iPad Pro (It seems) still no compelling reason to upgrade from a 2018 11’ iPad Pro

[kierennyc]

What a fantastic purchase. For my use case still no lag, screen looks great and the form factor hasn’t become ‘dated’.

What would 2018 owners like to see before upgrading?

 

[temende]

Agreed, I've had mine for 4 years and no plans to upgrade anytime soon. Most of my wants/issues are with iPadOS and not the hardware. I'm honestly not sure what they could do hardware-wise to really improve upon it.

 

[MisterSavage]

I love shiny new gadgets and use my iPad constantly and I'm still rocking the 2018 IPP. I want to be tempted to upgrade!

 

[estabya]

Previously I upgraded every 2-3 years, but I will keep my 2018 11" Pro until either the new 11" pro gets a mini LED or OLED panel or until it loses software support.

 

[Apple_Robert]

I am still happy with my 2020 11" iPad Pro. It has been a great purchase.

 

[TheRealAlex]

What a fantastic purchase. For my use case still no lag, screen looks great and the form factor hasn’t become ‘dated’.

What would 2018 owners like to see before upgrading?

None whatsoever. Use my 2018 11” iPad Pro daily heck I would be upset as anew iPad Pro owner that a 4 year old device is equal to my new device.
I even bough a Galaxy Tab S8 Plus to experience a 12.4” 120hz OLED Tablet and it’s amazing.

 

[Tal_Ent]

I traded my 2018 iPad Pro back to Apple last month and it still had 83% battery health. Had it for nearly 4 years, but felt it was time to maximize my value before the October announcement or hardware failure.

The new iPad Pro should get mini-led. I hope my Pencil 2 works with the new Pro. An improvement to the Magic Keyboard would be welcome as well.

 

[Mr. Awesome]

Hindsight is 20/20, but the 2018 refresh was definitely the time to buy when it comes to the iPad Pro.

 

[Neil Harrison]

Hindsight is 20/20, but the 2018 refresh was definitely the time to buy when it comes to the iPad Pro.

The 11inch I bought is probably in top 3 of my Apple device purchases

 

[ndouglas]

Fair enough, I was going to point out something… I dunno what... but having the 2021 11” pro I guess you’re right that the 2018 has most or all of the same stuff. I feel the same way about this one, it’s great, I didn’t even need to upgrade from the 2019 ipad Air but I did for some reason, and given how often I use it, it seems well worth the upgrade. Perhaps even just to be able type on it more easily with the crazy-expensive but useful $300 ’magic’ keyboard…

Interesting to see what tomorrow brings!, or whatever day they update it….

 

[jace88]

I'm same boat as Op and love my 2018 11" iPad Pro. Still works well/feels snappy - which is odd given I've been through three iPhones in that same time period.

That being said the one iPadOS feature which I care about which might be limited to the M-series iPads is external display support. The ability to have window management may be enough to make me upgrade since the current setup only mirrors the iPad screen which makes my 49" super ultrawide monitor feel a bit useless.

Currently I use Samsung Dex on my Galaxy Z Fold 2 when I need to quickly do a spot of work since it just plugs into my USB-C or TB4 dock which is connected to KB/M and monitor, and the Samsung Dex interface just becomes a desktop and I can use Outlook and Office 365/Sharepoint/etc easily. I'm hoping if the new iPads can do the same, that might become my preferred option.

 

[MayaUser]

if i wouldn't requested a better screen and performance i would buy the cheapest ipad or ipad air at most
11" ipad probably will get one more refresh until its out ...next year we will have the ipad pros with 14" mini-led and the ipad air to be the 11" ipad

 

[bruinsrme]

What a fantastic purchase. For my use case still no lag, screen looks great and the form factor hasn’t become ‘dated’.

What would 2018 owners like to see before upgrading?

I was thinking the same thing. Just before my apple care ran out the 12.9 stopped working. The replacement came with 90 days and the ability to add monthly apple care. Here I am today thinking, wow the new ones look nice but a $1000 in my hand looks sexy.

 

[chevyboy60013]

I love my 2021 11 inch iPad Pro 3rd generation with the m1 chip. I cannot think of any reason to upgrade it at this point. It does everything I want it to do, more than lightning fast, has 5g cellular, and the magic keyboard, plus it is on the monthly AppleCare plan so it will have warranty until I decide to not renew it, so what more could I ask for, and its not like I care if I have money in the bank, if this 3rd generation wasn’t more than I ever expected from an iPad…. I would be first in line at my local apple store to get the new model.

