iPad Air1 owner thinking of a 1st gen 9.7" pro or a 1st gen 12.9" pro...

[s2mikey]

Folks - Ive been very pleased with my Ipad Air since 2013 now. Its been good to me. Nuff said. But lately...ehhh.... getting the upgrade bug. Its time, me thinks.

So, any Air1 owners opt for the original 9.7" Pro(not the latest 10.5") Or the 1st gen 12.9" pro? If so - are you happy with your upgrade? I can find pretty good buys on both of these units right now and Im trying to get feedback on if its a smart buy and a "tangible" upgrade to my Air1.

I understand that with the original 9.7" pro that I still only get the 2GB of RAM and dont get the latest processors. I also get that I wont have the latest refresh and screen updates. Still, seems like a decent ipad and worthy update. Of course, the 12.9" is probably the better buy since they are close to the same price used/refurbed and the 12.9" has 4GB of RAM and more storage too. Obviously Im trying to make this as financially painless as possible . Love to get a new 10.5" but not for close to $900+ with LTE.

I know that the Air2 is a contender but I never cared for the screen vibratins of that model so its out of the running for me. Thanks for any feedback.

 

[sevoneone]

I would get the 9.7” over the 1st gen 12.9” pro unless you have a compelling reason to want the large screen. The 9.7” has a better display and better cameras. It is also a pretty significant upgrade from the Air 1 too.

 

[ericwn]

I would get the 12.9 again in a heartbeat.

 

[blackjackmark]

What do you use your iPad to do? I had the original Air1 and went with the "new" iPad for $329 when it was rebranded several months ago. For my needs of causal couch surfing, it's more than enough.

All depends on your needs.

 

[sracer]

Folks - Ive been very pleased with my Ipad Air since 2013 now. Its been good to me. Nuff said. But lately...ehhh.... getting the upgrade bug. Its time, me thinks.

So, any Air1 owners opt for the original 9.7" Pro(not the latest 10.5") Or the 1st gen 12.9" pro? If so - are you happy with your upgrade? I can find pretty good buys on both of these units right now and Im trying to get feedback on if its a smart buy and a "tangible" upgrade to my Air1.

I understand that with the original 9.7" pro that I still only get the 2GB of RAM and dont get the latest processors. I also get that I wont have the latest refresh and screen updates. Still, seems like a decent ipad and worthy update. Of course, the 12.9" is probably the better buy since they are close to the same price used/refurbed and the 12.9" has 4GB of RAM and more storage too. Obviously Im trying to make this as financially painless as possible . Love to get a new 10.5" but not for close to $900+ with LTE.

I know that the Air2 is a contender but I never cared for the screen vibratins of that model so its out of the running for me. Thanks for any feedback.

At this point in time, the 1st gen 12.9 Pro (if the increased size won't be an issue). If you asked this question last month or 2, I would've suggested the 9.7 Pro when there were some killer sales on it.

There's a lot of emotional and psychological hoo-ha going on about the 2nd gen Pros... some say that the higher screen refresh rate and updated processor are so amazingly better than the 1st gen Pros that it is worth the price. And perhaps for them, it is. But for the average iPad user, and even those of us who push the limits on what we do on them, the 1st gen Pros are still very, very capable. My 1st gen 12.9 Pro still doesn't even break a sweat in doing the things that I do (that go far beyond just "content consumption").

 

[s2mikey]

Thanks to all for the feedback. Im a moderate level user meaning I do some productive things and play a few "heavy" games but nothing too crazy either. I suspect the 1st gen 12.9" pro or the 2016 9.7" pro would both be quite tangible upgrades that wont cost me and arm and a foot.

Cool.

 

[Synergie]

I would get the 9.7” over the 1st gen 12.9” pro unless you have a compelling reason to want the large screen. The 9.7” has a better display and better cameras. It is also a pretty significant upgrade from the Air 1 too.

The 9.7 might have better camera and true tone ( which many people hate the yellow look of anyway) but the 12.9 1st gen has double the RAM and slightly higher clocked processor than the 9.7 pro does, along with higher resolution screen with higher pixel density. It comes down to what matters more for you I guess. But I had the 12.9 1st gen and just upgraded to the new 12.9 and hubby has my old one. Other things to consider, if you like the larger screen the side by side split screen mode on the 12.9 are full apps whereas the 9.7 gives you the phone versions of those apps in split screen mode.

