Well family I will have to make a big decision today after the event

iPad pro all the way. Why would you spend that much on a two year old iPad? The performance is the main thing, the iPad pro will be more powerful and faster, don't stress about "new features", look forward to having the best tablet money can buy.

 

I must say, buying the 128GB iPad Pro was 100% worth the money (especially here in Australia). It's so fast, incredibly fast and the speakers are incredible! The 9.7" with the $100 increase is a bit unfortunate, however the audio experience and speed can be justified. Hope tomorrow clears things up for you

 

You only have 6 hours to wait until the new iPad. Make up your mind once it's out!

 

If it does everything you need it to and you get 4 times the storage, why not? Some people aren't hung up on having the newest thing. I think the better performance and speed is pretty meaningless if you're just using it for things like web surfing and Netflix.

 

How many Safari tabs do you have open? Personally, I've never felt limited by the 2 GB of RAM on my Mini 4, but I don't tend to have more than 3 or 4 tabs open. 4 GB of RAM is a lot for a mobile OS.

 

Safari w/4gb ram looks great on paper, but the air2 with 2gb performs nearly as fast for general use for at least 85% of us, if not more.

If I had to pick based on how I use my iPad now and for the next year and beyond...I would get the Air2 w/128gb.

But that's me...you may be different.

But 32gb is simply not enough for me. My ipad2 has 32gb already and only 6gb free with no movies or music loaded.

4 speakers and the extras that this new 9.7" will have mean nothing if I don't have enough storage on the device.

 

All the IPP people will say IPP, all the iA2 people will say iA2....
pop corn time..!

 

You simply don't need the features of the iPad pro. For someone who does the air is not an option.

 

Spend the extra money and get a 128 iPad Pro. Better longevity and you get the storage that you want.

I have both a 12.9" Pro and an Air 2 and I've found uses for both of them enough to keep both and use both in my daily life. Either one is a great choice for a tablet, but if I had to choose only one, it wouldn't be the one that's 18 months old.

 

I think a lot of people are undervaluing the keyboard and the speakers. I know it doesn't sound huge but it has gotten me to the stage where I never use my MacBook anymore. It's a lap top when I need it, and a tablet when I need it to be. I'm am engineering student and the only shortcoming is excel sucks without a mouse. However note taking with the pencil, paper writing with the keyboard, Netflix with the speakers really is amazingly good. I also notice a significant difference with the ram. I'm not even capable of slowing it down when I have PIP and two apps open. It's so good.

 

That's a very limited way of looking at it. Basing any decision on just one factor won't get you very far.

So buying this 9.7" Pro w/32gb over the Air2 w/128gb just because it is faster with more RAM, or because it has 4 speakers, etc is a narrow-sighted way of doing things. Just as true if you have need of the pencil but pick the Air2 just because it has more storage.

 

Also if they introduce the smaller iPad Pro I would expect a price drop in the air

 

I offered no comment on what i would do, only what is happening... people like to defend their purchasing decisions.

 

I got the iPad Pro with the keyboard and pencil. Shortly after I returned the keyboard and pencil, I found them pretty useless for anyone who isn't an artist or student (for the price).

The on-screen keyboard is pretty great on both iPads. The Air 2 seems like the best choice for you.

Only 2 hours until the Apple event now, a new iPad will be announced so keep an eye out for that.

 

I use the keyboard for emails, writing on word, writing comments here, and honestly it makes lap use so so so much better even if just surfing the web. It's really stable so it won't fall over. Then if I lay down on the couch just take it off the keyboard and prop it on my chest and it's just like a regular iPad again. I can't stress how important the keyboard has become for my use of iOS. It makes it way more versatile. Even if just for command space spotlight search and command tab switching apps.

The pen I use less often but I use it with notability. This is fantastic because in meetings I can hand write notes quickly and I'm notorious for losing note pads so it's much better for me. I also use it to sign pdfs a lot without printing and scanning. But It's not necessary to get great use it of the iPad.

I really think the keyboard is key and if you give yourself a week instead of returning it in a day, youll get used to the texture and key travel and you'll love it.

 

i ask honestly, because i'm in the market for pencil support and *want* the 9.7 pro to be "worth it," but most benchmarks i've seen only put the a9x mildly ahead of the a8x, due to having fewer cores. do you have any sources suggesting otherwise, or are you just going on the logic of "its 1.5 years newer so it must be way better"?

maybe there's the ram side of things, but the iPad 3 also got a ram bump, and that didn't save it from feeling sluggish after an update or two.

 

256GB!!

 

Cool, but that's a lot of wasted money for what you're using it for. You'll probably regret spending all the extra money lol

The 128GB or 32GB 9.7' Pro seems to be your best bet imo. The 12mp camera, flash, and true color screen put it ahead of the 12.9' in some cases.

I bought the 128GB iPad Pro for school and am only using 30.5GB after months of usage, due to a ton of games I don't use taking up 10GB, and my iCloud Photo Library taking up 12GB.