Exactly this. Not everyone NEEDS the power of a Pro, but if you have the money and want a premium experience then go for it.
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
iPad ipad pro m5 256GB storage enough
- Thread starter Ugene425
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
throAU
macrumors G4
It isn’t even that much more.
Compare to a 256GB air. By the time you add a pencil and keyboard case the total bom cost is within like 90 percent of the pro for an air and you give up so much.
He's just here to agitate - he's a Samsung guy who doesn't own an iPad, doesn't like them and adds nothing to conversations.
RogerKmilw
macrumors regular
RogerKmilw
macrumors regular
For the 13 it’s almost necessary for myself. Whether it be as an expensive stand to watch movies or to actually type on I absolutely love it. Since I’ll have it 5+ years the cost doesn’t bother me.
You do have a fair point. I see the MacBook Pro with the m5 Pro chip (when it launches in 2026) will be well over £2k. The m5 iPad Pro 13” is under £2k (assuming you go with a 256/512GB). Once you’ve bought the magic keyboard etc you do wonder if a laptop is a better choice. The OLed screen is very good on the iPad and better than MBP screen. My dinosaur 15” MacBook is approx 12 years old and is giving up the ghost a bit. I can’t afford a new iPad and a new MBP. Also Apple will release the new M5 chips in 2026.
Thanks Roger. I’ll definitely own the iPad for 5 years minimum. Put it this way, my current iPad is an iPad Air 2! I see no point in upgrading every few years as is such a waste of money.
That’s helpful to see. I use iCloud for all my photos so won’t have many pictures saved on the iPad. Just some downloaded films like you have and lots of apps etc.
Also would look to get the Microsoft office package for word and excel but apparently this doesn’t use up more than 3 GB approx. Seems very low IMO.
rui no onna
Contributor
I never do because what I want is a tablet. If I needed a laptop, I'll buy a laptop.
throAU
macrumors G4
It genuinely depends on how much mac only stuff you do.
If (granted, this is a BIG if) you don’t need specific mac apps, and just need a machine that runs primarily web stuff, then the ipad pro is superior to a macbook air imho.
I’ve been using the ipad pro exclusively as my primary device the past week and for the most part i can do the stuff i need to do, at least for home usage. including hooking up to a 32” display, multitasking with youtube, browser and other apps (e.g. Banktivity).
For my specific workloads, i need my macbook pro when i go back to work. But i can see how the ipad could be enough for casual home users easily today.
Most helpful.
I’m a pretty lightweight user of iPad. Just streaming decent films 3 times a year when my wife and I have a minute to ourselves. I love my films, series and music ( I subscribe to Apple Music). Otherwise I do the odd email, use Word and Excel and lots of web browsing.
My wife can get 10% off Apple price (as works in education) so thought I’d buy the 512Gb despite being overkill. I will buy Microsoft office so that’ll eat the data as will the many IOS updated over the years.
Does that make sense?
I’m a pretty lightweight user of iPad. Just streaming decent films 3 times a year when my wife and I have a minute to ourselves. I love my films, series and music ( I subscribe to Apple Music). Otherwise I do the odd email, use Word and Excel and lots of web browsing.
My wife can get 10% off Apple price (as works in education) so thought I’d buy the 512Gb despite being overkill. I will buy Microsoft office so that’ll eat the data as will the many IOS updated over the years.
Does that make sense?
I think for £1400 for the 512GB 13” IPP M5 as can get £100 off discount (my wife works in education). Overkill yes but will buy me peace of mind for the next 5-7 years of owning it.
rui no onna
Contributor
Honestly, Office documents tend to be small unless they have a lot of pictures. 512GB should give you plenty of headroom. For the described usage though, I reckon you'd probably fill up at most half of 256GB.
Mind, I buy 1TB for comics/manga (just reading list+favorites), video games and some offline videos for travel (or power outages). Those stuff use a huge chunk of storage. I also keep a full copy of my iCloud Photo Library (~50GB) as internet can be iffy when traveling.
throAU
macrumors G4
512 GB is heaps.
I’ve had 256 GB on ipads for the past… 8 years? Have not felt the need to upgrade storage. Right now, with my ipad pro restored from my previous ipad air m1, i’m sitting on about 100GB / 256 GB including ipadOS 26 and about 50 GB worth of games, most of my regularly used apps, etc.
Haven’t installed office back on it yet, but that would be maybe 10-20 GB including my hot data (mailbox mostly).
IMHO 256 is fine unless you install a LOT of large applications/games or try to store everything on the device instead of in iCloud.
The biggest thing with office will likely be your mailbox, depending on how old it is and how good you are about clearing it.
Don’t forget that ipads can access external storage now as well, or network shares via the files app.
I went for the 512 on my iPhone 16 PM which is loads (400GB remaining approx) but wanted peace of mind for longevity reasons. The IOS updates every few weeks seem to eat up more GB each time hence the free space. I guess the same will apply to the iPad IOS updates.
You have valid points which I am not ignoring regarding the 256GB. It would probably suffice, for how long I do not know. I don’t intend to upgrade the iPad for many years until I really have to. Disney + on my IPad Air 2 will not work anymore due to the age of the software! This is half the reason I am upgrading as well as it being rather slow at times.
The iPad Pro 13” M5 will likely replace me using my 2014 MacBook Pro which has 256GB, hence why I’m leaning towards 512GB. The MacBook has under 90 GB remaining.
Streaming, newspaper reading, word/excel use, web browser and looking/editing some photos will be the main things I use rather new iPad for. I don’t play games on it nor do any video editing, not yet anyway!
