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iPad Pro Was this iPad Pro update worth it?

Kal-037

Kal-037

macrumors 68020
Original poster
Apr 7, 2015
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Depends on the day, but usually I live all over.
My feelings were known in another thread but I’m just curious what folks think of this “update.”



I feel that besides the MacBooks that get processor bumps or minor changes once a year or two... this iPad Pro is the laziest Apple product update ever (to the best of my memory/knowledge.)


No FaceTime camera bump (no Slowfie)

No real indication of processing power or GPU increases.

No added color options.

Storage size increasing but price increasing as well when historically Apple would drop prices of a newer gen ipad.

Storage size increasing but price increasing as well when historically Apple would drop prices of a newer gen ipad.

Is the aluminum stronger, are any of the weak spots reinforced or redesigned?

So really, I guess I’m hoping for an impossibility (to have an actual upgrade in the fall.)
 
GPU has one extra core. I suspect the SoC gets a 15% clock speed boost too.

I betcha this has 6 GB RAM, but we shall see. If true, that would represent a whopping 50% increase in RAM capacity.

It also gets upgraded WiFi and LTE.
 
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I think this is a fair update, except I just wish they’d called it the A13X because staying with the A12 name implies that they’re probably not using the newer, more efficient 7 nm process. Oh well.
I do expect 6-8 gigs of RAM with clock speed increases on the SOC. My guess is that the CPU will be 5-10% faster and the GPU will be 15% faster. The new microphones and camera are nice additions.

EDIT: 6 gigs RAM confirmed, so I think it’s a worthy upgrade from anything other than the last gen.
 
Last edited:
Kal-037 said:
Storage size increasing but price increasing as well when historically Apple would drop prices of a newer gen ipad.
Click to expand...
As mentioned in previous post, they didn't increase pricing. Likely price increases in other countries are currency exchange related.

rui no onna said:
At least in the US, prices are actually lower.

2018 Pro Launch Pricing
11" Wi-Fi
64GB/256GB/512GB/1TB
$799/$949/$1149/$1549

2019 Pro Launch Pricing
11" Wi-Fi
128GB/256GB/512GB/1TB
$799/$899/$1099/$1299
Click to expand...

Personally, reckon I'll save the $300 or so and wait for refurb 2018 1TB LTE. We'll see. No pressing need for upgrade. It's rare that I do anything taxing on my iPads. Granted, I did hit RAM pretty hard just the past weekend dealing with YouTube and image-heavy PDFs (A10X/4GB) so maybe I'll pony up if new 1TB model has more than 6GB RAM.
 
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Kal-037 said:
My feelings were known in another thread but I’m just curious what folks think of this “update.”



I feel that besides the MacBooks that get processor bumps or minor changes once a year or two... this iPad Pro is the laziest Apple product update ever (to the best of my memory/knowledge.)


No FaceTime camera bump (no Slowfie)

No real indication of processing power or GPU increases.

No added color options.

Storage size increasing but price increasing as well when historically Apple would drop prices of a newer gen ipad.

Storage size increasing but price increasing as well when historically Apple would drop prices of a newer gen ipad.

Is the aluminum stronger, are any of the weak spots reinforced or redesigned?

So really, I guess I’m hoping for an impossibility (to have an actual upgrade in the fall.)
Click to expand...

No MiniLED, no sale.
 
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This is the problem with Apple not having their spring event. Apple didn’t get a chance to wow everyone with all the little details and why they’re significant.

As for me, I’m on the 10.5” iPad Pro so I’m pretty excited to upgrade to this model. My only disappointment is that it doesn’t have the 2X zoom lens. I find that much handier than a super-wide lens.
 
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EugW said:
GPU has one extra core. I suspect the SoC gets a 15% clock speed boost too.

I betcha this has 6 GB RAM, but we shall see. If true, that would represent a whopping 50% increase in RAM capacity.

It also gets upgraded WiFi and LTE.
Click to expand...
The ram is what I’m curious about, as that will definitely help future proof this and make it a more worth while upgrade. Definitely need some more specific specs on this
 
I’m expecting a refresh later this year or early next year with the A14 chip, this reminds me of the iPad 3 coming out months before the iPad 4.
 
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I think it was a fine upgrade. Nothing that would make a 2018 pro owner want to update, but updates from one gen to the gen are rarely worth it. As stated above, there are actually some nice price cuts in the US. If price went up (as seems to be the case in other countries based on exchange rates), then that would look a lot less appealing.
 
Everyone should be used to this. It's the mid bump again. We got a new design last time. We got some improvements this year, next year will be the 'real' new stuff again. Rinse, repeat.
 
The problem is that this just feels “too early”. The features we get are mostly novelty while so many missing features just aren’t out yet.

It just stinks because the fact that this exists in March2020 pretty much means a true “Pro” update will likely be pushed into mid 2021.
 
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rui no onna said:
As mentioned in previous post, they didn't increase pricing. Likely price increases in other countries are currency exchange related.



Personally, reckon I'll save the $300 or so and wait for refurb 2018 1TB LTE. We'll see. No pressing need for upgrade. It's rare that I do anything taxing on my iPads. Granted, I did hit RAM pretty hard just the past weekend dealing with YouTube and image-heavy PDFs (A10X/4GB) so maybe I'll pony up if new 1TB model has more than 6GB RAM.
Click to expand...

yeah I misspoke about pricing in the US, thanks for clarifying. :)
I want 6GB RAM, but I have barely used this iPad for the 1-year I have had it and so far have not run into any RAM issues. (I bought mine later than many) so it’s just now a year old and is incredibly fast and awesome. It has another year of AC+, so even if it has an issue down the road I imagine they would swap it out for the 4th gen. as I don’t see me having issues for quite some time and by then I bet their inventory of iPad Pro 3s perhaps will be pretty much dried up.
*I wouldn’t care if they did swap it for the same thing, but I just know in the past they have swapped products for the current ones, but I’m not at all needing the 4th gen. lol
 
Did the iPad Pro 3 have capabilities of playing HDR10 and Dolby Vision, or is that a feature only for the 2nd gen iPPs and then these 4th gen?
how is that even possible the 3rd gen may not? isn’t it the same hardware as the 4 (600 nits and Liquid Retina?)
 
I'm going to wait for the end of the year regardless and see what (if anything) happens; mini LED is the feature I really want to see!
 
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I don't think it's a lazy update. The 2018 iPad Pro was phenomenal so its almost impossible to bring out something drastically different ~500 days later.

It's an incremental update which is 100% ok. I hope the 2020 model is a little bit more robust but we will have to wait and see until they are in people's hands.

Apple have smashed it again with the iPad Pro. Need to give them credit where it's due.
 
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