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Resident Evil 2 Remake on Ipad Pro M4 with 1TB (i.e, the one with 10 CPUs and more RAM) sucks compared to Steam Deck

EternalSunshine1976

EternalSunshine1976

Member
Got the 1 TB M4 model from Costco at a steal ($899) with the nano etched glass to get the extra processors and extra ram, thinking this will be able to run games amazingly.

However, that is not the case. I'm playing with a controller, not touch, and honestly this has been super disappointing. On the iPad Pro M4, the game just feels stuck around 30 FPS. You can get 60, but only if you drop the resolution hard, and then everything starts looking soft and ugly. That trade-off feels insane on a once flagship iPad that costs this much.

What shocks me is that the M4 should absolutely smoke the Steam Deck. The Deck's chip is basically 2021 tech. The M4 is a 2024 flagship with way better CPU and GPU on paper. There's no world where RE2 should feel smoother on a Steam Deck than on Apple's top-end tablet… yet here we are. I was thinking the RE Engine would be amazing on iOS, but no, not really.
 
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EternalSunshine1976 said:
Got the 1 TB M4 model from Costco at a steal ($899) with the nano etched glass, thinking this will be able to run games amazingly.

However, that is not the case. I'm playing with a controller, not touch, and honestly this has been super disappointing. On the iPad Pro M4 (1TB), the game just feels stuck around 30 FPS. You can get 60, but only if you drop the resolution hard, and then everything starts looking soft and ugly. That trade-off feels insane on a once flagship iPad that costs this much.

What shocks me is that the M4 should absolutely smoke the Steam Deck. The Deck's chip is basically 2021 tech. The M4 is a 2024 flagship with way better CPU and GPU on paper. There's no world where RE2 should feel smoother on a Steam Deck than on Apple's top-end tablet… yet here we are. I was thinking the RE Engine would be amazing on iOS, but no, not really.
Click to expand...
I played RE Village on my iPhone 15 Pro Max and thought it played decent. Few frame drops here and there and battery that wanted to overheat with every step. For a mobile I thought it did decent. I used an xbone gamepad with a clip holder for the iphone.
I wonder if the RE2 remake is more graphically advanced?
 
I have no concept of anyone would choose play games like RE2R or any game on iPad……unless you have no gaming device.

But then I see the price for top end iPad and if someone can effort that then they also effort to buy proper gaming device.
 
Magic Carpet said:
I played RE Village on my iPhone 15 Pro Max and thought it played decent. Few frame drops here and there and battery that wanted to overheat with every step. For a mobile I thought it did decent. I used an xbone gamepad with a clip holder for the iphone.
I wonder if the RE2 remake is more graphically advanced?
Click to expand...
Definitely not. RE Village is much more intensive. I was just expecting 60fps, because the Xbox One could play RE2 at 60fps eight years ago.. I think. Pretty disappointing, but I guess Capcom didn't want to spend the money on optimizing it to a market that was likely miniscule.... I mean how many people buy $40 games on an iPad?
 
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Danjin44 said:
I have no concept of anyone would choose play games like RE2R or any game on iPad……unless you have no gaming device.

But then I see the price for top end iPad and if someone can effort that then they also effort to buy proper gaming device.
Click to expand...
It was just a fun experiment. I don't game on it. I actually use it for productivity, and my photography / editing. That said, I set up Retroarch, and it is simply the best emulation experience ever! When I play TATE games, the system automatically switches orientation when flipped, and the controls do so as well. Loving me some old shooters, and Genesis games.

I have Steam Deck and a Switch 2.. but for the price of the Ipad Pro M4, and how Apple touts "console level" performance, I thought it would run RE2 remake well. As I said, my Xbox One from like eight years ago did a better job, and that is shocking.
 
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EternalSunshine1976 said:
It was just a fun experiment. I don't game on it. I actually use it for productivity, and my photography / editing. That said, I set up Retroarch, and it is simply the best emulation experience ever! When I play TATE games, the system automatically switches orientation when flipped, and the controls do so as well. Loving me some old shooters, and Genesis games.

I have Steam Deck and a Switch 2.. but for the price of the Ipad Pro M4, and how Apple touts "console level" performance, I thought it would run RE2 remake well. As I said, my Xbox One from like eight years ago did a better job, and that is shocking.
Click to expand...
How much game like RE2R cost to buy on iPad? Is it full priced?
 
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EternalSunshine1976 said:
Got the 1 TB M4 model from Costco at a steal ($899) with the nano etched glass to get the extra processors and extra ram, thinking this will be able to run games amazingly.

However, that is not the case. I'm playing with a controller, not touch, and honestly this has been super disappointing. On the iPad Pro M4, the game just feels stuck around 30 FPS. You can get 60, but only if you drop the resolution hard, and then everything starts looking soft and ugly. That trade-off feels insane on a once flagship iPad that costs this much.

What shocks me is that the M4 should absolutely smoke the Steam Deck. The Deck's chip is basically 2021 tech. The M4 is a 2024 flagship with way better CPU and GPU on paper. There's no world where RE2 should feel smoother on a Steam Deck than on Apple's top-end tablet… yet here we are. I was thinking the RE Engine would be amazing on iOS, but no, not really.
Click to expand...
The resolution difference between those two devices is gigantic.

Also I do not think there is an ipad native version of RE2 Remake its a "one size fits all devices" build so the issue may be with the app itself not the performance of the hardware on the device; but it also runs poorly on a macbook pro. I tend to agree/think this is an optimization issue on capcoms end not a failing of the apple hardware.

I know it can be a very performant device, I am using an old ipad pro m2 device and have a few emulators sideloaded and it crushes those without breaking a sweat.
 
Would be better off streaming it.

