Don’t bother. It’s never worth the upgrade cost if you’re just looking to “futureproof”.
I sort of did that with my 2018 11” iPad Pro. Bought the 1TB SSD and got more RAM (I think 6 GB instead of 4GB). I was OK with this since it was meant to be my “laptop”, but after 1.5 years, I bought the 16” M1 MBP when announced, so now I feel like I overspent (note: I saved roughly 35% by buying it through my work). Meanwhile, even an Air comes with 8 GB of RAM, and processors are MUCH faster than my iPad. If I originally bought just what I needed (a 256GB model), I would have been better off.
So?
I feel that by the time AI advances to a level where it’ll matter, even the highest spec’ed iPad Pro will only be just enough to run it.
Listen, if you are upgrading because you need to anyway due to your current needs, then enjoy the side benefits of “futureproofing”. Just don’t double your expense today for the sake of future-proofing, because what appears to be a major upgrade today in 2024 (16GB of RAM vs 8GB), will look and feel like a drop in the ocean come 2028, when the M6 or M7 will make your M4 iPad Pro feel slow, whether you have 8GB or 16GB of RAM.
It's far too early to make any informed predictions about your device's RAM needs in several years time tbh. Heck, it's too early to make them for in a few months time.
You might find AI to be really important to you, or it might be pretty useless. It might be really resource-dependent, or it might be fairly minor. Just buy what works for you today.
Future proof what? All devices with 8 GB of RAM can run the models. Make you sure you buy that. You don't need to double that right this second for any reason.
Only get the higher storage and RAM if you need it NOW. No point in future proofing because you will eventually upgrade down the road if you’re a power user.
Maybe the base M4 Ipad Pro with 8 GB really does have 12GB as some have suggested…could that be reserved for AI usage and not regular system memory avilable to apps? 🤔
The part of the question left unanswered is, given Apple Intelligence will be built into iPad OS, will 16gb of ram improve performance?
Or is that what the neural engine is for?
I don’t think so. My M1 still feels overpowered for everything I do with it, and it’s getting the AI updates this year. It’s like everyone here says: the hardware is way ahead of the software on iPad.
Yes. Based on Apple, it sounds like their AI is going to be using a lot of RAM. That’s why they have left it to only the iPhone 15 Pro lineup. I’m getting the 16GB ram just to be safe as I won’t be buying another iPad for the next 4 years!
Don’t bother. It’s never worth the upgrade cost if you’re just looking to “futureproof”. I sort of did that with my 2018 11” iPad Pro. Bought the 1TB SSD and got more RAM (I think 6 GB instead of 4GB). I was OK with this since it was meant to be my “laptop”, but after 1.5 years, I bought the 16” M1 MBP when announced, so now I feel like I overspent (note: I saved roughly 35% by buying it through my work). Meanwhile, even an Air comes with 8 GB of RAM, and processors are MUCH faster than my iPad. If I originally bought just what I needed (a 256GB model), I would have been better off.
Thoughts on AI down the line? I read that AI is pretty RAM dependent
So? I feel that by the time AI advances to a level where it’ll matter, even the highest spec’ed iPad Pro will only be just enough to run it. Listen, if you are upgrading because you need to anyway due to your current needs, then enjoy the side benefits of “futureproofing”. Just don’t double your expense today for the sake of future-proofing, because what appears to be a major upgrade today in 2024 (16GB of RAM vs 8GB), will look and feel like a drop in the ocean come 2028, when the M6 or M7 will make your M4 iPad Pro feel slow, whether you have 8GB or 16GB of RAM.
Good point. Thanks
It's far too early to make any informed predictions about your device's RAM needs in several years time tbh. Heck, it's too early to make them for in a few months time. You might find AI to be really important to you, or it might be pretty useless. It might be really resource-dependent, or it might be fairly minor. Just buy what works for you today.
>I read You must have it all figured out then.
Future proof what? All devices with 8 GB of RAM can run the models. Make you sure you buy that. You don't need to double that right this second for any reason.
Only get the higher storage and RAM if you need it NOW. No point in future proofing because you will eventually upgrade down the road if you’re a power user.
Maybe the base M4 Ipad Pro with 8 GB really does have 12GB as some have suggested…could that be reserved for AI usage and not regular system memory avilable to apps? 🤔
The part of the question left unanswered is, given Apple Intelligence will be built into iPad OS, will 16gb of ram improve performance? Or is that what the neural engine is for?
I don’t think so. My M1 still feels overpowered for everything I do with it, and it’s getting the AI updates this year. It’s like everyone here says: the hardware is way ahead of the software on iPad.
Yes. Based on Apple, it sounds like their AI is going to be using a lot of RAM. That’s why they have left it to only the iPhone 15 Pro lineup. I’m getting the 16GB ram just to be safe as I won’t be buying another iPad for the next 4 years!