The Apple iPad Air 2 Review
by Joshua Ho on November 7, 2014 9:30 AM EST- Posted in
- Tablets
- Apple
- Mobile
- iOS
- ipad Air 2
CPU Performance
Now that we’ve managed to take a good look at the changes between the A8 and A8X, we can get a good idea of what those differences translate to in some real world performance. While we’ve already seen pure CPU performance, such differences can be small when viewed from real applications. To this end, we use a few browser benchmarks and similar benchmarks. I definitely want to caution against comparing SoCs across platforms though, as rendering engines have a significant effect upon the performance of the device.
There's really not too much that needs to be said here, as the extra core and minor clock speed bump make for ridiculous amounts of performance. The A8X is class-leading here despite generally having fewer cores and lower clocks than the rest of the competition. However, in comparison to A8 we don't see a massive jump in performance. This seems to suggest that even a third core will invoke diminishing returns in general, although these changes mean that it's enough for the iPad Air 2 to be one of the fastest ARM-based devices on the market. One can see an odd regression in the Basemark OS II storage test, but this is likely to be production variances in NAND quality rather than anything notable.
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tralalalalalala40 - Thursday, November 13, 2014 - link
Oh the strained logic of a sterdroid user. One employee of a news site goes and works somewhere else, everyone left behind still works for that employee. lolapplelover2885 - Saturday, November 8, 2014 - link
I consider myself an apple fan girl for life. I bought my MacBook Pro in 09 and no issues. My finacee has a HP desktop that does. I fear the blue screen of death soon. I want to convert him to the apple side. He has the newest macbook pro 2012 I want him to get an iphone he has a Motorola phone. Most Android and Window's are not as flexible as the Apple. Yes, IOS has issues like other platforms. However, Apple's products are designed to last longer than it's competitors. I had bad taste of both Windows & Android now. I owned a Samsung Galaxy S and Windows Nokia Lumia the problem is their software & battery life. Yes, apple's products are expensive but in the long run it is worth every penny spent on a beautiful product that is going to last. I am off to buy an Ipad Air 2 something I have been waiting on for a while. I'll do a combo pack and give it to myself as a birthday present. I'm a tech junkie and a student. Did you know you can use Window's office mobile on all devices? You no longer need those giant desktop thing's. I don't need a USB to find mystuff when I have airdrop and icloud if you need extra storage use that as your backup for files. I also use Google Drive to do my school work. Good luck with all your apple needs.Ilias78 - Saturday, November 8, 2014 - link
Lol women... go back to your kitchen.Commodus - Sunday, November 9, 2014 - link
I'm sorry, I'm gonna have to call out this sexism -- criticize the issues, not the gender, please.zodiacsoulmate - Saturday, November 8, 2014 - link
lolmaximumGPU - Sunday, November 9, 2014 - link
"giant desktop things" are not used just for office you know..asleepy - Saturday, November 8, 2014 - link
Sound vibrates through the screen even at low volume levels to such an extent that people's fingertips are going numb and they're returning the Air 2s for refunds... yet no mention of that??? Welcome to Apple Corporation, Anandtech. And goodbye.Commodus - Sunday, November 9, 2014 - link
Maybe because it's not as much of an issue as you think it is? If you'd believed the Antennagate sky-is-falling types, Apple was going to have to recall the iPhone 4 and face disastrous financial results... turned out that the problem, while real, was seriously overblown.I've felt it, and it's slightly weird, but I don't think I'd call it a dealbreaker.
tralalalalalala40 - Thursday, November 13, 2014 - link
People's fingernails are literally getting stuck in the gap of the note 4 and people are having to amputate fingers. It's horrible. Goodbye corporate Samsung!!#@$carloshehe - Sunday, November 9, 2014 - link
I got the iPad Air 2 yesterday. I can do more with it I could ever do with a Nexus. I have an Android phone but I wouldn't take a Nexus tablet if you have it to me for free.