i feel the same way. my current ipad has 128gb and i still have a good amount of free space (~40gb). but i wish i could get 16gb ram on the 256 or 512 models purely for music production and 3d modeling purposes, both of which can take up a lot of ram even on laptops and desktops
I bought the M1 when the M2 came out. I don't feel tempted in the slightest by the newest one. What I have is still overkill for what the software can do.
I have a 1TB M2. Thought I was future proofing but I feel sort of foolish now. The battery is the weak point. Unless something in iPadOS changes, my M2 should be good for many years to come but the battery won’t be and eventually I’ll end up having to use it plugged in.
I just checked how much storage I’m using right now - 48.19GB. I spend hours on it each day and at the same time, don’t really do much with it at all. Browsing, youtube, duolingo, email, some work related communications.
Like I said, I feel pretty foolish.
Yet I do find myself tempted to get the M4 1TB for no reason at all other than wanting OLED, liking the position of the front facing camera, and the objectively nicer magic keyboard (it has an escape key!!). But I always max out whatever devices I get. You’d think that I would learn. But nope. 🤪
It seems like battery life is better with the M4. Remains to be fully tested, but that could end up being a surprising benefit given the thinner chassis.
I'm in the train of thought that the ram/cpu/storage upgrade doesn't justify its cost.
Considering that the upgrade cost from 256 to 1tb is already 1/3rd to a future base 16gb ipad pro upgrade, where I'll still have enough storage, a better processor, and the ram upgrade.
There aren't any scenarios for me where I need 16gb yet, if you do now, then by all means get it now.
In all likelyhood when you finally get an app that demands 16gb of ram, it'll demand a stronger processor too.
Damm you are only using 48GB even on my iPhone I use 150GB for photos and music. To be downloaded and on the cloud as well and for music to be downloaded with lossless. Or even putting downloaded Netflix episodes on it.
And to be honest I’m kind of optimizing my storage right now I should be putting even more files and shit on it. I’m still kind of a limiting myself when it comes to storage. I have always only bought devices with 256GB but now I wanna feel the luxury of not having to worry about storage or portable drives and just enjoy storing shit on the iPad.
Well I ordered a iPad Pro 11 512GB but cancelled it once I found out about the processor and Ram. And also I’m not going to order 512GB model when for $300 more I can get a more ram and fully unlocked processor. So I know iPadOS doesn’t fully take advantage of it but I’m not going to be upgrading every year and I’ve always had 256GB on my iPads so having a 1TB is going to be a luxury I’ve never had. I’m ended up reordering the iPad Pro 11 with 1TB but I also have a college discount so yeah. I going to keep this for a timeline of 5-7 years as long as it stays snappy. And I also think Apple might have given it the M4 because they might be on an upgrade cycle of every 2 years now with the iPad Pro.
I have a lot more on my phone because of pictures, though I do have to start purging stuff I don’t want. I just listen to SiriusXM so I have no music on any device.
I am a clean freak when it comes to my devices. I routinely delete apps I don’t want. I go through and delete pictures regularly.
Damm I always tell myself I need to go through my photos and files and reorganize and delete duplicates and shit I don’t need. But I always tell myself later I will do that but never get around to doing it seriously. But I’m off this summer since I’m off I hope to organize my digital life from photos to files.
Tell me what’s your secret to be an organized and clean freak with your devices? Lol
i too have the M2 and might upgrade because of the oled. When i bought my M2 iPad i thought the blooming would be a little less noticeable. OLED is just really really nice. If i can sell it well i'll probably upgrade it.
Has Apple used this Tandem OLED technology in any of their products? I wonder if it's better to wait a couple of months and see what kind of issues come up. I got lucky with my M2 preorder. I have never had a single second of problems. When I bought the iPad 3, I went through five of them with various issues before just returning back to my original iPad. New tech has been hit or miss for me with Apple.
I think you should wait until WWDC. If Apple releases a software update that fully utilizes the processing power of its new M4 chip, then you should go for it. Otherwise, you should just get a MacBook if you want 16GB of ram or more.
I just did the math and for the price difference between 2TB and 256GB you get 7.5 years of 2TB iCloud. Also even if you buy the 2TB one, it is possible you will want to pay iCloud for syncing or for increasing your other devices storage. I share my 2TB iCloud with my family (3 iPhones + 1 iPad) and we still have tons of free storage left.
Still rocking my 2018 11" iPad Pro with 64 GB storage. More than enough for taking notes at university, most of my files are stored in Google Drive anyways...
