Photo of iPad 3 Logic Board with "A5X" System on a Chip

[Tortri]

You people always make me laugh. What makes you think a quad core would be better than a "better" dual core? Cores/speed does not = quality. How many times do I and people a hell of a lot smarter than me have to explain that?

It's the fact that they would release a upgraded A5 as oppose to the A6 which is suppose to have tri-gate (3d transistor tech)which is suppose to be a pretty big upgrade. It's like comparing a quad core core2duo to a quad core Corei7, i'd take the i7 any day of the week over the core2duo because it'd rip it apart like a stuff doll. BTW nice attempt to make yourself feel better and smarter by trolling.

Troll

 

[blackcrayon]

It's the fact that they would release a upgraded A5 as oppose to the A6 which is suppose to have tri-gate (3d transistor tech)which is suppose to be a pretty big upgrade. It's like comparing a quad core core2duo to a quad core Corei7, i'd take the i7 any day of the week over the core2duo because it'd rip it apart like a stuff doll. BTW nice attempt to make yourself feel better and smarter by trolling.

Troll

But you're talking about a different CPU architecture when the person you're responding to was simply talking about going from dual to quad cores. Would you not rather have a 2 ghz core2duo than a 1 ghz core2quad? Not saying that's the equivalent of what Apple is doing (as we don't really know), but it would seem like a more fitting analogy.

It's just we get this "I don't know what it is, but it's bound to suck!" mentality. Let's see the thing be slow, choppy like an Android 2 browser, barely able to push its poor pixels around the screen before we pass final judgement

 

[borgqueenx]

What can the Prime do that the iPad can't? (Specific examples, and I'm not talking about the external hardware- i know it turns into a laptop, etc). Just asking in light of Josh Topolsky's tweets yesterday:

"After using the Prime for a week, it's clear Android tablets are still awful. Excited about new iPad, and I think MSFT has a huge opp here."
"Going back to the iPad after the Prime feels like going from drowning to fresh air. Insane difference."

(Keep in mind though people see him as an "Apple lover" his primary phone is a Galaxy Nexus which he thinks is the best on the market).

In any case, I trust Apple put enough juice in the iPad 3 to perform reasonably well at anything that can be thrown at it for a while. I'm sure they recognize the position the iPad 2 held with its competitors and though absolute specs aren't very meaningful, with actual real world use it will be more than fine.

Im a apple fanboy. People at work sometimes laugh at me for this. But im a fanboy for a damn good reason. I owned the optimus 3d and Evo 3d...
And both were just utterly total crap compared to the iphone 4....no crap that....compared to the iphone 3gs! Seriously it lags everywhere. its not compatible with alot of stuff, crashes sometimes ect.
I already watched a comparision of the ipad 2 against the transformer prime, and in some video's i noticed slightly lag on the prime. thats unacceptable. More unacceptable because it lagged when browsing photos on google.
To get back to your questions about that the prime can do what the ipad 2 cannot do. Its like i said in the post of mine wich you quoted. i have a interest in tech specs because its good for gaming. Check out the games on the prime. Its just brilliant, beautiful, magnificent!
On the ipad2 its very very good. but no, the prime now beats the ipad2 in terms of power for gaming. that doesnt mean the prime wins though, since it only got a handful of games available now. But thats why i want better specs. gaming only. the rest will work just fine enough for me.

and the quotes you had...

"After using the Prime for a week, it's clear Android tablets are still awful. Excited about new iPad, and I think MSFT has a huge opp here."
"Going back to the iPad after the Prime feels like going from drowning to fresh air. Insane difference."

...Are totally understandable. I was wowed again by iphone 4 when i sold the evo 3d and optimus 3d.
And i owned all previous iphones and ipads so far. and hope to keep this up

For those interested in reading why i hate android so much, here's a quote from another forum i made myself.

i owned a evo 3d and a optimus 3d. both were crap. needed restarts, crashes sometimes, what elektro said also true; they came with crapware, only deletable when rooted.
I couldnt get rid of burnedin browser bookmarks unless i rooted and then still it was a pain.
Browser was not smooth. Camera's were crappy as well, although some androids does have good cameras. Also the processor and ram power, i couldnt see **** of that. the menu's in both phones(although evo3d worse) were on the laggy side even with custom roms and my old 3gs would beat that with alot less power.
The evo3d and optimus3d had both camera's "sticking out of them" wich made them scratch easily. the evo3d shipped with dust between the camera lens and glass or something. in every photo there was a kind of mark.
I had problems removing the microsd card from the evo3d.
Alot of apps had compability problems. Gameloft games always wanted to install to the build in memory, not to the sd card. there was a hack to make this install to microsd but was a pain and didnt work on all. In google maps i was getting stopid messages about turning on wifi. i can hit the box to "not display this message again" but it doesnt listen to me. Both phones had terrible battery life versus my iphone 4 i had back then.
both devices had crappy volume buttons.
terrible audio quality, both on speakers and earphones.
Bulky, but i guess thats also because the 3d.
the optimus 3d had a crappy backlight led. it wouldnt stay on even when using a app.
and when i turned it on, the whole phone became ultra laggy. like the backlight also used 9/10th of CPU. the evo3d did fairly well with this.
I see everywhere parts that are copied over from iphone. in optimus 3d it was really like a clone lol.

