I haven't used the thing, but I don't think it's designed to be a multitasking powerhouse and I doubt most of the users are bent on using it that way. It's been repeated here, but the iPad isn't a productivity device; it's a consumption device. In my opinion, anyway.
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Originally Posted by YaWhateva
1GB of ram is not expensive, at all. They could have done 512MB of memory last year at the same price point and 1GB this year at the same price point. Especially since they are using cheap, chinese parts and manufacturing. Are you saying that you don't want more headroom to keep programs running in the background in order to have real multi-tasking unlike what Apple pretends is multitasking?
The quote you linked pretty much just talks about the graphics and processing power not about RAM.
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I know it talks about the processing power, but the outcome is based on the total computing power, which includes RAM and the processor.
Also, you're talking about the RAM as though they could easily just drop another chip in it like nothing. Isn't it a bit difficult and costly to develop a small processor such as the A5 with integrated memory?
The iPad needs to be sleek and compact, while maintaining a large enough screen size, to compete as it does. This costs a lot of money to produce. I don't doubt for a second that the markup on Apple products is likely quite high compared to others in the industry. However, when considering their expected markups and their expected pricing and their expected performance from a shareholder's point of view, to "simply add more RAM" would have likely required a noticeably higher price point.
If the new generation performance nearly doubles compared to the first (and if people were already satisfied or impressed to begin with), why throw more RAM at it and needlessly add to the price at this juncture?
Also, although I'm not sure how much of this is official or confirmed, but there's this bit from Wikipedia's page on the new Apple A5 in the iPad2:
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The A5 contains a 1 GHz dual-core ARM Cortex-A9 based CPU and a PowerVR SGX543 GPU. Apple states that the CPU is twice as powerful as the predecessor and that the GPU is up to nine times as powerful. The A5 package contains 512 MB of low-power DDR2 RAM clocked at 1066 MHz.
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So unless the article is wrong: the iPad2 does indeed have more RAM at 512 MB.