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iPad Pro 2018 iPad Pro owners - Have you upgraded to the M4 iPad?

gusping

gusping

macrumors 68020
Original poster
Mar 12, 2012
2,032
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Hi all,

I have a 2018 12.9in iPad Pro and can't decide on whether to upgrade to the M4 13in Pro.

The main issue with my current iPad is the subpar battery, which cannot be replaced by Apple (they claim battery health is >80% when it clearly isn't). It isn't unusable however, and is still fast enough. The new M4 iPad doesn't have many features that immediately draw me in. I can take or leave the screen, for example. Stage manager would be useful once or twice a year when i visit my parents, but that's it. I was hoping Apple would announce more features at WWDC but it was not to be... There is also a question mark on whether 8GB RAM will be sufficient in 3-4 years time and i'm not paying nearly £2000 for 16GB.

My main quandary is whether I sell my 2018 iPad and get a decent amount for it (c.£250) or keep it for another 18-24 months and risk it being worth virtually nothing on the second hand market. If the latter, then the total cost of change would be the same whether i buy the new M4 iPad now or in two years. In addition, if I keep it longer I risk it severely slowing down before the M5 iPad is released, which could be 2 years away.

How have you found the new M4 iPad Pro versus your old 2018 iPad Pro? Has it been a a reasonable step forward or a nice to have upgrade?

Thanks in advance.
 
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You don't have to get Apple to replace the battery for you. Many third party shops/stalls can do that easily.

I just upgraded my 2018 battery for ~USD 90.

If your tablet can still do whatever you want to do in a satisfactory manner, I don't really see compelling reason to upgrade, because that tablet still works.

Side note: Battery health % isn't accurate indicator of user experience obviously. Only you can decide whether the battery life is long enough for your usage pattern.
 
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teohyc said:
You don't have to get Apple to replace the battery for you. Many third party shops/stalls can do that easily.

I just upgraded my 2018 battery for ~USD 90.

If your tablet can still do whatever you want to do in a satisfactory manner, I don't really see compelling reason to upgrade, because that tablet still works.

Side note: Battery health % isn't accurate indicator of user experience obviously. Only you can decide whether the battery life is long enough for your usage pattern.
Click to expand...
I would never go to a third party for a battery replacement. I've had bad experiences in the past. I would rather upgrade than do that, lol. That battery isn't that dire yet at least. It lasts around 4-5 hours which is enough 95% of the time given I don't travel much.
 
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gusping said:
Hi all,

I have a 2018 12.9in iPad Pro and can't decide on whether to upgrade to the M4 13in Pro.

The main issue with my current iPad is the subpar battery, which cannot be replaced by Apple (they claim battery health is >80% when it clearly isn't). It isn't unusable however, and is still fast enough. The new M4 iPad doesn't have many features that immediately draw me in. I can take or leave the screen, for example. Stage manager would be useful once or twice a year when i visit my parents, but that's it. I was hoping Apple would announce more features at WWDC but it was not to be... There is also a question mark on whether 8GB RAM will be sufficient in 3-4 years time and i'm not paying nearly £2000 for 16GB.

My main quandary is whether I sell my 2018 iPad and get a decent amount for it (c.£250) or keep it for another 18-24 months and risk it being worth virtually nothing on the second hand market. If the latter, then the total cost of change would be the same whether i buy the new M4 iPad now or in two years. In addition, if I keep it longer I risk it severely slowing down before the M5 iPad is released, which could be 2 years away.

How have you found the new M4 iPad Pro versus your old 2018 iPad Pro? Has it been a a reasonable step forward or a nice to have upgrade?

Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...

I'm happy with the upgrade - Apple gave me £300 trade-in - which is the most convenient method as packaging is provided - shipping is free (and if for some reason they lower the offer you have the option to refuse and have the iPad shipped back for free)

I did go for the upgraded 13 inch iPad with 16GB, 1TB storage and upgraded CPU.

We haven't seen all the iPad OS 18 improvements yet and I'm hopeful the on-device AI performance will be much better than could have been achieved with the 2018 model - we shall see.
 
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gusping said:
I would never go to a third party for a battery replacement. I've had bad experiences in the past. I would rather upgrade than do that, lol. That battery isn't that dire yet at least. It lasts around 4-5 hours which is enough 95% of the time given I don't travel much.
Click to expand...
Comes down to how one sees the value of money.

Some people would rather spend USD 90 than several times more to upgrade. Some prefer the other way.

Here in my country, repair workers are professionals, sometimes more so than Apple because there are certain things Apple won't do not because they can't. E.g. Ask you to buy a new tablet rather than replace a battery that has 80%+ health.
 
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Greybeard2017 said:
I'm happy with the upgrade - Apple gave me £300 trade-in - which is the most convenient method as packaging is provided - shipping is free (and if for some reason they lower the offer you have the option to refuse and have the iPad shipped back for free)

I did go for the upgraded 13 inch iPad with 16GB, 1TB storage and upgraded CPU.

