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

iPad Pro Do M4 iPad Pros with 8GB of RAM actually have 12GB?

L

layerstack

macrumors newbie
Original poster
May 18, 2024
7
30
It might not matter as far as the end user is concerned, but it's still interesting for me, and I hope some other people here too. It also supports the rumors that M4 Macs will be the first Macs to start with 12GB instead of 8GB of RAM.

There are indeed many reasons why Apple could be doing this, but it appears to be the first time Apple has included and disabled extra RAM like this, at least with the evidence I could find so far. There have been similar cases of people discovering hidden things like this before (UltraFusion interconnect on M1 Max and lack thereof on M3 Max) simply by looking at pictures of existing released hardware and speculating on anything unusual they see.

I don't think this is anywhere near as large or exciting as UltraFusion, however. (Some people on Reddit are thinking that the extra 4GB is for a future AI model, and that iPads with 16GB of RAM have enough to run the model without having to reserve even more RAM on top of that. I don't believe that speculation or care much for AI myself though, but I thought it was worth mentioning here.)

Edit: the AI speculation started right here in this thread. Sorry prime17569!
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: Rastapopoulos, nadozza, Radiuwel and 3 others
mikethebigo

mikethebigo

macrumors 68020
May 25, 2009
2,390
1,485
If there really are 4 GB of RAM just straight up disabled on these chips, I would theorize it is for product segmentation and not to embarrass the M3 MacBook Airs (and the base MacBook Pro!) with 8GB RAM that launched just recently. I would bet the M4 MBA/MBP will start at 12GB with 2 of these 6GB chips.

I think it would be absolutely hilarious if we actually ended up in a situation where you could "download more RAM."
 
  • Like
Reactions: G5isAlive
ProbablyDylan

ProbablyDylan

macrumors 68000
Mar 26, 2024
1,517
2,981
Los Angeles
It would be a shame if Apple hides a whole 8GB of memory on the higher-end iPP. What about those of us that want to run our own AI nonsense?
 
mikethebigo

mikethebigo

macrumors 68020
May 25, 2009
2,390
1,485
ProbablyDylan said:
It would be a shame if Apple hides a whole 8GB of memory on the higher-end iPP. What about those of us that want to run our own AI nonsense?
Click to expand...
I don't think they're hiding 8GB on the higher end models. I think the problem is they don't want to use 4GB RAM modules anymore, and apparently that size (4GB) is basically at EoL. So the base probably has 2 6GB chips, while the higher end actually does have 2 8GB chips.
 
T

TechnoMonk

macrumors 68030
Oct 15, 2022
2,603
4,109
mikethebigo said:
If there really are 4 GB of RAM just straight up disabled on these chips, I would theorize it is for product segmentation and not to embarrass the M3 MacBook Airs (and the base MacBook Pro!) with 8GB RAM that launched just recently. I would bet the M4 MBA/MBP will start at 12GB with 2 of these 6GB chips.

I think it would be absolutely hilarious if we actually ended up in a situation where you could "download more RAM."
Click to expand...
Highly unlikely to be related to MBP or MBA. iPad OS has per app limitation unlike MacS. You can have 16 GB in iPad Pro but RAM distribution will be lot different than Mac.
 
  • Sad
Reactions: ProbablyDylan
J

jaehaerys48

macrumors member
Feb 24, 2023
78
115
Tim Cook took all the calls for more than 8gb personally and will make sure that 8gb remains the standard even if the hardware is actually 12. My guess is that non-Pro chip Macs will be the same.
 
N

NewOldStock

macrumors regular
Mar 20, 2023
224
161
Why did they kill off the 4th core thats what I want to know about and add it to the lower tier of 256/512 storage only.
Why do I need 1TB to gain access to the 4th core?
 
EugW

EugW

macrumors G5
Jun 18, 2017
14,877
12,854
NewOldStock said:
Why did they kill off the 4th core thats what I want to know about and add it to the lower tier of 256/512 storage only.
Why do I need 1TB to gain access to the 4th core?
Click to expand...
They probably do have to bin the M4 chip to a certain extent for yield reasons, otherwise they’d have to throw away a lot more chips. However I suspect the number of chips with a deactivated core far exceeds the number needed, but they do that for marketing reasons.
 
