iPad Pro Disappointed with the 2018 iPad Pro. M1 & M2 worth checking out?

[InuNacho]

I had a 2018 iPad Pro 11" that I had intended on using as a mobile Affinity Photo device. While it was ok, it was a less than stellar experience with my large file and extremely slow (USB2?) read and writes to my 1TB Samsung T7. Needless to say, I was extremely let down and sold it.

I recently got a new job but need to take commuter rail an hour each way so I figured an M series iPad would be a good productivity device while I commute.
My questions are:

1. Does anyone use Affinity Photo on their iPad with higher resolution files? I work primarily with large scans/TIFF files, not RAWs. Has the hardware matured enough to handle these files? My 2018 was pretty choppy.

2. What is the read and write speed on externals connected over USB C. I need to copy the files to and from the device to my desktop. Windows, no Airdrop.

3. Is there a big difference between the M1 and M2? I can use an edu discount for these devices and it doesn't seem like much of a difference between the two for the price point.

Thanks.

 

[MmkLucario]

I can only really help with 2 and 3. Number 1 would be my opinion.

1: An M chip series iPad Pro should be able to handle it.

2: The M series iPad Pros can transfer data at speed up to 40GB/s IIRC, but you need a Thunderbolt cable. You probably need a fast external drive in order to reach those speeds if you’re using one.

3: As far as I know, there’s not much difference between an M1 and M2 iPad Pro in terms of specs unless you have Wi-Fi 6E, or you like using an Apple Pencil, since the Apple Pencil Hover feature is only on the M2 iPads.

 

[InuNacho]

2: The M series iPad Pros can transfer data at speed up to 40GB/s IIRC, but you need a Thunderbolt cable. You probably need a fast external drive in order to reach those speeds if you’re using one.

This is my main concern. I absolutely need fast transfer speeds for this iPad as I will either be transferring files to/from it or will be working directly from a drive which I'm not 100% sure is possible.

 

[Digitalguy]

See my reply in the other thread. I just tested and they have both the same speed with the T7