iPad Pro What is the purpose of iPad Pro?

[Alameda]

My credit card company gave me a great offer on an iPad Pro, so I purchased an 11” iPad Pro with 256 GB, the 5G cellular option, and the Magic Keyboard. It’s a lot of fun, and more convenient than carrying around my MacBook Pro, especially with the cellular option.

I’m trying to understand how the fast CPU and other features make this iPad stand out from the iPad Air and iPad “Regular.” As far as I gather, for surfing the web, reading email, watching videos… no difference at all, except that the Pro has a nicer screen and Face ID.

I‘m also an avid photographer, and I bought a 4TB Thunderbolt-speed flash drive as well. My thousands of DSLR RAW photos take up several terabytes, so I store the photos on a Synology NAS. The Synology is great, except it’s a backup device; you can’t efficiently browse and edit 45 MB photos over a gigabit Ethernet connection. So now I have the 4 TB drive which holds another copy of my photo library so that I can pull up and edit anything very easily.

I plugged the 4 TB drive into the iPad and opened Adobe Lightroom, and it lets me browse the photos, which is awesome. I’m not crazy about Lightroom in general but it seems like using the iPad to edit images in the field is a great idea, and this is probably where the Pro is a lot better than the other iPad models? I’m very interested in thoughts on the subject of how other people edit and manage RAW photos on iPad.

 

[sparksd]

I use LR on my M1 12.9 primarily when I'm traveling and want to get some quick reviewing and some processing of my Canon RAW images; I really prefer to do most of the work at home with access to my main storage media & LR library. For iPad storage, I use a 1TB SSD. For me, the Pro benefits are the larger 12.9 display and benefits of a more powerful CPU for 4K video processing with LumaFusion; not sure that the RAW image processing gains enough to be really noticeable but again, I like the larger display for LR.

 

[FeliApple]

Compared to the Air there’s not a lot of difference. I think that the most perceivable difference is the Quad Speakers on the iPad Pro. They’re a lot better. Apart from that, other than Face ID, there’s not a lot of difference.

With the 10th-gen iPad you have the Apple Pencil, the chipset, and the laminated screen, but for content consumption honestly any iPad since the Air 2 provided it isn’t massively updated and battery life hasn’t been obliterated it will be fine, you don’t need the absolute latest for that. The main improvement newer iPads have is the full screen design. I think that as long as you have that, for content consumption any iPad will work perfectly. But compared to the Air? Like I said, the main improvement are the speakers I think.

 

[Digitalguy]

Compared to the Air there’s not a lot of difference. I think that the most perceivable difference is the Quad Speakers on the iPad Pro. They’re a lot better. Apart from that, other than Face ID, there’s not a lot of difference.

With the 10th-gen iPad you have the Apple Pencil, the chipset, and the laminated screen, but for content consumption honestly any iPad since the Air 2 provided it isn’t massively updated and battery life hasn’t been obliterated it will be fine, you don’t need the absolute latest for that. The main improvement newer iPads have is the full screen design. I think that as long as you have that, for content consumption any iPad will work perfectly. But compared to the Air? Like I said, the main improvement are the speakers I think.

Base storage is also an important differentiator in my opinion. Promotion is a nice bonus, for some people it's a huge deal, not for me, but still a nice bonus to have. For me the speakers alone are worth the $200 difference, which is actually not $200 but $150 once you equalize the storage.

 

[jm31828]

The primary differences between the Air and the current Pro (11") are really as follows:

Promotion 120Hz display (which side by side is barely noticeable to me)
Quad speakers vs. the dual speakers on the Air (The Air speakers are fantastic, but the ones on the Pro do indeed sound a bit better)
M2 chip vs the M1 chip in the Air (slight speed bump, but makes no difference in real world use)
Base model has 128GB storage, vs. 64GB base on the Air

That's really it- so it's up to the buyer to determine if it's worth the $200 bump to get the Pro over the Air. However functionally, with the M1 chip and 8GB RAM, the Air will do literally everything that the Pro can do as far as power apps and heavy multitasking.

As others have said, even the other iPad versions are not far behind in performance. I am testing a 9th gen (with the A13 chip and 3GB RAM) side by side with an Air 5th gen currently (with plans to return which ever one I don't want to keep), and opening common apps and websites that I would use, and performing common tasks in those apps is either identical in speed between the two or there is a millisecond difference in how long it takes on some of them on the 9th gen. It's really amazing how over-powered the M1 and M2 chips are for what can really be done software-wise on iPads.

 

[Digitalguy]

Quad speakers vs. the dual speakers on the Air (The Air speakers are fantastic, but the ones on the Pro do indeed sound a bit better)

I don't agree with this description but to each their own, I know when it comes to audio comparisions are not straightforward. For me anything less than the 11" pro in terms of speakers is not enough, with the M1/M2 12.9" being clearly fuller and louder (more than previous generations 12.9" pros), but again to each their own.
Storage too is somewhat subjective, and there again for some people 64 is not enough, for others it's perfectly fine.