  • Like
Reactions: G5isAlive
D

dguisinger

macrumors 65816
Jul 25, 2002
1,106
2,270
Is it a package pin-out issue?
Do 4GB parts have an incompatible pinout to that of 6GB and 8GB parts?
I could see Apple simplifying the M4 package substrate design by only having one version if that was the case.

Or maybe there was a chip shortage and they can mix and match 4GB and 6GB parts.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Radiuwel and G5isAlive
J

JustAnExpat

macrumors 65816
Nov 27, 2019
1,009
1,012
For a person to file a lawsuit, they would have to identify the damage. Apple is advertising those iPads as having 8GB of RAM. 8GB of RAM is being accessed. Where's the damage?
 
B

bobmans

macrumors 6502a
Feb 7, 2020
598
1,751
Probably having trouble sourcing enough 4GB modules so they’re slapping 6GB modules in instead. Just because a couple of iPad have 6GB modules doesn’t mean they all do.

Maybe the Micron modules are 6GB but the Samsung ones are 4GB, who knows. This is just supply chain stuff.
 
  • Like
Reactions: G5isAlive
C

Confused-User

macrumors 6502a
Oct 14, 2014
850
983
dumastudetto said:
More RAM can reduce battery life.
More RAM may not work good with the binned M4
A 12GB configuration may be less stable
12GB may cause excess wear on the SSD
12GB may have environmental impacts that are vital to Apple
Click to expand...
This is all laughably wrong.

As someone else said, it may be supply-chain stuff, with 4GB RAMs in some production runs. However it's also possible that they are using 6GB RAMs everywhere, but they simply don't want to disrupt their own RAM pricing model, which is a huge source of profit for them.
 
  • Like
Reactions: justinf77, Ruftzooi and Digitalguy
S

StefSSU

macrumors regular
Jul 18, 2009
144
5
dumastudetto said:
More RAM can reduce battery life.
More RAM may not work good with the binned M4
A 12GB configuration may be less stable
12GB may cause excess wear on the SSD
12GB may have environmental impacts that are vital to Apple
Click to expand...
Absolute nonsense.
  • Apple lists identical battery life for all models, including those with 16GB of RAM, while the battery watt-hour does not change depending on the storage option i.e. RAM amount and M4 version
  • Speculation based on nothing
  • Speculation based on nothing
  • Speculation based on nothing, if anything less RAM will result in more SSD usage due to virtual memory
  • Speculation based on nothing which makes no sense whatsoever
 
  • Like
Reactions: nadozza, uecker87, Digitalguy and 1 other person
Carrotstick

Carrotstick

Suspended
Mar 25, 2024
230
418
dumastudetto said:
More RAM can reduce battery life.
More RAM may not work good with the binned M4
A 12GB configuration may be less stable
12GB may cause excess wear on the SSD
12GB may have environmental impacts that are vital to Apple
Click to expand...
Gee, then Apple should have given 500mb of RAM of then instead of 8GB cause 8GB is ever too much according to you…
 
D

disciple2017

macrumors newbie
Mar 19, 2024
7
5
For 9 core m4, it’s 2 of 6GB, and for 10 core m4, it’s 2 of 8GB.
the assumption is, in order to get 120 gb/s bandwidth as in the ads, they need 2 channels.
 
D

disciple2017

macrumors newbie
Mar 19, 2024
7
5
For 9 core m4, it’s 2 of 6GB, and for 10 core m4, it’s 2 of 8GB.
the assumption is, in order to get 120 gb/s bandwidth as in the ads, they need 2 channels.
 
C

cbns

macrumors regular
May 21, 2021
121
162
Wind30 said:
It is impossible for us to know the reason
Click to expand...
Is it, though? The whole point of this discussion to find out, and I find your dismissive attitude off putting. Maybe someone with access to an electron microscope and do a scan and see if the density is that of 12gig modules or something. You’ll never know if you give up like you are suggesting and don’t discuss it
 
  • Haha
Reactions: Jovijoker and G5isAlive
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom