iPad Pro New big iPad Owner, should I give it a few days?

[rui no onna]

This gets to the either-or question regarding laptops and iPads. I don't try to replace one with the other but rather have both. They have overlapping qualities and capabilities but each also has its its own unique qualities and capabilities so I see them complementing each other.

Yep. Bought the 12.9" iPad Pro because I had certain use cases where it's the best option (American comics, PDF markup, etc).

Aging eyes and text on fixed layout pages was starting to look too small for comfort on the 9.7" without constant panning and zooming. Manga was okay on 9.7" but then I started reading American comics and those had busier pages and smaller fonts.

Meanwhile, laptop/clamshell form factor sucked for comics. Before getting the iPad, I had already spent a small fortune trying crappy Windows tablets/2-in-1s/UMPCs.

 

[seajewel]

I went back to my 11". Even just resting on my desk, the iPad 12.9" with Magic Keyboard took up so much more space that it was unwieldy.

 

[sparksd]

I went back to my 11". Even just resting on my desk, the iPad 12.9" with Magic Keyboard took up so much more space that it was unwieldy.

Yeah, it's a personal preference thing so you have to try for yourself to see if it works for you. Really why personal opinions on device size on a forum aren't very useful. It's like sushi - sounded great until I tasted it 😝

 

[adamjackson]

Good morning everyone. It's been about one month since my purchase. I wanted to share a few photos:

That one photo at my desk is my old 11" iPad Pro next to the new 13 and the other is a 13 Pro Max iPhone with the iPad 13 just for some size comparisons.

The crux of this thread was:

How long did it take you to get used to the larger iPad? Did you go back to 11" from a previous 12.9" Pro? I don't want to drive another 3.5 hours in 10 days to return this when I'm going back today to do a swap. That's a lot of driving time when my original 11" iPad was already just fine as a consumption device and I had my MBP to fall back on for work.

The 13" still feels too big when I'm laying in bed and reading. This is probably the only place where it feels too large. I recently got married and had to use the iPad for my vows and while I was self-conscious it would look too large at the alter and detract from the moment, as you can see from the photos, it wasn't...just a thin slate of grey:

....now would I like to have a smaller 10 - 11 inch iPad for reading? Absolutely. That would be great but now that I'm using the product more, I will sort of say out loud that the iPad 13" is the iPad Pro...it's exactly what Apple started with when they went to build this and the only shortcoming it has is the 4:3 aspect ratio or whatever it Is, It's not a ratio I'm used to working in with all of my other screens being a lot wider. I don't watch video on mobile devices so that's not a big deal (I'm one of those weirdos that only watches video on my TV). and the 11" iPad Pro is sort of the pocket sized version of the same device and, because of that, the 11" really only has more portability on its side particularly with weight and when it's time to do "pro tasks", the 13" is the better iPad for that.

Apple sort of expects users who buy iPad Pros to attach the magic keyboard, put it on their lap or desk and get things done. I never edited Lightroom photos on my 11" iPad but on Saturday, I spent about an hour on the 13" iPad Pro editing photos and at no point did I miss the 13" MacBook Pro for the same task.

iOS is still the limiter here with issues related to drag & drop / copy - paste and the multi-tasking paradigm they've chosen to go with still meaning that iPad Pro tasks take longer than if I were on a Mac with true multi-tasking, more key commands, etc. If I maybe get more shortcuts setup and get better at iPadOS, some of my issues would go away but 25 years of Macintosh is hard to break.

11 versus 13.....both are fine machines. 11 is a pro tablet that can be held, stuck in a seat pocket more easily or rested on your lap causally and is the more portable machine. The 13" is less portable but makes up for it with a fantastic screen and a larger working environment for content creation. Multi-tasking or side-by-side windows are more tolerable on the 13.

A few nit picks on the 13 versus coming from the 11.

The XDR 13" screen..gorgeous when doing content creation or in light mode. In dark mode, the haze/ghosts/shadows around text is awful and I'm really annoyed about it. It's a well documented issue but If you are going to read text at night at anything more than mid-brightness, the ghosting will have you perplexed as to why this machine costs $1000.

