Size difference between 1st & current generation 12.9” iPad Pro?

Hello all,

About to sell my old 1st Gen 12.9” iPad Pro, looking to upgrade to the newer models.

My needs have changed slightly, in that I won’t be annotating quite as many PDFs on it as what I was, and no longer need to type as much longform text.

At the time, the 12.9” was a good counterpoint to my 13” MBP. But then I upgraded to a ‘Marco Arment’ 15” MBP, and now I’m wondering if I shouldn’t rather go back to the 11” form factor…

My one area of doubt – and reason for this post, is that the latest generation 12.9” is a bit smaller, footprint wise, than the original generation. I am therefore wondering if the size reduction might be enough of a “win”, to have me sticking with the 12.9”…

Any MPU people here that upgraded from 1st gen to the new design in the 12.9”, who can share thoughts on how significant the redesign was, from a size perspective?

A part of me thinks I would get more use from the 11”, given it merely needing to complement a 15” laptop – but I will be the first to admit the real estate of the 12.9” was wonderful from a side-by-side app perspective, and annotating full-paged PDF articles…

Any input would be welcomed!

I upgraded when the 2018 models came out. The new models feel much smaller than the gen 1/2 models, and the 12.9 remains (IMO) the best size for reading/viewing full page size .pdf documents.

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Dang it. That’s what I feared. Think I’m going to have to spend some serious time in the store, comparing.

There’s always the two-week return policy

Yep, same here. Upgraded from the Gen 1 12.9” to the 2020 12.9” and it feels so much smaller physically. Then that gorgeous screen lights up and you realise you’re not losing any screen real estate at all. Happy days :grinning:

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Not in every country, unfortunately.

I currently have a work issued 11" iPad Pro and my own Gen 1 iPad Pro. Love them both, however I do find myself reaching for the Gen 12.9" iPad by default because of the larger screen, even with the 11" screen and design.

So much so that I’m really considering an upgrade to my 12.9" iPad Pro, probably get myself a refurbished 2018 12.9" to save some money. The upgrade is both to speed things up a bit, but also to take advantage of the 25% less overall volume of the 2018/2020 iPads Pro.

Unless your life is highly mobile and you find yourself constantly on planes where the larger iPad would need to be put away for landings and takeoffs (as most airlines require), I’d strongly recommend the 2018 or 2020 iPad Pro 12.9".

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