32GB vs 64GB iPad

[ThatsMeRight]

But the iPad has 3 big holes (the iPhone has two small ones: 1 mic and 1 sound) for music so we can assume the iPad can produce a louder and better sound. If there's some company it would be nice if you could quickly play some music).

Or in the summer when people are visiting you and you guys are in the garden. There's no music installation out there (at least, I assume there isn't). Just put the iPad on the table and there's your music.

 

[MattWylde]

But the iPad has 3 big holes (the iPhone has two small ones: 1 mic and 1 sound) for music so we can assume the iPad can produce a louder and better sound. If there's some company it would be nice if you could quickly play some music).

Or in the summer when people are visiting you and you guys are in the garden. There's no music installation out there (at least, I assume there isn't). Just put the iPad on the table and there's your music.

I was watching one of the hands-on demonstrations that Apple gave to a few select people on the date they announced the iPad. The gal from Apple that was giving the reporter the demonstration actually commented about how loud the speaker was.

 

[flynz4]

For me, the form factor of the iPad is not right for listening to music. I have a 160GB iPod Classic that has all of my music. It fits in my pocket as I wander around the plane during my long trips. We use a Bose Sounddock II with the iPod for our frequent travel to our beach condo at the coast... or for other local trips. I am going to keep the music on my iPod... and only keep a very small collection of maybe a few thousand favorite songs/albums on the iPad. I will let this "favorites" playlist auto sync with the iPad because it will change, and slowly grow over time.

My photos will not fit on the iPad, but they are currently unedited. I am undergoing a major project in Aperture to categorize, rate, and put top photos into a few dozen albums and smart albums. I think that will end up being MUCH better than my current un-culled mess. I plan to auto sync my albums to my iPad.

Books are tiny, and I can probably keep them all on the iPad without consequences.... so between my small amount of music, my edited photo albums, my ebooks, and my apps... I suspect that I could fit within 32GB (but not 16GB).

Which leaves video -- By ordering the 64GB version... I'll be able to keep about 20 videos resident on the iPad at any given time. These will be manually managed through iTunes.

Hence... I am getting the 64GB version, which will OK for the first year until Gen 2 arrives presumably next year. I suspect that we will see rapid growth in storage from year to year. We will also see an explosion of cloud based content... especially as 3G gets replaced by WiMax and other 4G technologies... depending upon geography. The current 3G is quite inadequate... but for all practical purposes, it is all that we have for a while.

I am planning to probably buy a new iPad each year for the next several years as this product line quickly develops. I will personally use the "year N" technology, and waterfall "N-1" to my wife who could care less about technology... and will probably retire "N-2" technology.

/Jim

 

[ZBoater]

If $100 is going to break your bank, perhaps you shouldn't be buying an iPad in the first place...

$100 for 32GB is a good deal. The cheapest I've seen 32GB SD cards is about $70, and considering the iPad is a closed system and cannot be upgraded, it's an even better deal.

I have yet to see anyone complain about having too much space...

If you can afford it, get it.

 

[FlashHead]

If you can afford it, go with the 64GB. If you think you MIGHT want to spill over the 32GB limit (really more like 29GB) you'll kick hate yourself for being cheap up front.

If you can't afford the jump from $729 to $829 maybe you should re-consider whether you can afford one at all.

I was in pretty much the same position as you. (My space eating content though is video I use for my work). I'm pretty sure the 32GB model will suffice, but not positive. Additionally, I also figured since photos, apps, ebooks/mags (with interactive video, etc,) and movies may end up being larger in size for the iPad than than we currently experience for the iPhone/iPod Touch, it would be a good idea to have room to grow into it.

As the wise man once said: GO BIG OR GO HOME

Caveats:
1. I can afford it.
2. I don't usually feel the need to rush out and buy the next gen of every device. I still am quite happy with 1st gen iPod Touch. Needing new hardware to access a comprehensive 4G network is about the only hardware upgrade I could see me re-buying a whole new device for. If that happens, it will still likely be a couple of years away. But if you're going to buy a new iPad next year will the fact that you spent $829 instead of $729 really affect that decision?

 

[BruiserBear]

people keep saying 64GB is better for resell. it is all relative. 64GB keeps better value but you paid more. with tech changing and depreciating so fast, the more you pay, the more you will lose.

Exactly.

The 64gb model is a better bargain $$ for the memory you get.

Mathmatically speaking you are completely wrong.

 

[robotkiller]

Exactly.



Mathmatically speaking you are completely wrong.

