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I WAS WRONG - iPad Pro 11 vs. 12.9 inch

2020-04-09 · Long video (solo, talking head or whiteboard) · Ali · recording, 14:57 · watch on YouTube

Topic: Tools, apps and tech · mode: Review and recommendation · tags: Aimed at students, He changed his mind

Ali says he was wrong to prefer the 11-inch iPad Pro: after a week with the 12.9-inch as his daily driver he switches to it, because portability matters less than he thought, the bigger screen is better for multitasking, and it feels like a work device; a student who has justified an iPad Pro should get the 12.9-inch, though most students should get an iPad Air.

What is said

The parts of the video and what is said in each (★ — how much it matters to the video).

00:00:00 — Switching to the 12.9-inch; two assumptions: you need an iPad Pro, price is no object

  • ★★★ After using the 11-inch iPad Pro every day since 2018, Ali is switching to the 12.9-inch, his daily driver for the past week. — 00:00:00 · iPad Pro
  • ★★ Few people in the world actually need an iPad Pro, Ali says, and he cannot imagine very many students needing one. — 00:00:53 · iPad Pro
  • ★★ If the price difference between the two iPad Pro sizes worries you, Ali suggests you probably lack the cash to burn on an iPad Pro and would be much better off with the iPad Air. — 00:01:22 · iPad Pro, iPad Air
  • ★ The 11-inch and 12.9-inch 2020 iPad Pro cost about $800 and $1,000, a difference of about 200. — 00:01:22 · iPad Pro
  • ★★ Whenever viewers asked which iPad Pro size he prefers, Ali used to answer the 11-inch, because of its portability. — 00:01:51 · iPad Pro

00:02:00 — Portability

  • ★★ After a week carrying the 12.9-inch iPad Pro around the hospital for hours a day, Ali finds portability matters less than he thought: it is only a little heavier than the 11-inch. — 00:02:21 · iPad Pro

00:03:24 — Capability: multitasking, book notes in Roam and Kindle, battery life

  • ★★ Ali once dismissed the 12.9-inch iPad Pro's extra 1.9 inches after trying it in an Apple Store, but has changed his mind: after a week of daily use it is simply better for multitasking. — 00:03:35 · iPad Pro
  • ★★ On the iPad Pro Ali takes notes in Roam Research on one side of the screen from a book about how to take smart notes, open in the Kindle app on the other. — 00:03:35 · Roam Research, Kindle, iPad Pro
  • ★★ Ali will make a much more detailed video about Roam Research in the future. — 00:04:04 · Roam Research · first in: 2019-01-20, My Favourite iPad Pro Apps
  • ★★ Taking notes from a book is a bit nicer on the 12.9-inch iPad Pro, Ali says: more screen is visible, giving him more context of where his notes are going. — 00:04:48 · iPad Pro
  • ★★ Because of the coronavirus there are few patients yet at Ali's hospital, still waiting for the surge; in his spare hours he works on the 12.9-inch iPad Pro in the cafeteria, two metres from everyone, and gets more done. — 00:05:14 · iPad Pro
  • ★ The 12.9-inch iPad Pro's battery reportedly lasts about one or two hours longer than the 11-inch's; Ali says both last all day and he notices little difference. (hedged) — 00:05:38 · iPad Pro
  • ★★★ The most important factor in Ali's switch to the 12.9-inch iPad Pro is psychology: for him the iPad is very much a creation device, not a consumption device. — 00:06:07 · iPad Pro
  • ★★ Ali, who has no Netflix subscription, let himself watch a TV show for the first time in a year, but got bored after two episodes of The Mandalorian: he much prefers doing something productive. — 00:06:07 · Netflix

