iPad Ipad standard vs Pro. educate me!

[L T]

Does your current iPad do what you need it to do well?
Is it a joy to use or are their quirks that annoy you? Of course those quirks could be universal to iPad

The iPad Pro will give you:
- a slightly larger, better screen (I've turned promotion off on my MacBook, didn't notice the lack of it on the mini and couldn't tell you if my iPhone has it)
- better speakers
- the option for more storage
- More options with the USB C port
- better performance (likely unnoticed with your use case)

The regular iPad is the right iPad for most people, I've gone iPad Pro 11 - iPad mini 6 - iPad 9th Gen within 3 months and honestly it's the 9th Gen I'm most excited about. For the tasks you list the basic iPad is perfect and I don't see how a Pro would give you an advantage, except maybe the flexibility of the USB C port for large file transfers.

On a personal note, I love the classic iPad design as opposed to the Pro design. I've had 12.9 and 11 Pro and Mini 6. On the Pros your thumb covers the Face ID sensor and on the mini the touch ID home button is awkward to access. Whereas the classic iPad design your thumb just sits on that home button ready to go. Plus I still love the screen being squared off and not rounded.

 

[adib]

I currently have a 8th Gen iPad that I use daily for note taking, email correspondence, spreadsheets, word documents, and the occasional internet surfing. I am going to be purchasing a new unit so my kids can use the current model at home. I am trying to see what real advantage I would receive to upgrade to the 11" pro version.

Thank you for all your inputs.

For “note taking, email, and Word documents” consider the iPad Mini. Pair it with a bluetooth keyboard case and Apple pencil and it becomes a mini-laptop ready for mobile writing and note taking.

But for handling megabytes of Excel spreadsheets, nothing can compare to a good Windows workstation. But that too can be solved with a virtual machine on AWS or its competitor (and simply use the iPad Mini to access it).

 

[Chaparral02]

I am trying to see what real advantage I would receive to upgrade to the 11" pro version.

Thank you for all your inputs.

Am very glad i paid the extra for the pro

It better for even things i would never thought of when choosing which Ipad to get. like today i was using my Pro as a radio & music player in the kitchen while making dinner and of cause the pro has the better speakers & sound

 

[scupking]

Am very glad i paid the extra for the pro

It better for even things i would never thought of when choosing which Ipad to get. like today i was using my Pro as a radio & music player in the kitchen while making dinner and of cause the pro has the better speakers & sound

Agree that the speakers are probably the biggest noticeable difference. Maybe they will add stereo speakers to the iPad 10th gen.

 

[Bodhitree]

It’s undeniable that the pro’s have lots of nice extras, but the base iPad does everything pretty well. If you have a lot of other things to spend money on, why pay the extra? On the other hand, if you feel like giving yourself a really nice present and you have the cash, why deny yourself the pleasure of really good technology?

 

[mikiee]

When people mention "performance" of the Pro over the base model, what do they mean. I have an iPad 8. Is there a quick test or web site that would show me that mine is lacking? I'm talking about processor speed, not so much the pencil experience between the two, or better screen.

 

[1BadManVan]

When people mention "performance" of the Pro over the base model, what do they mean. I have an iPad 8. Is there a quick test or web site that would show me that mine is lacking? I'm talking about processor speed, not so much the pencil experience between the two, or better screen.

Geekbench 5 is a quick test to give you some numbers. But overall fluidity on the pros is just that much smoother. Between the high refresh screen, lots more ram and a 3.2ghz cpu. It’s just overall snappier going between apps, loading them and overall usage.

If you don’t compare them side by side or switch between them, you probably won’t notice a huge difference. 8th gen iPads aren’t exactly slow and outdated.

 

[IowaLynn]

For me with trade in and looking at specs the 11” Pro was worth extra $200. The M1 and RAM plus I needed 128GB but other models I looked at were either 64 or 256GB storage. The 12.9” is nice but heavy and out of my price.

 

[SkiHound2]

When people mention "performance" of the Pro over the base model, what do they mean. I have an iPad 8. Is there a quick test or web site that would show me that mine is lacking? I'm talking about processor speed, not so much the pencil experience between the two, or better screen.

