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But this doesn't say there are differences in e.g. certain apps, processes and rendering times.
Laptopmag has a great benchmark for e.g. rendering videos etc. Showing how fast the iPad Pro is compared to laptops. This was however does using the 6GB 1TB version. Pretty sure 4GB will need longer to achieve the same as most of those tasks are also (heavily) impacted by DDR.
Yes mostly yes, though I think optimizations and caching to disk would allow for similar results ‍♂️
 
I was planning on a 256GB but would have paid the £200 extra for the 512GB had it had more RAM as I may have made use of the extra storage at some point. So will I pay £600 extra of the 1TB...


Not a chance - my 2nd gen 12.9 will serve me fine for now. The only decision I have now is a 10.5 affected with the white spot issue and a refund from Currys for the replacement cost. Do I keep it, replace it with another 10.5 which will likely develop this issue or go for a new 11" 256GB?? Hmm, fragmentationville here I maybe come!
 
I think it doesn't pay off to go for the 1TB version if you don't need it. I think I'll stick to my 512 as I plan to utilise it in movie editing, probably going to sell it whenever the new models will be released, which probably will double down on the RAM. I don't think the RAM advantage will make a huge difference, other than future proofing a little bit (halfway, since I expect the next iPads to go all the way to 8GB... so there's that).
 
I'm pretty disappointed with 4GB of ram in these new iPads. Don't bring the pitchforks out; hear me out

Let's not forget the iPhone 4s and the iPhone 6/+ were ram starved at the time of their release and paid for it not even one year later. The iPhone 6 and 6 plus at launch were terrible when it came to ram centric tasks - multitasking and anything requiring memory beyond one app at a time.

On the iPad front the original iPad and iPad Air were really function deprived as were the mini and mini 2, mini 3 series due to ram. The iPad Air at launch (!) Was one of the most frustrating products I've owned. Multitasking was almost impossible on it and webpages refreshed worse than they did on 1gb ram iPhones

Those devices have all aged poorly

Now Apple's state of the art iPhones have 4gb of ram in them, but these new expensive iPads have the same amount yet have to push way more pixels?

The first iPad pro from 2015 has 4gb of ram and although the A9X isn't the beast the A12X is, it can still multi task like a champ.

I'm not saying these new iPads are the same per se. Clearly 4GB of ram is not straining these current devices. iPads with 2gb of ram are running great still

But what I'm disappointed in is how just like those other devices I mentioned, Apple went with the minimum amount they need as opposed to future proofing. You can bet next year's iPads will have double the ram or something and it just feels bad dropping that much money on an iPad that will likely get some more future proofing next year a la iPhone 6s .

It might just be me with these thoughts but if I get an iPad I don't want to buy another one every year or two, like phones. I like to keep them for a while longer
It’s dissapointing to me as well. But it’s expected by Apple to do this and sell a new version in 1-1.5 years.

I sold my 10.5 iPad Pro in August for a new iPad release. But I am likely only going to buy this used. I suspect we’ll see next years model be 20-30% faster with 6gb ram minimum.
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nope, same score (in the acceptable error margin)
Yeah, that’s a cpu bench mark. Not a ram cache, timing or offload one.
 
This is the ridiculous topic. Every single year, people whine about the lack of RAM in an Apple Device and every single year, it seems to be a non-debate.

If your kitchen table is 100 Feet long but you are only feeding for 1, what is the point? Mobile operating systems have smaller memory imprint then their desktop counterparts. It's applications have smaller imprints that their desktop applications. Trying to match stats of a PC doesn't make sense.

Why would Apple put more ram than they think the average person needs? So that you can win a round of speedtest in a scenario which will only happen to about 1 out of a 100,000 person.

My Ipad pro 12.9 Gen 1 is still running strong, no issues and certainly no ram issues. Apple looks at usage models and they have obviously made the point to use reduced ram because
  1. It increases their margins without the need to buy extra memory which won't be used by the consumer.
  2. Reduces their current reduction of that component - keep in mind that all components have a wattage component and increased memory = increase consumption.

As for the 1TB with 6GB of ram.

We do not know how the 1TB is composed in the ipad. if it is single packaged device then it is unknown how the packaged flash is arranged. it could be very well to manage the buffer data as it is being written to the memory.

If you take a look, apple is not the first company to do. I don't know who was first but I clearly remember:

Samsung Note 9 only offer 8GBs of RAM for the 512GB offering while the lower densities are 6GBs of RAM. So once again, the larger package size memory density seem to require the larger RAM Requirement.
 
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Welp, confirmed put the nail in the coffin for me. I was already pretty sure I wasn't going to buy it, but this seals the deal now. Here's to waiting another year out.
 
