iPad practical advantages of USB-C on ipad pro vs lightning on Ipad Air?

[mrklaw]

Thinking for university use. Both devices are about the same size (10.5 vs 11"), both support a pencil for note taking, both decently fast. Air significantly more affordable and most likely the choice I'll make for my son unless there are significant benefits with ipadOS around USB-C connectivity - eg file transfer, connecting to other devices. Or will you be able to do most of that with a lightning-USB connector?

 

[Closingracer]

Thinking for university use. Both devices are about the same size (10.5 vs 11"), both support a pencil for note taking, both decently fast. Air significantly more affordable and most likely the choice I'll make for my son unless there are significant benefits with ipadOS around USB-C connectivity - eg file transfer, connecting to other devices. Or will you be able to do most of that with a lightning-USB connector?

If you’re fine with the dongle then you’ll be fine with the air

 

[EugW]

Convenience, speed, and power delivery.

USB-C requires no dongle (aside from maybe a tiny USB-C to USB-A adapter) provides a lot more power, so that many devices that work on the iPad Pro won't work with the Lightning dongle unless you provide additional power.

IOW, to plug in many USB-powered drives, on the iPad Pro 2018, you just plug it in. On the iPad Air, you have to plug in the dongle, an external power source, and then the drive.

Furthermore, it's USB 3 speed on the 2018 Pro. Interestingly, it's USB 3 speed on the 2017 Lightning Pro as well. However, it's only USB 2 on the 2019 iPad Air.

BTW, since it's for university, buy from the Apple Education store for a discount and free headphones.

 

[Closingracer]

Convenience, speed, and power delivery.

USB-C provides a lot more power, so that many devices that work on the iPad Pro won't work with the Lightning dongle unless you provide additional power.

IOW, to plug in many USB-powered drives, on the iPad Pro 2018, you just plug it in. On the iPad Air, you have to plug in the dongle, an external power source, and then the drive.

Furthermore, it's USB 3 speed on the 2018 Pro. Interestingly, it's USB 3 speed on the 2017 Lightning Pro as well. However, it's only USB 2 on the 2019 iPad Air.

The likely need to use an external power source to power a usb powered drive is slim .... unless you need more then 200GB of storage give and take ... don’t remember what’s the highest amount of storage on a flash drive these days . It’s for school. A flash drive is sufficient. No need to spend $600 + on the pro. Better off buying the base air and just use a flash drive and the 64GB air for $499 or the 256gb for $650. Unless he can get the 64GB Pro for $650 which best buy had recently .

 

[Closingracer]

Convenience, speed, and power delivery.

USB-C requires no dongle (aside from maybe a tiny USB-C to USB-A adapter) provides a lot more power, so that many devices that work on the iPad Pro won't work with the Lightning dongle unless you provide additional power.

IOW, to plug in many USB-powered drives, on the iPad Pro 2018, you just plug it in. On the iPad Air, you have to plug in the dongle, an external power source, and then the drive.

Furthermore, it's USB 3 speed on the 2018 Pro. Interestingly, it's USB 3 speed on the 2017 Lightning Pro as well. However, it's only USB 2 on the 2019 iPad Air.

BTW, since it's for university, buy from the Apple Education store for a discount and free headphones.

Unless he wants the headphones he can probably get a better deal on the iPad elsewhere .

 

[Abazigal]

Thinking for university use. Both devices are about the same size (10.5 vs 11"), both support a pencil for note taking, both decently fast. Air significantly more affordable and most likely the choice I'll make for my son unless there are significant benefits with ipadOS around USB-C connectivity - eg file transfer, connecting to other devices. Or will you be able to do most of that with a lightning-USB connector?

Well, you are going to need an adaptor either way.

The upside with my 2018 iPad Pro was that it worked with the usb c hub that came with my work-issued windows laptop, so it saved me having to buy an additional dongle. Or put another way, any usb c dongles you get now will work with other laptops sporting usb c ports.

I have also used my iPad to charge my iPhone via a usb c to lightning cable on more than one occasion. It’s handy to have around in a pinch.

With iOS 13, you will be able to read from hard drives on the iPad Pro. I have a few T5 drives lying around and we will see how big a deal this becomes.

One advantage of the 10.5” iPad is that it will still have a headphone jack, which will be useful when you need to do presentations over vga cables. Till now, I still can’t find a usb-c to vga with audio adaptor which works with my iPad Pro (I suspect it’s because they require driver installation, because they work fine with my laptop).

Then there’s the Apple Pencil. The 2nd version is an obvious upgrade over the previous gen.

Face ID has its pros and cons. I don’t feel it’s an obvious improvement over Touch ID yet.

Either will be fine for your needs, though I am still overall in favour of the 11” iPad Pro for its usb c port.

 

[AutomaticApple]

Thinking for university use. Both devices are about the same size (10.5 vs 11"), both support a pencil for note taking, both decently fast. Air significantly more affordable and most likely the choice I'll make for my son unless there are significant benefits with ipadOS around USB-C connectivity - eg file transfer, connecting to other devices. Or will you be able to do most of that with a lightning-USB connector?

Get the iPad Air 3. You should be able to find a cheap dongle somewhere.

 

[EugW]

There are three reasons why I’m upgrading from my 2017 Lightning iPad Pro to the next USB-C iPad Pro.

1. My wife wants my 2017 iPad Pro.
2. On an iPad Pro with Smart Keyboard, sitting on a desk, FaceID can be a bit more convenient.
3. USB-C. Using external storage with Lightning is just a pain.