Need advice for first Ipad purchase

[gritty harness]

Hello all, some circumstance lead me to be away from my PC so I plan on buying an ipad to use for the meantime. I only plan to use it for Media watching (youtube and netflix) and gaming. Though no triple A games just the typical moba/shooter games with some gacha gaming. Wont really use it for any other task aside from those. I have a budget of 600$ and cant decide on a unit.

Currently im looking at getting a preloved m1/m2 ipad pro since I see a lot of people mentioning online how even older ipad pros are still really really good compared to newer non pro models (newer pro models are too exp currently). I see some locally for about 500$

My other option is a newer gen ipad which is still within the budget, just not sure on what option to go with.

Longevity isnt really an issue for me as long as I get to use it for the next 2 years or so

[woven whale]

I'd say get the m2

I'll wait for more people though cause I'm not sure

[hoary drum]

The iPad Pro M2 (2022) is a good choice. If you plan on using a keyboard and/or pencil though, then I’d get an iPad Air M2 (2024) instead as wouldn’t recommend anything from before 2024 for that.

[gritty harness]

No real interest in using the keyboard. The pencil seems fun maybe on some games or smth but isnt a requirement, i prolly wouldnt get one anyways if it wasnt already included

So you would say that a decent condition ipad pro m2 blows out any other option in that budget for what id need it for?

[hoary drum]

iPad Pro M2 is great for that price. If you want/need a pencil then an iPad Air M2 is fine

[gritty harness]

would even the most base model of a ipad pro m2 still be good for about 500$?

[hoary drum]

iPad Pro M2 for $500 is decent. I’d also consider getting 256GB, that way you can store more stuff locally in case you can’t get internet

[gritty harness]

if I find a model not too far off il defo consider. So just to be clear youd 10 out of 10 times go for a decent preloved ipad pro m2 compared to a similarly priced brand new more new gen type of ipad?

If your only wants is gaming and media

[hoary drum]

Most likely yes. The iPad A16 is a terrible buy when you can buy an M1 iPad Air/Pro for a similar price or slightly more, you’ll be getting a more powerful device, better screen, etc.

For about $500, the M2 devices are great.

Would recommend an M2 Air/Pro for your use case.

[gritty harness]

what about the other new gen types outside of pro and base, none worth looking into either?

[hoary drum]

iPad Air M3 is also a great device, I’d look into that if you can extend your budget to around $600 or so.

iPad base is a terrible buy, mini could be too small, and the newest Pros are quite out of budget. The Air seems to be perfect here.

[gritty harness]

i see but the 60hz may be a problem

also i have a question clarifying the ipad pro m2

[woven whale]

go ahead

[gritty harness]

i see on the wiki that the 4th gen of ipad pro has that A smth chip and the 6th gen has the m2, but sellers in local marketplaces list their m2 units as 4th gen.

I did a bit of searching right now though so i think i got it down. The gens they refer to are based on the screen sizes? So they use the term generation for both chipset and size

[woven whale]

i'm not sure about that

[gritty harness]

from what i saw, 12.9 was the screensize mostly moving forward and their smaller sizes wasnt at minimum 11 yet. So when they made 11inches their standard smaller size they had to break the "generation" name. So for the m2, its a 6th gen chipset for the pro while the 12.9inch is a 6th gen of the m2 chip while the 11inch is the 4th gen (of 11 inches for ipad pro) on a 6th gen m2 chip for the ipad pro series

is what i understand

idk why they couldnt use a different term to differentiate the screensizes

so basically they were developed and released together but only share 6th gen for chipset sake in the pro series. While for screensizes its on the 4th gen for the 11inch and 6th gen for the 12.9 inch. I hope im not confusing it though

[hoary drum]

The iPad Pro naming scheme was royally fucked until the M4

The iPad Pro (11-inch) (4th generation) is actually part of the 6th generation

the iPad Pro 6th gen has the M2

so the 11-inch 4th gen is literally the same generation as the 12.9-inch 6th gen, very confusing I know

[woven whale]

that naming scheme is so bad that it goes up there with sony's

[hoary drum]

yeah, thank god they fixed it in 2024

iPad Air 6th generation is just called "iPad Air [size]-inch (M2)"

better than the clusterfuck that they had with the Pros before 2024

this iPad is literally part of the 6th generation, why is it called 4th generation?!?!

most confusing naming scheme ever™

[woven whale]

I didn't even know it was that bad until a few minutes ago, wtf

[hoary drum]

this horrible naming scheme could accidentally lead people into buying this ancient 6-year-old model that isn't even the same generation as the 11-inch 4th generation

[gritty harness]

i almost bit the bullet with that one

good thing i triple checked

[hoary drum]

like what kind of OS X Weed were you smoking there Apple when you came up with this naming convention?

[hoary drum]

yeah get the iPad Pro from 2022 with the M2 chip

Apple's naming scheme before 2024 was utterly garbage and I don't know how that even got approved

the iPad Pro 11-inch (4th generation) is actually part of the 6th generation of iPad Pros from 2022

thank god they fixed the naming with the 2024 iPad Pro where the 11-inch model is called "iPad Pro 11-inch (M4)" and the 13-inch model is called "iPad Pro 13-inch (M4)"

doesn't even mention what generation, just mentions the chip in the name

why didn't they use the year or chip name in the iPad Pro naming from the start??

[hoary drum]

this iPad Pro from 2020 used the A12Z chip which is old, outdated, doesn't support Apple Intelligence, and has much worse longevity than the iPad Pro from 2022 with the M2 chip

[gritty harness]

yeah i secured a 126 gig m2 pro

tried going for 256 but 126 should be okay i think

[hoary drum]

well you made the right decision getting an M2

also, 128GB, not 126

enjoy your new iPad!

[hoary drum]

can't they just push a software update to these iPads that changes the name to like "iPad Pro 11-inch (M2)" or something instead of using this clusterfuck naming strategy

[sand mirage]

It’s 4th gen of 11 inch

There was no 11 inch when 12.9 was 1st and 2nd gen

[hoary drum]

It still doesn't solve the fact that this can be utterly confusing for some, and could lead to people accidentally buying the wrong model. It is still technically part of the 6th generation - why they couldn't put the year or chip name in the model names back then is beyond me, would've been less confusing

[sand mirage]

they did with latest models