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As above really, it probably will me.

Please tell me you didn't ask this today simply because of the news that the new iPhone has 512MB?

A product is what a product is. The iPad is fast, responsive, and a pleasure to use. Who cares how much RAM it has or the iPhone has.. it's the end user experience that matters.

I'm not saying this is you OP, but I feel sorry for people who all of a sudden like their iPads less because they found out the new iPhone has more RAM. Are people really swayed that easily?
 
Specs don't matter - never really have. All that matters is that it does what it is expected to do.

Part of the problem is that some people - not necessarily you, OP - expect too much of the iPad. It is for content consumption, not really for content creation. Yes, it can do some creation, but that is not its main purpose.
 
But it's still has a small screen?!?! With the same logic we shouldn't own an iphone 3gs AND an ipad, but of course they are different devices so work together. I still don't understand why a higher resolution small screen will be more useful than the 3gs screen? The websites for instance will still be sized the same fonts etc, they will just be sharper. A larger screen will always be desired.

I'm actually going the other way, I'm thinking of selling my 3gs and downsizing to a smaller phone, hopefully the SE x10 mini comes out stateside, and of course you'll have to pry my ipad from my cold dead fingers.

Yea I like the large screen on the iPad but I feel like one device is going to be neglected. I originally thought that the iPad would be more of the in house device like a netbook while I use the iPhone outside of the house. However I don't see the point of keeping it around if I'm only going to use it once in awhile around the house. I haven' sold it yet and won't sell it to my cousin until I have an iPhone 4 in my hands. Perhaps my mind will change but for now I see myself using the iPhone a lot more.

I can see why someone would prefer the iPad with it's larger screen it's just that I don't like having things laying around being unused.
 
It maybe doesn't lag but what the 256 ram does is reloading your webpage when you browse on more then one site, it's very annoying and a waste of bandwith, wouldn't happen with 512 ram.
And it's the reason you will maybe never see imovie or any app which needs a lot of ram like photoshop on this. I'm waiting for the ipad pro, I think the second generation will get out the full potential of this type of device.

I didn't think this was a RAM problem? I've heard it's likely going to be fixed in he next OS.
 
There is no iPad out (yet) with 512mb of RAM so why is this even an issue? The iPad is not an iPhone, it runs on the same OS, but they are still two different platforms. Some day Apple will release an iPad with 512mb, but until that day comes there is no reason for anyone to care that the iPad only has 256mb.
 
Well that's it then. I'm just not going to purchase an ipad until they release one with 2gb of memory in it. :mad:
 
Just having 512MB of RAM doesn't automatically make something faster, it only matters when you reach the limit of the RAM available and unless you're opening a gazillion pages in Safari, theres no reason why it should reach that limit...
 
No. I had my 3G iPad delivered on day one and it's easily the handiest, most fun device I've ever owned. My iPhone, 15" MacBook Pro, and MacBook Air all are receiving considerably less use. Magical, indeed.

That said, the iPad could definitely use more memory. The biggest constraint the current 256mb of memory imposes is web browsing - both the cap on number of pages that can be open as well as frequently having open pages roll out of cache, forcing them to reload. It will also crimp multitasking capability, when that comes out in a few months.

But those are really minor nits. The 1st gen iPad is really something special.
 
It has caused me to change my mind to one of the lower spec ones. I'll give that then to my college bound daughter in twelve months and buy a top of the range iPad2. Without doubt it will be far superior. Extra ram allowing imovies, probably 128 gig capacity, camera and the hi res screen on new iPhone, maybe even the possibility of a cut down version of Illy and Photoshop, which would really interest me

I've used Reel Director on my 256mb RAM iPhone 3GS and it wasn't an issue. Sure, 512mb would be nice but definitely not a deal breaker.
 
It has caused me to change my mind to one of the lower spec ones. I'll give that then to my college bound daughter in twelve months and buy a top of the range iPad2. Without doubt it will be far superior. Extra ram allowing imovies, probably 128 gig capacity, camera and the hi res screen on new iPhone, maybe even the possibility of a cut down version of Illy and Photoshop, which would really interest me

im going to wait or 4th gen
 
The only disadvantage to it I can see is when the next major OS upgrade comes. "iOS 5 runs on all iPads except for gen 1 devices." I am pretty sure that is what will come out of Steve's mouth. I would probably be upgrading by then anyway.
 
