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TechnoMonk

macrumors 68000
Oct 15, 2022
1,917
2,763
Yeah. I have an old iPad Pro, which would benefit from being replaced. Not sure the jump from m2 (or even m1) to m4 would be enough for me.

I use my iPad a ton, but very little pushes the cpu. Perhaps only Civilisation and I can’t justify shelling out a ton to play games once or twice a year on this thing.

The one thing that could change the equation is the much faster ANE which should enable some very interesting new use cases. Now.. if only CoreML could catch up with CUDA.
MLX had closed the gap with CUDA. MLX doesn’t use ANE as it was released in Dec 2023. I can see the support coming soon at WWDC. My iPad Pro M1 runs MLX inferences very efficiently. The biggest problem for CUDA is inability to use unified memory. My workstation with 4090 is seeing less and less use than my M1 Max as my memory needs go beyond 24 GB VRAM.
 

deathnite

macrumors member
Aug 26, 2010
79
69
Europe
I was ready to upgrade my iPad Pro 10.5" (2017) to the M4 iPad Pro, expecting Apple to bump the RAM, but it's the same as M2. The extra RAM will be needed down the road if you plan to keep for a few years. I don't want to be forced to go for the 1TB or 2TB models, since we can just connect USB-C external drives for extra storage.
I was also expecting an upgrade to WiFi 7, especially if there is going to be another 2 years gap until the next generation comes out.
Now I'm not sure what to do.
iPhone 17 Pro coming in 2025 is rumored to have 12GB RAM. The iPhone will have more RAM than the iPro M4 (256/512GB), which doesn't make sense. So, definitely 8GB will soon not suffice.

Did anyone ask for a thinner iPad? Would rather they have kept it the same thickness and no camera bump.

Also beware that the 256GB model has slower nand flash with the following limitation: ProRes video recording up to 4K at 30 fps (1080p at 30 fps for 256GB storage).

No more charger in the box in EU. https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...e-a-charging-brick-with-the-new-ipad.2425735/
 
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canyonblue737

macrumors 68020
Jan 10, 2005
2,183
2,699
Love the faux outrage here, like this wasn’t the same exact thing with the M1 and M2 iPad Pros having tiered DRAM based on the storage size. Every time Apple releases new hardware, the same tired crowd comes out with the same tired complaints acting as though Apple has just done this and it’s completely unprecedented. None of you are very good actors, sorry.

Well it’s the first time they are using binned, lower core versions of a CPU in some versions of an iPad Pro but not others. Certainly the reduced cores will rear their head in reduced performance before the lower RAM in the current generation iPadOS so it’s a bigger impact. I just think people were excited about getting the M4 and were surprised that their choice of lower storage would result in a core reduced CPU at the same time… that is somewhat common in Macs but never before in an iPad.
 
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newyorksole

macrumors 603
Apr 2, 2008
5,125
6,432
New York.
sigh…

I absolutely don't need 16GB, but have had my current Pro for almost 6 years so having extra ram will just be good for the long term.

1TB for extra RAM and the nanotexture option is annoying. I’ll be alright with what I got though.
 

macduke

macrumors G5
Jun 27, 2007
13,199
19,854
All this tells me is the new MacBook Air and base model MacBook Pro that use the M4 will still have 8GB RAM, LMAO.

What is the deal with memory being stuck at such hilariously low amounts in the Tim Cook era? I saw some graph recently that showed RAM amounts of base model machines doubling roughly every two years or so under Steve Jobs, and then it virtually flatlines after Cook took over. So bizzare!

What a weird thing to get hung up about, especially when it has such a huge impact on system performance. Like who cares how fast these CPUs are when they’re hamstrung in this way? At least on the iPad it’s not like 99% of people are going to do anything with this power. And the 1% who do are always going to be fighting against the strenuous limits of iPadOS.

I swear, the iPad Air looks better and better every day for almost every use case out there. If you want to multitask more just buy another one and you’re still coming out well ahead of the 16GB Pro! I just wish they would put a damn OLED in it, doesn’t even need to be a double stacked bright one or whatever the hell this new abomination of God and computing is called.
 

Gelam

macrumors regular
Aug 31, 2021
165
54
The Air now is a pretty compelling device IMHO: the M2 is still incredibly powerful (at least until they do something with iPadOS that requires more power, but that hasn't happened), you now have size options, the new Pencil Pro works with the Air (although the new keyboard does not) and it has the landscape camera. I kept my 2018 iPad Pro until now and upgraded to the 2024 iPad Pro... but had I gone with an Air instead I suppose I could afford to upgrade every 3 years for almost the same price as just getting the iPad Pro once for 6 years... I'm not sure OLED or M4 is worth it because by the time the OS really needs M4 you'll probably be buying the iPad Air in 3 years with M4/M5 anyway, plus other new features...

