Hi, guys. How is the performance of Ipad Air 2 compared to Iphone plus 7 for gaming? Much slower? Is there anything that and Air 2 can't run properly? I have and Air 1 and clearly felt that he was struggling with newer games, like Batman from Telltale. The same could be said from Air 2?
Yep, Air1 is reaching end of life for high-end games. Even older - but demanding - stuff like X-COM is struggling on it. All "normal" stuff is still running fine though, just for the record. From what I heard from others, Air2 is a nice jump in performance from the Air1. Some quick googling later it seems that the A10 chip in the iPhone7 blows even an iPad Pro out of the water. See e.g. here: http://www.macrumors.com/2016/09/08/iphone-7-plus-a10-fusion-chip-benchmark/ Personally, waiting for a big iPad Pro with an A10X now... Don't have the time to really dig into the performance numbers, I'll leave that to you Google for e.g. "ipad air 2 iphone 7 performance comparison", "air 2 benchmark", "iphone 7 benchmark" should give you enough reading material.
Thanks for the help. I found this: https://browser.primatelabs.com/ios-benchmarks Do you know performance already take into account the difference between screen or is it raw power alone? Forgive me if the question is too dumb. lol If it does, the performance of the Air 2 is very good, since Iphone 6 was already very cool. Thanks again!
Oh boy, and I wanted to avoid having to write more Your question isn't dumb at all. And the answer - as so often - is: "it depends". I'd need to dig into that Geekbenchmark to find out what details they measure. One number to represent performance is always tricky when you want details - e.g. how are the different factors like CPU & GPU power weighted against each other? What you want is an in-depth benchmark that checks graphics performance - both in raw power (e.g. drawcalls) and when taking screen resolution into account. If you have access to both devices, e.g. at friends, here's a shameless plug: Use Nimian Legends as benchmark tool. Ingame, you can crank up the resolution to Ultra (I think that's a 4K res, on my Air1 it immediately crashes when I click that on ) . Then "Show FPS". Ideally, pick a heavy scene, like those Quest chapter where you fight that giant flying robot snake/dragon. On my Air1, even with default settings I could make it go down into low single digit framerate there. Compare the framerates between the two. If they are the same or really close, keep adding special effects and see which device throws the towel first . iPhone7 has 1334x750 (326 ppi), Air2 is 2048x1536 (264 ppi). Big Pro has a whopping 2732x2048 (264 ppi). So even with the exact same tech the iP7 should be more performant graphics-wise than the Air2 and Pro, simply cause it needs to shove less pixels. But you get a smaller screen, higher dpi notwithstanding.
Thank you very much for the help! And sorry for the trouble. I find that this site gives a more acurate picture: http://www.iphonebenchmark.net/passmark_chart.html It seems that the i6 outperformance the Air 2, after all. But I think, despite that, the device is going to fulfill my needs. Thanks again!
No worries, it's fun to dig this stuff up Wish I had more time for it. Unless you have something that you absolutely want to play right now and your Air1 can't handle it, I'd wait with upgrading. It's highly likely that Apple will release a new Air and/or Pro sometime this year, most rumours say March event. I've heard of Ming-Chi Kuo quite frequently, and afaik he has the best track record for predicting Apple's releases. See e.g. here: http://www.macworld.co.uk/news/apple/apple-predictions-2017-all-new-iphones-ipads-macs-expected-in-2017-3510027/ , under "Apple predictions for 2017: iPad Pro 2" Rant: That something I REALLY don't like about Apple, that they never release product roadmaps and we have to rely on speculation on what's next and when.
Thanks again! I gave my Air 1 to my mother because she broke her older tablet, so I am only with my phone at the moment. But in all and all it is still better to wait on March and see what Apple bring us! Lol Edit: in fact I don't even know if I have much need for raw power, since I do most of my gaming on my Phone. I will use it for reading, Netflix, Comics and such. The lighter weight, more ram and being thinnier might be cool, though.
