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iPad Pro Which one would you buy? M4 1TB vs M5 512GB

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kevjen888

macrumors 6502a
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Jul 13, 2008
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Shopping for a 11” iPad Pro during this Black Friday week, so far I’m down to these two:

11” M5 iPad Pro 512GB WiFi for $1100
11” M4 iPad Pro 1TB WiFi for $1200

the M4 though has an older processor but it has 1TB storage and 16 GB of RAM for future proof. But the new M5 IPP comes with 12GB of RAM even for base storage.

So basically is the older M4 + extra 512 GB of storage + extra 4GB of RAM worth the $100 price difference? Which one would you get?
 
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Both will last you a while (hell even the 8GB M2 and M4 are far from becoming obsolete). I’d boil it down to whether or not you need the extra capacity.
 
My $.02 - assuming you're going to keep this thing for a long time ... go with the 16GB of ram and the extra 512 GB of storage.

Agree with JCCL - how much is that extra ram/storage worth to you? Both will last many years.
 
Yes I will keep this iPad for at least 5+ years. Which is more important for future proofing? Processor age or RAM and storage?
 
I’d take the M4 for the extra RAM personally. RAM has historically been the limiting factor on iPad performance and longevity over the years. The only reasons I could see to pick the M5 are if you plan to regularly use the iPad connected to an external display (in which case the 120 Hz support might be nice) or your workflow involves AI in some way that could actually benefit from the accelerators Apple has added to the GPU cores in the M5 generation.
 
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M4 and M5 performance difference ain’t gonna be that noticeable for day to day use to be honest. Not like M5 doubles performance compared to M4 or something like that. It’s when comparing to older iPad Pro like my M1 iPad Pro then things are getting interesting. 16GB of RAM will surely last you longer than the modest performance uplift M5 could provide, and 1TB storage means you never need to worry about micromanaging storage again. (I still have to but that’s just me)
 
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Someone with a wifi7 network and gigabit internet who frequently downloads large files might appreciate the M5.

As would someone who frequently transfers large video files from an SD card. Of course they would need ample storage, so probably already use their Mac for video editing.
 
I have the M4, bought it last year. So called upgrade from the previous pro. Serious buyers remorse. It is a downgrade, sound quality and battery significantly worse. Perhaps because of it being a lot thinner.
Perhaps they fixed some of these with the M5 and I’d go for that one. The M4 is just not up to par.
 
I upgraded from the 13" M4 512GB to the 13" M5 1TB for the additional storage. In your circumstance, I would opt for the M4 1TB - you wouldn't see any noticeable difference in performance between the two.
 
fatTribble said:
It depends on whether you will use the storage. If you have 30GB of photos it may not make sense to go 1TB.

For what it’s worth , I have a 2TB M1 iPad and I never warm up the processor.
Click to expand...

I only have 30GB of photos but I got the 1TB M1 at launch.

I have a pretty big comic collection though (Humble Bundle and Amazon sales). Even 2TB probably wouldn't be enough if I downloaded everything.
 
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kevjen888 said:
Yes I will keep this iPad for at least 5+ years. Which is more important for future proofing? Processor age or RAM and storage?
Click to expand...
We know RAM demands will be constantly increasing. Storage is irrelevant - - except when your usages demand more on board storage, info only you will know. Processors are so powerful that we mostly do not care unless games or AI will be important, in which case you definitely want the newer chip.
 
Depends on what you plan on using it for. If you plan on gaming I would go with the M5. When Apple and Developers implement the new machine learning metal 4 fx features those "neural accelerators" with help dramatically with gaming the same way DLSS works for NVIDIA GPUs. the base m5 iPad Pro is going for $899 at micocenter.
 
fatTribble said:
It depends on whether you will use the storage. If you have 30GB of photos it may not make sense to go 1TB.

For what it’s worth , I have a 2TB M1 iPad and I never warm up the processor.
Click to expand...

We have the same but oddly last night my daughter was just doodling in the notes app with the Apple Pencil and it was getting really hot with huge battery drain…

It’s the first time we spent any time using the Apple Pencil but it was very odd.

To the op

I’d go m4 as I like having storage headroom. You can also use it for just keeping a local copy of your important files. So it can act a as a backup of sorts for your Mac .
 
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kevjen888 said:
Shopping for a 11” iPad Pro during this Black Friday week, so far I’m down to these two:

11” M5 iPad Pro 512GB WiFi for $1100
11” M4 iPad Pro 1TB WiFi for $1200

the M4 though has an older processor but it has 1TB storage and 16 GB of RAM for future proof. But the new M5 IPP comes with 12GB of RAM even for base storage.

So basically is the older M4 + extra 512 GB of storage + extra 4GB of RAM worth the $100 price difference? Which one would you get?
Click to expand...
If you need 1Tb you get 1 Tb regardless the CPU. Otherwise go for the fastest CPU.
 
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I would go with the M5 (newer CPU and faster connectivity). If you need storage plug a T7 with 1Tb and your problems are solved. Besides, if you ever need to use a external monitor this would be the better option. On top of everything you'd be saving $100.
 
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thanks for the replies, i'm leaning toward the M5 with 512GB. right now BF pricing for 11" M5 512 wifi is $1099 in my area, hope they can lower another $50 by this weekend.
 
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