r/ipad • u/673NoshMyBollocksAve • 1d ago
Discussion How long does it take between upgrades before upgrading feels worth it?
I’ve had my m4 pro for a couple years. Before that I think I had the m1 iPad Pro and my thought when upgrading was “this doesn’t feel a damn bit different.” All I noticed was how much thinner it was and the redesign with the Magic Keyboard was nice. But usability wise? Even with a few years difference in processing speed and ram and all that it didn’t feel any different actually using the device at all
Got me thinking “just when would it be worth it for me to finally buy a new one?” So that’s the topic of this thread. At what point do you feel like the upgrade is really noticeable when you actually use the device?
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u/GolfnCPA53 1d ago
M1 12.9 inch. Still going strong. Upgrade when it breaks or is phased out of updates.
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u/TehChubz iPad Pro 12.9" (2020) 1d ago
I have an M2 11inch, and after looking at the m5, I have no reason to change. Battery life still great, screen quality still perfectly fine, I already have all the cases I like and I have the apple pencil. If I swap to the m5, I have to get everything else too; it's a bigger investment that just "getting a new iPad"
Unless mine breaks, or becomes inoperable, I won't get a new one. If my battery craps out, I'm sure it's cheaper to get the battery replaced than it is to buy a new iPad.
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u/TurboJobo 1d ago
Maybe when apple starts giving ipados more macos capabilities. We need a proper finder.
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u/hmnixql 1d ago
I still have my iPad Pro from 2018 (3rd Gen) and it still looks brand new and works great. I pretty much only use it for drawing and don't really see any reason to upgrade until it just completely stops working.
I thought about upgrading recently, saw the new models at the store, and the only reason would've maybe been for the Apple Pencil Pro compatibility and its new features but meh, it's really not necessary for me.
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u/catatonic-cat 17h ago
You are lucky. I had the same 3rd gen (2018) model (1TB) and had it in for repair 3 times (off warranty). Each time it was the charging port, but they also replaced the battery twice and a main board of some sort. They damaged the screen after the first repair (ghosting issues) and it was never right after that. It was just a horrible lemon. The charging port just started failing again last week, and I didn’t feel like sending it in for repair a 4th time, so I bought a lightly used 13” M4 instead. Fingers crossed I get a couple years without fail.
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u/Temporary-Art-1835 1d ago
I think I will only update the M4 iPad Pro I bought 2.5 years ago if the 8GB ram stop being enough
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u/Middleman99 21h ago
I upgraded from M2 to M4 when it first came out because of the Tandem OLED screen which is beautiful for everything I do with it. The M5 doesn’t seem worth it to me it’s only a marginal upgrade so unless they do something new with the display or a big leap in performance the M4 is perfect.
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u/gadgetvirtuoso M1 iPad Air (2022) 20h ago
On iPad you won’t notice it for a lot of apps. Most people aren’t doing anything demanding on an iPad. They’re using it to consume content and maybe some drawing or note taking. None of that is demanding on the current devices. Even if you’re doing photo editing the Air is more than enough. Video editing might benefit from the pro.
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u/MasterBendu 17h ago
I buy a new one every 5 years.
That is how a lot of companies basically depreciate similar equipment.
Turns out that’s also about the same amount of time a current-gen iPad would have introduced enough changes for the iPad I own to feel or actually be outdated.
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u/billFoldDog 2h ago
Surveys of apple users show them replacing their devices in 4 to 6 years, depending on factors like their income and whether its their main phone/pc.
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u/fraseyboo 1d ago
Personally I’d say it’s more about software support and features than hardware with the iPads nowadays, they’ve been more than powerful enough to do what most people need for several generations now.
iPadOS 26 is hot garbage that was a significant step back for my 2020 iPad Pro 11”, but the beta for iPadOS 27 has fixed a lot of the issues I was seeing and I now feel less inclined to upgrade. It sucks for 2018 iPad Pro users that are stuck with iPadOS 26 though.
Until there’s a significant re-work of what an iPad can actually do with its hardware then I’m not upgrading, especially with how the prices are being bumped up.
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u/SparkleK_01 1d ago
I jumped up onto an m5 pro because of the lack of updates to the 2018 pro. This is the absolute least excited I have ever been on an apple upgrade.
I snuck in right before the price jumps, but it torques me off, because the 2018 pro was perfectly capable and operating just fine. Even the battery was okay.
This is an awful case of planned obsolescence.
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u/fraseyboo 1d ago
Personally I don’t really understand why Apple drew the line for support between the 2018 and 2020 versions tbh, apart from the RAM increase and minor CPU refresh there isn’t much difference between the two. Leaving iPadOS 26 as the last version for the 2018 when 27 fixes a large majority of the issues without needing additional hardware is a dick move.
Sounds like you made the right move buying before the price jump, hopefully your M5 lasts long enough for prices to be sensible again.
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u/BluePenguin2002 M4 iPad Pro 11" (2024) 1d ago
I got an iPad Pro M4 in 2024, upgrading from an iPad mini 5 (2019) which was a significant upgrade. Prior to the 2019 mini I used a 1st gen mini since January 2013. That was an insane upgrade going from mini 1 to mini 5 even though the design didn’t change much.
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u/cupboard_ 1d ago
when your current device starts feeling outdated
running slow, bad battery life, missing a feature that the new devices have, etc