iPad Pro iPad Pro 2018 - still worth it in 2022/3?

[BanjoDudeAhoy]

Hello.
Does anyone here have an iPad Pro 2018? And if so, how happy are you with it in 2022/almost 23?

I may have a chance to get one quite cheaply but if it’s deemed unusable nowadays then I’ll skip it.
I would mainly use it for stuff like GoodNotes, Word (with Magic Keyboard), maybe some GarageBand (although I prefer that on a lap- or desktop), and the odd and fairly simple Procreate project.

Ultimately, I would get it for the size (12.9”) rather than the sheer power.

 

[BugeyeSTI]

Hello.
Does anyone here have an iPad Pro 2018? And if so, how happy are you with it in 2022/almost 23?

I may have a chance to get one quite cheaply but if it’s deemed unusable nowadays then I’ll skip it.
I would mainly use it for stuff like GoodNotes, Word (with Magic Keyboard), maybe some GarageBand (although I prefer that on a lap- or desktop), and the odd and fairly simple Procreate project.

Ultimately, I would get it for the size (12.9”) rather than the sheer power.

It won't be unusable that's for certain. I was using an Air2 up until 2 weeks ago and although slow at times it still worked fine for normal everyday use. A matter of fact, I still use it when I'm charging my new iPad.. I guess it all depends what you'll be using it for in the end.

 

[Applɘ Aꙅylum]

I brought a refurnished 2015 iPad 12.9 at woot.com four months ago at LOW price and man, the estate of the screen really blew my mind after using iPad 9.7 and 10.2 for several years.

You'll be glad you got 2018 iPad Pro 12.9". It's worth it.

 

[hoo-man-b-ing]

I find my 2018 12.9” iPad Pro works quite well for most things, however, it does feel sluggish if I’m building an app in Playgrounds, watching a movie in PIP and have Stage Manager turned on. That’s a pretty extreme scenario so I imagine it would be a good fit for your use case.

The Magic Keyboard is a great accessory and is compatible with the latest M2 based iPad Pro as well, giving you a decent upgrade path. Same goes for the Apple Pencil, though I use mine primarily for navigation and playing Mini Motorways rather than drawing or handwritten notes.

I noticed Apple’s Refurbished store had several discounted 12.9” iPad Pro (2018 or newer) so you a want to double check that the deal you’re getting is as good as what you can pick up from Apple.

Enjoy!

 

[BanjoDudeAhoy]

Thanks, everyone
I was pretty sure it would still be more than suitable but I figured it'd be useful to get some experience reports

The Magic Keyboard is a great accessory and is compatible with the latest M2 based iPad Pro as well, giving you a decent upgrade path. Same goes for the Apple Pencil, though I use mine primarily for navigation and playing Mini Motorways rather than drawing or handwritten notes.

I noticed Apple’s Refurbished store had several discounted 12.9” iPad Pro (2018 or newer) so you a want to double check that the deal you’re getting is as good as what you can pick up from Apple.

Enjoy!

I have the Magic Keyboard for my iPad Air and as marketing-speak and hyperbolic as it may sound, it has actually completely changed how I use the iPad.

As for refurbished, that's absolutely what I would go for but unfortunately, it's not available directly from Apple here

 

[blkjedi954]

Hello.
Does anyone here have an iPad Pro 2018? And if so, how happy are you with it in 2022/almost 23?

I may have a chance to get one quite cheaply but if it’s deemed unusable nowadays then I’ll skip it.
I would mainly use it for stuff like GoodNotes, Word (with Magic Keyboard), maybe some GarageBand (although I prefer that on a lap- or desktop), and the odd and fairly simple Procreate project.

Ultimately, I would get it for the size (12.9”) rather than the sheer power.

It is extraordinarily useful in 2022. The 2018 iPad Pro was overkill. I suggest you re-watch the keynote introduction to the Pro to remind you of how far ahead of its time it was. And for your use case, it is more than capable.

 

[BanjoDudeAhoy]

It is extraordinarily useful in 2022. The 2018 iPad Pro was overkill. I suggest you re-watch the keynote introduction to the Pro to remind you of how far ahead of its time it was. And for your use case, it is more than capable.

Oh, the keynote is a good point, too. I love those

 

[cupcakes2000]

The 2018 is getting long in the tooth, depending on your usage. It doesn’t have enough ram to do many of the more advanced things in apps like Photoshop, for example (the app actually states this when you try to use a particular function). It’s probably fine for a few more years for general iPad stuff - but for more advanced stuff it’s reached its limit for me.

