Ipad pro only for drawing: refurbished 1st generation, or new?

[Mister X]

Okay, I am going to give the Ipad Pro a second chance.
I did purchase an Ipad Pro over the summer, and while I loved drawing on it (hands down my best experience drawing on a tablet) I returned it after a few days. To make things short: way too expensive for my use, not a good laptop replacement and a few other things that still to this day might be a nuisance (file transfers when having a slow internet connection). You can have a better idea of my opinion in here.

Still, now iOS11 is out, I'm in the US so the price is lower than in Europe, so I am going to give it a second chance (also because I get more and more frustrated drawing on a cintiq). But now I am really hesitating between a first generation refurbished from Apple (I don't think I would buy refurbished elsewhere) or the 2017 version simply to save some money: I had to fix my laptop, so I’ve just been hit by bills I wasn’t expecting.
I did have a look at the "12.9 ipad pro...old vs new" thread but I am still undecided.

Why would I take the 1st gen over the 2nd one? I'm looking at this from a strictly artist/drawing viewpoint.
You see, when I tried the Ipad Pro I wasn’t that mind-blown by the 120hz refresh rate: it looked nice at the beginning, but I pretty much forgot about it after a while.
As for the pencil lag on some drawing apps due to the lower processor power, I barely notice it when I watch videos of the first gen Ipad Pro: it will still be better than my current cintiq. And since I don’t think I will be using it for anything else other than a light portable drawing tablet, I don’t see the point on paying some extra $250: 32gb will be more than enough for me.
Right now, a refurbished 1st gen and apple pencil from apple would cost me $714.44, which is already a bit expensive for me, knowing what use I will be doing of it.

My main goal is only to draw on it, and I’m not even professional (yet...maybe one day I’ll be). If little by little I discover other uses for the Ipad Pro, then great, but in the meantime I'll continue using my laptop.
And maybe in two years or so, when it will be time to change, apple will have released a 14 or 15 inches “Ipad Pro Cintiq Destroyer” (yes, I’m one of those who dreams of a bigger canvas!) with a huge update to iOS.

I don't know if any artist who uses the Ipad Pro will read this, but if that's the case and you still use the first generation of Ipad Pro, how are the drawing softwares and iOS11 running on it? How about multitasking: procreate, plus some reference from google or another app on the side?
Do you feel like the device is being pushed to its limits? Do you feel like you need to upgrade, or are you still fine with it?
And to those of you who are using a second generation, do you feel like the device has some features that are almost mandatory for current drawing apps, to the point you couldn’t go back to a first generation Ipad Pro? Or are the Ipad Pro 2017 new features simply "icing on the cake" compared with the first gen?

I would just want to have your input before I order it...I'm also hesitant on waiting for Black Friday, and see if there are any special deals on the 2017 version.

Thanks.

 

[s2mikey]

With your use case I suspect the first gen device will be fine. But.... it’s so close to Black Friday and cyber Monday that you may as well give it another couple weeks just to see what develops. Of course, if you were to purchase now at a reputable store you’d have a return policy and or price matching too if the price dropped or a better deal came along. Something to consider.

I’m also itching to upgrade but I think I’m going to hold tight for just a few weeks here. It’ll seem like months.....right? .

I probably didn’t help but that’s my 3 cents.

 

[Mister X]

Thanks for the reply! Yeah, it's just three weeks, that's why I'd rather wait. I'm just afraid that in the meantime the refurbished ones on apple's website will be gone.
What kind of store would propose good deals and still have a good return policy? All I can think of is Best Buy (I normally directly buy from the constructor).

 

[s2mikey]

Thanks for the reply! Yeah, it's just three weeks, that's why I'd rather wait. I'm just afraid that in the meantime the refurbished ones on apple's website will be gone.
What kind of store would propose good deals and still have a good return policy? All I can think of is Best Buy (I normally directly buy from the constructor).

Amazon and probably Staples, Target, those kinds of places should be reasonable about returns when you keep everything and the item is in like-new condition. As for stock for the first gen 12.9 pros at Appes site, I wouldnt worry. They're always getting more back for various reasons. I bet there will be stock for these pretty much for a good while. With the Holidays coming I suspect there will more trade ins, etc, to keep more in rotation. You'll be fine

 

[Brammy]

You will have to try it out in the store, but the 120 refresh should speed up the pencil. I have seen reports from artists that it is noticeable.

It's also likely hard to show off in a video.

That said, I've never really sworn at my 1st gen Pro when drawing.

 

[Gav2k]

When it comes to pencil use I can honestly say it’s night and day between the 1/2 gen. everything else not so much.