 

[PeteBurgh]

Most of my wants/issues are with iPadOS and not the hardware. I'm honestly not sure what they could do hardware-wise to really improve upon it.

Basically this.

When the 2018 iPad Pro came out, almost every reviewer pointed out how the hardware was miles ahead of the software. In my view, not much has changed.

If iPadOS takes a big step forward in terms of multitasking, external display support, pro apps, etc, I'd definitely think about getting another Pro. But until then, it's hard to justify a Pro over a cheaper model that has 95% of the functionality.

 

[fstevens]

I was planning to upgrade from my 2018 iPad Pro this year, not because it doesn't still do everything I need it to, but because my husband's hand-me-down IPP 9.7, which is two years older, is getting long in the tooth. (He doesn't care if he gets something new or a hand-me-down.) But I'm not seeing much of a reason to upgrade the 2018, especially since my husband isn't complaining about the old 9.7". Honestly, for my use, I don't need "pro" features - I just try to future-proof, and I want Face ID . . . Of course, I didn't "need" an iPhone 14 Pro either, and yet I got one.

 

[profets]

I still use my 2018 12.9" as my daily computer. I was tempted by the 2021 with M1 & miniLED but (as stupid as it sounds) the increased thickness and weight put me off a bit, and my 2018 still worked fine. I figured this 2022 update I would jump on, especially having really liked how Stage Manager looks, but now I really have no desire to upgrade. And I used to upgrade so often, even annually at times.

 

[eyeseeyou]

I feel the same.

I have the 2018 pro with a logitech combo touch and for the most part it seems nearly identical to today's iPad refresh with the new style keyboard

 

[lewjh]

I started to get some lag on my 2018 Pro when moving between different Office365 apps. I decided to trade in the 2018 pro for the latest ipad air in June. Very happy with my choice

 

[chikorita157]

I still use my iPad Pro 11“ from 2018 and while the performance is still good, I noticed that it’s showing it’s age with web browsing or productivity since it only has 4 GB of RAM since I have the 256 GB model. I use the M1 11” iPad Pro as my main iPad when I am away or in bed, and it’s faster in terms of productivity.

Since the 2018 has 90% of the features, except the extra cameras, LIDAR, Thunderbolt support, and external display, it’s still viable today, although the 4 GB of RAM might be a limitation for productivity.

 

[jbachandouris]

I have a second gen IPP 256GB 11" LTE which I assume is the 2018. I rarely use it as I use my MBP much more. Put it on Marketplace, but no interest so far.

 

[leebroath]

If Apple had released an 11” with MiniLED, I would have been all over it

But keeping my M1 Beast for another year(s)

 

[eyeseeyou]

I still use my iPad Pro 11“ from 2018 and while the performance is still good, I noticed that it’s showing it’s age with web browsing or productivity since it only has 4 GB of RAM since I have the 256 GB model. I use the M1 11” iPad Pro as my main iPad when I am away or in bed, and it’s faster in terms of productivity.

Since the 2018 has 90% of the features, except the extra cameras, LIDAR, Thunderbolt support, and external display, it’s still viable today, although the 4 GB of RAM might be a limitation for productivity.

I can probably count on one hand how many times I've used the rear camera on my iPad.I do, however, use it often with sidecar and or as an additional monitor when mobile.

 

[Neil Harrison]

I bought a magic keyboard for 2018 11 inch iPad Pro, will it fit the M2 11 Inch ?

 

[estabya]

I still use my iPad Pro 11“ from 2018 and while the performance is still good, I noticed that it’s showing it’s age with web browsing or productivity since it only has 4 GB of RAM since I have the 256 GB model. I use the M1 11” iPad Pro as my main iPad when I am away or in bed, and it’s faster in terms of productivity.

Since the 2018 has 90% of the features, except the extra cameras, LIDAR, Thunderbolt support, and external display, it’s still viable today, although the 4 GB of RAM might be a limitation for productivity.

This is a great point as continued viability of models with 4GB of RAM is highly dependent on use case. My 2018 11" Pro is used for media consumption, light web browsing, and editing documents, which it still excels at in my opinion. Anything more intensive than that is done on my Mac.

4GB can definitely be a limitation for more complicated workflows or memory heavy use cases.