Really? 4GB is a "deal breaker" ... I seriously regret the day Apple bowed to Samsung etc and started releasing/acknowledging specs. I preferred it when we didn't have a clue what was inside and judged it by the experience. We didn't even know the names of the processors back then!
 
This is the ridiculous topic. Every single year, people whine about the lack of RAM in an Apple Device and every single year, it seems to be a non-debate.

If your kitchen table is 100 Feet long but you are only feeding for 1, what is the point? Mobile operating systems have smaller memory imprint then their desktop counterparts. It's applications have smaller imprints that their desktop applications. Trying to match stats of a PC doesn't make sense.

Why would Apple put more ram than they think the average person needs? So that you can win a round of speedtest in a scenario which will only happen to about 1 out of a 100,000 person.

My Ipad pro 12.9 Gen 1 is still running strong, no issues and certainly no ram issues. Apple looks like usage models and they have obviously made the point to use reduced ram because
  1. It increases their margins without the need to buy extra memory which won't be used by the consumer.
  2. Reduces their current reduction of that component - keep in mind that all components have a wattage component and increased memory = increase consumption.

As for the 1TB with 6GB of ram.

We do not know how the 1TB is composed in the ipad. if it is single packaged device then it is unknown how the packaged flash is arranged. it could be very well to manage the buffer data as it is being written to the memory.

If you take a look, apple is not the first company to do. I don't know who was first but I clearly remember:

Samsung Note 9 only offer 8GBs of RAM for the 512GB offering while the lower densities are 6GBs of RAM. So once again, the larger package size memory density seem to require the larger RAM Requirement.

Look at your statement in bold. These are the top spec iPad Pros - not the device that the average person would go for. There are always use cases where more RAM is beneficial - why else do Apple let the user customise this on any of their Mac range? Sure, it may not be noticed by a lot of users and apps will still run but there will be limitation for certain apps and certain users. Also, if iPad Pros have either 4 or 6GB RAM, it means developers need to target 4GB which means the benefit is rarely seen on the 6GB model. If Apple made it 6GB across the board, app developers can target 6GB and get more from their apps for the iPad Pro range.
It may not be an issue for some but others will see a benefit.
 
Look at your statement in bold. These are the top spec iPad Pros - not the device that the average person would go for. There are always use cases where more RAM is beneficial - why else do Apple let the user customise this on any of their Mac range? Sure, it may not be noticed by a lot of users and apps will still run but there will be limitation for certain apps and certain users. Also, if iPad Pros have either 4 or 6GB RAM, it means developers need to target 4GB which means the benefit is rarely seen on the 6GB model. If Apple made it 6GB across the board, app developers can target 6GB and get more from their apps for the iPad Pro range.
It may not be an issue for some but others will see a benefit.

There is been no usage model today that a developer uses 4GBs of ram for mobile applications. Why do think 6GBs would be used? And I don't even think the 6GBs is given for the developer use to used. I believe it merely used to buffer the NAND as the NAND size is double of the 512GB. Similiar to how samsung did it with the Note 9.

Not an device an average person would go for? Majority of people who are looking for an ipad are first looking at the pro. I won't understand your claim that ipad pro is not for average people. What makes it a professional medium? Because you can use a pen? Ipad has been a media consumption tablet for majority of consumers and it's not stopping with an Ipad pro.

There is no data to support that 4GB of ram insufficient in an mobile operational system such an iOS in 2018 and no claims of slow down whatsoever.
 
Welp, confirmed put the nail in the coffin for me. I was already pretty sure I wasn't going to buy it, but this seals the deal now. Here's to waiting another year out.
What app are you using that requires 6GB RAM?
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Really? 4GB is a "deal breaker" ... I seriously regret the day Apple bowed to Samsung etc and started releasing/acknowledging specs. I preferred it when we didn't have a clue what was inside and judged it by the experience. We didn't even know the names of the processors back then!
Do we even have any real world tests on the performance difference (if there is one)? Or could you give someone a Pro with 4GB RAM but tell them it was 6GB and they wouldn’t notice any difference?
 
This is the ridiculous topic. Every single year, people whine about the lack of RAM in an Apple Device and every single year, it seems to be a non-debate.

If your kitchen table is 100 Feet long but you are only feeding for 1, what is the point? Mobile operating systems have smaller memory imprint then their desktop counterparts. It's applications have smaller imprints that their desktop applications. Trying to match stats of a PC doesn't make sense.

Why would Apple put more ram than they think the average person needs? So that you can win a round of speedtest in a scenario which will only happen to about 1 out of a 100,000 person.

