2021 M1 iPad Pro vs 2020 iPad Pro - Every Difference Compared By MacRumors

Yes, you can probably skip upgrading to the m1 iPad Pro if you bought an iPad Pro back in 2020- and I say this before WWDC, where things might change with the m1 iPad Pro, and I'll explain more of that later. But as of right now, I'd hang on or save your money just for at least one more year and here's. Why? In my mind, there are five potential reasons why someone might think about upgrading, and I'm going to tell you whether I think they're really worth it or not. Those features being the new liquid, retina Dr display found only on the 12.9 inch model, so we're only comparing the larger model iPad. Pro 5g network support the one, singular thunderbolt, 4 port, a new ultra-wide camera on the front of the iPad that allows users to take advantage of apple's new center stage feature during video calls and, of course, the m1 chip. So let's start with the one and only feature that you can actually see with your own eyes right off the bat and that's the new liquid retina Dr display.

This feature is only available on the 12.9 inch model, and we did an entire video, comparing both displays from each iPad, and you can check that out by clicking the card here in the upper right corner. But I'll sum it up, the benefits of mini led are very similar to OLED. There are over 10 000 mini LEDs inside this iPad Pro with 2500 local dimming zones, so, depending on what content you're watching each zone can adjust the brightness levels accordingly, allowing for very deep blacks and high contrast where the colors are at the iPad Pro has a 1 million to 1 contrast ratio, which is crazy. So all of that can really be summed up by this image here. Both screens are displaying a black background, or at least in theory they're supposed to be the iPad Pro from 2020 is on the left right now, and you can see all of that light bleed and backlight from the LEDs that are still technically illuminated.

Basically, turning this black image into gray, the m1 iPad Pro well, all of these mini LEDs are essentially off and the only zones that are needed to display content like a menu or play bar are the only ones that need to be illuminated because there are so many zones to do this and adjust accordingly. The contrast ratio is perfect, giving you that feeling that the display is basically turned off everywhere else now. This is a very dramatic example. I know, and it doesn't always look this good or this noticeable, but for the most part, it's very good when watching HDR content. Now it isn't all positive, there has been some blooming effect going on that could mess with some performance of your display.

But overall it's been a very enjoyable experience. Is this worth upgrading for probably not unless you're someone who watches literally all of your content on an iPad Pro? It's your only TV in your house basically, and you just think it looks that much better? Maybe you should test it out before you make this plunge, but I don't think it's a good reason to go out and spend a lot of money on a new iPad Pro only one year removed from the 2020 version all right. So what about the m1 chip? It has to be mind, blowing and crazy, fast right well from a benchmarks, perspective. Yeah, it's pretty fast. The iPad Pro from 2020 was already really powerful and in some instances it would test better than intel MacBook pros with higher-end specs, but over the course of the last week.

I don't think there have been any real major performance improvements that were like jaw-dropping or mind-blowing, or really even that noticeable. It's not like when we compared intel to m1 max and everything was just way faster and more powerful in performance. Applications on iPad open up just as fast as the other iPad does, and the ramp management has been great and applications have rarely needed to reload. In the background uh ever since you first opened them up, it's just all been working very fluidly. The iPad Pro was touted by video editors as a crazy device that can cut through 4k footage like butter, and this year's m1 iPad Pro does the exact same thing, and I can't really tell you if it's better or faster than last year's.

It just feels the same when exporting long project files from suffusion, for example, the improvements were minimal. So as of right now, I don't see a huge benefit to having a m1 chip inside in terms of performance on paper. It does look a lot better, but that hasn't really fully translated. Yet in the real world now next month is WWDC and iPadOS is on the horizon. IPadOS 15.