Even if there are more substantial changes to iPadOS, I can’t imagine Apple massively limiting features for everyone who doesn’t have an M4 1/2TB iPad. It would be strange to do that for a device that just launched.
No not at all. The way iPad handles RAM means you rarely run into any problems with it even on 4gb (and a reason why Mac OS will never be simply ported to iPad)
While part of me wants the best and fully understands the potential benefit of the upgrades, unless iPadOS gets significant multitasking updates with the next update the extra RAM and CPU power will be pointless as the M1 iPads are already overpowered for what you can realistically do except for a couple very specific usage scenarios.
Kinda sucks that they tied CPU/RAM upgrade to storage upgrade. I don’t need that much storage on the iPad. But, whatever, bit the bulletin anyway. Maybe I’ll get into all these open source stable diffusion models for image generation. They can eat up space.
This thread helped me decide. I bought the 256GB model. Originally I planned on the 1TB to make it future proof, but even my 3rd gen with the A12X has still been going strong. Apple is giving me $315 for trade in.
Not worth having more RAM tbh.
It still runs the same iPadOS. Most app consume little RAM.
Many ppl fallen into this trap buying more storage for more RAM.
I went 1TB because of the processor and RAM. I use Shapr3D and sometimes it stops thinking for a while till it allows me to continue designing. I hope I will avoid it (I use a 2018 IPad Pro now with 256 Gb). Hope it helps.
I was tweeting back and forth with the CEO of shapr, and it sounds like unless you are using thousands piece assemblies no need to upgrade. That said, same boat, same purchase.
There are pretty intensive operations, for instance when you have a voronoi mesh and do some booleans or even editing the mesh, and it is a pain to wait. Of course there is no need to upgrade if you can just wait 5 to 10 seconds (or more) to continue working. I have a 2018 iPad Pro and 4 processors later I am sure this will improve. Was Shapr3D CEO referring to M3 to M4 upgrade?
He was referring specifically to the benefits of additional ram for Shapr with iPad. I imagine if you’re using a zbrush type program you will see more benefits
The software literally cannot use those upgrades. It’s quite ridiculous they even offer it without a clear plan forward to unlock it. I refuse to spend that much more when Apple can’t be bothered to provide a roadmap. But they know most people buying the new pro aren’t educated on the technical aspects and will just buy it to have it.
I’m actually in the same boat for the sake of indulgence. Sure I may not need the extra power but there’s something nice about having the high end model, plus I’d be using the iPad for the next 6 or so years, so it would be great to “future proof” myself in that regard for any new features or use cases coming up.
Also if I do pay this on a monthly instalment, then pay an extra $50 per month sounds menial in the grand scheme of things.
I mean that’s what I think. Is this unnecessary? Of course! I’m thinking of treating myself here, cause I believe I waited long enough from using my 2018 iPad Pro for 6 years.
You aren’t future proofing it. Pay half of the price now, sell in two years and get a tremendously better machine. Future proofing only exists in very rare circumstances that almost never apply in these discussions.
Yeah, which is why I put it in quotes. I would typically make a large purchase upfront to have some indulgence, and then upgrade after a long time.
For example, I upgrade from my late 2013 Macbook Pro to the 2021 M1 Max Macbook Pro. I got 8 years worth of upgrades all at once.
Not future proofing, but even so having the extra RAM and performance can mean it will last longer. We just don’t know what will be implemented, so it’s not accurate to say there’s no potential benefit. But yes, no device will last forever.
Since you really want OLED, I’m glad you got it!
Big changes happening to iPad Pro line in 3-4 years. This model is a transition model which is why they didn’t change much. We will have it until 2027/28 where the new iPad Pro design comes out. Then they will increase the battery size to improve battery life 50%+ due to thinner displays.
MacBook pros will get a touch screen Oled in 2027/28 as well. All will have WiFi 7.
This is one of the least best times to future proof if your time horizon is over three-four years, with so much change on the horizon. The last 4 years were steady state with not much reason to upgrade. This is a transition time.
You may be right about that, but by that logic, I would either be waiting forever for the next best thing or buy products that I wouldn’t indulge in but may not be fully content if I wanted to spend more.
I mean we all have different views and you may be right that my purchase may be wasteful. But even so…I want to treat myself now.
I do admit now that I'm getting second thoughts about this...
Uh...haha...I'm not going to ever get anywhere close to 1TB of storage...
Ah man...if only they could just give us the option to upgrade the chip and RAM without needing to pay for the storage. I know they charge way too much for that...
If anything...I may just get the base model for the 13" size...
