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iPad iPad Pro 13” M4 v M5

Coming from iPad Air 2 (2014) I am looking at upgrading to this device (likely with the 512GB). A big difference in every aspect from my current iPad.

Once I’ve bought a few accessories, Apple Magic Keyboard and folio case I’m looking at a £1,800 cost!

It’s a huge amount for me and there would love to hear people’s thoughts/comments on this device.

Despite the M4 looking slightly cheaper now I’d rather get the latest chip set and a few bump upgrades under the hood for longevity reasons.

The new device will largely be replacing my old iPad as mentioned but also an aging 2014 MacBook Pro. Light email use, web browsing, streaming, reading newspapers and excel/word for its main usage.

Thank you and looking forward to reading your posts.
 
I7guy said:
I have a simple approach. Buy the M5. Don’t micromanage the inevitable upgrade cycle. You’ll never get the time or money back in your life.

My iPad 7gen on iOS 18 was replaced this year with an m5 iPad Pro. Not because of battery or apple software was slowing down, but web browsing on certain sites was slowing down and with 32 gig, updates were becoming a chore.

The delta between a current model and previous model widens as the years go buy.
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Yes you are right. Your going to loose money regardless when buying this kind of tech. Either way just take the plunge and buy the best one you can (M5 it appears for me) and enjoy it for as long as possible! I am somewhat on the fence re choosing 256 or 512gb. For £200 more you get the latter. I believe it will be largely overkill for my needs but when your dropping £1,200 already on the device what is another £200 for added peace of mind?! I use icloud for my pics.

Back to Ipad, I am sure the Wifi on my Ipad Air 2 is very dated as the connectivity is poor in some rooms of the house in comparison to my iphone 16 PM. Plus it is slow when loading some websites - even my kids told me this!
 
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I have an iPad Pro with the M2 chip and based on my experience, even the M4 chip will last your many years. I would recommend that you ask yourself the following questions:
1) How many years will your be using the iPad? (£1,800/years = cost per year)
2) Does Word and Excel have all the necessary functions you need? (I work in finance and Excel misses several functions that I consider “basic” but most people probably never heard of.)
3) Are you willing to consider third-party accessories to bring down the cost? (Personally, I prefer the Logitech Combo Touch over the Magic Keyboard. And I know that some ESR pencils support the battery widget of iPadOS.)
£1,800 is a lot, but based on your current devices, you seem to upgrade only every 8-10 years. £1,800/10=£180/year which is not that much.
 
Ugene425 said:
Coming from iPad Air 2 (2014) I am looking at upgrading to this device (likely with the 512GB). A big difference in every aspect from my current iPad.

Once I’ve bought a few accessories, Apple Magic Keyboard and folio case I’m looking at a £1,800 cost!

It’s a huge amount for me and there would love to hear people’s thoughts/comments on this device.

Despite the M4 looking slightly cheaper now I’d rather get the latest chip set and a few bump upgrades under the hood for longevity reasons.

The new device will largely be replacing my old iPad as mentioned but also an aging 2014 MacBook Pro. Light email use, web browsing, streaming, reading newspapers and excel/word for its main usage.

Thank you and looking forward to reading your posts.
Click to expand...

Is there a reason why you want the 13” iPad? It’s only my opinion, but the 13” iPad is worse than a MacBook for “laptop” use and worse than the smaller iPads for handheld use. It just feels awkward to me in those use cases.

Unless you work at a desk and need a drawing tablet, I’d opt for a smaller iPad or a MacBook. If you need a keyboard to compose documents, at least with the 11” iPad Pro you have the advantage of it being much smaller and more portable than a MacBook.

Again, only my 2 cents. 👍
 
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Purely for streaming, reading news etc. I’ve been advised to get the 13” for the extra real estate on screen size.

I understood both 11” and 13” are lightweight and portable. I hear what your saying but this is more of a media device as have a work laptop already which remains on my desk in my office. Also have an old 2014 MCP lying around at home which just about does the job should I need Excel / Word usage.

Everyone has their own opinion on IPP and what size is best. One size doesn’t fit all I now understand.

Screen clarity is important to me and that means I’d be looking at the MBP range for a laptop which are over £2,000. Hence why I am looking at the IPP, for now anyway.
 
I would get a base model MBP 16/512 M5 with nano over a 13" 512G iPad with magic keyboard, $400AUD cheaper too.
 
Meedoss said:
I would get a base model MBP 16/512 M5 with nano over a 13" 512G iPad with magic keyboard, $400AUD cheaper too.
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It’s an interesting comparison and really depends on whether you value the display quality and touch/pen use vs. full macOS.

The Macbook Pro display is good, but the ipad pro display is better….


Whilst the mac can do things the ipad can’t, the ipad can also do things the mac can’t it just depends on which things matter to you.
 
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I take my IPad every time I go away on various travels. I would never take my MCP as it’s too heavy and cumbersome. The MCP just stays at home for Office tasks mainly etc. The iPad (for me) is so much more portable and hence I take it everywhere - mainly to enjoy streaming, films, scrolling safari and newspapers to name a few.

I also like how much more interactive the IPP is. I have never used the pen so I don’t think that would apply to me. Magic Keyboard would come in use however.
 
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throAU said:
It’s an interesting comparison and really depends on whether you value the display quality and touch/pen use vs. full macOS.