 

[Digitalguy]

I have 3 of them... And they are still amazing devices. For your use case it's actually better that the M1, because it's lighter. I actually still use the 12.9 2018 more than the 12.9 M1 because of that.
Its only drawback is lack of RAM (other than for the 1TB model, which has more RAM and which I have too).
For your use case RAM does not make much difference unless you move frequently among those apps (then you'll have reloads). Speed-wise it's still extremely smooth, much smoother than anything with A8(X), A9(X) or A10(X). I barely notice the speed difference with M1 in normal use (sure you can see it side by side, but it's a bit like going from 1440p to 2160p (4k) on a laptop screen. Sure 4k is sharper but does it really make much difference at that size? they are both very sharp (just like M1 and A12X are still both very smooth other than in some extreme scenarios).

 

[FeliApple]

For your use case, it is extremely competent. It will be fast and perform as well as expected. RAM is 4GB but barring heavy Procreate projects (which even though I don’t use the app, are heavy on RAM, as far as I know), it should handle the rest just fine.

 

[rui no onna]

I have 3 of them... And they are still amazing devices. For your use case it's actually better that the M1, because it's lighter. I actually still use the 12.9 2018 more than the 12.9 M1 because of that.
Its only drawback is lack of RAM (other than for the 1TB model, which has more RAM and which I have too).
For your use case RAM does not make much difference unless you move frequently among those apps (then you'll have reloads). Speed-wise it's still extremely smooth, much smoother than anything with A8(X), A9(X) or A10(X). I barely notice the speed difference with M1 in normal use (sure you can see it side by side, but it's a bit like going from 1440p to 2160p (4k) on a laptop screen. Sure 4k is sharper but does it really make much difference at that size? they are both very sharp (just like M1 and A12X are still both very smooth other than in some extreme scenarios).

Yeah, A12X/Z would’ve been great if it came with 8GB. The 4-6GB RAM was one of the reasons I delayed upgrading from my 2017 iPP. Getting 16GB on the 2021 iPP was a very welcome surprise.

 

[jm31828]

For your use case, it is extremely competent. It will be fast and perform as well as expected. RAM is 4GB but barring heavy Procreate projects (which even though I don’t use the app, are heavy on RAM, as far as I know), it should handle the rest just fine.

But it sounds like the 4gb ram will indeed start holding the device back sooner rather than later even for light to moderate users?

 

[FeliApple]

But it sounds like the 4gb ram will indeed start holding the device back sooner rather than later even for light to moderate users?

It depends on usage patterns, requirements and expectations. Yes, it’s not the absolute ideal for longevity, especially if you update iOS, but the iPad 10th gen has 4GB, too. Apple has to optimise iOS for lower RAM devices, because they keep releasing them. The iPad 9th gen has 3GB. It doesn’t mean that it’s ideal, but I doubt it’ll be absolutely horrible.

 

[keeper]

i’m still using mine and just can’t find a reason to replace it.

 

[AppleMango]

i’m still using mine and just can’t find a reason to replace it.

Same for me!

 

[Shanghaichica]

I suppose it depends on what you use it for. I use mine for web browsing, gaming, colouring, watching videos, social media and music. I have the 2018 ipad pro 11 and it works really well for those things. I have no issues and in terms of speed and fluidity I can’t tell the difference between that and my iPad mini 6.

 

[jm31828]

It depends on usage patterns, requirements and expectations. Yes, it’s not the absolute ideal for longevity, especially if you update iOS, but the iPad 10th gen has 4GB, too. Apple has to optimise iOS for lower RAM devices, because they keep releasing them. The iPad 9th gen has 3GB. It doesn’t mean that it’s ideal, but I doubt it’ll be absolutely horrible.

Great points!
I found a great discount in the 10th gen iPad snd am seriously considering it at $389… light usage, photo editing in pixelmator photo or affinity photo, social media, and email and reading news.

I was only worried about the ram, but in the store it was super fast snd fluid even editing photos- with no difference in performance at all compared to the pro that was next to it.

 

[Digitalguy]

Great points!
I found a great discount in the 10th gen iPad snd am seriously considering it at $389… light usage, photo editing in pixelmator photo or affinity photo, social media, and email and reading news.

I was only worried about the ram, but in the store it was super fast snd fluid even editing photos- with no difference in performance at all compared to the pro that was next to it.

RAM does not affect performance on iPad, even with 3GB, it mainly affects the number of reloads (and somes times can create some crashes).

 

[jm31828]

RAM does not affect performance on iPad, even with 3GB, it mainly affects the number of reloads (and somes times can create some crashes).

On the crashes- mostly when multitasking, I assume?

 

[Digitalguy]

On the crashes- mostly when multitasking, I assume?

Yes, I have never had any to be honest, I only have had crashes with 2GB RAM devices, but some here have reported (rare) crashes with heavy multitasking (maybe because of stage manager, but I don't use it)

 

[SoYoung]

It won't be unusable that's for certain. I was using an Air2 up until 2 weeks ago and although slow at times it still worked fine for normal everyday use. A matter of fact, I still use it when I'm charging my new iPad.. I guess it all depends what you'll be using it for in the end.

