Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

bscheffel

macrumors 6502
Jul 17, 2008
369
683
Same here, hence I have my doubts about the 2021 Pro getting 8GB RAM,Apple are very hard headed when it comes to upgrading RAM, we just need to look at how long they took to go from 4GB RAM to 6GB RAM on the iPad Pros lol.

I think people who want to believe that the new Pro will come with 8GB RAM may be in for a rude awakening, this happens time and time again.

Apple will probably bring 8GB RAM in 2022 or 2023 in iOS and iPad OS products.
Sadly I agree with you. History strongly implies that they will stick with 6GB for a another cycle. They are very stingy with RAM.
 

iamMacPerson

macrumors 68040
Jun 12, 2011
3,488
1,927
AZ/10.0.1.1
I don't know I think this might be the year we see 8GB across the board. Again, circling back to things I’ve said elsewhere in this forum iPad Pro’s competition will be coming in the way of the MacBook Air and not some other tablet. If Apple truly is bringing the Pro Apps like FCPX to it, they are going to have to make it on par or better than the MacBook Air. Speaking from a place of knowing a lot of editors and being one myself, we don’t care for change and it’s going to take a lot to convince people to give up keyboards and mice when it comes to precision editing.

I know someone is gonna say you can connect a keyboard and mouse to an iPad, that’s true. But it still functions differently than on a Mac. And the main point is now we’re up an additional $100-$200 in accessories alone, or $349 if you go first party. If the A14X is on par with the M1 performance wise, but the iPad has 2GB less RAM and half the storage of the MacBook Air, weighs more than the MacBook Air when you attach the Magic Keyboard, has a smaller screen with less real estate, and costs $349 more than the MacBook Air when you tack on the Magic Keyboard, then what’s the point? If that’s the case and I’m looking for an ultra portable FCPX machine I would get the MacBook Air if no other reason than having the double the storage.

If Apple wants to expand the reach of iPad and expand iPad Pro’s user base, they will have to make it spec for spec like the MacBook Air. Otherwise, it will just keep it’s appeal among creatives who need a touch screen and that is not, IMO, video editors.
 

TheRealAlex

macrumors 68030
Original poster
Sep 2, 2015
2,988
2,252
All I need is a 14” new designed MacBook Pro M1X. 16GB RAM 512GB SSD, at $1499 there goes my Stimi Check.
 
  • Haha
Reactions: LFC2020

Abazigal

Contributor
Jul 18, 2011
20,395
23,899
Singapore
Speaking from a place of knowing a lot of editors and being one myself, we don’t care for change and it’s going to take a lot to convince people to give up keyboards and mice when it comes to precision editing.
Somehow, I don't think that Apple is too worried about converting Macbook users to iPad Pro users, so long as they continue using Apple hardware.

This is why I have never really been too enthusiastic about trying to make the iPad more like a Mac. To me, that's what the Mac is for - to do the heavy lifting so the iPad is free to remain as light as it is. If those people you speak of don't care for change, then don't change. I don't see why Apple has to bend over backwards and turn the iPad into something it's not just to cater to the group of you whom by your very admission are happily working away on your Mac computers.
 
  • Like
Reactions: LibbyLA

macdogpro

macrumors 6502a
Jul 22, 2020
656
494
I don’t think 8gb RAM or more would be beneficial for how the way iPadOS operates currently.
Unless more pro apps start using maximum RAM like Procrete for their layers.
Nice to see RAM bump for each year though.
 
  • Like
Reactions: BillyiPad95

rui no onna

Contributor
Oct 25, 2013
14,921
13,273
I don’t think 8gb RAM or more would be beneficial for how the way iPadOS operates currently.
Unless more pro apps start using maximum RAM like Procrete for their layers.
Nice to see RAM bump for each year though.
I've seen websites use 1GB RAM on Safari on my M1 Mac. I highly doubt they're radically more efficient on Safari for iPadOS which would explain why my 2GB RAM iPads would constantly crash on certain complex sites. Even my 4GB iPads have experienced more frequent crashes. Heck, had to restart the 2017 Pro 12.9 yesterday because Safari crashed and would keep crashing on reload even after I killed off all background apps.