Battery life...abysmal. I blame part of that on the 5G chip since I went with a cellular model. Last night, wife and I were planning our SF trip and hopping between OpenTable, Resy, Maps, Yelp, Safari and Notes and screen was on for 2 hours @ home on Wifi and I used 50% o my battery life. So 4 hours of battery doing 'web things" on Wifi at home airplay video to my appleTV. So if you're doing a seminar via AirPlay / screen mirroring, expect to get 4 hours of battery life. At night, doing my normal web browsing it feels like battery is about 6-8 hours. It's very surprising to me that with the M1 chip and ProMotion that the 13" gets well worse battery than the 11" could be cellular? Could be the Mini-LED? I don't know but I gave it a month and the battery has not improved (usually first few days are bad due to iCloud library syncing)

Here's an example of the ghosting @ 100% brightness:

and 25% brightness:

For Reeder for RSS app, I've had to turn off 'true black' mode and go to a greyscale after years of reading RSS in all black due to this issue. It's very annoying and probably the worst aspect of this machine.

A few extra photos just for good measure:

...buyer's remorse? I have less than when I first started. The tablet is big...it's far closer to what Microsoft is doing with Surface as a computer for everyone and meets the needs of most people and Apple's software team along with 3rd party developers, I think are going to continue making this device more powerful and functional with great software. The iPad is 11 years in...I feel like they've really dragged ass on making this a proper get things done platform

BUT, 13 versus 11....let's maybe wrap things up by me saying that if iOS 18 is nowhere versus 15, I may consider downgrading to an 11" to get the portability and reading experience back. But, I can put up with the weight and size for a couple of years in hope I as a user and apple as a developer improve on things to make this a lot closer to a work computer than a content consumption device.

As a consumption device, off the keyboard sitting on my lap like a slate of glass, I do enjoy reading reddt and browsing the web on it. It's still a great tablet...just hefty. No way I'd hand this thing to a small child and ask them to carry it around to watch YouTube on. I'd be asking for a broken iPad back. It's too big and is definitely an "adult computer"

So I didn't return it but I'm also not 100% sold on it. I still don't have a laptop so I'm forcing myself to use it as one and find creative ways to get better at iPad OS working within the constraints.

 

[Hunter5117]

I have been using both a 12.9/Magic Keyboard plus an 11" Pro for the past year plus. I have honestly never taken the 12.9 anywhere, it just sits on my desk next to my 16" MBP as a second screen, mostly running my stock trading app while I work.

Just yesterday I bought a 13" M1 MBP and I will likely sell the 12.9 IPP.

However, the 11" IPP goes everywhere with me. Very similar use case to yourself, going out to coffee shop, travel and reading/media consumption in the evenings. For me it is the ideal size for "after hours" computing where otherwise I would probably be using my iPhone but a much more satisfying experience.

 

[Infinitewisdom]

I have been using both a 12.9/Magic Keyboard plus an 11" Pro for the past year plus. I have honestly never taken the 12.9 anywhere, it just sits on my desk next to my 16" MBP as a second screen, mostly running my stock trading app while I work.

Just yesterday I bought a 13" M1 MBP and I will likely sell the 12.9 IPP.

However, the 11" IPP goes everywhere with me. Very similar use case to yourself, going out to coffee shop, travel and reading/media consumption in the evenings. For me it is the ideal size for "after hours" computing where otherwise I would probably be using my iPhone but a much more satisfying experience.

Do you typically use your 11" IPP in portrait or landscape? And do you just use the built in keyboard for doing stuff like posting on Macrumors?

 

[Hunter5117]

Do you typically use your 11" IPP in portrait or landscape? And do you just use the built in keyboard for doing stuff like posting on Macrumors?

I probably use it in landscape mode more, although if I am on the couch or somewhere that I need to hold it in my hands it is mostly in portrait. I rarely use the on-screen keyboard, I have a folio keyboard case and if I need to type any amount I will set up on a table and use the real keyboard. I have a folio keyboard case for the 12.9 as well but I have not used it at all since I got the Magic keyboard.

 

[capathy21]

The 11 is a very intimate user experience. I really enjoyed the 11 but ultimately ended up with the 12.9. My reasoning was, it was going to replace my MacBook, so I wanted the largest display possible. It’s attached to the MKB 99 percent of the time, so the size is a non issue. If I used it more like a tablet, I would have probably stuck with the 11.