My Ipad pro 12.9 Gen 1 is still running strong, no issues and certainly no ram issues. Apple looks at usage models and they have obviously made the point to use reduced ram because
  1. It increases their margins without the need to buy extra memory which won't be used by the consumer.
  2. Reduces their current reduction of that component - keep in mind that all components have a wattage component and increased memory = increase consumption.

As for the 1TB with 6GB of ram.

We do not know how the 1TB is composed in the ipad. if it is single packaged device then it is unknown how the packaged flash is arranged. it could be very well to manage the buffer data as it is being written to the memory.

If you take a look, apple is not the first company to do. I don't know who was first but I clearly remember:

Samsung Note 9 only offer 8GBs of RAM for the 512GB offering while the lower densities are 6GBs of RAM. So once again, the larger package size memory density seem to require the larger RAM Requirement.
iPads also never cost up to $2k before now either. Right now, the iPad Pro is in the same range as the MacBook Pro 13in with not near the freedom or productivity level.

This would be fine if iPad was closer to the previous $1300 for a top model with cellular. But now that’s a mid range cost, and it yields the same productivity of the gen 1 iPad Pro.
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What app are you using that requires 6GB RAM?
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Do we even have any real world tests on the performance difference (if there is one)? Or could you give someone a Pro with 4GB RAM but tell them it was 6GB and they wouldn’t notice any difference?
It will definitely be noticed in photoshop, Luma fusion, any affinity app and so on. Anything with multiple layers or streams. Ram is ram, you don’t need a real world test. However, I don’t think the 1tb model is using the full 6, but will likely be using about 1.2-1.4 of it supplementally. That can make a difference if you are liquefying in photoshop for sure.
 
This is the ridiculous topic. Every single year, people whine about the lack of RAM in an Apple Device and every single year, it seems to be a non-debate.

Yeah it is a non debate. It is obvious that Apple skimps on Ram. The iPod touch 4G, iPhone 6, iPad Air 1 and Mini 2/3 are great examples of this.

There is no data to support that 4GB of ram insufficient in an mobile operational system such an iOS in 2018 and no claims of slow down whatsoever.

It has been proven time and time again that under specced iOS devices do worse in the long run. The better specced a device is at purchase the longer it will be able to run well with future updates. Devices that Apple skimped on Ram have consistently had shorter usable lifespans.

If I'm paying $1500 for a 12.9 512GB iPad Pro, I'd want it to have 6GB of ram in order to offer a long usable lifespan given the insane price.

Not an device an average person would go for? Majority of people who are looking for an ipad are first looking at the pro. I won't understand your claim that ipad pro is not for average people. What makes it a professional medium? Because you can use a pen? Ipad has been a media consumption tablet for majority of consumers and it's not stopping with an Ipad pro.

Pretty sure that the majority buy an iPad 9.7... Isn't that the purpose of the 9.7? To be a the average person's iPad?
 
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OMG, yes, I thought it was just me.

The iPhone 6 Plus in my opinion was the worst iPhone I ever owned (iPhone 3G, 3GS, 4, 5, 6, 6+, 6S, 7+, X). Switch 2-3 tabs in Safari and it always reloaded those pages and slowed you down. I was kinda shocked since I moved from a 6 to a 6+, I expected the phone would perform about the same. It was awful. I can't believe that ever got out the door. That was the only iPhone I've ever returned.

Yep. Worst iPhone ever.
 
It will definitely be noticed in photoshop, Luma fusion, any affinity app and so on. Anything with multiple layers or streams. Ram is ram, you don’t need a real world test. However, I don’t think the 1tb model is using the full 6, but will likely be using about 1.2-1.4 of it supplementally. That can make a difference if you are liquefying in photoshop for sure.

Adobe has been previewing Photoshop on the iPad on a iPP 2nd gen, with 4 gigs of RAM, and it’s looked great.

In fact, my wife went to an Adobe session yesterday and they previewed Photoshop in person (not a video!) and she said it ran great!

How many people are going to be working on files with 200+ layers?

The majority of iPP users will have 4g of RAM at their disposal. Adobe and other app developers aren’t going to make programs that run on 5% of iPP’s and exclude the rest of us.

Will the extra RAM on the 1tb models help? Maybe. But the majority of users aren’t working on super huge files that will require it.
 
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Adobe has been previewing Photoshop on the iPad on a iPP 2nd gen, with 4 gigs of RAM, and it’s looked great.

In fact, my wife went to an Adobe session yesterday and they previewed Photoshop in person (not a video!) and she said it ran great!

How many people are going to be working on files with 200+ layers?

The majority of iPP users will have 4g of RAM at their disposal. Adobe and other app developers aren’t going to make programs that run on 5% of iPP’s and exclude the rest of us.

