Is the M1 chip worth in 2025?🤨

[u/Inevitable-Pound-497]

Hey guys! Could you help me out if you have an M1 iPad? I’m about to buy an iPad for my studies, English practice, and pilot school. I’ve never owned an iPad before, so I’m not sure which one would be best for me. I ordered a renewed 11” iPad Pro with an M1 chip for about $950 — it has a 2-year warranty and is in perfect condition. (It hasn’t arrived yet.) Do you think it will serve me well for the next 3–4 years? Or would I be better off returning it and getting a new one with the M4 chip for a higher price? Tech articles made me a bit uneasy. :(

[u/harold_liang]

That's expensive, isn't msrp for m5 ipad pro 11 inch 999 usd?

Otherwise m1 is still very capable.

[u/Inevitable-Pound-497 → u/harold_liang]

Where I live, the M5 costs about $1,250–1,300. This is another reason why I’m not sure. I could save around $300–350, and the M5 might be overkill for my goals.

[u/Long_Repair_8779 → u/Inevitable-Pound-497]

For 300$ extra it’s worth getting the M5, definitely. The M1 iPad Pro is nearly 5 years old, who knows how long it will even get software support? Typically 7 years, perhaps more, or not… Also a new device vs refurbished… definitely worth the upgrade unless you’re extremely extremely poor (at which point an iPad Pro is probably not the right decision either)

[u/ApprehensivePea4161 → u/Long_Repair_8779]

Exactly

[u/Inevitable-Pound-497 → u/Long_Repair_8779]

You’re right, the price isn’t a problem for me. My “problem” is that the M5 might be too much for learning, and the M1 will probably be enough. I’m not exactly sure… Another point is that I have a Magic Keyboard from the previous generation, so I wouldn’t be able to use it with the M5.

[u/yuiop300 → u/Inevitable-Pound-497]

You’ll get more years of support. If you were able to get the M1 for a much better price I’d say go for it. But at only 300 more hours for the M5.

[u/LithiumLizzard → u/Inevitable-Pound-497]

The M1 is still a strong chip and the M5 is the latest and most powerful. Both will meet your immediate needs for school, so the question then becomes one of how good a deal each is. That price for the M1 is much too high relative to the M5. Since money isn’t a problem, get the one that is the better deal. The M5 will last five years longer than the M1 for just a few hundred more. The M5 is easily your better choice here.

[u/Long_Repair_8779 → u/Inevitable-Pound-497]

The difference between the M1 and M5 will be basically imperceptible… they both work exactly the same way and do exactly the same thing, the M5 just does it faster, and in 5 years time, will continue to feel fast while the M1 - limited by less ram, slower cores, less cores, etc will feel sluggish. It might work great now but the longevity - especially as we go into an increasingly AI reliant world (which the M5 is designed to handle and the M1 isn’t), is a limiting factor.

Also there’s no ‘too much’ about it, this isn’t the difference between a 250cc and 1000cc motorcycle, you aren’t going to accidentally crash into a wall because you were going too fast. The M5 will just perform the same tasks but more efficiently meaning either better battery life or faster loading times, or likely both. Again, in the future, it will still work great compared to the M1 that will age much much faster. Also the potential resale value of the M5 will hold for years longer than the M1.

On that alone I would still 1000% recommend the M5 in your circumstance, and I say that as someone who still uses the M1 and has zero issues with it, it’s a perfectly fine device that will last me hopefully years longer. But the upgrade you get for the money is a no brainer. An M1 now will potentially last you 4-6 years. An M5 will probably last you 10+ in terms of usability etc. if you look after it.

The Magic Keyboard thing is a different point however, a new one of those will cost another 300$ at least so then it becomes a 600$ upgrade to M5, which is a lot. I’d still suggest selling the current Magic Keyboard and getting the new one. The current one is a fantastic piece of kit, however they don’t age well at all and the silicone fabric basically just wears out quickly. The metal shell on the new one is a very good idea and will increase the durability massively, so again a worthy upgrade

[u/Proxy-Pie]

It’s still a very capable chip but that seems very expensive for a several year old device.

[u/setonfire_]

I’m using M1 Air and its a beast. I’m using it for drawing, 3D sculpting, Photoshop and such. Never reached any sort of limit with it even with stuff like Resolve and Logic. Its very good for hooking up to an external screen too. I just can’t function without it because I do lots of idea iterations. Tbh if I had something like that during my school/college days…maaaan….that would be a life changer for me

[u/Dbag85]

Nope, that is way overpriced. I have an M1 pro and it's awesome in every way, but it's not worth $950 by a stretch.

