iPad Pro 9.7 worth the upgrade form the original air?

[MrJM]

Hi everyone.

I've seen loads of posts about people upgrading from the air 2 and comparing them but has anyone upgraded to the new iPad Pro from the original iPad Air? I'm considering it but at the same time I keep thinking its a bit of a waste as my air is still more than capable! For anyone who has upgraded what were your impressions against the air 1?

Thanks!

 

[Ghost31]

same upgrade my daughter is doing! Yes. It's a very substantial upgrade. I remember having the air 1 and wanting the air 2 just for Touch ID alone. But then you add all the other improvements to processor, ram (god I hated my air 1 and it's constant need to eject tabs) and now you have better speakers, better camera, pencil and keyboard support, slightly more future proof (although "future proof" is kind of a ridiculous term)

I think these are huge upgrades, but whether you give a damn or not is the real question.

 

[MrJM]

same upgrade my daughter is doing! Yes. It's a very substantial upgrade. I remember having the air 1 and wanting the air 2 just for Touch ID alone. But then you add all the other improvements to processor, ram (god I hated my air 1 and it's constant need to eject tabs) and now you have better speakers, better camera, pencil and keyboard support, slightly more future proof (although "future proof" is kind of a ridiculous term)

I think these are huge upgrades, but whether you give a damn or not is the real question.

That's kind of where I'm at right now. On paper the difference is huge, just not sure how that will translate to actual usage. My iPad is mainly for consumption, browsing and a few games.

I'd like to try the pencil, but I struggle to draw a stickman so not entirely sure it would be worth it!

 

[Ghost31]

That's kind of where I'm at right now. On paper the difference is huge, just not sure how that will translate to actual usage. My iPad is mainly for consumption, browsing and a few games.

I'd like to try the pencil, but I struggle to draw a stickman so not entirely sure it would be worth it!

You don't sound like the most hardcore of users. I find the best time to upgrade is when you decide you have a problem with your current one and the new one solves it. Well...kinda.

When I had my air 1, I hated how the safari tabs would refresh. I literally couldn't type in one other safari window and leave it for a second to reference something and come back to it. Everything I typed would be erased! So there's a reason I upgraded.

Or Touch ID was a biggie for me. The security of my iPad I decided was a big deal with the more stuff I put on it and sometimes I was in public places. And I didn't want to always have a giant 20 digit password to type in every time I opened it up, so Touch ID was a biggie for me.

Then this last year I decided I use my iPad more than my laptop by a huge margin. Like...I had a newish retina MacBook Pro that cost me more than a couple grand and I never used it. Felt like such a waste. I was already iPad the entire time, so with this talk of "can an iPad replace your laptop", I figured it was time to make a big leap with the 12 inch pro. And here I am typing on it now. It made sense for me to have a bigger more powerful device since I use my iPad for literally EVERYTHING.

After this though? I don't think I'll need a new one for quite awhile. Every single one of my needs are met by the hardware. Now it's just time for the software to catch up

 

[enduro0125]

I went from the original to the 9.7 pro
Nice upgrade

I hand down my old devices so it made it worthwhile for me
If I wasn't passing it down I could have lived with what I had

If you can afford it and someone else will benefit from your upgrade, do it

 

[tgara]

FYI, there is already a thread on this topic.

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/whos-just-upgraded-from-a-ipad-air-1-to-the-9-7-pro.1964885/

 

[MrJM]

FYI, there is already a thread on this topic.

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/whos-just-upgraded-from-a-ipad-air-1-to-the-9-7-pro.1964885/

Thanks, couldn't find that!

 

[glenthompson]

My wife and both just upgraded from 1st gen Airs. Touch ID is worth half of the upgrade cost. After having it on the iPhone the iPad was a pain having to key in my passcode. More memory is nice for switching between apps like mail and Safari. On the Air I would often click on a link in an email and when I went back to mail it had forgotten where I was.

Speed increase is noticeable. Everything just seems a bit snappier. My wife likes having an iPad that mashes her rose gold iPhone.

On the downside none of our cases fit and we haven't found anything we like yet.

 

[Nhwhazup]

I also upgraded from the original Air and am so happy I did. I use mine a lot at work for task management app, emails and note taking. I really love the Pencil for note taking. No need anymore for pad and pen. What I really love is being able to do anything while on the road traveling. I have cellular and love the ability to pull up and easily annotate documents, sign and return them. I always have my work computer but don't always have the wifi connection. So for me, I'm a super happy camper with the new Pro.

 

[scaredpoet]

I'd like to try the pencil, but I struggle to draw a stickman so not entirely sure it would be worth it!

You'd be surprised! If you have an Apple Store near you, it's worth it to go and try the Pencil with the drawing apps they have on their demo units. I'm not artistic either, but I surprised myself with what I could do. Well, the apps were doing a lot of the work, really, but they do a good job of enabling non-artistic people to be artistic and creative.

There's also note taking apps that pretty up your handwriting and do some recognition, and let you draw perfect shapes just from rough sketches. If you draw diagrams (or would like to) then it's worth upgrading.