8GB vs 16GB M4 iPad Pro: Is the 10-core CPU Worth $600?!

Is it worth spending $600 MORE on the M4 iPad Pro upgrading from the 9-core CPU with 8GB of RAM to the 10-core CPU with 16GB of RAM? We Test EVERYTHING to Find out!
ESR Shift Magnetic Case
-iPad Pro 13": amz.run/91tx
-iPad Pro 11": amz.run/91u1
-iPad Air 13: amz.run/91ty
-iPad Air 11: amz.run/91tz
ESR Rebound Magnetic Keyboard Case 360
-iPad Pro 13": amz.run/91u3
-iPad Pro 11": amz.run/91u5
-iPad Air 13: amz.run/91u6
-iPad Air 11: amz.run/91u4
ESR Stylus Pen for iPad: amz.run/91u7
THIS is the iPad you should buy right now ➡ geni.us/kCr1M
New M4 iPad Pro 11" ➡ geni.us/kCr1M
New M4 iPad Pro 13" ➡ geni.us/Wuj9Dd
New M2 iPad Air 11" ➡ geni.us/k1qcK
New M2 iPad Air 13" ➡ geni.us/Na9y
iPad 10 ➡ geni.us/Wcko
iPad mini 6 ➡ geni.us/Nr7xu
Timestamps ⬇️
9-core 8GB vs 10-core 16GB M4 iPad Pro - 00:00
Unboxing & First Look - 0:24
Design Comparison - 0:56
Jazz Disk SSD Benchmark - 1:41
Geekbench 6 CPU - 2:29
Geekbench 6 GPU - 4:38
Affinity Photo 2 Benchmark - 5:51
Lightroom Mobile Photo Editing - 6:42
3DMark Wild Life Extreme - 8:09
3DMark Solar Bay Ray Tracing - 8:45
Antutu Benchmark - 9:02
Thermal Comparison & Results - 9:41
Should you spend the extra cash? - 11:53
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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[@MaxTechOfficial]

ESR Shift Magnetic Case -iPad Pro 13": amz.run/91tx -iPad Pro 11": amz.run/91u1 -iPad Air 13: amz.run/91ty -iPad Air 11: amz.run/91tz ESR Rebound Magnetic Keyboard Case 360 -iPad Pro 13": amz.run/91u3 -iPad Pro 11": amz.run/91u5 -iPad Air 13: amz.run/91u6 -iPad Air 11: amz.run/91u4 ESR Stylus Pen for iPad: amz.run/91u7

[@Kodyssey]

Your rebound case link is sending people to the 11” iPad Air. No 13” pro selectable

[@lefthanded5473]

Waiting on the comparison vid between the m2 and m4 iPad Pro

[@EliteNerds]

There isn’t an M4 air 😂 it’s an m2 iPad Air which is the upgrade from m1

[@lefthanded5473]

@@EliteNerds I meant to say pro lmao

[@EliteNerds]

@@lefthanded5473 just making sure you knew a lot of people recently though the new air was M4 😂

[@bryan_350_5]

M4 should run like the M2 with half as much power

[@Kikuyo2]

One downgrade except for the wide lens camera, the speaker has less bass on the m4 than the m2 13 inch. Could be because the body is thinner so less body volume.

[@xkidmidnightx]

Who cares about performance when it’s running iOS

[@ATLPtrk]

Fingers crossed they add capability to iPadOS next month at wwdc to further differentiate it from iOS

[@notspacedarlings]

Not for long…

[@leeindustries6540]

Yep

[@Starwarsgames66]

@@ATLPtrk do you really think Apple would laugh it with just enough time to get away from the 14 day return window? Devious

[@noobhere2176]

it's the 8gb vs 16gb ram that matters, 16gb would be so much better future proof. But yeah, definitely not worth that extra 600 bucks

[@therealed]

Thank you. Feels like the extra core is barely used!

