iPad Pro I’ve decided I’ll get the M4 iPad Pro if…

[Populus]

12 GB of RAM? I don't think you get to choose RAM.

In a way, you do. In the current gen, you get 8GB of RAM in smaller storages, and 16GB with the 1 and 2TB of storage.

For the M4 generation (wether it comes next month or, more likely, next year) many of us expect a minimum of 12GB of RAM in base models.

 

[Nate455]

Sorry for the clickbait title, this sub-forum sometimes feels a bit quiet.

You’ve already read me before complaining about PWM on OLED iPhones. I bought the M2 iPad Pro, because it is the last iPad Pro with an LCD display, with all the features of an iPad Pro (FaceID, 4 speakers, 120HZ refresh rate display…). However, lately, a lot of theories and rumors have been floating around.

I use my iPad Pro a lot, but the 128GB of storage are becoming a small constraint. I can live with it, but I’d really appreciate a better iPad Pro with more storage… And I would also like to have the newer SoC, with the AV1 hardware decoder, better efficiency… However, all of that is not enough for me to replace my M2 iPad Pro, which I honestly love.

So here’s a list of features on the upcoming 2024 11” iPad Pro that will have to be met in order for me to (sell my current M2 iPP and) purchase it. This is somewhat a reminder for my future self, to not give into the temptation unless this requirements are met:

List of requirements, from more to less important:

— OLED display easy on my eyes. The next iPad Pro is supposed to use a double layer hybrid panel, combining a flexible OLED panel with a rigid one. Hopefully, this tech that has been in development for years, will combine two different flickering rates (PWM) with a high enough frequency to not bother my eyes. I mean, if we combine two different flickers, I guess the results can be different from what we have on iPhone. Or maybe, it gets even worse. Only trying it out I’ll be able to know, but this is the minimum requirement for me to jump to the next iPad Pro: Not having my eyes strained, hurt or irritated because of the OLED display.

— M4 SoC: Honestly, now that we have this rumors, and they seem pretty plausible, I’ve hyped myself to a point that if the next iPad Pro comes with an M3, I’m probably waiting until the next one. Because my M2 is already powerful enough, and the M3 is just a higher clocked M2, with the extra heat we get from it. And I want to preserve the iPad battery’s health, so if the SoC overheats, that’s a no for me (to be fair, if I push my M2 iPad Pro CPU and GPU, it already gets pretty hot).

— Improved external monitor experience with iPadOS 18. And no, I’m not saying necessarily having macOS on the external display when I plug it to the monitor (although that would be neat, and Apple already has patents with that). But a more desktop-like mode for when the iPad Pro is plugged to an external monitor, a keyboard and a pointing device. Better than Stage Manager (or even a much improved Stage Manager 3.0 would work for me). Something that allows my iPad Pro to become almost a Mac replacement, and that includes a better Files app (hopefully a more complex Finder), being able to download Open Source apps, and even apps that don’t meet the criteria of the App Store rules, or are no longer available such as Xbox Game Pass or Nvidia GeForce Now. If my next iPad Pro allows me to completely replace my 2014 Mac mini, I’m probably upgrading to it.

— 12GB of minimum RAM: This is the last, and less likely requirement, that’s why it is my least important one out of the four. I mean, it the previous 3 boxes are ticked, I won’t probably mind the base model being 8GB of RAM, although I’ll probably go to the 1TB model for the 16GB of RAM. Not that I’m noticing a lack of RAM on my 8GB M2 iPad Pro, mind you, but if I buy this new M4 iPad Pro, it will be a long time investment. That’s why I’ll also get Apple Care with it, probably.

Having such machine would allow me to finally replace my old Mac mini, and current M2 iPad Pro, which I use more than the Mac itself, for instance, I put the Mac mini on the shelf two weeks ago for cleaning, and I haven’t brought it out yet.

Having an easy way to connect to my Mac mini from my iPad Pro, wireless and seamlessly, would be ideal in order to use my Mac mini for those few tasks that I cannot or do not want to do on my iPad Pro. Maybe Sidecar could work, but my 2014 Mac mini doesn’t support Sidecar… And getting an M1 Mac mini just to do a few tasks over Sidecar from my iPad Pro isn’t something worth for me.

