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Which is the best iPad Pro ?


  • Total voters
    2,370

duanepatrick

macrumors 6502
Dec 22, 2019
431
308
It depends on your purpose. 12.9" for me.
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Let's make it a tie guys!!! Currently its 777 votes for 11" and 779 votes for 12.9". LOL!
 
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subjonas

macrumors 603
Feb 10, 2014
6,257
6,737
Remember spit keyboard? I dont understand why Apple killed it. Even “small” iPads were often used two-handed so why break a working concept?

ipad-split-keyboard.jpg



That swipe keyboard isnt bad on a phone or maybe at Mini but on a 10.5-12.9” device then youre not holding that one-handed and swipe-typing.

floating-keyboard-ipados-13-100800804-large.jpg
I thought it was strange the split keyboard only worked for the smaller iPads, if I remember correctly. It didn’t work for my 12.9 which I would have thought would need it more. But personally, I didn’t use the split keyboard anyway, because on my mini the screen was small enough that it was unneeded, and even if it existed on the 12.9, I never held it that way for two hand thumb typing (maybe that’s why it didn’t exist).

However, I was extremely excited when quick path was announced. For years I wanted swipe gestures on the stock onscreen keyboard, ever since experiencing it on my first android smartphone. I wanted to be able to hold my iPad (either mini or 12.9) with one hand/arm and touch and type efficiently with the other. What I didn’t realize though is that quick path would only work for the annoying small floating keyboard on the iPad, not the full size keyboard. The floating keyboard is always covering content so I’m constantly having to reposition it, and it doesn’t have punctuation keys. So it’s frustrating to me that Apple makes me choose between quick path and a decent keyboard/screen layout.

Quick path is great on my iPhone SE though. I love being able to hold and quickly type on my phone with one hand again.

Although the accuracy and bugginess of quick path is another issue. But for that matter, the regular typing accuracy seems to be getting worse/buggy too.
 

Gathomblipoob

macrumors 603
Mar 18, 2009
6,140
6,676
Holly sh*t! I have returned 12.9“ for 11” because there was 20 more votes to 11 and now it starts to be opposite.
And f*ck after using 11”, I think 12.9 was better. Guys do you thing I can return 11” for 12” again?

See? That's what you get for letting other people make your buying decisions for you. :D
 
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Jára Tyky

macrumors 6502
Apr 9, 2020
355
231
It was not like that :) I realized that mobility is much more important for me. But after using 11” I miss degital keyboard from 12.9, multitasking in full apps and the whole experience is not good. It has some small issues.
And I have Ipad Air 2 with IpadOS 13.4 and I do not see difference between Pro- I do not use Apple Pencil.
 

Patriks7

macrumors 65816
Oct 26, 2008
1,421
626
Vienna
It was not like that :) I realized that mobility is much more important for me. But after using 11” I miss degital keyboard from 12.9, multitasking in full apps and the whole experience is not good. It has some small issues.
And I have Ipad Air 2 with IpadOS 13.4 and I do not see difference between Pro- I do not use Apple Pencil.
Did you find the mobility difference between the 11" and 12.9" to be really so big?
 

caligurl

macrumors 68040
Jun 8, 2009
3,890
1,766
socal
because i'm sure the OP hasn't purchased his iPad yet: depends..... i got the 11" cuz i'm coming from an iPad mini. i really would have liked another mini but i want face ID cuz the stupid finger ID NEVER works on mini 4. LOVE how well face ID works on the iPhone.... so "bigger" iPad for me... i have no need right now for the 12.9.

if i were using it more for a laptop replacement i would probably choose 12.9......
 
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Jonathantuba

macrumors 6502
Oct 6, 2017
423
393
UK
There goes all the fancy hardware differences: FaceID, 4 speakers, Promotion, more RAM - no difference for you in the real world.
It doesn’t sound in this case the iPad Pro was not required anyway. The Face ID, pro-motion and 4 speakers are three of the reasons amongst others I would not consider buying any iPad other than an iPad Pro. The iPad Mini has its attraction as a highly portable iPad to take everywhere instead of an iPhone, but until Apple ups the specs to equal the iPad Pro (if they ever do), I would not seriously consider buying.
 

