iPad Pro Interesting real world improvements with IPad Pro 2020 vs 2018

[Macintosh101]

This review found some tangible real word improvements with the new iPad Pro 2020 vs the 2018 model.

“Apple says that improvements to the new iPad Pro’s thermal engineering help the tablet deal better with computationally-intensive tasks of the sort that content creators perform. My experiments here were encouraging. An 82MB photo that took 5 seconds to open in Photoshop on the previous iPad Pro opened in 3.5 seconds on the new model—snappier enough to make a difference. Exporting a 2.6GB video from iMovie took 5 minutes 24 seconds on the old iPad Pro and 4 minutes 5 seconds on the new one.”

New iPad Pro review: A minor upgrade with intriguing implications

Apple’s latest tablets are just a little better. But their emphasis on content creation, AR, and laptop-like utility says plenty about Apple’s future.

www.fastcompany.com

 

[Clicks]

Yes, those are quite impressive numbers you have there. The bottom line is that professionals with a real workflow can really put the saved time to good use. But for occasional users who already have the 2018 iPad Pro don't really need to upgrade because the improvements are very shallow to notice.

 

[delta0]

Some real world differences there. IPP 2018 throttles under sustained use and the new cooling system in the 2020 prevents this.

 

[johnnylarue]

This is the kind of data I’d been waiting for. Even if this doesn’t inherently present a reason to upgrade for 2018 iPP owners, it gives the Pad-less people like me some added impetus to pay a bit more for the 2020 model—at least more so than those “1% faster” benchmark scores that keep being trotted out.

 

[AutomaticApple]

But for occasional users who already have the 2018 iPad Pro don't really need to upgrade because the improvements are very shallow to notice.

What about the new cooling system?

 

[sparksd]

Good and interesting review - thanks for the post on it.

 

[Macintosh101]

No worries. Interestingly, those two times he mentioned (“an 82MB photo that took 5 seconds to open in Photoshop on the previous iPad Pro opened in 3.5 seconds on the new model... Exporting a 2.6GB video from iMovie took 5 minutes 24 seconds on the old iPad Pro and 4 minutes 5 seconds on the new one”) represent a roughly 30% and 25% increase respectively.

 

[MJBCA]

Wonderful. This is the kind of real world performance I was curious about.

 

[rui no onna]

I do wonder if the Photoshop test was more due to extra RAM or more/faster storage than because of thermal throttling.

Benchmarks tend to run longer and I expect are more taxing on the CPU than this.

 

[HarryWild]

If you need an iPad Pro, buy it, but you have a 2018, wait for the 14X and 8 GB RAM!

 

[joefrank64k]

Thanks for the link, OP!!

Not that I needed any more justification for buying a 2020 when I‘ve already got a 2018, but it doesn't hurt, haha!!

 

[TheRealAlex]

How much “computational” horsepower do I need I0over my 2018 IPad Pro ?

Also my prediction is holding perfectly.

2018 New IPad Pro
2019 No new iPad Pro
2020 Minor Upgrade it’s like 7% faster tests show
2021 a True Upgrade

 

[cardfan]

If you need an iPad Pro, buy it, but you have a 2018, wait for the 14X and 8 GB RAM!

Nope if you need an iPad Pro buy a 2018 refurb. The newest one even has the same chip. Apple simply renamed it. Remarkable. It’s very misleading to rename an old chip and pretend its new.

 

[xxray]

Why does this happen with almost every Apple product launch or decision these days?

1. Product is released
2. Tests/reviews say product/decision isn‘t a substantial improvement or is problematic or whatever
3. Truth comes out that the product actually does have substantial improvements/is a good product/not problematic
4. People still trash Apple for months about the initial tests that were already revealed to be misleading

 

[DSTOFEL]

Nope if you need an iPad Pro buy a 2018 refurb. The newest one even has the same chip. Apple simply renamed it. Remarkable. It’s very misleading to rename an old chip and pretend its new.

No need to buy the 2018 refurbished when you can buy a new 2018 for “practically” the same price. Take the 2018 256gb pro for example: Apple refurbished: $679. New (if you live near Micro Center): $699

 

[scupking]

They are just perfecting the design at this point. More ram (6GBs on all versions), better wifi, better camera, better microphones, better cooling and better graphics performance. Not a bad update at all!

 

[johnnylarue]

No need to buy the 2018 refurbished when you can buy a new 2018 for “practically” the same price. Take the 2018 256gb pro for example: Apple refurbished: $679. New (if you live near Micro Center): $699

That’s a hot tip! Although at that price, just $50 more gets you the 2020 128GB model...

See, the upselling never ends!

 

[Macintosh101]

Here are more examples of real world improvements in the iPad Pro 2020 vs 2018 model, especially in terms of gaming, as well as RAM management.

 

[SpitUK]

Great video, some decent improvements, more than I was expecting.

 

[TheRealAlex]

A12X vs 12Z It’s not even a full new CPU it’s the same CPU architecture. There’s like a 7% boost to performance.

 

[SpitUK]

A12X vs 12Z It’s not even a full new CPU it’s the same CPU architecture. There’s like a 7% boost to performance.

Yes but it has better thermals.

 

[AutomaticApple]

There is a fairly substantial GPU improvement. Take a look at this video.

 

[rui no onna]

We need more comparisons including:

2018 A12X/4GB 64GB
2020 A12Z/6GB 128GB
2018 A12X/4GB 256/512GB
2020 A12Z/6GB 256/512GB
2018 A12X/6GB 1TB
2020 A12Z/6GB 1TB

That would better show us the effects of:
amount of RAM
storage capacity/performance
GPU and thermal improvements

 

[jpadhiyar]

This might look like a big leap individually. But when you add up each improvement, the difference is substantial.

Especially for Pro users like designers, editors and creators. If even a minute is saved per video or image, that huge for them.

The extra money they spend could be recovered in terms of time and energy they save.

In saying that, the 2018 iPad Pro is already a fast machine. So, the regular users need not hurry for an upgrade.

 

[Moyapilot]

I’ll wait for anandtech to do a deep dig into the new ipads and the new chips. I have trust issues with some of these other sites. A proper test would need to have many variables equalized as best as possible. Like storage capacity, fresh OS install, temp measurement etc. No doubt improvements can and should happen, but honestly never heard of some of these sites before.