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How much storage is right?
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But it also depends on how you consume media. Some people like to store all their media on their device, so 32GB can fill fast. Others like to stream so they use practically no storage.
I can only describe my own situation to try and give some perspective.
I have 147 videos (mostly short 1080p recordings I have made, not tv shows and movies), 3517 photos, maybe about 20 or so PDF documents, and 130 apps on my iPad, and this all uses about 55GB
Flash has limited life. If you buy twice what you really need, your files can move around in storage, distributing the write-wear load over more of the flash, helping last longer. Even if you are not modifying many files, your apps will be in the background. I recommend buying too much storage.
Re: limited life of flash memory: yes, flash memory does have a lifespan. But, something else will cause one to get rid of their device before the flash memory dies. Flash today is pretty hardy.
Case in point: I used a day-one iPad 3 for six years without any storage issues. I got rid of that iPad due to no software updates, frequent "page was reloaded" messages in Safari, battery seeing better days, and sloooow processor. My Macbook has a 6yo SSD that's still running strong.
But that said, I would agree to a "more is better" approach as today, a 32GB iPad might suffice, but one might start to add more apps, more OS bloat, more pictures/videos/audio, spreadsheets, magazines, etc. So if have the cash, better to future proof. And if you are selling an old device, that will cover the cost of the upgrade.
Case in point: I used a day-one iPad 3 for six years without any storage issues. I got rid of that iPad due to no software updates, frequent "page was reloaded" messages in Safari, battery seeing better days, and sloooow processor. My Macbook has a 6yo SSD that's still running strong.
But that said, I would agree to a "more is better" approach as today, a 32GB iPad might suffice, but one might start to add more apps, more OS bloat, more pictures/videos/audio, spreadsheets, magazines, etc. So if have the cash, better to future proof. And if you are selling an old device, that will cover the cost of the upgrade.
Honestly, I don't think that's a practical concern. I've never even heard of anyone replacing a device because they wore out the flash storage, and I know people who have been using the same phone or tablet for 6 or 7 years. It's very unlikely that this will become an issue.
To me, less is more. If you stay in the realm of your home network, most of your data doesn’t need to reside on your iPad. iCloud and your main computer (Mac or PC) in your network running iTunes can be your data warehouse.
Apps, music, videos, photos, books, files, etc. can all be easily accessed from your network storage. Why invest in an expensive high storage iPad that we all know has such a limited life? It seems like a bad financial proposition to me. 32gb works fine for me, and don’t feel constrained at all.
Apps, music, videos, photos, books, files, etc. can all be easily accessed from your network storage. Why invest in an expensive high storage iPad that we all know has such a limited life? It seems like a bad financial proposition to me. 32gb works fine for me, and don’t feel constrained at all.
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Yeah, as others have said, this is not an issue. Back-in-the-day (10+ years ago) it was, but solid-state memory today is very resilient. Apple will stop supporting the device before storage becomes an issue.
Given the significant upcharge in moving up storage capacity tiers, it is important to buy what you need. Apple benefits from this "better be safe" fear that people have. Especially with the new 2018 iPad. Going from 32GB to 128 GB raises the price by nearly 33%. So if a person knows they'll need more than 32GB, then get it.
I wouldn't say 32gb was enough. You could probably manage it if you tried, but why make it hard on yourself.
When I was in the market for a new iPad Pro 9.7, I bought the 32gb model and quickly returned it when I found a good deal on a 256gb. 32gb was eaten up in no time.
256gb is nice, but a completely unnecessary luxury in my case.
When I was in the market for a new iPad Pro 9.7, I bought the 32gb model and quickly returned it when I found a good deal on a 256gb. 32gb was eaten up in no time.
256gb is nice, but a completely unnecessary luxury in my case.
I work in the storage business. This isn't an issue with consumer devices like an iPad. It's generally not an issue with PCs either. That was much more of a problem years ago. It can also become a problem if your device is constantly writing data to flash at very high rates (i.e. orders of magnitude higher than what would happen on a typical consumer device/PC). The typical consumer has no reason to worry about that anymore.
Apps only, not so much. What's taking the majority of spaces on my iPad are photos and videos. And that's just from what I have in Photos, not including movies, music, etc.
However, most people today stream their content (movies and music). Thus a 32GB iPad is probably fine for majority of people. Obviously if you use your iPad as an offline entertainment device, opt for the next storage tier.
However, most people today stream their content (movies and music). Thus a 32GB iPad is probably fine for majority of people. Obviously if you use your iPad as an offline entertainment device, opt for the next storage tier.
For me, currently anything above 32 gigs is fine. I have a 128 GB iPhone & 2 iPads. I could easily get by with 64 gigs if they offered them in that capacity, but when I bought it was 32 or 128. I'm not complaining about it, I use the extra space to store extra movies & photos on the devices, but in my experience & for my uses, 32 gigs was just too much of a trade off. I always had issues loading movies, even if I had enough space. It's nice to load up a bunch of movies/ tv shows, etc before I leave on a trip & not have to worry about slow wifi when I want to watch something in a hotel.
I haven't seen a single post anywhere where flash failed on an iPad due to wear. Have you? Lots of other things will give out well before that.