IPad Air 2 has three processor cores, 2GB RAM

[tipoo]

Three execution threads is a great sweet spot, and their single thread performance was already great. Denver is already beaten it seems, about the same on single, significantly less on multithread.

http://arstechnica.com/apple/2014/10/early-ipad-air-2-benchmark-suggests-tri-core-cpu-2gb-of-ram/

 

[ChAoTiCpInOy]

I might be tempted to upgrade from my iPad 2. Especially since this may be another long term device like my iPad 2.

 

[JackBurton]

Looks like a good reason to upgrade my iPad 4.

 

[Eug]

I might be tempted to upgrade from my iPad 2. Especially since this may be another long term device like my iPad 2.

Yep. I'm guessing that the iPad Air 2 will rival the iPad 2's longevity. Big boost in performance, 2 GB RAM, 802.11ac and Touch ID.

BTW, we're keeping our iPad 2, although on iOS 7.1.2 for now.

 

[boomhower]

Looks good to me. I'm upgrading my iPad Mini to an Air 2. Essentially an iPad 2, I had one and gave it to my daughter and bought a Mini for myself. (Gave her the choice, she wanted the big one.) Hoping this will have the same longevity.

 

[desura]

The lack of a rotation lock switch is actually a huge problem for me. IMO that was one of the best feature of the iPad vs android tablets.

 

[tipoo]

I wonder if the third core has the same performance as the others. Some of this is just scaling to a third core for sure, but it seems to be a much lower multicore score than you'd expect.

2x 1480 is 2960, close enough

1812 x 3 is 5436...Now, that's a thousand points over this. Weird.

Not that 4400 isn't beastly enough, easily the best ARM SoC shipping.

 

[eelw]

The lack of a rotation lock switch is actually a huge problem for me. IMO that was one of the best feature of the iPad vs android tablets.

What's wrong with the software rotation lock button?

 

[mavere]

Geekbench scores are averaged from Integer, Float, and Memory performance.

For obvious reasons, memory scores don't usually scale much (if at all).

 

[ChAoTiCpInOy]

Yep. I'm guessing that the iPad Air 2 will rival the iPad 2's longevity. Big boost in performance, 2 GB RAM, 802.11ac and Touch ID.

BTW, we're keeping our iPad 2, although on iOS 7.1.2 for now.

Me too. Keeping is on iOS 7.1.2 for now. We'll see since reviews are starting to come out. It's hard because I want 64GB Wifi + Cellular, so $730 for a new iPad.

 

[JackBurton]

Me too. Keeping is on iOS 7.1.2 for now. We'll see since reviews are starting to come out. It's hard because I want 64GB Wifi + Cellular, so $730 for a new iPad.

Just curious, but why do you want a cellular iPad? I have a cellular iPad 4 and plan to purchase a wifi only Air 2. Now with instant hotspot, not sure why anyone would pay extra for a cellular iPad, unless that is your only device.

 

[ChAoTiCpInOy]

Just curious, but why do you want a cellular iPad? I have a cellular iPad 4 and plan to purchase a wifi only Air 2. Now with instant hotspot, not sure why anyone would pay extra for a cellular iPad, unless that is your only device.

I don't have instant hotspot with my iPhone (AT&T unlimited data grandfathered in), so I figure I could get an iPad with it and then pay as I go. Plus it gives me the extra option.

 

[weevilone]

Just curious, but why do you want a cellular iPad? I have a cellular iPad 4 and plan to purchase a wifi only Air 2. Now with instant hotspot, not sure why anyone would pay extra for a cellular iPad, unless that is your only device.

I'd prefer the cellular iPad for a hotspot with an all-day battery.

 

[Aikouka]

Just curious, but why do you want a cellular iPad? I have a cellular iPad 4 and plan to purchase a wifi only Air 2. Now with instant hotspot, not sure why anyone would pay extra for a cellular iPad, unless that is your only device.

It lets me play hearthstone anywhere! :awe:

I've got an LTE-equipped iPad 4, and If I upgrade, I'll get another. Although, if you guys are just going to toss it on your plan... why not just go under contract? At least you'll save $100.

 

[pTmdfx]

I wonder if the third core has the same performance as the others. Some of this is just scaling to a third core for sure, but it seems to be a much lower multicore score than you'd expect.

2x 1480 is 2960, close enough

1812 x 3 is 5436...Now, that's a thousand points over this. Weird.

Not that 4400 isn't beastly enough, easily the best ARM SoC shipping.

DVFS and thermal throttling. Maybe the 1.5 GHz is just the max clock speed of a core.

 

[mmntech]

If this is to be believed, it would make the A8X faster than nVidia's Tegra K1 by a significant margin, for both single and multi-core performance. The Shield Tablet clocks in at 3211 using 4 cores at 2.2ghz.