[@GarrusVakarian-to2uh]

i think Apple's "E" cores are a lot more powerful than an Intel E core, the extra 2 E cores added a lot to the score and the loss of a P core didn't hurt much

[@ahaimes6320]

It is called optimisation. You do not have to thrash the cores for every intensive task, as you have diminishing returns. We see this clearly with Windows and Qualcomm's X-Elite, where running at 80 watts is not 1:1 with added performance per watt.

[@stevenrast4261]

Great works boys. Been waiting for this

[@josealvarez9517]

The M4 is like having 1000 horsepower with iOS being a 5 galling gas tank.

[@ATLPtrk]

Ok that literally made me laugh out loud. 100% correct

[@BrandonLackey]

This is the perfect comment.

[@blinblinthing]

Very witty and accurate

[@henryruanli]

At this point we just need a macOS iPad, “touch screen mac”

[@LogicLegionnaire]

Well it’s about longevity, this things gonna still beat the latest Samsung tablets even 5-6 years from now that too with the latest software! This thing can last YEARS meanwhile Samsung tabs with their mediocre performance might start to dwindle within 3-4 years

[@user-gy3kl5rd1l]

For me, iPad doesn't need to be a Mac, but I don't want it to just be a larger iPhone.

[@liggerstuxin1]

I want it to be a bigger iPhone. I have a old iPhone. It’s good at being a phone. It’s good at watching videos. My iPad is good for things at home.

[@betonline88]

Thank you for doing this comparison, now I can go for 256 base configuration with ease of mind without felling left out 😘

[@ThreeFortySeven]

I’ve been waiting for a video like this. I’m not much of a gamer, but I tested Resident Evil Village on the iPad Air M1 and on the basic iPad Pro M4. The M1 struggled to hit 30fps with med/low settings. The M4 was over 60fps with a mix of high/medium settings. If you were to max out the settings and resolution, it would use around 11gb of RAM. I didn’t expect the difference between the two iPads to be an issue and this video proves it. Thanks for putting in the work to stress test these.

[@raspberryland_]

This was what I have been anticipating!! A comparison between the binned M4 and the full M4 !! Thanks Max Tech ❤

[@natefromhome]

Finally! Been waiting on this 🎉

[@recokioshi4526]

I was wondering where is 512gb version in terms of ssd speed. Checked it on my iPad and got higher read and write speeds than on 1TB version: sequential read: 3180 write: 2942 random read: 12983 write: 9972

[@john-manuelquiogue5267]

In Canada, the jump from 256GB to 1TB is $900 😢. Thanks for this!

[@TokyoNeko8]

Great review! I like your tests that other reviews have not covered to show us the 9c vs 10c ipad differences.

[@jart0m]

Thanks guys. Was hoping to see a review like this

[@VitiateTheImmortal]

Got mine yesterday 😍😍 chose a 13inch M4 pro with 9 core version in black. OMG it looks so good and I am totally happy with the performance

[@markmorgan7067]

me too 512gb

[@DavidHernandez-nz9cn]

Really appreciate video I was planning to buy the more expensive one with more ram but after seeing this video it’s not worth it just going with the regular one really help on deciding 👍🏼

[@rhljanssen]

I was waiting for this review, i ordered mine on launch day and ordered the 256gb because i still use my 2018 iPad Pro 12,9 64gb, 64gb is nog enough but 256gb is more than enough for me but i only saw the next day that there are 2 different M4 chips. I looked at many reviews but nobody tested the difference they only showed what the most expensive iPad Pro could do. Thank you i now know i ordered the right one.

[@ragvrai]

Before I used to be careful before buying something that was sponsored but nowadays I just trust everything on this channel. My power brick, and now the cover. Thanks max and Wadeem

[@notspacedarlings]

Okay but those geekbench specs are incredible, just as fast as an Intel i9 processor!

[@stevenjamesofficial]

faster than my m1max studio lol

[@leabaltimore]

Faster😊

[@mishathassan6988]

Its faster than my last years i9, thats crazy, I never wanted to buy an ipad before but now thinking about it

[@notspacedarlings]

@@stevenjamesofficial that’s nuts!

