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Rethinking the 12.9 Pro

Donka

Donka

macrumors 68030
Original poster
May 3, 2011
2,864
1,462
Scotland
I have an iPad mini 4 and both Pros for different use cases but was initially excited at the prospect of a 10.5" Pro with the same screen resolution as the 12.9.
After spending more time on the 12.9 recently planning some events and editing photographs, I'm now of the mindset that an updated 12.9 will be the ideal choice for me.

I really enjoy the screen size of the 12.9 but the PPI of the mini 4 with it's finer on screen elements means the mini is a handy device for travelling but not the first device I would want to use at home. Because of this, I think I would prefer to stick with the 12.9 but there are some real improvements that I would love to see.

Apart from the obvious improved SOC, I would love a new 12.9 to have slimmer bezels and hopefully shed some weight. Anything that can reduce the overall size and make it easier to handle would be very welcome. On the hardware side, an improved camera with flash and true tone screen would be great enhancements but after this, it is the software that needs to improve.

I still think better use can be made of the bigger screen with a lot of the iOS user interface. I would also love to see the likes of iMovie get some extra features to make it feel like more of a Pro app and geain more parity with the likes of Garageband on the iPad. On the photography side of things where I am really enjoying the 12.9, there are great apps like Snapseed, Polarr and Pixelmator which really let me do a lot of editing without the need for a desktop. With the potential additions of Affinity Photo and Luminar, the iPad Pro is looking quite strong in the photo editing area.

This is making me realise how good a product the 12.9 Pro is and how little it would take to make a solid upgrade for me. An upgraded 12.9 is looking more appealing to me than the 10.5 at this time.
 
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Yup, the mini has smaller bezels than the larger iPads and this doesn't impede for me so it would be great if the bezels can be slimmed down somewhat on the 12.9. I don't mean eliminated entirely but enough to make a noticeable reduction in overall size and help decrease weight.
 
I slimmed down from the 12.9 to then 9.7 iPad Pro; but I'd probably switch back to the 12.9 if they slimmed down the bezels and the weight.

I really enjoy being able to type with two thumbs similar to my iPhone and hold it like a tablet.
 
Donka said:
I still think better use can be made of the bigger screen with a lot of the iOS user interface.
Click to expand...

WWDC cannot come fast enough... iOS 11 has to really put more emphasis on the iPad. When iOS 10 came around it was honestly geared toward the iPhone... with iMessage and 3D touch. But I'm hoping this time around iPad get some features geared toward it.
 
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Donka said:
I have an iPad mini 4 and both Pros for different use cases but was initially excited at the prospect of a 10.5" Pro with the same screen resolution as the 12.9.
After spending more time on the 12.9 recently planning some events and editing photographs, I'm now of the mindset that an updated 12.9 will be the ideal choice for me.

I really enjoy the screen size of the 12.9 but the PPI of the mini 4 with it's finer on screen elements means the mini is a handy device for travelling but not the first device I would want to use at home. Because of this, I think I would prefer to stick with the 12.9 but there are some real improvements that I would love to see.

Apart from the obvious improved SOC, I would love a new 12.9 to have slimmer bezels and hopefully shed some weight. Anything that can reduce the overall size and make it easier to handle would be very welcome. On the hardware side, an improved camera with flash and true tone screen would be great enhancements but after this, it is the software that needs to improve.

I still think better use can be made of the bigger screen with a lot of the iOS user interface. I would also love to see the likes of iMovie get some extra features to make it feel like more of a Pro app and geain more parity with the likes of Garageband on the iPad. On the photography side of things where I am really enjoying the 12.9, there are great apps like Snapseed, Polarr and Pixelmator which really let me do a lot of editing without the need for a desktop. With the potential additions of Affinity Photo and Luminar, the iPad Pro is looking quite strong in the photo editing area.

This is making me realise how good a product the 12.9 Pro is and how little it would take to make a solid upgrade for me. An upgraded 12.9 is looking more appealing to me than the 10.5 at this time.
Click to expand...


nice points
My issue with 12.9 is that the big screen strains my eyes at night. The 9.7 (or I hope the 10.5) would not be as hard to my eyes as the 12.9.
 
Kostas3000 said:
nice points
My issue with 12.9 is that the big screen strains my eyes at night. The 9.7 (or I hope the 10.5) would not be as hard to my eyes as the 12.9.
Click to expand...

