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iPad Pro just wow. 16GB RAM on new iPad Pro!
- Thread starter bscheffel
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The iPhone 12 series and iPad Air 4 already had the A14 which has similar single-core performance as M1 but has fewer CPU and GPU cores. Regardless of the branding, the new iPad Pro was going to get a chipset that would be comparable in performance to the M1 anyway. They can't very well release yet another iPad Pro with A12X/Z performance.
Mind, the DTK Mac Mini featured A12Z (same as 2020 iPad Pro) + 16GB RAM. The M1 has extra oomph but the A12X/Z weren't slackers to begin with.
Advertising the RAM on iPads and allowing for up to 16GB is a departure from Apple and suggests we could see changes on the software front. Granted, Thunderbolt support on M1 is great. I don't think the older iPad Pros have the bandwidth and memory for fullscreen external monitor support like the 2021 Pros do.
Yes, and don’t forget this 24” iMac is meant to replace the low-end 21.5” iMac. Apple is likely to release a higher end iMac that will replace the 27” iMac - there were already prior rumors that Apple was developing a bigger iMac.
I think that will come with potentially 16gb ram as the base model, similar to how the new 16” MBP and probably even the 14” MBPs will. They could all come out at same time with the higher-end M1X (or even M2 though in my view unlikely) chips later this year.
My apologies... I been looking through the Apple Store app and not the website.
I am not even sure I'd call it "Advertising".
Lets go to the iPad page (https://www.apple.com/ipad/), no mention of RAM there. Ok, then let's click 'Learn More' on the iPad Pro, which takes us to the overview. Cool, so how do Apple try to sell us the Pro? M1 Chip, XDR screen, 5G. Nothing else, they mention the chip is fast -- but never the RAM. In fact, nowhere on this page is there any mention of RAM. They do highlight 2TB, but only as storage of Apps, etc.
Ok, how about the pricing? Bah, they've put a pre-order page up. But yesterday you could configure the iPad and was there any mention of RAM? No. The storage section only mentioned storage space nothing else.
So how do apple "Advertise" the 16GB of ram? A single line half way down the tech specs page.
I am expecting to see a lot of disappointed users when they find out the RAM is not accessible by applications -- just like was the case with the 2018 model. Nice for multitasking, loading huge files (video), etc. but no more layers, etc in Procreate.
Do you really think Apple is doubling the amount of RAM but will not allow applications to use it? ?
During the keynote, it actually showed up to 16GB RAM whereas Apple has never mentioned it before. They also list it in the iPad comparison page.
As rui said RAM was shown during the keynote and in Apple’s website, before there has never been any mention from Apple anywhere... ever... so it’s a change, in both quantity and the fact that they somewhat talk about it now
Could happen and things could progress like they do now. iPadOS will continue to serve the entire range of iPads but maybe some apps won’t run on the lower end one day.
Very well said. 8GB also works a treat on M1 Macs already hence I doubt one can utilise the power prior to any serious app upgrades or a new iOS version.
Well said. Hardware keeps evolving all the time and iPadOS has been playing catch-up a bit.
I wouldn’t have bothered putting in the M1 if I were going to cut that product line a year later but that’s me.
Depends on if wwdc introduces anything that will benefit greatly from the added ram.
If so, I expect the 1tb to sell out and I’d probably just end up getting the 2tb rather than waiting
As a shareholder I can only applaud. Get the highest one, for sure.
It being the Mac system on a chip the RAM usage will likely work in the same fashion, wouldn’t it?
16 gigs ?!
Maybe I will upgrade my iPad after all , my one has 4 gigs and it definitely gets sluggish with several big apps open all the time
16 gigs on an iPad ... wow ?
Maybe I will upgrade my iPad after all , my one has 4 gigs and it definitely gets sluggish with several big apps open all the time
16 gigs on an iPad ... wow ?
Wow with 16GB ram maybe Safari will be able to open 4 whole browser tabs instead of 3 without reloading!
/s
/s
Maybe not yet, depends on the app
But who knows what the next WWDC will bring ?
It happened in 2018 (50%), it’s not unreasonable to assume it will happen again.
It had happened already with the first pro vs the 9.7 which shows that the reason is probably that apps and even the OS cannot tell apart different SKUs based on RAM only. However, the fact that a single app couldn't use the 6GB didn't mean that iPadOS wouldn't take advantage of that in terms of less reloads so it's still a benefit, but this time it would be quite a lot of spare room, probably partly wasted if they didn't create more powerful multitasking options (via external monitors?). Or they may simply change the policy, allow the OS to tell apart different SKUs and allow some apps to do more on 16GB devices.
Seems like there’s a nearly equal probability that either Apple has big plans for the 16gb iPad, or, they got several large containers of 8 and 16 GB M1s from TSMC, and were like, “let’s just put them as is in the iPad, there’s no way we’ll use all of these before the next shipment if they’re only in macs”. That’s being a little facetious, but not entirely. The economy of scale argument makes sense. Why develop an entirely new chip, and get in line behind everyone else at the foundry?