Notebookcheck Logo

Analyst claims only 512MB of RAM on iPad 2

Teaser
The rumored amount of RAM will only be half as much as many competing tablets.

During the official unveiling of the iPad 2 in San Francisco last week, Apple had no problem vaunting about its new Intel Thunderbolt port or the new dual-core Apple A5 system-on-chip with advanced PowerVR SGX543 GPU. What is very clearly missing in the current spec sheet, however, is the amount of RAM the tablet will be sporting at launch.

Though Apple has yet to officially disclose how much RAM will be present in the second generation iPad, Apple Insider has found clues regarding the missing information. Kakeun Lee, a Korean semiconductor analyst, claimed on Twitter that the new iPad will include 512MB of LPDDR2 RAM clocked at 1066MHz. While this is the same amount of RAM found in the iPhone 4, the iPhone has RAM clocked at 266MHz slower than the iPad 2. The greater memory bandwidth should allow for faster data transfer rates and smoother gaming experiences.

If true, however, the amount of RAM in the iPad 2 will only be half as much as some upcoming competing high-end tablets. The Motorola Xoom, HTC Flyer, HP TouchPad and BlackBerry PlayBook, for example, will all be sporting 1GB of RAM. If heavy multitasking is required, these tablets could possibly outperform the new iPad in this regard.

The iPad 2 is slated for a March 11th release in the United States. Expect a review soon, otherwise check out our hands-on preview of the tablet.

Source(s)

Please share our article, every link counts!
Allen Ngo, 2011-03- 8 (Update: 2012-05-26)