Of course I will need a case to protect the gadget in. The magic keyboard looks a slick bit of kit but not sure if I still need some sort of Smart folio case which I have always had on my IPad Air 2 and older iPads.
You have valid points which I am not ignoring regarding the 256GB. It would probably suffice, for how long I do not know. I don’t intend to upgrade the iPad for many years until I really have to. Disney + on my IPad Air 2 will not work anymore due to the age of the software! This is half the reason I am upgrading as well as it being rather slow at times.
The iPad Pro 13” M5 will likely replace me using my 2014 MacBook Pro which has 256GB, hence why I’m leaning towards 512GB. The MacBook has under 90 GB remaining.
Streaming, newspaper reading, word/excel use, web browser and looking/editing some photos will be the main things I use rather new iPad for. I don’t play games on it nor do any video editing, not yet anyway!
Of course I will need a case to protect the gadget in. The magic keyboard looks a slick bit of kit but not sure if I still need some sort of Smart folio case which I have always had on my IPad Air 2 and older iPads.
throAU
macrumors G4
If in doubt, by all means step up.
I considered it, but when i looked at the storage on my old ipad Air M1 (which had the same storage as my 2017? ipad pro) - if i removed copies of podcasts and tv shows and movies that i didn’t need on it (already watched) i was under 50%, still.
I don’t store all my photos on here (they’re primarily on my mac and in iCloud, 2TB subscription there) so really…. the biggest things on here are games i play from time to time and can delete if i do run out of space to free up another 50 GB or so.
Depends how long you plan to keep it. I flip my ipads every 3 years for a new one. I’m pretty confident i won’t use more than 256 GB inside of 3 years, but in 2028, i’ll re-evaluate.
If you’re planning to keep 5, 7 or more years - yeah, consider more storage. But still - in the past 5-7 years my ipad storage hasn’t changed much… maybe gone from 90 - 120 GB if i clean out the crap i don’t need (downloaded podcasts and tv, etc. that accumulate over time as i listen/watch them).
I’d wager that at that point, the device will start feeling slow compared to the m10 or whatever version Apple has out at that point.
As above, all depends how you use the device, but it sounds pretty similar to what i do with mine. And for me 256 is fine. I don’t even think about storage on it, and only tidied up recently because it was a new device and i didn’t want to restore a bunch of old crap i don’t need to it.
If you’re planning to use it as a full laptop replacement, maybe go larger, but as a secondary device… no need.
I will use a few office documents but nothing with loads of pictures in. I don’t really play many video games on the iPad but this could change. I do use iCloud for all my pictures for peace of mind.
The Nano texture screen looks pretty nice but annoying you have to spend even more money with the 1 TB version to get it. I did wonder will they release it on all devices for the M6 chip models when they come out in 26/2027? I don’t want to wait years and years as there will always be a better device soon to be launching. The M5 13” Pro model looks a pretty serious bit of kit, even without the Nano texture display. The normal glossy display cannot be that bad.
throAU
macrumors G4
Glossy isn’t so bad.
I have nanotexture on the macbook pro (and granted, it is much nicer for me to use than my old non-nanotexture M1 pro when next to the window in my office), but there’s no way i was going to spend the extortionate amount to upgrade the ipad pro to get it.
If it was a $150 AUD option (like it is on the macbooks) - sure.
But being locked behind a massive storage upgrade i don’t need… no. I’ll just tilt the screen.
I already stepped from air to pro to get a nicer screen and speakers. This is the sort of pricing BS apple do, and it’s a slippery slope. You start out looking at a ipad for under a grand and before you know it you’re looking at a freaking ipad for 3 grand with accessories, and that’s just ridiculous for most people as a secondary device.
Know when to say no 😀
I tend to keep the iPad for as long as possible. Mainly because if/when I upgrade the iPad say in 3-4 years time you lose a lot of money on the sale of the existing ipad before buying the latest one at a high cost. This applies to all Apple products (such as iPhone). How do you do it when it comes to upgrading every 3 years or so. I know you can buy second hand iPads (or refurbished ones on the Apple website) but these tend to be slightly ‘older’ models I tend to find.
My MacBook Pro 2014 still works, just! The 15” screen is smudged (a common fault with the screen), the battery life doesn’t last very long so it needs to be plugged in with AC power most of the time, a keyboard button is missing, the track pad doesn’t work to name a few! So, the iPad will likely replace the MacBook when it comes to main usage. Hence the 512 option. Your right though, in 7-9 years time the M5 iPad Pro will be slowing down when the latest M10 is released.
throAU
macrumors G4
How do i do it?
Combination of: tax deductions (i legitimately use them 50% plus - probably nearer 70% for work and can thus claim tax back for it) and handing off the devices (Macbooks mainly) to the partner at 3 years after i’m done with them, where she runs them into the ground until say year 6.
She doesn’t need anywhere near the spec i generally run, but after 3 years or more the spec i originally ordered has usually become more mainstream. She’s in for a massive amount of overkill in about 3 years when my M4 Max is due for replacement though 😀. My previous M1 Pro Macbook Pro is still doing just fine for her!
This is another reason i don’t buy massively high spec ipads - she prefers the iPad Mini, so my old M1 air is currently homeless.
That’s really interesting.
My wife wouldn’t get much use of the hand me downs I don’t think as just needs an iPhone. She already has a work laptop at home to use and the iPad is more for me doing streaming, reading newspapers, web , FaceTime, emailing, web browsing etc.