Now, are you set to get the next iPad Pro?
Are you like me, doubting?

What improvements have to come the next iPad Pro or iPadOS 18 with, for you to pull the trigger?

I would be looking for a more powerful chip in the next iPad and a fair price for me to pull the trigger.

 

[Ghost31]

Does the Air have face id?

I don’t believe it does right now, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it gets it in the future. Same happened with the pro vs non pro line of phones. The people that wait it out for features to trickle down always get the best deal

 

[TehFalcon]

This forum is the only place I’ve seen people complain about PWM on displays.

 

[sparksd]

This forum is the only place I’ve seen people complain about PWM on displays.

Look farther afield.

https://www.reddit.com/r/PWM_Sensitive/

Just one example, many others.

 

[Gelam]

I have never had my iPad accidentally disconnect from its Magic Keyboard, even when open. I literally just picked my 13” Pro up by the iPad and shook it vigorously and the MK didn’t fall off. Mac MagSafe was designed to disconnect when the cord is pulled, iPad Pro magnets not so much.

Ah that is good to know. I didn't know it was that reliable!

 

[Gelam]

Yes, maybe I should edit the title. I don’t think Apple is releasing an M4 device as soon a May.

Please don't loose hope! Until they announce that its the M3 we shall hold onto the rumors =)

 

[darngooddesign]

Ah that is good to know. I didn't know it was that reliable!

Also remember that the Smart Connector is different from the magnets which hold things to back of the iPad.

 

[RickTaylor]

I'm a math instructor. I use my 12.9" iPad Pro together with a pencil as a virtual whiteboard, connecting it to a projector if I 'm teaching in person, or to Zoom if I'm teaching online. It's fantastic for that purpose.

The main shortcoming to it is the pencil is somewhat slippery against the glass screen; I find it difficult to write neatly on it. I'm always looking for screen protectors or other solutions that make it easier to write neatly on it (Astropad's Rock Paper Pencil is the best solution I've found so far).

So I'm not expecting it, but if the new iPad Pro was set up to be easier to write neatly upon it, that would be enough to make me consider upgrading. Otherwise, the 12.9" Air sounds like a good option for me for when my current unit needs to be replaced.

 

[aParkerMusic]

M1 on my iPad Pro seems ok for my use case in terms of performance but I definitely can feel it is getting slower. M4 would be nice if CPU and most importantly GPU performance jumps up.

OLED to me is nice to have but the cost increase is hurting more than what nicer screen can benefit me.

More RAM is good, but iPadOS makes 12GB of RAM less important, unlike macOS.

With that being said, I would still go for an iPad Pro instead of iPad Air or even base line iPad. Face ID is likely going to be exclusive to iPad Pro for a few more years, and that's hard to miss.

How can a price increase hurt if it doesn’t even exist?

These iPads haven’t even been announced yet. Let’s wait til they are before we say they’re worth, or not worth, a price hike.

 

[Carrotstick]

I'm a math instructor. I use my 12.9" iPad Pro together with a pencil as a virtual whiteboard, connecting it to a projector if I 'm teaching in person, or to Zoom if I'm teaching online. It's fantastic for that purpose.

The main shortcoming to it is the pencil is somewhat slippery against the glass screen; I find it difficult to write neatly on it. I'm always looking for screen protectors or other solutions that make it easier to write neatly on it (Astropad's Rock Paper Pencil is the best solution I've found so far).

So I'm not expecting it, but if the new iPad Pro was set up to be easier to write neatly upon it, that would be enough to make me consider upgrading. Otherwise, the 12.9" Air sounds like a good option for me for when my current unit needs to be replaced.

Apparently, there will be matte screen option for the Pros. Of course it will be add on since they etch the coating to the glass screen.

