The Apple iPad Review (2012)
by Vivek Gowri & Anand Lal Shimpi on March 28, 2012 3:14 PM ESTThe Impact of Larger Memory
Apple doubled memory capacity on the new iPad to 1GB, marking the first time in recent history that Apple's flagship product offers a similar amount of memory to the current crop of high-end Android devices. Apple's iOS can do a relatively good job with limited system memory as it will conservatively unload applications from memory in the event that it needs to free up more space. iOS does not support paging to flash, making DRAM size a hard limit for developers looking to really push the platform.
Apple has always been conservative on DRAM sizing because it's a great way of reducing the BOM (Bill of Materials) cost. If Apple can make up for having less DRAM by being more aggressive in software (read: kicking apps out of memory), it's a tradeoff that makes sense. It's really Apple's foray into gaming that has added pressure to increase memory sizes.
With the move to the Retina Display, the amount of memory needed to store a single frame increases by 4x—from 3MB to 12MB. Assuming two buffered frames you're looking at 24MB of RAM just to smoothly display what you're seeing on the screen.
The bigger problem isn't the frame buffer, but rather all of the other data you need (e.g. level data, textures, etc...). The higher the screen resolution, the more important it is to have higher quality assets in your game. Texture compression can go a long way, but at some point there's simply more data to deal with as game complexity increases. It's not just about the increase in resolution either. As GPU horsepower increases, so will the complexity of what game developers try to build.
While the frame buffer size increased thanks to the Retina Display, total system memory increased by a much larger amount. With 1GB of memory, game developers are now less constrained.
A more immediate benefit is apps and web pages will remain resident in memory longer as you open open up and switch to other apps. For example, on the iPad 2 if I open four tabs in Safari (AT, Engadget, Reddit, and Tech Report), open iPhoto, run Infinity Blade 2 and GTA 3, switching between the latter two will always require a full game reload (as in you see the intro and everything before you pick up where you left off). On the new iPad, with the same setup, I can switch between Infinity Blade 2 and GTA 3 and automatically resume where I last left off thanks to the extra DRAM. You can still create a scenario where even 1GB isn't enough, it's just that the limit is now higher than it was on the iPad 2.
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damianrobertjones - Thursday, March 29, 2012 - link
" It's got everything but the kitchen sink. "SD card reader?
USB port?
Ethernet port?
Removable battery?
Move files straight from the device to a pc without ANY software?
The list could go on.
darkcrayon - Thursday, March 29, 2012 - link
But there is n WIFI, optional LTE, Bluetooth 4, and a dock connector (which includes USB) to handle many similar functions.mr_ripley - Thursday, March 29, 2012 - link
oh, and also:a slot to plug in my punch cards and floppy discs
and it would be nice if it had disc drive so i could play my audio cds
maybe connect to dial up modems too
......
all because i could not move on to better ways of doing things. All of what you mention is either obsolete or redundant!!
dagamer34 - Friday, March 30, 2012 - link
I think you want a laptop....jihe - Thursday, March 29, 2012 - link
"I said I wanted to give it a shot at being a real productivity device"That is where you went wrong. Pads are toys and nothing more.
repoman27 - Thursday, March 29, 2012 - link
You might want to try running that last statement by a pilot, doctor or teacher. They're not terribly optimized for content creation at this point, but if you think that their value does not extend beyond mere entertainment, then you really haven't considered the possible use cases for these devices.mavere - Friday, March 30, 2012 - link
Don't forget lawyers.Lots and lots of trees have been saved since the iPad's introduction.
neoabraxas - Thursday, March 29, 2012 - link
I find it absolutely ridiculous that someone who does not appreciate the tablet form factor is offering their thoughts on the new iPad.Is there really nobody at Anandtech who genuinely enjoys tablets and can write a summary that is aimed more at tablet enthusiasts?
Bloggers like you do tend to write a lot on their devices. Most people don't. For them tablets are media consumption devices. I'm a programmer. When I get home the last thing I want to do with my computing equipment is type more. For me a tablet is ideal.
vol7ron - Thursday, March 29, 2012 - link
To be honest, the last thing I want to do on a tablet/smartphone is type. Unless, it's with the Transformer (or other like) keyboard, but even then it's still not what I want to use a tablet for.The main thing, for me, is reading.
MrCromulent - Thursday, March 29, 2012 - link
Great review! I was looking forward to reading it when I saw it posted yesterday evening.One point I'm missing from every review though: Has the touchscreen sensitivity / resolution changed in any way? The doubling of display resolution does not imply doubling of the touch input resolution, right? I love the iPad, but I always found it almost unusable for any kind of handwritten input (be it finger or stylus).