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iPad Pro 2nd gen iPad Pro (12.9 and 10.5 inch) still good?

C

cheese9man

macrumors newbie
Original poster
May 18, 2021
17
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Hello I'm looking at these ipads and I'm wondering if they're still usable and if you or someone you know still uses it. Are they terribly slow already? I already have a new macbook pro, I just want an ipad for watching youtube/netflix while lying on the bed and reading pdf files. I really like the quad speakers for watching videos and the 120hz screen for reading pdf files but the used 2018-2021 ipad pro models are still out of my budget so I'm leaning towards the 2nd gen 12.9 and 10.5 ipad pros. Any advice?

Yes they're old but I think they're perfect for my needs and right in the budget. The cheap ipads (10.2 inch) is a no go because of the one sided speakers and the bigger screen of the 10.5 and 12.9 are appreciated. If I can buy a used one and have the battery replaced are they still a nice purchase? Thank you in advance and I hope you're having a great day!
 
I love my 10.5-inch iPad Pro, but if I were buying right now, I'd go with one of the newer 11-inch models, primarily for the USB-C connectivity.
 
Performance-wise, they're still decent for now. Caveat, don't know how long you'll keep it or what your performance expectations are for the near future.

Mind, I don't really see much benefit to 120 Hz when just viewing static PDF pages. It does reduce Pencil lag but even 60 Hz ain't all that bad there.

Battery's pretty shot on my Pro 10.5, though. It's around $100 for an official battery replacement and third party repairs sometimes use inferior batteries. If I were you, I'd just allocate the funds for a battery towards getting a newer model.
 
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Agree with others mostly, if you can get a new battery and still be well under the price of an 11" pro, it's still a great iPad. Poor battery life after 4 years + USB-C/Thunderbolt + larger screen (went 12.9") were my motivating factors to upgrade, but aside from the battery my 10.5" still feels capable. If you don't intend to connect external devices for file transfers, the USB-C/Thunderbolt is not a big deal.
 
coolguy4747 said:
If you don't intend to connect external devices for file transfers, the USB-C/Thunderbolt is not a big deal.
Click to expand...

For me, the convenience of USB-C means one fewer Lightning cable and adapter to carry. I can just use the cable and wall wart that came with my MBA to charge them both.
 
saturnotaku said:
For me, the convenience of USB-C means one fewer Lightning cable and adapter to carry. I can just use the cable and wall wart that came with my MBA to charge them both.
Click to expand...
That's true, but for now at least I would still need a Lightning cable to charge my iPhone :) (obviously, this is just my personal perspective I'm sharing, others' needs are surely different)
 
I would stay away from the 10.5 pro. A few months ago the touch screen stopped working on mine and made it completely unusable and forced me to buy a new iPad. After doing research I learned that I was not the only person to experience this.
 
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saturnotaku said:
For me, the convenience of USB-C means one fewer Lightning cable and adapter to carry. I can just use the cable and wall wart that came with my MBA to charge them both.
Click to expand...

I don't normally carry a laptop unless I know I'd need it for work or some other esoteric stuff so USB-C would actually require me to carry an additional wall wart and cable.

I do, however, use iPhones and AirPods and already have a 6-port 60W USB-A charger and plenty of Lightning cables collected over ~9 years.
 
Thank you all for the kind responses. I don't mind the lightning cable since I still carry one for my phone and airpods pro and I don't intend to use the external port other than to charge the device. It will just be a netflix/youtube machine. I don't plan to play in it too as I have a switch and the PS5 for those. On the other hand, I agree that every device should already use USB-C. Sucks that I have to bring multiple cables for my phone, laptop and for the apple watch when travelling. At least I just use one PD usb-c charging brick. The screen not working is kinda concerning though.

How long will I plan to keep it? Until it becomes too slow that it can't handle youtube and netflix as my macbook does all the heavy lifting for my job. Heavy lifting a.k.a. MS Word and Powerpoint (LOL). Just looking if it's still a good media device. Again, thank you everyone for taking the time to respond. Ya'll are awesome!
 
I just sold a 2nd gen and it was still a very capable machine and I was actively using it for professional illustration work. Its battery was just not what it used to be and the extra ram on the 2021 was hard to pass up, but I could have made the 2017 work for my needs for quite a while longer if I had gotten the battery replaced.
 
I strongly believe the 2nd gen iPad Pro still has at least 2 years of iOS updates left. It has 4 GB RAM.

I'm still using the 10.5-inch and it's super capable. If you can get a cheap used 10.5-inch or 12.9-inch, it would fit your needs very well. Battery replacement is $99 with Apple but you also have the option of third-parties.
 
nicetriangles said:
Surely this was a typo? I've heard its like $400-600

When I investigated it for 3rd party prices were around $150-175 but I have heard that through Apple it's much higher.
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It's ~$100 in the US. However, the iPad has to have no defects and battery below 80% (based on their diags) for Apple to accept it for battery service. They can't swap batteries in-store so they pretty much just do an iPad swap.

If there's any other defect, then it's ~$400-600 out of warranty service fee depending on the iPad Pro model.
 
They don't actually replace the batteries in iPads. They give you a new (probably refurbed) unit.
 
cheese9man said:
I'm glad it stil holds up. Did some reading and saw that some have this white screen issue.
Click to expand...

There’s a large thread about screen issues with the second gen pro, which is why I’d recommend a newer model after saving a bit more.

Even my old 12.9 has the backlight issue to some degree, it doesn’t really bother me much as I just tend to use dark mode and rarely run past 50% brightness.

There is also some mention of “touch disease” but haven’t really noticed it. Someone here could likely explain that better than I can.
 
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boak said:
I strongly believe the 2nd gen iPad Pro still has at least 2 years of iOS updates left. It has 4 GB RAM.

I'm still using the 10.5-inch and it's super capable. If you can get a cheap used 10.5-inch or 12.9-inch, it would fit your needs very well. Battery replacement is $99 with Apple but you also have the option of third-parties.
Click to expand...

It will get more than 2 years of OS updates. A10X is still capable and even has more RAM than A11,
 
Still love and use my Gen 2 12.9 daily. Plenty fast and a great screen. I haven't been into our office full time since March of 2020 so my use case is reduced to brief news browsing, some light YouTube watching and sometimes using it as a mobile TV using streaming services (Netflix, YoutubeTV, Disney+, HBO Max etc.).

I'm currently on iOS 15 beta and it performs well.

Personally I'd only buy a Gen 2 as a certified refurb direct from Apple. My Gen 2 is still covered month-to-month with AppleCare+ and I'm glad to have that coverage. I have had two replacements due to touchscreen sensitivity issues in the past 3 years of ownership. So far this 3rd unit is working ok so I'll be keeping this device for at least another year and a half or so before looking to upgrade it. Most people who own these things are trouble free but my experience has been different.
 
It’s still a great ipad. I‘ve owned a 64gb 10.5 pro for the past couple of years, but for the past few months I’ve been struggling with storage issues and having to delete apps, so just this weekend I finally solved it by getting… another 10.5 pro, this time with 256gb. It’s just such a great machine, I already have the case, keyboard and pencil for it, it works really well and really fast, and for now I have zero interest in anything newer.

Given the inherently limited nature of iPadOS, I don’t believe there’s anything that a newer ipad can do that the 2017 version doesn’t do excellently as well.
 
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I still have my 2nd gen iPad pro 12.9. For browsing and watching videos, it's still a very capable machine.

In fact, browsing web on iPad Pro is better than my 2015 MPB.
 
I still use my 10.5 plenty. Great for media. I'll defer to others on the updates and battery life.
 
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