I went from a 2018 iPad Pro 12.9 to a new M2 iPad Pro 12.9 and I have been very happy I made the upgrade. I find myself using Safari with a split screen and a PIP video running. The 2018 IPP couldn’t handle it and Safari would eventually grind to a halt until I quit the app and reopened it. It was completely annoying having do that once per hour or so. The IPP M2 has zero issue handling this. My guess is this has more to do with having double the RAM, but it all works very well now.
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iPad Pro 4 years with a 2018 A12X iPad Pro the M2 2022 iPad Pro is a game changer.
- Thread starter TheRealAlex
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To a point you’re right. The 2018 is still a beast. But there are plenty of apps that need or are better with the better processors and more specifically the higher ram (if one starts looking beyond the perceived iPadOS limits)
From the 2018 model, no I don't think I would upgrade to the M2 model, really.
Maybe if it had OLED, and a landscape camera with a FaceID positioned more accordingly. There isn't much else to reproach to the hardware of the iPad Pro anyways. The product feels "accomplished" already.
It's the software that lacks. It should really have a dockable mode that would morph into macOS.
Maybe if it had OLED, and a landscape camera with a FaceID positioned more accordingly. There isn't much else to reproach to the hardware of the iPad Pro anyways. The product feels "accomplished" already.
It's the software that lacks. It should really have a dockable mode that would morph into macOS.
A lot of reivewers have YT thumbnails with "Don't Buy The M2 iPad Pro", which is silly. Not everyone is looking for the best deal, and M2 does come with new things like Pencil Hover, better Wifi and, of course, a faster CPU/GPU. So, I understand the OP - if you upgrade once every four years, I'd go for the latest one, even if the previous one is cheaper.
In 4 years all Apple did was include a faster chip and Wi-Fi (happens every single year for most computers), slightly better screen - still LCD, a better camera, and same terrible iOS/iPadOS. Of course it’s faster, but what a lazy update for Apple. I understand incremental updates, but not over a 4 year period for your top of the line product.
How on earth does the top of the line iPad (about $2,399 for top configuration) still have the front facing camera in the wrong position for about 8+ years now? Hopefully the 2023-24 update finally puts the Pro back in the iPad Pro.
11” is the same screen since 2018. The 12.9” got the better screen in 2021 I believe.
I was just asking since this thread was about the 11". Screen is the same indeed. For me the biggest upgrade was the upgrade in RAM. I have the 2018 one with 6GB of RAM and honestly the additional 2GB in M1/M2 are not a huge difference. Compared to 4 GB however, that can make a relatively big difference depending on use cases.
I mean it’s faster (it has been 4 years so it better be faster/better), but it’s a dated design and you will not recoup your purchase price when the real iPad Pro is released. My point is if you can hold on for 12-14 months that makes the most sense. If not the upgrade, but you’ll need to upgrade again if the 2023-24 iPad Pro is what we expect it to be.
It’s like buying a car in it’s last year on the market before a redesign; the new design comes out and the value drops significantly because it looks even more dated than it already is.
Personally I got the M1 for the 12.9 as I wanted more RAM but I still use both, but for the 11" I am not upgrading for a few years since it has more RAM (6). Faster CPU I don't care, I barely care about Mini-led. Personally I am waiting for the larger iPads, I am not buying a 12.9in again, my next upgrade will be a 14 or 16 inch iPad whener it comes. That's the "redesign" I am looking for.
In 4 years vs the 2018 iPad Pro Apple
#1. Doubled the RAM and speed LPDDR4 to LPDDR5
#2. Added WiFi 6E and Bluetooth 5.3
#3. Took the CPU from 2.4Ghz to 3.4Ghz
#4. The GPU alone is 40% Faster vs the 2021 M1 iPad Pro and 200% faster than the 2018
#5. Doubled the Storage space 64GB to 128GB and it’s twice as fast NVME
#6. Added Thunderbolt 4 vs just USB-C Gen 1 speeds
#7. Massive camera improvement vs the 2018
I could go on I daily drove the 2018 iPad Pro 4 solid years it got me through the pandemic. And it was getting sluggis. The 2022 M2 is refreshingly snappy.
Like I said speed and camera improvements and you’re counting 4+ years. Yawn. Every single year this happens with computers. The design is so dated that it’s not even funny. Hopefully Apple can fix it in 5+ years LOL
I’m not smart enough to figure out what you want “design” wise out of tablet. More speakers ? Camera in a different place ?