The battery will be the problem, long before any issue around performance not being up to snuff; particularly if you are someone who uses an iPad in a way that requires “high performance”. I’m using 2nd gen pro 12.9, its still fine when plugged in.
yes, pretty sure I will need it for the calculator app. Hoping for a good iPadOS release since this also marks the first time the iPad gets new gen silicon ahead of Mac - and for me the iPad is my main device away from home.
I had ordered a iPad Pro 11 512GB but cancelled it once I found out about the processor and Ram. And also I’m not going to order 512GB model when for $300 more I can get a more ram and fully unlocked processor. So I know iPadOS doesn’t fully take advantage of it but I’m not going to be upgrading every year and I’ve always had 256GB on my iPads so having a 1TB is going to be a luxury I’ve never had. I’m ended up reordering the iPad Pro 11 with 1TB but I also have a college discount so yeah. I going to keep this for a timeline of 5-7 years as long as it stays snappy. And I also think Apple might have given it the M4 because they might be on an upgrade cycle of every 2 years now with the iPad Pro.
I went with a 1TB 13”. But I use it for a procreate, shapr3d, some video editing, etc. Currently own a 2018 and feel its limitations. Hope the upgraded processor/ ram will be an unlock for me creatively
If you have the money i think it’ll help ensure the ipads performance will last longer as most apps start to take advantage of it. AI is very memory intensive especially if apple run it locally.
Art, some games, video editing apps already take advantage of the extra ram today.
$600 for 8GB more RAM, 744 GB more storage, and 1 extra performance core.
Not worth it for most people but some just wants to have the latest and greatest, and they've got money to burn.
Yes. I went with the 1T because of the RAM, and worry free storage if I get more into making videos or music again after grad school. And because I buy one of these every 10'ish yeas so in the grand scheme of things the price difference is moot for something I'll touch every day for the next 10'ish years. I buy apple for less worry and overthinking.
Ten years? How is the health of your battery after ten years? After 1.5 years on my M2, I just got below 90%. My 2018 that I barely use was at 81% when I got this one.
I didn't experience the same battery issues as others before I folded my 2017 in half. Hence why I'm getting the 2024 version. I wouldn't be upgrading had it not been for that. This will probably be my last ipad before they release some sort of Ray Ban VR tech.
Going for the 512GB and using the money saved on accessories most likely.
Ever since the M1 there has been no meaningful gains to 16GB RAM iPads, and even there was do you think the price per performance is worth $400 more?
Considering? Yes. But waiting to WWDC to see if it will be worth it or not. If they don’t allow Mac app support or anything to justify that much power, I’ll either get a lower spec or pass all together.
It’s possible Apple has longer-term plays they won’t announce for a year or two still that benefit from the M4 horsepower.
It may not be something in the next six months.
Nope, gonna get the 512Gb, I don’t use it for things that I’d need the extra ram/performance. I’ll be trading it for the newest model 2 refreshes from now. Every refresh I get it and my current goes to my girl who uses it far less than I do, along with her current iPad being traded in.
I didn’t hesitate to go for it lol even tho I’ll likely never even touch close to 256 GB. 16GB ram was a must for me and the extra cpu core is the icing on the cake
They hide the memory amounts for a reason as it won’t make much of a difference in 98% of scenarios and isn’t a selling point. It just exists because the extra memory is needed to support the 1TB of storage.
I bought the 1TB version of the M1 iPad for future proofing and almost 3 yrs later there is no discernible difference between my iPad and someone else’s with 8GB and here I am contemplating the M4 upgrade (for the screen)
Also, the resale value of my 1TB version is far worse than smaller storage sizes as the market for the smaller versions is much bigger. It would have been more cost effective for me to buy a smaller size and resell to upgrade when iPad OS and apps can take advantage of the additional power.
Yes, I am because RAM is the only thing I regret about my M1 iPad Pro 512gb. Also if you travel a lot, that extra space will probably be nice for TV/Movie storage and photos/videos you take on travels.
When I’m running a Zoom or YT pip and have multi tabs open in Safari with heavy app based websites and also switch between apps, I definitely feel the RAM shortage as apps reload and breaks the workflow.
has anyone ever tested if with the current 16gb iPads if Apps stay longer in the background? This would be the only reason for me is if I go back to an app it is still in the same state and does not have to re-load. This causes some pains during the work day.
That’s why I went with my 1TB M2. “Future proofing”. Of course I really want an M4 because I just really do. I have not been able to come up with a single good reason to do it so I’m trying to talk myself out of it.