If you go by this chart, the 32GB version is sold at 2.314 x the cost of manufacture. The 64GB version is 2.199 x the cost

 

[rabbisound]

go 32, seriously 64 is too small to hold your iTunes lib so what's the point you're still going to have to be selective as to what music and film you put on it so I'll save some bucks and do a 32, when FLASH catches up to to hard disc size then I'll go big but at the moment big = small so why bother.

we aint gonna see a macbook line refresh until after the ipads ship, apple wants us buying an ipad first then the macbook pro we really need.

 

[4DThinker]

Mathmatically speaking you are completely wrong.

I hope you're not an accountant. I'll go slow:

$499/16gb = 83.17/gb.
$599/32gb = 18.72/gb.
$699/64gb = 10.92/gb.

Or look at it this way:
The first 16gb increase (to 32gb) costs an additional $100.
An increase of 48gb (from 16gb to 64gb) costs $200.
Which is the better number:
$100/16 = 6.25/gb
$200/48 = 4.17/gb

Or look at it this way:
The first 16gb bump costs $100. $100/16 is still 6.25/gb
The next 32gb bump costs $100. $100/32 is 3.13/gb

Or maybe the iPad uses 16gb chips (1x, 2x, 4x) in all models. Look at it this way:
A 16gb chip is worth $29.41ish.
32gb, or 2 16gb chips is worth $29.41+29.41= $58.82.
64gb. or 4 16gb chips is worth 29.41 * 4 = $117.64.
An iPad with 16gb would cost around $219. 32gb for $248.41. 64gb for $307.23.
Relative price less cost (profit) for each model would be:
$499 - $219 = $280 or $17.5/gb
$599 - $248.41 = $350.59 or $10.96/gb
$699 - $307.23 = $391.77 or $6.12/gb
Apple makes more money on the higher prices models, Obvious. You both pay less per gb and Apple makes less per gb on the 64gb model.

Don't worry. Apple is still making plenty of profit no matter which you buy.

 

[BruiserBear]

I hope you're not an accountant. I'll go slow:

$499/16gb = 83.17/gb.
$599/32gb = 18.72/gb.
$699/64gb = 10.92/gb.

Or look at it this way:
The first 16gb increase (to 32gb) costs an additional $100.
An increase of 48gb (from 16gb to 64gb) costs $200.
Which is the better number:
$100/16 = 6.25/gb
$200/48 = 4.17/gb

Or look at it this way:
The first 16gb bump costs $100. $100/16 is still 6.25/gb
The next 32gb bump costs $100. $100/32 is 3.13/gb

Or maybe the iPad uses 16gb chips (1x, 2x, 4x) in all models. Look at it this way:
A 16gb chip is worth $29.41ish.
32gb, or 2 16gb chips is worth $29.41+29.41= $58.82.
64gb. or 4 16gb chips is worth 29.41 * 4 = $117.64.
An iPad with 16gb would cost around $219. 32gb for $248.41. 64gb for $307.23.
Relative price less cost (profit) for each model would be:
$499 - $219 = $280 or $17.5/gb
$599 - $248.41 = $350.59 or $10.96/gb
$699 - $307.23 = $391.77 or $6.12/gb
Apple makes more money on the higher prices models, Obvious. You both pay less per gb and Apple makes less per gb on the 64gb model.

Don't worry. Apple is still making plenty of profit no matter which you buy.

The math I was talking about was about the 16gb model. For $500 they give you the entire device with 16gb of memory. For $200 extra, or 40% of the cost of the device itself, they'll give you an additional 48gb of memory. From a pure value perspective the 16gb model is the best deal.

 

[robotkiller]

The math I was talking about was about the 16gb model. For $500 they give you the entire device with 16gb of memory. For $200 extra, or 40% of the cost of the device itself, they'll give you an additional 48gb of memory. From a pure value perspective the 16gb model is the best deal.

From a pure value perspective, the 32GB is the worst value of the lot.

EDIT: Not that this should really factor in to which iPad to get.

 

[Spudracer]

I ordered the 64GB model but I honestly don't know that I'm going to fill that up. I keep all my ripped music files (about 20GB of 128KB files) on an iMac. I create playlists of 1,000 - 2,000 songs and move them on and off my iPhone every few months. That seems to be fine for me. I use 4 - 8 GB of storage and don't seem to get tired of the playlists while working out or traveling. I bought the largest memory I could because the iPad being a content device, I fear that I may actually fill the thing up.....with something. Movies, pictures, music, magazines, books, newspapers. Seems like more is more for a device like this.

 

[4DThinker]

I ordered the 64GB model but I honestly don't know that I'm going to fill that up. I keep all my ripped music files (about 20GB of 128KB files) on an iMac. I create playlists of 1,000 - 2,000 songs and move them on and off my iPhone every few months. That seems to be fine for me. I use 4 - 8 GB of storage and don't seem to get tired of the playlists while working out or traveling. I bought the largest memory I could because the iPad being a content device, I fear that I may actually fill the thing up.....with something. Movies, pictures, music, magazines, books, newspapers. Seems like more is more for a device like this.