Wow! I also have an Air 2 and I found this device to be almost unusable except if all you doing is light web browsing or watching youtube video. All other tasks will heat up mu Air 2 with good lag and extremely slow loading times. In fact, everything is slow and painful on this device, for me at least.

On the other hand, the 2018 iPad pro is still a very good tablet. The screen is exactly the same for the 11' one as well. The only "downside" is the 4GB of RAM so if you can have the 1TB version that comes with 6GB of RAM, it's basically like having a 2020 iPad Pro. I still use my 11' 2018 one a lot alongside my M1 one and yes, I can see the performance is better on my M1, especially for ram management, but other than that, the experience is extremely similar for everyday and light tasks.

 

[BugeyeSTI]

Wow! I also have an Air 2 and I found this device to be almost unusable except if all you doing is light web browsing or watching youtube video. All other tasks will heat up mu Air 2 with good lag and extremely slow loading times. In fact, everything is slow and painful on this device, for me at least.

On the other hand, the 2018 iPad pro is still a very good tablet. The screen is exactly the same for the 11' one as well. The only "downside" is the 4GB of RAM so if you can have the 1TB version that comes with 6GB of RAM, it's basically like having a 2020 iPad Pro. I still use my 11' 2018 one a lot alongside my M1 one and yes, I can see the performance is better on my M1, especially for ram management, but other than that, the experience is extremely similar for everyday and light tasks.

Well my Air2 is running 14.8.1 so it actually does pretty good as far as performance goes. I didn't think updating to iOS15 was necessary as I really prefer the layout and interface of ios14 when compared to the changes made to the iPad on iOS15. Also the hit on the already worn battery that iOS15 would of brought didn't interest me either

 

[Digitalguy]

Wow! I also have an Air 2 and I found this device to be almost unusable except if all you doing is light web browsing or watching youtube video. All other tasks will heat up mu Air 2 with good lag and extremely slow loading times. In fact, everything is slow and painful on this device, for me at least.

On the other hand, the 2018 iPad pro is still a very good tablet. The screen is exactly the same for the 11' one as well. The only "downside" is the 4GB of RAM so if you can have the 1TB version that comes with 6GB of RAM, it's basically like having a 2020 iPad Pro. I still use my 11' 2018 one a lot alongside my M1 one and yes, I can see the performance is better on my M1, especially for ram management, but other than that, the experience is extremely similar for everyday and light tasks.

Very similar experience. The air 2 felt slow already on IOS 12 when you also had the 9.7 pro... (I call this the "spoil effect", a faster device spoils you and you find you older one too slow... 15 years ago nobody complained about HDDs, now with SSDs, HDDs feel unbearably slow).
I sold it in 2019 because of that. The 10.5 was quite a bit snappier than the 9.7 pro but it didn't manage to spoil me.
What did spoil me was the 2018 pro, that one was so smooth that the first gen pro started too feel laggy (lack of RAM didn't help).
And it still does. The M1 had definitely not managed to spoil me in the slightest, the only real advantage is RAM, in terms of speed the experience is very similar. It's like moving from a SATA III SSD to a PCIe one. Makes little difference other than for very large files, in daily use you barely notice the difference.

 

[jm31828]

Very similar experience. The air 2 felt slow already on IOS 12 when you also had the 9.7 pro... (I call this the "spoil effect", a faster device spoils you and you find you older one too slow... 15 years ago nobody complained about HDDs, now with SSDs, HDDs feel unbearably slow).
I sold it in 2019 because of that. The 10.5 was quite a bit snappier than the 9.7 pro but it didn't manage to spoil me.
What did spoil me was the 2018 pro, that one was so smooth that the first gen pro started too feel laggy (lack of RAM didn't help).
And it still does. The M1 had definitely not managed to spoil me in the slightest, the only real advantage is RAM, in terms of speed the experience is very similar. It's like moving from a SATA III SSD to a PCIe one. Makes little difference other than for very large files, in daily use you barely notice the difference.

Just curious, in what circumstances are you noticing the RAM difference- only when heavy multitasking?

 

[Digitalguy]

Just curious, in what circumstances are you noticing the RAM difference- only when heavy multitasking?

No, only when having tabs open in Safari (they reload on 3-4GB RAM device pretty often, not so much on devices with more RAM). Most typical example when it's annoying is youtube (I don't use the youtube app, because Safari allows me to watch youtube ad-free for free). Open videos stay open where I left them on M1 most of the time.
Also what is heavy multitasking on an iPad? An iPad for the most part cannot run backgrond apps like desktops, and I don't use split screen because it's cramped, let alone Stage Manager, which is pretty bad at this stage.
So my only "heavy" multitasking is moving from app to app and from tab to tab. And that's where at some point things start to reload... That's the only difference.
But other than that the 2018 is virtually just as smooth and is actually lighter, so more pleasant to hold.