Apple could dramatically shift the landscape of iPadOS, but they probably won't, and perhaps they'll introduce some features that would be exclusive to the new m1 iPad Pro, but they probably won't, and it might make everything totally different, but as of right now, 2020 owners are really not missing out now, if final cut, pro or Logic Pro come out for the iPad, they'll probably still be available for the 2020 model, but uh there might be some improvements with the m1 chip, and maybe it'll perform better. Of course, we'll have to wait and see if that actually happens. Okay, so this next feature is pretty cool, and it's something that might actually make you jealous. If you're someone who uses a lot of video calls on your iPad Pro, the new ultrawide camera is not something I would care about on a tablet for definitely for a photo standpoint. I do not take pictures with my iPad at all, but the introduction of center stage a feature that takes the ultra-wide camera on the new iPad Pro and crops in around to follow the subject all throughout wherever you might be.

Moving well that works surprisingly very well, and it opens up a whole new way to take video calls. You don't actually have to be stationary at a desk if you're in your kitchen, you can move around and do things you know don't go too far out of frame, but for the most part it's got a pretty wide field of view, you're no longer confined to just that one singular spot. Yes, it does work inside other apps like zoom. However, this is something that might be a bit niche. If you don't use your iPad Pro for video calls, then this is definitely not a feature you're going to want to upgrade for 5g network support is another feature included on this iPad, and it's also going to be something very limited to specific people.

Considering that I traveled absolutely nowhere. Last year, I paid for an entire year of LTE service for really no reason. Basically, four collective minutes, in which I was using the LTE network on my iPad Pro this year. I might be traveling a little more, but LTE on my iPad Pro has been totally acceptable. Just like it is on my iPhone, 5g hasn't been a dramatic improvement in my life so far, there are some areas where it is better, and I have noticed it.

But what are the odds? I'm really going to need that with my iPad when I'm on the go? Who knows, but I think you see where I'm going with this, I don't think it's a reason to upgrade strictly for 5g, definitely not and last but not least, the USB port on the iPad Pro has been upgraded to thunderbolt 4. This means you can now plug in your thunderbolt docs, SSDs monitors, etc. If you have a Pro Display XDR, you can display your content on your iPad Pro to your pro display, Dr in full 6k resolution, well kind of as of right. Now, I'm still getting that same black bar mirrored only option that we've had with previous generations. The only difference right now is, if I'm working on a project inside suffusion, for example, my content being displayed on the viewer can be pushed to my monitor at full resolution and full screen.

Most video content will also be displayed at full screen. Uh with you know things out of the Apple TV app. You can absolutely watch full screen content, but YouTube has not been updated to take advantage of that, and so it's still just mirroring everything. That's on your iPad. It's really kind of a bummer, but things could change in iPad, OS, 15 or when developers decide to make that update.

With all of that said, the iPad Pro from 2020 was an incredible iPad and the m1 is better, but it's a tiny bit better in direct comparison. If you're coming from a 2018 model, yeah, it's a much bigger jump in my opinion and that's a different story. If you've been looking at getting an iPad Pro at all, and you're coming from literally anything else, I would still recommend future proofing yourself and getting the m1 model. If, if it's not a huge um price difference between maybe something like a used 2020. , we don't know what's to come with these machines, and so that's why I'm saying it might be worth getting the m1 if you're, considering it and apple, could utilize this machine even more with some software improvements.

One last bonus comparison. Magic keyboards now the word on the street was that the 12.9 inch model you have to buy the new keyboard with it. That's not technically true. The new iPad Pro is a bit thicker, and it is not technically the same size uh, and it's not a 100 perfect fit on the old keyboard, but it works totally fine, and it can save you 350 bucks. I do have a new white keyboard here, and I actually really like it.

The white color option looks very good, in my opinion, and surprisingly, isn't very dirty, but it's only been one week aside from the design being adapted to its slightly bigger size, everything else is apparently the same, but with this white model, everything just feels different to me. I don't know if it's the finish, maybe because it's newer, and I haven't worn it out yet the key travel kind of feels different. Maybe it's a placebo effect, because Apple does not explicitly state that anything else is different about this keyboard, but I just thought I'd point it out. Of course, I'd love to know your thoughts in the comments down below. Are you looking at a m1 iPad Pro? Do you have a 2020? Do you agree with me? Do you not? Let me know in those comments down below this has been Dan with mac rumors thanks so much for watching, and I hope to see you around in the next video.

Source : MacRumors