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Will 16GB be enough for me?

M

marty1990

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Nov 25, 2011
418
25
England
Hey there.

After toying with the idea of getting an Android tablet, I've decided that I'm not going down that route, and am gonna stick with Apple. Although I have an Android phone. MADNESS EH?

Anyway, I'm unsure about whether the 16GB model would be enough for me.

The necessary apps I want are iPhoto, Pages, Adobe Photoshop Touch, Adobe Ideas, and maybe iMovie.

For entertainment, I want some music on, but not too much. Maybe 5GB? I'm getting a Nano this week (trading in my old phone + £20 for a used, good condition 16GB one), so that would be my main source for music, the iPad would just be my favourite stuff, or new stuff I'm currently listening to. To be fair, I only have about 17GB of music on my Mac anyway. Finally I'd want some games. Again, not a lot. I wasn't even considering games until I went on my friends iPad 2 today and played GTA3. I'd probably want that, possibly Infinity Blade, although am not sold on it that much, and then maybe Angry Birds and similar games to that. For films, I don't want many on at all. In fact I want three. The Back to the Future Trilogy. That's it. I've seen a bundle on iTunes, and it comes to 4.86GB, so am presuming that's SD.

... and reading that back it seems like that would be too much for a 16GB iPad, considering 2GB are taken up by the OS.

What do you reckon? Would the apps take up a huge amount?

... although, looking at the size of apps, along with what I've suggested for music and the films, it amounts to about 11GB. That look about right? 3GB spare?
 
Last edited:
my opinion would be go for the 32 GB. I figure that with all the photos, movies, etc. the "saved" files will start taking up some space. Also, you won't have to manage it as efficiently as the 16GB model.
Games, movies, images, these things will start to take up space, and the want of additional apps will increase. It won't be a huge difference, but if you want everything on your iPad, and want to avoid removing and re-adding apps, music, games, movies, etc. then go for the 32 GB.

A tip for music: Create a gmail account (unless you already have one) and upload your music to Google Music. I believe you can upload 20,000 songs for FREE. There are a few apps in the app store that also integrate Google Music (not free).
I believe gMusic is a great app for Google Music: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/gmusic-a-google-music-player/id472342018?mt=8

but it's about $2.

EDIT: sry if this reads horrible. My brain just seems to be wanting to collapse. :D
 
marty1990 said:
Hey there.

After toying with the idea of getting an Android tablet, I've decided that I'm not going down that route, and am gonna stick with Apple. Although I have an Android phone. MADNESS EH?

Anyway, I'm unsure about whether the 16GB model would be enough for me.

The necessary apps I want are iPhoto, Pages, Adobe Photoshop Touch, Adobe Ideas, and maybe iMovie.

For entertainment, I want some music on, but not too much. Maybe 5GB? I'm getting a Nano this week (trading in my old phone + £20 for a used, good condition 16GB one), so that would be my main source for music, the iPad would just be my favourite stuff, or new stuff I'm currently listening to. To be fair, I only have about 17GB of music on my Mac anyway. Finally I'd want some games. Again, not a lot. I wasn't even considering games until I went on my friends iPad 2 today and played GTA3. I'd probably want that, possibly Infinity Blade, although am not sold on it that much, and then maybe Angry Birds and similar games to that. For films, I don't want many on at all. In fact I want three. The Back to the Future Trilogy. That's it. I've seen a bundle on iTunes, and it comes to 4.86GB, so am presuming that's SD.

... and reading that back it seems like that would be too much for a 16GB iPad, considering 2GB are taken up by the OS.

What do you reckon? Would the apps take up a huge amount?

... although, looking at the size of apps, along with what I've suggested for music and the films, it amounts to about 11GB. That look about right? 3GB spare?
Click to expand...

You've skipped over the most important information, how you intend to use it. If you never leave the house then 16GB should be fine. If you plan on traveling with it, then it may not be enough. You seen to be interested in both photo and video apps and with 3GB of possible overhead, you don't leave a lot of room for photos/videos.

And you really plan on keeping the Back to the Future trilogy on your iPad 24/7 and no other movies?
 
Marty,

From what you've written, it seems as if you want your iPad to be a nice little portable media hub (iPhoto, iMovie, Photoshop).

Similar to you, I keep most of my music, if not all of it, on my iPod Nano. However, I also keep about 30 some-odd apps on my iPad, a handful of movies (HD and SD), and photos/drawings that I work on.

I've always had the 32 GB iPad, from the first generation to now. I've used up roughly 2/3 of the space consistently, so about 18-19 GB worth (remember, it has about 29 GB of actual storage space.)


With the 16 GB iPad, you only have about 14 GB. With the trilogy you want, that knocks it down to about 9 GB. Assume all the essential apps together will put you around 8GB left.

iMovie + GTA3 will put you at around 7.5 GB. The 5GB of music puts you at 2.5 GB for photos/movies you want to edit, and any other apps/games.

That being said, I'd suggest the 32GB iPad. It offers more room for apps you want, instead of fighting for space you need.

Hope that helps :)
 
I have the 16 gig iPad 2. No movies, no tunes at all (use iPods and atv for those) and its still not enough. Defiantly get 32 or 64 if you can afford it.
 