Also a funny fact is that a family member once showed me a new video she made. I clicked the play button and android crashed. Thats the first time i held her phone to just watch the video. It got into the menu after waiting, but she couldnt start any app anymore. a restart fixed it though.

All the problems are above are mixed. they come from both devices together. so maybe if you have a evo3d i said a problem occuring on the optimus 3d.

honest good parts about android:
immediately and highly customisable, and failry quick jailbreakable usally.
Flash.
the 3d phones's 3d function were both quite cool on both devices. id say they both are as good as each other. the optimus 3d has clearer and more depth 3d, although the higher resolution on the evo3d made the 3d really blink out. on the optimus 3d it was like all lined out photos. you can see the lines ect.
Good key imput, although iphone is still better.

Honestly about iphone:
it doesnt got a proper bluetooth functionaily. headsets with stereo connect to the iphone as a "talk" device, wich means the sound doesnt get full glory. There's a workaround for this, but when you apply this workaround and you get a call your iphone will use the microphone in the iphone itself, until you select the bluetooth device in your phone screen. cant predefine and make it remember that because we're using a workaround.
the iphone is not customisable...but i find that a weak argument since im always jailbreaking it when its possible, wich unlocks the customising power.
And itunes is a big downside. itunes is crap. Although iOS5 made it much better to use the iphone with itunes.
But thats honestly all i can think of downsides.
It just works 100%. without trouble, errors, pain or flaws.(exept the bluetooth, fix it apple!) (and restoring is hard but thats only when youre a jailbreaker like me)

Ah finally got my apple vs android story out lol! im not a i-fanboy for no reason

 

[swagi]

What can the Prime do that the iPad can't? (Specific examples, and I'm not talking about the external hardware- i know it turns into a laptop, etc). Just asking in light of Josh Topolsky's tweets yesterday:

"After using the Prime for a week, it's clear Android tablets are still awful. Excited about new iPad, and I think MSFT has a huge opp here."
"Going back to the iPad after the Prime feels like going from drowning to fresh air. Insane difference."

(Keep in mind though people see him as an "Apple lover" his primary phone is a Galaxy Nexus which he thinks is the best on the market).

In any case, I trust Apple put enough juice in the iPad 3 to perform reasonably well at anything that can be thrown at it for a while. I'm sure they recognize the position the iPad 2 held with its competitors and though absolute specs aren't very meaningful, with actual real world use it will be more than fine.

To mirror your thoughts I just want to ask:

What can the iPad3 do the iPad or iPad2 can't? (Specific examples, I don't want to hear Retina Screen or "The original iPad doesn't have a camera" etc.)

There's a bright future for the customer as this years MWC will offer true competition. Trust me - Apple better have something up their sleeve to throw on the hype machine or iPad3 will soon file under "typical Apple product - nice design but little value for the money".

Heard of the Asus Padfone? Or the WACOM-screen powered Galaxy Note 10.1?

You'll read a lot about it in a week.

 

[satchow]

Quad-Core/Dual-Core... All that matters to me is that I'll be able to play 720p/1080p mkv files using VLC/AVPlayerHD at full framerate.
You guys think this will be possible?

 

[blackcrayon]

On the ipad2 its very very good. but no, the prime now beats the ipad2 in terms of power for gaming. that doesnt mean the prime wins though, since it only got a handful of games available now. But thats why i want better specs. gaming only. the rest will work just fine enough for me.

From what I've read, the iPad 2's PowerVR SGX543MP2 can still hold its own and even surpass the GPU in the Tegra 3.

Check out http://www.anandtech.com/show/5163/asus-eee-pad-transformer-prime-nvidia-tegra-3-review/3

Those are just benchmarks, but the lowly A5 in the iPad 2 beats the Tegra 3 in every GPU test there.

