iPad mini rMini vs. 1st gen Mini: Safari Tabs

[roland.g]

I know there is a lot of talk regarding the screen, etc. But my biggest gripe about my original Mini is that it seems every time I go into Safari, it is reloading pages/tabs. And oddly enough this isn't just in switching from one tab to another, but if I go from Safari to another app and back to the same tab I was on in Safari, it still reloads.

I have tried quitting most background apps, closing all tabs, and rebooting the Mini, and then opening only 3-5 tabs at most, but from what I can tell, it still suffers from this issue.

Can anyone who has either had both the original Mini and new Retina, or at least the new one comment on Safari and tab reloading (or hopefully the Mini not always needing to), as this is probably my biggest concern in upgrading. Yes I want the nicer screen and faster response, but really I hate having to wait for something I was just looking at to reload.

Thanks.

 

[NeoiPad]

The same happens to me on my iPad Air.


1GB of ram it's not enough for a 64bit OS and Apps

 

[mr.steevo]

I shake my fist at Ive, Cook, and you Jobs! Stop thinking about your stock price and give us enough RAM.

 

[g35]

I only had a week to use an original mini last month, but my retina mini is frequently reloading old tabs and apps, and I never have more than 3 open at a time anyway. Luckily it's fast enough that the app will appear very quickly upon reloading, but it's a little frustrating to buy what's billed as a top-of-the-line product that still can't handle a few tabs. You'd think that with the price increase they could throw in an extra $10 worth of memory.

I'm sure it's better than the old mini but it's noticeably suffering from lack of RAM.

 

[scupking]

Next iPad will have 1.5GBs of ram. Apple likes putting in just enough to get you by.

 

[RufusRyker]

The same happens to me on my iPad Air.


1GB of ram it's not enough for a 64bit OS and Apps

I tested my iPad Air against my iPad 4. Fresh re-start, cleared the cache, and opened the same websites one by one. After opening a website, I'd go back to the 1st tab to see if it re-loaded. The result was the iPad Air opened the exact same number of tabs as the iPad 4, before it had to re-load the first tab.

 

[OzyOly]

The same happens to me on my iPad Air.


1GB of ram it's not enough for a 64bit OS and Apps

Why would that make any difference? 64bits is just how memory is addressed, it shouldn't matter if you have 1GB or 2^32bits in 32bit or 64bit.

 

[Vanilla35]

I'm thinking 2GB ram would help this a lot, but I'm questioning whether part of it is Safari. Has anyone tested this with Chrome? It may have to reload too, but maybe it holds more tabs before forcing a reload.

 

[ciaran00]

I'm thinking 2GB ram would help this a lot, but I'm questioning whether part of it is Safari. Has anyone tested this with Chrome? It may have to reload too, but maybe it holds more tabs before forcing a reload.

I exclusively use Chrome. The tab reload behavior on my Air reminds me of my experience on my iPad 1, which was well known as a RAM gimped device. Don't even try and open 9to5Mac.com on Chrome.. you will hate yourself.

The force reload happens on every tab switch. Each and every switch, yep.

 

[Vanilla35]

I exclusively use Chrome. The tab reload behavior on my Air reminds me of my experience on my iPad 1, which was well known as a RAM gimped device. Don't even try and open 9to5Mac.com on Chrome.. you will hate yourself.

The force reload happens on every tab switch. Each and every switch, yep.

Wow that's pretty shiitty, not gonna lie

 

[deeddawg]

I exclusively use Chrome.

I quit using Chrome a couple months ago due to generally crappy performance vs. Safari. And that's on an ipad3 with iOS6.

 

[AppleRobert]

I'm thinking 2GB ram would help this a lot, but I'm questioning whether part of it is Safari. Has anyone tested this with Chrome? It may have to reload too, but maybe it holds more tabs before forcing a reload.

I just opened ten tabs with Safari. My rMini does not reload any one of them going through each randomly and no crashes either.

 

[Vanilla35]

I just opened ten tabs with Safari. My rMini does not reload any one of them going through each randomly and no crashes either.

That's good to hear. If you switch apps and come back though I bet they'll reload. Like going to messager to send a text then going back. But it's not too bad if you're just browsing non-stop then.

My safari crashes every once in a while on my 5S. It depends on the site, but specifically blackboard which I use for school a lot crashes often. It's highly annoying

 

[ciaran00]

I quit using Chrome a couple months ago due to generally crappy performance vs. Safari. And that's on an ipad3 with iOS6.

I'd love to not use chrome but safari bookmark sync is very undependable, and with a Mac, iPhone, and ipad one of these devices will stop syncing within days. Chrome bookmark sync is rock solid and even shows up on my windows 8 laptop. Safari also doesn't let you request the desktop version of the site on any site.

Not to mention there's no contest between safari and chrome on a Mac. Extensions, extensions, extensions.

I'd love to stop using chrome, but frankly there's no real alternative for me.

 

[NeoiPad]

Why would that make any difference? 64bits is just how memory is addressed, it shouldn't matter if you have 1GB or 2^32bits in 32bit or 64bit.

It matters because 64bit optimized apps are bigger in size, they use more ram

 

[OzyOly]

It matters because 64bit optimized apps are bigger in size, they use more ram

Why use more Ram? Website don't suddenly contain more data.

Edit - Oh right, the application is loaded into the RAM. But still, why so much extra overhead. Unless 64bit data types or addressing is needed, it shouldn't have to be used everywhere in the program.
And unless something is seriously wrong, safari on iOS should never approach 1GB of RAM usage.

 

[Capt T]

I normally have about 6 tabs open at any given time. Some times they reload, most times they don't. It depends on how much stuff is in the background running, as far as I can tell.

There are some apps that are still using memory if they are in the 'tray'. It happened on all my iPads. Close out some of the apps and see if you still have the issue. I tend to close them every couple of days. If Safari seems to be reloading a lot, I close the background apps and it stops. Not unlike on my laptop, if a program starts running slow, I close out stuff I am not using to free up memory.

Also I did a fresh start with the iPad air. Did not bring in a back up of my old iPad. I do this when I get a new laptop as well. In my mind it is to not bring any past issues, that may or may not be there, forward to the new device.

YMMV but it works for me.