Should you upgrade to the 2020 iPad Pro?

AppleInsider · March 21, 2020 4:15PM

Now that the new 2020 iPad Pros are upon us, we examine who should -- and who shouldn't -- consider upgrading to Apple's latest pro tablets. Whether you have the previous 2018 iPad Pro, an iPad Air, or something else, we are here to make your decision easier.

2020 iPad Pro design mockup sits behind a 2018 iPad Pro.

To make deciding easier, we've broken down our guide into different sections, based on which device you are currently using as you grapple with the decision to upgrade or not to upgrade.

I have an older iPad

If you have an older iPad, you likely fall into one of two camps -- your iPad is doing just fine but you're thinking about a feature update or your iPad is no longer powerful enough and showing signs of its age.

For those with iPads that are doing just fine and are fulfilling your needs at least adequately -- you don't need to upgrade to the 2020 iPad Pro. The 2020 models of the Pros aren't all that different than the 2018 iPad Pro line, and if you weren't convinced by the 2018 models during the last two years the 2020 won't likely sway you any further. There's nothing wrong with an upgrade, especially if you just want something new, but the previous-gen 2018 iPad Pro on sale or an iPad Air may do you just fine.

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Then there are those who do require an update from an older iPad. Those of you in this boat should have no qualms about jumping to the new iPad Pro. The only thing we'd recommend is to think about what you do with the tablet. If you are mainly consuming media, watching movies and TV, reading, social media, etc then the iPad Pro may be more tablet than you need. You'd be just as well off with the 2018 iPad Pro or the iPad Air 3 and can save yourself some cash in the process.

I have the 2017 iPad Pro

2018 iPad Pro (left) and the 2017 iPad Pro (right)

What are you waiting for? The new iPad Pro has all the brilliant redesigned features of the 2018 line plus even more. The 2018 was a great upgrade cycle for iPad Pro and if you held off on that for Apple to refine it and add any additional features then this is where you want to be.

Plus, the 2017 iPad Pro won't work with the Magic Keyboard and the likelihood of third-party models coming for a three-year-old design isn't high.

You are probably one who pushes the iPad but didn't want to upgrade after only a year. Now that it has been more than a year since the previous-generation dropped it is not a bad time at all to pull the trigger.

I have the 2019 iPad Air

Those who specifically are rocking the 2019 iPad Air, we'd recommend holding off. You just bought the tablet a year ago at which point you decided on the Air rather than the 2018 iPad Pro. If that was the case then, unless your work on iPad has substantially changed, there is no reason to shell out even more money to upgrade to the 2020 iPad Pro.

If you are looking to boost your productivity, however, we'd recommend perhaps picking up one of the new Logitech keyboard cases that now integrate a full multi-touch trackpad.

I have the 2018 iPad Pro

This is the most interesting decision of them all. You have the 2018 iPad Pro and are on the fence about whether to jump ship to the new models. This happens to be exactly where we found ourselves to be as well.

The single 12MP wide-angle camera bump on the 2018 iPad Pro

The biggest hurdle is that the iPad Pro is Apple's most expensive tablet and shelling out between $800 and over $2000 is no small chunk of change. For that reason, we recommend most users with the 2018 iPad Pro hold off and don't bother upgrading to the 2020 iPad Pros.

There are differences between the two models -- we explored those extensively -- but they aren't going to be huge game-changers. Yes, graphics will be notably better. Wi-Fi 6 will be faster -- assuming you have Wi-Fi 6 routers in your home or office. And sure, the new camera and LiDAR will have benefits. But those together won't be enough to warrant the substantial amount of money required for the upgrade.

In this particular case, we'd say stay put, save yourself the money, and spend the $300 to $350 on the new Magic Keyboard when it ships in May to boost the functionality and features of your existing device.

Where we would say it would be worth upgrading is if you are doing anything very graphics-heavy, like editing huge photos or working with video. In this case, the new iPad Pro with its eight-core GPU will be beneficial. It also may be a good time to upgrade storage as well.

Editing images on the 2018 iPad Pro

When we picked up the 2018 iPad Pro, we didn't think we were going to keep it. We wanted to try it out before upgrading from our 2017 iPad Pro. But the redesign that the 2018 had was so good that we ended up sticking with it. Unfortunately, we only picked up the base 64GB of storage. As video and photo editors, that was a far cry from what we needed and we paid the price after only a month or two of use.

After a year and a half of painfully managing storage, we are eager to upgrade to a higher capacity and will also be thrilled with improved graphics, faster Wi-Fi, and even the U1 chip when it is eventually taken advantage of.

