With the new Air offering 8GB RAM & M1. It has left the old pros in the dust. Technology has progressed much quicker, and Apple has grown less stingy with RAM. These new gen devices will outlast their predecessors by a huge margin. I am just miffed my 4GB 2018 is never going to be able to keep safari tabs in memory. 2022 Pro’s should be exciting
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iPad Pro End of the 2018/2020 iPad Pros
- Thread starter Htsi
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Well, the 2020 iPad Pros have 6GB RAM across the board which isn't actually too bad.
Most of the features of these two generations of iPad Pro are almost exactly the same. The two models are generally very similar, and the experience of both iPad Pros will likely be equally good in all but the most niche use cases. So I don't find to spend that much to upgrade 2020 now! May be will consider it later! 
I believe the Ipad Pro's still use USBC over Lighting which some users take advantage of as well.
Air 5 also maxes out at 256GB and lacks features such as quad speakers and ProMotion.
Personally, I need at least 512GB storage and prefer to have 1TB for worry free use.
Depends on if you care more about raw power (and frankly the A12X is already plenty) and RAM (arguably that extra 2-4GB is the biggest story here) or features like ProMotion, Quad speakers, Face ID. Then of course the Pro also comes in a larger size if that's something you want.
I wouldn’t say that. Promotion, FaceID, LiDAR are great features. I should have used the word aging in this case.
Usage and websites visited. Also, background processes. Predominantly text websites with static HTML don't reload as often as media-heavy sites with dynamic content.
Mind, I got more reloads on the 2017 Pro, too, after updating to iOS 13. It's still on 14.8.1 right now but based on my experience with mini 6+iOS 15, memory management is even worse on 15.
If I only had to have 1 iPad I would get the 12.9in pro with at least 8GB Ram or more likely 16GB (because I would use it a lot). The reason why I got a refurbished 2018 pro last year instead of the M1 for a fraction of the price (but also 4 times less RAM) is that I have several iPads, several Windows and Mac devices and a Tab s8 ultra with 16GB RAM so I spread my usage among them and I avoid multitasking on 4GB devices. So it also depends how much you use your devices and how many devices you have... For someone who does little on their iPad and only has one or 2 tabs open a 4GB one is perfectly fine and I expect these iPads to be updated for another 5 years.
I would never get the air because quad speaker is the minimum for me, but again it depends, if you never use you iPad at full volume it's a non issue, but if you always do, and would even take a notch more if available, then it's non negotiable. Same for promotion for some (not me).
I would never get the air because quad speaker is the minimum for me, but again it depends, if you never use you iPad at full volume it's a non issue, but if you always do, and would even take a notch more if available, then it's non negotiable. Same for promotion for some (not me).
I just got a refurb 2020 11” Pro from Apple a week ago. I actually do love Face ID on it. I also loved the Touch ID on the base model regarding reliability.
And although I’ve never used a Mini or Air with the power button Touch ID, I’ve read here that it’s sort of hit and miss.
Touch ID on power button is crap. Magic keyboard experience is stupid good with FaceID. So is unlocking
I was pretty skeptical but since I use the mini as my phone and 100% of my internet & comm stuff (we keep our intranet offline) I really wanted the mini 6 to work after waiting all this time. The biggest problem with the touch on the power button was that there are no visual cues as to where that button is when you grab it quickly and need to get in. And it’s small enough to actually miss even if it’s right side up, so more often than not you pick it up & it feels like endless spinning the device around. You can turn the feature off completely. Then, if you just grabbed it and walked with it, or are sitting in a meeting with it in your hand, you’ll find it turning on and off every time you move and registering random taps & keyboard gibberish all over the place. In use, iOS isn’t smart enough to ignore your fingers or palm on the bezels, so it registers every tap as a multi-finger tap or gesture & behaves erratically unless you hold in in a precarious way. The gestures overlap and are often misinterpreted, so interacting with it is a tedious chore.
…They had it right for 5 generations, but just had to chisel off even more hardware features, while raising the price, to show the shareholders even more growth (bc being a trillion dollar company isn’t enough). Chopping the $1 3.5mm audio jack was idiotic, but the Touch ID on the power button & lack of a central home button just kills usability & utility of the thing. I mean try using it to navigate in a car. It used to be safer than a phone bc you could see it so easily, but now it’s so clumsy to use you have to fully take your attention off the road to get it to do 1 basic thing. I don’t know if Apple only uses their products in critiques in the design lab or what, but they’ve made that thing practically useless out in the world.
…They had it right for 5 generations, but just had to chisel off even more hardware features, while raising the price, to show the shareholders even more growth (bc being a trillion dollar company isn’t enough). Chopping the $1 3.5mm audio jack was idiotic, but the Touch ID on the power button & lack of a central home button just kills usability & utility of the thing. I mean try using it to navigate in a car. It used to be safer than a phone bc you could see it so easily, but now it’s so clumsy to use you have to fully take your attention off the road to get it to do 1 basic thing. I don’t know if Apple only uses their products in critiques in the design lab or what, but they’ve made that thing practically useless out in the world.
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MKBHD just did this exact comparison and he presented a pretty good case in favor of the IPP. I agree that Promotion on even the 2018 11" model is a big deal, and I much prefer Face ID over Touch ID which I find I have to recalibrate my fingers every couple of weeks.
Yeah, and it’s kind of funny how person-dependent these issues are. My wife can’t tell between a 60 Hz and 120 Hz display to save her life. On the other hand I can barely stand 60 Hz so the cost of the Pro is well worth it to me.
The A12X and A12Z will be fine for most tasks. Likewise 4GB and 6GB is absolutely fine for most tasks.
Maybe by 2026 it will feel different, but then that is when most people will have upgraded, or will consider upgrading.
The base iPad 9 only has 3GB RAM, while that is on the small side for me many people are fine with that.
Technology marches on and the top-end will inevitably see some Pro features drift down to the mid-end within 1-3 years.
Maybe by 2026 it will feel different, but then that is when most people will have upgraded, or will consider upgrading.
The base iPad 9 only has 3GB RAM, while that is on the small side for me many people are fine with that.
Technology marches on and the top-end will inevitably see some Pro features drift down to the mid-end within 1-3 years.
Sure, more ram is always great! I use a 2018 11” IPP and this thing is still blazing fast. I can’t really notice any difference from my 13 Pro or my MBP 14” doing iPad things which for me is browsing, media consumption and writing this post.
If I were working off it editing I would perhaps notice the difference, but why on earth would I go through that self inflicted torture? ? I have a Mac for that.
I’ve had an iPad since the first one came out, and it’s always been mainly about consumption for me. And a computer on the go for easier tasks when travelling.
The 2018 will probably be fine for quite a few more years. Heck I still use my Mini 4 sometimes at work.
If I were working off it editing I would perhaps notice the difference, but why on earth would I go through that self inflicted torture? ? I have a Mac for that.
I’ve had an iPad since the first one came out, and it’s always been mainly about consumption for me. And a computer on the go for easier tasks when travelling.
The 2018 will probably be fine for quite a few more years. Heck I still use my Mini 4 sometimes at work.
Same for me. Got an iPad Pro 3rd Gen and sold it as I didn’t see much difference in performance for my use case. Loving the iPP 2018.