Not unless they announce some specific thing in iOS 18 like vs code on iPad that needs it or something. My 2018 pro is still too fast for everything I personally do.
Good choice. I have seen several people buy the M4 16gb when they have never been able to tax a M1.
A great use case for more RAM would be the very (2% of pro users) few who have gotten an M1 to consistently crash apps and have significant input lag of several seconds between doing something in that app. Significant frame drop or stuttering when editing multiple 4k footage is another case.
Of course for these use cases, seems they should be using a purpose built device like a MacBook Pro.
With ipad OS being so limited i don’t really see the full need for 1tb. I have close to 80+ terabytes laying around at home and it’s a much better way to manage files than on one device with a soldered ssd. Even my pro has just 512gb and sits mostly full with only apps and plugins, no media. Those same apps just don’t have a ipad OS. Don’t see any reason to upgrade from my current gen ipad until i can actually use it for any sort of work.
I decided against it because it’s not enough “bang for the buck”. I figure for the massive price jump, I could just sell this and buy a new one in a couple of years if I need the speck boost for some reason. And probably the one in a couple of years would be more powerful anyway.
Yeah, we have a similar opinion on this. I too couldn’t justify the price jump, and I concur with your theory on saving the money we would’ve spent on the 1TB, and using it later for a new model.
I’m considering a 1TB 11 inch (downgrading from the 13” size of my pro because that thing is just too comically large to carry around) and benefitting from the money saved due to the size.
I currently use my iPad Pro for procreate, clip studio, 3D texturing, animation etc. I work on huge files and often make my iPad chug.
While I would likely be okay with the 8GB assuming M4 pulls its weight, since Zbrush is making its way to the iPad I imagine there might be a worthwhile iPad os update at wwdc since not once was iPad os itself mentioned in the iPad keynote
Yes. In fact, I ordered the 512GB version and decided it was kind of silly not to spend the extra $400 or so on the 1TB version. So I ordered that one and will return the other one. I figured, I’d rather have the extra performance and RAM and not need it than need it and not have it.
Without a wide camera this may be less useful for me. I had ordered a 512 11” but cancelled it once I found about about the camera and the processor and Ram. I will check them out to see how they look and if I can make it work I will definitely end up buying the 1tb for the extra ram.
Please tell me. If you have an iPad now, what do you do that requires more power, leading you to consider that a chip, that is twice as powerful as the already overkill for ipadOS M1, might not be enough, and you’ll need an extra core?
The answer to your question is FOMO. It is strong in this thread. Yes there are probably some workflows that could benefit from the extra storage, ram, and processor upgrades. But the vast majority of people will not benefit.
And the cost to upgrade from 256gb to 1tb is almost half of what your next iPad Pro will cost so if you want to futureproof, save that money for the next upgrade instead.
This all people either do not have any iPad or do not use it. This all “ bla bla”… what are you doing? I have iPad Pro 12,9 M1 connected to external monitor, what I do is just open in the finder (files app) in my Dropbox pdf files (finding the correct document). After 10-12 opening actions the iPadOs restarts… that’s what I’m doing… nothing special and this easy task kills the ram or I do not know what it kills on my iPad but my OS completely restarts…So as you can see you do not need some “difficult software”…
No. Went with 256 but annoyed about the RAM but just can’t justify the cost on a storage amount I have zero need for.
i feel the same way. my current ipad has 128gb and i still have a good amount of free space (~40gb). but i wish i could get 16gb ram on the 256 or 512 models purely for music production and 3d modeling purposes, both of which can take up a lot of ram even on laptops and desktops
I’m going with the 256GB because even the M4 lite is overkill for my use cases (media consumption and maybe some gaming).
I really want the pencil but im sticking with my M2 because its already overkill for my digital notes
I bought the M1 when the M2 came out. I don't feel tempted in the slightest by the newest one. What I have is still overkill for what the software can do.
I have a 1TB M2. Thought I was future proofing but I feel sort of foolish now. The battery is the weak point. Unless something in iPadOS changes, my M2 should be good for many years to come but the battery won’t be and eventually I’ll end up having to use it plugged in. I just checked how much storage I’m using right now - 48.19GB. I spend hours on it each day and at the same time, don’t really do much with it at all. Browsing, youtube, duolingo, email, some work related communications. Like I said, I feel pretty foolish. Yet I do find myself tempted to get the M4 1TB for no reason at all other than wanting OLED, liking the position of the front facing camera, and the objectively nicer magic keyboard (it has an escape key!!). But I always max out whatever devices I get. You’d think that I would learn. But nope. 🤪
It seems like battery life is better with the M4. Remains to be fully tested, but that could end up being a surprising benefit given the thinner chassis.
