Why I’m Buying an M2 iPad Pro. AGAIN.

Last year, I decided to send back my 12.9-inch M2 iPad Pro without even opening the box. But now, I need to buy one for a very specific reason. And I need your help, please!

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CHAPTERS
00:00 - Intro
01:33 - Casekoo
02:40 - My iPad conundrum
04:25 - Why I need the M2 iPad Pro

[MarkEllisReviews]

Got an M1 or M2 iPad Pro? Tell me how you put it to use beyond 'normal' iPad stuff, please!

[JeffPom]

I see three main strong areas for having an iPad.

1 - Artists. For drawing in particular. Though photography is awesome too.

2 - Entertainment. Watching movies, playing games.

3 - But here’s mine - besides things like note taking, which you mentioned: Viability as a laptop replacement. Especially with the new external display support. (Which still has issues - app developers NEED to update and become compatible or more compatible with it.)

I firmly believe that the average computer user can use an iPad instead, and then perhaps even get MORE out of it with the features that a laptop doesn’t offer. It can push them to cloud comp. Use of the pencil more. Use of the apps like Notepad, Reminders, Freeform. And then it also makes a fantastic camera with extra features (center stage, voice isolation) for video calls.

I use mine as my home computer. That I can also easily hold instead of a laptop - to watch movies and videos, or read with…

[abrahamj.roberts]

I have the 12.9 m2 iPad. I'm just a normal user so it's overkill for me - but I love it! 😊

[Phil-gvxs]

Nobody seems to be mentioning that the M2 iPad 12.9 is the only iPad which has an XDR display. This is noticeable improvement when comparing side by side to any other iPad.

[_Digitalguy]

I would try using it with external monitors (via stage manager). Also I would compare it with the 2018 pro when it comes to stage manager on the device. I have done the comparison myself (M1 vs 2018) and it's interesting to open many apps and tabs and see that at some point things start to reload on the 2018, but not on the M1/M2. I think a comparion of RAM would be even more interesting than comparin CPU power.

[stevebachochin]

As an M2 iPad pro 11 in user, love it. My dream is to keep my iphone at home and have an m1 ipad mini … with it using better external display support

[shackfilmproductions]

I've always wondered if an Ipad and Mac Mini combo was a good idea instead of going out and getting a Macbook pro 14 inch. It's less money, but you get a mac and have the flexibility to take notes and draw then come back to the Mac Mini for the more serious tasks. Perhaps a video where you test the Mac Mini stationed at home and then using the Ipad Pro when you leave the house would be a cool idea!

[russ_edmonds]

I love my 11" iPad Pro, and I have just ordered an M2 version to replace my 2020 model as the battery life is getting to a point where I am having to charge it after a couple of hours!

I'm completely not the target market for the Pro, as I only really use it for sofa surfing, using it as an expensive cookbook in the kitchen and reading comics on it. I would have gone for the iPad Air, but much prefer FaceID over TouchID and was happy to pay a bit more for the convenience factor. For me, it's the perfect screen size for media consumption vs the iPad mini (which I also have, and use mainly for note taking and when travelling/commuting). 

I've had an iPad since the first retina version, and am just so used to using it now as my general device whilst at home - it's just so convenient compared to my MacBook.

Can't really comment on the 12.9" version as never used one for any length of time, other than having a play with one in the Apple Store.

[heyjoe]

I use my M1 12.9” with Apple Pencil for work. My job is to go through Profit & Loss statements and Operating Statements and doing markup for businesses. Since I receive these digitally as pdfs, I used to have to print them off, use a lead pencil to do the markup, and then scan them back into the computer. Now, marking them up in Notability, I save myself TONS of paper and time of printing and scanning. I do hundreds of these a year. Our company has saved so much money on paper and time that they loved my idea and proposal and went with purchasing my team these iPads! Plus, I do love the 120mhz and miniLED screens for watching your channel and other YouTube videos and streaming sites!