And of course that's the year old iPad 2, and the iPad 3 is DEFINITELY going to have a better GPU, the world will be shocked if it's not at least twice as powerful. So I don't think you have anything to worry about with the gaming capabilities of the iPad 3 (now, i won't expect complex 3D games to run at full resolution, but it should still be able to do more than the iPad 2 could at slightly higher resolution or a LOT more at the same resolution).

 

[borgqueenx]

Quad-Core/Dual-Core... All that matters to me is that I'll be able to play 720p/1080p mkv files using VLC/AVPlayerHD at full framerate.
You guys think this will be possible?

Yes i think its possible. Id even like to say its like 80% chance of getting true.
The ipad 2 almost could play 1080p but with stutter. so i think the ipad3 can do it OK.

----------

From what I've read, the iPad 2's PowerVR SGX543MP2 can still hold its own and even surpass the GPU in the Tegra 3.

Check out http://www.anandtech.com/show/5163/asus-eee-pad-transformer-prime-nvidia-tegra-3-review/3

Those are just benchmarks, but the lowly A5 in the iPad 2 beats the Tegra 3 in every GPU test there.

And of course that's the year old iPad 2, and the iPad 3 is DEFINITELY going to have a better GPU, the world will be shocked if it's not at least twice as powerful. So I don't think you have anything to worry about with the gaming capabilities of the iPad 3 (now, i won't expect complex 3D games to run at full resolution, but it should still be able to do more than the iPad 2 could at slightly higher resolution or a LOT more at the same resolution).

to be honest, i doubt the truth of that benchmark. Just take a look at youtube at games on the prime. Looks way more awesome then on the ipad2.
But well like i said, the ipad2 still has 1000+ good games while the prime has like 10.
the benchmark doesnt account for 4 cores or something. anyway there must be some reason why the ipad2 scored higher there. its impossible because just look with your own eyes at the games compared with ipad2 quality games like infinity blade 2 and real racing 2 ect.

 

[DeathChill]

to be honest, i doubt the truth of that benchmark. Just take a look at youtube at games on the prime. Looks way more awesome then on the ipad2.
But well like i said, the ipad2 still has 1000+ good games while the prime has like 10.
the benchmark doesnt account for 4 cores or something. anyway there must be some reason why the ipad2 scored higher there. its impossible because just look with your own eyes at the games compared with ipad2 quality games like infinity blade 2 and real racing 2 ect.

No, the benchmarks are correct. What you're talking about is the games that NVidia worked on with their respective development teams to make their platform look good. Doing the same for both platforms would result in the game looking better on the iPad 2.

 

[borgqueenx]

No, the benchmarks are correct. What you're talking about is the games that NVidia worked on with their respective development teams to make their platform look good. Doing the same for both platforms would result in the game looking better on the iPad 2.

Just check out inifnity blade 2. apple's own game for showing off graphics. And yes its a awesome game. But a game from the prime beats it. Ofcource i believe you that nvidia worked hard on putting together some games that looks awesome.
Sorry for that, but whatever is true or not true, the ipad2 lies behind in 3d gaming, compared to the transformer prime. but thats tech-wise only.
i know what my eyes saw, and i do not believe graphics can get much better on a ipad 2 then infinity blade 2.

 

[MythicFrost]

It'll have 1GB because of the retina display which will eat up RAM like your momma eats krispy kremes. 12MB per screen instead of 3MB - and that's probably double or triple buffered, and then you have the OS's and several applications' worth of art assets loaded.

The chip will be made on Samsung's 32nm process I expect (and it matches the 32nm Exonos packaging). This will mean that 1.4 - 1.8GHz could be expected from the SoC, depending on power usage.

However it isn't using the Cortex A15 because that would certainly merit an 'A6' brand. This is just a faster, die-shrunk A5. Dual-core. ~1.5GHz CPU, ~50% faster GPU, 1GB RAM. Bam.

To keep the same frame rate in games as it does now it'll need a 400% increase in GPU power, not just 50%.

Yes i think its possible. Id even like to say its
to be honest, i doubt the truth of that benchmark. Just take a look at youtube at games on the prime. Looks way more awesome then on the ipad2.
But well like i said, the ipad2 still has 1000+ good games while the prime has like 10.
the benchmark doesnt account for 4 cores or something. anyway there must be some reason why the ipad2 scored higher there. its impossible because just look with your own eyes at the games compared with ipad2 quality games like infinity blade 2 and real racing 2 ect.

The best looking games on each platform is in no way any indicator of who has the more powerful GPU. The reason it scored higher is because the iPad 2's GPU is more powerful -- especially when it comes to textures.