We haven't seen all the iPad OS 18 improvements yet and I'm hopeful the on-device AI performance will be much better than could have been achieved with the 2018 model - we shall see.
Click to expand...
Have you noticed the day to day use of the iPad being faster in any way? Some things you only notice when you have an old and new device side by side.

I just checked, Apple claim they will give me £270 if I trade in my iPP. But i've heard so many horrors stories from Apple's trade-in that I will never go for it. If I did upgrade I would get the base M4 Pro for £50 off at Costco and just sell mine locally or on eBay.

The on-device AI is curious. It sounds like it could be quite useful, but who knows when they will roll it out here in the UK. It could be as far as 12+ months away.
 
gusping said:
Have you noticed the day to day use of the iPad being faster in any way? Some things you only notice when you have an old and new device side by side.

I just checked, Apple claim they will give me £270 if I trade in my iPP. But i've heard so many horrors stories from Apple's trade-in that I will never go for it. If I did upgrade I would get the base M4 Pro for £50 off at Costco and just sell mine locally or on eBay.

The on-device AI is curious. It sounds like it could be quite useful, but who knows when they will roll it out here in the UK. It could be as far as 12+ months away.
Click to expand...
If you live near an Apple Store, do the trade-in there and you will get the full estimate. If you send in, the iPad is sent to a third party company who has a long history of scamming people out of their estimate value.
 
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Apple_Robert said:
If you live near an Apple Store, do the trade-in there and you will get the full estimate. If you send in, the iPad is sent to a third party company who has a long history of scamming people out of their estimate value.
Click to expand...
Oh, so I can walk into an apple store with my current 2018 iPP, and get £270 (assuming they agree) off there and then and walk out with the M4 iPP for £1300-£270=£1030?
 
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gusping said:
Oh, so I can walk into an apple store with my current 2018 iPP, and get £270 (assuming they agree) off there and then and walk out with the M4 iPP for £1300-£270=£1030?
Click to expand...
When you trade-in at the store, you will get a gift card for the value which you can then use on the spot towards the new purchase. That is how it has been here in the U.S.
 
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Apple_Robert said:
When you trade-in at the store, you will get a gift card for the value which you can then use on the spot towards the new purchase. That is how it has been here in the U.S.
Click to expand...
Awesome. That is certainly an option then. Would save me the hassle of selling it privately.

Do you know if having the original box, plug and cable help towards your trade-in value?
 
2020 Pro here - overall yes worth the upgrade.

-Double storage (256 minimum on 2024 vs 128 on 2020)
-OLED is visually a huge upgrade for me.
-Magic Keyboard is lighter and huge improvements with the construction of the laptop-like feel, reduced weight.
-Also took up cellular this time which I’m loving as someone constantly on the go.
-I do feel much a much snappier experience with the M4 compared to A12Z.
 
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I’ve got a 12.9 2018 64 gb wifi only. Tempted to upgrade, but I don’t think I will: for what I use it, it is stil great. I’ve got the MK, bought for 180€ instead of full price with an incredible amazon deal, and I don’t think I want to pay full price for the new version. Have to pay 2000€ for change something that is still working great for my needs seems to much for me 😬 or I’m trying to convince myself about 😂
 
Yes. My main iPad Pro was a 2018 11" with 512 GB of storage. I've now moved to a 1 TB iPad Pro M4 11". The 2018 has now been relegated to other duties -- it's still too good to get rid of. I'm very happy with the new iPad Pro M4.
 
Yes. I bought a 13 inch M4 iPP 1TB. And I kept my 12.9 inch 2018 iPP to use as a screen to watch content while on my exercise bike.

The main reason I FINALLY decided to upgrade is that the M4 feels noticeably more responsive than the 2018–particularly with handwriting using the Pencil Pro. And the OLED screen is gorgeous, too. I hadn’t intended to upgrade but played with one at Best Buy and was impressed enough with the responsiveness that I immediately went home and ordered one from the Apple Store—to get my military discount.

Is this a must buy for me? No. My 2018 was perfectly fine for all my common uses (web browsing, media consumption, handwritten notes) but it IS nice. 😎
 
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mpetrides said:
Yes. I bought a 13 inch M4 iPP 1TB. And I kept my 12.9 inch 2018 iPP to use as a screen to watch content while on my exercise bike.

The main reason I FINALLY decided to upgrade is that the M4 feels noticeably more responsive than the 2018–particularly with handwriting using the Pencil Pro. And the OLED screen is gorgeous, too. I hadn’t intended to upgrade but played with one at Best Buy and was impressed enough with the responsiveness that I immediately went home and ordered one from the Apple Store—to get my military discount.

Is this a must buy for me? No. My 2018 was perfectly fine for all my common uses (web browsing, media consumption, handwritten notes) but it IS nice. 😎
Click to expand...
Thanks for the response. You're probably experiencing what i did when i upgraded from my iPhone X a few years ago. It didn't feel slow until I bought my 13 Pro and then i realised what i was missing out on. On a separate note, how is the battery life on the 13in M4 iPad Pro so far?
 
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