Ya know, with that Archos 9 you seem to like, you can access any media off your home networked devices to play. I play DVD files, music, and access any documents I need off my shared network Hard Drive. And because I could upgrade it myself with a 128gb SSD I've got plenty of room to park several movies and all my music on it when I want to leave the house. I just copy them over via Wifi.

 

[Spudracer]

Ya know, with that Archos 9 you seem to like, you can access any media off your home networked devices to play. I play DVD files, music, and access any documents I need off my shared network Hard Drive. And because I could upgrade it myself with a 128gb SSD I've got plenty of room to park several movies and all my music on it when I want to leave the house. I just copy them over via Wifi.

I'll keep that in mind if I ever want a tinker toy experience. Right now I'd just like something that actually works well out of the box and that's not the Archos.

 

[Chris Rogers]

I just changed my order to a 64GB 3G. Now if only it were "late April" already haha

I'm having the same 'issue about my order as you.

Do you 'lose your spot'? Did you update or just make another order?

 

[tivoboy]

First off, how much is $100 if you put it on a credit card? Probably hundreds of dollars more if someone used a credit card like you seem to be suggesting, and paid interest month after month after month.

Well, it is NOT going to be "hundreds of $$ more" as you say for the extra 100$, it might be dozens of $$ depending on interest rate, but several hundreds is it NOT going to be. One would have to wait nearly a DECADE to pay off that extra 100$, for it to be HUNDREDS more.

 

[wingnut8]

I want to go with a 64GB, but may end up going with a 16. My iPhone is a 32GB and has 2 gigs free. I don't really want to have to update my music on two devices all the time. I would just put a few movies at a time on a 16GB iPad.

 

[MattWylde]

I'm having the same 'issue about my order as you.

Do you 'lose your spot'? Did you update or just make another order?

I cancelled my previous order and placed a new order. Time will tell if the "lose your place in line" theory holds true. I hope I get my 3G the same day as everyone else, but if not at least this way I'm getting what I really want.

If you called Apple, they might be able to change your order and "hold your spot", but since you're changing units I don't see how they could.

 

[BruiserBear]

Well, it is NOT going to be "hundreds of $$ more" as you say for the extra 100$, it might be dozens of $$ depending on interest rate, but several hundreds is it NOT going to be. One would have to wait nearly a DECADE to pay off that extra 100$, for it to be HUNDREDS more.

A lot of people who carry credit card debts do so for most of their lives, so I stand by what I said. Especially if they pay the mnimum payment, which is exactly what the person suggested when they made the original comment I replied to.

 

[applesupergeek]

I think people who buy the high capacity models will be really disappointed as the toshi nand chips for the ipod touches and iphones are just around the corner, and at max 6 months the ipads, along with the ipods and iphones are going to be getting them. 64gb isn't enough to pay for the premium price, but 128gb will be.

I am even tempted of going with the 16gb although I too was aiming at 64gb originally. But I figured 6 months wait to get a more future proof 128gb one would be a better choice.

And anyone with any cloud storage, be it mobileme, dropbox etc. can easily expand the capacity of their ipads pretty much at will, and who knows apple may even offer bac to my mac for the idevices in their next version, and there are certainly a lot of third party apps to do so already on the iphone, or you can access your home file nas server...there are just so many possibilities to infinitely expand local storage, I mean there's no point to store everything locally on the ipad, it doesn't make sense.

 

[flynz4]

I think people who buy the high capacity models will be really disappointed as the toshi nand chips for the ipod touches and iphones are just around the corner, and at max 6 months the ipads, along with the ipods and iphones are going to be getting them. 64gb isn't enough to pay for the premium price, but 128gb will be.

I am even tempted of going with the 16gb although I too was aiming at 64gb originally. But I figured 6 months wait to get a more future proof 128gb one would be a better choice.

And anyone with any cloud storage, be it mobileme, dropbox etc. can easily expand the capacity of their ipads pretty much at will, and who knows apple may even offer bac to my mac for the idevices in their next version, and there are certainly a lot of third party apps to do so already on the iphone, or you can access your home file nas server...there are just so many possibilities to infinitely expand local storage, I mean there's no point to store everything locally on the ipad, it doesn't make sense.

I think you are being a bit judgmental in your sweeping assessment, as this is really quite a personal decision.

I posted my analysis earlier in this thread. I could probably squeeze into a 32GB for the time being... but I would have to limit myself to just a couple of movies being resident. 64GB will give me a satisfactory choice of movies to keep on hand. For my usage, 128GB would not be significantly better than 64GB, with the obvious exception of having even more movies, but would certainly be reaching diminishing returns.

