The 2024 iPad Professional with M4 chip takes efficiency to the subsequent stage. So what’s been upgraded from the earlier iPad Professional? Learn alongside for an in depth have a look at the M4 iPad Professional vs M2 iPad Professional.
iPad Professional background
In 2021, the 11 and 12.9″ iPad Professional arrived with the highly effective M1 chip, Thunderbolt connectivity, 5G for mobile fashions, new digital camera options like Heart Stage, and extra.
Then the 2022 M2 iPad Professional arrived with a variety of tweaks and modifications, however many have been minor which can have pushed clients towards the M1 iPad Professional and even iPad Air.
Then in spring 2024, the brand new iPad Professional fashions launched with the brand-new M4 chip and a spread of enhancements.
Beneath we’ll take an in-depth have a look at the M4 iPad Professional vs M2 iPad Professional.
M4 iPad Professional vs M2 iPad Professional
Efficiency
The primary distinction in efficiency between the brand new and previous iPad Professional is because of the improve of the M4 chip. Apple says it delivers as much as a 50% sooner CPU, 4x sooner GPU, and a lift in reminiscence bandwidth from 100GB/s to 120GB/s over the M2.
Together with the brand new GPU comes a media engine that provides hardware-accelerated 8K H.264, HEVC, ProRes, and ProRes RAW help – becoming a member of the Mac in having the ability to deal with 8K video.
Different new options embrace 38 trillion operations per second with the M4 Neural Engine, hardware-accelerated ray tracing, and extra.
Be aware: 128, 256, and 512GB fashions have 8GB RAM, 1TB and 2TB fashions have 16GB RAM.
| 11″ M4 iPad Professional | 11″ M2 iPad Professional | 13″ M4 iPad Professional | 12.9″ M2 iPad Professional | |
| Chip | M4 | M2 | M4 | M2 |
| CPU | 9 or 10-core | 8-core | 9 or 10-core | 8-core |
| GPU | 10-core | 10-core | 10-core | 10-core |
| {Hardware}-accelerated 8K H.264, HEVC, ProRes, and ProRes RAW help | ✅ | ❌ | ✅ | ❌ |
| {Hardware}-accelerated H.264, HEVC, ProRes, and ProRes RAW | – | ✅ | – | ✅ |
| {Hardware}-accelerated ray tracing | ✅ | ❌ | ✅ | ❌ |
| Neural Engine | 16-core | 16-core | 16-core | 16-core |
| Storage | 256GB – 2TB | 128GB – 2TB | 256GB – 2TB | 128GB – 2TB |
| RAM | 8 or 16GB | 8 or 16GB | 8 or 16GB | 8 or 16GB |
| Reminiscence bandwidth | 120GB/s | 100GB/s | 120GB/s | 100GB/s |
| Thunderbolt/USB 4 | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| Mobile | 5G (sub-6 GHz) | 5G (sub-6 GHz and mmWave | 5G (sub-6 GHz) | 5G (sub-6 GHz and mmWave |
Because it occurs, one loss is mmWave connectivity for 5G with the 2024 iPad Professional fashions.
Show
The brand new M4 iPad Professional fashions transcend their predecessors with a brand new “Extremely Retina XDR Show.” It’s the primary to make use of Tandem OLED in comparison with the LED/mini-LED of the M2 iPad Professional fashions.
Apple says the advantages of the brand new OLED show are brighter specular highlights, deeper true blacks, higher element in shadows and low gentle, and extra.
Each the smaller and bigger iPad Professional characteristic the brand new OLED show and you can even now improve the 1 or 2TB M4 iPad Professional with nano-texture show glass.
