I have an iPad Air. I love it. But I wouldn’t recommend anyone get an iPad Pro at this point As its not really worth it.
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iPadOS 16 Lets Apps Use Storage as Virtual RAM on M1 iPads
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I'll pay the premium (any day) for ProMotion and FaceID.
If someone asks me about iPads and wants the largest screen for video streaming, then obviously, that’s gonna be the iPad Pro 12.9. I’ll tell them their options (refurb vs latest) and what the differences are.
It’s their money so they can decide whether it’s worth it or not and how much they’re willing to spend.
If someone asks for a laptop recommendation and doesn’t have high requirements, then that’s when I’d recommend the M1 MacBook Air.
I feel your pain. One might have thought that if A12Z could handle MacOS on the developer, then the iPad should, but that Developer kit came with an additional 16GB of RAM alongside the A12Z chip, so I now suspect memory connection speed between the chip and storage may be the limiting factor. If the connections between the SoC and SSD are not fast enough on that generation of the iPad Pro to enable the use of SSD storage for swap memory, then there's probably not enough memory to persist apps indefinitely for centre stage. Just a theory though, and certainly no consolation. Like you, I now feel like the A12Z iPad Pro was such a 'stop gap' device, that it looks like a poor buy today.
Here’s why Stage Manager only works on M1 iPads
Stage Manager is one of the best features in iPadOS 16. But why does it only work on M1 iPads?
www.digitaltrends.com
Stage Manager is limited to M1 chips mainly due to iPadOS 16’s new fast memory swap feature, which Stage Manager uses extensively. This lets apps convert storage into RAM (effectively), and each app can ask for up to 16GB of memory. Since Stage Manager enables you to have up to eight apps going at once — and because each app could ask for 16GB of memory — it demands a lot of resources. As such, the new window management feature needs M1 for smooth performance.
It seems Apple is wrong, cuz iPad Air 4th generation doesn't have M1.
Here’s why Stage Manager only works on M1 iPads
Stage Manager is one of the best features in iPadOS 16. But why does it only work on M1 iPads?
Stage Manager is limited to M1 chips mainly due to iPadOS 16’s new fast memory swap feature, which Stage Manager uses extensively. This lets apps convert storage into RAM (effectively), and each app can ask for up to 16GB of memory. Since Stage Manager enables you to have up to eight apps going at once — and because each app could ask for 16GB of memory — it demands a lot of resources. As such, the new window management feature needs M1 for smooth performance.
It seems Apple is wrong, cuz iPad Air 4th generation doesn't have M1.
That footnote is for Virtual Memory Swap and I think it might even be a typo considering the Air 5 wasn’t mentioned at all.
For Stage Manager, it’s #5:
it is a simple mistake from apple, it’s clear that it is related to Air 5th gen.Here’s why Stage Manager only works on M1 iPads
Stage Manager is one of the best features in iPadOS 16. But why does it only work on M1 iPads?
Stage Manager is limited to M1 chips mainly due to iPadOS 16’s new fast memory swap feature, which Stage Manager uses extensively. This lets apps convert storage into RAM (effectively), and each app can ask for up to 16GB of memory. Since Stage Manager enables you to have up to eight apps going at once — and because each app could ask for 16GB of memory — it demands a lot of resources. As such, the new window management feature needs M1 for smooth performance.
It seems Apple is wrong, cuz iPad Air 4th generation doesn't have M1.
But the funny thing is: Apple states that stage manager is exclusive of all m1 ipads thanks to memory swap. But not all m1 ipads support memory swap, see the air with 64gb of memory. Funny.
I kinda guessed swap might be needed for Stage Manager. It will be interesting to see how things work out on the 64GB iPad Air 5.
I tested it on both pro 2021 and air 5. stage manager works at the same way.
64GB Air 5? Any differences in terms of running apps in background or reloading?
Exactly, same working performances. Probably also the air 64gb does memory swap, simply in a lower measure.
or simply apple is lying, it’s normal that they want to justify the choice of putting stage manager only on M1 models…
It should be noted that Apple sometimes includes support in betas, only to take it away in the final release.
the official notes are clear, iPad air will get support for stage manager, memory swap only on the 256gb model. The story about stage manager linked to memory swap is surely true, ok, but not indispensable.
That's a massive improvement over previous generations. Usually, they are only a few hundred MB/s.
Iirc, before the A9, it was around at/or below USB2 speeds. A few hundred MB/s is actually pretty decent. On par or better than most HDDs.
Mind, I think the biggest improvement is the random 4K read/writes and reduced latencies. Those likely have more bearing with swap than sequential performance.
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If they could put M SOC into a the tiny iPhone since virtual memory needs H/W support.Now they just need to bring this to the iPhone so that apps don’t constantly reload after 30 seconds.
No. Each app that's running can allocate up to 16GB for itself. Considering that's 64GB of RAM for four apps running simultaneously, that's quite a bit of swapping that can go on.
