Maxed Out M1 12.9-Inch iPad Pro With 5G, 16GB RAM, and 2TB Storage Costs $2,400

[Unregistered 4U]

The iMac goes up to 2TB and 16GB RAM. Why do people keep saying otherwise? It is right there on Apple‘s website.

WE’LL HAVE NONE OF YOUR FACTS HERE, THANK YOU VERY MUCH!!🧐

 

[Unregistered 4U]

Given the new iPad Pro uses the same M1 platform, it's easy to compare price of the 12.9 iPad Pro ($1400) with the M1 MacBook Air ($1250) both equipped with 512GB (not comparing iPadOS vs macOS here, just the hardware specs)

So for + $150, you get Mini-LED, tactile screen with pencil support, more speakers & microphones, cameras & LiDAR and sensors (gyro, barometer, compass, FaceID, accelerometer, etc.)

... but you lose a keyboard and a trackpad.

Fair or not fair?

Seems on par according to me.

Seems more than fair to me. Plus, there’s the option to upgrade to cellular which I will never not do LOL

 

[ZebraDude]

If I could only Mine Bitcoins with it......

 

[Darth Tulhu]

Doesn’t it just make more sense to make a MacBook Pro with detachable keyboard and touchscreen

No.

Screw having to deal with tiny, mouse-oriented targets with a fingertip.

Or an unfamiliar desktop OS, while you're at it.

 

[Darth Tulhu]

Exactly. The iPad Pro and the Macs now have exactly the same internals. Apple telling me that I should buy two extremely expensive devices with exactly the same internals because they've arbitrarily decided to limit what those devices can do is preposterous.

There's no reason at all that the iPad Pro couldn't become the holy grail that Microsoft has been chasing for decades: the everything computer. When you're using it as a tablet, it's an iOS device. Dock it and it becomes a macOS device. I'd buy that right now, this very second.

As it stands, Apple seems to believe that I should buy an M1 device to do iPad things and a basically identical M1 device to do non-iPad things, because, hey, that's more money for them and less convenience for me.

So you want hardware designed for Apple-level-not-GARBAGE-Microsoft-level touch optimized for BOTH touch and non-touch OSes.

This'll happen if and only if Apple retools macOS for touch (which admittedly Big Sur appears to suggest).

And even then, they'd have to make the switching OPTIONAL, because not everyone that knows or likes iPadOS knows or likes macOS.

Whether the Mac loyalists like it or not, the Mac is no longer (and hasn't been for over a decade) the center of the Apple universe.

I know it hurts, fellas. Believe me, I KNOW.

 

[luigi408]

That amount of RAM makes me think that Apple might add MacOS as well when docked to a Thunderbolt device or something. That way it isn’t “touch” based and can work as a regular Mac with a mouse and keyboard. I have the last gen iPad Pro 12.9 1TB + Cell and I would sell it in a heartbeat if they added that feature.

Other than that, I don’t I would upgrade at all because I find the iPad OS apps lacking any usefulness compared to desktop applications even after all these years (except for Lightroom I will admit).

My iPad has been mainly used for media consumption, note taking, and... web browsing. Everything else I find it easier to use my W10 gaming desktop or my MacBook.

 

[kingtj1971]

Exactly. The iPad Pro and the Macs now have exactly the same internals. Apple telling me that I should buy two extremely expensive devices with exactly the same internals because they've arbitrarily decided to limit what those devices can do is preposterous.

There's no reason at all that the iPad Pro couldn't become the holy grail that Microsoft has been chasing for decades: the everything computer. When you're using it as a tablet, it's an iOS device. Dock it and it becomes a macOS device. I'd buy that right now, this very second.

As it stands, Apple seems to believe that I should buy an M1 device to do iPad things and a basically identical M1 device to do non-iPad things, because, hey, that's more money for them and less convenience for me.

