Hands on Impressions: The New iPad with Retina Display and A6X Processor & iPad mini

[PrayForDeath]

Originally Posted by Connector

Wow, oh my god!!!!!!

I upgraded my new ipad (ipad 3) with ios 6.0.1, and all my hardcore games are running a TON better!!!!!!!

Wow, I feel like I got an ipad 4 now!!!!!!!

Almost all my framerate problems are gone, and most hardcore games have more effects now!!!

This is kind of what I thought ipad 4 would be like. Even Virtua Tennis, the only game I had real complaints about before, has better resolution, ball streak is now smooth, and the framerate much improved!!!

Dang, so happy, didn't think 6.0.1 would do anything to framerates or effects.

Holy cow, it is so much better, everyone with a new ipad or ipad 4, upgrade to 6.0.1 immediately...

Even dodonpachi maximum is now running clean, and all the racing games including Asphalt and real racing are having very little framerate problems now!

I feel like I am in a dream, and somehow my new ipad got secretly switched to an ipad 4.

Wow, 6.0.1 must do wonders for you ipad 4 users. This is really cool. Totally unexpected.

I'm going to go try some of my FPS games like Nova and Dead Trigger now to see if it makes a difference in them on my new ipad.

Man, just a little difference in framerate and effects does make a difference. I wonder why 6.0.1 is making such a big difference? Jbruu noticed it in nova on the ipad 4, so you all must be experiencing this joy too.

Wowzers! Maybe my new ipad isn't as extinct as I thought, and maybe the ipad 4 is more console ready than I thought!

This is great news!!!

Man, I hope you're joking. My sarcasm meter must be broken.

[Connector]

Andsoit goes,

Wow long post, may win longest post ever, haha

Yeah vita stuff is purely subjective I know. I really wanted one but decided to get my new ipad instead, and so far I love it.

As for 6.0.1. Yeah, I didn't think it would make any difference, but trust me ally hardcore games are much much better. Don't know why. Trying to upload nova 3 to see if any change in that, but deleting fifa and all this upgrading is causingy new ipad to go crazy...for about an hour and a half.

I don't know what it is about 6.0.1 but my new ipad kinda feels like an ipad 4, or at least let me dream that it is haha.

[Grimstone82]

Originally Posted by Connector

Well, now I am mad... Haha

Tried to delete fifa 12 to upload nova 3, and then my new ipad has gone crazy with 6.0.1. Crashing and won't start for over one hour. Havent even loaded nova 3 yet... So now I am on my iphone, man games on it seem so small... Sigh...

Weird. I updated my new ipad and haven't had any issues. It seemed to fix my Safari freezing/crashing problems too. Although to be fair I think it was the iOS 6 update that fixed that.

[Connector]

Originally Posted by PrayForDeath

Man, I hope you're joking. My sarcasm meter must be broken.

Haha, no it really is making a big difference, I guess since all the ipad 4 owners got 6.0.1, you all don't see the changes.

[JBRUU]

Originally Posted by Connector

Haha, no it really is making a big difference, I guess since all the ipad 4 owners got 6.0.1, you all don't see the changes.

No, mine came with 6.0.0

[Connector]

Originally Posted by fury

I would recommend the 64 GB going forward for any device -- unless you only use a grand total of a few apps, or don't carry other content on the device -- considering all apps now have to include retina graphics anyway (or at least, those that are updated for iPad retina). Because Apple has no provision for apps only downloading the assets they'd use on that particular device, universal apps now take up more space because they have to include iPad and iPhone graphics at both sizes.

Besides that, you might find yourself wanting to use the iPad 4 harder than you use the iPad 2 due to the beautiful screen and greater speed

Case in point... I carry photos, music, podcasts, and apps on my iPad, and I have to pick and choose which of each, even on 64 GB iPad 3 & 4...I was mostly fine on my 32 gb iPad 2, but that was before the retina apps started showing up

Yeah, I agree. For any serious gamer, music, or video lover, 64 gb may not be enough. I know for me, I really long for a 128 gb ipad. 64 gb is so small... Really...

[Connector]

Some more interesting ipad 4 and ipad mini articles...

http://www.macworld.com.au/blogs/why...-ipad-3-78482/

http://www.zdnet.com/ipad-mini-and-4...ew-7000006849/

http://www.macworld.com.au/news/ipad...k-tests-78568/

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000...googlenews_wsj

http://appadvice.com/appnn/2012/11/h...eneration-ipad

[PrayForDeath]

Originally Posted by fury

It looks very promising to me. This is more a symptom of benchmark limits than anything else.

Compared to A5X, the A6X's GPU has a clock speed increase AND a doubling of parallel computation power (the SIMDs referenced in the AnandTech table). This can mean more shaders and more detail at a higher resolution than was possible with iPad 3. Potentially more than double the performance, if it takes full advantage of both the extra clock speed and all of the extra SIMDs. However, run at the same detail level and resolution, the game will just render a bit faster (not necessarily twice as fast, if it reaches fill rate, V-sync, or CPU limit)

So, with that in mind, GLBenchmark 2.5 is not necessarily pushing the envelope anymore. It's starting to hit the V-sync limit a lot and therefore not a great representation of the highest end games on an iPad. The off-screen benchmarks aren't very telling of its prowess, either, since they are lower resolution than the iPad screen itself (and therefore more prone to CPU limiting)

The iPad 3 & 4 have a filltrate bottleneck at that resolution. That's why we aren't seeing the 2x increase in performance on the iPad 4.

[NinthNinja]

Just to give an idea of the power the iPad 4 has I did a quick experiment with Mutant Storm code base, which runs at 60fps on the iPad3 at full retina (this game is pretty heavy on the GPU filtrate on that device and was heavily optimised to get the 60fps speed), and rendered the graphics in a scene twice. The game still runs at 60fps and proves you can do twice as much. It's a rough test but it shows there is some power in the iPad4 but the question is will it be used by developers?

edit:

The iPad mini is not worth getting because it has the same chipset as the ipad2... which is dated tech. Apple will have a better model out next year which is what the first version should be.

[SlightReturn]

Originally Posted by JBRUU

No, mine came with 6.0.0

Yep, mine did too. I updated it right after I transferred all of my stuff from iPad1 over to it though, so I never tested it out with 6.0.0.