iPad Pro Opinions needed: keep iPad Pro 2020 or trade in?

[Danae02]

My husband has decided to upgrade his iPad pro 2020 12.9 128gb to the new M2, primarily because of the screen and the need for increased storage space. He can get a trade in from Apple at $405. I suggested that perhaps we could keep the 2020 pro for the kid going to college next fall- to be used primarily for taking notes in class. I think the larger screen is great for college note taking and the savings might be significant- i.e. won’t have to buy another ipad soon that would likely cost more than $405. Thoughts on this? Is the ipad pro 2020 too outdated to start someone in college in fall 2023- basically a year from now? It’s in great shape, and we just need to get an extra pencil- which we have to get anyway. Also wondering about the storage space- since Notability would be used to possibly record lectures.

 

[Apple_Robert]

I agree with your assessment. I would keep the 2020 iPad Pro for college use. It is more than capable and will be for years to come.

 

[satinsilverem2]

as a 2020 owner that uses my iPad a lot for recording notes and just writing things down in notability I think it would be great to hand it down. the 2020 iPad Pro is still a fantastic iPad and plenty fast enough for 90 percent of the population. As far as storage I have the 256 and have almost 200GB free still. unless he's adding a ton of photos or using audio recordings that are hours long 128gb will do him just fine.

 

[fwmireault]

I think you should keep it, Apple trade-in is not the greatest value anyway. It will be a nice iPad for college, that’s for sure

 

[chrfr]

My husband has decided to upgrade his iPad pro 2020 12.9 128gb to the new M2, primarily because of the screen and the need for increased storage space. He can get a trade in from Apple at $405. I suggested that perhaps we could keep the 2020 pro for the kid going to college next fall- to be used primarily for taking notes in class. I think the larger screen is great for college note taking and the savings might be significant- i.e. won’t have to buy another ipad soon that would likely cost more than $405. Thoughts on this? Is the ipad pro 2020 too outdated to start someone in college in fall 2023- basically a year from now? It’s in great shape, and we just need to get an extra pencil- which we have to get anyway. Also wondering about the storage space- since Notability would be used to possibly record lectures.

Chances are good that your kid will find it much more useful to have a laptop than an iPad. In my mind, a 12.9” iPad is just too big for students to carry around along with a laptop just for note taking.

 

[Danae02]

Chances are good that your kid will find it much more useful to have a laptop than an iPad. In my mind, a 12.9” iPad is just too big for students to carry around along with a laptop just for note taking.

She will have a laptop as well, but she also needs to take notes with a pen and prefers electronic notes on an iPad. I guess I am thinking of it as ipad vs carrying paper notebooks and paperback books- vs. electronic book versions. The laptop is a must for what she wants to do- heavy on math and physics. Decided to wait on the laptop to determine what the recommendations are at the college she will get into, but it seems that the ipad is also needed anyway, and we are at this decision point. So it‘s between this larger ipad and a smaller ipad.

 

[slplss]

My husband has decided to upgrade his iPad pro 2020 12.9 128gb to the new M2, primarily because of the screen and the need for increased storage space. He can get a trade in from Apple at $405. I suggested that perhaps we could keep the 2020 pro for the kid going to college next fall- to be used primarily for taking notes in class. I think the larger screen is great for college note taking and the savings might be significant- i.e. won’t have to buy another ipad soon that would likely cost more than $405. Thoughts on this? Is the ipad pro 2020 too outdated to start someone in college in fall 2023- basically a year from now? It’s in great shape, and we just need to get an extra pencil- which we have to get anyway. Also wondering about the storage space- since Notability would be used to possibly record lectures.

Definitely keep it. I used 2021 iPad Pro in college, great with note taking apps like GoodReader and Notability, either with pen or keyboard. Older screen and chip won’t make a difference.

 

[GMShadow]

You could also sell it private party - it tends to fetch $600-$700 last I checked.

 

[Danae02]

You could also sell it private party - it tends to fetch $600-$700 last I checked.

I get that, but after we got scammed on eBay a few years back with a buyer that “returned” a paperback book instead of the phone my husband was selling we swore off private party transactions, even at a loss.

 

[velocityg4]

She will have a laptop as well, but she also needs to take notes with a pen and prefers electronic notes on an iPad. I guess I am thinking of it as ipad vs carrying paper notebooks and paperback books- vs. electronic book versions. The laptop is a must for what she wants to do- heavy on math and physics. Decided to wait on the laptop to determine what the recommendations are at the college she will get into, but it seems that the ipad is also needed anyway, and we are at this decision point. So it‘s between this larger ipad and a smaller ipad.

It definitely will make life a lot easier than carrying around a lot of textbooks and notebooks. Although my understanding is a lot of the textbooks aren't offered digitally. Given that most are also worthless for resale. As they also have online assignments for them. I'd just cut the binding off them and scan them to PDF.

She'll probably need the laptop and iPad for notes. So, she view the books on the laptop while taking notes to the iPad. Vice versa depending on the subject.

I wish I had that option in college. I'd certainly rather carry around a 12.9" iPad and even a 17" laptop. Than 50 lbs of books and notebooks several miles every day. The parking sucked so only carrying a few books and going back to the car was totally impractical. As parking could be over a mile away from some classes. If I had to use the overflow lots.

That iPad is plenty for any college work. Anything computer intensive will be on the laptop anyways. The iPad will mostly be an eBook reader and note taker. Which doesn't require much. That screen would be great. As I assume it would fit about an 8.5x11 paper.

 

[JDnLex]

I agree with keeping the iPad. The value of it, especially for a student, is way greater than the $400 offered by Apple Trade-In. If it was going to sit in a drawer, I’d say sure, cash it out.

I finished my second round of college last fall using an iPad 2018 12.9. For me, the 12.9 inch model was the perfect size for e-textbooks and note taking. The 11 and below can work, and they’re certainly more portable, but most e-textbooks, especially the PDF versions, are really best on the 12.9.

I’m also glad to hear she will also have a laptop. The iPad is great, but if I had only iPadOS to deal with when writing papers I would have been a very frustrated student.

Best of luck to you, and your daughter!

 

[Danae02]

Thank you everyone! This was really helpful. I’ll go ahead and keep the iPad. FYI- the pencil 2nd gen is on sale right now at Best Buy and Amazon for $89.99.