 

[Precursor]

I'd also suggest searching on Youtube, there are some great reviews by artists (who used to use Wacom) comparing the 1st and 2nd gen iPP.

 

[Mister X]

Thanks for the replies. To my surprise, Clip Studio Paint is now available for Ipads...So I think I will go for the second gen if the reviews for the app are good: I easily use Clip Studio Paint as much as Photoshop!

 

[DaniJoy]

save your money and get a gen 1. i upgraded to a pro 2 and regret it. total waist of money. i ended up selling mine and getting the samsung galaxy book with wacom pen. its light years better for my needs and the pen is the new wacom EMR so its significantly better feeling and performing than the apple pencil.

keep in mind the ipad is extremely limited as a tablet pc. if all you want to do is draw and paint, its great. but if you do other things you will want a more powerful computer or tablet computer.

there is no fundamental difference in the drawing experience in the between the two gen one and two ipad pro for drawing/painting. you can notice promotion using the tablet, but it does not make a difference on real world drawing performance or feel.

apple pencil is still gen 1 with all the problems and its always dead stupid charging design, slick glass feel and poor feel. its been eclipsed by the new gen wacom pens and windows tablets.

most artist are not tech savvy and cannot afford to try all the different systems. its a natural human tendency to form bias around devices you purchase. Lisa on mobile tech review is a good person to watch on youtube. so is brad colbro.

tabletpcforums are another excellent source to get info from tablet users with decades of experience and most are multi device users like me. the info you will get from most people on youtube or here is mostly just cr*p.

anyone who compares a mobile studio pro to a ipad pro and concludes a ipad is better is just confused. they are totally different machines for totally different users.

Im personally saving up for the Acer switch 7 black edition. this will be far superior to any ipad pro released for the next year or two. only drawback is the battery life might be slighly less than a ipad pro, and some people cant figure out windows touch commands or how to setup pro software to run via touch. the advantage of the ipad is the apps are already simplifed for non power users so there is more universal appeal. really though, the only software worth a darn on the ipad i use is procreate. it has fantastic performance. but, i can only do 15% of my workflow on that software. necessitating another pc.........

i have many other friends who are professional artists and have jumped the apple ship until we get better apps, real OS and a better pencil design.
[doublepost=1510249927][/doublepost]performance has degraded with ios 11 in procreate. i now experience lag just like photoshop. i think it will be fixed soon.
multitasking is not as good IMO on the iOS 11 vs a windows tablet with touch. the files app is still just a glorified cloud, nothing new. the only way i have found to plug the ipad in and download files is to use itunes, witch really sucks and is slow and buggy on my high powered windows workstation.

the ipad has limits, like only 4gb of ram. this means you can only print about a poster sized canvas, bigger than that you will start to see image degradation. no system wide ICC profiles means no color calibrated workflow. you still need another PC and calibrated monitor if you work with clients who expect perfect color. no floating cursor means less accuracy than a pen with one. its a snappy very well optimized tablet, but real world performance does not match the strangely fast benchmarks. I personally found the 12.9 to small for professional needs. i draw all day every day and want a big device. ipad pro is only the size of a small sketchbook. not great for working all day on.

cintiq killer? lol. while you dream of large drawing tablets i use daily a 27" touch screen tablet and a 16" tablet on the go, all with better drawing performance than the ipad pro 12.9 2. we are getting a 32" cintiq with pro pen 2 in a few months. pro pen 2 destroys any other stylus to date. sure old school cintiq EMR was bested for most users by the apple pencil. but thats the old equipment. like i said, most people have not used all the available new Wacom EMR devices.

plus, wacom has tilt AND rotation. its hard to go back to digital painting styles without rotation. you realize how generic software is without that pen tech. a huge crutch of digital art, IMO, is the the homogenizing effects of the software. it all looks the same. thats cool if you do illustration for comics or do commercial art, but not great if you are a artist looking new modes of expression.

 

[Mister X]

Hey Dani, thank you for sharing your opinion as an artist. I am still going to wait to see if there are any special BF sales on the Ipad Pad Pro 2. Clip Studio Paint has just been released for iOS, and it's been one of my favorite programs for years: I will definitely try it, and I am afraid the first Ipad Pro might lack a bit of power to run it properly.

I had really hesitated about taking a tablet PC running windows for months. My main problems are:
1) It's beyond my budget.
2) Once it gets old, well, it gets old. You can't plug it on a PC like a regular cintiq and continue using it for some years.
I really hope Astropad will be available for windows or, better, Wacom would release way thinner and lighter mobile studios (without skyrocketing the price).

 

[DNichter]

10.5