There is no iPad out (yet) with 512mb of RAM so why is this even an issue? The iPad is not an iPhone, it runs on the same OS, but they are still two different platforms. Some day Apple will release an iPad with 512mb, but until that day comes there is no reason for anyone to care that the iPad only has 256mb.

No reason to care huh?

Safari reloading pages
Potential issue with multitasking
Can't run iMovie

Hmmmm....sounds like some reasons to care to me!
 
Is having only 256mb of ram going to put you off buying an iPad
To use a simile.....

Is having only a 6" c$$k going to put you off sex, when someone else has a 12"...

Just enjoy what you have cause the pleasure is in using it ;)





(by the way I'd be in the someone else category and sadly bigger is certainly not always better :eek: )





No reason to care huh?

Safari reloading pages
Potential issue with multitasking
Can't run iMovie

Hmmmm....sounds like some reasons to care to me!


1) Safari's reloading is not indicative of anything. Try another browser like atomic, icab or life browser. They don't have the issue.

2) potential? Err well that's ridiculous to argue a point of reason that you don't even know exists yet as no-one has run IOS4 on iPad. I'm sure the new background API's that apps have to abide by will sort any potential problems and the vast majority of people who are using ipads now are not that 'hindered, as it currently stands, so even if they can only multitasking with one or two extra apps open I'm sure they will be happy. Some people however seem to thank that because it can multitasking that you need to have a staggering array of apps open...

3) can't run iMovie? You do not know if it's inability to run iMovie is hardware limited at all. You are grasping at rumors and conjecture. It may simply be a case that Apple see no point in releasing iMovie for the iPad simply because it has no camera and therefore can not capture movie footage in which you therefore could edit with iMovie. That is far more a logical reason than many have provided for Apples decision.
 
To use a simile.....

Is having only a 6" c$$k going to put you off sex, when someone else has a 12"...

Just enjoy what you have cause the pleasure is in using it ;)





(by the way I'd be in the someone else category and sadly bigger is certainly not always better :eek: )

Until she performs more efficiently on the more "capable" hardware. Sure your hardware is just fine, but certain features may not be available because your hardware doesn't support it. You then begin to see the advantages of having the more "capable" hardware, so you secretly wish you had the more "capable" hardware.
 
Yes it is for me. As well I will be waiting for the next rev with a retina display.

Assuming there is a retina display 9.7". At that size the resolution the iPad would be 2048x1536 or more. Significantly higher and requiring significantly more power to drive. You will be waiting a good while I'd wager.....
 
Yes it is for me. As well I will be waiting for the next rev with a retina display.

Then you will be waiting a LONG time. Seriously, why do people insist on thinking that a 330ppi display in a 10" form factor is something trivial that Apple could add any time they feel like it?

Let's be clear here, putting a display of that density on the iPad would require something in the region of a 2.45 increase in pixel density, so somewhere around 2500 x 1880. That's roughly SIX TIMES the pixels that the current display has (786,432 versus 4,700,000). That's more pixels than you currently get in a 27" iMac display. Even if you think that Apple can source an IPS panel with that sort of density at a cheap enough price (which is extremely unlikely) you still have to drive the damn thing. That doesn't just mean it needs more power (although it would) but that you need to have both a CPU and GPU that a) have enough power to deliver a decent framerate on that high a resolution, b) don't generate enough heat to require active cooling, c) are small enough to fit in the space available inside the iPad and d) don't kill the battery in five minutes dead. Oh and you're going to need a lot more memory to handle the increased demands of a screen running such a high resolution.

As for memory, WHY is everyone obsessing over this? The iPad works perfectly well with 256MB. Yes, there's reloading in Safari but let's wait and see what iOS 4 does for that (it certainly seems to vastly improve thing on other iDevices if tester reports are correct). There's no point where the iPad feels sluggish or in need of more memory at all. Sure it's NICE to have more RAM available but it shouldn't influence your decision. Pretty sure the only reason iPhone 4 has got it is for iMovie, editing together HD video (plus themes, sound etc) has always been memory intensive. Well, that and maybe future proofing.

Seriously folks, try to wrap your heads around WHY a device has the spec it does rather than just getting bogged down in raw numbers, it'll work out so much better in the long run.
 
Then you will be waiting a LONG time. Seriously, why do people insist on thinking that a 330ppi display in a 10" form factor is something trivial that Apple could add any time they feel like it?

