That's exactly what Apple does. And they've done it with many products. They offer a "teaser" product. Not that a 64gb Air is crippled, 64gb will be sufficient for many users. But it is a less desirable feature that encourages upgrades. And the upgrade option is overkill for many folks. I'm sure Apple's profit margin on an upgraded 256GB Air 4 is much higher than the profit margin on the 64gb version. A 128gb Air at $599 would largely kill sales of the 11" Pro.
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iPad Air4 256GB or Pro 128GB?
- Thread starter djake80
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That's exactly what Apple does. And they've done it with many products. They offer a "teaser" product. Not that a 64gb Air is crippled, 64gb will be sufficient for many users. But it is a less desirable feature that encourages upgrades. And the upgrade option is overkill for many folks. I'm sure Apple's profit margin on an upgraded 256GB Air 4 is much higher than the profit margin on the 64gb version. A 128gb Air at $599 would largely kill sales of the 11" Pro.
Side by side comparison of Air 4 and Pro:
It seems that for day to day activities the Air is actually better
. The difference is actually noticeable in the clip.
Only in the video render and gaming with ultra-detail did the Pro come out on top.
It seems that for day to day activities the Air is actually better
. The difference is actually noticeable in the clip.Only in the video render and gaming with ultra-detail did the Pro come out on top.
If you need more than 64GB storage, the 11” Pro is the better buy, in my opinion.
For me, the extra RAM and Pro Motion display in the 11" Pro was reason enough to pick it up earlier this year, and I have no need to replace it with an Air. While faster RAM is nice, that would not affect RAM utilization, as an app that requires 2GB of RAM will require 2GB regardless of what type of RAM the iPad is running. DDR5 really excels at page swaps in memory, which improves overall efficiency. But you would still be running 4GB on the iPad Air, and power users would most likely hit the upper limit of the RAM on a regular basis. For users just using their iPad for web browsing/email/work-related tasks, then the Air would probably be the better option from a cost perspective.
There is no app on iPadOS that uses anywhere near 2GB RAM and rarely would you ever hit the upper levels of RAM even at 4GB. Objectively speaking 6GB vs 4GB RAM is negligible.
I think what people overlook is the importance of storage in the long term and 256GB for cheaper than the 128GB Pro is a great value. If someone is truly looking to replace a computer you will definitely make use of that extra storage.
Yeah, at this stage 4 or 6 GB RAM make no difference because of IpadOS RAM management. Nobody knows when things will change. And if it's for future proofing 256GB are probably as important, if not more, as the additional 2GB RAM. And those that will never need 256 because they mainly stream videos, don't video edit, etc. are also those that need the 6GB RAM the least. Using USB storage is far less convenient than using internal storage or even microsd expansion. And by the way despite the high speed that USB C should support, USB storage on ipad is still as slow as USB 2.0...
Sounds like a bit of wash.
4gb w/256gb vs. 6gb w/128gb
As you alluded to, it depends on what you're using it for.
From what I've read, you can edit 30 minutes of 4k video with 128gb. Certainly if you're doing more pro stuff than that, get one with 256kb.
It is indeed and that's why in the end both are probably priced right with the $50 more and 128GB less of the pro making up for the other advantages of the pro (more RAM, better speakers, better mikes, 120hz, slight more screen real estate, more brightnes and even small things like being able to charge a phone). Having said that the new pro coming in a few months should give buyers quite a little bit more value for that additional money (A14X, maybe even more RAM, possibly mini-led, and, I hope, a webcam in the right spot for videoconferencing).
Ran some tests on my IPP 2020 and USB C seems to be working at 80-160MBps... also the files app seems to be quite unreliable.
Another comparison between the Air and IPP... interesting observations regarding screen angles of view and speaker setup.
You obviously haven’t used an iPad w/ 6 GB RAM. There‘s much less app/safari tab refreshing than the 4 GB iPads.
Not true lol. You obviously haven’t tried the new Air! I tested the 2020 Pro for a week and ran it beside the Air when I got it yesterday. Returned the Pro today. Didn’t really see any differences other than the Pro rendering videos 10 seconds faster. The Air can handle a LOT of Safari tabs without refreshing - plus if I do leave 30 tabs open at a time I really couldn’t care less if it refreshes.
8GB vs 4GB might be a more noticable RAM comparison. But trust me when I say 6GB vs 4GB is not something to worry about.
