iPad Pro Apple have you lost your mind...$1,950...

[Digitalguy]

There is absolutely nothing strange with pricing of the M1 iPad. They reflect the M1 MacBook prices. Want to move from 512 to 1TB: $200, from 8GB RAM to 16GB RAM? $200. Want to go to 2TB? $400. Apple just bundles storage and RAM together for 1TB and 2 TB. And there is no cellular on Macs yet, and it will be similar ($200) when Macs get 5G.
So is the MacBook with those specs overpriced too?
Maybe because the Mac has a keyboard? But then the iPad has a touchscreen (and keyboards can be added at any price point, and some people actually prefer to be able to have OR not have a keyboard).
My guess is that in the end this is another software rant in disguise... (like "iPadOS is not worth those specs and prices")

 

[Applelover711]

For 11” iPad Pro 1tb (to get 16gb ram)
WiFi+cellular
Applecare

no case
No keyboard
No pencil

Just because you have lost your mind doesn’t mean I have...seriously who would pay that price?

Don't buy it if you can't afford it, so simple.
I think you lost your mind.

 

[Applelover711]

1828+120tax 1948 bar bones

Are you complaining that you can't afford it?

 

[Sinfonist]

Are you complaining that you can't afford it?

I think it's more like seeing a car with a tempting sticker price, and then realising that the one one you really want with all the extras is twice the price

 

[jsmith1]

I feel sorry for your cheapness.

Thank you so much but it’s not necessary...I’m fine.

 

[jsmith1]

Are you complaining that you can't afford it?

Did you read the thread?

 

[dholzer]

Did you read the thread?

I think it was a legitimate question. Either you need the power of a 1TB (16GB RAM) M1 IPP but cannot afford it (probably very few people need it!), in which case they have really Apple has priced this beyond where they should for your purposes (a 256GB (16GB RAM) option would have been nice). Or you do not need it and really have no business complaining about pricing on a device you should not get. While it is not cheap either, a 256GB (8GB RAM) device will be $700 cheaper and would do everything that 99.9% of users would likely need (especially with cloud or external storage), and most users can use their iPhone as a hotspot for $200 cheaper (if access to power is not a problem, as battery life will drain fast on the two devices).

 

[ryuworks]

They actually sell a lot of the 1TB models, in fact it is the second most popular model after the 256GB one. If you can't afford it, don't buy one, just buy the one you can afford if you want one.

Apple can price this at those prices because there is demand for the 1TB models even at those prices. If the sales numbers are low at their current prices they will either lower the prices or just remove the model altogether. The 2TB model's appearance is proof that there is a good demand for high capacity iPad pros even at premium prices.

They don't have to price items so everyone can afford it. They have a line up of lower priced iPads as well.

 

[DreamPod]

I like how the OP threw AppleCare in there just to make it sound more expensive Sure, if someone is buying an expensive tablet, they might get AppleCare just in case, but in reality, iPads are pretty sturdy, a lot of people keep them in a case, and a lot of people just don't buy extended warranties anyways, which is mostly what AppleCare is (that mixed with insurance in case you damage your own device).

Regardless, almost nobody needs the 1TB model. Heck, my previous iPad Pro was the 128GB model, I haven't come close to filling that much. Especially with the devices now supporting external storage through USB-C. A lot of people *are* buying the 1TB, in large part because that one comes with 16GB RAM, but they don't need it, it's a luxury, for most people future-proofing at best. And Apple knows this, and they announced the RAM for this exact reason - Apple never talks about the RAM in their iOS devices, but they did this time, so that people would buy the pricier model to help pay for that expensive screen that is probably subsidized a bit on the cheaper models.

 

[rui no onna]

Regardless, almost nobody needs the 1TB model. Heck, my previous iPad Pro was the 128GB model, I haven't come close to filling that much. Especially with the devices now supporting external storage through USB-C.

You can't use external storage for everything, particularly content with DRM.

FAT/exFAT support on iPadOS also sucks. The last couple times I've used external drives, either my iPad crashed or the filesystem on the external drive got corrupted requiring a reformat.

Likely APFS is more stable but that's kinda pointless to me if the only device I can use to write to the APFS-formatted drive is the iPad itself.

 

[collin_]

In my opinion, the iPad Pros with 128 or 256 GB storage are a good value while the higher models are not. Because Apple charges so much for storage increases, you're getting a worse and worse value the more you upgrade it.

Frankly, I don't understand why anyone would buy the 512+ models unless you're stupid rich or really need 16 GB RAM (you don't. let's be honest. you don't. it's an iPad. it's never even had 8 GB until now and the 4 GB models from 2018 are still stupid fast. have you seen how the 8 GB M1 macs run??? you will seriously never notice this unless you're planning on using pro apps after WWDC which who is really going to do that? if you run out of RAM just move to your mac for a minute).

