Anyone pickup the new iPad Pro for 2021?

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biggles

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Just curious how you like the new iPad. We are considering the 11 inch version. The webcam improvement looks interesting (Center Stage). Or maybe not since our iPad Pro 10.5 seems to be doing just fine for most things.
 
biggles said:
Just curious how you like the new iPad. We are considering the 11 inch version. The webcam improvement looks interesting (Center Stage). Or maybe not since our iPad Pro 10.5 seems to be doing just fine for most things.
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Commander Shepard has one and likes it from early anecdotes, but I'll let him speak about it after this.

The 10.5-inch iPad Pro (I have one!) is still surprisingly powerful given its age, so don't feel like you need to get a new one right away. I'd get the M1 iPad Pro if you want to leap to a larger screen, crave the performance, or just want a tablet with a bright software future ahead (the 2017 iPad Pro probably has another year or two of major OS updates left).
 
Apple is offering $280 on a trade-in for our iPad Pro 10.5. Wife is a schoolteacher, which gives a $50 discount off the 11 inch model. So we could get it for $749 instead of $799. We use our iPad for internet browsing, youtube video, amazon video, and rarely games. But I am wondering if the new iPad is just overkill for us. Insanely powerful, but what can all this power be used for?
 
I have been thinking about it. Since work has transitioned us to entirely macOS and linux I was thinking about replacing my surface pro 5 with a new Ipad pro. Since it can double as a portable second monitor for my macbook pro when I am traveling it is really tempting.
 
I traded in my 2018 11" iPad Pro for the 2021 version. I like it, but there's a lot of disappointment with iPadOS 15 because there's no support for Pro-level apps. I suggest you watch some of the YT reviewer videos, like the one below, before making a purchase. Had I not gotten $500 trade in value, I would have kept my 2018 iPad.




For reference, here's mine...

PXL_20210621_183015397 (1).jpg
 
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biggles said:
Apple is offering $280 on a trade-in for our iPad Pro 10.5. Wife is a schoolteacher, which gives a $50 discount off the 11 inch model. So we could get it for $749 instead of $799. We use our iPad for internet browsing, youtube video, amazon video, and rarely games. But I am wondering if the new iPad is just overkill for us. Insanely powerful, but what can all this power be used for?
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I'd definitely shift your attention to the iPad Air in that case. You might miss the 120Hz screen, but I suspect you won't miss other things too much. Maybe the extra speakers.
 
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Part of my compensation package is I get an electronic device purchase option. So every year I get a phone or iPad or computer.

This year I got the iPad Pro 12.9 inch with a terabyte. Before taxes it was $1800.

I did not know this, but the current Pro is Gen 5. My previous iPad was Gen 3.

For $1800 plus taxes it is not much of an upgrade. Yes the screen is improved in contrast and the camera is way better. Seriously, how many times am I taking a publish quality picture with a 13 inch iPad? It is faster, but nothing I do really stressed the speed side of it. However it is smoother when switching applications.

If someone else wasn’t paying for it, I wouldn’t get it for me. Either they buy me the electronics or I lose the money, I can not simply ask for the cash. I’m sure it’s a tax thing.

edit. Total cost was $1920.43
 
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Liver said:
Part of my compensation package is I get an electronic device purchase option. So every year I get a phone or iPad or computer.

This year I got the iPad Pro 12.9 inch with a terabyte. Before taxes it was $1800.

I did not know this, but the current Pro is Gen 5. My previous iPad was Gen 3.

For $1800 plus taxes it is not much of an upgrade. Yes the screen is improved in contrast and the camera is way better. Seriously, how many times am I taking a publish quality picture with a 13 inch iPad? It is faster, but nothing I do really stressed the speed side of it. However it is smoother when switching applications.

If someone else wasn’t paying for it, I wouldn’t get it for me. Either they buy me the electronics or I lose the money, I can not simply ask for the cash. I’m sure it’s a tax thing.

edit. Total cost was $1920.43
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Sooooo... are you selling your old one? :p
 
I thought the mini led was on the 11". Turns out its only on the 12.9. I had the 1st gen 12.9 and I just can't go back to that size, I have been on my 2018 11" a while now.
 
I upgraded my wife's 1st gen 12.9" to the latest with 1TB and the magic keyboard. Performance is great but hard to tell whether it's faster than before - it's quite clearly software limited. The screen is terrific.
 