[@notspacedarlings]

@@mishathassan6988 I think I’ll wait for the M4 MacBook Air.

[@rocketmunkey1]

The base 9 core M4 is only 8.5% faster in multicore, than the base 8 core M3. So after the 10 core hype the M4 is just another incremental upgrade !

[@MrAlexanderTheG8]

All this power won't mean a thing unless Apple removes the software limiting handcuffs!!

[@-TheMaskedMan-]

Don’t count on it young man. Apples power is still power, regardless if we can use it or not😎

[@leebeeskee]

Care to list all the things you can do on this device? I bet it would get pretty long...

[@MrAlexanderTheG8]

@@leebeeskee For me honestly, it's just a content consumption device, so the air would be sufficient!! If your a creator, then by all means go for it!!

[@pweddy1]

However… This does give us an idea of how the M4 Macs will perform.

[@LouRaX]

it means you can play games like Assains creed (the full PC versions) and many years updates

[@wokinprogress4671]

Man this is the video i have been looking for since the new ipad came out

[@sghetrick]

Thanks for the video. I was hoping you would do one on this topic.

[@GarrusVakarian-to2uh]

I'd really like to see all the most recent games (like Resident Evil? Death Stranding? the AAA games on the iPad benchmarked if possible)

[@CSTLLNS]

In past years Apple has said the RAM was doubled for the high storage capacity models to help manage the storage not for app performance.

[@peterotremba8980]

M1 vs M4 iPad comparison? nobody bought the m2

[@HungNguyen-zp1sd]

I’m nobody 😞

[@RealDKuz]

Nobody bought M3 😆

[@NadeemAhmed-nv2br]

M3 was never in an iPad ​@@RealDKuz

[@aarushtailor825]

Me watching on a m2 iPad Pro

[@dbtech4562]

I have the 12.9 inch M1 fully maxed out (I have every Apple Arcade game on it with 1 TB free disk space). I later got a good deal on Amazon with the smaller iPad Pro with M2. I always wondered if the size matters with iPads with the multitasking features. After using both with the keyboard option, the 11 inch iPad with base storage is fine for my needs. Student discount for the base 11 inch iPad is $899. Waiting to see what WWDC does before I do anything.

[@peterotremba8980]

ive been waiting for this video for such a long time, I am so excited

[@parjau4554]

Okay, well didn't expect that! Thank you for saving some people some money!

[@efrainrodriguez4578]

Thanks for this video. Puts my mind at ease.

[@huntoi]

Same here. Happy with my baseline model. I’m upset at Apple for withholding an extra performance core to the terabytes tiers but I guess it’s not a big deal.

[@sweedishpie360]

Great video! Will probably save a lot of people some money!

[@AKA96369]

How do you say there’s no big difference?!! SSD speed is 2X faster, also the extra 8gb of ram will easily be felt in long-term with a number of open tabs and apps when you don’t need to keep reloading them!! Apps and web pages are getting heavier and iPad is a device could be used easily for +5 yrs.

[@UnDark1]

I’d bet the people buying the flagship version upgrade at shorter intervals than those who buy the lower tier iPads.

[@AKA96369]

Upgrading is a different story, I’m talking about how your experience could be affected. In my case I worked with M2- 256gb and returned it, now that I’m using m4 -1tb, the difference is huge in ram related tasks at least for my use cases.

[@JezArnold]

I‘ve got the 1Tb 16Gb M2 iPadPro (4th Generation) .. and not one app I use makes use of the extra 8Gb RAM. Only got it as a second screen didn’t have to be just mirrored.

[@batterymooch]

Nicely done! Thank you for doing this video.

[@banaghers3k888]

Thank you for this comparison. 👍

[@HamzaKhan-uc5zo]

I feel the reason ipads are not doing to well, is becuase ipad tech overall has matured, and there is little apple can do to make buyers more excited about new ipads.

[@Jadepeanut]

Increasing base prices , limited backward compatibility and artificially limiting air to 60hz doesnt help.