[theusualuspect]

I recently got a 12.9” M2 1TB model. I use it for teaching engineering and the large size is great for easily sketching on during lectures. I also use the LiDAR for scanning spaces as part of my research.

The hope is that it will augment my Mac as a collaborative device when interacting with students.

[TechPuppeteer]

Hi Mark, I think that the best niche for iPad With M2 will be focused on things you can do only with it. Otherwise, it's only a more powerful device without innovations which are visible to people.

So here are a few ideas which come to my mind:
iPad Pro with M2 as little podcast studio -> podcast to go
iPad Pro with M2 as portable youtube studio -> take it to the coffee shop and try to edit the videos I DaVinci resolve. You can then share the cons, pros, results, time it takes, information about battery drain if you use it as a professional portable device, etc. I think content then will generate, and we know that you are a master of content repurposing.

[blaa]

My 2018 one recently had its mother board completely fried so I had to get a new iPad and since I use them for 5+ years I decided to get the new m2 one

[christianhotter]

The big iPad makes a good 2nd monitor if you work on a laptop. I use my mini as a 3rd monitor for my Mac Mini, but it’s better suited for my waveform monitor than a preview monitor.

[bringoff]

Just grabbed refurbished 11" Pro with M1. Nothing beats iPads 🤷‍♂️

[maxwell-cole]

Cool video. Had the same issue and ended up returning my M2 iPad Pro that was fully specked out because I couldn’t basically use it or justify using it for anything that I couldn’t do on my M1 iPad Pro, and my new iPad mini, which I’m so glad you mentioned because it is The most used iPad I have ever touched

[AF-qdbk]

That made me smile because I upgraded my iPad mini to the 12.9 and other than watching films on it and emails nope I don’t use it to its full potential

[JustinFYI]

Don't laugh, but I often use my 12.9 inch iPad Pro as a Windows tablet. I use Windows Remote Desktop to log in to my PC and I get to enjoy it on a large, beautiful Retina display and the Magic Pencil works with Windows Tablet Mode. Gives me the benefit of additional apps the iPad doesn't have without switching devices, so I get two computers inside one screen. I can remote into my Mac as well, but MacOS doesn't have a "tablet mode" option for that pen/pencil experience.

[richardllewellynme]

I've bought and returned the larger iPad twice in the last couple of years because I've ended up feeling exactly the same way - I feel like I should be able to use it but no. The only regular use I had for the larger one was as a second screen for my MacBook Pro. But even then, the difference between the larger one and my trusty 2018 11 inch isn't worth it. I won't ever get rid of the 2018 - it was built so well for the time.
Not helpful I know but this is the whole problem with these overpowered iPad Pros.

[matthewbachelier]

Mark, always love your videos - rarely comment on YouTube, but I think I may have a couple somewhat niche use cases - I'm probably one of the only people on the planet that wants an even larger iPad screen.

Beyond the obvious uses (side monitor, video content consumption) my #1 use for large scale tablets is as a gigantic reader for comics, manga, and magazines. For those, it's actually not quite large enough! Screen dimensions on the 12.9 ipad are roughly 10.3in x 7.7in, a perfect fit for a standard fully opened manga volume (~10 x 7.5) but woefully smaller than a fully opened magazine (~17 x 11) or a fully opened large release comic/manga (~14 x 10).

But in terms of pushing the iPad to its computational limits - the only thing I'd like to see that's going to get even close to tapping into the M2 full potential is some kind of side-loaded emulator. I'd love to see how the M2 iPad handles dolphin and Wii/GameCube games.

Hopefully that helps a little. The iPad Pro feels like Superman stuck on Pluto haha - it's so hamstrung. I wish Apple would just allow users to sideload or install MacOS, I think you'd see an explosion in iPad adoption.

[thegrumptastic]

I’ve said it before and I’ll keep saying, Meta Mark is my favorite Mark