Are you upgrading to the new 2021 iPad Pro with M1 chip? I’m probably not…

To be honest, I’m not sure its worth upgrading… yet.

Aloha everyone,

Today, I’m asking the question, “Are you upgrading to the new 2021 M1 iPad Pro?” and to be honest, after watching the Spring Loaded Apple Event, I was sold on during the event. I was sold on specs like: M1, 12.9-inch Liquid Retina XDR Display mini LED with 1000 nits of full-screen brightness, faster 5G, up to 2TB storage, Thunderbolt and more. Oh yeah – that new Magic Keyboard? Looks awesome!

Before I proceed, I did want to let you guys know that I currently own a 2018 12.9 iPad Pro with 1TB of storage (more than half if used) and it has LTE – though I never paid for the service. My 12.9 iPad Pro still has AppleCare until July 2021 and I do all of my video editing on it now.

After the event, I went to the Apple website and priced out a maxed out 12.9 iPad Pro, maxed out the storage at 2TB, and picked the cellular 5G option – which costs a whopping $2399. If I wanted the same exact setup that I have, but upgraded, it would cost $1999 – actually wait. Apple didn’t announce this on the Spring Loaded event, but the current 12.9 Magic Keyboard is not compatible with the 2021 12.9 M1 iPad Pro. Now I loathe that pretty white 12.9 Magic Keyboard – which will set me back $349. If you’re planning to get the 11″ version – you are safe – you can use the older Magic Keyboard – which happens to be on sale on Amazon for $199 (click for link). Lucky!!!

I’d have to fork out $1999 to match my current setup.

So that’s $1999 + $349 to match my current setup. Oh yeah, don’t forget AppleCare, which is another $149. To be fair, Apple does offer free engraving (which I don’t normally recommend if you plan to resell in the future). That puts us at $2500. That is two thousand and five hundred dollars. What can we get for $2500? A base 2021 M1 iMac and an MacBook Air (or iPhone 12 Pro) – you choose.

If you have the money and plan on pre-ordering on April 30th – I am happy for you! I’m still on the fence for one main reason. What would change with my workflow if I upgraded?

The main reason I didn’t upgrade to the 2020 12.9 iPad Pro (which I am leaning towards when the M1 comes out – I’ll scour the secondhand market), is that the 2020 model wouldn’t drastically change anything in my work flow. Our videos on YouTube are shot on 1080p 60 FPS and LumaFusion handles all of it without a hiccup (well maybe once or twice when I have problems importing).

The fact that Apple has upgraded their hardware to the next level is inspiring, but if the software is the same – why upgrade? Ok, I’m excited about the 12.9-inch Liquid Retina XDR Display mini LED with 1000 nits of full-screen brightness, with peak brightness of 1600 nits – crazy, right? It will look awesome, but I’m not sure if it will make that big of a difference for most people.

Apple did highlight a lot of software makers and they were blown away with the M1 iPad Pro, but it seems to be a niche market. Have you ever used your iPad Pro to its maximum potential to where its stuttering and crashing? If you have – then its time to upgrade! Do you see yourself recording video with your iPad Pro? When you probably already have an iPhone 12 Pro or Pro Max? I mean the new camera feature is cool with the tracking, but I wouldn’t upgrade for that reason alone.

I’m still on the fence, and I might place an order. I’m just trying to justify $2500. I mean if I could use it as a computer too, that would be another story, but the fact that I have to use a separate computer for my workflow (Dell XPS 17), $2500 is a little bit too stiff for my blood. Time to search eBay for those trying to offload a 2020 iPad Pro (1TB LTE).