I upgraded from a first-gen iPad Air (circa 2013) to a 2021 iPad Pro 12.9. My thoughts:

The increased screen size is amazing. I didn't think I'd want/need it, but I definitely am happy I got the big one. My eyes ain't what they used to be, and I watch a lot of videos.
Yay! I can browse the internet again! (old iPad crashed whenever a big page would load due to lack of memory)
The screen is nice.
The battery life is excellent.
The CPU is more than powerful enough for anything I've thrown at it - even being an improvement over my old desktop in some cases!
The LIDAR scanner is still inferior to the front-facing FaceID scan-thing for detail work when capturing 3D objects. Neither are competition for the Artec LEO or similar. This is probably the biggest disappointment I have with the iPad. I had hoped to replace my photogrammetry setup with an all-in-one using Heges and the LIDAR. It just ain't happening. If I use the FaceID scanner, I get acceptable results, but I can't see the screen to determine what I'm scanning and where the missed points are.
 
I definitely would love to grab a new 12.9. But I have other priorities for now. Maybe in the fall or winter, God willing.
 
Commander Shepard said:
I traded in my 2018 11" iPad Pro for the 2021 version. I like it, but there's a lot of disappointment with iPadOS 15 because there's no support for Pro-level apps. I suggest you watch some of the YT reviewer videos, like the one below, before making a purchase. Had I not gotten $500 trade in value, I would have kept my 2018 iPad.
Click to expand...

This, oh so very this. Yes, it's nicer, yes it's better, yet if I hadn't gotten $500 in trade, I wouldn't have bothered.

I am hoping that they figure out that an iPad Pro that has the hardware capability, really needs the OS support.
 
Zumino Zufeilon said:
This, oh so very this. Yes, it's nicer, yes it's better, yet if I hadn't gotten $500 in trade, I wouldn't have bothered.

I am hoping that they figure out that an iPad Pro that has the hardware capability, really needs the OS support.
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I think Apple may have outsmarted themselves. They made an iPad Pro so powerful that it rivals the performance (and sales) of the MacBook Pro. So, the only way to prevent that bit of unforeseen unfortunateness would be to limit iPadOS. That, in turn, limits the appeal of a Pro level iPad thus encouraging consumers to opt for the cheaper iPad Air or Mini.

Just guessing, of course. ;)
 
I've been Android guy, well since 2010 and was shopping for a new tablet and figured Samsung Galaxy Tab S7+ is the only option for me. Turns out it wasn't haha.

For €50 more I had a choice between S7+ and iPad Pro 11". S7+ does have a better screen and a pen (and a better OS?), but I use my tablet for pretty much anything except drawing so the pen is useless. I have Samsung Note 10+ and the pen is rarely used, although very useful when I use it (to cut part of a text and send to someone). The loss of that AMOLED screen doesn't feel as bad, at least since I can't compare them side by side. iPad 11" screen I have no complains about.
S7+ is old. It has a slow chip compared to M1 and I wasn't sure about that size. I think even the 11" iPad is sometimes too big.
The reason why I went for 11" iPad is 1) size, 2) that M1 chip, 3) resale value. iPad will sell much faster and hold its value much better in a year or so, compared to S7+ which is already old.

But goddamn the App Store is crap compared to Android. I heard good things about it, but nope. Categories, customizations, etc, it's pretty bad. Not Microsoft bad when they had their phones (I had Lumia 1620, awesome hardware btw), but it's worse than Android.
I have just enlisted into IpadOS 15 beta because I need widgets on my main screen.

My ex has a Macbook. I hated every single thing about it. Ipad is great. Iphone I might consider if they add more customization. But I'm sure that I'd miss Nova Launcher from my Android phone.
The huge beef I have with Apple is that I can't hide the icons. On my phone, I have one big empty home screen with a beautiful animated wallpaper. I can just swipe up and the app drawer shows up, which I have have separated into categories. It's very easy and quick to navigate (also that Samsung Edge screen tab helps a ton for even quicker access to apps). On Ipad, I can't do that.

I would love that 12.9" iPad Pro screen on say, 10-11" iPad.
Samsung too fucked up, putting TFT screen on 10.5" S7 and AMOLED on 12.5". WTF were they thinking. 12.5" is too big.
So in a year or so, I'll see the new refreshed models from both Apple and Samsung and hope for something with a better screen and more customization at around 10-11".