You additionally get brighter SDR content material as much as 1000 nits with the M4 iPad Professional fashions (600 nits for M2 iPad Professional SDR content material).
| 11″ M4 iPad Professional | 11″ M2 iPad Professional | 13″ M4 iPad Professional | 12.9″ M2 iPad Professional | |
| Show | 11″ with OLED | 11″ with LED | 13″ with OLED | 12.9″ with mini-LED |
| Decision | 2420 x 1668 | 2388 x 1668 | 2752 x 2064 | 2732 x 2048 |
| PPI (pixels per inch) | 264 | 264 | 264 | 264 |
| Show brightness | 1000 nits SDR, 1000 nits max full display screen XDR, 1600 nits peak (HDR solely) | 600 nits | 1000 nits SDR, 1000 nits max full display screen XDR, 1600 nits peak (HDR solely) | 600 nits SDR, 1000 nits max full display screen XDR, 1600 nits peak (HDR solely) |
| True Tone | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| P3 large coloration | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| ProMotion (120Hz) | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| Anti-reflective and fingerprint-resistant coating | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| Totally laminated show | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| Nano-texture show glass | Non-obligatory on 1TB and 2TB fashions | ❌ | Non-obligatory on 1TB and 2TB fashions | ❌ |
| Liquid Retina Show | – | ✅ | – | – |
| Liquid Retina XDR Show | – | ❌ | – | ✅ |
| Extremely Retina XDR Show | ✅ | ❌ | ✅ | ❌ |
| Apple Pencil Hover | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
Shared show options throughout all M4 and M2 professional fashions embrace ProMotion (10-120Hz refresh), P3 large coloration, totally laminated shows, anti-reflective coating, Apple Pencil Hover, and True Tone.
Design, dimensions, weight, colours
The M4 iPad Professional is the “thinnest product Apple has ever created” at simply 5.1mm for the 13″ mannequin and 5.3mm for the 11″ model.
Together with that, the brand new M4 iPad Professional is lighter than its predecessor and weighs beneath 1 pound for the 11″ and 1.28 kilos for the 13″.
| 11″ M4 iPad Professional | 11″ M2 iPad Professional | 13″ M4 iPad Professional | 12.9″ M2 iPad Professional | |
| Peak | 9.83 inches (249.7 mm) | 9.74 inches (247.6 mm) | 11.09 inches (281.6 mm) | 11.04 inches (280.6 mm) |
| Width | 6.99 inches (177.5 mm) | 7.02 inches (178.5 mm) | 8.48 inches (215.5 mm) | 8.46 inches (214.9 mm) |
| Depth | 0.21 inch (5.3 mm) | 0.23 inch (5.9 mm) | 0.20 inch (5.1 mm) | 0.25 inches (6.4 mm) |
| Weight | 0.98 kilos (446 grams) | 1.04 kilos (470 grams) | 1.28 kilos (582 grams) | 1.5 kilos (682 grams) |
New this time round is the House Black end changing House Grey for the M4 iPad Professional whereas Silver stays the opposite alternative.
Connectivity and equipment
The brand new iPad Professional fashions work with the identical kind of Apple equipment. These come within the type of a brand new Magic Keyboard and Apple Pencil Professional – or you might go for the mid-tier Apple Pencil with USB-C.
Right here’s a have a look at the remainder of the I/O and connective specs:
| 11 and 13″ M4 iPad Professional | 11 and 12.9″ M2 iPad Professional | |
| Apple Pencil Professional help | ✅ | ❌ |
| Apple Pencil gen 2 help | ❌ | ✅ |
| Apple Pencil USB-C | ✅ | ✅ |
| Magic Keyboard help | ✅ | ✅ |
| 5G | ✅ (sub-6Ghz) | ✅ (sub-6Ghz and mmWave) |
| WiFi 6E | ✅ | ✅ |
| SIM | eSIM solely | eSIM and nano-SIM |
| Bluetooth | 5.3 | 5.3 |
| USB-C | ✅ USB 4 | ✅ USB 4 |
| Thunderbolt | ✅ | ✅ |
| Face ID | ✅ | ✅ |
Past the drop of mmWave for 5G, the M4 iPad Professional has additionally misplaced its nano-SIM slot.