I wouldn't worry about it unless something feels slow or sluggish. The M1 in the current iPad Pros are VERY POWERFUL. It runs a lot of benchmark tests as fast or faster than the most recent i9 based Macbook Pros. That power is simply wasted on many of us. I have a 5+ year old 9.7" Pro. I intending to upgrade in the not too distant future (was kind of hoping I might get it as a Christmas present) future mostly because of improved speakers, improved screen, support for 2nd generation pencil, etc. But for what I do I don't really notice any performance issues. Now, I'm not doing video editing, or much image editing, or gaming, and I'm not working with giant spreadsheets or anything like that. So for some others my device might be virtually unusable. My opinion is that performance is a problem when you find yourself being annoyed by lags.

 

[CoMoMacUser]

the M1 is an overkill chip but will definitely help keep them future proof.

This is a major reason why I would go with the Pro -- not only over the other current iPad models, but also the previous gen Pro. Anyone who disagrees with this strategy, please weigh in. I'm definitely open to alternative views.

 

[Username-already-in-use]

This is a major reason why I would go with the Pro -- not only over the other current iPad models, but also the previous gen Pro. Anyone who disagrees with this strategy, please weigh in. I'm definitely open to alternative views.

It’s definitely a viable strategy. The M1 Pro I got in June 2021, I’m planning to keep for four years, although I think I could easily stretch it to 6 years.

Another strategy that people use is where they typically change devices every 2 years, sell the old one and then having raised 75% of the money for a new device from selling the old, then buy a new one.

 

[rui no onna]

When people mention "performance" of the Pro over the base model, what do they mean. I have an iPad 8. Is there a quick test or web site that would show me that mine is lacking? I'm talking about processor speed, not so much the pencil experience between the two, or better screen.

Speedometer 2.0

Mind, I find the A12 performs just fine. I upgraded from the 2017 iPP with A10X/4GB and there certain pages (e.g. Best Buy, Amazon browsing history) that load much quicker or are a lot more responsive on the 2021 iPP with M1/16GB.

 

[rui no onna]

I wouldn't worry about it unless something feels slow or sluggish. The M1 in the current iPad Pros are VERY POWERFUL. It runs a lot of benchmark tests as fast or faster than the most recent i9 based Macbook Pros. That power is simply wasted on many of us. I have a 5+ year old 9.7" Pro. I intending to upgrade in the not too distant future (was kind of hoping I might get it as a Christmas present) future mostly because of improved speakers, improved screen, support for 2nd generation pencil, etc. But for what I do I don't really notice any performance issues. Now, I'm not doing video editing, or much image editing, or gaming, and I'm not working with giant spreadsheets or anything like that. So for some others my device might be virtually unusable. My opinion is that performance is a problem when you find yourself being annoyed by lags.

Personally, I hate how often the iPad Pro 9.7 has been freezing up on me ever since iOS 13. Wish I’d just kept it on 12.

Mom seems to be perfectly fine with hers, though.

Mind, the iPP 9.7 already has quad speakers. Unless you go 12.9, I don’t think you’ll notice a big difference between the iPP 9.7 vs 11. I certainly don’t. Honestly, the 9.7 actually sounds better than the 10.5 for me.

 

[rui no onna]

This is a major reason why I would go with the Pro -- not only over the other current iPad models, but also the previous gen Pro. Anyone who disagrees with this strategy, please weigh in. I'm definitely open to alternative views.

It’s definitely a viable strategy. The M1 Pro I got in June 2021, I’m planning to keep for four years, although I think I could easily stretch it to 6 years.

Another strategy that people use is where they typically change devices every 2 years, sell the old one and then having raised 75% of the money for a new device from selling the old, then buy a new one.

For me, it’s not so much future-proofing but maximizing useful life. 1TB cellular is expensive so I’d prefer to buy a device that will last me more than 2 years before annoyances start popping up.

75% resale after 2 years might be doable on base models but resale sucks on top capacity cellular. Trade-in value is even worse if one doesn’t want to deal with the hassles of selling.

 

[mikiee]

Speedometer 2.0

Mind, I find the A12 performs just fine. I upgraded from the 2017 iPP with A10X/4GB and there certain pages (e.g. Best Buy, Amazon browsing history) that load much quicker or are a lot more responsive on the 2021 iPP with M1/16GB.

Interesting. My iPad 8 scores a 118 and my desktop i5 scores a 128. Wonder what an M1 scores on this.

 

[Chaparral02]

Interesting. My iPad 8 scores a 118 and my desktop i5 scores a 128. Wonder what an M1 scores on this.

