ericwn
macrumors G5
If the most expensive model had a clear advantage Apple would highlight that. The fact that they don’t speaks clearly here on the usefulness of the extra ram at this stage.
iPad Pro Is 4gb RAM limiting iPad Pro?
- Thread starter satchmo
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
If the most expensive model had a clear advantage Apple would highlight that. The fact that they don’t speaks clearly here on the usefulness of the extra ram at this stage.
ericwn
macrumors G5
I see that most personal computers these days have 8 or 16 GB RAM as the gains are hard to measure past that point. So yes, there is a chance that iOS devices will get up to that point as well.
EugW
macrumors P6
Apple has never mentioned RAM in the specs for iPads or iPhones.
ericwn
macrumors G5
And if it would be worth their time, this would change.
Interesting point. Hopefully that will be obvious when it is released.
AutomaticApple
Suspended
That's what I'm hoping for.
Closingracer
macrumors 601
Not really. The 10.2 tells us nothing. They did it solely to have it be updated longer. That only tells use iOS will need a min of 3GB sooner rather then later.
Closingracer
macrumors 601
Closingracer
macrumors 601
No. You’re comparing an Apple to an orange. Windows needs more ram because it’s resource heavy depending on tasks which is why some apps need a gpu with dedicated RAM.
EugW
macrumors P6
You just contradicted yourself of course.
And it does tell us that iPadOS is becoming more RAM hungry with time, which of course is a surprise to just about nobody.
It's a logical expectation to expect the 2020 iPad Pro models to go 6 GB, and what I posted is just one clue, and not the only clue.
Closingracer
macrumors 601
I didn’t . It’s two fold . I am saying the 10.2 says nothing to the increase of ram in an iPad Pro. It says to the longevity of the 10.2 itself .
EugW
macrumors P6
And I'm saying you're wrong. We can agree to disagree.
I'm saying the base model iPad that is available sometimes for under US$300 getting 3 GB RAM is a very strong clue. Yes, it says iPadOS is getting more RAM hungry, and it also tells us it's more likely than not that the Pros will get RAM upgrades. Cuz a brand new "Pro" in 2020 with only 33% more RAM than an entry level sub-$300 iPad from the previous year would just be a sick joke.
Closingracer
macrumors 601
It’s not a clue at all. It’s future proofing the 10.2 that’s all. History has dictated Apple is very slow in upgrading the ram in their products. Mostly because it doesn’t need to really at the pace Android and Windows does. iOS is very responsive to resource management unlike android and windows.
EugW
macrumors P6
History tells us the iPad Pro has already been 6 GB since 2018, in some models. But in terms of being slow to upgrade RAM, history also tells us that 4 GB models of iPad Pros have been available since 2015, so a 2020 update to 6 GB would make it ~5 years. Even by Apple standards, that would not be fast for a RAM upgrade.
And never once did I say iPad OS is as RAM hungry as Android or Windows, so that's irrelevant. OTOH, just because iPadOS won't need 12 GB any time soon, doesn't mean that 4 GB is a lot of RAM for iPadOS. Even Apple back in 2018 acknowledged that with the release of 6 GB models.
I would be quite surprised actually if the base iPad Pros aren't 6 GB in 2020.
Closingracer
macrumors 601
The base iPad Pro with 4gb is fine even in 2020. It wouldn’t be a surprised to have the same model with only 1tb having 6gb. The iPhone 11 pro has 4gb and that is telling in of itself. 6gb can easily use to up sell to people like you who think they need 6gb.
ericwn
macrumors G5
It’s my impression as well that iOS is less hungry for RAM. I wanted to point out that even on the PC side there’s a point where the regular users gets diminishing returns with RAM upgrades. iOS devices may get beefed up a bit but they’ll surely not surpass what’s needed on the Android or Windows side.
EugW
macrumors P6
The iPad Pros went to 4 GB long before the iPhones ever did. The fact that even the non-Pro 11 has caught up to the iPad Pros in 2019 for RAM, is telling. This is another pretty good sign the iPad Pros will go 6 GB.