Let's be clear here, putting a display of that density on the iPad would require something in the region of a 2.45 increase in pixel density, so somewhere around 2500 x 1880. That's roughly SIX TIMES the pixels that the current display has (786,432 versus 4,700,000). That's more pixels than you currently get in a 27" iMac display. Even if you think that Apple can source an IPS panel with that sort of density at a cheap enough price (which is extremely unlikely) you still have to drive the damn thing. That doesn't just mean it needs more power (although it would) but that you need to have both a CPU and GPU that a) have enough power to deliver a decent framerate on that high a resolution, b) don't generate enough heat to require active cooling, c) are small enough to fit in the space available inside the iPad and d) don't kill the battery in five minutes dead. Oh and you're going to need a lot more memory to handle the increased demands of a screen running such a high resolution.

As for memory, WHY is everyone obsessing over this? The iPad works perfectly well with 256MB. Yes, there's reloading in Safari but let's wait and see what iOS 4 does for that (it certainly seems to vastly improve thing on other iDevices if tester reports are correct). There's no point where the iPad feels sluggish or in need of more memory at all. Sure it's NICE to have more RAM available but it shouldn't influence your decision. Pretty sure the only reason iPhone 4 has got it is for iMovie, editing together HD video (plus themes, sound etc) has always been memory intensive. Well, that and maybe future proofing.

Seriously folks, try to wrap your heads around WHY a device has the spec it does rather than just getting bogged down in raw numbers, it'll work out so much better in the long run.

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I have an iPad 64GB and its pretty fast.I don't care if iPhone has 512MB RAM because they are 2 different devices.
Even though iPhone has more RAM and a Retina display,its still not fair to compare them because iPad is superior in web surfing,watching movies,reading PDFs and books because of having a much bigger screen,whereas iPhone is pretty well for what you expect from a "Phone".
iPad is iPad and iPhone is Phone,they are in completely different leagues IMO.
 
Then you will be waiting a LONG time. Seriously, why do people insist on thinking that a 330ppi display in a 10" form factor is something trivial that Apple could add any time they feel like it?

Let's be clear here, putting a display of that density on the iPad would require something in the region of a 2.45 increase in pixel density, so somewhere around 2500 x 1880. That's roughly SIX TIMES the pixels that the current display has (786,432 versus 4,700,000). That's more pixels than you currently get in a 27" iMac display. Even if you think that Apple can source an IPS panel with that sort of density at a cheap enough price (which is extremely unlikely) you still have to drive the damn thing. That doesn't just mean it needs more power (although it would) but that you need to have both a CPU and GPU that a) have enough power to deliver a decent framerate on that high a resolution, b) don't generate enough heat to require active cooling, c) are small enough to fit in the space available inside the iPad and d) don't kill the battery in five minutes dead. Oh and you're going to need a lot more memory to handle the increased demands of a screen running such a high resolution.

As for memory, WHY is everyone obsessing over this? The iPad works perfectly well with 256MB. Yes, there's reloading in Safari but let's wait and see what iOS 4 does for that (it certainly seems to vastly improve thing on other iDevices if tester reports are correct). There's no point where the iPad feels sluggish or in need of more memory at all. Sure it's NICE to have more RAM available but it shouldn't influence your decision. Pretty sure the only reason iPhone 4 has got it is for iMovie, editing together HD video (plus themes, sound etc) has always been memory intensive. Well, that and maybe future proofing.

Seriously folks, try to wrap your heads around WHY a device has the spec it does rather than just getting bogged down in raw numbers, it'll work out so much better in the long run.



The iPad 2/pro will probably get a Full HD resolution = 1920x1280 thats exactly 4times the pixel of the iPhone 4= 960x640 seems like a logical step for me.

I think we also gonna see a front facing camera for Facetime, 1gb ram and the new iLife10 for iPad.

I think then the iPad will show what a device like this really can do and nobody will ever question the use of this device, it will be an usefull sci-fi like device and not just a very nice consume based tech toy for rich people.
 
The way i see it:

iPad = Primary web browsing device, secondary gaming device, secondary work device

iPhone = Primary phone, secondary web browsing device, tertiary browsing device

PC = Tertiary web browsing device, primary gaming device, primary work device



I find plenty of use for all three, whatever their specs (RAM), its the form factor that makes them suited to the task, not so much the technical specs.
 
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