 

[mabhatter]

The 12.9 was too big for me. I was hugely waiting on the big one for years and had the iPad 2 and iPad Air 2. The 12.9 model just made too many compromises to be BIG compared to the 9.7 pro later. Big ended up being awkward for handling and viewing. If you HAVE to have the 12.9 screen get it, it's great, but the 9.7 pro is better in almost every other way. It's the true iPad successor to the Air 2. ok, people pointed out Apple docked the CPU speed, RAM, USB3, and super fast USB C charge to keep the 9.7 from just plain trouncing the 12.9 outright. The speakers, true tone screen, and form are spot on and the other stuff is really "tech speak" and you might miss them if you're a really power user that buys apps that will push it hard.

 

[rumz]

Folks - Ive been very pleased with my Ipad Air since 2013 now. Its been good to me. Nuff said. But lately...ehhh.... getting the upgrade bug. Its time, me thinks.

So, any Air1 owners opt for the original 9.7" Pro(not the latest 10.5") Or the 1st gen 12.9" pro? If so - are you happy with your upgrade? I can find pretty good buys on both of these units right now and Im trying to get feedback on if its a smart buy and a "tangible" upgrade to my Air1.

I understand that with the original 9.7" pro that I still only get the 2GB of RAM and dont get the latest processors. I also get that I wont have the latest refresh and screen updates. Still, seems like a decent ipad and worthy update. Of course, the 12.9" is probably the better buy since they are close to the same price used/refurbed and the 12.9" has 4GB of RAM and more storage too. Obviously Im trying to make this as financially painless as possible . Love to get a new 10.5" but not for close to $900+ with LTE.

I know that the Air2 is a contender but I never cared for the screen vibratins of that model so its out of the running for me. Thanks for any feedback.

I have both. Upgraded to them from the Air 1. They run circles around the Air 1 (just that extra gig of RAM in the 9.7" pro makes a world of difference). I do like the color on the 9.7" better, but often prefer the larger screen of the 12.9".

 

[Fishels]

I don't mean to overthrow the thread but as an Air 2 owner what would be the best upgrade for me? I can't stand the regular IPad they have. And the 12.9 is out of the question.

Would a 10.5 pro be a significant upgrade or should I wait? Air 2 is still going pretty strong but I can tell she's loosing a little life .

 

[pika2000]

I would check out the 2017 iPad. It can support all the multi-tasking features of iOS11.

I wouldn't get the 9.7" Pro unless you must have Apple Pencil support and you cannot buy the 10.5.
The 12.9 iPad is a different beast since it's larger.

 

[rumz]

I don't mean to overthrow the thread but as an Air 2 owner what would be the best upgrade for me? I can't stand the regular IPad they have. And the 12.9 is out of the question.

Would a 10.5 pro be a significant upgrade or should I wait? Air 2 is still going pretty strong but I can tell she's loosing a little life .

Maybe wait till iOS 11 comes out and then see how your Air 2 runs. And if there's an Apple store in relative proximity to where you live, maybe go check out the 10.5 for a bit. They're definitely sweet, but as to whether the upgrade is enough to justify the $$ will be up to you.

 

[gobikerider]

I don't mean to overthrow the thread but as an Air 2 owner what would be the best upgrade for me? I can't stand the regular IPad they have. And the 12.9 is out of the question.

Would a 10.5 pro be a significant upgrade or should I wait? Air 2 is still going pretty strong but I can tell she's loosing a little life .

The Air 2 is still perfectly awesome, yah a 10.5 would be a nice upgrade but at this point your better off to wait till the next iPad Pro's next June.

 

[s2mikey]

Again - more thanks to the replies. Ive got some thinking to do. I could try to get a decent $buck for my Air1 on the used market but I cant imagine it fetching that much.

I need to go and play with the 12.9" again at my local store. First time I felt it was quite a bit too large an unwieldy but IMO it deserves a second try-out. Im just very used to the 9.7" size so natutally anything larger will feel, well, large! My sticking point is the RAM which the 9.7" pro only gets 2GB. The first gen 12.9" still gets 4GB which is great for future-proofiing. Its a major thing.