Battery life
The 2024 iPad Professional fashions with M4 chip characteristic the identical battery life as their predecessors:
- 10 hours of net or video use on WiFi
- 9 hours of net use with mobile
Storage and value
Storage will get a slight tweak with the M4 iPad Professional beginning with 256GB and going as much as 2TB. Pricing is $100 greater than the M2 iPad Professional lineup or $200 extra should you add the nano-texture glass for the 1 and 2TB fashions.
| 11″ M4 iPad Professional | 11″ M2 iPad Professional | 13″ M4 iPad Professional | 12.9″ M2 iPad Professional | |
| 128GB WiFi | – | $799 | – | $1,099 |
| 128GB + cell | – | $999 | – | $1,299 |
| 256GB WiFi | $999 | $899 | $1,299 | $1,199 |
| 256GB + cell | $1,199 | $1,099 | $1,499 | $1,399 |
| 512GB WiFi | $1,199 | $1,099 | $1,499 | $1,399 |
| 512GB + cell | $1,399 | $1,299 | $1,699 | $1,599 |
| 1TB WiFi | $1,599 | $1,499 | $1,899 | $1,799 |
| 1TB + cell | $1,799 | $1,699 | $2,099 | $1,999 |
| 2TB WiFi | $1,999 | $1,899 | $2,299 | $2,199 |
| 2TB + cell | $2,199 | $2,099 | $2,499 | $2,399 |
Cameras, video, and audio
On the M4 iPad Professional rear digital camera system, you’ve acquired a 12MP large lens, LiDAR Scanner, and a Retina Flash with True Tone.
Apparently, the M4 iPad Professional has ditched the 10MP extremely large lens of the M2 iPad Professional.
On the entrance, you get a 12MP extremely large lens with Heart Stage help that’s now centered on the lengthy panorama edge as a substitute of the quick edge with the 2024 M4 iPad Professional fashions.
| 11 and 13″ M4 iPad Professional | 11 and 12.9″ M2 iPad Professional | |
| 12MP large lens | ✅ | ✅ |
| 10MP extremely large lens | ❌ | ✅ |
| LiDAR | ✅ | ✅ |
| 4K video | ✅ | ✅ |
| ProRes video as much as 4K 30 fps | ✅ | ✅ |
| Prolonged dynamic vary | ✅ | ✅ |
| Slo-mo video | ✅ | ✅ |
| Rear digital camera flash | ✅ | ✅ |
| TrueDepth digital camera with Face ID | ✅ (panorama edge) | ✅ (portrait edge) |
| Extremely large 12MP entrance digital camera | ✅ | ✅ |
| 2x optical zoom out | ❌ | ✅ |
| Sensible HDR 4 pictures | ✅ | ✅ |
| Heart Stage auto-tracking | ✅ | ✅ |
| 4-speaker audio | ✅ | ✅ |
| Stereo recording | ✅ | ✅ |
| Studio-quality mics | 4 | 5 |
The M4 (and M2) iPad Professional entrance digital camera additionally helps Portrait mode, Portrait Lighting, and Animoji/Memoji.
M4 iPad Professional vs M2 iPad Professional conclusion
Why purchase M4 iPad Professional?
Trying on the M4 iPad Professional and M2 iPad Professional, it might take advantage of sense to solely purchase the brand new mannequin should you’re a professional or aspiring professional with workflows that can profit from the M4 improve. Otherwise you’re simply superb with spending the cash on the most recent launch from Apple 😁.
The M4 iPad Professional is out there at Apple, Amazon, Greatest Purchase, and extra.
Why purchase M2 iPad Professional or stick to what you’ve acquired?
When you may get most of the M4 iPad Professional options with the M2 iPad Professional and the processor distinction not being a deal-breaker for a lot of, grabbing one for a reduction may very well be a pleasant transfer. Or preserve your present iPad Professional/Air.
Additionally, the 2024 iPad Air gives a compelling package deal at a less expensive value than the iPad Professional. In some ways, it’s just like the M2 iPad Professional reborn as the brand new iPad Air options an M2 chip. And new for 2024 is a 13″ mannequin alongside the 11″ model.
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