Trade my MBP for iPad Pro?

[docster]

Heres the deal. I have a late 2011 MacBook Pro 15 with 2.4 Core i7, 8gb ram and a 750gb hdd. I mostly edit photos, and some brief video, mostly 2.7k, some 4k, but the macbook struggles with the 4k. I have the option to trade it for a 10.5 iPad Pro with logitech keyboard cover and apple pencil. I would have to put 400 Cash up for the deal. What are your thoughts on this? Is it worth the upgrade? Or should I put 16gb Ram and an SSD Drive in the macbook?

Thanks

 

[jerryk]

Heres the deal. I have a late 2011 MacBook Pro 15 with 2.4 Core i7, 8gb ram and a 750gb hdd. I mostly edit photos, and some brief video, mostly 2.7k, some 4k, but the macbook struggles with the 4k. I have the option to trade it for a 10.5 iPad Pro with logitech keyboard cover and apple pencil. I would have to put 400 Cash up for the deal. What are your thoughts on this? Is it worth the upgrade? Or should I put 16gb Ram and an SSD Drive in the macbook?

Thanks

That seem like a lot of money for a 10.5 iPad Pro, even before the MBP. Also, are the application you used available on the iPad. I have an iPad Pro and cannot imaging using it to edit photos, let alone video. Touching the screen sucks for any fine control, even with the Pencil.

FWIW, a 10.5 iPad Pro with 64 GB of storage is $549 on the refurbed store with 1 year warranty. I have a 256 model and paid around that for a new one on Black Friday.

 

[Sterkenburg]

That doesn't sound like a great deal! As mentioned above, just by adding a couple hundred bucks you can get a refurbished iPad Pro AND keep the MBP (which albeit old is certainly worth more than 200$).

But I'll echo @jerryk in saying that I can't even imagine doing any serious photo or video editing on a touchscreen without a mouse/trackpad. If that is your main use case and your current MBP struggles, I'd honestly lean towards upgrading it to a more recent model. The iPad Pro with the Pencil is an awesome companion device to a MBP or an iMac, but it's not made for what you'd like to use it for.

 

[Pearl Wisdom]

If you have a MicroCenter store near you, they have been selling the 10.5 iPad Pro with 64 GB of storage for 499. That is an in-store-only price though, limited to 1 per household. I just picked one up yesterday. Another thing to consider about a 2011 MacBook Pro is that it might surprise you with a graphics card failure at any time. I had been feeling rather smug about my 2011 17" running great with 16GB RAM and an SSD upgrade until it suddenly broke down with the graphics problem a few weeks ago. I'm thinking about trying for an $85 repair that removes a resistor to disable the faulty graphics chip, from https://realmacmods.com/macbook-2011-radeon-gpu-disable/

I suggest upgrading to a later date MacBook Pro, if you can find a good used or refurb deal. I went from my 2011 17" to a 15" 2014 (16GB/500GB). The retina screen is a nice upgrade, and the 2014 15" model is much lighter (by a pound) than the 2011/2012 15" MacBook Pros that had the optical drives. I have an external optical drive now for the occasional use.

With the keyboard cover and the pencil included, the deal is not terrible but not too good either. I expect you will be happier putting the money towards a newer MacBook Pro. Or you could try upgrading your 2011 with more RAM and an SSD, and hope for good luck with the graphics card failure problem.

 

[maflynn]

I would have to put 400 Cash up for the deal

doesn't sound like a good deal to me.

Also are you sure the iPad Pro will work as well as a laptop for your tasks? Some things certainly will translate easily to the iPad Pro, but other tasks will not.

 

[Fishrrman]

I wouldn't trade ANY MacBook for an iPad.

I want a keyboard, a trackpad, and a file system to go with them!

 

[bensisko]

If it was a straight-up trade, I would say “go for it!” But not with the additional outlay of cash.

I will diverge from others saying I really enjoy editing photos and video on the iPad! For me, the experience is MUCH better than on macOS (though if you need to do more than basic video editing, you have to move to the desktop with a desktop application). The iPad Pro can handle basic 4K editing, but it doesn’t do multi-track.
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Or should I put 16gb Ram and an SSD Drive in the macbook?

The SSD is the biggest upgrade you can make - it will drastically increase performance on your MacBook.

 

[Miltz]

Heres the deal. I have a late 2011 MacBook Pro 15 with 2.4 Core i7, 8gb ram and a 750gb hdd. I mostly edit photos, and some brief video, mostly 2.7k, some 4k, but the macbook struggles with the 4k. I have the option to trade it for a 10.5 iPad Pro with logitech keyboard cover and apple pencil. I would have to put 400 Cash up for the deal. What are your thoughts on this? Is it worth the upgrade? Or should I put 16gb Ram and an SSD Drive in the macbook?

Thanks

Sounds Like a terrible idea. You're better off selling your Mac and getting even a MacBook 2017 model with edit 4K really well. But Honestly save up and get a proper laptop.