While everyone might have been potentially assessing to upgrade to a new iPhone…I am now assessing to upgrade my iPad Pro instead. My current iPad is the Pro 12.9 (3rd Generation) so pre-M1.
According to Apple, it’s compatible with iPadOS 18, but not with 18.1
If anyone is on the Beta, is there anything that I would be missing? Does that mean all 18.x upgrades are gone for me.
As far as use cases go….
mainly writing, editing, reading, and entertainment, (when I am not home near my Mac Mini, I try to keep everything in parallel with it so that I can pick up and go)
not doing video editing (maybe later, usually prefer the Mac Mini)
I expect you’ll be able to update your third-generation iPad Pro to iPadOS 18.1; however, you won’t be able to take advantage of the Apple Intelligence features that require an iPad with an M1 or later.
I have same iPad Pro 12.9 3rd gen (2018 purchase) and still found no reason to upgrade.
Runs fast and runs everything I need.
I have switched a few years ago back to use a MacBook as my primary portable creation/productivity device, so the iPad is still great but mainly used for consumption and casual computing.
The only big thing missing is that all pre-M series iPads cannot run Apple AI at all.
Found out the hard way when I tried to install the beta this summer and briefly bricked my iPad trying to go back and install the regular production release. (TL;DR - the special boot-up sequence to put it into DFU restore mode was documented wrong and when I got the correct keypress sequence still took me 15 tries to get the timing right before it worked).
Apple AI has been underwhelming and tbf, I am extremely happy with a paid ChatGPT account that gives me their native apps on both iOS and macOS (not 3rd party AI apps that use ChatGPT tokens and API’s).
When Apple AI finally rolls out through 2025, I have a sneaking suspicion I’ll probably be using their linkage to free/paid ChatGPT account anyways for the way I use AI anyway.
FWIW I recently broke my 2020 iPad Pro and replaced it with an M2 iPad Air. I would recommend anyone thinking of buying a new 11 inch iPad Pro to take a look at the M2 iPad Air.
That kind of thing is extremely nerve wracking. You don’t know whether you’ve permanently bricked it until it finally works…if it does. It always makes me swear off doing those kinds of things until the next time I decide I want to.