My 11" M1 pro scored 249
2020 Ipad air scored 207
and my windows intel 8700k cpu desktop computer scored 194
My Samsung Note 9 mobile phone scored only 35 ???☹️☹️

 

[SkiHound2]

This is a major reason why I would go with the Pro -- not only over the other current iPad models, but also the previous gen Pro. Anyone who disagrees with this strategy, please weigh in. I'm definitely open to alternative views.

For folks who keep their devices a long time, future proofing makes some sense. But that 2021 iPad Pro you buy today is likely to seem somewhat dated in 2-3 years when compared to the 2023 or 2024 devices. It'll still do everything you need, but some of the shine will have worn off. I think that's more true with laptops than iPads. For example, assume someone bought a completely specced out last generation i9 Macbook Pro with top end gpu. I don't know what it would've cost, but the base 14" MBP offers better performance on most tasks, has much better battery life, better screen technology, etc. And the current base 16" MBP pretty much kills a completely tricked out prior generation i9 based MBP. Even a base M1 Macbook Air compares pretty favorably. So I think buying what you need today and upgrading more often is a viable option. That doesn't mean I wouldn't opt fo the Pro; it simply offers the nicest user experience even if you don't need the power.

 

[1BadManVan]

Interesting. My iPad 8 scores a 118 and my desktop i5 scores a 128. Wonder what an M1 scores on this.

My 13 pro max scored a 257. I’ll have to check my M1 pro soon

 

[rui no onna]

For folks who keep their devices a long time, future proofing makes some sense. But that 2021 iPad Pro you buy today is likely to seem somewhat dated in 2-3 years when compared to the 2023 or 2024 devices. It'll still do everything you need, but some of the shine will have worn off. I think that's more true with laptops than iPads. For example, assume someone bought a completely specced out last generation i9 Macbook Pro with top end gpu. I don't know what it would've cost, but the base 14" MBP offers better performance on most tasks, has much better battery life, better screen technology, etc. And the current base 16" MBP pretty much kills a completely tricked out prior generation i9 based MBP. Even a base M1 Macbook Air compares pretty favorably. So I think buying what you need today and upgrading more often is a viable option. That doesn't mean I wouldn't opt fo the Pro; it simply offers the nicest user experience even if you don't need the power.

There’s a pretty big gap between Intel and Apple particularly for mobile efficiency but Apple to Apple has dropped to 20-50% single core every generation. Higher end iPads don’t get upgraded often anyway (15-18 months). Besides, even the M1 is overkill at this point for most tasks bar media editing, gaming, etc.

I don’t really care about the shine. I used the 2017 iPad Pro for 4 years because recent Pros have gotten way too expensive to be upgrading frequently (2018 12.9 1TB LTE $1899, 2020 12.9 1TB LTE $1649, 2021 12.9 1TB 5G $1999). The performance and RAM increase just made the 2021 Pro finally worth upgrading to.

GB5 single core (A10X as baseline)
A12 130%
A12X/Z 130%
A14 190%
A15 190%
M1 200%

GB5 multi-core (A10X as baseline)
A12 130%
A12X/Z 220%
A14 200%
A15 220%
M1 340%

I actually did consider getting a refurb 2018 Pro (1TB LTE $1300 w/tax) and upgrading sooner. However, I decided a one-time cost of $2200 for a brand new 2021 Pro is more cost effective than a refurb 2018 ($1300) now then refurb 2021 (+$1300 = $2600) or brand new 2022/23 (+$2200 = $3500) 2-3 years later.

 

[The-Real-Deal82]

This is a 2021 ipad pro vs 2020 ipad air which should give you a rough idea

Still impressed how good that iPad Air 4 is. A good vid to demonstrate both devices

 

[Bodhitree]

When people mention "performance" of the Pro over the base model, what do they mean. I have an iPad 8. Is there a quick test or web site that would show me that mine is lacking? I'm talking about processor speed, not so much the pencil experience between the two, or better screen.

It really depends on what you notice. I still use a first-gen 12.9” iPad Pro, and it’s plenty fast enough for everything I want to do. I haven’t noticed it being measurably slow in the kind of websites I am visiting, or loading or using apps. So I honestly think that with a base-spec iPad from now I’d be perfectly fine.

What I find makes a much bigger difference is good wifi. I recently upgraded my home setup to a mesh network with smart wifi pods to extend the reach of the router and migrated the whole lot to the 5 ghz band, and in some parts of the house I’m getting vastly improved connectivity.