 

[Mainsail]

Another anecdote and this is neither pro or con iPad just a comparison:

1. iPad Pro 12.9" Cellular - 1.51 lbs., 11.04 H x 8.46 W x 0.25 D inches
2. 12.9" Magic Keyboard - 1.6 lbs
3. 11" Magic Keyboard - 1.3 lbs
4. iPad Pro 11" Cellular - 1.04 lbs., 9.74 H x 7.02 W x 0.23 D inches
5. MacBook Pro 13" M1 - 3.0 lbs., 0.61" H x 11.97" W x 8.36" D

So, if I can get work done on iOS 15 + 12.9" iPad and live with it when I'm not working (like laying on the couch) it's a nice way to have a MacBook Pro equivalent (just slightly heavier) with a smaller trackpad, less IO and not MacOS but the addition of cellular, a great camera system, pencil support, touch screen, etc.

so back to "live with it" and I shall but I have only increased my carry weight by .77 pounds when I have it in my bag so .77 pounds isn't much extra weight to travel with considering my bag is fully of full frame SLR lenses, a full size drone and Canon 5D.

Here is what I don’t understand: 12.9in iPP + Magic Keyboard = $1,450 retail with 128GB storage and weighs 3.1lbs. M1 MacBook Air base configuration = $999 retail with 256GB storage and weighs 2.75lbs. It seems to me that if you need a large iPad for multitasking and productivity apps you would be much better with an MBA. The exception would be people that do a lot of art or design work….but then add $129 for an Apple Pencil.

I am not knocking the 12.9 in iPad Pro, I just don’t understand how it fits into a use case unless you are a designer/artist that really needs a large canvas on which to work.

 

[adamjackson]

Here is what I don’t understand: 12.9in iPP + Magic Keyboard = $1,450 retail with 128GB storage and weighs 3.1lbs. M1 MacBook Air base configuration = $999 retail with 256GB storage and weighs 2.75lbs. It seems to me that if you need a large iPad for multitasking and productivity apps you would be much better with an MBA. The exception would be people that do a lot of art or design work….but then add $129 for an Apple Pencil.

I am not knocking the 12.9 in iPad Pro, I just don’t understand how it fits into a use case unless you are a designer/artist that really needs a large canvas on which to work.

Totally fair analysis. I don't have a good answer for you.

 

[sparksd]

Here is what I don’t understand: 12.9in iPP + Magic Keyboard = $1,450 retail with 128GB storage and weighs 3.1lbs. M1 MacBook Air base configuration = $999 retail with 256GB storage and weighs 2.75lbs. It seems to me that if you need a large iPad for multitasking and productivity apps you would be much better with an MBA. The exception would be people that do a lot of art or design work….but then add $129 for an Apple Pencil.

I am not knocking the 12.9 in iPad Pro, I just don’t understand how it fits into a use case unless you are a designer/artist that really needs a large canvas on which to work.

For me: The MacBook Air cannot be turned into a tablet configuration. I don't want a Mac laptop.

 

[Hunter5117]

I am not knocking the 12.9 in iPad Pro, I just don’t understand how it fits into a use case unless you are a designer/artist that really needs a large canvas on which to work.

I remember before I bought my first iPad that I could not understand wanting one when a MacBook air or some other small laptop could do so much more in a very similar form factor. Then I bought one and I have never turned back always owning one. However, the promise of becoming "More than a computer" (remember the ad) has never really come true. Yes, for some, it can be the ideal one-device solution. I do enough detailed and keyboard intense work that even the iPad Pro with Magic keyboard did not work as well for me as does a MBP.

 

[capathy21]

Here is what I don’t understand: 12.9in iPP + Magic Keyboard = $1,450 retail with 128GB storage and weighs 3.1lbs. M1 MacBook Air base configuration = $999 retail with 256GB storage and weighs 2.75lbs. It seems to me that if you need a large iPad for multitasking and productivity apps you would be much better with an MBA. The exception would be people that do a lot of art or design work….but then add $129 for an Apple Pencil.

I am not knocking the 12.9 in iPad Pro, I just don’t understand how it fits into a use case unless you are a designer/artist that really needs a large canvas on which to work.