And the reason 4 GB is fine even in 2020 for most usage is because the software applications are written for 4 GB. However, when developers write applications that don't specifically take that threshold into account, iPadOS will allow them to address more than 4 GB RAM. There is no hard barrier there... until the iPad runs out of memory, and the application crashes.
I believe Apple released the 6 GB model when it did partially as a target for developers of large complex applications. Sure, they will develop their software to work on 4 GB models, but the existence of a 6 GB model allows them to target that in parallel, for users who might need that capacity. And when the 6 GB models drop in 2020, they'll be ready.
Closingracer
macrumors 601
That isn’t telling anything you’re just grasping at anything possible.
secretk
macrumors 65816
Depends on someone's preferences. I personally find the RAM usage in iOS the weakest point. The constant reloads I get on apps/tabs is utterly annoying and honestly it impacts my usage. I was getting those with iOS 12 and 2 GB RAM. Interestingly I am getting them less with iPadOS so far, but to be honest I also use the iPad far less nowadays. The constants reload made me awry of the device and I just had to use it less and less for browsing as it would reload tabs whenever I decided to switch from Safari to Skype (which is my usual case as I tend to chat with friends).
I have Android phone with 4 GB RAM that does not have any reloads. I would highly disagree that iOS is far better than Android. It is not. The difference is that instead of crashing the app you are currently using, it is suspending the ones that you don't see. This is good if you are single app user. I am not. Multitasking is my natural forte and what Apple does basically negates any sort of multitasking gain you might have hoped for.
To sum up - RAM is the weakest point in iOS and I personally would not advise buying any iPad with less than 4 GB if you want to use it for the next 3-4 years. I personally would not do it. I cannot say if in the next 1/2 years you might need even more. However definitely you would not need less.
I have Android phone with 4 GB RAM that does not have any reloads. I would highly disagree that iOS is far better than Android. It is not. The difference is that instead of crashing the app you are currently using, it is suspending the ones that you don't see. This is good if you are single app user. I am not. Multitasking is my natural forte and what Apple does basically negates any sort of multitasking gain you might have hoped for.
To sum up - RAM is the weakest point in iOS and I personally would not advise buying any iPad with less than 4 GB if you want to use it for the next 3-4 years. I personally would not do it. I cannot say if in the next 1/2 years you might need even more. However definitely you would not need less.
wolfboy
macrumors 6502
They will probably bump it to 6gb next year, but its hard to tell with Apple.
I can't help but feel like they wanted to put in 6gb for the iPhone 11 Pro, especially with the triple camera, but scrooged out at the end to 4gb for more profits. It's okay now (good, not great) but those first couple weeks with iOS13 refreshes was rough.
I can't help but feel like they wanted to put in 6gb for the iPhone 11 Pro, especially with the triple camera, but scrooged out at the end to 4gb for more profits. It's okay now (good, not great) but those first couple weeks with iOS13 refreshes was rough.
EugW
macrumors P6
I just bought an iPad 7, with 3 GB RAM. However, here are the caveats:
1. It's for my wife, who has simple needs in an iPad: Email, browsing, and Netflix. For browsing, she typically only has 1-4 active tabs at a time, and doesn't complain about tab reloads.
2. The iPad was part of a promotion from my cell carrier. They offered a whopping 1/3rd off retail for the 128 GB LTE model iPad 7, with no contract. It was CAD$479, or approx. US$365. Pricing of the 32 GB LTE model was even better, at an even more impressive 40% off retail, again with no contract. The optional (no contract) monthly plan is only US$7.60 per month for 4 GB data. I'll keep the data plan for a few months and see how much she uses it. If she doesn't use it, I'll just cancel the data plan.
3. The SoC only is the A10 anyway. It doesn't seem to make a lot of sense to pair 4 GB RAM with A10, not that I had a choice in the matter. Sure, I wanted a faster SoC, but even then the iPad Air 3 only has 3 GB RAM, and it would have cost 71% more just for the 64 GB LTE model, and well over twice as much for the 256 GB model.
I tested out the A10 iPad 7 a little while and it's actually not bad. Thread here:
iPad 7 10.2" + iPad Pro 10.5" with Apple Smart Keyboards side by side (Pic!)