For those reasons, we upgraded our personal units to the latest model.

Deals on both 2020 iPad Pros and 2018 iPad Pros

Regardless of which iPad you currently have, if you decide to upgrade to the new iPad Pro you surely won't be disappointed. It is powerful, feature-rich, and iPadOS continues to bring countless new features to Apple's tablet computer.

Discounts on Apple's new 2020 iPad Pro are already in effect, with the latest deals available in the AppleInsider 2020 11-inch iPad Pro Price Guide and 2020 12.9-inch iPad Pro Price Guide.

Closeout deals on Apple's 2018 iPad Pro are also available in the iPad Price Guide, with discounts of up to $200 off.

2020 11" iPad Pro deals

2020 11" iPad Pro (128GB, Wi-Fi): $749* ($50 off)
2020 11" iPad Pro (256GB, Wi-Fi): $844* ($55 off)
2020 11" iPad Pro (256GB, Wi-Fi + Cellular): $989* ($60 off)
2020 11" iPad Pro (512GB, Wi-Fi): $1,034* ($65 off)
*Price with $.01 shipping using promo code appleinsider. Plus, save $20 on AppleCare.

2020 12.9" iPad Pro deals

2020 12.9" iPad Pro (128GB, Wi-Fi): $939* ($60 off)
2020 12.9" iPad Pro (256GB, Wi-Fi): $1,034* ($65 off)
2020 12.9" iPad Pro (256GB, Wi-Fi + Cellular): $1,179* ($70 off)
2020 12.9" iPad Pro (1TB, Wi-Fi + Cellular): $1,564* ($85 off) - Manually spec out options to see special price
*Price with $.01 shipping using coupon code appleinsider. Plus, save $20 on AppleCare.

Updated to clarify image shows design mockup of 2020 iPad Pro.

Wgkrueger · March 21, 2020 4:46PM

Two other things to consider.

The first is the person that picked up the 11 inch 2018 iPad Pro and now wants the 12.9”.

The second is the rumor that there’s going to be another 2020 iPad Pro released later this year with a newer display and might also include an A13 cpu and more memory.

disneylandman · March 21, 2020 5:04PM

Wgkrueger said:

Two other things to consider.

The first is the person that picked up the 11 inch 2018 iPad Pro and now wants the 12.9”.

The second is the rumor that there’s going to be another 2020 iPad Pro released later this year with a newer display and might also include an A13 cpu and more memory.

Not going to happen this year.

disneylandman · March 21, 2020 5:15PM

When Apple jacked up the prices of the iPad with this fake ‘Pro‘ moniker, they are just ripping people off. The FaceID camera and fancy rear camera does not make something ‘Pro’. Neither does the ‘X’ variant processor, which was the staple for the iPad up until a few years ago. The Air 2 has an ‘X’ processor and that wasn’t called Pro. Now they call it a Z? They are just making stuff up now, like the fake naming of the iPhone XR. Schiller said they came up with the XR because he thought it sounded like a sports car.

charlesn · March 21, 2020 5:25PM

“Plus, the 2017 iPad Pro won't work with the Magic Keyboard and the likelihood of third-party models coming for a three-year-old design isn't high”

Please do your research before publishing. How could you miss that Logitech has already announced its Combo Touch keyboard that’s coming soon and will support the 2017 10.5 iPad Pro? It has almost every feature of the Magic Keyboard except the sky high price tag: it’s $149, less than half of what Apple is charging.

Wgkrueger · March 21, 2020 5:31PM

disneylandman said:

Wgkrueger said:

Two other things to consider.

The first is the person that picked up the 11 inch 2018 iPad Pro and now wants the 12.9”.

The second is the rumor that there’s going to be another 2020 iPad Pro released later this year with a newer display and might also include an A13 cpu and more memory.

Not going to happen this year.

And yet one can home. Oh and it’s happened before.