As someone who has both, and watches my M1 Air collect dust, I can tell you why I reach for the IPP 9 out of 10 times.

1) Form factor-Even though I use the MKB most of the time, being able to just grab the display off of the keyboard is very important for me. Also having the ability to touch the screen or use the pencil for annotating or other tasks is great. I prefer the screen to be closer to me and using the traditional notebook form now looks far away.

2) IPAD OS- I know I am in the minority on this, but I absolutely prefer the IPad OS interface to Mac OS. Yes Mac OS can do things that IPAD OS cannot, but for me, I don’t do anything requiring desktop programs. The mobile/iPad version of Lightroom for photos, and Luma Fusion for video is all I need. After using the iPad pretty much exclusively for a while now, I find desktop versions of software/apps to be cumbersome and overwhelming.

3) Magic Keyboard-Although the trackpad is too small, I prefer typing on it as opposed to my Air.

I understand that everyone’s use case is different, and for many, iPad OS isn’t enough for their needs. I also agree that the price of a 12.9+MKB+Apple Pencil is borderline criminal. The M1 MBA is a much better value. I bought my setup second hand and got all 3 for $850 with Apple Care still active.

 

[jdb8167]

Here is what I don’t understand: 12.9in iPP + Magic Keyboard = $1,450 retail with 128GB storage and weighs 3.1lbs. M1 MacBook Air base configuration = $999 retail with 256GB storage and weighs 2.75lbs. It seems to me that if you need a large iPad for multitasking and productivity apps you would be much better with an MBA. The exception would be people that do a lot of art or design work….but then add $129 for an Apple Pencil.

I am not knocking the 12.9 in iPad Pro, I just don’t understand how it fits into a use case unless you are a designer/artist that really needs a large canvas on which to work.

There are a lot of things that a large tablet is better for than a notebook. With the Magic Keyboard you can detach the iPad in a second and now you have a much more portable device and one that is far better for content consumption. I haven’t ever been successful with reading a large amount of text such as a novel with a notebook. Add in the touch screen and pencil and the iPad Pro is a different class of device. Before the M1 Macs, I would have added that battery life is also significantly better but that no longer applies.

Having said that, I’m switching to an iPad mini with my M1 iPad Air and selling my 11” iPad Pro. The mini does about 90% of what I used the iPad Pro for and the other 10% can be done with the Air well enough. The iPad pro doesn’t have enough of an upside against the cheaper iPads now and I’m very dissatisfied with the level of Pro support in iPadOS.

 

[Mainsail]

There are a lot of things that a large tablet is better for than a notebook. With the Magic Keyboard you can detach the iPad in a second and now you have a much more portable device and one that is far better for content consumption. I haven’t ever been successful with reading large amid text such as a novel with a notebook. Add in the touch screen and pencil and the iPad peel is a different class of device. Before the M1 Macs, I would have added that battery life is also significantly better but that no longer applies.

Having said that, I’m switching to an iPad mini with my M1 iPad Air and selling my 11” iPad Pro. The mini does about 90% ofwhati us d the iPad Pro for and the other 10% can be done with the Air well enough. The iPad pro doesn’t have enough of an upside against the cheaper iPads now and I’m very dissatisfied with the level of Pro support in iPadOS.

Yes, I was going to say that you could probably achieve close to the same thing with an MBA + iPad combo.

 

[MisterSavage]

Good morning everyone. It's been about one month since my purchase. I wanted to share a few photos:

That one photo at my desk is my old 11" iPad Pro next to the new 13 and the other is a 13 Pro Max iPhone with the iPad 13 just for some size comparisons.

The crux of this thread was:


The 13" still feels too big when I'm laying in bed and reading. This is probably the only place where it feels too large. I recently got married and had to use the iPad for my vows and while I was self-conscious it would look too large at the alter and detract from the moment, as you can see from the photos, it wasn't...just a thin slate of grey:

....now would I like to have a smaller 10 - 11 inch iPad for reading? Absolutely. That would be great but now that I'm using the product more, I will sort of say out loud that the iPad 13" is the iPad Pro...it's exactly what Apple started with when they went to build this and the only shortcoming it has is the 4:3 aspect ratio or whatever it Is, It's not a ratio I'm used to working in with all of my other screens being a lot wider. I don't watch video on mobile devices so that's not a big deal (I'm one of those weirdos that only watches video on my TV). and the 11" iPad Pro is sort of the pocket sized version of the same device and, because of that, the 11" really only has more portability on its side particularly with weight and when it's time to do "pro tasks", the 13" is the better iPad for that.

