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Kal-037

macrumors 68020
Original poster
*Another input thread (regarding should I or should I not.)

is the 6GB 1TB IPad Pro from 2018 going to perform the same as the 2020 iPads, or am I fine with 4GB?

Sometimes I wonder what I’m missing with the 2020 pro and if my 3rd gen (still in pristine condition) This week after seeing Apple’s promotion for the free AirPods with iPad purchase, and Student discount being $100 off, my OCD and bad budgeting self was thinking about maybe getting the 2020 iPad Pro. obviously I don’t NEED it. I KNOW this has been asked over and over again, but in real world usage, does that 6GB RAM truly transform the iPad, and act as a major game changer? (like is the iPad Pro 3 sluggish v the 2020 iPad?)

Apple has a great offer and sale where I can trade my iPad Pro 3 for $500, use my student discount, and get free AirPods all for $999+tax. I like the idea of of getting it at $999+tax (instead of what I paid for the 3rd gen) but should I wait for a bigger upgrade?
But is it worth the hassle of and that extra 700+ dollars I’d have to pay.
I bought my iPad Pro 3 barely a year ago in 2019 (so it’s still pretty new still) I imagine it should last around the same as the 2020 version.
The A12 is still an unbeatable beast, so I could see that particular chip helping iPads last another 5-10 years. I want more RAM, but does that 6GB really boost the iPad Pro into another level? I figure 8GB would be a real change.
I was originally going to just wait for the iPad Pro 4.5/5 with possible MiniLED, faster Face ID, even better speakers, WiFi 6, 6GB RAM, the A14 or A15X chip.
But maybe the Covid quarantine is getting to me, and I’m getting edgy. ???

I love my iPad Pro 3 to death, just curious what y’all think.
*Yes the new 2-3 cameras and LIDAR camera system looks bad... aesthetically (part of why I didn’t upgrade day one.)
 
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Stackin

macrumors member
Nov 2, 2019
56
118
UK
Save you money. I have an iPad Pro 2020 12.9” and it’s great. That said, there‘s so little difference from the 2018, there’s no point in upgrading. The 6GB RAM is useful for future longevity, but I doubt if going from 4GB to 6GB will even notice currently.

Far better to wait for the next generation which will hopefully offer a significant improvements.
 

Kal-037

macrumors 68020
Original poster
Save you money. I have an iPad Pro 2020 12.9” and it’s great. That said, there‘s so little difference from the 2018, there’s no point in upgrading. The 6GB RAM is useful for future longevity, but I doubt if going from 4GB to 6GB will even notice currently.

Far better to wait for the next generation which will hopefully offer a significant improvements.
that’s what I kind of figured. Thanks my good friend. ?✌️?
 
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marty1980

macrumors 6502a
Apr 22, 2011
742
654
There are only a few use cases where that extra 2GB RAM is going to make a difference. Such as: If you’re a creator trying to work with large amounts of data (4K video or images with lots of layers and affects or...).

The speed difference between A12X and A12Z is minimal. You likely wouldn’t notice it.

There are student sales like this every year. My suggestion is to wait another year or two, if you can.
 

Dave245

macrumors G3
Sep 15, 2013
9,838
8,068
I have the 2017 12.9" iPad Pro, i have been pondering the update to the 2020 12.9" iPad Pro along with the 2nd gen Apple Pencil and Magic Keyboard.
There are rumours that Apple will update the Pro with the A14X chip and Mini-LED display later this year. i don't want it to be the iPad 3 that was the updated around 6 months later situation.

It does seem odd that they would update the Pro, considering that the Pro gets updated around every year and a half.
 

Abazigal

Contributor
Jul 18, 2011
20,268
23,670
Singapore
That extra ram may get you an extra year or even two of software upgrades (assuming you hold on to your iPad that long), but I doubt you will notice any performance disparity at the moment.
 

Cosmo M3

macrumors 6502
Sep 4, 2010
433
420
there is no point in upgrading if you don’t need the LiDAR. The upgraded RAM and the additional unlocked core for the GPU is immaterial for people short of engineering and data science.
 

Stackin

macrumors member
Nov 2, 2019
56
118
UK
It does, but as synthetic benchmarks show there isn’t a great deal of difference between the 2018 and 2020 models.
 

barkomatic

macrumors 601
Aug 8, 2008
4,543
2,888
Manhattan
I thought that the 1TB version of the 2018 Pro also has 6GB of Ram. All models of the 2020 versions have it but we are only comparing 1TB then I don’t think you need to buy the new one.
 
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saudor

macrumors 68000
Jul 18, 2011
1,510
2,113
I got the 2018 iPad Pro 11" refurb and going to return it. Almost every app crashes with : SPRINGBOARD, scene-update watchdog transgression... exhausted real (wall clock) time allowance of 10.00 seconds.

just like my older iPad Air 2 (although much less), and I get huge spikes of lag where the keyboard becomes non responsive/letters appear 2-3 seconds later. Been doing that for a week so the indexing should be long done.

With 6gb iPads becoming the norm, both apple and app developers will optimize/get lazy for 6gb

Really shows how crappy ios13 is since even on the all powerful A12X, it still struggles and barely handles basic keyboard operations. the A5 on my iPad 2 on iOS 8.4.1 handles that much better.
 

UBS28

macrumors 68030
Oct 2, 2012
2,893
2,340
The 2020 iPad Pro is much better than the 2028 iPad Pro, because Apple will have removed USB port and all other forms of connectivity by then.