DAalseth · March 21, 2020 5:37PM

I have a 2017 iPad Pro. The screen has some permanent marks and scratches. But it's working. It runs all my software, it does everything I need. So, I'm not upgrading yet. Oh the new iPad Pro with ApplePencil2 and Magic Keyboard makes me drool, but no. I want to get four years out of this iPad before I move it to secondary status. So a year and a half from now I'll be looking for one, likely the bigger one. The 10.5 is great, but I'm my drawing and painting could use a bit more space. As an added benefit, by the fall of 2021 the iPad and padOS will be even better.

quidnunc · March 21, 2020 6:04PM

I think the only reason I would consider upgrading my 12.9 2017 iPad Pro is the fact that it only has 4gb of ram vs 6gb in the new one. When I'm browsing in Safari pages will sometimes require a full refresh. That said, this could be solved adequately with a browser upgrade considering I can browse on an old computer with 4gb memory (from 2006) and Chrome has no issues recovering tabs it froze and offloaded to disk from memory, yet Safari is a full refresh fest when I've been browsing too much.

melgross · March 21, 2020 6:31PM

My big question now is about WiFi. I use Apple’s Extreme routers. In my old house, i need four for full coverage. They work very well. I do get about 400-450Mb/s down and 650Mb/s up. I have FIOS 1Gb/s service.

Wifi 6 is better, but my old routers give a mesh service, and have, long before mesh became a word people heard of. So far, even the best routers deliver worse service than my old Apple models. New WiFi 6 models have come out, but service generally is still worse than what I've been getting here for years, other than for the WiFi 6 spec itself. And they're very expensive. I don't mind that, but WiFi 6 will be even more difficult to serve in my house than the older versions. So this isn’t a no brainer.

later this year is our bi annual iPhone buying year, and the new phones also have WiFi 6. They have it this year too. I don't know why it’s not on the new MacBook Air. That seems strange. But I expect that within two years at the most, all Apple products will move to that, as will many other company’s products. I’d like to do it now, as my iPad will be here Wednesday, and I expect maybe sooner, as Apple billed me Friday. But i guess I’ll have to do more research.

melgross · March 21, 2020 6:34PM

quidnunc said:

I think the only reason I would consider upgrading my 12.9 2017 iPad Pro is the fact that it only has 4gb of ram vs 6gb in the new one. When I'm browsing in Safari pages will sometimes require a full refresh. That said, this could be solved adequately with a browser upgrade considering I can browse on an old computer with 4gb memory (from 2006) and Chrome has no issues recovering tabs it froze and offloaded to disk from memory, yet Safari is a full refresh fest when I've been browsing too much.

I find the tab situation to be a strange one. People talk about how pages from tabs need to refresh with less memory. But i find that thats what i want. A lot of pages are updated anyway. If you dont get an immediate refresh, the you have to do it manually anyway. That happens with a lot of forums. If you don't force an update, the posts aren’t updated. On this site, sometimes they are, and sometimes they aren’t.

apple ][ · March 21, 2020 6:51PM

I'm looking forward to seeing some tests and more info about what exactly that Z chip is about and how powerful it is.

I do find it strange that they went with an A12Z chip and not an A13X, which is what I would have assumed.

bluefire1 · March 21, 2020 10:10PM

I have a 2017 iPad Pro that works perfectly fine and meets my needs. So why is it again that I should upgrade?

davebarnes · March 21, 2020 10:10PM

Worth it?
Nope.
I want double the resolution.
I don't care about: memory, cameras.

Soli · March 21, 2020 10:59PM

disneylandman said:

When Apple jacked up the prices of the iPad with this fake ‘Pro‘ moniker, they are just ripping people off. The FaceID camera and fancy rear camera does not make something ‘Pro’. Neither does the ‘X’ variant processor, which was the staple for the iPad up until a few years ago. The Air 2 has an ‘X’ processor and that wasn’t called Pro. Now they call it a Z? They are just making stuff up now, like the fake naming of the iPhone XR. Schiller said they came up with the XR because he thought it sounded like a sports car.

All names are made up. Since these are Apple's products they can name their products and processors whatever the hell the please, even if you weirdly believe their immutable laws of physics that make their nomenclature impossible.

mdirvin · March 22, 2020 12:31AM

Right now I have the 2015 iPad pro 12.9. Used mostly for content consumption it didn't live up to my expectations as a effective laptop replacement. Like you I do a lot of photography with a 46MP sensor camera. Right now I'm in South TX for a 4 day shoot. I will be ordering a 12.9" 1TB model when I get back. My expectation is use LR on the iPad keeping one copy on the iPad, exporting a copy to a 2TB SSD for backup. Replacing my laptop on the road. It will be a more awkward workflow, but I won't have to be dragging around the MacBook Pro + all the required paraphernalia. If it works out I'll be retiring my laptop. Using the ipad on the road, and desktop at home.

