All iPads iPad Pro Gen 4 vs gen 5 or iPad gen 10 vs iPad Pro gen 4?

[Kaelbron]

Hi, I'm interested in supplementing my MacBook Pro with an iPad Pro 12.9. Have been offered an iPad pro 12.9 gen 4,512 Gb with esim for about the equivalent of 608 dollars from a marketplace near where I live.

Checking that I can get an iPad pro 12.9 gen 5 with 256 gb wifi for 187 dollars more via a site that refurbishes and sells used mobiles and electronics. I have understood that with gen 5 you get the m-processor, however, it has the same amount of cores as the processor in gen 4. Does this make a big difference? However, you get 2gb more ram in gen5.

How much more future-proof would you guess an iPad gen 5 is compared to gen 4? I want to use it for sidecar, Remote Desktop, reading, working with pdfs and documents etc.

Another question I'm thinking about is that my mother is very interested in the iPad partly for fun, reading, MS teams/videomeeting, taking notes and as a complement to her computer. She has a budget of around 650 usd and has noticed that she can get a brand new iPad gen 10 10.9" 256 Gb for that price.

How long can we expect how future-proof that iPad will be? Can she count on several years? I Thinking if it wouldn't be a better idea for my mum to put it on the same iPad gen 4 that I've been offered instead of the iPad 10 in case I choose the iPad Pro gen 5? She won't get the m-processor no matter what she chooses. Of course, 12.9 is from early 2021, however, she gets a slightly larger screen around almost 2 inch She gets more processor cores and more ram memory in the Pro model.

 

[locksmack]

I have understood that with gen 5 you get the m-processor, however, it has the same amount of cores as the processor in gen 4. Does this make a big difference? However, you get 2gb more ram in gen5.

The performance difference between the A12Z and the M1 is pretty vast. I wouldn't be considering anything below an M1 myself. The A12Z is almost the same processor that was in the 2018 iPad (A12X). Support for the M1 should be much longer, plus it gets Apple Intelligence.

 

[Kaelbron]

The performance difference between the A12Z and the M1 is pretty vast. I wouldn't be considering anything below an M1 myself. The A12Z is almost the same processor that was in the 2018 iPad (A12X). Support for the M1 should be much longer, plus it gets Apple Intelligence.

It's leaning more and more towards if I'm going to treat myself with an iPad, it will be gen 5 even I get less storage space and only wifi. I usually have wifi where I am, so it's not a dealbreaker, however, I want it to be supported and last as long as possible and have more performance.

The question is whether to buy gen 4 for my mother or or whether she should buy the iPad 10.

 

[Reverend Benny]

It's leaning more and more towards if I'm going to treat myself with an iPad, it will be gen 5 even I get less storage space and only wifi. I usually have wifi where I am, so it's not a dealbreaker, however, I want it to be supported and last as long as possible and have more performance.

The question is whether to buy gen 4 for my mother or or whether she should buy the iPad 10.

Don't know what your mum is using the iPad for but if it would have been my parents that's mostly using if for browsing and wanting to keep the devices for ages I would have gone for the 10.
But, FaceID is a very nice feature to have and also the larger screen.

The 10 will most likely have a longer support than the Ipad pro gen 4

 

[Kaelbron]

Don't know what your mum is using the iPad for but if it would have been my parents that's mostly using if for browsing and wanting to keep the devices for ages I would have gone for the 10.
But, FaceID is a very nice feature to have and also the larger screen.

The 10 will most likely have a longer support than the Ipad pro gen 4

Mom comes mostly partly for the one I wrote mostly partly for MS teams/zoom meeting, reading, surfing and some simpler ios games as well as streaming as entertainment when she goes away and doesn't have access to television.

Thank you, then it feels like the ipad 10 is not such a stupid choice even though it has no m-chip.

 

[Aka757]

Mom comes mostly partly for the one I wrote mostly partly for MS teams/zoom meeting, reading, surfing and some simpler ios games as well as streaming as entertainment when she goes away and doesn't have access to television.

Thank you, then it feels like the ipad 10 is not such a stupid choice even though it has no m-chip.

The 5th gen iPad Pro is a great choice for you, especially if it's only about $200 more than the A12Z version. The M1 supports Apple Intelligence; while it's not clear how much of a difference this will make day-to-day, it's better to not get something that doesn't support a brand new feature out of the box.

For your mom, the iPad 10th gen is perfect. That's precisely what the base model iPad is made for; for those that just want a tablet to do basic tablet things. However, if her budget is around $650, she can easily get a decent iPad Pro used. My thought is that if she needs to get upgraded storage, then the value proposition for the iPad 10th gen drops significantly. A good choice for her would be the A12Z iPad Pro you initially spotted. She certainly doesn't need the extra power, but if she's going to be spending around that much anyway, the iPad Pro is going to offer a much better experience (better and larger screen, high refresh rate, etc.).