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Phil77354

macrumors 68000
Jun 22, 2014
1,918
2,006
Pacific Northwest, U.S.
I really enjoy having the cellular iPad. I don’t have to worry about hooking up to a hotspot either my phone or free WiFi. It comes down to the simplicity of just turning it on and being connected without any hassle. I use my iPad mostly at home (especially right now) but cellular is really nice when out of the home.

Slightly off topic perhaps, but your comment makes me wonder - what are pros and cons of simply getting a wifi only iPad and using your iPhone as a hotspot when you need to, rather than paying for another monthly fee (on top of the higher cost for the cellular model in the first place)?
 
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rui no onna

Contributor
Oct 25, 2013
14,414
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Slightly off topic perhaps, but your comment makes me wonder - what are pros and cons of simply getting a wifi only iPad and using your iPhone as a hotspot when you need to, rather than paying for another monthly fee (on top of the higher cost for the cellular model in the first place)?

WiFi only iPad

Pro:
cheaper

Con:
noticeable delay before connecting
doesn't always connect, sometimes requiring fiddling with iPhone or a restart (usually at the worst possible moment)

For me, it's $10 per month to have the iPad on our shared data plan plus an extra $130-150 to get a cellular model.

If upgrading every year, that's ~$22.50 per month to get the LTE model. I spend more than that whenever we order pizza. Worth it to me for convenience's sake. The longer you keep the iPad, the longer the LTE upgrade cost is amortized ($6.25/mo for 2 years, $4.17/mo for 3 years).
 
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Phil77354

macrumors 68000
Jun 22, 2014
1,918
2,006
Pacific Northwest, U.S.
For me, it's $10 per month to have the iPad on our shared data plan plus an extra $130-150 to get a cellular model.

Interesting, thanks. I haven't really looked into the extra cost and $10/month is pretty reasonable. I might think about getting a cellular model next time I upgrade. It would be handy to have one iPad that my wife and I take with us when we are in the car, much nicer for web browsing or whatever we might want to be doing, rather than using one of our iPhones for those things.
 

MyopicPaideia

macrumors 68020
Mar 19, 2011
2,155
980
Sweden
I come from the opposite perspective. I’ve always had WiFi iPads and relied on Hotspot. I’ve found the convenience of not having to deal with that is better for me.

Hotspot would eat at my phone batteries. I often would connect multiple devices to hotspot too.

Plus I “upgraded” my phone plan a little while back and didn’t realize I had removed the hotspot feature. I like not having to base my plan on whether or not the carrier is being shady about the hotspot feature.
Get that as well, and iPhone battery was a concern for me as well previously. The 11 I have now has full day battery no matter what I do with it! I know in the US there has been historical resistance to the hotspot feature by carriers, but in Sweden the EU we’ve never had that problem. Good points - I was guilty of getting a bit lost in my own perspective and situation. BUT! I do maintain that the hotspot feature has gotten so easy to use between Apple devices as to be virtually seamless.
 

Digitalguy

macrumors 601
Apr 15, 2019
4,165
3,911
WiFi only iPad

Pro:
cheaper

Con:
noticeable delay before connecting
doesn't always connect, sometimes requiring fiddling with iPhone or a restart (usually at the worst possible moment)

For me, it's $10 per month to have the iPad on our shared data plan plus an extra $130-150 to get a cellular model.

If upgrading every year, that's ~$22.50 per month to get the LTE model. I spend more than that whenever we order pizza. Worth it to me for convenience's sake. The longer you keep the iPad, the longer the LTE upgrade cost is amortized ($6.25/mo for 2 years, $4.17/mo for 3 years).
Exactly the same for me. I pay $10 extra to share data from my unlimited plan on a second SIM card... Totally worth it... I have cellular in my 10.5, 9.7 and mini, as well as on a couple of windows laptops (mainly surface style devices). Most of the time my data SIM stays either on my 9.7 or on my 10.5 (currently 10.5). Not that I have used it much since the pandemic started... (before I used it almost every day...)
 

BigDO

macrumors 65816
Dec 9, 2012
1,274
1,969
For me the most annoying aspect of tethering an iPad to an iPhone is that the connection is automatically dropped if inactive for a period of time (which is short), which means that you have to keep reconnecting. Annoying af.

For prolonged usage, there is also an aspect of battery drain on the iPhone, which is not insignificant.

To me, a non-LTE enabled mobile device is not an option, including my laptop.
 

Phil77354

macrumors 68000
Jun 22, 2014
1,918
2,006
Pacific Northwest, U.S.
Lots of good points here, helping me to give a cellular iPad a second look for my next purchase. Now I'm anxious to see when that might be - my wife and I both use iPads and don't need the more powerful models, so the basic version is all we need. Next update is probably sometime late this year, if I'm in a position to think about buying a new iPad then I will probably get a cellular device, and given the points made here I'm suspecting that once we've used it for a while, I'll be asking myself why I didn't get one sooner!
 

georgivelev

macrumors member
Jan 23, 2011
95
96
For me the most annoying aspect of tethering an iPad to an iPhone is that the connection is automatically dropped if inactive for a period of time (which is short), which means that you have to keep reconnecting. Annoying af.
Not true. I’ve configured my iPad to automatically connect to the hotspot when available. It stays connected to the hotspot even when it’s in sleep mode.