I must be honest, I do prefer the 9.7 for general surfing as I find websites do not seem optimised for the 12.9 screen and effectively just a blown up version of the website you get on the 9.7 - one of the reasons I still have the 9.7 Pro.
 
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They need to add x86 OS X emulation. The processors are powerful enough now and people haven't stopped wanting a touch screen mac.
 
Large bezels to facilitate touch should not be an issue in the 12.9" iPad Pro. Its size and bulk means it is most likely used in landscape while sitting in a table.

Even if you're holding it, bezels with the same dimensions of the iPad mini should be sufficient. I'd really like to see a downsizing of the non-display elements on the larger iPad, if it doesn't mean sacrificing performance and battery life.
 
Ludatyk said:
WWDC cannot come fast enough... iOS 11 has to really put more emphasis on the iPad. When iOS 10 came around it was honestly geared toward the iPhone... with iMessage and 3D touch. But I'm hoping this time around iPad get some features geared toward it.
Click to expand...
I think it will focus a bit more on iPad. iOS 9 did as well with the introduction of split screen and PIP. iOS 10 was cleanup on the iPad and made all other iPad apps split screen. Having music split screen was my biggest complaint so I'm glad that happened.

Personally what I would love to see is being able to make the widgets screen the default home screen. The grid of icons is starting to get really annoying. It's much easier to use the Siri suggestions widgets to launch my most used apps.
 
gobikerider said:
If they don't slim the bezels off the 12.9 it would push me to getting a 10.5 model. We will see
Click to expand...

This is what I'm thinking as well. I have the 12.9 now for a year and a half, and I'm thinking of replacing it with the new one when it comes out, although I haven't decided yet for sure. However, I think I'd like something just a bit smaller in size. I love the large screen, but after extended use over the past year and a half, I've discovered that I rarely use the split screen mode. Most of my use is web browsing, and with the big 12.9 screen in landscape, often times much of the left and right sides are blank white space on many sites. I think I'd probably get by with the 10.5 just fine, but if the 12.9 shaves some of the weight and the bezels becomes smaller, I'd probably go for that one.
 
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Eric5273 said:
Most of my use is web browsing, and with the big 12.9 screen in landscape, often times much of the left and right sides are blank white space on many sites. I think I'd probably get by with the 10.5 just fine, but if the 12.9 shaves some of the weight and the bezels becomes smaller, I'd probably go for that one.
Click to expand...

A word of warning, if the 10.5 shares the same screen resolution as the 12.9 then you will have the exact same blank white space either side. You may need to zoom in a bit due to the smaller fonts though which would reduce this wasted space a little.
 
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Donka said:
I must be honest, I do prefer the 9.7 for general surfing as I find websites do not seem optimised for the 12.9 screen and effectively just a blown up version of the website you get on the 9.7 - one of the reasons I still have the 9.7 Pro.
Click to expand...
Very true

Big reason why I went from 12.9 to 9.7

It's only web browsing where you can see the benefit. And for that I can use my MacBook pro
 
darkarn said:
Just wondering, how about gaming? (no, pun not intended :p )
Click to expand...
The 12.9 is kind of crap for gaming compared to the 9.7 ipad pro. Its very hard to hold, and use touch input, unless controls are center right and left.

What would be great is if there is more mfi support for the smart keyboard, or apple tv remote for a wi like experience. Who knows.
 
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jonnyb098 said:
I think it will focus a bit more on iPad. iOS 9 did as well with the introduction of split screen and PIP. iOS 10 was cleanup on the iPad and made all other iPad apps split screen. Having music split screen was my biggest complaint so I'm glad that happened.

Personally what I would love to see is being able to make the widgets screen the default home screen. The grid of icons is starting to get really annoying. It's much easier to use the Siri suggestions widgets to launch my most used apps.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I didn't understand why they didn't include the Music app as a SplitView/SlideOver... seemed like a no-brainer at the time. I really hope they implement the Settings app in the SplitView/SlideOver... but with so many SplitView/SlideOver apps there needs to be some way we could manage... perhaps show/hide.

I do agree... the grid of icons are getting old. That's why I'm of the belief that Apple should create a iPadOS that takes advantage of the screen real-estate of the iPad. I would think just a grid of widgets would be more useful instead of icons. The ability to interact with an app instead of going inside of it.
 
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They badly need to improve the mulitasking selection as well. When you slide in from the right, the app that is there at that position instantly loads in memory if you want it or not. Then you need to pull down and swipe through that big list of apps to find the one you want. It may look nice but just give me the option of a simple alphabetical list of apps to choose from instead.
 
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