Desktop website support on iPadOS is nice but it came at a price. More RAM should help with keeping things in memory for multitasking considering iOS does not support swap and not all apps have save state.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: BillyiPad95

Freida

Suspended
Oct 22, 2010
4,077
5,874
Of course RAM would be beneficial. In what world RAM is not beneficial? It ALWAYS IS!
Why do you think Apple (and other vendors) keep increasing RAM with years? There is never enough RAM :)
Whats hard is to find the right balance but iPad Pro certainly needs a lot. Especially now that it will actually be entering the territory of pro apps.

I don’t think 8gb RAM or more would be beneficial for how the way iPadOS operates currently.
Unless more pro apps start using maximum RAM like Procrete for their layers.
Nice to see RAM bump for each year though.
 
  • Like
Reactions: BillyiPad95

macdogpro

macrumors 6502a
Jul 22, 2020
656
494
I've seen websites use 1GB RAM on Safari on my M1 Mac. I highly doubt they're radically more efficient on Safari for iPadOS which would explain why my 2GB RAM iPads would constantly crash on certain complex sites. Even my 4GB iPads have experienced more frequent crashes. Heck, had to restart the 2017 Pro 12.9 yesterday because Safari crashed and would keep crashing on reload even after I killed off all background apps.

Desktop website support on iPadOS is nice but it came at a price. More RAM should help with keeping things in memory for multitasking considering iOS does not support swap and not all apps have save state.
I never find my Safari on my iPad Pro 11” 2020 refreshing pages. Maybe I never let too many pages open at a time.
And the only time my iPad crashes is when I played COD mobile too long. And that is considered a AAA game title on iPadOS.

The reason why I keep saying this that on many system monitoring app, shows that the OS barely uses 2gb on normal usage, that’s why I expect not many apps using significant amount of RAM more than 4gb. Of course more RAM is always good. I‘m just saying both apps and iPadOS not utilizing the given 6gb RAM, let alone 8gb. But ofcourse that could be changing in the future.

Of course RAM would be beneficial. In what world RAM is not beneficial? It ALWAYS IS!
Why do you think Apple (and other vendors) keep increasing RAM with years? There is never enough RAM :)
Whats hard is to find the right balance but iPad Pro certainly needs a lot. Especially now that it will actually be entering the territory of pro apps.
I’m not saying it isn’t. No need to exagerate.

Well the reasons vendors keep pushing RAM is another discussions, many factors for many reasons, be it for real needs (OS like Android and Windows), pushing the competition, or for just the sake they can and also make the product more premium and there for putting higher price tags.

Yes iPad Pro needs a lot, but, the iPadOS it self are the biggest limiting factor that won’t allow the system to benefit all the maximum RAM capacity given. Not many apps also using maximum 6gb RAM on my iPad Pro, and I use my ipad as my main computer with heavy video editing, graphic design and photo editing apps. My working files consist of hundres of gigabyte files. But in my experience the system monitoring app tells not many of them using maximum 6gb RAM, except Procreate.

I agree on the iPad will “actually be entering pro apps territory”, but I don’t see it coming on the near future, there’s no word on Apple’s own Final Cut nor Logic coming soon. I hope I’m wrong.
 

secretk

macrumors 65816
Oct 19, 2018
1,494
1,229
I never find my Safari on my iPad Pro 11” 2020 refreshing pages. Maybe I never let too many pages open at a time.
And the only time my iPad crashes is when I played COD mobile too long. And that is considered a AAA game title on iPadOS.
Do you have an iPad with 6GB RAM or with 4GB? My 4GB iPad does not crash as often as the 2GB RAM but it can crash for sure. Last time crashed twice because I had really big file in Notability (20 pages of notes, but 11 hours of audio recording). I do think that it had issues with the RAM and not the CPU.
The reason why I keep saying this that on many system monitoring app, shows that the OS barely uses 2gb on normal usage, that’s why I expect not many apps using significant amount of RAM more than 4gb. Of course more RAM is always good. I‘m just saying both apps and iPadOS not utilizing the given 6gb RAM, let alone 8gb. But ofcourse that could be changing in the future.
From what I have seen with a monitoring app, my 4GB RAM iPad constantly uses more than 2 GB RAM, but it does not surpass say 3 and that's normal it has only 4. It would make sense for iPadOS to restrict itself. Not sure how much it uses on 6GB device though.
I’m not saying it isn’t. No need to exagerate.