The Air does take a bit of the sting out of the price of the iPad Pro since they moved the Pro even farther upmarket. Last example... I "treated" myself to this iPad Pro to replace my 2018 iPad Pro... but my wife and two kids (college age) also have iPad Pros (20' A14Z, 21' M1, and 22' M2) and I justified those because it was "just" $200 more to get the Pro vs the Air. That's no longer the case with $400+ being the difference. With these latest changes the Air would be more than capable for the rest of my family and the price delta wouldn't remotely be worth it, nor would they care.
Sheeesh thats a lot of iPads in your fam :p.

This will be my first iPad so I want a maxed out 16gb ram option!
 

svish

macrumors G3
Nov 25, 2017
9,914
25,879
Good to know. Not sure how much RAM the base models of the upcoming Macs will have.
 

MrGimper

macrumors G3
Sep 22, 2012
8,649
12,200
Andover, UK
Just watched the event. I see they didn’t have enough courage to rotate the Apple logo to landscape.

So now as a lefty who uses their device in portrait, which is still the correct orientation due to the above, I get to hold it awkwardly in my right hand with the pencil in the way, AND cover the camera.

That’s being very inclusive.
 

canyonblue737

macrumors 68020
Jan 10, 2005
2,183
2,699
Sheeesh thats a lot of iPads in your fam :p.

This will be my first iPad so I want a maxed out 16gb ram option!
True! My iPad Pro is because I travel a ton, don’t use a MacBook for travel, and am an Apple geek who wants the best. My wife’s is because I felt guilty I bought the Pro for myself so I got her one too. The college kids because they all use a MacBook / iPad combo and the ideal iPad Air models were “just” $200 less at the time than an equivalent iPad Pro so since it was their high school graduations I splurged. The summary is: I’ll always find an excuse to overpay for an Apple product lol.
 

deathnite

macrumors member
Aug 26, 2010
79
69
Europe
All this tells me is the new MacBook Air and base model MacBook Pro that use the M4 will still have 8GB RAM, LMAO.

What is the deal with memory being stuck at such hilariously low amounts in the Tim Cook era? I saw some graph recently that showed RAM amounts of base model machines doubling roughly every two years or so under Steve Jobs, and then it virtually flatlines after Cook took over. So bizzare!
The M4 iPad Pro is using LPDDR5X (M2 had LPDDR5). The amount of RAM will probably be increased once they move to LPDDR6. The first products using LPDDR6 are expected to arrive in 2025/2026.
Maybe the M6 iPad Pro in 2026 will finally have more RAM (if they skip M5 iPads).
 
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hans1972

macrumors 68040
Apr 5, 2010
3,396
3,007
So you’re telling me that you’re fine with the idea Apple selling a Pro device with only 8GB Ram? Thanks to people like you Apple is offering M3 MacBook “Pro” with 8GB RAM :)

Yes, I'm fine. Pro means only the model is more expensive than other models.
Sometimes is also used to fool people with modest needs to buy a more expensive model.
 
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Gelam

macrumors regular
Aug 31, 2021
165
54
True! My iPad Pro is because I travel a ton, don’t use a MacBook for travel, and am an Apple geek who wants the best. My wife’s is because I felt guilty I bought the Pro for myself so I got her one too. The college kids because they all use a MacBook / iPad combo and the ideal iPad Air models were “just” $200 less at the time than an equivalent iPad Pro so since it was their high school graduations I splurged. The summary is: I’ll always find an excuse to overpay for an Apple product lol.
Wooow a very good dad indeed! So you got the M4 11" Pro in the end yes?
Lets stay in this Apple boat together, I will get the big one with 1tb 16gb ram as a treat for wanting an iPad since 2018! Do you think its a good enough reason for a decked out one?
 

The Game 161

macrumors Nehalem
Dec 15, 2010
30,431
19,662
UK
I don't think 8GB of ram matters too much on the iPad. I have 36GB of ram on my MacBook Pro which is ideal and perfect for what I need. Only my iPad Pro I ordered the 512GB for storage reasons But for what I use it for I don't see it as an issue

paying an extra £400 just for the 16GB of ram option? seems pointless to me.
 

canyonblue737

macrumors 68020
Jan 10, 2005
2,183
2,699
Wooow a very good dad indeed! So you got the M4 11" Pro in the end yes?
Lets stay in this Apple boat together, I will get the big one with 1tb 16gb ram as a treat for wanting an iPad since 2018! Do you think its a good enough reason for a decked out one?

I did get the M4 11-inch iPad Pro in 512GB. I couldn't justify the increase to 1 TB of $500 because when I look at my current 256 GB iPad Pro I still haven't used all the space... even if I end up doing more video editing than in the past I'll probably do it with a small portable Thunderbolt drive via USB-C.

As for the performance bump, the 9 core vs. 10 core versions of the M4 have had their Geekbench scores revealed. Both have single core scores of just over 3600 (highest ever for any Apple Silicon chip) and multi core scores of about 13000 vs 14500 for the 9 vs 10 core versions. To put that into perspective both are higher than the M3 in the iMac and compared to the M2's multicore score of 9600. I'm not sure if the 8 vs 16 RAM will hurt me, but if it does I'm sure I'll upgrade at that time.
 
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