I think we need to cut the OP some slack. We've all unboxed a new Apple device, got a head rush and wanted to shout to the world about how great it is feels.
I think these improvements may matter or not depending on the person:
#1. Doubled the RAM and speed LPDDR4 to LPDDR5
That's by far the biggest deal, unless you got the 6GB version, which I did for the 11" but not the 12.9"
#2. Added WiFi 6E and Bluetooth 5.3
BT 5.0 (from 4.X) was a big leap in terms of range, I haven't seen much difference with subsequent versions. As for 6E it's nice for the future, but currently 6E routers are too expensive, so makes no difference to me
#3. Took the CPU from 2.4Ghz to 3.4Ghz
That's a nice improvement, and the main reason why M1 is faster than A12X despite having the same number of cores. However A12X is still far from slugghish unless RAM is bottlenecking it in the 4GB version. CPU speed is definitely not a bottleneck of the A12X (video exports have not improved dramatically on my M1)
#4. The GPU alone is 40% Faster vs the 2021 M1 iPad Pro and 200% faster than the 2018
I don't make much use of the GPU, as far as I can tell
#5. Doubled the Storage space 64GB to 128GB and it’s twice as fast NVME
I never buy 64GB. Speed actually depends on size. So if you compared 64GB with 128GB it might indeed be twice as fast. On the contrary my 1TB A12X is almost as fast as my M1 128GB.
#6. Added Thunderbolt 4 vs just USB-C Gen 1 speeds
It's gen 2, not gen 1 in the 2018, and again TB drives are so expensive that I don't have any (I think most people, including most tech nerds, don't use TB drives because of price) and from the tests I have seen the TB speed is quite a bit lower than on Macs
#7. Massive camera improvement vs the 2018
I don't use the iPad camera
You only listed 1 and 7 as a yawn, not 2 through 6. When you badmouth the improvements, please don’t just list two improvements and think it’s a yawn over four years. The improvements are incremental, and they have been for a while now. I’ll except incremental. It’s the software that is lacking. What do you really want that you will be wowed about. You haven’t listed any.
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For one 11” to 12.9“ in case you missed that in his post. The bigger screen is obviously a big upgrade. Then LCD to miniLED XDR is also a big difference.
I think people should just enjoy upgrading for whatever reasons they want. In my opinion, unless you have very specific demands, the jump from an M1 to M2 iPad Pro is a quite small upgrade. But anyone coming from a 2018/2020, especially 12.9, will notice a nice upgrade in terms of display at the very least.
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The mini XDR display, the main advantage is in HDR compliant content, do we know if netflix/disney+/primevideo show 4K & HDR on iPads yet? If the apps don't support the higher dynamic range requirements, there's actually little to no difference in image quality between mini-led/lcd. I can corroborate when putting the iPad beside the MacBook Pro 14 and playing SDR content, the biggest difference is the black bars are black, but ignoring that, actual video in SDR is nearly identical. Offcourse HDR is night and day, but even disney+/netflix/primevideo on my Mac don't support 4K/HDR annoyingly.
No, the message you quoted was referring to the 11", read it again (the person he replied to upgraded to a 11" M2).
12.9 is not the object of this thread, and it it was not the object of what you quoted (despite the person having a 12.9 M1)
Well then I may be reading wrong, but his quote said “I upgraded from the 11 inch A12Z update, the 2020 iPad to a 12.9 inch M1, it was a big ugrade. You won’t be disappointed going from the A12X to the M2.”
That sounds like he upgraded from the 2020 11” iPad Pro to the 2021 12.9” M1 iPad Pro. That is a noticeable upgrade.
I have the 2017 10.5” iPad Pro. Still runs but battery life is atrocious and it’s buggy occasionally. I’ve put off a new iPad the last two years, but I’m thinking the M2 is the one I want. This helped put it in perspective a bit. Thanks!
I replaced my 10.5" IPP with a M2 12.9" - like Night and Day!
Yes, you are reading it wrong, because he was not referring to the miniled screen at all but only to M2, since the person he was talking to had bought an 11in M2 (the fact the he has bought a 12.9 M1 himself is irrelevant in the person being disappointed or not with M2)
Again, it doesn’t matter who said it. The fact remains the upgrade from the 2020 11” iPad Pro to the 2021 M1 12.9” iPad Pro is a big upgrade, from a display perspective especially.