You could buy a 2 TB M.2 SSD, an enclosure for it, and a really nice 6ft 10gbps USB-C to USB-C cable for less money than the 512 GB iPad Pro upgrade is, never mind the fact that you could use this drive with any device rather than having its storage sautered to the inside of an iPad.

 

[rui no onna]

In my opinion, the iPad Pros with 128 or 256 GB storage are a good value while the higher models are not. Because Apple charges so much for storage increases, you're getting a worse and worse value the more you upgrade it.

Frankly, I don't understand why anyone would buy the 512+ models unless you're stupid rich or really need 16 GB RAM (you don't. let's be honest. you don't. it's an iPad. it's never even had 8 GB until now and the 4 GB models from 2018 are still stupid fast. have you seen how the 8 GB M1 macs run???).

You could buy a 2 TB M.2 SSD, an enclosure for it, and a really nice 6ft 10gbps USB-C to USB-C cable for less money than the 512 GB iPad Pro upgrade is, never mind the fact that you could use this drive with any device rather than having its storage sautered to the inside of an iPad.

I'm far from being rich but I save for the iPad every paycheck and am willing to sacrifice other luxuries so I can get the exact configuration I want (1TB). I use the iPad primarily for consumption but I do use it a lot and storage is the one area I don't want to compromise on. I'd be very happy with, say, an iPad Air with A14 + 8GB RAM + 1TB for a few hundred dollar less. Alas, that does not exist.

Mind, I have plenty of external SSDs—a couple of T7s but mostly 1-4TB 2.5" SATA SSDs with adapter. However, most are formatted NTFS. The T7s are formatted exFAT but I'm reluctant to use them on the iPad due to corruption issues.

Besides, unless you only use the iPad on a desk, external drives are a major hassle that could get unplugged if you move wrong.

 

[collin_]

I'm far from being rich but I save for the iPad every paycheck and am willing to sacrifice other luxuries so I can get the exact configuration I want (1TB). I use the iPad primarily for consumption but I do use it a lot and storage is the one area I don't want to compromise on. I'd be very happy with, say, an iPad Air with A14 + 8GB RAM + 1TB for a few hundred dollar less. Alas, that does not exist.

Mind, I have plenty of external SSDs—a couple of T7s but mostly 1-4TB 2.5" SATA SSDs with adapter. However, most are formatted NTFS. The T7s are formatted exFAT but I'm reluctant to use them on the iPad due to corruption issues.

Besides, unless you only use the iPad on a desk, external drives are a major hassle that could get unplugged if you move wrong.

I see where you're coming from, but IMO you don't have enough faith in external SSDs. ? You could buy a 1 TB crazy fast M.2 SSD, a tiny enclosure for it like this, and if you want, a USB-C cable as short as 1ft. Problems with USB-C ports not having a strong connection are very rare on high-end devices like iPad Pro.

An SSD setup like that is so portable that it wouldn't even be an issue if you were traveling. Really no different than plugging in a charger. And you would save so much money compared to buying a 1 TB iPad. Plus external drives are perfect for the stuff that takes up the most storage, like movies and TV. Yes you could hold dozens of 4k HDR movies on the 1 TB iPad, but do you really need all those movies on there at once? What plane ride would be that long?

I'm like... philosophically against paying Apple's outrageous storage prices lol. Never upgrade it on my Macs. External SSDs have never failed me.

It's so nice to have an external SSD that you buy once and will last basically forever and then never have to pay Apple's extreme storage prices again.

 

[rui no onna]

I see where you're coming from, but IMO you don't have enough faith in external SSDs. ? You could buy a 1 TB crazy fast M.2 SSD, a tiny enclosure for it like this, and if you want, a USB-C cable as short as 1ft. Problems with USB-C ports not having a strong connection are very rare on high-end devices like iPad Pro.

An SSD setup like that is so portable that it wouldn't even be an issue if you were traveling. Really no different than plugging in a charger. And you would save so much money compared to buying a 1 TB iPad. Plus external drives are perfect for the stuff that takes up the most storage, like movies and TV. Yes you could hold dozens of 4k HDR movies on the 1 TB iPad, but do you really need all those movies on there at once? What plane ride would be that long?

I'm like... philosophically against paying Apple's outrageous storage prices lol. Never upgrade it on my Macs. External SSDs have never failed me.

It's so nice to have an external SSD that you buy once and will last basically forever and then never have to pay Apple's extreme storage prices again.

I trust SSDs well enough. I've been using them for PortableApps since 2010.