Buy RESIDENT EVIL 2 | Xbox

A deadly virus engulfs the residents of Raccoon City in September of 1998, plunging the city into chaos as flesh eating zombies roam the streets for survivors. An unparalleled adrenaline rush, gripping storyline, and unimaginable horrors await you. Witness the return of Resident Evil 2.
www.xbox.com
 
hq720.jpg
 
EternalSunshine1976 said:
$40... but I didn't pay that. It gives you the first part of the game, and requires in-app purchases to unlock the rest. I'm definitely, not biting.
Click to expand...
If that's the case then I don't understand who's this for? People who usually play games on iPads are young kids or people who just want to play mindless mobile games to keep them busy while on a bus or waiting for appointments.

Those people are not willing to spend that much money on a game because gaming is not their hobby. Most people who consider gaming as a hobby already have dedicated gaming devices.
 
M4 is a beast in numbers, and can do a video editing better than PC. Doesn't work great this game because it's not well optimized for it. Maybe the chip per se can't do it.

It's like that everyone knows PS3 is a beast if devs do justice, but 360 took by storm the games because of better hardware design
 
EternalSunshine1976 said:
It was just a fun experiment. I don't game on it. I actually use it for productivity, and my photography / editing. That said, I set up Retroarch, and it is simply the best emulation experience ever! When I play TATE games, the system automatically switches orientation when flipped, and the controls do so as well. Loving me some old shooters, and Genesis games.

I have Steam Deck and a Switch 2.. but for the price of the Ipad Pro M4, and how Apple touts "console level" performance, I thought it would run RE2 remake well. As I said, my Xbox One from like eight years ago did a better job, and that is shocking.
Click to expand...
Apple marketing....
 
Tobimacoss said:
Would be better off streaming it.

Buy RESIDENT EVIL 2 | Xbox

A deadly virus engulfs the residents of Raccoon City in September of 1998, plunging the city into chaos as flesh eating zombies roam the streets for survivors. An unparalleled adrenaline rush, gripping storyline, and unimaginable horrors await you. Witness the return of Resident Evil 2.
www.xbox.com
Click to expand...
Good idea. I'm going to try Nvidia Go or whatever that's call. Own RE2 on Steam, so it should run fine.
 
EternalSunshine1976 said:
Good idea. I'm going to try Nvidia Go or whatever that's call. Own RE2 on Steam, so it should run fine.
Click to expand...
Do you own it on Xbox One as well? Because it's Play Anywhere, and would work with both xCloud and GFN.

Anyways, use this site to see which games are on which service.

cloudbase.gg

Resident Evil 2 Cloud Gaming | Where to Play

See where you can play Resident Evil 2 on cloud gaming services. Availability is verified every 2 hours. Compare options and start playing.
cloudbase.gg cloudbase.gg

If you have Amazon Prime, the game is included on Amazon Luna as well. Prime includes Luna Standard for free.
 
Sorry but you could have researched this.
The m4 gpu is 3 times weaker than the steam machine gpu and it has no fan.

Edit: Sorry, thought this was about steam machine, not steam deck.
 
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The steam deck has active cooling that also smells amazing the iPad has passive cooling. I don't think Apple has ever claimed sustained performance of the M series chips in anything with passive cooling.

This is why I forked over more money for the base MacBook Pro vs getting a MacBook Air.
 
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The M4 would be a beast if it supported Vulcan and active cooling. Apple is artificially holding it back by putting it an oven and forcing devs to use Metal.

A properly supported M4 powered handheld would slay.
 
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Jinzo Prime said:
The M4 would be a beast if it supported Vulcan and active cooling. Apple is artificially holding it back by putting it an oven and forcing devs to use Metal.

A properly supported M4 powered handheld would slay.
Click to expand...
I have not heard a competent dev criticise Metal as an API yet. Do not know it? There are Metal compat layers for Vulkan if that is the problem. Capcom has the resources to have a good Metal backend considering the billions of devices running Metal.
 
M chips are designed to the Apple niche of productivity, where they Blas through the most challenging task with dedicated hardware. But they are not very good GPU. A passively cooled M chip probably throttles to Xbox One level performance or even lower after 2 minutes running a high end game. And then you ask such XBox One to render on a 2K canvas.

I play Civ VI mainly on my iPad Air 4, tho.
 
It has ray tracing and runs in a much higher resolution than the game on steam deck. You are crazy if you think it's worse.
 
Just wait a few more months for emulation on android we are almost there now
Full PC emulation in the palm of ur hands
Just need a little bit more tweaking of drivers now
 
lastmessiah said:
The Steam Deck's display and resolution are extremely inferior to that of the iPad, it is pushing far fewer pixels.
Click to expand...
I'm definitely, or was, not running RE2 at the native iPad screen resolution. Far from it, it was below the Steam Deck's 800p resolution and chugging. Look, I would love it if it performed well! I would love to be able to play RE2 on that beautiful OLED screen, ain't happening unfortunately, as it runs terribly.
 
It doesn't have a fan. That's really all there is to it regarding the Ipad. However, in general gaming performance on Apple devices isn't great. Even on a top of the range Mac Studio performance isn't good considering the price.
 
Madserb2023 said:
It doesn't have a fan. That's really all there is to it regarding the Ipad. However, in general gaming performance on Apple devices isn't great. Even on a top of the range Mac Studio performance isn't good considering the price.
Click to expand...
Yea this is the thread summed up in a nutshell.

Doesn't matter how good your hardware is, doesn't matter about specs, if you have thermal throttling, it's basically irrelevant, it's never going to perform up to its maximum potential. The Switch 2 and Steam Deck could be plugged in for hours playing games without any game issues, whereas phones and tablets are going to shit out from thermals within 30 minutes.
 
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