Well the reasons vendors keep pushing RAM is another discussions, many factors for many reasons, be it for real needs (OS like Android and Windows), pushing the competition, or for just the sake they can and also make the product more premium and there for putting higher price tags.
Interseting. This is not my experience. I actually do need more RAM because otherwise the iPad reloads tabs and apps and this annoys me. It is also not good UX for me. But I do have more sites open in Safari and this is how I use my devices. This is how I do research. This is my general workflow and I do this on my laptop, on my iPad and on my phone.
Yes iPad Pro needs a lot, but, the iPadOS it self are the biggest limiting factor that won’t allow the system to benefit all the maximum RAM capacity given. Not many apps also using maximum 6gb RAM on my iPad Pro, and I use my ipad as my main computer with heavy video editing, graphic design and photo editing apps. My working files consist of hundres of gigabyte files. But in my experience the system monitoring app tells not many of them using maximum 6gb RAM, except Procreate.

I agree on the iPad will “actually be entering pro apps territory”, but I don’t see it coming on the near future, there’s no word on Apple’s own Final Cut nor Logic coming soon. I hope I’m wrong.
iPadOS indeed needs a bit of rework if they want me to take the iPad Pro seriously as a pro machine. I am not sure indeed that iPadOS uses properly the RAM the iOS devices have. I see constant issues with multitasking from iOS 13 onwards. Not sure what was done but the devices I have struggle with both iOS and iPadOS they way they did not with iOS 14. I am all for not putting RAM if they can fix the issues caused by iOS 13 and iOS 14 but it seems they cannot. So the other option is more RAM.
 

iamMacPerson

macrumors 68040
Jun 12, 2011
3,488
1,927
AZ/10.0.1.1
I don’t think 8gb RAM or more would be beneficial for how the way iPadOS operates currently.
Unless more pro apps start using maximum RAM like Procrete for their layers.
Nice to see RAM bump for each year though.

When the 10.5" iPad Pro came out and it had 4GB of RAM I thought they were being crazy generous with the RAM. But that device was planned for the multitasking capabilities of iOS 11, even though it shipped with iOS 10. I have a feeling even if we don't see FCPX and Logic announced on the iPad right away we will see 8GB so it'll be ready for iPadOS 15.
 
  • Like
Reactions: BillyiPad95

macdogpro

macrumors 6502a
Jul 22, 2020
656
494
Do you have an iPad with 6GB RAM or with 4GB? My 4GB iPad does not crash as often as the 2GB RAM but it can crash for sure. Last time crashed twice because I had really big file in Notability (20 pages of notes, but 11 hours of audio recording). I do think that it had issues with the RAM and not the CPU.

From what I have seen with a monitoring app, my 4GB RAM iPad constantly uses more than 2 GB RAM, but it does not surpass say 3 and that's normal it has only 4. It would make sense for iPadOS to restrict itself. Not sure how much it uses on 6GB device though.

Interseting. This is not my experience. I actually do need more RAM because otherwise the iPad reloads tabs and apps and this annoys me. It is also not good UX for me. But I do have more sites open in Safari and this is how I use my devices. This is how I do research. This is my general workflow and I do this on my laptop, on my iPad and on my phone.

iPadOS indeed needs a bit of rework if they want me to take the iPad Pro seriously as a pro machine. I am not sure indeed that iPadOS uses properly the RAM the iOS devices have. I see constant issues with multitasking from iOS 13 onwards. Not sure what was done but the devices I have struggle with both iOS and iPadOS they way they did not with iOS 14. I am all for not putting RAM if they can fix the issues caused by iOS 13 and iOS 14 but it seems they cannot. So the other option is more RAM.
I have 6gb RAM. Never use Notability before, but I use Microsoft Office regularly. Some times powerpoint and excel crashes. No matter small or big file size I’m working on. MS apps known to have stability issues in both iOS and Mac OS. In your case, could be the RAM or the app.