 

[gusping]

The only thing that would get me to upgrade is a major upgrade to the software. Everything iPadOS has been upgraded with so far has mostly been lipstick on a pig. Stage Manager is nice, but you are still running iOS apps. Files looks usable, but try and drag a folder around and you'll immediately want to go back to a mac. Still no terminal access.

I really don't know how they can fix it on the current trajectory of iPadOS. In my opinion the best option would be a dual booting device, that ran macOS in a virtual machine when you wanted to do more power user things (Accessing the same filesystem as iPadOS.)

M4 is just not useful in iPadOS unless you use final cut, it will just be wasted 95% of the time.

Don't get me wrong - I still love my iPad for "iPad Things" - email, web browsing, youtube, reminders, calendar, notes. But beyond that iPadOS is holding the system back from anything more than that.

Couldn't agree more. iPad OS really needs a complete overhaul for it to be more than a mere consumption device in most cases. I may wait for after WWDC to see what Apple have in store before looking to upgrade my 2018 12.9in iPad (I expect the answer to be not much, as usual...)

 

[ric22]

Whether it'll happen or not, the price simply is too high for a tablet and needs to drop, IMO. Similarly, the base storage must AT LEAST double.

Aside from that- improve the screen, and move and improve the front facing camera across all iPads. If hoping for any locally run LLMs, then RAM needs to jump to at least 18 or 24GB minimum. Don't see it happening, but then we won't see competent LLM implementation that runs locally either.

On the software side, multiple user logins are a must. If it isn't intended a children's toy, then Apple should not treat it as such.

Edit: The iPad Pros also deserve a second USB port, or at least the addition of MagSafe. Having a magnet on the back that also charges the device slowly would be nice when paired with a weighty stand. A magnet configuration of - O - should also be able to hold it in place well enough (though not for car use 😅).

 

[Shirasaki]

How can a price increase hurt if it doesn’t even exist?

These iPads haven’t even been announced yet. Let’s wait til they are before we say they’re worth, or not worth, a price hike.

You do know almost everywhere in the world today there Are some sort of cost of living crisis right? Spending more money on something than before will hurt regardless, even though it is up to individual customer to decide whether they can pay that price increase or not.

 

[darngooddesign]

...Edit: The iPad Pros also deserve a second USB port, or at least the addition of MagSafe. Having a magnet on the back that also charges the device slowly would be nice when paired with a weighty stand. A magnet configuration of - O - should also be able to hold it in place well enough (though not for car use 😅).

You just described the Magic Keyboard. Second USB port for charging, strong magnetic connection, and a weighty stand; just buy a used one and they aren't particularly expensive.

 

[gusping]

You just described the Magic Keyboard. Second USB port for charging, strong magnetic connection, and a weighty stand; just buy a used one and they aren't particularly expensive.

They aren’t particularly expensive… LOL. £380. I assume you’re being sarcastic. The new one will almost certainly be more expensive if the rumours of a more solid construction are true. All that to use a phone OS on a big screen. No thank you.

 

[jclardy]

Couldn't agree more. iPad OS really needs a complete overhaul for it to be more than a mere consumption device in most cases. I may wait for after WWDC to see what Apple have in store before looking to upgrade my 2018 12.9in iPad (I expect the answer to be not much, as usual...)

Yeah - I've thought about it and the problem seems to just be that macOS was built in an era where apps had free reign over things, and restrictions were added on top of that base over time. iOS was built with apps having no access to anything, and slowly given access to things over time.

The iOS model is surely better for security, but the problem is it only lets the platform expand in areas that Apple wants it to. No access to springboard, app launching, search, or even just something as simple as launch processes.

 

[ric22]

They aren’t particularly expensive… LOL. £380. I assume you’re being sarcastic. The new one will almost certainly be more expensive if the rumours of a more solid construction are true. All that to use a phone OS on a big screen. No thank you.

You said it for me. A basic Qi2 stand, cheaply weighted, should absolutely cost under 10% of the cost of that pricey keyboard.

