M1 Powered iPad Pro 2021 buyers and owners thread (1 Viewer)

[Sam Posten]

IMPORTANT NOTE:
The amount of RAM 2021 iPad Pro depends on how much storage the tablet is configured with. Purchase the tablet with 128GB, 256GB or 512GB of capacity and it includes 8GB of RAM. But configure it with 1TB or 2TB of storage and there’s 16GB of RAM.

2021 iPad Pro boasts truly dramatic RAM upgrade

cc @Ronald Epstein this might change your calculus. I was planning on buying 256gb, now I am not sure.

 

[Ronald Epstein]

IMPORTANT NOTE:
The amount of RAM 2021 iPad Pro depends on how much storage the tablet is configured with. Purchase the tablet with 128GB, 256GB or 512GB of capacity and it includes 8GB of RAM. But configure it with 1TB or 2TB of storage and there’s 16GB of RAM.

2021 iPad Pro boasts truly dramatic RAM upgrade

cc @Ronald Epstein this might change your calculus. I was planning on buying 256gb, now I am not sure.

Sam,

I very much appreciate your thoughts...

However, I am sitting here trying to justify the cost of a cellular model.

I can't spend that kind of money for a 1TB model just to get 16GB of ram. That's crazy money for storage space I will never use.

I don't even use 256GB and could probably get away with just 128GB. However, I always go with a little more than I need.

Hate to say it, but now that I am retired, I sit here and have to justify everything I buy. A 12.9" iPad Pro is a huge purchase and I still have a loaded 16" MBP to buy this fall.

Thanks for the information, though. F-Apple for not making 16GB of ram standard.

 

[Sam Posten]

Agreed. I think I am going 256 anyway. Cellular.

 

[Nelson Au]

Thanks for the new thread Sam. I guess because this is now an M1 powered iPad Pro, it should have its own thread.

I’m weighting the option between 1 and 2TB. Based on some comments made in the Apple Event, it seems that the division between iPad Pro and desktop/laptop is becoming less and less. If some apps that can run on an iPad Pro can run on the new iMac, I feel like we’re on the cusp or maybe it’s gone over now and the iPad Pro can really replace a MacBook Pro if you need a mobile computer. Of course it depends on what you want to do on the iPad Pro and if the applications are there to do what you want. Like the first iPad Pro in 2015, this iPad Pro M1 seems like a large leap. I’m very curious now as I use my iPad Pro a lot. I still need my desktop Mac for certain functions and for certain work activities like CAD, I still need a Windows PC. Gag, gag! But I’m really curious to see how much more I can do on the new iPad Pro.

 

[DaveF]

Ah. 11” iPad Pro didn’t get the new screen. That’s why it didn’t jump to $900 starting price - IMO.

 

[DaveF]

Sam,

I very much appreciate your thoughts...

However, I am sitting here trying to justify the cost of a cellular model.

I can't spend that kind of money for a 1TB model just to get 16GB of ram. That's crazy money for storage space I will never use.

I don't even use 256GB and could probably get away with just 128GB. However, I always go with a little more than I need.

Hate to say it, but now that I am retired, I sit here and have to justify everything I buy. A 12.9" iPad Pro is a huge purchase and I still have a loaded 16" MBP to buy this fall.

Thanks for the information, though. F-Apple for not making 16GB of ram standard.

Why do you need 16GB RAM on an iPad?

Serious question. This isn’t your Mac where you’re running hundreds of background performance-status applets in the background.

What are the reviews or performance limits you find that show you need 16GB RAM?

(Part of the RAM increase is more RAM is simply required to support the larger storage space. I don’t know the proportion, but that is some aspect of if.)

 

[Sam Posten]

As I said, I’m not placing a premium on 16gb and recommend others skip it too. But I’m also in the boat where I’m very likely to upgrade to the next refresh where I expect 16gb will be stock.

 

[Sam Posten]

Just checked. I’m pretty frugal on the stuff I load up on my iPad and I have 110gb used, 12.3gb of that is podcasts and 8.3 is music. I thought I had the 128 but I have the 256, this is the model from 2 years ago without LIDAR. I could see going to 512 but it makes no sense for me to spring for the 1tb just to get more RAM

 

[Ronald Epstein]

Just checked. I’m pretty frugal on the stuff I load up on my iPad and I have 110gb used, 12.3gb of that is podcasts and 8.3 is music. I thought but had the 128 but I have the 256 from 2 years ago. I could see going to 512 but it makes no sense for me to spring for the 1tb just to get more RAM

Yeah, that's ludicrious. I don't even want to know the price of 1TB storage. It's got to be insane.

 

[Sam Posten]

Yeah, that's ludicrious. I don't even want to know the price of 1TB storage. It's got to be insane.