Also need to mention the trade offs - theres a miniscule difference in multi-score tasks between the Air and the Pro but everything else is noticeably faster on the Air (loading websites, launching apps, games, etc.)
At the end of the day both devices will give you similar performance. Personally I’d much rather take the extra storage, which is why I returned the Pro.
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This all depends on your usage. I have 2 older Pros w/ 4 GB and a 2020 Pro w/ 6 and I definitely see a difference. Going forward, RAM will play a more significant role than storage since there are ways to circumvent the storage shortage in most situations except for installing apps.
I don’t have a 2018 Pro. RAM usage more dependent on software.To be honest, your 2018 Pro is not the 2020 Air, so maybe you should try testing it out
This is not true for me in the slightest. 2018 ipad pro and the 2020 version reloads similarly.
You’re comparing a 3-4 year old product to a current generation device. Of course you’re going to feel a difference.
Having tested both, I feel the 2020 Air and the Pro will have a similar lifespan regardless of one being 4GB or 6GB. Apple made them in such a way so that there’s trade offs on both sides. One won’t “out-futureproof” the other.
To anyone reading this, just go with what you feel is the best choice for you. Consider less about the RAM and more on the other differences.
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Then your usage doesn’t require it. Just cause you don’t see a difference doesn’t mean others won’t either.
RAM usage shouldn’t be too different between devices from last few generations. Actually, the newer devices with more cameras tend to be more RAM hungry when using the camera app, but other than that should be similar when running same iOS version. It wasn’t that long ago that Apple introduced 4 GB RAM and now all Pro devices including iPhones are 6 GB. In the next few years likely going to 8 for the Pro so iPadOS will likely become more RAM hungry as it differentiates from iOS. Of course this argument is useless if all you’re doing is using web browser with few tabs open and using limited streaming apps.
You’re missing the point.
You have to consider the new Air doesn’t have to accomodate for the new camera system. My personal testing with the Air matches all the current YouTube reviews — it can EASILY handle complex video editing and multi layered Procreate projects. The Air is pretty much equivalent to the Pro in terms of performance alone. It’s barely behind in these heavy tasks.
When Apple decides to implement that extra RAM in the next few years both the 2020 Pro and Air owners will feel similar degradation and will be pushed to upgrade. RAM is only one of the many factors for upcoming changes and certainly not the most important.
The original poster on this thread just wants to know whats the best current buy for him that’ll last him the next 4 years. I just want to stress that no matter which device he picks, it’ll last around the same time. That RAM difference is nothing to stress over with the current two choices.
You as well will probably upgrade to that more capable device in 3-4 years when your 2020 Pro becomes too slow to handle things. Your Pro is not going to last any longer just because it has a measly 2 extra gigs of RAM.
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The ipad pro 2020 reloads safari just as much as the pro 2018. The ram management is awful in both. The reloads are dude to Apple's aggressive task killing. Procreate having additional layers is the only difference between both. Multitasking between games and safari will cause reloads in pro 2020 just as the 2018. I have run it side by side and it is reproducible.
This! I read somewhere before that the USB C writting chip controller on the iPads are slow. This is the culprit.
I thought because I’m using an HDD external drives, but folks with SSD external drives are also complaining.
I’m currently using Gigabit ethernet adapter to use faster wired file transfer between my iPad Pro and my MacBook Pro, way better speed.
Yep, many people like myself are using FileBrowser app instead with more reliable large media files handling.
The Files app can corrupt your large photo and video files oftenly.
True on Safari, and also true on Procreate.
Even video editing on Lumafusion is not utilizing more than 2gb-ish RAM usage on my system monitor app.
Heck I never saw my iPad Pro 2020 reach 3gb of RAM usage on any app, even when playing AAA games like Genshin Impact or Call Of Duty Mobile.
I know the Air has only one camera in the back, but I was trying to make a point that camera app can use more RAM in certain hardware config. Of course both hardware can last 4+ years, but which one will be more enjoyable to use in the next few years is the question here and I believe having the extra “measly” 2 GB will be better than having little faster processor. 2 GB may not be much, but if the system eats up 1-2 for the operating system and users are left with 2-3 GB for apps then extra 2 can mean 2x more. Again it all comes down to use case of the individual, but if someone wants to keep it around for a while I recommend a device with more RAM.