Thanks! Yeah, I guess with multitasking I was thinking of the split screen, with two "beefy" apps such as maybe an Adobe app and something else trying to run at once- but your point makes sense, this isn't going to be as much of a "thing" as it would be on a desktop.
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iPad Pro iPad Pro 2018 - still worth it in 2022/3?
- Thread starter BanjoDudeAhoy
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Hello everyone,
I started a thread with a similar subject just yesterday, didn't find this one when I searched.
I’ve also been looking at a 12.9-inch iPad Pro, and considering both the 3rd generation (2018) and the 4th generation (2020) models. The 4th gen has 6GB of memory. I’ve wondered if the additional memory means no excessive reloads and, now, no app reloading in Stage Manager also.
I would mainly be viewing three ou four PDF documents (about 60 pages each) with PDF Viewer and working on Swift Playgrounds. Stage Manager will be useful to me sometimes, maybe with Swift Playgrounds, Safari and Music simultaneously, for example. I will probably be using either Affinity Designer or Photoshop in the future, so I’m interested in knowing how they do with some more demanding apps.
How frequently does the 3rd gen reload apps and Safari tabs? Does it reload apps when using Stage Manager too?
Is the 4th gen’s performance improved in these situations, thanks to the 6GB of memory?
I would appreciate it a lot if someone who has had experience with one of these (or both) could share their thoughts.
Thanks in advance.
I started a thread with a similar subject just yesterday, didn't find this one when I searched.
I’ve also been looking at a 12.9-inch iPad Pro, and considering both the 3rd generation (2018) and the 4th generation (2020) models. The 4th gen has 6GB of memory. I’ve wondered if the additional memory means no excessive reloads and, now, no app reloading in Stage Manager also.
I would mainly be viewing three ou four PDF documents (about 60 pages each) with PDF Viewer and working on Swift Playgrounds. Stage Manager will be useful to me sometimes, maybe with Swift Playgrounds, Safari and Music simultaneously, for example. I will probably be using either Affinity Designer or Photoshop in the future, so I’m interested in knowing how they do with some more demanding apps.
How frequently does the 3rd gen reload apps and Safari tabs? Does it reload apps when using Stage Manager too?
Is the 4th gen’s performance improved in these situations, thanks to the 6GB of memory?
I would appreciate it a lot if someone who has had experience with one of these (or both) could share their thoughts.
Thanks in advance.
I don't know for devices with 8GB of RAM (both my M1 and M2 devices have 16GB), but for iPhone and iPad with 6GB or less RAM have frequent tabs and app reload if you use more than 2-3 apps or tabs. The M1 iPad never reloads anything, that's why it's so amazing and I can't wait to have an iPhone with at least 8GB of RAM because of this.
I still have my 2018 11" iPad Pro (256gb / 4gb ram) and it still runs great. I use it primarily as a web-browsing / media-consumption device, so CPU/GPU performance wise I have zero issues. The RAM does lead to more app-reloading (I see this the most in Safari with tabs-reloading when I have multiple open) but for me, this is a small issue.
Given the form factor and screen are the same as the most recent 2022 M2 iPP (for the 11"), I think picking one up today at a big discount would be really good value if your use case doesn't push CPU/GPU/RAM.
Given the form factor and screen are the same as the most recent 2022 M2 iPP (for the 11"), I think picking one up today at a big discount would be really good value if your use case doesn't push CPU/GPU/RAM.
We have both 12.9 and 11 2018 pros. With light to medium use it’s fine. We don’t edit videos or anything. He’ll even the m1 iPads are not even pushed by the os so I bet the iPads will last at least until 2026. Our battery is still pretty good I don’t notice a huge difference.
Depends on how it has been treated by previous owner. It's a 2018 pro so I'd look at what new features recently released are not available for that model and make a decision if that makes it "unusable" for me. For instance, there are features my 2020 cannot do from new update (reserved for M1 and up models) but I don't mind it so to me mine works great with zero issues, but someone else might deem it "unusable" if they cannot have those features.
