New iPad Pro comes with 4GB of RAM, 1TB version may come with 6GB

Posted:
in iPad edited October 2018
Although all of Apple's new iPad Pros are nominally supposed to offer the same performance as they all boast the same A12X processor, 1-terabyte models may actually have superior RAM, according to one developer.

The 2018 iPad Pro.
The 2018 iPad Pro.


"Multiple people are telling me that only the 1TB iPad Pros get 6GB RAM," developer Steve Troughton-Smith noted on Twitter. Other Pro models are said to have 4 gigabytes of RAM, the same as the 2017 version of the hardware.

Relatively few people are likely to pay for a 1-terabyte Pro, as the cost is not just greater than any previous iPad but in some cases more than a MacBook Pro. An 11-inch, Wi-Fi-only Pro with that amount of storage is $1,549. The pricetag jumps to $1,749 for a 12.9-inch display, and adding cellular can raise it as high as $1,899. This doesn't include a keyboard or Apple Pencil.

64-gigabyte 11-inch Pros start at $799, already $150 more than it cost to get a 10.5-inch tablet last year.

It's not clear why Apple would add extra RAM for one storage tier. It may have been deemed necessary to ensure smooth performance when handling that amount of data, though that's rarely a concern with Mac and Windows PCs and shouldn't be here either, given Apple's storage controller efficiency.

AppleInsider has asked for comment regarding the matter from Apple, and will update accordingly.

The signature features of the new iPad Pros are small bezels, USB-C, multi-angle Face ID, and support for a second-generation Apple Pencil with new tap commands and wireless charging.



Comments

  • Reply 1 of 17
    Both are a big leap over the previous models. Impressive... most impressive!
    pslicelolliver
  • Reply 2 of 17
    Aren’t the current iPad Pros 4GB? I’m pretty sure the 12.9” is.
  • Reply 3 of 17
    tipootipoo Posts: 1,141member
    Going to guess that impressive Photoshop demonstration was running on the 6GB one then, which most people won't get. Photoshop can chew through RAM. 
    caladanian
  • Reply 4 of 17
    tipoo said:
    Going to guess that impressive Photoshop demonstration was running on the 6GB one then, which most people won't get. Photoshop can chew through RAM. 
    I’m sure that’s a safe assumption. A professional is going to buy the top end model.
    caladanian
  • Reply 5 of 17
    melgrossmelgross Posts: 33,510member
    tipoo said:
    Going to guess that impressive Photoshop demonstration was running on the 6GB one then, which most people won't get. Photoshop can chew through RAM. 
    That’s what I was wondering about. I know iOS is much more efficient with RAM than windows and macOS, but running a 3Gig file on a device with 4Gig RAM seems just a tiny bit squeezed to me. Since PS likes to have three copies of a file running, and for 100% efficiency, all must be in RAM, I’m wondering how this would work. Apple said that they had a new high speed drive controller chip they designed for this. So possibly, they’re using even faster NAND this year. Previously, speeds were slightly in excess of 500MB/s sequential. But we know that in some Macs, Apple is running over 2GB/s. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if that’s what we have here? If so, having less RAM isn’t such a limitation.
    SoundJudgment
  • Reply 6 of 17
    melgrossmelgross Posts: 33,510member
    tipoo said:
    Going to guess that impressive Photoshop demonstration was running on the 6GB one then, which most people won't get. Photoshop can chew through RAM. 
    I’m sure that’s a safe assumption. A professional is going to buy the top end model.
    We ordered the 256GB models. That’s enough for us. I would rather keep some current work on the device, and offload the rest to an external drive. With Adobe, we have stuff in their cloud, and that seems to work well. I’m looking forward to taking something from there and working on it with my new iPad, and saving it up there.

    a terabyte is good for editing videos where you want the entire thing in one place. 

    I’d still like to be able to use external drives the way we do with Macs. Mount it on the Desktop, drag to it, or open and drag to a folder. Same thing in reverse to get something out. Maybe next year.
    SoundJudgment
  • Reply 7 of 17
    What makes the most expensive one more professional other than Apple decided that one gets more RAM? Aside from storage (and more RAM) isn’t it identical to the other models with less storage?
  • Reply 8 of 17
    melgrossmelgross Posts: 33,510member
    What makes the most expensive one more professional other than Apple decided that one gets more RAM? Aside from storage (and more RAM) isn’t it identical to the other models with less storage?
    Yes.
  • Reply 9 of 17
    asciiascii Posts: 5,936member
    iFixIt will tell us soon enough, the RAM chips always have known 3rd party markings. The RAM in the iPhone XS Max was LPDDR4X. 
  • Reply 10 of 17
    melgross said:
    tipoo said:
    Going to guess that impressive Photoshop demonstration was running on the 6GB one then, which most people won't get. Photoshop can chew through RAM. 
    I’m sure that’s a safe assumption. A professional is going to buy the top end model.
    We ordered the 256GB models. That’s enough for us. I would rather keep some current work on the device, and offload the rest to an external drive. With Adobe, we have stuff in their cloud, and that seems to work well. I’m looking forward to taking something from there and working on it with my new iPad, and saving it up there.

    a terabyte is good for editing videos where you want the entire thing in one place. 