 

[jm31828]

I don't agree with this description but to each their own, I know when it comes to audio comparisions are not straightforward. For me anything less than the 11" pro in terms of speakers is not enough, with the M1/M2 12.9" being clearly fuller and louder (more than previous generations 12.9" pros), but again to each their own.
Storage too is somewhat subjective, and there again for some people 64 is not enough, for others it's perfectly fine.

Yeah, fair assessment.
I am not as much of an audiophile as some- and so to me when listening to these side by side- the Pro does sound better, but I thought the Air sounded so good, that it was a very minor difference.

And yeah, great call on storage. It varies a lot, so I tried to just note the difference between the two there for base models- but the needs of each individual will vary.

 

[Digitalguy]

Yeah, fair assessment.
I am not as much of an audiophile as some- and so to me when listening to these side by side- the Pro does sound better, but I thought the Air sounded so good, that it was a very minor difference.

And yeah, great call on storage. It varies a lot, so I tried to just note the difference between the two there for base models- but the needs of each individual will vary.

Totally fair too. Plus some people don't use speakers much or use them at low volumes (for instance only at night) so it's very subjective. I use them all the time and at max volume to enjoy movies etc. sometimes in noisy environments (while washing stuff, cooking etc.) so for me they are extremely important.

 

[jm31828]

Totally fair too. Plus some people don't use speakers much or use them at low volumes (for instance only at night) so it's very subjective. I use them all the time and at max volume to enjoy movies etc. sometimes in noisy environments (while washing stuff, cooking etc.) so for me they are extremely important.

Yeah, great call.
The speakers on my wife's 7th gen sound horrible, and so when testing on the Air that I had picked up I was surprised at how great they sounded. Then when testing a Pro, I noticed an improvement, but to me I guess the gap was much more narrow between the Air and Pro than it was between the 7th gen and the Air.... maybe not a fair comparison.

It is truly amazing what they can do with those relatively small speakers on the Pro!

 

[Abazigal]

I’m trying to understand how the fast CPU and other features make this iPad stand out from the iPad Air and iPad “Regular.” As far as I gather, for surfing the web, reading email, watching videos… no difference at all, except that the Pro has a nicer screen and Face ID.

Yeah, to me, it's basically just a nicer iPad Air.

 

[JustAnExpat]

I believe the "Pros" are used for either:
- When you want the most nicest machine possible OR;
- When you are using a specific piece of software, like movie editing, that will tax the CPU.

The Pros are great machines, but do they provide enough of a "niceness" to buy it over the Airs or the regular iPads? That's for you, the user, to judge.

 

[Digitalguy]

I believe the "Pros" are used for either:
- When you want the most nicest machine possible OR;
- When you are using a specific piece of software, like movie editing, that will tax the CPU.

The Pros are great machines, but do they provide enough of a "niceness" to buy it over the Airs or the regular iPads? That's for you, the user, to judge.

Since the air got the M1 I don't think that CPU power factors in the decision anymore.
The main points are speakers, screen (promotion, miniled, soon OLED for both) and storage (including higher tiers than 256GB, some of which also have more RAM).

 

[Rychiar]

What I’ve learned from this is people really care about iPad speakers . I dunno what the use case is that I would ever listen to audio on an iPad….

 

[muzzy996]

What I’ve learned from this is people really care about iPad speakers . I dunno what the use case is that I would ever listen to audio on an iPad….

For most I think it is a matter of media consumption (video) without the use of external audio devices (headphones or external speakers) as opposed to listening to just audio alone using the iPad speakers. Not saying that some people don't. I infer from your comment that you most likely don't do extensive video watching on iPad with just the iPad speakers.

 

[Rychiar]

For most I think it is a matter of media consumption (video) without the use of external audio devices (headphones or external speakers) as opposed to listening to just audio alone using the iPad speakers. Not saying that some people don't. I infer from your comment that you most likely don't do extensive video watching on iPad with just the iPad speakersithat regard.

I mean I might occasionally watch a short unimportant tv show on my iPad in my kitchen but I don’t feel any different about my m1 iPad Pro versus my old air 2 in regards to audio. If I’m watching video i care about I’ll go watch it on my home theater or at least pop AirPods in

 

[r_mack]

My wife and my university-aged daughter both have iPad Air (M1) and I have an 11" iPad Pro (M1). I bought mine two years ago as it was an open-box special at Best Buy and was only $100 more with 128 Gb than the Air with 64 Gb.