00:06:08 — Psychology: a creation device that feels like a work machine

  • ★★ Ali's work on the iPad Pro is mainly content creation: managing his businesses and YouTube channel, writing his email newsletter and planning episodes of his weekly podcast with his brother. — 00:06:45 · iPad Pro, Sunday Snippets, Not Overthinking, Taimur Abdaal
  • ★★ Taking his 2018 11-inch iPad Pro everywhere has objectively let Ali create more, so it has more than paid for itself, since everything he creates is monetised to some degree. — 00:07:15 · iPad Pro
  • ★★ On the 11-inch iPad Pro Ali is much more tempted to waste time scrolling Instagram, or to reply to YouTube comments, which he says is fine but adds little value. — 00:07:15 · iPad Pro, Instagram
  • ★★★ The 12.9-inch iPad Pro feels to Ali like a more legitimate device: when he gets it out and types on the keyboard, his mindset is that he is there to work, and that week he got more done than on the 11-inch. — 00:07:38 · iPad Pro
  • ★★ Ali's phone is a consumption device; the 12.9-inch iPad Pro feels more like his MacBook Pro, while the 11-inch, perhaps from long use, feels more like his iPhone. (hedged) — 00:08:36 · iPhone, MacBook, iPad Pro
  • ★★★ If the 12.9-inch iPad Pro's psychology lets Ali make even one more video before the next iPad Pro, it will easily have paid for itself: a no-brainer. — 00:08:59 · iPad Pro
  • ★★ Ali heard no one discuss the psychology of iPad Pro size when he researched it, probably because it is not quantifiable; he thinks it is important to keep in mind. (hedged) — 00:09:34 · iPad Pro
  • ★★ Students really do not need an iPad Pro, Ali says: just get an iPad Air. — 00:10:03 · iPad Pro, iPad Air

00:10:10 — What if you're a student?; a student buys his 11-inch

  • ★★★ For a student who has justified buying an iPad Pro, Ali would now choose the 12.9-inch: if he were a student again, that is what he would get. — 00:10:24 · iPad Pro
  • ★★ What matters, Ali says, is whether a size would ever be the difference between getting the iPad out or not: a 15-inch might be, but he can think of no situation where the 12.9-inch would be and the 11-inch would not. — 00:10:50 · iPad Pro
  • ★★ Some lecture theatres in Cambridge were cramped, Ali recalls, but an 11-inch iPad fit comfortably and a 12.9-inch would have fit as well. — 00:11:42 · iPad Pro, Cambridge
  • ★★ One of Ali's students, having seen his video, asked to buy his 11-inch iPad Pro for a brother going to university, giving Ali a good reason to switch to the 12.9-inch. — 00:12:12 · iPad Pro, Taimur Abdaal

00:12:41 — The Paperlike screen protector and sign-off

  • ★★ In his 2020 iPad Pro review Ali said publicly he would keep his 2018 model as there was no difference; the student's offer now lets him sell the 11-inch and move to the 12.9-inch. — 00:12:41 · iPad Pro
  • ★★ The Paperlike is Ali's favourite iPad screen protector and clearly the best on the market, he says, though he has not tried any others. — 00:12:41 · Paperlike, iPad Pro
  • ★★ Ali wholeheartedly recommends the Paperlike screen protector for everyone: writing on it with the Apple Pencil feels like paper and encourages him to take notes and draw spider diagrams. — 00:13:18 · Paperlike, Apple Pencil
  • ★★ The Paperlike costs about $29 or $35, expensive for a screen protector, but Ali asks whether you would protect a £1,000 iPad with a $2 one. (hedged) — 00:13:18 · Paperlike, iPad Pro
  • ★★ Ali will buy a Paperlike for his 12.9-inch iPad Pro and sell his 11-inch to his student Roy. — 00:14:07 · Paperlike, iPad Pro

Threads in this video

Where the stories that moved here went next

Mentioned

Central: iPad Pro · Paperlike

Also: People: Taimur Abdaal

Projects: Not Overthinking · Sunday Snippets

Works: How to Take Smart Notes · The Mandalorian

Organizations: Instagram · Netflix

Concepts: spider diagram

Places: Cambridge

Products: Apple Pencil · iPad Air · iPhone · Kindle · MacBook · Roam Research

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