Regarding the drain of the phone battery, I agree with you up to a point. It drains quickly if you transfer loads of data but it’s not disastrous at all in normal usage.

Each to their own, I wouldn’t buy a LTE iPad.
 

Azrael9

macrumors 68020
Apr 4, 2020
2,287
1,835
Not necessarily. The MacBook Pro 13 is a .1 inch bigger then the iPad Pro 12.9. Screen size does not make a big difference. Granted you have more real estate, but the function does not change.

Function is pokey on smaller screens. Some are 'ok' with with that. I don't count myself amongst them. Having wanted bigger iPhones, iPads and iMacs. And they've all arrived in time as customer's screen real estate demands increased and technology has got better.

Screen size clearly makes the world of difference. And that's why we have 27 inch iMacs and 16 inch Macbooks and yes, 12.9 iPads.

My only computing device is an iPhone at the moment. :p

It's tiny. 'Ok' for what it does. It's 'just a phone' to me and I watch YouTube on it. Check emails. But it's very pokey.

The iPad 12.9 is 'ok' but it could do with an extra 4 inches. It's currently the size of A4 paper. A3 would make it a killer device. Maybe when the software catches up to justify that size...but its software is already started to 'but' up against those 'cosey' 12.9 inches. Given how many iPads sell, it's rather a 16 incher than several different models shuffling between 9.7-11 inches. 11, 12.9 and 16 would be 'just fine.'

Poking around on Logic or Final Cut on a 'tiny' (size being relative to the sun...) screen may be 'ok' for some but it's far from ideal. As the iPad gets more 'pro'-fessional (in iOS and Pro-Apps...) it's going to have to push past that 12.9 glass ceiling to be treated more seriously as a creative or 'pro' platform, preferably '16' inch. One day, it will be the 'iPad' on the stand iMac with sizes up to 21 inch and beyond. But in the meantime, a screen bump would suffice.

I had the iPad 3. It just wasn't big enough. Not even letter sized A4.

I'd get an iPad 12.9 to do 'Wacom' style illustration both on the iPad and via it to the Mac. But it would be 'adequate' rather than ideal size wise. The 11 incher feels rather cramped compared to the 12.9 which breathes alot more.

But a 16-17 incher would be a sweet spot for me, personally.

Azrael.
 

EugW

macrumors G5
Jun 18, 2017
13,738
11,430
Not true. I’ve configured my iPad to automatically connect to the hotspot when available. It stays connected to the hotspot even when it’s in sleep mode.

Regarding the drain of the phone battery, I agree with you up to a point. It drains quickly if you transfer loads of data but it’s not disastrous at all in normal usage.

Each to their own, I wouldn’t buy a LTE iPad.
Auto iPhone hotspot doesn’t work consistently for me. It’s really frustrating. And yes, the iPad gets dropped after a time. We were promised seamless automatic hotspot but it just isn’t there yet. Here’s hoping for it to be fixed in iOS 14, but I’m not optimistic.

Plus the battery drain is far too much when travelling, even just with regular surfing on the iPad.
 
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BigDO

macrumors 65816
Dec 9, 2012
1,274
1,969
Not true. I’ve configured my iPad to automatically connect to the hotspot when available. It stays connected to the hotspot even when it’s in sleep mode.

Regarding the drain of the phone battery, I agree with you up to a point. It drains quickly if you transfer loads of data but it’s not disastrous at all in normal usage.

Each to their own, I wouldn’t buy a LTE iPad.

How do you do this? Honestly curious to know, as everything that I have read indicates that connection dropping is normal, and the only way to bypass it is to tether via Bluetooth (which is not practical for other reasons).
 

gnomeisland

macrumors 65816
Jul 30, 2008
1,089
827
New York, NY
I think I'm the minority who believes we are getting a new iPad Pro. I have some doubts that the rumored Final Cut Pro X, Xcode and Logic Pro X will all be able to properly work with the existing iPad Pro.

Most creators have multiple apps open. Either in Split-View or swiping from one app to the other. If you have photoshop open and Final Cut Pro X open, will they be able to play together without hitches? Lag? Slow-downs?. Existing iPads may be able to handle a "dumb'd"d down version, but the full version will require serious power.
I dunno. Affinity's iOS apps are already full-versions and while they take a bit more time to load, I've only experienced slow down when I touch up pictures over 100MP in Photos. So I'm of two minds. The current hardware is largely underutilized and able to do a lot more; however, improvements in the hardware will matter as more serious content creation software becomes available.
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I really enjoy having the cellular iPad. I don’t have to worry about hooking up to a hotspot either my phone or free WiFi. It comes down to the simplicity of just turning it on and being connected without any hassle. I use my iPad mostly at home (especially right now) but cellular is really nice when out of the home.
I agree, here in the USA T-mobile's 5GB over 90days is a killer combo. I always have connectivity without having the think about it or worry if I'm paying for but not using it. Plus, and I think this should change, only the cellular models have a GPS chip. Small differences but over the 3+ years I keep an iPad those are worth the small upgrade cost to me.
 
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EugW

macrumors G5
Jun 18, 2017
13,738
11,430
So you posted on MacRumors an article from a third party site that regurgitates an article from MacRumors that was posted several days ago? ?

 
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