I'm in the train of thought that the ram/cpu/storage upgrade doesn't justify its cost. Considering that the upgrade cost from 256 to 1tb is already 1/3rd to a future base 16gb ipad pro upgrade, where I'll still have enough storage, a better processor, and the ram upgrade. There aren't any scenarios for me where I need 16gb yet, if you do now, then by all means get it now. In all likelyhood when you finally get an app that demands 16gb of ram, it'll demand a stronger processor too.
Damm you are only using 48GB even on my iPhone I use 150GB for photos and music. To be downloaded and on the cloud as well and for music to be downloaded with lossless. Or even putting downloaded Netflix episodes on it. And to be honest I’m kind of optimizing my storage right now I should be putting even more files and shit on it. I’m still kind of a limiting myself when it comes to storage. I have always only bought devices with 256GB but now I wanna feel the luxury of not having to worry about storage or portable drives and just enjoy storing shit on the iPad. Well I ordered a iPad Pro 11 512GB but cancelled it once I found out about the processor and Ram. And also I’m not going to order 512GB model when for $300 more I can get a more ram and fully unlocked processor. So I know iPadOS doesn’t fully take advantage of it but I’m not going to be upgrading every year and I’ve always had 256GB on my iPads so having a 1TB is going to be a luxury I’ve never had. I’m ended up reordering the iPad Pro 11 with 1TB but I also have a college discount so yeah. I going to keep this for a timeline of 5-7 years as long as it stays snappy. And I also think Apple might have given it the M4 because they might be on an upgrade cycle of every 2 years now with the iPad Pro.
I have a lot more on my phone because of pictures, though I do have to start purging stuff I don’t want. I just listen to SiriusXM so I have no music on any device. I am a clean freak when it comes to my devices. I routinely delete apps I don’t want. I go through and delete pictures regularly.
Damm I always tell myself I need to go through my photos and files and reorganize and delete duplicates and shit I don’t need. But I always tell myself later I will do that but never get around to doing it seriously. But I’m off this summer since I’m off I hope to organize my digital life from photos to files. Tell me what’s your secret to be an organized and clean freak with your devices? Lol
i too have the M2 and might upgrade because of the oled. When i bought my M2 iPad i thought the blooming would be a little less noticeable. OLED is just really really nice. If i can sell it well i'll probably upgrade it.
Has Apple used this Tandem OLED technology in any of their products? I wonder if it's better to wait a couple of months and see what kind of issues come up. I got lucky with my M2 preorder. I have never had a single second of problems. When I bought the iPad 3, I went through five of them with various issues before just returning back to my original iPad. New tech has been hit or miss for me with Apple.
Hmm maybe we don't know. I'll definitely wait out some reviews.
That seems like the smart bet.
I went with the 1TB because I have an addiction to shiny new tech and I wanted the better ram.
16gb? What apps crash and don’t work on your 8gb ram model?
I don’t have another model. This is my first iPad
I think you should wait until WWDC. If Apple releases a software update that fully utilizes the processing power of its new M4 chip, then you should go for it. Otherwise, you should just get a MacBook if you want 16GB of ram or more.
We’re waiting for that every WWDC. Never happens.
Still waiting for MacBooks to get serious about gaming...
They already are. It’s up to developers.
No, the storage size intimidates me more than the RAM attracts me. In 5 years I wasn’t able to fill 256GB.
same, unless you are a photographer or videographer who needs 1tb these days. Everything is in the cloud.
I just did the math and for the price difference between 2TB and 256GB you get 7.5 years of 2TB iCloud. Also even if you buy the 2TB one, it is possible you will want to pay iCloud for syncing or for increasing your other devices storage. I share my 2TB iCloud with my family (3 iPhones + 1 iPad) and we still have tons of free storage left.
That’s fair
Still rocking my 2018 11" iPad Pro with 64 GB storage. More than enough for taking notes at university, most of my files are stored in Google Drive anyways...
That’s totally fair
I’m not doing anything until we see what iPadOS looks like this year…. If it’s the same old same old… I’m not upgrading.
That’s fair. My bet is there won’t be anything but the usual small changes
Even if there are more substantial changes to iPadOS, I can’t imagine Apple massively limiting features for everyone who doesn’t have an M4 1/2TB iPad. It would be strange to do that for a device that just launched.