The Macbook Pro display is good, but the ipad pro display is better….


Whilst the mac can do things the ipad can’t, the ipad can also do things the mac can’t it just depends on which things matter to you.
Click to expand...
Interesting reading the IPP display is better than the MBP. I thought they were the same res.

I don’t do any ‘intensive’ tasks such as video editing or rendering which is why I know buying either a MBP or IPP is going to be overkill. That said, I would prefer the best screen tech as we all know it’ll be outdated in the next 12 months or so.
 
Ugene425 said:
Interesting reading the IPP display is better than the MBP. I thought they were the same res.

I don’t do any ‘intensive’ tasks such as video editing or rendering which is why I know buying either a MBP or IPP is going to be overkill. That said, I would prefer the best screen tech as we all know it’ll be outdated in the next 12 months or so.
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The ipad display is tandem oled, so it has better blacks with less bloom.

The macbook pro display is also great, but the ipad pro display has the edge. It’s pretty much the best display you can buy on a consumer device right now in terms of colour reproduction, brightness and contrast ratio combined with 120hz refresh.

It’s very close, but the ipad pro does take it.

If you’re coming from literally any other tablet or laptop both will probably be better.
 
That is really helpful to know re the screen. Delighted to hear the IPP takes the edge for screen clarity.

For me watching films/series especially are really important to take advantage of having the best clarity screen. You are right though in either device will be a significant upgrade from a 2014 device! Hopefully whichever one will last me a long time - that is my intention and hope anyway!
 
I have an M4 iPad Pro 13 512GB model. For Christmas my wife purchased for herself an M5 iPad Pro 13 512GB model.
Before she started to use it I asked her if I could first make a direct copy of my M4 onto hers obviously using my account and app details. As she had no desire to use the M5 for a couple of weeks she replied ‘Yes”.

So, I set up the new M5 copying everything on my M4. After a couple of days I then started to run tests.
Although the use of certain apps which measure data flow etc proved the M5 was faster, however in a real use world I simply could not see any difference between the M4 & M5.
Visibly they looked the same and performance wise it was practically the same. On a couple of occasions the M5 showed a marginally increase but running the same test again gave a different result.

In my opinion there is nothing that challenges and separates the M4/5.
The only positive I can see is the M5 will be updated for a year longer than the M4.
 
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Beards said:
I have an M4 iPad Pro 13 512GB model. For Christmas my wife purchased for herself an M5 iPad Pro 13 512GB model.
Before she started to use it I asked her if I could first make a direct copy of my M4 onto hers obviously using my account and app details. As she had no desire to use the M5 for a couple of weeks she replied ‘Yes”.

So, I set up the new M5 copying everything on my M4. After a couple of days I then started to run tests.
Although the use of certain apps which measure data flow etc proved the M5 was faster, however in a real use world I simply could not see any difference between the M4 & M5.
Visibly they looked the same and performance wise it was practically the same. On a couple of occasions the M5 showed a marginally increase but running the same test again gave a different result.

In my opinion there is nothing that challenges and separates the M4/5.
The only positive I can see is the M5 will be updated for a year longer than the M4.
Click to expand...
Comparing an iPhone 15 to an iPhone 17 one can see similar performance. But as history shows as the iOS updates go by newer chips, imo, tend to be stronger performance.

With the m5 having more memory and more AI capabilities, as time goes on the difference in the chips will be more apparent.
 
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I7guy said:
Comparing an iPhone 15 to an iPhone 17 one can see similar performance. But as history shows as the iOS updates go by newer chips, imo, tend to be stronger performance.

With the m5 having more memory and more AI capabilities, as time goes on the difference in the chips will be more apparent.
Click to expand...
The difference will become more relevent over time between base models, less so between 1/2TB models, which have the same RAM. Historically RAM has been a core factor in long-term performance of iOS devices.
 
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I don’t do any AI nor video editing so don’t really care about those.
With the M5, it looks like you’re getting 20 to 30% performance improvement in some games that are optimized.
The 12 GB vs the 8 GB ram in the base model was another selling point to me.
 
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Ugene425 said:
Interesting reading the IPP display is better than the MBP. I thought they were the same res.

I don’t do any ‘intensive’ tasks such as video editing or rendering which is why I know buying either a MBP or IPP is going to be overkill. That said, I would prefer the best screen tech as we all know it’ll be outdated in the next 12 months or so.
Click to expand...

The iPP OLED display is excellent - my 13" M5 is comparable in display quality to my 65" LG C5 OLED TV (size aside).
 
Beards said:
In my opinion there is nothing that challenges and separates the M4/5.
The only positive I can see is the M5 will be updated for a year longer than the M4.
Click to expand...

Unseen, but the M5 chip has additional security features that do not exist in M4, so if you care about device longevity and additional security, that's a difference.
 
Ugene425 said:
Heavens that must have cost a fortune! I would not need 1TB of memory though. Everyone has different needs and uses I guess. A shame you have to get the 1TB min to have the Nano texture display.
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I mean it’s still nice to have IMHO especially if you want to own it longer. Do I need 512 which was the one I bought ? Not really I could have lived with 256. But having 512 is nice to save a bunch of videos for long flights. I got my M5 11 inch for $1050 but I just saw the M4 1tb for $1000 at Costco. If I saw that first I would have gotten that vs the m5. I could return it but that’s too much work for me and I’m fine with 512.
 
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