[@redcraze]

No one gets excited because, let’s be honest iPadOS is just iOS with a different name. It’s too limiting. They need to do something to get it away from iOS

[@nicktw8688]

Ipad OS is so limited. Even with mouse support; I can get a similar task done on OSX in a fraction of the time. Even cutting and pasting something simple from one program to another. It’s needlessly frustrating. IPad does some stuff incredibly well; but it definitely seems like the OS has hit a development wall of sorts.

[@HamzaKhan-uc5zo]

Most people by ipads to do "ipad things", like web browsing or playing some games. besides adding 120hz to the ipad air, there isnt much else apple can do to give users a better experience for that sort of tasks. And for some reason apple choses not to improve ipad OS for users looking to do proffeshional work. The sky-high price of the 13" pro also puts it in a akward spot

[@markus8994]

It sells way more than the Mac though… it sells a lot more than ppl realize

[@7invi]

Great video, thanks

[@kw9113]

great video just what i was looking for - I'm also curious about the relative battery life... suspect the 9-core will perform better with lower power consumption?

[@jeromescott2113]

Great comparison, Max! Hopefully iPad OS 18 will allow these iPads to tap into more of the power of the M4 chip. Of course by the time WWDC comes, people will be past the return window. That is why I’m keeping my 1TB model, more RAM, faster read and write speeds and the possibility of more performance is worth it to me.

[@Bradlee217]

I’m surprised there wasn’t a DaVinci comparison or export times for video editing

[@stevenjamesofficial]

I'm sure there will be later

[@andrewwelchphotographer]

Take 5 seconds longer, is that worth it?

[@etoirandolph665]

Awesome video, I appreciate it.

[@Mreticket1]

Thanks, very timely.

[@KyzerRico]

Great review Max Tech. Try pushing the IPad, multi tasking with the extra screen. Live streaming, trading reading charts, gaming etc. That way we can see if the Ram makes a difference.

[@jorgehernandezleon5584]

Thanks for the video it helps

[@CraigEstep]

Thank you! This is the exact comparison I was looking for. Bought the 512gb version.

[@FREE_TEKNO]

You guys have become the best apple product reviewers out there! I was waiting for your review as always! 😆🙌

[@Rochelle_301]

Nice video! That iPad Pro looks🔥

[@Abdulla77]

Wow.. thanks for all that testing. You literally destroyed the logic of getting a 1TB 10-core iPad Pro right there.

[@adrianjenkins2447]

Will the software update allow iPadOS to utilise the extra core more efficiently?

[@nich-nk2cr]

Can you do a power input test for the iPad Pro M4? I’d like to see how fast this iPad can charge and how big of a (n understatement) lie the power draw is - for example, the iPhone was advertised as 20w charging but the pro max can actually charge at 30 watts, and the iPad at 35 watts for the 11 inch and 41 watts for the 13 inch.

[@christophgruber1137]

it would be interersting to see the disk performance of the 512 model - that could be the sweet spot

[@Kaiser333333]

Same, I am tempted to get the 512gb model and if the ssd is a bit faster than the 256 that would seem like a good option (plus I want a bit more space)

[@ZxAMobile]

@@Kaiser333333better to go with 256 and get 2 tb ssd from Samsung with difference. Can find them for 130-150 sometimes.

[@FrozenLonesome]

Thanks! This is the video I’ve been waiting for. I have an M2 11” 256GB, but unfortunately I recently cracked the screen and didn’t have AppleCare. So far, it still works fine but I’m afraid of travelling with it and will pass it on in my family. I use my iPad for the regular stuff and use it for primarily for music creation and video editing. With the M2 I have not found that I’ve run up against any cpu issues, so I imagine that the M4 will be the same and better.

[@rendroidz4680]

Thanks for the test. I'm getting the baseline 13inch.

[@scottlo3621]

Useful information!