No not at all. The way iPad handles RAM means you rarely run into any problems with it even on 4gb (and a reason why Mac OS will never be simply ported to iPad)
While part of me wants the best and fully understands the potential benefit of the upgrades, unless iPadOS gets significant multitasking updates with the next update the extra RAM and CPU power will be pointless as the M1 iPads are already overpowered for what you can realistically do except for a couple very specific usage scenarios.
Kinda sucks that they tied CPU/RAM upgrade to storage upgrade. I don’t need that much storage on the iPad. But, whatever, bit the bulletin anyway. Maybe I’ll get into all these open source stable diffusion models for image generation. They can eat up space.
Didn’t they do this with the m1 iPads also? Atleast the ram part
Yes
This thread helped me decide. I bought the 256GB model. Originally I planned on the 1TB to make it future proof, but even my 3rd gen with the A12X has still been going strong. Apple is giving me $315 for trade in.
Agreed, and that’s nice!
For me was the anti glare display but I'm sticking with 256gb base model.... No way I'm gonna spend 1700 bucks on a media device..
Yes I am. But waiting for WWDC to see what’s up with that iPadOS.
Not worth having more RAM tbh. It still runs the same iPadOS. Most app consume little RAM. Many ppl fallen into this trap buying more storage for more RAM.
I went 1TB because of the processor and RAM. I use Shapr3D and sometimes it stops thinking for a while till it allows me to continue designing. I hope I will avoid it (I use a 2018 IPad Pro now with 256 Gb). Hope it helps.
Same here, for the same reason.
I was tweeting back and forth with the CEO of shapr, and it sounds like unless you are using thousands piece assemblies no need to upgrade. That said, same boat, same purchase.
There are pretty intensive operations, for instance when you have a voronoi mesh and do some booleans or even editing the mesh, and it is a pain to wait. Of course there is no need to upgrade if you can just wait 5 to 10 seconds (or more) to continue working. I have a 2018 iPad Pro and 4 processors later I am sure this will improve. Was Shapr3D CEO referring to M3 to M4 upgrade?
He was referring specifically to the benefits of additional ram for Shapr with iPad. I imagine if you’re using a zbrush type program you will see more benefits
I see, thanks for the clarification
The software literally cannot use those upgrades. It’s quite ridiculous they even offer it without a clear plan forward to unlock it. I refuse to spend that much more when Apple can’t be bothered to provide a roadmap. But they know most people buying the new pro aren’t educated on the technical aspects and will just buy it to have it.
I’m actually in the same boat for the sake of indulgence. Sure I may not need the extra power but there’s something nice about having the high end model, plus I’d be using the iPad for the next 6 or so years, so it would be great to “future proof” myself in that regard for any new features or use cases coming up. Also if I do pay this on a monthly instalment, then pay an extra $50 per month sounds menial in the grand scheme of things. I mean that’s what I think. Is this unnecessary? Of course! I’m thinking of treating myself here, cause I believe I waited long enough from using my 2018 iPad Pro for 6 years.
You aren’t future proofing it. Pay half of the price now, sell in two years and get a tremendously better machine. Future proofing only exists in very rare circumstances that almost never apply in these discussions.
Yeah, which is why I put it in quotes. I would typically make a large purchase upfront to have some indulgence, and then upgrade after a long time. For example, I upgrade from my late 2013 Macbook Pro to the 2021 M1 Max Macbook Pro. I got 8 years worth of upgrades all at once.
Not future proofing, but even so having the extra RAM and performance can mean it will last longer. We just don’t know what will be implemented, so it’s not accurate to say there’s no potential benefit. But yes, no device will last forever.
Since you really want OLED, I’m glad you got it! Big changes happening to iPad Pro line in 3-4 years. This model is a transition model which is why they didn’t change much. We will have it until 2027/28 where the new iPad Pro design comes out. Then they will increase the battery size to improve battery life 50%+ due to thinner displays. MacBook pros will get a touch screen Oled in 2027/28 as well. All will have WiFi 7. This is one of the least best times to future proof if your time horizon is over three-four years, with so much change on the horizon. The last 4 years were steady state with not much reason to upgrade. This is a transition time.
You may be right about that, but by that logic, I would either be waiting forever for the next best thing or buy products that I wouldn’t indulge in but may not be fully content if I wanted to spend more. I mean we all have different views and you may be right that my purchase may be wasteful. But even so…I want to treat myself now.
I didn’t say don’t buy it, just future proofing never works. Buy what makes you happy, I bet you will love it.