 

[DeathChill]

Just check out inifnity blade 2. apple's own game for showing off graphics. And yes its a awesome game. But a game from the prime beats it. Ofcource i believe you that nvidia worked hard on putting together some games that looks awesome.
Sorry for that, but whatever is true or not true, the ipad2 lies behind in 3d gaming, compared to the transformer prime. but thats tech-wise only.
i know what my eyes saw, and i do not believe graphics can get much better on a ipad 2 then infinity blade 2.

Apple had nothing to do with Infinity Blade II.

I'm not sure that you're understanding: NVidia, the company responsible for the Tegra 3 GPU, sent developers to work with the game developers specifically to make their games look as good as possible. Their entire job was to polish it up and use every resource available in the Tegra 3 GPU to make it look good. There hasn't been any iOS titles that have received that treatment, as far as I know.

The benchmarks show which GPU is faster, but it is all on the developer to make use of it.

 

[MythicFrost]

Apple had nothing to do with Infinity Blade II.

I'm not sure that you're understanding: NVidia, the company responsible for the Tegra 3 GPU, sent developers to work with the game developers specifically to make their games look as good as possible. Their entire job was to polish it up and use every resource available in the Tegra 3 GPU to make it look good. There hasn't been any iOS titles that have received that treatment, as far as I know.

The benchmarks show which GPU is faster, but it is all on the developer to make use of it.

This. There's no iOS developer that has fully utilised the SGX543MP2. The iPad 2's GPU is more powerful, but no one has done anything with it yet. And that's because the majority of devices have an SGX535 inside of it, which means if you want to support the majority of devices, you've got to make compromises. If you made a game or a tech demo and fully made use of the SGX543MP2 so that it's only running at 60 FPS or even 30 FPS, then you'll see truly amazing graphics.

 

[shompa]

The concept you happily believe in ("quad core is better than dual core") is weak and flawed.

You understand that Unix know how to use multithreaded software?
Just do a top on your iPad and you will see at least 40 processes running.

That is why a quod core 1ghz will beat a 1.5ghz dual core on Unix, especially with Apples Grand Central dispatch.

Scaling over many processors is a windows problem and for people who believe that they only use one program at a time.

 

[txhchman]

Most people could care less.

To the average consumer they couldn't care less if it's a A6 or A5. As long as the damn thing works smoothly and the touch responses are quick that's mostly what consumers want. When Apple came out with the iPhone 4s all the geeks were screaming that it was a major fail, that it wouldn't sell, lol yeah best selling phone ever. kevin

 

[MythicFrost]

You understand that Unix know how to use multithreaded software?
Just do a top on your iPad and you will see at least 40 processes running.

That is why a quod core 1ghz will beat a 1.5ghz dual core on Unix, especially with Apples Grand Central dispatch.

Scaling over many processors is a windows problem and for people who believe that they only use one program at a time.

The only real use for a quad-core on iOS is in games, and even then the majority won't make use of it and it'll take time for those sorts of high end games to become available. On the other hand though, a higher clocked dual-core will give you a lot of benefit in single threaded apps, as well as apps that can take advantage of a dual-core.

 

[shompa]

From what I've read, the iPad 2's PowerVR SGX543MP2 can still hold its own and even surpass the GPU in the Tegra 3.

Check out http://www.anandtech.com/show/5163/asus-eee-pad-transformer-prime-nvidia-tegra-3-review/3

Those are just benchmarks, but the lowly A5 in the iPad 2 beats the Tegra 3 in every GPU test there.

And of course that's the year old iPad 2, and the iPad 3 is DEFINITELY going to have a better GPU, the world will be shocked if it's not at least twice as powerful. So I don't think you have anything to worry about with the gaming capabilities of the iPad 3 (now, i won't expect complex 3D games to run at full resolution, but it should still be able to do more than the iPad 2 could at slightly higher resolution or a LOT more at the same resolution).

Not only is the GPU better in iPad.
But Apples integrated approach gives much more power thanks to SIMD extensions and GPU acceleration. Google can't use SIMD extensions since not all Android devices have NOVA SIMD.

Tegra3 is the first Tegra with Nova SIMD.

I think Nvidia did a great job with Tegra 3. The 5th ninja processor is genius. But Tegra3 is huge, costs almost 50% more to manufacture then Tegra 2 and the graphics is slower then PowerVR. Not to mention PowerVR6 that is 5-10X more powerful.

 

[ivassilis]

so, once Steve is out of office, everything starts to leak... If we assemble all the leaked pictures together we have a definite idea of what iPad 3 is inside and outside. We don't do it, just to live another keynote...

And what was about the revelation of Mountain Lion so many months before shipment? Please "new Apple" keep the secret sauce away from public until the table is ready...