What do you think about the memory management with your 4th generation's 6GB of RAM?
Does it reload apps and content frequently, using Stage Manager or not?
I honestly have zero issues with my iPad but I don’t have a huge workload on it. I’ve used stage manager but not enough to give you accurate review. Depending on the amount of work you will be doing I don’t see how a 2018 or 2020 iPad Pro wouldn’t be enough. For specifics I’d just compare stats between that and a new one and decide if the extra is worth the extra $ you’ll spend.
I posted the results of a comparison I made here https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...ce-on-ipados-16-in-2022.2373319/post-31800069
Thanks for the replies, everyone 
I now got the iPad - not the exact config I would have liked but it's fine. It's the 64 GB variant (instead of 128) but since I save most of my stuff in the cloud and/or on external drives anyway, AND this not my only device, I'm one of those seemingly rare specimen who can get by with that storage.
I own other iPads as well, and I'm somewhat surprised to see how they all seem to have a pretty distinct use case.
I now got the iPad - not the exact config I would have liked but it's fine. It's the 64 GB variant (instead of 128) but since I save most of my stuff in the cloud and/or on external drives anyway, AND this not my only device, I'm one of those seemingly rare specimen who can get by with that storage.
I own other iPads as well, and I'm somewhat surprised to see how they all seem to have a pretty distinct use case.
Congratulations!! Let us know how you find it!Thanks for the replies, everyone
I now got the iPad - not the exact config I would have liked but it's fine. It's the 64 GB variant (instead of 128) but since I save most of my stuff in the cloud and/or on external drives anyway, AND this not my only device, I'm one of those seemingly rare specimen who can get by with that storage.
I own other iPads as well, and I'm somewhat surprised to see how they all seem to have a pretty distinct use case.
Great! Share your experience with its performance when you have the chance. Does Stage Manager perform well?Thanks for the replies, everyone
I now got the iPad - not the exact config I would have liked but it's fine. It's the 64 GB variant (instead of 128) but since I save most of my stuff in the cloud and/or on external drives anyway, AND this not my only device, I'm one of those seemingly rare specimen who can get by with that storage.
I own other iPads as well, and I'm somewhat surprised to see how they all seem to have a pretty distinct use case.
After a couple of days of using it work both work and personal stuff, I can say it’s great. The battery doesn’t seem to last quite as long as on my M1 iPad Air but take that with a grain of salt as
a) it’s a 4 year old device after all - Coconut Battery says it’s at 91.6% of its original capacity
b) I need Edge/Chrome and Slack for work and I have no idea how optimized they are. Facebook messenger for example I know drained the battery on my old 3rd gen iPad Air.
Apart from the apps mentioned, I used Safari, GoodNotes, Word, Excel, played some Apple Arcade games and did some simple stuff in Affinity Photo. I don’t see a noticeable difference between the 2018 iPad Pro and the M1 iPad Air, tbh.
Regarding Stage Manager, it feels a lot more useable on the bigger screen than on the ~11” iPad Air, that’s for sure. It performed great in my “tests”. Once again, with the same apps as mentioned above. I had Word and GoodNotes in one group together as well.
Personally, I’m still not a huge fan of it, but I can at least see that it’s useful on this screen size.
The camera on the back sucks, though. Then again, if Apple were to offer this camera as an optional update for $200 extra or something, I would opt for the camera-less iPad every time. I just don’t need a camera on the backside on a tablet. Front-facing is a different story, that’s useful, obviously.
I’m a huge fan of iPads in general but to me the 12.9” takes it to a different level again. There are still things I can’t do on an iPad or that I simply prefer doing on a Mac. But the iPad Air already took a good chunk out of my screen time on my MBA and I predict that the 12.9” will just follow that trend.
In the future I would absolutely consider buying a brand new 12.9” Pro and spec’ing it out a bit. I just hope they stick with the current design a while longer because the Magic Keyboard, while great, is just too damn expensive when bought new.
I hope that helps but if you have any other specific questions, I’m happy to have a look