MIke

OnPartyBusiness · March 22, 2020 12:58AM

I have the 2017 iPad Pro and I will be keeping it a while yet. I actually love my headphone jack and call me old-fashioned but I like having my bezels to hold onto too.

dewme · March 22, 2020 1:25AM

melgross said:

My big question now is about WiFi. I use Apple’s Extreme routers. In my old house, i need four for full coverage. They work very well. I do get about 400-450Mb/s down and 650Mb/s up. I have FIOS 1Gb/s service.

Wifi 6 is better, but my old routers give a mesh service, and have, long before mesh became a word people heard of. So far, even the best routers deliver worse service than my old Apple models. New WiFi 6 models have come out, but service generally is still worse than what I've been getting here for years, other than for the WiFi 6 spec itself. And they're very expensive. I don't mind that, but WiFi 6 will be even more difficult to serve in my house than the older versions. So this isn’t a no brainer.

later this year is our bi annual iPhone buying year, and the new phones also have WiFi 6. They have it this year too. I don't know why it’s not on the new MacBook Air. That seems strange. But I expect that within two years at the most, all Apple products will move to that, as will many other company’s products. I’d like to do it now, as my iPad will be here Wednesday, and I expect maybe sooner, as Apple billed me Friday. But i guess I’ll have to do more research.

It looks like we're barely on the leading edge of having more than a few choices of mesh capable WiFi 6 router products. I expect that this will change dramatically over the next year, with some delays due to the current global health emergency. Frankly, I'd be thrilled beyond belief to have anything near the level performance that you're getting now with your legacy Apple routers. Considering many of my neighbors have no electricity and drive vehicles with exactly one horsepower, I really can't complain if it takes me 5 or 6 minutes to download a 3.5 GB iOS update. No problems streaming 4K content. But until I have a fatter pipe on the outside, I really have no incentive to move to WiFi 6. When real 5G arrives, and it's actually being discussed now at the local level with respect to antenna placement, the situation may change.

Internally, I'm very pleased with the performance and coverage I get with my Ubiquiti WiFi setup (ac compliant) which is meshed with wired gigabit Ethernet backhaul and 3 PoE WiFi access points, 2 in-ceiling and 1 in-wall. Ubiquiti/Unifi has a very broad selection of access points to fit just about any scenario you can think of to give you WiFi coverage across your entire property, inside and out, and even distributed to multiple buildings on your property if that's what you need. It'll probably take Ubiquiti a while to get their mainstream, managed products moved to WiFi 6/ax due to the breadth of their product line, but it will happen.

Ubiquiti does have an integrated, meshed WiFi 6 router (AmpliFi Alien Mesh WiFi 6) but it's on the consumer side of their products and pricey. The bulk of their products are more of what I'd call "prosumer" networking components since the functional elements for a network (router, security gateway, switches, access points, management controller software, etc.) are separate, managed products. Setting up and managing a Unifi system is definitely more complex than anything you're doing with Apple's Extreme products. But they do give you access and control over every tweakable parameter that exists for network management and networked-device management, including the ability to setup a user-login-specific WiFi access portal like you'd find in a hotel, as opposed to a static guest network controlled only by the SSID.

melgross · March 22, 2020 3:23AM

dewme said:

melgross said:

My big question now is about WiFi. I use Apple’s Extreme routers. In my old house, i need four for full coverage. They work very well. I do get about 400-450Mb/s down and 650Mb/s up. I have FIOS 1Gb/s service.

Wifi 6 is better, but my old routers give a mesh service, and have, long before mesh became a word people heard of. So far, even the best routers deliver worse service than my old Apple models. New WiFi 6 models have come out, but service generally is still worse than what I've been getting here for years, other than for the WiFi 6 spec itself. And they're very expensive. I don't mind that, but WiFi 6 will be even more difficult to serve in my house than the older versions. So this isn’t a no brainer.

later this year is our bi annual iPhone buying year, and the new phones also have WiFi 6. They have it this year too. I don't know why it’s not on the new MacBook Air. That seems strange. But I expect that within two years at the most, all Apple products will move to that, as will many other company’s products. I’d like to do it now, as my iPad will be here Wednesday, and I expect maybe sooner, as Apple billed me Friday. But i guess I’ll have to do more research.

It looks like we're barely on the leading edge of having more than a few choices of mesh capable WiFi 6 router products. I expect that this will change dramatically over the next year, with some delays due to the current global health emergency. Frankly, I'd be thrilled beyond belief to have anything near the level performance that you're getting now with your legacy Apple routers. Considering many of my neighbors have no electricity and drive vehicles with exactly one horsepower, I really can't complain if it takes me 5 or 6 minutes to download a 3.5 GB iOS update. No problems streaming 4K content. But until I have a fatter pipe on the outside, I really have no incentive to move to WiFi 6. When real 5G arrives, and it's actually being discussed now at the local level with respect to antenna placement, the situation may change.