Can you tell which is which? You can tell just from the pic, but even side-by-side they look awfully similar. One is an iPad 10.2" LTE model with 128 GB, and the other is an iPad Pro 10.5" WiFi model with 64 GB. Weight and size: I don't know if the actually notice a weight difference, but the...
forums.macrumors.com
I can notice it's slower than my iPad Pro 10.5", but it's much speedier than our old iPad Air 2 with A8X and 2 GB RAM, with less tab reloads. In fact, tab reloads with light usage don't seem to be a big problem with the iPad 7, whereas they had started becoming problematic on the iPad Air 2. The iPad 7 with 3 GB doesn't seem much different for tab reloads than the iPad Pro 10.5 with 4 GB with light surfing either. But that's light surfing.
In your shoes with heavy multitasking, that's a completely different story.
secretk
macrumors 65816
This is good! I unfortunately always end up with like 15-20 open tabs. No idea how I do this.
This is a good deal indeed! Cool that you found it!
Interesting argument. Makes sense when you compare it with Air 3. I agree. To be honest I do not find the iPad (regular 2018 model) or the iPhone (iPhone 8) I have slow. I personally have no complaints in terms of the SoC. I am not saying that the newer ones are not faster or improved. However that for me is not that much of a factor. Reloads of apps/tabs is however. This is why I do think actually that it would not be that bad to pair even A10 with more RAM. You are right that maybe 4 does not make sense and 3 is a good spot. Both of my devices have two and I could tell you it is not enough. I encounters lots of issues with insufficient RAM. I even lose data sometimes because of the reloads.
I tested out the A10 iPad 7 a little while and it's actually not bad. Thread here:
iPad 7 10.2" + iPad Pro 10.5" with Apple Smart Keyboards side by side (Pic!)
Can you tell which is which? You can tell just from the pic, but even side-by-side they look awfully similar. One is an iPad 10.2" LTE model with 128 GB, and the other is an iPad Pro 10.5" WiFi model with 64 GB. Weight and size: I don't know if the actually notice a weight difference, but the...
I can notice it's slower than my iPad Pro 10.5", but it's much speedier than our old iPad Air 2 with A8X and 2 GB RAM, with less tab reloads. In fact, tab reloads with light usage don't seem to be a big problem with the iPad 7, whereas they had started becoming problematic on the iPad Air 2. The iPad 7 with 3 GB doesn't seem much different for tab reloads than the iPad Pro 10.5 with 4 GB with light surfing either. But that's light surfing.
In your shoes with heavy multitasking, that's a completely different story.
Interesting findings. It seems that 3 GB RAM does bring improvements. Maybe not ideal for my use case, but still like you said good enough for people like your wife. That being said unfortunately we do not know what the future iOS/iPadOS versions will bring and how they will handle RAM. I hope to be able to use somehow the current iPad for at least another 2 years until changing it for something with more RAM (if I like the current models and their pricing).
rui no onna
Contributor
Even 4GB doesn't completely eliminate app/tab reloads. Then again, it looks like I have 129 tabs open right now (several forum threads, Amazon and Best Buy product searches and pages, and a whole bunch of fics). I have a content blocker and only have an ebook reader app and Gmail in the background though. I also have Background App Refresh disabled for most apps.
Mind you, it's the media stuff that tend to gobble RAM so I don't know if 3-4GB would get rid of reloads in your case since you regularly do video conferencing.
secretk
macrumors 65816
Even 4GB doesn't completely eliminate app/tab reloads. Then again, it looks like I have 129 tabs open right now (several forum threads, Amazon and Best Buy product searches and pages, and a whole bunch of fics). I have a content blocker and only have an ebook reader app and Gmail in the background though. I also have Background App Refresh disabled for most apps.
129 tabs is indeed impressive but yeah maybe the content blocker helps you there. I don't open 129 for sure, but I can end up with 15-20.
I actually don't do video conferencing. I do regular text chat. However with the iPad I have just switching between Safari and skype can cause tabs reloads. I can end up watchings lots of stuff in YouTube though.