Jára Tyky

macrumors 6502
Apr 9, 2020
355
231
Did you find the mobility difference between the 11" and 12.9" to be really so big?

Yes, the main reason was that I have Macbook Pro 2018 which I have bought last year and I do not want to replace it with Ipad as I do not have it so long. Another reason was that I am sales manager and study MBA as well. Once I brought Macbook to the school I did not like that I had to take some desk case with me to the lunch and take care the whole time on my Macbook. Ipad 12.9 is almost the same size so for me it looses portability as tablet and I can take Macbook Pro instead of Ipad. The next point is that when you have bigg screen and use it public, people can look at your device behind your back and I do not like it. When I had 12.9” home, I could not put it on table because I still did not buy case and my table is all the time full of cups, glasses, remote controls.. So I find out that I am using my Iphone 11 Pro Max or old Ipad Air 2 instead of new Ipad 12.9 2020.
For 2020 I had plans to travel more and when I read that Ipad 12.9” does not fit to airplane table on economy flight it was big no for me. As I am business manager I used Ipad Air 2 for Christmas tour event with business partners for sound studio with Spotify and If I had 12.9” it would not be possible.

But on the other hand from the beginning I was persuaded as reviews wrote that 12.9 can be use only on the table but I get used to the size for couching and holding it in one hand. The difference is quite big because 11” was so light from the beginning that I did not feel anything. But I need to finish diploma work which I am so lazy. Once I was bored and strt to correct and write diploma work on ipad 12.9 in multitasking mode and i was surprisingly comfortable, the digital keyboard was great and it is really huge advantage which I miss most with 11”. So bigger size makes me more productive and not to be lazy as It pushes me to do something useful. In October I want to start new school so I believe that 12.9 is better for writting notes as it is big as A4 paper. But I do not know, I am not used to write on screen, I am old school and prefer reading from paper form and if I need to write something at home, I will use Macbook with Sidecar instead of multitasking. Another topic are speaker which I think was much better on bigger sized Ipad Pro as on Ipad 11” has to be smaller.
Right now I am in quarantine so I appreciate smaller size only when reading business magazines and watching videos (aspect ratio of 11” is better) but I start to think that I would find good small bag for 12.9 and take it everywhere but on the other side the power of mobility 11” probably will come in time.
For the future I believe that 12.9“ will be more useful. But both models have hugh pros and cons. I am not fan of having both and spend so much money for this.

So in general for me 12.9“ is more for productivity and 11” for entertainment. I try push myself to be more productive.
Hard decision here :)
The best decision maker is rule 80/20 - what do you think you do and what you really do.
 
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Jára Tyky

macrumors 6502
Apr 9, 2020
355
231
There goes all the fancy hardware differences: FaceID, 4 speakers, Promotion, more RAM - no difference for you in the real world.

FaceID - that was one of the reason why I was going for Ipad Pro but I realized that as I am blind and have to hold ipad near to my face, faceid do not turn on so TouchID was very good at this because when Ihold device in hand, I just touched touchid and it works flawlessly.
4 speakers - yes, they are great but as I have iphone 11 pro mac I expect fir Ipad 2020 dolby atmos. Here I have to say that few years before I was amazed how good was sound on Ipad Air 2 but right now I take it as standard.
Promotion - I was looking forward to change from Air 2 to protect my eyes but to be honest I did not see some better experience. Air 2 is fluent and Ipad Pro 2020 as well. Maybe I do not see 120 Hz difference.
6GB RAM - yes, this was huge reason for me, but as Samsung pushes 16 GB to phones and Macbooks with 8 GB are considered to have small amount of RAM, I was expecting somethink like 8 GB. I am worried that Apple introduce this year better Ipad with more RAM.
 

rkuo

macrumors 65816
Sep 25, 2010
1,308
955
6GB RAM is a big deal in theory ... I've always been a proponent of RAM being the driving factor for upgrades. In fact, I think part of the reason the 1st gen iPad Pro 12.9 has held up as well as it has is due to the 4GB of RAM it came with initially.