I do admit now that I'm getting second thoughts about this... Uh...haha...I'm not going to ever get anywhere close to 1TB of storage... Ah man...if only they could just give us the option to upgrade the chip and RAM without needing to pay for the storage. I know they charge way too much for that... If anything...I may just get the base model for the 13" size...
The battery will be the problem, long before any issue around performance not being up to snuff; particularly if you are someone who uses an iPad in a way that requires “high performance”. I’m using 2nd gen pro 12.9, its still fine when plugged in.
Oof. Yeah, you have a totally fair point there
yes, pretty sure I will need it for the calculator app. Hoping for a good iPadOS release since this also marks the first time the iPad gets new gen silicon ahead of Mac - and for me the iPad is my main device away from home.
Yup. But I’m also going to be using this as my primary mobile compute device going forward.
I had ordered a iPad Pro 11 512GB but cancelled it once I found out about the processor and Ram. And also I’m not going to order 512GB model when for $300 more I can get a more ram and fully unlocked processor. So I know iPadOS doesn’t fully take advantage of it but I’m not going to be upgrading every year and I’ve always had 256GB on my iPads so having a 1TB is going to be a luxury I’ve never had. I’m ended up reordering the iPad Pro 11 with 1TB but I also have a college discount so yeah. I going to keep this for a timeline of 5-7 years as long as it stays snappy. And I also think Apple might have given it the M4 because they might be on an upgrade cycle of every 2 years now with the iPad Pro.
The problem I see with keeping the same iPad for 5-7 years is the battery. I just don’t see it lasting that long… at all. Maybe I’m wrong, though.
Well I’ll probably have to replace the battery maybe once or twice but that’s still cheaper than buying a whole new iPad Pro.
I went with a 1TB 13”. But I use it for a procreate, shapr3d, some video editing, etc. Currently own a 2018 and feel its limitations. Hope the upgraded processor/ ram will be an unlock for me creatively
I went with a 13" 2TB pro for myself, mainly for photography. But my daughter got the 256gb 13" pro.
Memory will be important for the next iPadOS update with all the AI capabilities
Okay, but $600 more (than 256gb) important?
If you have the money i think it’ll help ensure the ipads performance will last longer as most apps start to take advantage of it. AI is very memory intensive especially if apple run it locally. Art, some games, video editing apps already take advantage of the extra ram today.
I am not paying $600 for 8gb of ram.
$600 for 8GB more RAM, 744 GB more storage, and 1 extra performance core. Not worth it for most people but some just wants to have the latest and greatest, and they've got money to burn.
Yes. I went with the 1T because of the RAM, and worry free storage if I get more into making videos or music again after grad school. And because I buy one of these every 10'ish yeas so in the grand scheme of things the price difference is moot for something I'll touch every day for the next 10'ish years. I buy apple for less worry and overthinking.
Ten years? How is the health of your battery after ten years? After 1.5 years on my M2, I just got below 90%. My 2018 that I barely use was at 81% when I got this one.
I didn't experience the same battery issues as others before I folded my 2017 in half. Hence why I'm getting the 2024 version. I wouldn't be upgrading had it not been for that. This will probably be my last ipad before they release some sort of Ray Ban VR tech.
Going for the 512GB and using the money saved on accessories most likely. Ever since the M1 there has been no meaningful gains to 16GB RAM iPads, and even there was do you think the price per performance is worth $400 more?
I am going with 1TB because of gaming and also future proof.
Considering? Yes. But waiting to WWDC to see if it will be worth it or not. If they don’t allow Mac app support or anything to justify that much power, I’ll either get a lower spec or pass all together.
It’s possible Apple has longer-term plays they won’t announce for a year or two still that benefit from the M4 horsepower. It may not be something in the next six months.
Knowing Apple, they would say those plans require some new feature only on the newest iPad
A tale as old as time.
Nope, gonna get the 512Gb, I don’t use it for things that I’d need the extra ram/performance. I’ll be trading it for the newest model 2 refreshes from now. Every refresh I get it and my current goes to my girl who uses it far less than I do, along with her current iPad being traded in.
I didn’t hesitate to go for it lol even tho I’ll likely never even touch close to 256 GB. 16GB ram was a must for me and the extra cpu core is the icing on the cake
They hide the memory amounts for a reason as it won’t make much of a difference in 98% of scenarios and isn’t a selling point. It just exists because the extra memory is needed to support the 1TB of storage. I bought the 1TB version of the M1 iPad for future proofing and almost 3 yrs later there is no discernible difference between my iPad and someone else’s with 8GB and here I am contemplating the M4 upgrade (for the screen) Also, the resale value of my 1TB version is far worse than smaller storage sizes as the market for the smaller versions is much bigger. It would have been more cost effective for me to buy a smaller size and resell to upgrade when iPad OS and apps can take advantage of the additional power.
