when it's actually important.

 

[ten-oak-druid]

Stop being so reasonable.

I guess we sure got told?

Reasonable? Reasonable means avoiding the point of the original post in a response?

Are you going to also suggest, like your friend, that the point was simply about a like or dislike of Dell products? Or can you explain what the actual point was of the post your friend responded to?

Thanks for quoting my post too. It deserves to be read again in its entirety.

 

[Eidorian]

I have to say that this is one of the worst threads I have ever had the pleasure of skimming through in my entire life. There are a lot of people here who know absolutely nothing about anything, but actually think that they do. Simply amazing. A few thoughts:

1) The iPad is not a new tablet device, it is a paradigm shift. Look that up, and understand it. We are now moving from a computer industry that is dominated by Ghz and GBs into an information industry that is dominated by content. Get used to it, and forget about the specs.

This is what the personal computers were created for. The revolution in content delivery is coming, and you all get a front row seat. And all you who think that the iPad needs 2x or 4x as much RAM are going to be dragged kicking and screaming into the future whether you like it or not. Newsflash for you: It is not going to include a whole bunch of numbered specifications and technical garbage that nobody really gives a damn about, except you.

2) Now sit down and listen for a second. In 5 years, nobody is going to care what the specification of any device is. There are a few enlightened people in this thread that already know what I'm talking about. People will care instead about what a device can do for them. It will do everything that they need quickly, and efficiently. And it won't do a whole ton of useless garbage that nobody wants it to do, like PCs now. Nobody will give a damn about RAM or CPU speed or cores or any of that garbage. I just want to read my Twitter stream and see what my friends are doing on Facebook. Then I want to check out the menus from a few restaurants around town so I can decide where I want to eat. Then I want a map so I can get there. When I get home maybe I want to watch an episode of Lost that I missed last week because I have a life. And I want all this in 2 minutes flat, without having to Google all over the whole damn internet.

I'm 21 years old, and I know that 95% of my friends don't care at all about what the specs on any computing device are. They just want the thing to work, and be fast at what they want it to do. They don't want the battery to die in 2 hours. They don't want to have to hack the thing, and they don't want to spend a week trying to get it to work the way they want.

3) To all of you complaining about the RAM: You are not the target market for this device. Period, full stop. The (numerous) 14 year olds among you, even less so. You are less than 5% of the whole technology consuming public. You're a bitchy and whiny minority, and you don't really matter to Apple at all. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but they do not care about you. Buy a 5 pound HP touchsmart piece of crap with 4GB of RAM that runs Windows 7 for half an hour without the backlight on. Betcha I can get any information that I need on an iPad in half the time it takes you.

In short, you just don't get it. Come back in 5 years when you finally figure it out. Thanks for reading, and stay in school.

--mAc

That sounds like a terrifying place.

Is there something more than inspiring consumption?

Thanks for quoting my post too. It deserves to be read again in its entirety.

My reply was much deeper than you think. Look into it.

 

[ranReloaded]

You truly are a paid up Apple dork aren't you?

Sorry, some of us just find it silly that most personal computers ship with the windows logo hardcoded to two of the keys, AND have a sense of humour. Try a MS forum next time.

 

[theneweyes]

Does this mean I can run the iPad OS on my iMac? No, seriously though...

 

[jaison13]

some of these comments trying to run it down for things it was never meant to do is funny. 1st it was never meant to be a supercomputer. but the things that is was meant to do can't be done better on a $399 netbook! try to get all your college textbooks on your crap netbook, try to read books on the crap screen of a netbook, or watch movies. i don't see why everyone is so hung up on multitasking?? push notifications are fine. the only thing i wouldn't mind is itunes music in the background. but i don't see me having 3 programs running on this ever. i have a powerbook, and an imac. i'd trade in my powerbook for an ipad right now. if i'm doing anything major i always go to my imac. and i've tried to watch movies or do work in bed on my powerbook, it sucks. first it gets hot, second it's so hard to type, and the keyboard tends to be in the way of the screen when laying in bed. plus battery life is a 3rd on the ipad. i keep telling myself i'm waiting for gen2 but i want one now really bad!! my powerbook is a 17" g4 i'll take the 16 gig ipad in trade if anyone wants more power. it runs great. a 16 will hold me over till gen2. i want cams.