[@zechestin]

Hi, I really appreciate this because I have reversed my buying decision - I was about to max out the ipad and get a low-spec mac mini. But the reverse seems more sensible. Do you think read and write speeds will improve if I spring for 512 GB of SSD space instead of just leaving it at 256 gigs?

[@MisterChibs]

Amazing vid! Thank you🍻

[@Zveebo]

I don’t see this as unexpected. Where it is pushed, there is a bit of difference, but for most tasks not really. Which for one extra core out of 10, is what you’d expect. Ultimately I got the 1TB version for storage and RAM - any extra performance is just a bonus.

[@Isengardtom]

I’m happy I got the 512GB model

[@eli.parker]

This actually helped my purchasing decision

[@PilotPerkins]

Great video

[@glebsotnikov]

I really like the positive and intriguing vibes the video starts with 🤪 Thanks, MAX!

[@m0ke0]

Did you use the 11 or 13 inch versions in this video? Please also do a comparison of GPU performance between the 11 and 13 inch versions

[@everlasts]

The 16GB ram will be benefit when it run on device LLMs later on, Apple may try to fit in a small size LLM in next iPadOS update, the extra ram will help gives more leg room for other application running seamlessly. Hence that's why only 1TB + model will get 16GB or ram for holding LLM model locally.

[@burtdanams4426]

Apple has been planning this for over 11 years and its so satisfying to see all of this come together

[@nyancatroaming23]

Nice testing video!

[@padia101]

I bought the exact same ERS detachable magnetic case along with my new iPad Pro M4 and Apple Pencil pro. and it’s amazing. Extremely sturdy and stable.

[@radu1378]

Thank you! You save my money!

[@RahulShahAwesome]

@MaxtechOfficial - Firstly love your videos. I have a suggestion to test the ipad pro. Can you try using it like a laptop with stage manager enabled and multitask as in, be on a zoom call and in the background export some images. That might show difference in RAM

[@Leomusicalheart]

Thank you! So let’s go for the 256gb model 🎉

[@davidalanmedia]

This is exactly the video I’ve been wanting to see! Is the 1gb version worth the upgrade? Thanks, you just saved me $600.

[@khalata8199]

Finally.😊, I was eagerly waiting for your video about the new ipad , i hope you make comparison ipad pro 2022 vs ipad pro 2024

[@CalvinWongHKG]

Thanks for your detailed sharing !!! I believe the main difference is the performance if you use stage manager and open a lots of hungry apps in multiple screen :D !!!

[@WhiskyTanuki]

Speakers comparison between M4 and previous iPad Pro, throwing in MBA13 and MBP14 would be nice!

[@GreenBroGermany]

I love ur videos man

[@haimerejd]

i'd be interested to know if theres a storage performance difference between the 256GB and the 512GB models

[@lenn55]

Can you do a display comparison between the M4 ipad and previous iPad Pro with the mini LED? thx

[@daveh6356]

Great to see Pro App benchmarking for the iPads - please keep extending this. Maybe track loading FCP & Logic or Octane X too? Unsure if Photoshop has a scene/benchmark/macro which can be run. Looks like your Lr test needs more images (500?) Could the graphs include Macs for comparison? FYI Solar Bay is matching performance of an M1 Max (maybe good to see it in a chart as the 3DMark site excludes Apple products)

[@CagriGunduz]

Thanks video ❤️

[@alberttseng6589]

Thank you for the quick test, I am happy that I pick the 256G 13inches

[@johnstarin5655]

Is there a storage read/write speed difference between 256GB and 512GB?

[@Dlor0408]

That’s why in Apple marketing material, the title is the bigger ssd, then when you click there, they tell you it has an extra core. They know the difference in performance is negligible.

[@brandonchutt312]

Well the m4 is probably binned so you probably will get better battery with the unbinned 10 core chip

[@MadazGTR]

I went and had a look at these in person today, they're so thin videos don't do them justice! Not going to buy one as I got the 10th gen on sale though

[@carroux4050]

Is it "normal" that the chassis vibrates when playing sound? Can't remember having it on the M1 back then...

