Fourth-Generation iPod Touch Offers Only 256 MB of RAM

the8thark · Sep 8, 2010

Fourth-Generation iPod Touch Offers Only 256 MB of RAM
Fourth-Generation iPod Touch Offers Only 256 MB of RAM

greggles · Sep 9, 2010

the8thark said:
Fourth-Generation iPod Touch Offers Only 256 MB of RAM
Fourth-Generation iPod Touch Offers Only 256 MB of RAM

Er... exactly the same as the current gen iPad

the8thark · Sep 9, 2010

greggles said:
Er... exactly the same as the current gen iPad

Ah but the iphone4 has 512 MB.

Chris H. · Sep 9, 2010

How much did the old 3rd gen iPod touch have? The second gen?

XJ-linux · Sep 9, 2010

I'm sure Steve knows whats best. If you needed more RAM, Steve would have included it.

Nethfel · Sep 9, 2010

iPod Touch ram quantities are:

1st and 2nd gen had 128m.

3rd and I guess now 4th have 256m

kind of a bummer that they didn't up the ram to 512 in the 4th gen

Chris H. · Sep 9, 2010

Nethfel said:
iPod Touch ram quantities are:

1st and 2nd gen had 128m.

3rd and I guess now 4th have 256m

kind of a bummer that they didn't up the ram to 512 in the 4th gen

Well..the CPU is faster at the least. I could tell the differences using iOS 3 on all three generation devices (pre-4th gen iPod touch). Now though…well…I'm sure the new one feels faster in hand. Maybe there'll be a silent RAM update.

RONE · Sep 9, 2010

The iPhone is subsidized so it can get better internals while keeping the cost down. No one subsidizes the iPod.

TattooedMac · Sep 9, 2010

Makes sense really .....

Cheers

Stanley · Sep 9, 2010

It just means somewhat less multitasking capability?

Chris H. · Sep 9, 2010

Stanley said:
It just means somewhat less multitasking capability?

More or less. The CPU is much faster than previous iPod touch generations (well, not THAT much faster), however, I would say that if you use a few apps daily and leave those running in the background, you should be good without problems. iOS 4 is greatly designed for this.

Chris H. · Sep 9, 2010

Now if it were me with the new iPod touch, (which I use in classes for writing down assignments and making dates in Calendar- which I say they should call iCal), I'd rather just leave the multitasking left alone until I need it. I don't want the device to die in my pocket in between classes, especially considering that I don't always bring my MacBook into class.

But that's another story for another day...

Stanley · Sep 9, 2010

Chris H. said:
More or less. The CPU is much faster than previous iPod touch generations (well, not THAT much faster), however, I would say that if you use a few apps daily and leave those running in the background, you should be good without problems. iOS 4 is greatly designed for this.

Okay…and how much does the iPhone 4 require for memory for phone related functions that the new Touch won't require?

Chris H. · Sep 9, 2010

Stanley said:
Okay…and how much does the iPhone 4 require for memory for phone related functions that the new Touch won't require?

The current iPhone 4 has half a gig of RAM. Considering that the phone app doesn't stay running (but SMS might- I'm not an avid iPhone user), you still shouldn't worry about it a whole lot.

Stanley · Sep 9, 2010

Chris H. said:
The current iPhone 4 has half a gig of RAM.

Yes I know and the new Touch has 1/2 of that. But some of the "extra" ram gets tied up for phone related functions and apps that would obviously not be needed for the Touch. That's my point, it may be just fine as-is.

VonStoven · Sep 10, 2010

Stanley said:
Yes I know and the new Touch has 1/2 of that. But some of the "extra" ram gets tied up for phone related functions and apps that would obviously not be needed for the Touch. That's my point, it may be just fine as-is.

Its kind of funny that the part of the post that you did not quote addressed that issue.

Stanley · Sep 10, 2010

VonStoven said:
Its kind of funny that the part of the post that you did not quote addressed that issue.

You consider that addressing the issue?

RONE · Sep 11, 2010

Stanley said:
You consider that addressing the issue?

The phone portion takes up very little RAM. Consider how much ram the original iPhone had, or even the 3G. Even still, 'backgrounded' apps aren't technically 'running', so 256 MB of RAM is plenty. Stop worrying about it.

the8thark · Sep 11, 2010

My old imac when I got it has only 256 MB of ram in it. And it ran 10.3 just wonderfully. I even did some Photoshop CS work on it and it ran just fine. And I am sure that if 10.3 runs fine on 265 MB then iOS will too.

But . . . some people here are missing the point. iOS is a little like 10.6 in the way of system optimisation. iOS is designed for low power and low RAM devices. Technology is moving on much slower then it was in the past. Gone are the days of every year the amount of ram/HD space if computers doubling. The new wave of technology we are seeing is not about bigger numbers like in the past. Today it's all about using what we do haver much more efficiently.

So today you can do a lot more with 256MB ram then you could in 2000. So is 265MB enough for the touch? Apple seems to think so. And I somehow think they know better then most of we do. Even with Apple's sales tactic of holding back product features to slowly implement them and not implement them all at once I still agree with Apple. At the moment it's better to use the 265MB much more efficiently then it is to have 512 MB. Unless you want to pay unsubsidised iphone like prices (around the $700-$1000 mark in Australia) for the touch too.

So in short 512MB would have been nice but meh 256MB will do us all just fine the the time being.