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iPad M1 iPad Pro 5 years on
- Thread starter Ctrlos
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JSRinUK
macrumors 6502a
Got my iPad Pro 11” M1 128GB about 2 years ago now (refurb from Apple). For my purposes, it’s doing fine. Running 26.2 fine.
But I only use it for fairly light stuff, so I’m not pushing it to its limits. Battery life has probably dropped a bit, but that’s not helped by running a VPN, but even so I’m only charging it every now and then if the battery is below 35% at bedtime.
But I only use it for fairly light stuff, so I’m not pushing it to its limits. Battery life has probably dropped a bit, but that’s not helped by running a VPN, but even so I’m only charging it every now and then if the battery is below 35% at bedtime.
Good to know. I’m still on the A12 (maybe A12x?) from the first half 2020 and haven’t upgraded to OS26. I think I’ll stick to the old one.
rui no onna
Contributor
I don’t use it on battery often but I seem to be getting 1 hour SOT every 10% still with low brightness. Less on cellular.
My main gripe is crappy standby time. It drains between 10-25% every 24 hours.
Devnul0
macrumors 6502
I was very happy with my M1 iPad Pro, bought right away when they came out, all the way until three weeks ago when I accidentally left it on the roof of my car and sent it flying off onto the road. Still worked! Shattered screen, bent frame, crushed along one edge, but the device itself still worked even most of the touchscreen. It’s since been replaced with an M5 and has gone off to recycling, but I had no issues with it over the 5-ish years and it was still a very performant device, with the disclaimer that since iPadOS 26 and the cesspool of Liquid *ss I turned on reduce motion and reduce transparency so it may have had a reduced cpu or gpu load.
I *thought* I was experiencing a sudden “fall off a cliff” in battery life but I realized that I had the “auto connect this Mac to this iPad” enabled and so the iPad was being held awake every time I used my Mac. That was chewing through the battery. Once I disabled that, battery life got better again.
I *thought* I was experiencing a sudden “fall off a cliff” in battery life but I realized that I had the “auto connect this Mac to this iPad” enabled and so the iPad was being held awake every time I used my Mac. That was chewing through the battery. Once I disabled that, battery life got better again.
I left my 6GB A12X on 17, as well as my mini 5. And I am so glad I did. My mini 6 however is on 26.2 since I bought it very recently and it lags a bit but it's usable. Reloads like crazy, virtually as much as my mini 5 on 17. My iPhone 13 mini with the same specs is fine, but I can I do less on an iPhone (it's not my main iPhone, that is the 17 pro)
All my larger pros are 16GB RAM.
I left my M2 and my 2 M4 (nano and standard) on 18 and only my M1 is on 26.1 and it's as fast as usual.
Essentially I am happy with every OS except the mini 6 on 26, it struggles a bit, but I'll sell it when the mini 8 arrives.
rui no onna
Contributor
The iPad 9 and A12Z iPP were my guinea pigs for 26.
I'm not really concerned about M1 performance on 26. It's just that I don't like the changes on 26 plus there are app incompatibilities for an abandoned app I use. Hence, I'm keeping most of my existing devices on 18.
If I can tolerate the OLED on the M4 iPP, that will be my main iPadOS 26 device.
I purchased my m1 iPad 1TB 12.9 at launch and have been using it weekly since, first with the Logitech keyboard case and then with the magic keyboard. I still maintain apple care+ using the monthly extension and have replaced it maybe three times. It’s now $50 for express replacement. It’s my travel companion on flights and in airport lounges for reading and watching YouTube movies. Light work use for the one website I can access with a personal device. When all the laptops get stuffed away before takeoff and on approach, I’m still happily reading or watching videos. The blooming in movies is bad, but I still prefer my iPad to any airplane screen I’ve used—especially at night when the screen automatically turns amber while the rest of the plane has awful, bright blue cast screens on. Even if I’m eating a meal in the forward cabin, the tray fits perfectly on top of the magic keyboard so I can keep reading during my meal. I kicked the tires on the M4 iPad 13”nano screen for a week and it’s superior in every way, (much) lighter, thinner with the magic keys, and that beautiful screen. But I returned it because I felt that iPadOS didn’t warrant the investment. And a greasy smudge landed on the nano screen that I couldn’t seem to remove. So I now have one of the cheap matte screen protectors from Amazon on my M1.
FWIW I also travel with latest apple tv which is much lighter than its predecessors. I used to spoof MAC addresses to get past hotel login pages but thankfully can now login via the iPad.
FWIW I also travel with latest apple tv which is much lighter than its predecessors. I used to spoof MAC addresses to get past hotel login pages but thankfully can now login via the iPad.
I often find they either have HDMI ports on the wall or easy access now. A cable and an adaptor is all I need.
fatdickie
macrumors newbie
Not really, the mini's resolution is pretty high and relatively close to the pro and it's pixel density is much higher than any other iPad. It's always been the case since the mini 2.
fatdickie
macrumors newbie
iPad Pro 13" has effectively a 68% higher pixel count. That's not relatively close IMO.
Except that the message said just iPad pros, which could also be the 11", which is much closer to the mini in terms of resolution, so it depends which iPad pro you consider...
fatdickie
macrumors newbie
11" is still almost 20% more pixels. Obviously a lot closer, but still not an insignificant difference.
And its a great device to do so! The best thing about the iPad is its so many things to so many people. It doesn't have one specific use-case and is generally better at entertainment than a laptop.
It’s always something
macrumors 6502a
But pixel count isn’t the same as pixel density, which was what the claim was about, right?
The mini 7 has 327 ppi; the iPad Pro has 264.
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rui no onna
Contributor
I reckon this is just down to individual usage and expectations.
My first iPadOS 26 guinea pig was the iPad 9 (A13/3GB) and that was practically unusable on the early betas. It wasn’t until the last 26.0 beta and RC that performance improved. I find the iPad 9 slow but still usable.
I also have a 12.9” A12Z/6GB on 26 and apart from reloads and UI/UX annoyances, it runs fine.
rui no onna
Contributor
No, it was pixel count/resolution. The iPad mini has lower pixel count than the iPad Pros hence it’s not as demanding on resources.
Honestly, I reckon the 20% difference in pixel count (vs 11”) is pretty negligible as far as performance goes. Especially when you consider the A12X/4GB iPad Pro has I believe almost two times the GPU cores as the A12/3GB iPad mini 5.
As @Digitalguy has mentioned, perception of lagginess can be subjective.
rui no onna
Contributor
Honestly, that describes 90% of my laptop usage before I got iPads.
blkjedi954
macrumors 6502
blkjedi954
macrumors 6502
It’s always something
macrumors 6502a
No, @Digitalguy said: “Not really, the mini's resolution is pretty high and relatively close to the pro and it's pixel density is much higher than any other iPad. It's always been the case since the mini 2.”
@fatdickie seems to have inadvertently changed the subject to pixel count, which is what I was addressing.
rui no onna
Contributor
@fatdickie brought up the pixel count/resolution first.
@Digitalguy replied that the iPad mini’s resolution is close to iPad Pro (11) owing to its higher pixel density.