Same like me, barely touches 3gb of RAM usage. That is why I say 6gb RAM is not being utilized to the maximum.

Well I only keep open tabs 4-6 tabs in my Safari, so I may not experience lack of RAM in this case.
But many test and real usage indicates iOS/iPadOS it self prefer to reload older tabs and apps rather than keeping them in the background, this gives the impression the overall system is more stable and not RAM hungry like Android for instance. Again, the way iOS behaving is the biggest limiting factor.

I can not agree more on this. Current iOS/iPadOS cannot be taken seriously as a pro machine’s OS. Multitasking is not it’s virtue. On the Mac system on the other hand, M1 chip proves that Apple processor need lesser RAM to perform on par or even a bit better than twice RAM capacity on Windows system and Intel processor.

When the 10.5" iPad Pro came out and it had 4GB of RAM I thought they were being crazy generous with the RAM. But that device was planned for the multitasking capabilities of iOS 11, even though it shipped with iOS 10. I have a feeling even if we don't see FCPX and Logic announced on the iPad right away we will see 8GB so it'll be ready for iPadOS 15.

I certainly hope so. More raw power to prepare for future more powerful OS is always a good idea. As long as the future iPadOS can utilize it.
 
  • Like
Reactions: BigMcGuire

secretk

macrumors 65816
Oct 19, 2018
1,494
1,229
I have 6gb RAM. Never use Notability before, but I use Microsoft Office regularly. Some times powerpoint and excel crashes. No matter small or big file size I’m working on. MS apps known to have stability issues in both iOS and Mac OS. In your case, could be the RAM or the app.
Yeah I thought that it was the RAM in the sense of keeping the audio file as basically I had this intense 4 hours a day 4 days training. And every day I would add to the existing audio and my theory was that Notability needs RAM to keep the file in memory.
Same like me, barely touches 3gb of RAM usage. That is why I say 6gb RAM is not being utilized to the maximum.
Do you have 2018 iPP or 2020? I am asking because if I remember correctly in the 2018 iPad the RAM cannot be used by other apps. In the 2020 iPP it is possible.
Well I only keep open tabs 4-6 tabs in my Safari, so I may not experience lack of RAM in this case.
But many test and real usage indicates iOS/iPadOS it self prefer to reload older tabs and apps rather than keeping them in the background, this gives the impression the overall system is more stable and not RAM hungry like Android for instance. Again, the way iOS behaving is the biggest limiting factor.
Agree with you there. iOS reloads preventively too much for my expectations. Yep, I am known to have like more than one Safari browser and like 20-30 open tabs overall.
I can not agree more on this. Current iOS/iPadOS cannot be taken seriously as a pro machine’s OS. Multitasking is not it’s virtue. On the Mac system on the other hand, M1 chip proves that Apple processor need lesser RAM to perform on par or even a bit better than twice RAM capacity on Windows system and Intel processor.
That's interesting that you can see less RAM consumption on M1. Yeah, I am starting to see my Windows laptop struggle sometimes with 8GB RAM. Once I restarted it, it worked.
 
  • Like
Reactions: BigMcGuire

macdogpro

macrumors 6502a
Jul 22, 2020
656
494
Yeah I thought that it was the RAM in the sense of keeping the audio file as basically I had this intense 4 hours a day 4 days training. And every day I would add to the existing audio and my theory was that Notability needs RAM to keep the file in memory.

Do you have 2018 iPP or 2020? I am asking because if I remember correctly in the 2018 iPad the RAM cannot be used by other apps. In the 2020 iPP it is possible.

Agree with you there. iOS reloads preventively too much for my expectations. Yep, I am known to have like more than one Safari browser and like 20-30 open tabs overall.

That's interesting that you can see less RAM consumption on M1. Yeah, I am starting to see my Windows laptop struggle sometimes with 8GB RAM. Once I restarted it, it worked.

I have 2020 iPP. Yes I also remember people say the 6gb on 2018 is there to use the 1TB storage while on the 2020 it can be utilized by apps like Procreate for more layers.