Apple sort of expects users who buy iPad Pros to attach the magic keyboard, put it on their lap or desk and get things done. I never edited Lightroom photos on my 11" iPad but on Saturday, I spent about an hour on the 13" iPad Pro editing photos and at no point did I miss the 13" MacBook Pro for the same task.

iOS is still the limiter here with issues related to drag & drop / copy - paste and the multi-tasking paradigm they've chosen to go with still meaning that iPad Pro tasks take longer than if I were on a Mac with true multi-tasking, more key commands, etc. If I maybe get more shortcuts setup and get better at iPadOS, some of my issues would go away but 25 years of Macintosh is hard to break.

11 versus 13.....both are fine machines. 11 is a pro tablet that can be held, stuck in a seat pocket more easily or rested on your lap causally and is the more portable machine. The 13" is less portable but makes up for it with a fantastic screen and a larger working environment for content creation. Multi-tasking or side-by-side windows are more tolerable on the 13.

A few nit picks on the 13 versus coming from the 11.

The XDR 13" screen..gorgeous when doing content creation or in light mode. In dark mode, the haze/ghosts/shadows around text is awful and I'm really annoyed about it. It's a well documented issue but If you are going to read text at night at anything more than mid-brightness, the ghosting will have you perplexed as to why this machine costs $1000.

Battery life...abysmal. I blame part of that on the 5G chip since I went with a cellular model. Last night, wife and I were planning our SF trip and hopping between OpenTable, Resy, Maps, Yelp, Safari and Notes and screen was on for 2 hours @ home on Wifi and I used 50% o my battery life. So 4 hours of battery doing 'web things" on Wifi at home airplay video to my appleTV. So if you're doing a seminar via AirPlay / screen mirroring, expect to get 4 hours of battery life. At night, doing my normal web browsing it feels like battery is about 6-8 hours. It's very surprising to me that with the M1 chip and ProMotion that the 13" gets well worse battery than the 11" could be cellular? Could be the Mini-LED? I don't know but I gave it a month and the battery has not improved (usually first few days are bad due to iCloud library syncing)

Here's an example of the ghosting @ 100% brightness:

and 25% brightness:

For Reeder for RSS app, I've had to turn off 'true black' mode and go to a greyscale after years of reading RSS in all black due to this issue. It's very annoying and probably the worst aspect of this machine.

A few extra photos just for good measure:

...buyer's remorse? I have less than when I first started. The tablet is big...it's far closer to what Microsoft is doing with Surface as a computer for everyone and meets the needs of most people and Apple's software team along with 3rd party developers, I think are going to continue making this device more powerful and functional with great software. The iPad is 11 years in...I feel like they've really dragged ass on making this a proper get things done platform

BUT, 13 versus 11....let's maybe wrap things up by me saying that if iOS 18 is nowhere versus 15, I may consider downgrading to an 11" to get the portability and reading experience back. But, I can put up with the weight and size for a couple of years in hope I as a user and apple as a developer improve on things to make this a lot closer to a work computer than a content consumption device.

As a consumption device, off the keyboard sitting on my lap like a slate of glass, I do enjoy reading reddt and browsing the web on it. It's still a great tablet...just hefty. No way I'd hand this thing to a small child and ask them to carry it around to watch YouTube on. I'd be asking for a broken iPad back. It's too big and is definitely an "adult computer"

So I didn't return it but I'm also not 100% sold on it. I still don't have a laptop so I'm forcing myself to use it as one and find creative ways to get better at iPad OS working within the constraints.

I exchanged my 12.9 IPP for an 11 and am still really happy with it but I enjoyed reading your thoughts and pics!

 

[UBS28]

I cannot use small iPads. I went from the iPad Air 2 all the way up the 12.9 models, and the 12.9 models are the ones that are used 100% of the time.