That keyboard costs as much or more than competent Windows laptops that feature as much RAM/storage as Apple's £1700 MacBook Pro. 😅😅😅😅🤦‍♂️

 

[darngooddesign]

They aren’t particularly expensive… LOL. £380. I assume you’re being sarcastic. The new one will almost certainly be more expensive if the rumours of a more solid construction are true. All that to use a phone OS on a big screen. No thank you.

If all you want is a stand and a USB port, something 3 years old will work.

 

[Populus]

You said it for me. A basic Qi2 stand, cheaply weighted, should absolutely cost under 10% of the cost of that pricey keyboard.

That keyboard costs as much or more than competent Windows laptops that feature as much RAM/storage as Apple's £1700 MacBook Pro. 😅😅😅😅🤦‍♂️

Yeah, that’s why I didn’t get it for my iPad Pro. I prefer to use a standalone Magic Keyboard and a Magic Trackpad with it.

 

[darngooddesign]

You said it for me. A basic Qi2 stand, cheaply weighted, should absolutely cost under 10% of the cost of that pricey keyboard.

That keyboard costs as much or more than competent Windows laptops that feature as much RAM/storage as Apple's £1700 MacBook Pro. 😅😅😅😅🤦‍♂️

A Qi2 stand would be worthless because iPads don't support wireless charging.

There are plenty of inexpensive magnetic stands, but none which charge with the Smart Connector.

 

[dalestrauss]

Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.

I bought the original M1 iPad Pro 11 with max specs (16gb ram, 1tb ssd, 5g) because "surely" it would replace my MacBook, "surely." Well here we are 3 years and 3 day later and I am no closer to replacing my MacBook, and not a hint that Apple will ever bestow parity in iPadOS to MacOS, not dual booting or even a VM running MacOS. Apple is still stuffing a full desktop class processor in the iPad Pro hobbled by a phone/tablet OS and lame windowing model offered in Stage Manager. It's like putting a Porsche engine in a Corolla. I don't want a new take on windowing, I want real windowing aka MacOS, and a Finder to create my own hierarchical file structure (be sure to add external drive ejection). Shame on you Apple...

So for me this is the last stand for iPad Pro. If Apple won't properly release a "Pro" device to fully replace my MacBook, there will be no reason to ever upgrade the M1 (well - I should dial that back because a landscape oriented camera would be really nice). No shame on me...

 

[rtronick]

My M2 Pro is all I need. Probably overkill

 

[Coreymac84]

Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.

I bought the original M1 iPad Pro 11 with max specs (16gb ram, 1tb ssd, 5g) because "surely" it would replace my MacBook, "surely." Well here we are 3 years and 3 day later and I am no closer to replacing my MacBook, and not a hint that Apple will ever bestow parity in iPadOS to MacOS, not dual booting or even a VM running MacOS. Apple is still stuffing a full desktop class processor in the iPad Pro hobbled by a phone/tablet OS and lame windowing model offered in Stage Manager. It's like putting a Porsche engine in a Corolla. I don't want a new take on windowing, I want real windowing aka MacOS, and a Finder to create my own hierarchical file structure (be sure to add external drive ejection). Shame on you Apple...

So for me this is the last stand for iPad Pro. If Apple won't properly release a "Pro" device to fully replace my MacBook, there will be no reason to ever upgrade the M1 (well - I should dial that back because a landscape oriented camera would be really nice). No shame on me...

The problem is you wont see these changes at this next iPad event in 2 weeks. People will buy it for the promise of change, even better specs (that it doesn't currently need) and then be disappointed when WWDC comes.

 

[Ludatyk]

For those complaining about iPadOS and wishing for macOS on an iPad or something akin to macOS…. please stay attached to your Mac, Apple has that available for you to use.

If the iPad is not capable of replacing the Mac… then, so be it. There is no threat in Apple removing the Mac from the lineup for the foreseeable future. Whereas I like the direction Apple has taken with the iPad thus far, looking forward to WWDC this June.

With hopes of refinements to Stage Manager and some AI goodies rumored to be introduced. I’d like to add… I wish Apple revamp the Notification Center on iPadOS, too much screen real estate not being taking advantage of. And on the topic of Stage Manager… maybe they add support for widgets on the external display.