Anyone getting an iPad Pro?

[Katsmeow]

Just wondered if anyone is getting an iPad Pro?

I just ordered one today. I ordered the 128BG with cellular.

I am actually sort of surprised that I ended up ordering one.

I've long had an iPad. I bought one of the original ones, then about 2 1/2 years ago replaced it with, I guess, the 3rd generation.

I had decided months ago that I would get a new one when they came out this fall. I had expected to get the regular sized one.

DH has a mini which he likes but he has an iPhone 6 Plus (as do I) and he says there isn't enough difference in size to make it usually worthwhile to use the mini.

I do use my regular sized iPad a lot as it is enough bigger that I find it useful to often use.

So I expected to get that size. The iPad Pro just sounded too big and too expensive.

But, then I tried one out at the Apple store. I went in twice and played with them for about half an hour. The pen is absolutely amazing. There was no latency at all and it was just like writing on paper. I can't get over how good it was.

Also, you can have 2 apps up at once and each one displays about the size of a mini iPad. I can think of so many times when I've wanted to do that.

I was surprised at how light the iPad Pro is. Yes, the footprint is a lot bigger than what I have now, but it seems lighter.

I think that just the pen and the being able to see 2 apps at once in a reasonable size was enough to sell me on it.

The options that I considered:

1. Saving $130 by not getting the cellular. The guy at the Apple store tried to talk me into that on the argument that I can always use my phone as a hotspot so don't really need the cellular. That is true most of the time, but I decided I would rather have the cellular and not have to fiddle with setting up the hotspot. Also what if I didn't have my phone right there? Yes, I'm on WiFi a lot of the time, but it is worth it to me to have cellular available easily. I decided saving the $130 was just not enough savings to give up that convenience.

2. I thought about the Microsoft Surface Pro 4. I think it is a great machine and love the fact it runs Windows 10. I really seriously thought of this option.

On the pro side, I have some programs that are Windows programs and won't run on an iPad. I liked the idea of being able to run them on the Surface Pro.

While that was a big argument in favor, there were 2 reasons I didn't go that way. While I can run Windows programs on the Surface Pro, I can't run all those great iOS programs. I felt that there was lots of content that would run on the iPad that wouldn't run on the Surface Pro.

Second, the Surface Pro is really expensive when you make it powerful like a regular laptop. It topped out at $2700. The least I could see being reasonable to get would be $2100 so it was a lot more than the iPad (yes, there is a cheap Surface Pro but it wasn't appealing to me).

What I finally decided was a good combination was the iPad Pro plus a cheap laptop. For about 95% of what I do on an iPad or laptop I can do it on an iPad (I use a desktop for a lot of things though). The area that isn't covered by a desktop or laptop is pretty small. Basically it is two uses. One, to have a backup computer at home in case my desktop goes out or we have a guest who needs a computer. Two, traveling and having to use a program that requires Windows. That second one used to be really important, but it is less and less important now. For home use, I definitely can't manage with just iOS, but my desktop serves that need. So, I decided the iPad Pro would do great for most of my traveling.

I should have it late the week after Thanksgiving.

 

[stepford]

Steve smiles on you from the eternal iCloud in the sky.
​

 

[bingybear]

Nope. I have not looked at them yes, but wonder how they would do large FEM for FDTD EM analyses.

 

[RunningBum]

Do you need a separate cellular plan for it or can you share with your phone at no extra charge?

 

[stepford]

Nope. I have not looked at them yes, but wonder how they would do large FEM for FDTD EM analyses.

Naively I'd guess that those sorts of tasks depend primarily on single core clock speed - 2.26 GHz for the A9X in the Ipad-Pro. So maybe half the speed of a high end desk top. If your compiler can optimize for multiple cores then a 4-8 core machine might do better still. This is just my handwaving guess though - somebody needs to run the benchmark.

 

[Dd852]

Dw got one and loves it. The screen is lovely for sure. I've given up on tablets - I have a large phone (6s) and a portable computer and that does it for me. For me the iPad was just like my reading glasses - always where I wasn't when I wanted it.


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[Katsmeow]

Do you need a separate cellular plan for it or can you share with your phone at no extra charge?

Neither. It is an add on to my Verizon phone plan for $10 a month. It is not on a contract so I can discontinue it at any time. For no extra charge, I can simply use my phone as a hotspot but like being able to use data without having to do that.

 

[audreyh1]

It looks like a fabulous device, with great potential in the business world - in particular medicine, research, and graphic arts.

But I hadn't considered getting one.

I'm pretty happy with my iPad mini, and when we travel, we take a MacBook Air (+ my iPad mini and our iPhones). I do a lot of book reading and web surfing on my iPad mini. It's almost attached to my hand.

BTW - no cellular - no GPS! This was my major regret with my first iPad mini. I also didn't realize that I would switch to using the mini all the time.

 

[Midpack]

I just test drove the Pro last Sun, it was very nice. I just bought an Air 2 a while back (knowing the Pro was coming) because it's easier to carry, a little cheaper, and completely readable (I've been a daily iPad user since the old iPad 2). To me it's a toss up between the 9.4" and 12" iPads.