There really isn't much difference between the two. The Pro has a slightly smaller bezel and feels thinner. ProMotion is definitely an improvement, however, for day-to-day use, not so much. However, I do think the next-gen iPad Pro will further differentiate from the Air.

 

[AlmightyKang]

I bought an original 128gb 3rd gen iPad Pro because it had the Promotion display and the new Apple pencil support. I was doing a lot of mathematical stuff on paper and my office was starting to turn into a fire hazard with all the paper everywhere. It ended up getting used all day every day for just about everything during the covid lockdowns here. I bought a 256gb M2 iPad Pro when they came out which I am rather happy with.

It had a couple of outstanding use cases I didn't think of initially. Firstly when I'm travelling it takes up a crap load less hand luggage allowance than a laptop does. So I use it to dump my mirrorless into Apple Photos. I shoot jpeg and use Apple Photos for editing and library management and touch up in Pixelmator on the Mac and it all sort of just works out really well there. You can do light edits on the iPad without having to squint at some tiny screen. Secondly I use it for annotating and signing forms and PDFs all the time.

I keep toying with the idea of buying a keyboard for it but I don't really need it.

 

[MarkC426]

When I bought my 1st gen iPad Pro in 2016, it was leaps and bounds above the standard iPads.
So my logic was it would last MUCH longer.
It wasn't until a couple of years ago that the Air caught up.

Coming up to 8 years on mine and supported latest OS until a couple of months ago.
I only use it for media/email/web.

Having had Pro, I wouldn't go lower personally.
The only thing tempting me to upgrade is lack of storage....

 

[Shanghaichica]

I think the pros are not meant for people who do basic tasks like streaming and web browsing. People like me.

I guess it’s for people who want to do more intensive tasks like photo and video editing or have a special use case for the pencil.

Having said all of that I still own a pro, mostly because of the quad speakers. At the time I bought it there were other advantages such the new design, larger display, ability to use the Magic Keyboard. However, these can all be had on the air now.

 

[rui no onna]

Having had Pro, I wouldn't go lower personally.
The only thing tempting me to upgrade is lack of storage....

Storage is precisely why I have the Pro. There are no 512GB-1TB options on non-Pro iPads.

Mind, I also find myself liking FaceID a lot better than the sleep/wake button TouchID. Home button TouchID worked great for me but the sleep/wake button is a lot pickier. Plus the button placement is inconvenient when the iPad isn't in a regular orientation.

 

[Shanghaichica]

Storage is precisely why I have the Pro. There are no 512GB-1TB options on non-Pro iPads.

Mind, I also find myself liking FaceID a lot better than the sleep/wake button TouchID. Home button TouchID worked great for me but the sleep/wake button is a lot pickier. Plus the button placement is inconvenient when the iPad isn't in a regular orientation.

Touch ID on the mini home button is ok. I think it’s because it’s a smaller device. However, I think I would find it awkward on my 11 inch pro.

 

[rui no onna]

I think the pros are not meant for people who do basic tasks like streaming and web browsing.

My aunt bought 2x 12.9" iPad Pros precisely for streaming K-Dramas (she's branched out to Chinese/Taiwanese dramas now). The 2nd gen first but then she dropped it on tile floors so it got replaced with a 4th gen.

Mine, I got for extra local storage for comics: 256GB 9.7" (2016), 512GB 10.5" & 12.9" (2017), 1TB 11" & 12.9" (2021)

I greatly appreciate having the extra RAM on the M1 as well for multi-tab browsing.

 

[rui no onna]

Touch ID on the mini home button is ok. I think it’s because it’s a smaller device. However, I think I would find it awkward on my 11 inch pro.

Still not a fan of the sleep/wake TouchID on the iPad mini 6. None of my left-hand fingers would work on it.

It's OK when I'm using the mini in portrait mode and my right index finger isn't covered in grease. Any other orientation or if I'm snacking and it's a PITA.

 

[macias13ca]

Very anecdotal and somewhat niche use case, but as a performing musician and educator, the iPad 12.9 is the best way to digitize and carry around not just music/charts/setlists, etc, but also all teaching materials/books. I know that for many, many musicians, the iPad 12.9 is the best option for screen resolution & size, ease of use for notes/markings when paired with the 2nd gen pencil and an app like ForScore, storage for their "sheet" music needs, and the quad speakers are also a huge help when trying to play a metronome or other accompanying sounds with my students or even in rehearsals with small ensembles. A lot of this work doesn't require the chainsaw processing power of the newer iPads - I'm still using my 12.9 Pro from Sept 2020 and have not felt any need whatsoever for the M chips, but, again, niche use case here.

 

[mrmister]

As far as I gather, for surfing the web, reading email, watching videos… no difference at all, except that the Pro has a nicer screen and Face ID.

Yes, you already understand the difference.