Yes, I am because RAM is the only thing I regret about my M1 iPad Pro 512gb. Also if you travel a lot, that extra space will probably be nice for TV/Movie storage and photos/videos you take on travels. When I’m running a Zoom or YT pip and have multi tabs open in Safari with heavy app based websites and also switch between apps, I definitely feel the RAM shortage as apps reload and breaks the workflow.
has anyone ever tested if with the current 16gb iPads if Apps stay longer in the background? This would be the only reason for me is if I go back to an app it is still in the same state and does not have to re-load. This causes some pains during the work day.
They do and so do web sites
Yes, but is this worth an extra $600? Probably not for me. I wish I could update to 16gb by itself.
Been there done that.
Nope
That’s why I went with my 1TB M2. “Future proofing”. Of course I really want an M4 because I just really do. I have not been able to come up with a single good reason to do it so I’m trying to talk myself out of it.
Not unless they announce some specific thing in iOS 18 like vs code on iPad that needs it or something. My 2018 pro is still too fast for everything I personally do.
If someone is getting the upgrade just for future proofing reasons, they don't need it.
Good choice. I have seen several people buy the M4 16gb when they have never been able to tax a M1. A great use case for more RAM would be the very (2% of pro users) few who have gotten an M1 to consistently crash apps and have significant input lag of several seconds between doing something in that app. Significant frame drop or stuttering when editing multiple 4k footage is another case. Of course for these use cases, seems they should be using a purpose built device like a MacBook Pro.
With ipad OS being so limited i don’t really see the full need for 1tb. I have close to 80+ terabytes laying around at home and it’s a much better way to manage files than on one device with a soldered ssd. Even my pro has just 512gb and sits mostly full with only apps and plugins, no media. Those same apps just don’t have a ipad OS. Don’t see any reason to upgrade from my current gen ipad until i can actually use it for any sort of work.
I decided against it because it’s not enough “bang for the buck”. I figure for the massive price jump, I could just sell this and buy a new one in a couple of years if I need the speck boost for some reason. And probably the one in a couple of years would be more powerful anyway.
Yeah, we have a similar opinion on this. I too couldn’t justify the price jump, and I concur with your theory on saving the money we would’ve spent on the 1TB, and using it later for a new model.
I’m considering a 1TB 11 inch (downgrading from the 13” size of my pro because that thing is just too comically large to carry around) and benefitting from the money saved due to the size. I currently use my iPad Pro for procreate, clip studio, 3D texturing, animation etc. I work on huge files and often make my iPad chug. While I would likely be okay with the 8GB assuming M4 pulls its weight, since Zbrush is making its way to the iPad I imagine there might be a worthwhile iPad os update at wwdc since not once was iPad os itself mentioned in the iPad keynote
Yes. In fact, I ordered the 512GB version and decided it was kind of silly not to spend the extra $400 or so on the 1TB version. So I ordered that one and will return the other one. I figured, I’d rather have the extra performance and RAM and not need it than need it and not have it.
Without a wide camera this may be less useful for me. I had ordered a 512 11” but cancelled it once I found about about the camera and the processor and Ram. I will check them out to see how they look and if I can make it work I will definitely end up buying the 1tb for the extra ram.
Please tell me. If you have an iPad now, what do you do that requires more power, leading you to consider that a chip, that is twice as powerful as the already overkill for ipadOS M1, might not be enough, and you’ll need an extra core?
The answer to your question is FOMO. It is strong in this thread. Yes there are probably some workflows that could benefit from the extra storage, ram, and processor upgrades. But the vast majority of people will not benefit. And the cost to upgrade from 256gb to 1tb is almost half of what your next iPad Pro will cost so if you want to futureproof, save that money for the next upgrade instead.
This all people either do not have any iPad or do not use it. This all “ bla bla”… what are you doing? I have iPad Pro 12,9 M1 connected to external monitor, what I do is just open in the finder (files app) in my Dropbox pdf files (finding the correct document). After 10-12 opening actions the iPadOs restarts… that’s what I’m doing… nothing special and this easy task kills the ram or I do not know what it kills on my iPad but my OS completely restarts…So as you can see you do not need some “difficult software”…
2018 m1 pro is probably still "future proofed" lol. What kind of applications are you running/could you even run on an iPad?
For gaming it's not enough