Internally, I'm very pleased with the performance and coverage I get with my Ubiquiti WiFi setup (ac compliant) which is meshed with wired gigabit Ethernet backhaul and 3 PoE WiFi access points, 2 in-ceiling and 1 in-wall. Ubiquiti/Unifi has a very broad selection of access points to fit just about any scenario you can think of to give you WiFi coverage across your entire property, inside and out, and even distributed to multiple buildings on your property if that's what you need. It'll probably take Ubiquiti a while to get their mainstream, managed products moved to WiFi 6/ax due to the breadth of their product line, but it will happen.

Ubiquiti does have an integrated, meshed WiFi 6 router (AmpliFi Alien Mesh WiFi 6) but it's on the consumer side of their products and pricey. The bulk of their products are more of what I'd call "prosumer" networking components since the functional elements for a network (router, security gateway, switches, access points, management controller software, etc.) are separate, managed products. Setting up and managing a Unifi system is definitely more complex than anything you're doing with Apple's Extreme products. But they do give you access and control over every tweakable parameter that exists for network management and networked-device management, including the ability to setup a user-login-specific WiFi access portal like you'd find in a hotel, as opposed to a static guest network controlled only by the SSID.

I’ve checked out their products, and surprisingly enough, every review (none of which is in a house like mine) shows poorer performance than I’ve been getting. Often by almost 200Mb/s. The new Orbi’s have the best performance of anything right now, and are also expensive. I don’t mind pricing because it will still cost less than the new iPad I bought, and we keep routers/extenders for years, so the yearly cost isn’t really that high. Their commercial model, which has six extenders, costs ove $1,000 on sale, and covers a very large area for Office space. But they show an open Office, with them on the ceiling. Doesn’t help for me either. I don’t know how I’d get the signal through the walls and ceilings. I was thinking of calling them this week and seeing if they have anything that will do it. Their offerings seem to boost older WiFi as well, so it’s worth a call.

GeorgeBMac · March 22, 2020 11:28AM

Perhaps a significant new audience for the iPad Pro are those who need/want both a tablet and, occasionally, a laptop.

I suspect there are many young people who use a tablet for gaming as well as taking notes and such but still need a laptop for doing papers and such. And now for those people there is the iPad Pro with its new keyboard & trackpad combo where its only real limitation (for those mainstream users) is the smaller screen size.

The addition of the trackpad to the external keyboard may be more of an incentive to buy this iPad than the iPad itself.

... So, let's see: "I occasionally need a laptop. Should I spend $300 for the new keyboard / trackpad or $1,000 on a MacBook Air and then lug around two devices? They both (for mainstream users) do the same things...."

apmiller · March 22, 2020 1:32PM

I wish Apple would realize that their price gouging on keyboards (& Apple Pencils to a lesser extent) delays my, and I would think countless others, “upgrade schedule” by several years. No excuse for charging what they are for the new keyboards. I own a Brydge keyboard for my iPad Pro 10.5” (also a Premium product, but a far better value than Apple’s previous keyboard) and at $149 regular price, I’m not in a hurry to have to pay even that amount again, along with the premium price tag for iPad Pros. It’s “painful” enough to shell out what Apple charges for their Pro iPads (& justify to a spouse). Then add to that needing a Pencil Upgrade, plus new Keyboard (they are rarely compatible from year to year), and a $800 upgrade is now more than $1,050. No, I’ll wait another year....or two.

ApplePoor · March 22, 2020 3:19PM

I have a 2018 11" iPad Pro 1TB + Cellure. I came home with it, a second generation pencil and an Apple iPad Pro keyboard. The next day I was outside and the iPad slid out of the keyboard face down onto concrete destroying the screen. I got a replacement iPad and returned the Apple Keyboard. I tied the Zagg keyboard and the foot extended out the back too much to use on a labor the airline tables. Acquired the Brydge keyboard and also their protective screen glass as the other designs do not work with the Bridge keyboard "grips". I have been most pleased with this combination. I ordered the Bridge Pro keyboard with track pad as soon as it was announced and it should be here in April and at significantly less cost that the new Apple version. The existing Bridge will go to one of my step daughters, so all is not wasted.

I see the recent iPad models as a stop gap until 5G comes out and is truly operational and the new technology screen is available.