 

[shompa]

If Apple uses A5X. Samsung still produces them and that is sad.
I want 28nm ARM15. That is desktop class power.

Maybe Apple saves it for a Macbook air class machine.

 

[guzhogi]

I hope whatever proc Apple uses in the next iPad & iPhone is a lot more powerful. If the iPad does get a retina display, it'll need that extra processing power.

Unfortunately, I feel that if Apple calls it an A5X, a lot of people will complain, yet if Apple calls the exact same proc an A6, the same people will be totally thrilled.

 

[borgqueenx]

Apple had nothing to do with Infinity Blade II.

I'm not sure that you're understanding: NVidia, the company responsible for the Tegra 3 GPU, sent developers to work with the game developers specifically to make their games look as good as possible. Their entire job was to polish it up and use every resource available in the Tegra 3 GPU to make it look good. There hasn't been any iOS titles that have received that treatment, as far as I know.

The benchmarks show which GPU is faster, but it is all on the developer to make use of it.

hmmm okay. but then still its weird no one milked the GPU on ipad yet.
Anyways then its nice to see what the ipad 3 will contain. If its alot of improvement the ipad will again be a year forward, just as apple usally does.

 

[DenisAuermann]

Dont worry

Just don't worry. the iPad 1 was the best and fastest tablet in its time. The iPad 2 was also the same. Very smart people work at apple they'll know which processor is the best to keep up the retina going and everything running smoothly as it already is.

 

[d0vr]

Just don't worry. the iPad 1 was the best and fastest tablet in its time. The iPad 2 was also the same. Very smart people work at apple they'll know which processor is the best to keep up the retina going and everything running smoothly as it already is.

********, very smart marketing people know exactly how much processing power to put in so they can save what they've already developed for the next update.

I'm going to be pissed if we see another S series device. I'll probably start looking at androids if Apple doesn't start innovating like the company I once knew it was. The tab looked decent, especially the 8" model.

 

[Jamo12]

********, very smart marketing people know exactly how much processing power to put in so they can save what they've already developed for the next update.

I'm going to be pissed if we see another S series device. I'll probably start looking at androids if Apple doesn't start innovating like the company I once knew it was. The tab looked decent, especially the 8" model.

You will be angry if this happens. The 96% of people who buy them, who know almost nothing about specs and all of that, will end up making this the most sold version of the iPad. Apple will not shed a tear over a few people leaving them when they are gaining more than ten-fold in new costumers.

 

[iSee]

You understand that Unix know how to use multithreaded software?
Just do a top on your iPad and you will see at least 40 processes running.

That is why a quod core 1ghz will beat a 1.5ghz dual core on Unix, especially with Apples Grand Central dispatch.

Scaling over many processors is a windows problem and for people who believe that they only use one program at a time.

The capability of an OS to make use of additional cores has NOT been generally solved (whether Unix-based or otherwise). Also, there can be dozens of processes and a hundred thread, but that doesn't mean they have any work to do. Threads are almost always just waiting around for user input, an I/O operation to complete or other external events.

It's hard for any of us to really know what the relative impact of a faster dual core vs. slower quad core would be on the user experience for an iPad. My gut says the iPad rarely maxes out two cores for any length of time and therefore would benefit from faster cores not more of them.

I'd expect that Apple has actually measured it.

Of course one reason to add more cores is to open up new capabilities that weren't possible or practical before. Those kind of things are difficult to measure because, well, you can't measure something that doesn't exist yet. Nevertheless, computationally intensive tasks just aren't a good fit for a portable device like the iPad anyway. So I doubt Apple (or anyone else who likes battery life and light devices) has much interest in going in that direction anyway.

Unless I've missed my guess on how heavily two cores are being used, I doubt Quad-core is a good fit for the iPad.

 

[d0vr]

You will be angry if this happens. The 96% of people who buy them, who know almost nothing about specs and all of that, will end up making this the most sold version of the iPad. Apple will not shed a tear over a few people leaving them when they are gaining more than ten-fold in new costumers.

Oh I know that apple doesn't care about the few people who actually have a clue about technology. Anyway, here is what I want:

March 7: iPad 3 with retina, 3 cores (fitting I think, but nobody likes this train of thought), and LTE 4G.

Before Christmas: 7.5-8" iPad mini (using this A5X chip perhaps?), would be great to see it with an LCD/e-ink hybrid to be used as an e-book reader. But again, probably dreaming.

If those were created, I'd buy both. The big one for business, and the small one for reading a book, watching a movie, anything on the move.

What I'm expecting:
March 7: iPad 2S.