My "total data" is currently 580GB, as measured by my Crashplan+ cloud backup size. Anything less than that means that I need to use discretion on what I load... and what stays behind. I agree with you that few people would need to have "all their data"... especially as it reaches this level. Still some would need it all... and it is not my place to judge their needs.

Your second point is about cloud storage. I am a heavy user of the cloud with Mobile Me, Dropbox, IMAP mail accounts, xmarks synchronization, Crashplan+, and Mozy. I can access my data across of any of my four computers, plus my iPhone. Current 3G technology is too painful to take advantage of cloud storage... so until we get "fatter pipes" to our devices, having a reasonable amount of local storage is necessary.

For many, 32GB will be plenty... but I personally would feel cramped. 64GB should be enough during the ~1 year that I plan to use this device... before I hand it off to my wife who will be content with the device.

For me... getting a faster internet connection is a higher priority than getting more storage... but in any case, I will probably be upgrading on a yearly basis until I get a fast connection.

/Jim

 

[macduke]

My iPhone 3GS 32gb has 8.0gb free. That's even including six movies and two seasons of The Office. While the videos will be larger in size on the iPad, I will not be moving my music to my iPad aside from a small playlist (and probably won't have as many videos on there as I don't even watch all those videos on my iPhone). That doesn't even include all the video I've shot with the camera which I probably won't transfer either, along with many of my 11 pages of apps. I have an iPhone, which is always on me because its a phone, and a 15" MBP, books, and notepads that I bring to class. The iPad is replacing the latter for mobile computing to school, not the iPhone. It will also be shared in the living room with my wife. It will also not have Navigon's 1.4gb of maps that my iPhone currently has. 32gb makes sense for me and probably lots of other people who won't be loading much music onto their iPad because they already use iPods or iPhones for that, and they're bringing the iPad along in place of their laptop for web browsing, email, etc at the cafe or in class.

Plus my wife wants one for herself eventually (she doesn't have to have the latest and greatest--fine by me), so we talked about her inheriting this one if the next iPad update is worth it. That's also a big reason why I didn't buy the 3g. I figure 2011 is the year of the 4g, so I might as well wait and see if I can get an iPad 4g with 128gb, camera, Apple A5 chip and 12hr battery to really max it out for the next few years running iOS 5 and 6.

 

[Chupa Chupa]

Spend the $100, quit being cheap. You can't upgrade later, so do it now.

But then where do you stop if each step-up is "only" $100 more? You could rationalize the up sell until you are dead broke. Hey, it's just another $100.... The marketers just won.

I think the smarter thing to do is to think hard how it will be used and then buy what is needed. True, upgrading later isn't an option, but you can sell your current iPad and then buy again... maybe Gen 2 with more space & new refinements. It's not like you are only allowed to buy one iPad in a lifetime.

I hope you're not an accountant. I'll go slow:

$499/16gb = 83.17/gb.
$599/32gb = 18.72/gb.
$699/64gb = 10.92/gb.

Heh. I hope you are not an accountant b/c $499/16 = 31.18 not 83.17.

 

[macduke]

But then where do you stop if each step-up is "only" $100 more? You could rationalize the up sell until you are dead broke. Hey, it's just another $100.... The marketers just won.

I think the smarter thing to do is to think hard how it will be used and then buy what is needed. True, upgrading later isn't an option, but you can sell your current iPad and then buy again... maybe Gen 2 with more space & new refinements.

Yeah, that's why the economy is a mess right now. But its ok, we all have faith that the government will save us. He can buy his 64gb iPad now and worry about the consequences later. We are no longer responsible for our own actions. Don't you watch the news? Social responsibility now means that the responsibility is distributed amongst the population. Just like when you get hit by a car crossing the road. The more people that are around, the more the responsibility is distributed, making it less likely that anyone will actually help you at all. Wait--so that actually doesn't work. But you get the gist--right? Instant gratification FTW, bigger is better, what national debt? Oh America! My children are going to be so screwed. I should just not have any. What's the point?

 

[robotkiller]

Yeah, that's why the economy is a mess right now. But its ok, we all have faith that the government will save us. He can buy his 64gb iPad now and worry about the consequences later. We are no longer responsible for our own actions. Don't you watch the news? Social responsibility now means that the responsibility is distributed amongst the population. Just like when you get hit by a car crossing the road. The more people that are around, the more the responsibility is distributed, making it less likely that anyone will actually help you at all. Wait--so that actually doesn't work. But you get the gist--right? Instant gratification FTW, bigger is better, what national debt? Oh America! My children are going to be so screwed. I should just not have any. What's the point?

It bears repeating: If you can't afford a $100 upgrade you CANNOT afford an iPad.