 

[donheff]

I'm waiting to see how you all review the new devices after some use. Our iPad is getting little long in the tooth. Must be 4 years old or more by now and only has 16G.

 

[misanman]

We have tablets but they generally don't get used as it seems the laptop is much better suited to serious stuff and the smart phone works great for most everything else and is always with us. So, no plans to buy any more tablets here.

 

[MichaelB]

I've had replacement on my mind lately and am also interested in feedback about the upgrades. I used the iPad to read the news and prefer to browse with multiple tabs, the image heavy pages are now just to big to do that and cause Safari to crash regularly.

 

[Whisper66]

I much prefer a laptop or smart phone for virtually everything. No plans to replace me iPad when it breaks.


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[eytonxav]

DW has an Ipad2, and I was contemplating getting her a Pro for Christmas, but probably need to take her in for a test drive.

 

[bingybear]

I'm waiting to see how you all review the new devices after some use. Our iPad is getting little long in the tooth. Must be 4 years old or more by now and only has 16G.

If you don't mind my asking, how much of the 16GB is being used? Some people fill these quickly and others use very little.

 

[Sojourner]

Personally, I don't think the iPad Pro would be a good upgrade for me. I have a 3rd generation model and I use it mainly for reading in bed (books, Wikipedia articles, etc.) and occasionally for watching a movie or TV show when I'm traveling. I think it would be a bit too large to hold comfortably in bed... but I guess I'd need to try it out to be sure. I'm definitely interested in upgrading to a newer model, and I've even been thinking of switching to an Android tablet since I don't do anything very iOS-specific on my iPad anyway. I'm pretty hooked on the iPhone, but avoiding the "Apple tax" by upgrading to an Android tablet would be quite appealing to me.

 

[Richard4444]

I believe that the complete MS Office is an app for iOS, at a fee though.

Rich

 

[Katsmeow]

I was concerned a bit with the size before I tried it out. I did in the past have a convertible notebook that converts to a tablet that had a 12" screen and found it OK to use in bed for reading so think the iPad will be OK (it is much litter than that notebook was).

I had previously thought that the combination of desktop, phone (6 Plus) and notebook was the best one. What I found, though, was that I mostly use the desktop for anything that requires a lot of typing or where I want big screens (I have 2 27" monitors). The phone is for really portable stuff. I found I wasn't using the notebook that much anymore. But, I still used my iPad (current one is 3rd generation) a lot. It was great for consuming media and for just casual web surfing where I was mostly reading stuff.

Being able to have 2 apps open side by side (when both are open it is like having 2 iPad minis open next to each other) is really great on the iPad Pro (at least I hope it will be as nice in practice as in the store).

 

[donheff]

I just looked and realized it is a 32G iPad. It shows 27 G available space with 16.59 filled. I limit the amount of photos and music on it. I occasionally delete apps we don't use and their data.

 

[M Paquette]

IPad Pro? Yes, I'll be getting one, AFTER there has been a production 'turn'. Say, oh, 6-12 months out. That's long enough to get a revision bump on the custom chips into production and correct the 'not a bug' problems that will be more or less worked around in software in the first builds.

Not that there are any problems with the device as is.

 

[explanade]

I've had replacement on my mind lately and am also interested in feedback about the upgrades. I used the iPad to read the news and prefer to browse with multiple tabs, the image heavy pages are now just to big to do that and cause Safari to crash regularly.

Well the iPad Pro has 4 GB of RAM, double the amount of the iPad Air 2 and iPad mini 4.

Older iPads have even less RAM.



However, I'll probably look for one of the Black Friday deals for iPad Air 2.

 

[photoguy]

Already burned through our camera/computer budg for the year, but the pro and pencil look awesome. Would be totally great if it could be linked to Lightroom/PS as a Wacom replacement


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[Alan]

I like the look of the iPad Pro and will probably get one in about a year. Hard to justify replacing my existing iPad which is 3 years old, and I use it a lot. This last 3 years I didn't take my laptop on our long vacations - I let DW carry hers and found that I still much prefer manipulating spreadsheets on a laptop, and the ease of using a mouse for selecting text, cutting and pasting etc is still much better on a laptop.

I didn't buy the 4G version and won't buy the 4G version with the Pro. Setting up a personal hotspot on the iPhone was easy but even then I hardly ever use the iPad on the hotspot as we are always within wifi when I really want to use the iPad.

 

[mpeirce]

My DW may be getting one for christmas. The Pencil is they key feature for her. We're going by the Apple Store to take a look.

I'm dying for a new iMac. My trusty 27" is from 2010 and I so much want the new one with the 5K display. Maybe next year if I have some wiggle room in the budget.

 

[Bikerdude]

What I finally decided was a good combination was the iPad Pro plus a cheap laptop.

I think I'll do just the opposite. Good laptop and a cheap tablet. I can't find a lot of reasons to have a tablet besides travel.