iPad Apple Releases new IPad Air and iPad Mini with Apple Pencil Support

[ilovejedd]

Originally Posted by pwalker8

I've currently got a mini 4. 2 GB ram, A8 processor, 128 GB of on board memory.

The new mini - 256 GB with an A12. I don't see anything that explicitly says how much internal ram it has, but Apple support says that they think it's 4GB just like the iPad Pro, which has the same A12 chip. Apparently, it's not actually going to be released until next Monday, the 28th, or at least it won't be in the stores until then and delivery starts on the 29th.

If it's 4GB internal RAM and 256 GB external RAM, then combined with the A12 chip, that's going to be a pretty big jump for my usage, i.e. reading ebooks. CC uses the internal RAM when it syncs up with Calibre, so the more internal RAM, the faster the sync up. Plus, I'm right around 100 GB used on my iPad mini 4, so the 256 GB would give me plenty of room.

Once I get confirmation on that, I will likely go ahead and upgrade.

Note, current (2018) iPad Pro models have A11X with 4-6GB RAM. Prior to these new iPad Air and mini, the only devices with A12 are the iPhone Xr (3GB RAM), Xs (4GB) and Xs Max (4GB).

Currently, iOS doesn't support external storage (workarounds exist but they're limited in what they can be used for). I think it's safe to assume the mini, like its bigger Air brother, will have 3GB RAM. Internal storage options are 64GB and 256GB (+$150). There is no external RAM. CC stores synced books to internal storage (which is a relatively fast "SSD" for a mobile device).

Originally Posted by ilovejedd

Note, current (2018) iPad Pro models have A11X with 4-6GB RAM.

Assume you meant A12x? Also it looks like the new Mini has the A12, better than current chip in mini but not the same as A12x.

[ilovejedd]

Originally Posted by maximus83

Assume you meant A12x? Also it looks like the new Mini has the A12, better than current chip in mini but not the same as A12x.

Ah yes. I stand corrected. I've forgotten they skipped A11X this time. I was used to iPad Pro chipsets trailing behind iPhones.

A8 -> A12 is a very significant improvement. Besides, I doubt the mini's form factor could adequately handle heat dissipation for the A12X GPU.

Originally Posted by ilovejedd

A8 -> A12 is a very significant improvement. Besides, I doubt the mini's form factor could adequately handle heat dissipation for the A12X GPU.

Good to know. Another interesting thing to find out--I'll wait for early reviews to wring it out before buying--is what impact the new CPU has on the Mini's battery life.

[pwalker8]

Originally Posted by ilovejedd

Note, current (2018) iPad Pro models have A11X with 4-6GB RAM. Prior to these new iPad Air and mini, the only devices with A12 are the iPhone Xr (3GB RAM), Xs (4GB) and Xs Max (4GB).

Currently, iOS doesn't support external storage (workarounds exist but they're limited in what they can be used for). I think it's safe to assume the mini, like it's bigger Air brother, will have 3GB RAM. Internal storage options are 64GB and 256GB (+$150). There is no external RAM. CC stores synced books to internal storage (which is a relatively fast "SSD" for a mobile device).

Yes, yes, yes, I know. I was trying to differentiate between the two types of RAM. If I hadn't someone would have said "But the iPad has 128 GB or 256 GB, it doesn't have 2 GB". The 2 GB verses 3 GB verses 4 GB is important because CC uses it to load the list of books when it syncs.

[ilovejedd]

Originally Posted by pwalker8

Yes, yes, yes, I know. I was trying to differentiate between the two types of RAM. If I hadn't someone would have said "But the iPad has 128 GB or 256 GB, it doesn't have 2 GB". The 2 GB verses 3 GB verses 4 GB is important because CC uses it to load the list of books when it syncs.

There aren't two types of RAM. The lower figure (2/3/4GB) is RAM. The 64/128/256GB is storage.

I don't think CC uses a lot of RAM actually. Not unless you have hundreds of thousands of books in your library.

For syncing books, I expect it's the storage speed that matters, not the amount of RAM.

Edit: Just a thought, I was only thinking of metadata.db (or quite likely JSON) in terms of RAM and that's pretty small even with thousands of books. Covers are another matter. I would expect CC is flushing that metadata to storage, though and not just keeping everything in RAM. A12 isn't just faster for general processing, it's also got faster storage compared to A8 so I expect transferring from RAM to storage would be quicker, too.

[ilovejedd]

Originally Posted by maximus83

Good to know. Another interesting thing to find out--I'll wait for early reviews to wring it out before buying--is what impact the new CPU has on the Mini's battery life.

The interesting thing there is it likely has better battery life.

A10 introduced something similar to big.LITTLE. The A12 is even smarter since it's able to heterogeneously run both high efficiency and high performance cores at the same time. I think the A12's high efficiency cores are actually equivalent in performance to A8 or A9 while using much less power.

[kyteflyer]

Originally Posted by maximus83

Hmmm, that would be pretty annoying (no way to change default browser). Is there any way that iOS power users have found a way to hack that? I would not want every link I ever click in email, or other apps, to be popping into Safari, then have to change browsers.

Pretty sure its not possible. However, what I do if I dont want Safari on any particular occasion is taphold/copy the link and drop that into the address bar of Firefox. Its not that hard or annoying.

[teija]

I still find my iPad Mini 3 to be perfect for my needs, but I am SO glad to hear they are finally making another Mini! I much prefer the smaller devices - had a full-sized iPad back in the day and couldn't understand why anyone would gravitate to a smaller screen...but I have never looked back since I got mine. Much more pleasant to hold while "couch surfing" and easier to store or tote around. I honestly don't "see" the screen as small. When I am engrossed, it is just fine for what I need it for.

