iPad Pro iPad Pro M2 vs M4 - which one to buy in 2024?

[Pepsi123]

I'm really tempted to buy the new Ipad Pro M4 11", but it's super expensive. I've been thinking about whether I should buy an Ipad Pro M2 instead. Can save approx. NOK 3,500. But, does anyone have an M4 and can say it's worth the money?
I'm not a heavy user, but like to know it's future-proof. Could get by just fine with a 10th gen also, but as I said face ID is a must.
Any good advice out there? 🤔

 

[Isengardtom]

It is for me but I came from an M1, 12.9 inch to an M4 13”. The selling points for me were the OLED screen, the lighter weight and the fact that due to daily using it for 3 years, the battery life was not as great anymore

with the 11” the weight difference between M2 and M4 is negligible. But the screen is definitely a big step us as the M2 11” is normal LCD and not Mini LED.

Performance wise the M2 is going to be doing great with the current apps in the store and the iPadOS 18 changes coming. Definitely still overkill if you say you could get by with an A chip iPad10


I think it comes down to the screen. Do you feel you need the OLED, it’s going to have to be M4. If not M2 feels like a better choice.

maybe see if you can compare them in a store or something.

 

[ericwn]

Only you can determine if the value proposition is right for you. Please evaluate both devices with your own eyes. Personally, I like to get the best display available at the screen size I want which would make the decision easy here, but that’s just me.

 

[lazy_desi_]

oled screen is worth the $.

 

[John981]

I'm looking into buying a new 120 Hz iPad Pro and I've been wondering the same. Comparing best offers on both the cheapest M2 and M4 iPad Pros with their respective Pencils there's at least a 300€ difference between them (where I'd be buying).

From my understanding of Apple's comparison site, you gain and lose the following with the newer M4 iPad Pro:

+ 128 GB extra storage
+ Newer M4 processor
+ OLED screen
+ squeezable pencil

- Ultra-wide lense
- one microphone
- option for nano-SIM on the Cellular model (eSIM only)

Realistically for me, none of the new features are really must-haves and since I write on it a lot (with a white/-ish background), I'm not even sure the OLED display will be as well-suited to my use case as the LCD model. I'd worry about having it on my table displaying a white background while notetaking a lot.

If you really value having an OLED display or are an artist that uses the Pencil to its limits, then I guess you can make a case for it. Rationally speaking I think the M2 iPad Pro is probably the better deal.

 

[Arcontia]

One thing not yet mentioned, the new M4 iPad Pros, the speakers are definitely a downgrade - not as loud, less bass, less immersive sounding overall.

Consider if this is important to you as well, I was shocked coming from my old launch day 2020 Pro how much ‘worse’ the new Pros speakers are - which undoubtedly has everything to do with the thinner chassis

 

[Jackbequickly]

I'm really tempted to buy the new Ipad Pro M4 11", but it's super expensive. I've been thinking about whether I should buy an Ipad Pro M2 instead. Can save approx. NOK 3,500. But, does anyone have an M4 and can say it's worth the money?
I'm not a heavy user, but like to know it's future-proof. Could get by just fine with a 10th gen also, but as I said face ID is a must.
Any good advice out there? 🤔

You will get a hundred opinions here! It is really up to YOU and how much money you want to spend! Both the M2 an the M4 do the same thing!

 

[FreakinEurekan]

I'm really tempted to buy the new Ipad Pro M4 11", but it's super expensive. I've been thinking about whether I should buy an Ipad Pro M2 instead. Can save approx. NOK 3,500. But, does anyone have an M4 and can say it's worth the money?
I'm not a heavy user, but like to know it's future-proof. Could get by just fine with a 10th gen also, but as I said face ID is a must.
Any good advice out there? 🤔

Ask any 3 people on MacRumors, you’ll get 4 opinions.

If you can get an Apple refurb (full warranty) M2 would be a good deal, IMO

 

[Pezimak]

As an M1 11” iPad Pro user, I’d say get the new M4, it is expensive, but it has 256GB Ram which I can tell you, after installing some of the latest games would be very welcome, and it has that stunning OLED screen which I’ve seen in person and it sold me as it’s a massive upgrade over LCD. But go and look at them yourself if you can as others have said, use your own eyes. It’s like with OLED TV’s some people will prefer one make over another despite both being OLED. Everyone’s different.

Personally I plan on upgrading to the new OLED iPad at some point.

One thing I will say is the M chip is amazing, my M1 is still fast and snappy, runs anything in the app store and will run all the new features in iPad OS 18. And the battery life is still pretty good and I use it everyday. I may get the 13” next time though but I’ll see when the time comes.

 

[teohyc]

I'm really tempted to buy the new Ipad Pro M4 11", but it's super expensive. I've been thinking about whether I should buy an Ipad Pro M2 instead. Can save approx. NOK 3,500. But, does anyone have an M4 and can say it's worth the money?
I'm not a heavy user, but like to know it's future-proof. Could get by just fine with a 10th gen also, but as I said face ID is a must.
Any good advice out there? 🤔

There are just two main limitations for the M2 vs M4.

M4 has visibily better outdoor legibility/contrast due to the 1000 nits brightness. So if you use the tablet indoors often, M2 is good enough.

M4 supports Apple Pencil Pro with the extra features. And if you don't need those features, then M2 is good enough.

 

[nburwell]

If the OP has the cash, go with the M4. I still have my M2, and as much as I love OLED, my M2 still is superb and fits my needs and uses.