Apple fanboy said:
I have the 16 gig iPad 2. No movies, no tunes at all (use iPods and atv for those) and its still not enough. Defiantly get 32 or 64 if you can afford it.
Click to expand...

^Also bear in mind, the 3rd Gen iPad has retina display graphics, which more and more apps are taking advantage of. They will inevitably take up more storage space.
 
The really nice looking games tend to take up a gig or more of space. I had a 16 GB iPad 2 and was constantly having to make room for stuff because I had a lot of games, books, and apps on it. Retina updates will bump the storage up a bit too. When the new iPad came out, I chose to bump the storage up to 32 GB rather than get the LTE 16 GB. (I had not planned on using LTE monthly anyway.)

If you can afford it, go 32 GB. If not, you'll just have to be wary of how much space you're using. Won't make the iPad any less fun to use.
 
you mention wanting to use iPhoto and iMovie on your iPad but didn't mention how you intend on using those apps...

you should consider how many photos & movies you intend to store and edit on your iPad, as well as the source of those (from built-in camera? or imported from a DSLR or other camera?). Storage space for those could easily eat up a lot of space. I'm guessing you may be trying to squeeze a little too much into the 16GB?

p.s. an aside - you mentioned wanting to use Adobe Photoshop Touch - if your intent is to use that for editing photos, you should know that that app has max output resolution of 1600x1600
 
Thinking about it, I probably wouldn't use iMovie. I don't do any video editing, I think it's more just to 'have' it on an iPad. I've got it on my Mac anyway.

ANYWAY.

The iPad 3 32GB is £499. Now that's a hefty amount for me to pay, and I don't know whether I could justify spending that much, hence me wanting the 16GB version. But obviously I'd be tight for space, so I've looked at iPad 2's, but they don't do the 32GB version new, however they do do it refurbished for £359.

Would I notice a dramatic difference between a 2 and a 3? I know the Retina display is a major update, and the camera and the quad core graphics are an improvement also... but is there any noticeable difference between the two?
 
Just because the new iPad came out doesn't make the iPad 2 suddenly a pile of rubish. To be honest you would only really have a problem if you use the new one and then go back to the 2. I did a side by side comparison and it wasn't like that much of a difference in speed and display for me.
 
Apple fanboy said:
Just because the new iPad came out doesn't make the iPad 2 suddenly a pile of rubish. To be honest you would only really have a problem if you use the new one and then go back to the 2. I did a side by side comparison and it wasn't like that much of a difference in speed and display for me.
Click to expand...

I agree. The 2012 model isn't groundbreaking. Not everyone is affected massively by the doubled pixel density. Personally I'm not. The iPad 2 is an excellent device, and I would suggest buying it if getting the 2012 one limits you to 16GB (14 really). It's just a lot more freedom to add what you want.

My iPhone 4 is 16GB, which started out great but over time my music and app collection has grown, and it came to a point where I've had to manage my space more carefully. On the otherhand, my 32 (29) GB iPad 2 has allowed for plenty of expandage over time, and I'm down to 8GB left.
 
I had no choice because 16GB is all I could afford. Once I have enough saved in a few months after bills etc, I'm selling my 16GB iPad 3 on Craigslist and upgrading to a 4G Verizon 32GB version.

I realize 16GB is simply not enough for me
 
32 gigs seemed to be the sweet spot for me. I know I'll never use a full 64 and from past experience, having too little memory SUCKS. Managing apps, music, pics, etc. all the time is a hassle, IMO.

I'd go with the 32 gig just to be safe, but that's just me.
 
A good rule of thumb...

If you have joined an iPad forum on the internet, the odds that the lowest capacity iPad will suffice for you are about the same as the odds of your grandmother joining an iPad forum on the internet.
 
trife said:
32 gigs seemed to be the sweet spot for me. I know I'll never use a full 64 and from past experience, having too little memory SUCKS. Managing apps, music, pics, etc. all the time is a hassle, IMO.

I'd go with the 32 gig just to be safe, but that's just me.
Click to expand...

Same here... But I stepped up and got a 64GB anyways. Glad I did, still have 40GB free.
 
Hmmm.

Thinking about it, 32GB is gonna be just right for me.

Now I dunno what to do, because the 3 is an extra £80 more than the lowest prices iPad 3, but £100 more than a 32GB iPad 2.

And I dunno whether the A5X chip, Retina screen and 5MP camera are that much of an upgrade to warrant an extra £100... but if I got the 3 then it would have better resale value in a years time.

So many decisions.
 
marty1990 said:
Hmmm.

Thinking about it, 32GB is gonna be just right for me.

Now I dunno what to do, because the 3 is an extra £80 more than the lowest prices iPad 3, but £100 more than a 32GB iPad 2.

And I dunno whether the A5X chip, Retina screen and 5MP camera are that much of an upgrade to warrant an extra £100... but if I got the 3 then it would have better resale value in a years time.

So many decisions.
Click to expand...

How immediate do you want our iPad. Maybe you can wait for refurbs although I'm not entirely sure how long the wait would be for Apple to release them...
 
Preferably sooner rather than later. Although at the moment am still sorting out my money. But in the next month, I should think.
 
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