[@Philonic]

Did they both end with the same battery % or did one last better through all those tests?

[@completesalvation1755]

Out Standing Review. It really makes me feel good about my purchase of the base model 13” Ipad pro. I am happy to see some benchmark tests. Overall very satisfied with the product. Money well spent and a $510 trade in on my 2021 M1 IPad Pro from the Apple Store. Just a note, the esr stylus in the link does not appear to work with the 2024 iPads according to the description.

[@byers704]

Thanks. That’s the video I needed before I grabbed one for my artist daughter. 256+cloud is the way to go.

[@alinosgg]

Plz same test after WWDC updates on AAA games, DR, FCP, Procreate and Logic with 10 apps running in the background!

[@Duramaxcho]

Very informative. Thank you

[@Tolg]

Nice review! Thank you for helping me make my mind about not getting the 1TB versions. BUT... You left us dry on whether the 512GB version has the improved SSD speeds as well. If it does I'm sold and I'm going with the 512GB version that's $300 cheaper.

[@djupgrade2968]

Thanks for making my decision a whole lot easier! Looks like the 11inch 512gb model it is then 🙌🏽

[@erwinmeisel2545]

Too late, I already bought the 1 TB version. I did it because of apps like Procreate. More RAM equals higher resolution with more layers. But I guess none of my projects will ever reach the threshold.

[@gosman949]

and I hope you got the texture glass!

[@JustKeepFlying]

Maybe if we pray hard enough, ipadOS 18 will have a more mac like experience and allow the higher specs on the more expensive models to be taken advantage of.. haha who am I kidding.

[@nikolaygeorgiev1416]

Exactly why Im going with 1TB too

[@erwinmeisel2545]

@@gosman949 I ordered Paperlike. PS: Why would you hope for such a thing? Is it because you hope that "idiots" like me need to be punished for giving money to Apple? Apps like Nomad Sculpt, ProCreate and ClipStudio Paint allone are worth the investment in an iPad with good specs.

[@erwinmeisel2545]

@@JustKeepFlying I really hope for some iPad surprises presented at the June event.

[@ChrisSamuelson]

I really appreciate this video after I purchased my 256 GB model. I had a lot of mixed feelings for the first day and now I’ve had it for six days and I watch your video and I feel so much better saving that $600

[@CrissPons]

I dont think Geekbench is updated to properly test ARM v9 (SME/SVE2), the architecture that M4 adopted.

[@Jessica_Rose131]

I have the iPad Pro 11 2nd generation. Feel like I need to upgrade it, before they might take it off the IOS upgrade list. What’s your thoughts?

[@stiertjuh]

Thanks for this. With the lack of software that can actually max out this hardware, this video makes me more lean towards the Ipad Air line up. Since the 2024 Air M2 specs looks to be like a 2022 M2 Pro, I would like to ask if these can be compared in a video??

[@joelmulder]

PLEASE do a video comparing performance in some more pro apps like Final Cut, Logic, and Resolve

[@Extravaganza50667]

Why some of the unbox video show the box didn’t come with the charger? But u have?

[@remalistochastis]

Hi, thanks for the tests. Is it possible to have also a comparison for Logic Pro for iPad? And a comparison in Logic Pro between the pros and the iPad Air if possible. Thanks in advance.

[@LivingLife95]

7:38 I love that you guys use the same 50x 42 MP images for the Lightroom test across all of your videos. Out of curiosity, I went back and watched your video comparing the M1 MacBook Air vs M3 MacBook Air to see the results of the Lightroom test. It’s INTERESTING to note that the M1 Air beats out these M4 iPad Pros, completing the test at 2 min 2 seconds export time as opposed to the iPads at 2 min 32 seconds. NOTE: I know that I’m not comparing Apples with Apples (although we are haha) but still, I am a little shocked to see that the M1 (MB Air) can beat out the M4 (iPad Pro) regardless of form factor.

[@guylugenbeel]

Any test results between the bin 256 and 1tb using Final Cut and Logic?

[@begooode380]

Thanks!