Edit:
Forgot to add that one thing that caught me by surprise. I was watching YouTube vides on Android vs iPad tablets and so many claiming that Android tablet app support is bad compared to iPad.
Imagine the shock when I opened Instagram on iPad (n)
Even Facebook is bad. And those are big apps from a huge company. I think those Android tablet/store vs Apple tablet/store videos are mostly fanboy nonsense.
 
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My 2018 11" iPad pro is still going strong. Cannot believe how smooth it is even with iPad OS15.
That said, I think I will wait until Apple releases this version with an OLED display!
 
Nebell said:
I've been Android guy, well since 2010 and was shopping for a new tablet and figured Samsung Galaxy Tab S7+ is the only option for me. Turns out it wasn't haha.

For €50 more I had a choice between S7+ and iPad Pro 11". S7+ does have a better screen and a pen (and a better OS?), but I use my tablet for pretty much anything except drawing so the pen is useless. I have Samsung Note 10+ and the pen is rarely used, although very useful when I use it (to cut part of a text and send to someone). The loss of that AMOLED screen doesn't feel as bad, at least since I can't compare them side by side. iPad 11" screen I have no complains about.
S7+ is old. It has a slow chip compared to M1 and I wasn't sure about that size. I think even the 11" iPad is sometimes too big.
The reason why I went for 11" iPad is 1) size, 2) that M1 chip, 3) resale value. iPad will sell much faster and hold its value much better in a year or so, compared to S7+ which is already old.

But goddamn the App Store is crap compared to Android. I heard good things about it, but nope. Categories, customizations, etc, it's pretty bad. Not Microsoft bad when they had their phones (I had Lumia 1620, awesome hardware btw), but it's worse than Android.
I have just enlisted into IpadOS 15 beta because I need widgets on my main screen.

My ex has a Macbook. I hated every single thing about it. Ipad is great. Iphone I might consider if they add more customization. But I'm sure that I'd miss Nova Launcher from my Android phone.
The huge beef I have with Apple is that I can't hide the icons. On my phone, I have one big empty home screen with a beautiful animated wallpaper. I can just swipe up and the app drawer shows up, which I have have separated into categories. It's very easy and quick to navigate (also that Samsung Edge screen tab helps a ton for even quicker access to apps). On Ipad, I can't do that.

I would love that 12.9" iPad Pro screen on say, 10-11" iPad.
Samsung too fucked up, putting TFT screen on 10.5" S7 and AMOLED on 12.5". WTF were they thinking. 12.5" is too big.
So in a year or so, I'll see the new refreshed models from both Apple and Samsung and hope for something with a better screen and more customization at around 10-11".

Edit:
Forgot to add that one thing that caught me by surprise. I was watching YouTube vides on Android vs iPad tablets and so many claiming that Android tablet app support is bad compared to iPad.
Imagine the shock when I opened Instagram on iPad (n)
Even Facebook is bad. And those are big apps from a huge company. I think those Android tablet/store vs Apple tablet/store videos are mostly fanboy nonsense.
Click to expand...
cpufrost said:
My 2018 11" iPad pro is still going strong. Cannot believe how smooth it is even with iPad OS15.
That said, I think I will wait until Apple releases this version with an OLED display!
Click to expand...
I've seen several reports that claim the 11" iPad Pro get the XDR miniLED display in 2022. If true, I'll definitely upgrade again. Apple's trade-in program will give me a good value for my 2021 Pro.
 
Just picked up a magic keyboard for the 11” and kinda wish I didn’t wait. Expensive, and heavy, but it being magnetic makes it super easy to remove if I’m just using it as a tablet. Very usable sitting on the couch or recliner.
 
JustinCorrigible said:
Just picked up a magic keyboard for the 11” and kinda wish I didn’t wait. Expensive, and heavy, but it being magnetic makes it super easy to remove if I’m just using it as a tablet. Very usable sitting on the couch or recliner.
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Agreed! I had my doubts, but now wouldn't want an iPad without it.
 
I also was on the fence about the magic keyboard. But I picked one up to replace the Logitech (mouse less) and wow…. Expensive, but having the mouse allows a bit more flexibility when on the iPad.

Now time to sell the Logitech keyboard, had no real issues with it, but as others have said…. I shouldn’t have waited too long to pick one up.

Edit: I did not know the hand gestures on the trackpad work like that…. Wow.
 
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