That also theoretically makes it as fast as some MacBooks and iMacs from just 3-4 years ago. That's a huge leap.

Baring in mind though that Geekbench is a synthetic benchmark. I've heard accusations that Apple fudges their code to boost GB scores. Which isn't entirely crazy, since it's the oldest trick in the book.

Now if only Apple would release an iPad Pro with USB that supports mass storage. I could do all my HD video editing on it, and Pinnacle Studio would be snappy as all hell.

 

[tipoo]

Air 2 has faster CPU performance in geekbench thanks to the third core, K1 takes the cake for GPU performance in 3DMark, and single thread performance in Geekbench for the Denver leaked benchmark most likely if we factor in the boost 64 bit will give, but Air does better offscreen in GPU for GFXBench.

http://www.engadget.com/2014/10/21/ipad-air-2-mini-3-review/


Apples 2.5x GPU performance claim seems overzealous if you look at 3dmark, but about right for GFXBench .

I think there was something that made iPads/iPhones get a low score in the Physics score of 3dmark, which may explain the gulf there.

 

[amyklai]

The processor and RAM upgrade are great.

Too bad that the battery life seems to be a good bit worse compared to the Air 1 (11:15h vs 13:45h according to engadget's test). I'd have preferred the iPad Air 1 size with the same battery life. Also a pity that they did away with the orientation lock switch.

Still, this is probably a very good iPad iteration to buy, with the larger RAM and the strong processor this one could last for a long time.

 

[Blanky]

Took advantage of the Best Buy $200 trade-in for any iPad 2 deal today and picked up an Air 2. Apple had made the iPad 2 a piece of garbage with IOS 7 (too slow), particularly worthless scrolling web pages full of a lot of content.

2 GB is going to be really nice on these, particularly when Apple gets out of the stone age with a future IOS release and allows properly multi-tasking.

I've not done much testing with wifi ac, but I'm hesitantly saying it is a really nice upgrade. I have no other wifi ac devices, but one corner of my house gets piss poor 5 ghz N, yet this evening I was still pulling down a strong speedtest result on 5 ghz ac. If that was more than a rare piece of luck I'll be thrilled. Granted, it could also just be the radio is better; I'll need to disable ac and n back and forth on my router to see exactly what's going on.

 

[tsupersonic]

Seems like a nice device - I'd love to have TouchID and the better performance/more RAM, but I can't justify trading in my Air 1st Gen. for this. I could get $326 through the BB trade deal towards the new Air. Enjoy your new devices! 🙂

 

[Eug]

Took advantage of the Best Buy $200 trade-in for any iPad 2 deal today and picked up an Air 2. Apple had made the iPad 2 a piece of garbage with IOS 7 (too slow), particularly worthless scrolling web pages full of a lot of content.

2 GB is going to be really nice on these, particularly when Apple gets out of the stone age with a future IOS release and allows properly multi-tasking.

I've not done much testing with wifi ac, but I'm hesitantly saying it is a really nice upgrade. I have no other wifi ac devices, but one corner of my house gets piss poor 5 ghz N, yet this evening I was still pulling down a strong speedtest result on 5 ghz ac. If that was more than a rare piece of luck I'll be thrilled. Granted, it could also just be the radio is better; I'll need to disable ac and n back and forth on my router to see exactly what's going on.

What version of iOS 7 were you running? I find 7.1.2 to be OK once you turn off the eye candy. Not so much for 7.0 though.

However, $200 for a trade-in to an Air 2 is a nice deal.

I just ordered the new 802.11ac AirPort Extreme too.

 

[tipoo]

Seems like a nice device - I'd love to have TouchID and the better performance/more RAM, but I can't justify trading in my Air 1st Gen. for this. I could get $326 through the BB trade deal towards the new Air. Enjoy your new devices! 🙂

Store trade ins never give you a good value, try selling it yourself on kijiji or whatever local equivalent

 

[Ichinisan]

The lack of a rotation lock switch is actually a huge problem for me. IMO that was one of the best feature of the iPad vs android tablets.

I thought it only behaved as a rotation lock switch by default on iPad 1 with iOS 3.x software. After that, the default function was as a silent switch...and that's how I prefer it. You can always access rotation lock from Control Center.

So there's no switch? That really sucks.

 

[Ichinisan]

I don't have instant hotspot with my iPhone (AT&T unlimited data grandfathered in), so I figure I could get an iPad with it and then pay as I go. Plus it gives me the extra option.

I'm in the same boat.

 

[tipoo]

I thought it only behaved as a rotation lock switch by default on iPad 1 with iOS 3.x software. After that, the default function was as a silent switch...and that's how I prefer it. You can always access rotation lock from Control Center.

So there's no switch? That really sucks.

The default changed, yeah, but you could change it back to rotate, which I liked. I'd rather not have to dig through the settings every time I want to read something lying on my side, for example, while muting something is fast enough just with the volume switch.