Will the extra RAM on the 1tb models help? Maybe. But the majority of users aren’t working on super huge files that will require it.
That’s why the gen 2 is the better bang your buck right now. You can buy a 512gb Cellular 12.9 for around 800, on swappa, and get the same performance as new 64gb $1000 WiFi only 12.9 iPad Pro.

The new hardware hasn’t changed the performance of iOS, so you are buying a new design, at a significant price increase, with no increased productivity due to iOS 12 bottle neck. iOS 13 will run just as well on last gen model, and make it just as capable.
 
There is been no usage model today that a developer uses 4GBs of ram for mobile applications. Why do think 6GBs would be used? And I don't even think the 6GBs is given for the developer use to used. I believe it merely used to buffer the NAND as the NAND size is double of the 512GB. Similiar to how samsung did it with the Note 9.

Not an device an average person would go for? Majority of people who are looking for an ipad are first looking at the pro. I won't understand your claim that ipad pro is not for average people. What makes it a professional medium? Because you can use a pen? Ipad has been a media consumption tablet for majority of consumers and it's not stopping with an Ipad pro.

There is no data to support that 4GB of ram insufficient in an mobile operational system such an iOS in 2018 and no claims of slow down whatsoever.


Lumafusion, the awesome video editing app is limited to 3 video and 3 audio tracks currently. The main reason for this according to the devs is available RAM. If there was more RAM consistent across one of the iPad range then it would be easier for them to implement additional tracks in their app for that range. If Apple provided the resources, apps could make use of them.
What makes you say the majority of people looking at iPads are looking at the Pro? Do you have any stats to back this up? I won't get into the debate on what constitutes a Pro to people - everyone has their own thoughts and ideas on that one.

iOS runs great on 4GB, even 2GB to be fair. The issue is beyond the OS and into apps. I tried a panoramic merge of 10 Fuji RAW images in Affinity Photo which automatically aligns, blends and renders the final Panorama. While I was surprised the iPad could handle this, it did take a while to complete. In Affinity Photo, the iPad Pro typically runs faster than my Mac. In this instance though, the Mac managed to complete the Panorama noticeably quicker because it has 16GB RAM and the internal file size of the panorama during processing was > 4GB. That is a real world example where more RAM would make a tangible benefit on the iPad and an illustration of slow down - something I am claiming right here. Granted that is not something that many people may be doing on an iPad but if the software is capable, it shows a bottleneck in the hardware. It's a shame to have all that raw power of the A12X and restrict in some cases.
 
I don’t think this is anything like the iPhone 6 and original iPad Air only having 1GB RAM. I have no issues with my 12.9” Pro. My guess is the number of people doing work on their Pro that will require 6GB will be very small.
 
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What app are you using that requires 6GB RAM?
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Do we even have any real world tests on the performance difference (if there is one)? Or could you give someone a Pro with 4GB RAM but tell them it was 6GB and they wouldn’t notice any difference?
I have many on the PC. I am doing 4k 10bit editing, 3d designing etc. 50% mode RAM is quite a bit of difference within apps that support it or when doing heavy multitasking.

Please note that most of us are buying an iPad Pro for 3-5 years (due to the price, which has increased once again), hence 6GB might now be a lot, it won't be in 2-3 years.

Lastly, if you checked the Apple event, you can see that Photoshop even stuggels on the iPad Pro with 1TB (thus 6Gb DDR).
Those layers, as is the same for Photoshop on Win/OSX, are using RAM. The more RAM you have, the better it handles. :)
 
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The way I see it, I am not buying the 1Tb for the extra 2gb of ram. I am going to go with a 256 - with the 500.00 difference I can sell this one and get a new iPad in a year or two if they release something that I want.

Best,
 
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Wow - judging by these comments, if Apple had just put 4GB of RAM in all the iPads, more people would have bought it. Because they have teased 6GB in the max storage model, people are actually holding off for that to become the norm in 18 months or so. I guess they don’t need it that badly.
 
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...you can see that Photoshop even stuggels on the iPad Pro with 1TB (thus 6Gb DDR).
Those layers, as is the same for Photoshop on Win/OSX, are using RAM. The more RAM you have, the better it handles. :)

That sample file they used during the keynote is the EXCEPTION, not the rule. 157 layers, 1200x1200 pixels, 9ft x 9ft, over 3 gig file size. At least 300dpi, if not 600.

4 gigs or RAM or 6, that file is beastly.

Most computers, laptops or tablets would struggle with that amount of layers and file size.

The fact that a iPP can handle THAT file with minimal lag or struggle says a lot about how Adobe has optimized Photoshop for the iPad.

I highly doubt the majority of iPP Photoshop users will be working on file sizes that big on the iPad.
 
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