Now THIS idea is compelling. I just don't know if Apple will really do it? This move would essentially kill off a whole side of its product line and probably force some re-thinking of which devices would be left in the portfolio. (If you do offer an iPad form-factor tablet computer that runs OS X, you still potentially leave out all the "power users" who want to attach more peripherals to it. Fixable with a USB-C dock solution, most likely ... but that's something Apple doesn't sell right now.)

And the real reason Microsoft hasn't achieved this yet either is an inability to solve dilemmas like users wanting more powerful 3D graphics cards, demanding a portable with a keyboard that works even when not sitting on a flat table or desk surface, or ability to run multiple large external displays reliably. (Ever try to get 3 of them working at once with a Surface Pro on a dock? It tends to sort of work, sometimes -- involving unplugging and reattaching the third screen when it randomly goes dark, or ??)

 

[cupcakes2000]

Yeah, but it doesn’t work. In the Files app, you still have to try to find which “location” your file is in, and you can’t do it just by typing the file name, a la Spotlight on MacOS. The apps are all sandboxed, and don’t share an overall Finder path.

You can’t just make things up and then think they become true.
There is indeed a search function in the files app which searches all of your files regardless of their location.

 

[Greenmeenie]

Being that my 2018 11” ipad pro still kicks butt, i won’t be upgrading this time. Especially since the new 11” iPad didn’t even get the mini LED.

 

[Rafagon]

If they put the M1 chip in an iPad, I could easily see them putting it in an iPhone in the future.

Note that I haven't read all the comments so I apologize in advance if this has already been mentioned.

 

[Rafagon]

I haven't been following iPads too closely. I have a question. I know Apple usually doesn't say just much RAM is in their iPhones. We find out how much RAM is in new iPhones later through other sources.

Is this a first? Apple themselves saying how much RAM is in an iPad?

 

[Ivabign]

12.9" with 16 GB RAM and Big Sur please.

Exactly. Why spend $2400 on a tablet that should be able to blow away PC's if it is limited by its OS. It is a touchscreen MacBook Pro. It has to be able to run OSX. The A Series chips are pretty fast - might as well get an iPad Air if I cannot utilize the power of the Pro.

 

[msp3]

At this point, are all M1 machines really just computers in different form factors?

 

[visualseed]

Is the ram increase just for the higher storage it’s not fair you have to spend more for something you don’t need just for more ram

How do you even know you need more than 8GB? Maybe the extra RAM is based on Apple's assumption that people that need more storage space are more likely to work with large files (video / RAW photos / etc.) and the extra memory is to cache them in memory while manipulating them in apps.

 

[Unregistered 4U]

No.

Screw having to deal with tiny, mouse-oriented targets with a fingertip.

Or an unfamiliar desktop OS, while you're at it.

That’s a point I hadn’t thought about previously, but, by this time, there are FAR more people either familiar with the iPad or both iPadOS and macOS than there are people ONLY familiar with macOS.

 

[Unregistered 4U]

you still potentially leave out all the "power users" who want to attach more peripherals to it.

Good point. Only “power users” would want something like that, and the same “power users” are already caterwauling about the mere two ports on the current laptop machines. They’d be fine with one? And if the point is “No, I want to do some work on the iPad, then come back and do work on the Mac” then what they REALLY want is file compatibility between the platforms like Vectornator provides. No macOS on iPad required.

 

[Unregistered 4U]

You can’t just make things up and then think they become true.
There is indeed a search function in the files app which searches all of your files regardless of their location.

You know, EVERY time I see “REAL FILE SYSTEM” or “REAL FILE MANAGEMENT” I usually don’t even ask anymore because it’s usually nothing having to do with a file system (iOS, iPadOS, and macOS use the same filesystem) or file management (not being able to put files on the desktop). But not being able to search? I don’t even need “Files” for that, I can swipe down from the home screen and type to search for files/folders

 

[thefourthpope]

The people who need to max this out will know exactly who they are, and they probably won't be paying for it themselves.

Indeed. I cycle through some grant money every three years to upgrade.