That video was quite misleading. Doing those kind of test never show a true comparison between a 8 GB and a 16 GB device. During most of my video editing, even 16 GB MacBook Air M1 was almost unusable. It is ok at first, when you perform the benchmark; however, it gets slower in time due to lack of available memory. And this is comparing 16 GB vs 32 GB, not even mentioning 8 GB.
You mean the iPhone 4, probably the greatest iPhone release, which worked well despite driving 4x the pixels.
Apple did not abandon their products. Every single year we have iPhones that come out with top-line features that only the latest one will run. On iPhone 13 Pros, we got LTPO screens and 120Hz along with Cinematic video for the very first time. iPhone 12 Pros were out of luck. They didn't get any of that, but they got the hundreds of other features iOS 15 got. But how come iPhone 12's couldn't do Cinematic video? Because we all know exactly how Cinematic video was developed, all of us arm chair programmers (I actually am a programmer but I don't work for Apple) certainly know the A14 could have run that. I feel that it can and therefore I'm right!
iPhone 12 Pros got ProRes video. Aw, iPhone 11 Pros didn't get that. Could it because the A13 didn't have ProRes encoders/decoders? But I feel the A13 could have run ProRes video just because. But iPhone 11 Pros got all the other features of iOS 14 and iOS 15 later. Did Apple abandon the iPhone 11 and 12? No, top line features always go to the latest and greatest. iPad Pro 2021's got a 12 megapixel ultra wide front facing camera with Center Stage. But how come my iPad 2020 and iPad 2018 didn't get those? Is it because Apple abandoned the iPad? I feel that those 7 megapixel wide angle cameras could have done Center Stage just because I want it to. Wait, the iPad base model 9'th gen supports Center Stage. I guess Apple wants people to forgo buying iPad Pro 2021's and buy base iPads.
Here we have people screaming at the top of their lungs for M1-specific features because the M1 was obviously overkill. Nobody needs that kind of power on an iPad. WE WANT M1-FEATURES!!!!!! Apple says, OK. Here's Stage Manager that works only on M1 because of memory limits on older iPads and the superior flash storage controllers only on the M1 to allow us to handle virtual memory. Reeeeeeee!!!!!!! Why are you coming out with M1-only features?!?!?!?! Why can't Stage Manager run on my 4-year old iPad with an SoC that's two generations behind the M1? I absolutely know the A12X and its brother, the A12Z, could have run Stage Manager because I want it to! After all, the Developer Mac mini had an A12Z! Oh, it had more memory than my iPad and was never actually sold to the public.
And look, there's Reference Mode, another M1-only feature. Hmm, that's limited to only one version, the 12.9" iPad Pro 2021 with mini-LED screen. Not even the 11" 2021 iPad Pro gets that. What, no complaints about that one? Is it because Apple couldn't figure out how to do Reference mode on an ordinary LCD screen?
iPadOS comes with hundreds of new features. There's a new Home app that comes with Matter support. That's awesome for those who are home automation junkies because that hugely expands the available hardware that previously only worked with Google and Alexa and not HomeKit. There's expanded SharePlay for the kids. There's collaboration features for Safari and FaceTime along with a brand new app called Freeform for business people (oh, you mean PROs?) along with FaceTime Handoff. There are new API's for desktop class apps features, something people have wanted for years. There's Live Text and live translation features that are a godsend to people who don't hear very well like me. It's really nifty to copy an image object out of that cluttered photo. I can copy text out of a video and not just a photo anymore. There's that Weather app that people have been whining about for 10 years. They finally get it and we hear, "iPadOS doesn't have any features for the rest of us." Why did people whine about it for ten years when they really didn't care?
Older hardware just cannot run top-line features and that's what Stage Manager is. It's been happening since tech was invented. Are we going to hear the same thing next time Apple comes out with an M-series only feature? What, a feature that works only with M2 iPad Pros and Airs but not M1's? Apple literally gave people what they've asked for, an M1-specific feature that takes full advantage of their best SoC's, and the whining continues. As a bonus, this "Pro" feature works with the latest iPad Air, hardly advertised as a pro device. People with iPad Pro 2020's are still going to get iPadOS 17, 18, 19, and probably 20 and maybe 21, but Apple clearly abandoned older iPads.
Sorry for the venting, but the whines over the last few years are beyond irritating. People get what they wanted and the whining gets even louder. Instead of saying, "cool, an M1 feature we asked for that even runs on a non-Pro device, the iPad Air", we get more complaints. If Apple were really trying to screw people and force them to buy M1 iPad Pros, why would they have allowed it to run on the iPad Air, a much cheaper product? Or could it be there really is a hardware limitation?
It surprises me every time I can upgrade iOS on my iPad Mini 4 (A8 with 2GB RAM), through to iOS 15. There must have someone baby caring this baby.
Your 90s real computer can't run on battery for all day.