Glad to know that if I needed to replace mine, there is now going to be a new "upgrade" option out there. And hey, I hear they didn't get rid of the headphone jack on this one..!

[pwalker8]

Originally Posted by ilovejedd

There aren't two types of RAM. The lower figure (2/3/4GB) is RAM. The 64/128/256GB is storage.

I don't think CC uses a lot of RAM actually. Not unless you have hundreds of thousands of books in your library.

For syncing books, I expect it's the storage speed that matters, not the amount of RAM.

Edit: Just a thought, I was only thinking of metadata.db (or quite likely JSON) in terms of RAM and that's pretty small even with thousands of books. Covers are another matter. I would expect CC is flushing that metadata to storage, though and not just keeping everything in RAM. A12 isn't just faster for general processing, it's also got faster storage compared to A8 so I expect transferring from RAM to storage would be quicker, too.

You can call it RAM verses storage if you like, it's all some form of RAM. RAM simply stands for Random Access Memory, it's the technology, not how it's used.

Back when they were beta testing CC for iOS, CC would blow up trying to sync the first time with Calibre with my library. According to the developer, the issue was that my old original iPad mini had very limited internal memory and I had a big enough library where it didn't all fit. My iPad pro didn't have a problem with it. The developer made some changes to the code to get it to work, but it was still a lot faster syncing on my iPad pro verses my iPad mini. The difference isn't as obvious on my iPad mini 4, but there definitely is a difference.

[Deskisamess]

Glad to know that if I needed to replace mine, there is now going to be a new "upgrade" option out there. And hey, I hear they didn't get rid of the headphone jack on this one..!

The adapters work just fine on the iPhones that don't have a headphone jack, and on the new iPads that have the USB C ports and no headphone jack. I don't use headphones all that often, and don't want to always dink with Bluetooth when I do, but it is nice to have the option.

If Apple would make a smaller type of earbud, I'd use them more. The current ones really hurt my ears after a few minutes. I use ones with rubber tips which helps.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by pwalker8

You can call it RAM verses storage if you like, it's all some form of RAM. RAM simply stands for Random Access Memory, it's the technology, not how it's used.

Storage memory is not RAM, but some form of EEPROM ("flash memory"). It can indeed be randomly accessed, but that doesn't make it RAM. RAM refers to a specific type of memory technology, which it ain't.

[OtinG]

Considering selling my iPad mini 2 and iPad Pro 9.7" 2016 model to go toward a new iPad mini 5, but not yet convinced. I've already got an Apple Pencil 1st generation that I use with my iPad Pro 9.7", but to be honest I don't use the Pencil that much. I thought I would use it a lot, but that just never happened for some reason.

Two things have me thinking twice about trading the two iPads I currently own for the new iPad mini 5.

1. First thing is the crappy dual speakers in my iPad mini 2. They blow chunks, big time! Any listening to music or videos requires a headset, and I hate wearing headsets. My iPad Pro 9.7" quad speakers are excellent though and no headset has ever been required. It actually rivals my older Amazon Echo speaker. So I hate to give up a good stereo quad sound for tinny crap sound.
2. Second thing is the change in size from my iPad mini 2 to the iPad mini 5. Though rather slight, it appears to be just enough to make the iPad mini 5 fit way too loosely in my current Otterbox Defender case meaning I would also have to fork out another $40+ for a new case when they finally get released by Otterbox. Every iThingie I own goes immediately into an Otterbox Defender case as soon as I get it and stays there until I retire it. That is why they all look brand new.

I thought I wanted the larger screen size of the iPad Pro 9.7" when I got it, but truth is I still prefer the smaller form factor of the iPad mini.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by OtinG

Considering selling my iPad mini 2 and iPad Pro 9.7" 2016 model to go toward a new iPad mini 5, but not yet convinced.

There's a considerable difference in size between an iPad Pro and the Mini. Do you not use your iPad Pro for any purpose that the larger screen would be beneficial for, such as watching video or reading PDFs? I certainly wouldn't get rid of my 10.5" iPad Pro - I find it the perfect compromise between size and portability for such tasks.

[ilovejedd]

Originally Posted by pwalker8

You can call it RAM verses storage if you like, it's all some form of RAM. RAM simply stands for Random Access Memory, it's the technology, not how it's used.

Back when they were beta testing CC for iOS, CC would blow up trying to sync the first time with Calibre with my library. According to the developer, the issue was that my old original iPad mini had very limited internal memory and I had a big enough library where it didn't all fit. My iPad pro didn't have a problem with it. The developer made some changes to the code to get it to work, but it was still a lot faster syncing on my iPad pro verses my iPad mini. The difference isn't as obvious on my iPad mini 4, but there definitely is a difference.

I know RAM stands for Random Access Memory. However, storage is not RAM. RAM is a pretty specific term referring to volatile memory that loses data when you cut power off. I think you might be confusing RAM with memory.

RAM and storage are both forms of memory:
RAM: primary or volatile memory (often colloquially referred to as simply memory)
Storage: secondary or non-volatile memory

The iPad Pro doesn't just have more RAM compared to the iPad mini. It's also a much faster device. App crashing with large on-device library? Very likely to be out of memory errors. Slower transfers over the same wifi network? That's actually more likely to be processor and/or storage speed rather than RAM.

You'd need either a way to monitor resources used by the app or two nearly identical devices with either amount of RAM or chipset being the sole differentiator to determine the cause. Alas, it's rare being able to test the latter and you'd likely need to be a dev to do the former.

Mind, going from just 2GB to 3GB is already pretty significant.

If the operating system uses, say, 0.7GB, with 2GB RAM you only have 1.3GB available for apps to use (and they still have to share with other apps). With 3GB RAM, that's 2.3GB available for apps.