Discussion Is 32gb too restrictive to be useful in an iPad, or are external storage options helpful?

[gorcorps]

Hi all, I managed to score an 8th gen 32gb ipad from work in a raffle... but I don't have any other apple devices (except for work) so it's not been a no-brainer to keep it. I don't currently have a modern tablet, so I could probably make some use out of it here and there since it's free, but I'm worried that the 32gb will be filled up in a heartbeat making it useless.

However, I read that the external storage options have become slightly better with the new ipad OS... is that true? Is it useful enough to make 32gb serviceable now, or is it still going to a juggling act to delete apps every time it needs space for a system update?

I'm currently on the fence between tearing it open (cuz I love me some new tech) and selling it new in box while I can get the most out of it before Christmas.

 

[TheStu]

I personally would find 32GB too restrictive, but that's just me (I've just about filled my 256GB iPad with audio projects), but I think it's a perfectly adequate amount of space if you aren't going to be doing anything crazy. That'll let you download basically as many apps as you'd like, a couple of large games, plenty of music, and also some movies.

I have nothing regarding external storage, I have barely touched it other than to back up folders from the iPad.

 

[QueBert]

To me 32 gigs is pretty good, of course I think I could be mistaken here. The Apple Watch I just bought has 32 gigs, and I'm really trying to wrap my head around why a watch needs that much storage. I suppose if their watch has 32 an iPad could use twice that.

 

[Eug]

To me 32 gigs is pretty good, of course I think I could be mistaken here. The Apple Watch I just bought has 32 gigs, and I'm really trying to wrap my head around why a watch needs that much storage. I suppose if their watch has 32 an iPad could use twice that.

Depends on how you use it.

32 GB is more than enough for my kids and my wife... until they download Netflix shows for watching on the train. Then 32 GB can be pretty tight. When we went on vacation I checked the storage usage after loading those shows, and they were often in the 25-35 GB usage range, meaning 32 GB wouldn't have been enough some of the time.

Luckily my kids both have 64 GB iPads (which are our hand-me-down iPad Air 2s), and my wife has a 128 GB iPad 7. I actually use the most storage but I have a 64 GB iPad Pro 10.5". My next device will likely be a 128 GB model. The few times I've edited video on my iPad Pro, 64 GB was manageable but annoyingly restrictive. 128 GB would be perfect for me.

So, it will come down to a mini-LED 11" Pro at 128 GB vs. an OLED 10.9" Air at 256 GB. I will have to wait though, since neither of them exist... yet.

 

[ultimatebob]

If you let iCloud sync your photo library from your iPhone to the new device (which it will do by default), that 32 GB will disappear quickly.

Likewise, if you let iCloud sync your application downloads from your iPhone to your iPad automatically, that will kill your storage as well.

iOS gets bigger with each new release as well. You'll probably hit some point in the future where new updates fail to install because you're out of space.

 

[Eug]

iOS gets bigger with each new release as well. You'll probably hit some point in the future where new updates fail to install because you're out of space.

Not really, with 32 GB, unless you have a bunch of other stuff installed, and you keep your media on the device instead of in the cloud.

My kids still use less than 10 GB on their iPads total. The only time that would become a problem for them is when we download Netflix shows for a vacation trip.

Yes, 32 GB can be restrictive, but iPadOS updates alone aren't the problem.