 

[Darth Tulhu]

You know, EVERY time I see “REAL FILE SYSTEM” or “REAL FILE MANAGEMENT” I usually don’t even ask anymore because it’s usually nothing having to do with a file system (iOS, iPadOS, and macOS use the same filesystem) or file management (not being able to put files on the desktop). But not being able to search? I don’t even need “Files” for that, I can swipe down from the home screen and type to search for files/folders

I raged against the iPad for a LONG TIME until I realized that... I was just lazy. 😓

I wanted to do things the way I'M used to on a Mac. Which ironically, was the same way I felt when I first left Windows for the Mac (OS X). I almost returned it.

Then I decided to quit whining and learn to use the iPad AS INTENDED, and hey, I find out that it is far more capable than I thought. It's just different.

It got to the point where I became equally efficient on the iPad than on the Mac, even if they are COMPLETELY different devices.

That said, one thing is clear: the iPad struggles with precision, even if the MK is meant to mitigate it (and it does in most iPad-use-cases I think).

This is why I feel that the desire to put MacOS on a device like the iPad is a fool's errand, one that Microsoft happily Ballmer-ed into.

 

[thefourthpope]

Given the new iPad Pro uses the same M1 platform, it's easy to compare price of the 12.9 iPad Pro ($1400) with the M1 MacBook Air ($1250) both equipped with 512GB (not comparing iPadOS vs macOS here, just the hardware specs)

So for + $150, you get Mini-LED, tactile screen with pencil support, more speakers & microphones, cameras & LiDAR and sensors (gyro, barometer, compass, FaceID, accelerometer, etc.)

... but you lose a keyboard and a trackpad.

Fair or not fair?

Seems on par according to me.

Add magic keyboard for $350 so it’s +$500. There’s also the difference being the OS and the limited app situation on iPad, which less about money and more about use.

———

The “M1 lets iPad apps run on Macs” thing was neat. I’m waiting on the reverse “M1 lets Mac programs run on iPads”.

 

[thefourthpope]

I raged against the iPad for a LONG TIME until I realized that... I was just lazy. 😓

I wanted to do things the way I'M used to on a Mac. Which ironically, was the same way I felt when I first left Windows for the Mac (OS X). I almost returned it.

Then I decided to quit whining and learn to use the iPad AS INTENDED, and hey, I find out that it is far more capable than I thought. It's just different.

It got to the point where I became equally efficient on the iPad than on the Mac, even if they are COMPLETELY different devices.

That said, one thing is clear: the iPad struggles with precision, even if the MK is meant to mitigate it (and it does in most iPad-use-cases I think).

This is why I feel that the desire to put MacOS on a device like the iPad is a fool's errand, one that Microsoft happily Ballmer-ed into.

At this point I really only struggle with the weird limitations of drag and drop (can’t add to cloud storage from an outlook email, for instance) and the incredibly frustrating insistence of Files to open every file I tap rather than defaulting to Quick View. The rest I can work around pretty smoothly.

 

[shapesinaframe]

Until iPadOS stops being a second rate version of iOS, and starts being something closer to macOS, a device this powerful with such a poor operating system makes absolutely no sense. Looking forward to seeing what’s next for iPadOS at WWDC.

 

[shapesinaframe]

I was considering an ipad pro but this is really more money than I expected. I think the iPad Air is more in my price range for my use case.

Until iPadOS gets substantially better, I think the iPad Air is the smart choice.

 

[Nica]

12.9" with 16 GB RAM and Big Sur please.

I’m sure others are saying it too, but some of these options (SSD, RAM, and it’s M1) are really making me think this is coming. There’s no way they do all of this and not stick macOS on it, right?? Maybe I’m too hopeful, but iPadOS and MacOS on this would be killer

 

[Darth Tulhu]

At this point I really only struggle with the weird limitations of drag and drop (can’t add to cloud storage from an outlook email, for instance) and the incredibly frustrating insistence of Files to open every file I tap rather than defaulting to Quick View. The rest I can work around pretty smoothly.

For me it is the counter-intuitiveness of the Mail app sorting mechanisms. Ugh.