    I’d still like to be able to use external drives the way we do with Macs. Mount it on the Desktop, drag to it, or open and drag to a folder. Same thing in reverse to get something out. Maybe next year.
    I'm still under the impression Apple will be rolling out an iOS version of Final Cut for iPad Pro based on storage and processor improvements. It's going to become a go-to tool for production, art and design in all kinds of industries.
    lolliver
  • Reply 11 of 17
    melgrossmelgross Posts: 33,510member
    melgross said:
    tipoo said:
    Going to guess that impressive Photoshop demonstration was running on the 6GB one then, which most people won't get. Photoshop can chew through RAM. 
    I’m sure that’s a safe assumption. A professional is going to buy the top end model.
    We ordered the 256GB models. That’s enough for us. I would rather keep some current work on the device, and offload the rest to an external drive. With Adobe, we have stuff in their cloud, and that seems to work well. I’m looking forward to taking something from there and working on it with my new iPad, and saving it up there.

    a terabyte is good for editing videos where you want the entire thing in one place. 

    I’d still like to be able to use external drives the way we do with Macs. Mount it on the Desktop, drag to it, or open and drag to a folder. Same thing in reverse to get something out. Maybe next year.
    I'm still under the impression Apple will be rolling out an iOS version of Final Cut for iPad Pro based on storage and processor improvements. It's going to become a go-to tool for production, art and design in all kinds of industries.
    Since I use it, I’d like to see that. Also, as iOS is fully color managed, it makes editing anything actually accurate. Too many people edit on devices with no color management. That can cause problems later.

    one thing I’d like is to see new cameras include the option for DCI-P3 the way they do with sRGB and Adobe RGB. Seriously, if Apple’s cameras can shoot DCI-P3, why can’t a pro camera?
    edited October 2018 SpamSandwich
  • Reply 12 of 17
    melgross said:
    What makes the most expensive one more professional other than Apple decided that one gets more RAM? Aside from storage (and more RAM) isn’t it identical to the other models with less storage?
    Yes.

    So does 1TB SSD require more RAM?
  • Reply 13 of 17
    melgross said:
    What makes the most expensive one more professional other than Apple decided that one gets more RAM? Aside from storage (and more RAM) isn’t it identical to the other models with less storage?
    Yes.

    So does 1TB SSD require more RAM?
    I think that will be the question. I'm sure like a bunch of other folks, I assumed that the pro devices of a particular size are identical except for storage space. I'd guess that Apple's lack of candor about this, coupled with the Photoshop demo which will probably have turned out to have been the 6GB, 1TB model will generate a class action. Right now I'm debating whether to cancel my order of a non-1TB version - I mostly purchased it on the basis of the Photoshop demo (Photoshop eats RAM for breakfast).
  • Reply 14 of 17
    melgrossmelgross Posts: 33,510member
    melgross said:
    What makes the most expensive one more professional other than Apple decided that one gets more RAM? Aside from storage (and more RAM) isn’t it identical to the other models with less storage?
    Yes.

    So does 1TB SSD require more RAM?
    No, and I can’t understand why Apple would do that. It’s not just people with 1TB drives that would want more RAM.
  • Reply 15 of 17
    melgrossmelgross Posts: 33,510member

    melgross said:
    What makes the most expensive one more professional other than Apple decided that one gets more RAM? Aside from storage (and more RAM) isn’t it identical to the other models with less storage?
    Yes.

    So does 1TB SSD require more RAM?
    I think that will be the question. I'm sure like a bunch of other folks, I assumed that the pro devices of a particular size are identical except for storage space. I'd guess that Apple's lack of candor about this, coupled with the Photoshop demo which will probably have turned out to have been the 6GB, 1TB model will generate a class action. Right now I'm debating whether to cancel my order of a non-1TB version - I mostly purchased it on the basis of the Photoshop demo (Photoshop eats RAM for breakfast).
    That’s nuts. There won’t be any action over that. Apple almost never states the amount of RAM in the iPad. If someone who spends $1,750 to $1,899 on an iPad gets more RAM, so be it. Even spending $999 should be enough to cause a potential buyer to do some research. If they are too lazy, then it’s their own fault. We’ll know as soon as the embargo is over.

    Oh, and just how many 3Gig files are you intending to edit? None, I’d guess.
    edited November 2018
  • Reply 16 of 17
    asciiascii Posts: 5,936member
    They shouldn't keep it a secret how much RAM there is any more. If you plan on editing big images (e.g. a pro photographer editing large multi-megapixel images) you will want to know.
  • Reply 17 of 17
    melgrossmelgross Posts: 33,510member
    ascii said:
    They shouldn't keep it a secret how much RAM there is any more. If you plan on editing big images (e.g. a pro photographer editing large multi-megapixel images) you will want to know.
    Well, as I’ve said, that only lasts until the embargo ends, the first day the device is available. So if someone isn’t that eager to order it the first day you can, one whole week earlier, they can read those first reviews, and they’ll know. Apple knows they can’t keep this, and a lot of other things, a secret. They just don’t think it’s important enough to mention. I don’t agree, but it’s not a big deal in the long run.
    edited November 2018
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