It's iPadOS support for FAT/exFAT which I don't trust based on experience.

Mind, Hollywood doesn't actually allow 4K downloads, only up to 1080p. They limit 4K to streaming only.

For long vacations (or hospital stays), I've previously carried a laptop with Plex server installed + 2-4TB external HDDs. It's not so much that you can watch everything but rather having a nice selection/library of media to choose from.

 

[collin_]

I trust SSDs well enough. I've been using them for PortableApps since 2010.

It's iPadOS support for FAT/exFAT which I don't trust based on experience.

Yeah I don't doubt that iPadOS support for FAT/exFAT is rough, but if you purchased a 1 TB SSD just for Apple products and format it APFS that would still be significantly less expensive than upgrading the storage on your Macs and iPads.

 

[sparksd]

Yeah I don't doubt that iPadOS support for FAT/exFAT is rough, but if you purchased a 1 TB SSD just for Apple products and format it APFS that would still be significantly less expensive than upgrading the storage on your Macs and iPads.

Unfortunately, I run into the same issues with exFAT SSDs and have no APFS option - and it shouldn't have to be.

 

[collin_]

Unfortunately, I run into the same issues with exFAT SSDs and have no APFS option - and it shouldn't have to be.

Oh I see. If I didn't have a Mac, I would probably just ask a friend or family member to let me quickly format it using Disk Utility on theirs, but I can understand if some people would consider this to be too much of a hassle.

 

[sparksd]

Oh I see. If I didn't have a Mac, I would probably just ask a friend or family member to let me quickly format it using Disk Utility on theirs, but I can understand if some people would consider this to be too much of a hassle.

I don't want my SSDs to be limited to the iPad - I need to use them with Windows devices, too. Apple needs to fix their faulty iOS - these issues were identified a year ago. My original thread -

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/file-corruption-on-copy-to-external-storage.2235171/

 

[jsmith1]

It wasnt

I think it was a legitimate question. Either you need the power of a 1TB (16GB RAM) M1 IPP but cannot afford it (probably very few people need it!), in which case they have really Apple has priced this beyond where they should for your purposes (a 256GB (16GB RAM) option would have been nice). Or you do not need it and really have no business complaining about pricing on a device you should not get. While it is not cheap either, a 256GB (8GB RAM) device will be $700 cheaper and would do everything that 99.9% of users would likely need (especially with cloud or external storage), and most users can use their iPhone as a hotspot for $200 cheaper (if access to power is not a problem, as battery life will drain fast on the two devices).

 

[mike1450]

obviously apple overuses “pro” but as a pro that uses his iPad for work - this price is a no-brainer if it can keep up with a laptop.

 

[rui no onna]

Yeah I don't doubt that iPadOS support for FAT/exFAT is rough, but if you purchased a 1 TB SSD just for Apple products and format it APFS that would still be significantly less expensive than upgrading the storage on your Macs and iPads.

But I still need to copy ripped media from the Windows machines to the SSD so APFS is no help there. You can't offload video downloads from Netflix, Amazon Prime, Disney+, HBO Max, comiXology, etc. iOS apps to external SSDs.

Right now I'm playing with a nano-router + Raspberry Pi 4 + openmediavault + 5TB HDD as portable SMB server. I still want 1TB local on the iPad, though. For me, the extra $700 over the 3+ year period I'll be using the iPad (or $20/mo or $5/week) isn't worth the frustration I'm bound to encounter going for lower storage.

 

[collin_]

I don't want my SSDs to be limited to the iPad - I need to use them with Windows devices, too. Apple needs to fix their faulty iOS- these issues were identified a year ago My original thread -

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/file-corruption-on-copy-to-external-storage.2235171/

But I still need to copy media from the Windows machines to the SSD so APFS is no help there.

Right now I'm playing with a nano-router + Raspberry Pi 4 + openmediavault + 5TB HDD as portable SMB server. I still want 1TB local on the iPad, though. For me, the extra $700 over the 3+ year period I'll be using the iPad (or $20/mo or $5/week) isn't worth the frustration I'm bound to encounter going for lower storage.

Oh I see. Hoping they fix this in iPadOS 15

 

[techno-Zen]

It's just a stimmy check or two, no big deal

 

[Bobcat32]

Surface Pro 7 starting price: 750
Maxed Out price: 2300
With 16gb ram, 1tb storage

iPad Pro 11” 2021 starting price: 800
Maxed out price: 2100 or 2400 12.9”
With 16gb ram, 2tb storage, cellular

Pro type cover 130
Surface pen 67

magic keyboard 300-350
Apple Pencil 130

Surface grand total: 2497
iPad grand total: 2530 or 2880

 

[fel10]

And they want to get in the car and gaming business?