iPad Pro iPad Pro (2018) connection to Mac

[smemma]

I have a 2017 27" iMac that I connect my 2018 iPad Pro to, currently just using a USB C cable. With the iMac only having 2 USB C (TB3) ports, they're at a premium, so I was wondering - will I notice a difference in connection performance if I instead connect it to a Mac using a USB C to USB 3.1 cable?

I use the iPad Pro as an additional screen using Duet (and will use Sidecar when it's released) so I need performance to be decent...

 

[ericwn]

I think connection performance is roughly the same, charging is probably quicker over USB-C.

 

[AutomaticApple]

I have a 2017 27" iMac that I connect my 2018 iPad Pro to, currently just using a USB C cable. With the iMac only having 2 USB C (TB3) ports, they're at a premium, so I was wondering - will I notice a difference in connection performance if I instead connect it to a Mac using a USB C to USB 3.1 cable?

I use the iPad Pro as an additional screen using Duet (and will use Sidecar when it's released) so I need performance to be decent...

I don’t think there’s any difference.

 

[loybond]

If I'm not mistaken, theoretically the USB-A to USB-C cable using USB 3.0 (as I think the USB-A ports are 3.0 on the iMac) maxes out at 5 Gbps, or 625 MB/s. I think the current spec of USB-C cables maxes out at 10 Gbps or 1250 MB/s.

For something like a hard drive, this does matter. I'm able to get 950+ MB/s read/write speeds from an NVMe drive connected with USB-C. It may not matter as much for Sidecar performance, given that it also works well wirelessly with much less bandwidth available.

 

[smemma]

Cheers all, really helpful!