 

[Jimmdean]

I'm really tempted to buy the new Ipad Pro M4 11", but it's super expensive. I've been thinking about whether I should buy an Ipad Pro M2 instead. Can save approx. NOK 3,500. But, does anyone have an M4 and can say it's worth the money?
I'm not a heavy user, but like to know it's future-proof. Could get by just fine with a 10th gen also, but as I said face ID is a must.
Any good advice out there? 🤔

if media consumption is on your list of uses at all I would advise against any device without AV1 hardware decode. in this scenario that means splurge on the new m4 ipad.

 

[Jn170169]

One thing not yet mentioned, the new M4 iPad Pros, the speakers are definitely a downgrade - not as loud, less bass, less immersive sounding overall.

Consider if this is important to you as well, I was shocked coming from my old launch day 2020 Pro how much ‘worse’ the new Pros speakers are - which undoubtedly has everything to do with the thinner chassis

Speakers on my M4 11, sound better than my 12.9 pro

 

[Jn170169]

if media consumption is on your list of uses at all I would advise against any device without AV1 hardware decode. in this scenario that means splurge on the new m4 ipad.

Agreed. Battery life is definitely noticable.

 

[alecgold]

Speakers on my M4 11, sound better than my 12.9 pro

More neutral, more balanced indeed.

 

[ericwn]

if media consumption is on your list of uses at all I would advise against any device without AV1 hardware decode. in this scenario that means splurge on the new m4 ipad.

What improvements does that give me in streaming media from the typical services?

 

[ctjack]

What improvements does that give me in streaming media from the typical services?

As of currently i think the youtube does AV1 conversion of most popular videos and netflix has it.

What it gives? AV1 is a codec or in another words a dictionary on how to read a video file. If one has a decoding dictionary (decoding hardware) then CPU/GPU works 1-3% and hacks through it because it has a dictionary for lookups.

If the device doesn't have a dictionary (AV1 decoder) then CPU and GPU is used at 15-20% or 65% to play the same videos. On windows it would make the fans spin up. So more heat, less productive CPU work and battery exhaustion.

If in the future everything becomes AV1 then hardware without dedicated dictionary will struggle.

There was already the same troubles with youtube 4k60fps (worse with HDR) and youtube's VP9 codec support:

macOS 11 Big Sur Safari YouTube 4K HDR VP9 support

Safari and Webkit New Features in macOS Big Sur 11 beta 4 Support for 4K HDR playback of YouTube videos. (64824895) https://developer.apple.com/documentation/macos-release-notes/macos-big-sur-11-beta-release-notes/ Has anyone tried this? I assume this is available to any Mac that can run Big...

forums.macrumors.com

 

[Zest28]

M4, because the iPad has now switched to a new keyboard and pencil which will support newer iPads in the future also. The M2 iPad Pro keyboard and pencil are end of life now.

But if money is an issue, how about going for an M1 iPad Pro instead? Those must be cheap as hell right now and they will be fast enough for many years to come.

You're not going to notice a performance difference between the M1 iPad Pro vs M2 iPad Pro most likely.

 

[ctjack]

M4, because the iPad has now switched to a new keyboard and pencil which will support newer iPads in the future also. The M2 iPad Pro keyboard and pencil are end of life now.

But if money is an issue, how about going for an M1 iPad Pro instead? Those must be cheap as hell right now and they will be fast enough for many years to come.

You're not going to notice a performance difference between the M1 iPad Pro vs M2 iPad Pro most likely.

With the fresh 8am updates and base iMacs receiving 16GB of Ram on M4 models, I would wait for M5 ipad to get 12GB of base RAM given one doesn't need the device immediately.

 

[ericwn]

As of currently i think the youtube does AV1 conversion of most popular videos and netflix has it.

What it gives? AV1 is a codec or in another words a dictionary on how to read a video file. If one has a decoding dictionary (decoding hardware) then CPU/GPU works 1-3% and hacks through it because it has a dictionary for lookups.

If the device doesn't have a dictionary (AV1 decoder) then CPU and GPU is used at 15-20% or 65% to play the same videos. On windows it would make the fans spin up. So more heat, less productive CPU work and battery exhaustion.

If in the future everything becomes AV1 then hardware without dedicated dictionary will struggle.

There was already the same troubles with youtube 4k60fps (worse with HDR) and youtube's VP9 codec support:

macOS 11 Big Sur Safari YouTube 4K HDR VP9 support

Safari and Webkit New Features in macOS Big Sur 11 beta 4 Support for 4K HDR playback of YouTube videos. (64824895) https://developer.apple.com/documentation/macos-release-notes/macos-big-sur-11-beta-release-notes/ Has anyone tried this? I assume this is available to any Mac that can run Big...

forums.macrumors.com

I mean having 4K on a screen this small is really unnecessary and with traditional HD that issue is non existent so far. But I get, fomo rules.

 

[hovscorpion12]

With the fresh 8am updates and base iMacs receiving 16GB of Ram on M4 models, I would wait for M5 ipad to get 12GB of base RAM given one doesn't need the device immediately.

Yes, but iPadOS is different than MacOS. 8 GB on iPad/iOS is handled very differently. Only way we'll know is if the iPhone 17 Pro ships with 12GB.

 

[ctjack]

Yes, but iPadOS is different than MacOS. 8 GB on iPad/iOS is handled very differently. Only way we'll know is if the iPhone 17 Pro ships with 12GB.

That would be not a benchmark because iphones don't have 16GB of ram in 1TB storage, also M4 desktop level chips are not in the iphones. I bet it will get 12GB whether that is useful or not, probably will be sold at the same price more or less. Why get less if can get more if not urgent?

I mean having 4K on a screen this small is really unnecessary and with traditional HD that issue is non existent so far. But I get, fomo rules.

I also don't know 4k application besides the TV. Not like ipad pro or mini users are going to drive at least 27" 4k screens on 4k youtube all day and night.