Wow, 20-30 tabs is surely heavy lifting even on desktop machine.
 

secretk

macrumors 65816
Oct 19, 2018
1,494
1,229
I have 2020 iPP. Yes I also remember people say the 6gb on 2018 is there to use the 1TB storage while on the 2020 it can be utilized by apps like Procreate for more layers.
Yep.
Wow, 20-30 tabs is surely heavy lifting even on desktop machine.
Do not own desktop but on my laptop it is more than that. I usually have 3-4 windows. Each of them with 10-15 tabs, sometimes 20.
 

James Godfrey

macrumors 68020
Oct 13, 2011
2,068
1,710
Rumors around a new 11” and 12.9” iPad Pro coming soon are much welcome. An A14X which is rumored to be on par with the M1 in the Macbook Air is very nice. However all that being said. If the 11” is missing out on Mini-LED and we don’t get at least 8GB of RAM. I’ll just wait for the OLED Update in 2022.
I agree with the RAM but waiting on OLED is likely a non-starter, yes there are rumours floating about OLED coming in 2022 but I HIGHLY doubt it...

apple is probably testing OLED just in case microLED is a no go when the time comes for a refresh of the screen tech.

I think we will likely be stuck with miniLED for a good 5 years yet with a transition either to OLED or microLED, depending on what’s possible when the time comes.
 
  • Like
Reactions: BillyiPad95

Digitalguy

macrumors 601
Apr 15, 2019
4,656
4,493
I have 2020 iPP. Yes I also remember people say the 6gb on 2018 is there to use the 1TB storage while on the 2020 it can be utilized by apps like Procreate for more layers.

Wow, 20-30 tabs is surely heavy lifting even on desktop machine.
That story of RAM for storage only was a myth that has no grounds...
The fact that a single app cannot use the 6GB itself doesn't mean that 6GB RAM is not used for apps.
The issue is rather that apps see A12X as as a 4GB RAM SOC and cannot tell a 128 from a 1TB device...
Same happened with A9X. You can't use 3 apps at the same time because the 9.7 pro only had 2GB and the system couldn't tell the 9,7 from the 12.9, which had enough RAM to do that...
Does it mean that the 12.9 behaves like a 2GB device? Not at all, it works like any 4GB in terms of reloads...
Same for the 6GB 2018 iPad pro vs the 4GB ones...
 
  • Like
Reactions: macdogpro

PaladinGuy

macrumors 68000
Sep 22, 2014
1,698
1,098
Do y’all think that they will limit any iPadOS updates that bring greater utility to only the new models, if they end up having this chip that is identical to the M1?
 

Digitalguy

macrumors 601
Apr 15, 2019
4,656
4,493
Do y’all think that they will limit any iPadOS updates that bring greater utility to only the new models, if they end up having this chip that is identical to the M1?
M1 is nothing special... People seem to treat it like a revolution but for iPads it's nothing new.... M1 is to A14 what A12X was to A12... just 2 years/generation later... The only change is that they put it in laptops (but the revolution is there, not in iPads...)
So A14X shouldn't change anything that A12X couldn't have changed already... RAM could allow more things, but the difference between 6 and 8 GB is not huge... So I doubt that they will set the bar at 8GB. More likely at 6 or even 4 GB (especially if they move the base iPad to 4GB this year...)
 

rui no onna

Contributor
Oct 25, 2013
14,921
13,273
M1 is nothing special... People seem to treat it like a revolution but for iPads it's nothing new.... M1 is to A14 what A12X was to A12... just 2 years/generation later... The only change is that they put it in laptops (but the revolution is there, not in iPads...)
So A14X shouldn't change anything that A12X couldn't have changed already...

Exactly. M1's nothing special on iPads. Just natural progression coming from the A12X/Z.

We've had excellent battery life, thermals and silence ever since the original iPad. Performance? A8X was a turning point and A9X is when they started closing the gap with current gen mobile Intel.

 

rui no onna

Contributor
Oct 25, 2013
14,921
13,273
Same happened with A9X. You can't use 3 apps at the same time because the 9.7 pro only had 2GB and the system couldn't tell the 9,7 from the 12.9, which had enough RAM to do that...

I think it can. I seem to recall early betas allowed split-view + slide-over on the 1st gen 12.9 but not 9.7. The feature was just removed in later betas and final release.
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.