With that said, I just don't see the 4GB of RAM in the 2018 models running out very soon. If macOS comes to the iPad (if they make ARM notebooks, there's literally no more barriers to running macOS on the iPad), 4GB vs 6GB isn't going to do much for me ... I'm going to want something around 8-16GB.
 

petvas

macrumors 603
Jul 20, 2006
5,479
1,808
Munich, Germany
For me 6GB is only enough if using the iPad as a tablet. I would love to see an iPad configurable with up to 32GB of RAM and with virtualization software. From the 32GB of RAM many applications would benefit. Photoshop would be able to load big pictures, Word documents with hundred of pages, etc. This is one of the most important drawbacks of the platform.
 
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gsal

macrumors regular
Jun 1, 2019
137
231
For me 6GB is only enough if using the iPad as a tablet. I would love to see an iPad configurable with up to 32GB of RAM and with virtualization software. From the 32GB of RAM many applications would benefit. Photoshop would be able to load big pictures, Word documents with hundred of pages, etc. This is one of the most important drawbacks of the platform.

They’re eventually going to have to give us upgrade options like the Mac, for sure.
 

petvas

macrumors 603
Jul 20, 2006
5,479
1,808
Munich, Germany
They’re eventually going to have to give us upgrade options like the Mac, for sure.
I wonder when this will happen. It will definitely not happen this year, and I don't think that we will see that next year too. 6GB of RAM is enough for most daily tasks, but not if you want to use an iPad as a laptop replacement. At least not for advanced tasks that would benefit from the extra memory. Apple is not even officially mentioning the amount of RAM they are using in their iOS based devices. I never understood why. They mention the CPU details, but not the RAM. I know that they want to make the discussion about how an iOS device performs, and not concentrate on specs, but when pushing the iPad as a productivity tool, you have to mention the RAM installed. I wonder when Apple is going to realise that.
 

mikezmac

macrumors 6502a
Jun 4, 2014
809
510
NH
HOLY Equally divided!!! What are the odds?!??!

Screen Shot 2020-04-14 at 6.11.14 PM.png


So I have owned the 11 and just ordered the 12.9, I love the portability of the 11!

I have big hands so the 12.9 is still going to be comfortable for me.

#--> I have decided i need the visual real estate more than portability! 12.9 for me!
 
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ericwn

macrumors G5
Apr 24, 2016
12,118
10,910
6GB RAM is a big deal in theory ... I've always been a proponent of RAM being the driving factor for upgrades. In fact, I think part of the reason the 1st gen iPad Pro 12.9 has held up as well as it has is due to the 4GB of RAM it came with initially.

With that said, I just don't see the 4GB of RAM in the 2018 models running out very soon. If macOS comes to the iPad (if they make ARM notebooks, there's literally no more barriers to running macOS on the iPad), 4GB vs 6GB isn't going to do much for me ... I'm going to want something around 8-16GB.

Interesting thoughts but I don’t see macOS coming to iPad at all. ARM Macs, sure.

If it ever happens, I surely would not get a Mac with 8 GB anymore.
 

subjonas

macrumors 603
Feb 10, 2014
6,257
6,737
I wonder when this will happen. It will definitely not happen this year, and I don't think that we will see that next year too. 6GB of RAM is enough for most daily tasks, but not if you want to use an iPad as a laptop replacement. At least not for advanced tasks that would benefit from the extra memory. Apple is not even officially mentioning the amount of RAM they are using in their iOS based devices. I never understood why. They mention the CPU details, but not the RAM. I know that they want to make the discussion about how an iOS device performs, and not concentrate on specs, but when pushing the iPad as a productivity tool, you have to mention the RAM installed. I wonder when Apple is going to realise that.
That’s a good point. They probably do realize it, but just haven’t gotten to that point yet. If/when they do, I think that will be a major tell/sign about Apple‘s actual intentions with the iPad, even bigger than renaming the OS.
 

ericwn

macrumors G5
Apr 24, 2016
12,118
10,910
HOLY Equally divided!!! What are the odds?!??!

View attachment 905938

So I have owned the 11 and just ordered the 12.9, I love the portability of the 11!

I have big hands so the 12.9 is still going to be comfortable for me.

#--> I have decided i need the visual real estate more than portability! 12.9 for me!

Nice, enjoy! Using the 12.9 since gen 1 and really happy with it.
 
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petvas

macrumors 603
Jul 20, 2006
5,479
1,808
Munich, Germany
The results just show that both devices are good and suitable for more or less the same usage. It is just a matter of personal preference.
 
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