Also the 2028 iPad Pro will be so thin, it bends by just looking at it.
 

aakshey

macrumors 68030
Jun 13, 2016
2,932
1,385
iPad batteries lose capacity in a month. So the main advantage will be a fresh battery. And that alone would be worth the investment.
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I got the 2018 iPad Pro 11" refurb and going to return it. Almost every app crashes with : SPRINGBOARD, scene-update watchdog transgression... exhausted real (wall clock) time allowance of 10.00 seconds.

just like my older iPad Air 2 (although much less), and I get huge spikes of lag where the keyboard becomes non responsive/letters appear 2-3 seconds later. Been doing that for a week so the indexing should be long done.

With 6gb iPads becoming the norm, both apple and app developers will optimize/get lazy for 6gb

Really shows how crappy ios13 is since even on the all powerful A12X, it still struggles and barely handles basic keyboard operations. the A5 on my iPad 2 on iOS 8.4.1 handles that much better.

Your iPad is defective. You need to give Apple the benefit of the doubt. Anybody can ship defective hardware by mistake. They're human.
 
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ericwn

macrumors G5
Apr 24, 2016
12,067
10,858
I got the 2018 iPad Pro 11" refurb and going to return it. Almost every app crashes with : SPRINGBOARD, scene-update watchdog transgression... exhausted real (wall clock) time allowance of 10.00 seconds.

just like my older iPad Air 2 (although much less), and I get huge spikes of lag where the keyboard becomes non responsive/letters appear 2-3 seconds later. Been doing that for a week so the indexing should be long done.

With 6gb iPads becoming the norm, both apple and app developers will optimize/get lazy for 6gb

Really shows how crappy ios13 is since even on the all powerful A12X, it still struggles and barely handles basic keyboard operations. the A5 on my iPad 2 on iOS 8.4.1 handles that much better.

6 GB is currently only available on the Pro devices in the range but I guess that the lower entry devices sell way more often, hence the most common denominator is 3gb RAM with the current models.
 

EugW

macrumors G5
Jun 18, 2017
14,385
12,178
Interestingly, unless things have been changed recently, Procreate provides more layer support for the 6 GB 2020 iPad Pros as compared to the 6 GB 2018 iPad Pro 1 TB.

It seems Procreate doesn't differentiate between 4 and 6 GB for the 2018 models.
 

hovscorpion12

macrumors 68030
Sep 12, 2011
2,908
2,963
USA
Interestingly, unless things have been changed recently, Procreate provides more layer support for the 6 GB 2020 iPad Pros as compared to the 6 GB 2018 iPad Pro 1 TB.

It seems Procreate doesn't differentiate between 4 and 6 GB for the 2018 models.

According to Procrrate, the A12Z allows for an additional GB of RAM vs the A12X. While both iPad Pros are 6GB of RAM, the 2018 has less developer ram access.
 

BigMcGuire

Cancelled
Jan 10, 2012
9,832
14,032
My wife and I upgraded to the iPad 11 Pro (256GB with 4GB of ram) in February ... right before the 2020s came out. We didn't bat an eye or even think about it. Both of our usage cases were 100% fine with the 10.5 Pros we had before and the 11 was a huuuuge upgrade. We'll keep these for 3+ years and upgrade when we feel like it. But neither of us are rendering movies, playing games that'll utilize 4+GB. That and, for what we paid, if I feel like upgrading early, I won't feel so bad ($ wise).

(Just our experience).
 
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EugW

macrumors G5
Jun 18, 2017
14,385
12,178
According to Procrrate, the A12Z allows for an additional GB of RAM vs the A12X. While both iPad Pros are 6GB of RAM, the 2018 has less developer ram access.
It's interesting that Apple chose to do this. I guess they wanted to keep things consistent for the developers in 2018. However, while the extra is not available for individual apps on the 2018 model, that extra RAM is available for multitasking, so it's still somewhat helpful to have the extra RAM.

I hoped Apple would have opened up developer access to the extra available RAM on the 2018 1 TB model in 2020, but Apple chose not to do this, I guess for consistency's sake (and as a gentle nudge for potential upgraders).

We shall see if anything changes with iPadOS 14.
 

Kal-037

macrumors 68020
Original poster
I would say otherwise.
Good in-depth comparison, the video still shows it’s an issue for both. The 2020 iPad reloaded more times than not. Obviously the 6GB will run better, but I doubt any performance shattering changes will come until 8GB RAM.
I edited, created, and did all my art and everything on an old 2008 HP laptop that had 2GB RAM and a Pentium 4 processor. The computer is still alive and kicking and still plays games and just works.
I hope Apple might wait until the Spring so a bigger upgrade can be done.
A14X, Optical Image Stabilization, Mini LED, improved speakers, stronger aluminum frame perhaps, and the 1TB model having 8GB RAM. ??
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According to Procrrate, the A12Z allows for an additional GB of RAM vs the A12X. While both iPad Pros are 6GB of RAM, the 2018 has less developer ram access.
That goes against what they told me. ??‍♂️
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It's interesting that Apple chose to do this. I guess they wanted to keep things consistent for the developers in 2018. However, while the extra is not available for individual apps on the 2018 model, that extra RAM is available for multitasking, so it's still somewhat helpful to have the extra RAM.

I hoped Apple would have opened up developer access to the extra available RAM on the 2018 1 TB model in 2020, but Apple chose not to do this, I guess for consistency's sake (and as a gentle nudge for potential upgraders).

We shall see if anything changes with iPadOS 14.
Still not super likely with all iPads having 2-4GB. Developers won’t stray too far from making their app work for non pro iPad users.
 
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