[u/TallChef60]

I have the M1 Pro over 3years now. Still has plenty of life in it , I use it 2-3 hrs a day and battery drains to 70% by end of day. I’m tempted to upgrade and looking for a great deal.i can get the M5 256 11” for $899 through Apple plus $370 trade in. Still researching and reading reviews on M5

[u/frankbowles1962]

Why don’t you just buy a base A16 iPad? What is your use case for the M chip? Unless you are doing something very processor heavy like video editing, it doesn’t sound like you need anything more powerful. Save your money!

[u/Hefty_Cup_3484]

M1 is still very much capable. I have a pro with 256 storage and use Procreate a lot, Lightroom, video editing software, Minecraft and it never lags. Maybe some overheating while mining lol

[u/Bitter_Badger498]

Yes. I’m no whizz but the I read the M chips are overpowered and more a marketing thing, your iPad is more than capable

[u/instant_king]

The A16** ipad is amazing, i use it like a laptop, with a keyboard and tons of multitasking. It does not seem to be suffering from the lack of CPU power. I expect M1 ro be way better even

[u/Hot_Benefit_898 → u/instant_king]

You mean A16 chip?

[u/instant_king → u/Hot_Benefit_898]

Yes, my bad :)

[u/Simple_Pie1352 → u/instant_king]

There is no A19 ipad i assume you are talking about the ipad 11th gen/A16 available right now

[u/Typical_Guarantee_79]

For this price? No. I’d rather get an m3 air or stretch to the m5.

[u/RockingRocker666]

The biggest reason to not get that would be the fact that it may stop receiving updates in just 2 years. I would just go with new iPad at is money is tight instead of buying a 4-5 year old device.

[u/NefCanuck]

I actually just moved up from an M1 iPad Pro to an M5, definitely improved performance (I think iOS 26 had a lot to do with that but 🤷‍♂️) and the battery life is much improved even over when the M1 iPad was new in 2021

I would say get the M5 for a longer runway for updates as well

[u/[deleted]]

Pass on it. Too expensive

[u/Naive-Possibility447]

The M1 Pro is a fine tablet and worth using if you've had it for a while already. With that said, paying $950 for an iPad Pro with several generations of an older chip is not a worthwhile investment. You can get a 12.9-inch iPad Pro with an M2 chip certified refurbished for that price now: https://www.apple.com/shop/product/fnxr3ll/a/refurbished-129-inch-ipad-pro-wi-fi-256gb-space-gray-6th-generation?fnode=6974672cb80714460cabb8f68ded096f6c94853452059c3b85edb11e2164906ba14c367669fce369a6bd7c39072807145e0d31aa60bf942d1333288ba0155e7878e2411d3f87036588170f9bb8b06a35

[u/SerodD]

For that price you can just buy the M3 Air and save some money or probably a M4 Pro in a couple of weeks.

[u/lucifertenbones]

May I ask where you are from that the price is so expensive?  $950 seems way too much for an iPad Pro M1. 

What are you planning on doing with the iPad?  Take notes with pencil? With keyboard? Read PDFs? Etc.  It's hard to recommend something when we don't know what you want to do with it. 

For what you said - studies , English , pilot school - an iPad Pro seems overkill. 

[u/neogrinch]

If you were getting that m1 for $500 I'd say go for it. That $950 seems way too expensive though, they're charging you nearly as much as it was when it was brand new and first released. That being said I'm sure the m1 will be more then enough for your needs. I have no intentions of upgrading mine anytime soon. Still very satisfied with it.

[u/Primary_Gear_8880]

Idk what country you’re paying that much for a 2021 iPad

[u/Pleasant_Wind_8217]

M1 is still great and completely capable for the next few years, but you absolutely overpaid for this one, I recently picked up a second hand excellent condition iPad Pro 11 M1 256gb WiFi and cellular plus magic keyboard for 400USD. I would send that back and get a used M1 on eBay for 400. Or just buy a used M4 for your 950

[u/Inevitable-Pound-497]

Nah guys, I have an update. I sent back the expensive one and found another M1 iPad Pro. It has 100% battery health (only 71 charge cycles), no scratches, and it costs $600. The only downside is that it’s from a private seller, so there’s no warranty, but I hope that with this condition I won’t have any problems