$1799

 

[Sam Posten]

This takes off some of the cellular pain BTW:

Carriers Offering Discounts Up to $200 to Subsidize Higher Cost of 5G iPad Pro Models

The major wireless carriers in the United States are teaming up with Apple to subsidize the cost of the new 5G iPad Pro, which debuted today....

www.macrumors.com

 

[Nelson Au]

Hey guys, just for reference I built a 12.9” iPad Pro M1 12.9 and 13” MacBook Pro M1.

iPad Pro M1, 12.9”, 2TB wifi and AppleCare: $2348.00

MacBook Pro M1, 13”, 2TB, 16GB RAM, 2TB drive, AppleCare: $2568.00

And just for comparison:
MacBook Pro Intel, 16” 2.4GHZ 8 Core, 32GB, 2TB drive, AppleCare: $3699.00

I checked one of my iPad Pros, I’ve used up nearly 100GB of the storage space. The majority is photos and videos.

In terms of usage, I do use these iPads a lot for email, texting, internet browsing and posting on the HTF. . I do create content using Art apps such as sketchbook and procreate. I also have used Pages more then I expected. And I’ve used Numbers a bit to get to know how to use that verses Excel.

One thing I’m kind of excited about is using the new Photoshop on the iPad Pro and creating paintings as well as uploading photos from my DSLR and trying to do post work on the images instead of on the Mac. Just curious to try that. I just hate with a vengeance the way Adobe is doing the subscription model for purchasing their software.

If I do a lot of photography work on the iPad Pro, that should take up a lot of storage.

Essentially, I want to see how much the new iPad Pro can take over from a laptop. So the cost of the top of the line iPad Pro is inline with the 13” MacBook Pro. One huge advantage of the iPad Pro is the Apple Pencil. So one can paint on it.

I’ll think more about this and see if it makes sense. I did skip the iPad Pro 4 so the iPad Pro 5 makes for a real upgrade.

 

[DaveF]

“The iPad Pro is a killer machine but its software is killing me”

The iPad Pro is a killer machine but its software is killing me

Apple doesn't quite feel like it's hitting on all cylinders with the iPad Pro. The hardware is top notch. The software leaves a lot to be desired.

www.macworld.com

And yet, in 2021, it feels like the same story: Apple killed it on the hardware side, and the software…well, the software lags behind, to put it nicely. Apple built a spectacular sports car, but where are the roads to drive it on?

 

[DaveF]

can’t tell if Apple has entrenched in a deep strategy error of no touch macOS? Or they’ve got major iPadOS upgrades coming soon that give actual Pro multitasking control to the laptop caliber iPad Pro hardware? or is there really a roadmap for this seeming collision course between iPad and MacBook?


Fascinating.

 

[Sam Posten]

Unification seems inevitable to me.

 

[DaveF]

I was a denier. But with an M1 iPad Pro that's basically a MacBook Pro with unPro OS, it seems Apple is now drunkenly walking a path to inevitable unification.

Or they're in denial internaly and have a few years of hardware and software confusion / conflict ahead of them.

 

[Sam Posten]

Apple are grinders. They don’t jump in to any tech Willy nilly. They set initial capabilities low and add features that make sense over time. It’s inevitable but not as fast as some people want

 

[Nelson Au]

Dave, I haven’t had a chance to finish reading that article above, but it is true the software is not there for everyone. I never expected to do high level CAD work on the iPad Pro, would be nice. But I really doubt the company that makes the CAD software I use and the competitors are ever going to go down the iPad Pro path. There was a time they experimented with a viewer app that let one load up a 3D model and spin it on the iPhone.

I really do hope that there is unification. I would suppose there might be marketing people at Apple who want to keep the iPad Pro and MacBook Pro from eating each other’s sales. So they will want them to have some differentiation.

While I have not tried it yet, it’s a good sign Adobe is on board. Microsoft has Office 360 now too for the iPad. I think it would be so cool to have my iPad Pro at work next to my colleagues who use Surface’s.

 

[Johnny Angell]

Apple has priced me out of a new iPad Pro. Gee, there was a time when technology advanced and prices remained the same or even dropped.

 

[DaveF]

Apple are grinders. They don’t jump in to any tech Willy nilly. They set initial capabilities low and add features that make sense over time. It’s inevitable but not as fast as some people want

Apple seems to know not know or are conflicted on what to grind on with the iPad.

The hardware is so advanced, but the OS is years behind. Their multi-tasking model simply isn't good enough, but after years of iterations, they don't get it better or right.

Grinding isn't enough. There has to be vision and and ability to execute the vision. It's really unclear if Apple has a coherent vision for "iPad Pro". And they seem stuck grinding UI path for ipadOS that doesn't lead to the incredible user abilities that the Mac did 40 years ago.

The technology is great and I enjoy it. But it's also in a weird state.