All iPads Not sure which model best fits..

[taxi_driver]

I'm shopping around for a new(er) iPad to upgrade from my iPad Air 2 which is really long in the tooth now.

I have a 2015 rMBP that I'm hanging onto for as long possible, working well and no major sign of slowdown. there are some instances/moments where things choke up or video processing isn't smooth, but frankly none of the newer machines are appealing. also use a iPhone 12 mini which I love for its size/form, hate its battery.

given what I currently use/have, wondering which iPad model makes the most sense in terms of usability and future proofing. it would be nice to have one with magic keyboard support that could gradually take over my laptop use for daily driving/use.

I'm a grad student and elig for discounts, also saw refurb offerings direct from Apple. my best choices seem to be either a new iPad Air 4 or refurb 11" iPad Pro (2018, first gen), both 64gb and going for the same price. thought about the entry level iPad but feel like I'm missing too many newer features that I'll later regret, especially with my laptop at its age. also thinking of springing for a M1 Pro which hopefully would last a good decade

having a rather hard time deciding which would be the better buy in my ecosystem. appreciate any help.

 

[wolfboy]

2021 iPad Pro 11" considering you hold onto devices for so long.

 

[iPadified]

I'm shopping around for a new(er) iPad to upgrade from my iPad Air 2 which is really long in the tooth now.

I have a 2015 rMBP that I'm hanging onto for as long possible, working well and no major sign of slowdown. there are some instances/moments where things choke up or video processing isn't smooth, but frankly none of the newer machines are appealing. also use a iPhone 12 mini which I love for its size/form, hate its battery.

given what I currently use/have, wondering which iPad model makes the most sense in terms of usability and future proofing. it would be nice to have one with magic keyboard support that could gradually take over my laptop use for daily driving/use.

I'm a grad student and elig for discounts, also saw refurb offerings direct from Apple. my best choices seem to be either a new iPad Air 4 or refurb 11" iPad Pro (2018, first gen), both 64gb and going for the same price. thought about the entry level iPad but feel like I'm missing too many newer features that I'll later regret, especially with my laptop at its age. also thinking of springing for a M1 Pro which hopefully would last a good decade

having a rather hard time deciding which would be the better buy in my ecosystem. appreciate any help.

I agree with wolf boy. If you keep your devices for >6 years, price is less important as it is a long term investment. Air 4 and 2018 iPP seems to be nearly the same. Nice colours on Air 4.

 

[taxi_driver]

I just saw the 2020 Pro's are avail refurb direct from Apple for a decent price - losing much between that and the 2021?

 

[svish]

Go for the 11” 2021 iPad Pro. Comes with a base storage capacity of 128 GB. Though I would suggest going for 256 GB if you are going to keep it for long time.

My Air 2 is a 64GB. When I upgraded to iPad Pro in 2020, I got the 256GB version. Now I don’t have to worry about storage space.

 

[taxi_driver]

256gb is tempting, though does seem a bit much given what I use on my rMBP (~200gb free of 512 onboard) plus I have iCloud storage that I figured could come handy.

 

[svish]

I just saw the 2020 Pro's are avail refurb direct from Apple for a decent price - losing much between that and the 2021?

You get more RAM with 2021 model. 2020 model is excellent. But if keeping iPad for long time, go for 2021 model

 

[Digitalguy]

if the price is right, the 2020 can still last for a very long time and will probably be supported for 8 years just like the air 2, if not more. Trying to future proof too much is always the wrong decision because you end up spending more than you need and being stuck with a device that has long lost its warranty and has probably a very degraded battery (and past 5 years since the end of sale of the device you cannot replace it even for a fee) and has almost no value left if you want to get rid of it...

 

[taxi_driver]

the 2020 refurbs are going for $609 (128) and $689 (256); 2021's coming in a bit more for $749/$849 so the savings isn't too significant on the 128 but the 256 is tempting to sway towards the 2020. I only lose out on the $90 Airpod Pro back to school promo which would've been nice to have, as I only have wired headphones.

 

[saturnotaku]

the 2020 refurbs are going for $609 (128) and $689 (256); 2021's coming in a bit more for $749/$849 so the savings isn't too significant on the 128 but the 256 is tempting to sway towards the 2020. I only lose out on the $90 Airpod Pro back to school promo which would've been nice to have, as I only have wired headphones.

You may want to go with the device that includes the free AirPods since no current iPad models except for the base have headphone jacks. Yes, you can use an adapter, but that's just one more thing to carry around and potentially get lost.

 

[taxi_driver]

yeah I'm not crazy about dongles, another reason im hanging onto my Mac for as long possible.

would there be any limitations in using a newer iPad with an older-ish Mac? in terms of features, handoff, etc.

 

[1BadManVan]

As others have said, the 2021 pro with 8gb of ram will really help a long ways for future proofing. The cpu also had a huge jump in performance that will show more over the years

 

[wolfboy]

I just saw the 2020 Pro's are avail refurb direct from Apple for a decent price - losing much between that and the 2021?

Get the 2021, the 8gb will do better for multi-tasking. And the 2020 has basically the same processor as the one from the first 2018 iPP when it first came out with more GPU cores enabled.

RAM: 2021 - 8gb / 2020 - 6gb
CPU: 2021 - M1 (essentially A15) / 2020 - A12Z

 

[jadenmath]

Get the 2021, the 8gb will do better for multi-tasking. And the 2020 has basically the same processor as the one from the first 2018 iPP when it first came out with more GPU cores enabled.

RAM: 2021 - 8gb / 2020 - 6gb
CPU: 2021 - M1 (essentially A15) / 2020 - A12Z

Honestly speaking, iPadOS doesn't even take (much) advantage of the RAM on the newer Pros. In some cases, the 2020 Pro matches the 2021 Pro in performance. I recommend getting the 2020 Pro refurb from Apple, as you're getting the same 128gb base storage, 6gb ram (which is more than the air now), and an 8 core cpu+gpu. Btw, don't think handoff etc should be an issue as long as you have Catalina and above.