iPad model recommendations for Affinity

[Ranpo]

Hi all,

Had been debating on investing in an iPad for quite some time and after upgrading to the full V2 suite and having the iPad apps I have decided now's the time (Especially with Black Friday sales)

I've been looking at the iPad Air 5th Gen but debating if I should go for 64gb or 256gb, what is the V2 app sizing like?

Also would be interested to hear what iPad models you are currently using and how you're finding using the apps, and if you're using the Pencil how does it feel with the apps?

[StudioJason]

I use an iPad Pro v.3 256G, and love it. Truly a Mobile Studio with all the apps like Affinity Photo/Design/Pub, Procreate, LumaFusion, Nomad, etc.

Suggest getting at least a 256G, as currently with all of the Creative Apps I use, and the Saved Documents of each (plus any created  images, videos etc), have only used half of the storage capacity (120G of 256G)- which may seem like an abundance but can easily see how it could exponentially grow in used space.

App File Sizes are manageable, in that if you don’t retain/store a lot of files within…such as in the Live Documents area…it will keep the Apps file data down to minimal. But it can grow larger (talking Gig size even) if not performing Hard Resets to clear caches, etc….and also must be noted, Apple iPads have a weird way of configuring app/data information. But for most part, like all things…if you practice good Archiving of Files/Documents, should have no real issues.

I use the Apple Pencil as well, and must say it is a must to include in purchase, and use in Apps. Affinity Apps work great with it, very fluid. There will be variations of fluidity between Apps though, but that is typically the actual Software Engine implemented by developers- and possibly just how massive the App is in including Tools, Operations, etc. Procreate is very fluid for Digital Painting with Apple Pencil…and Affinity Photo/Designer is not bad at all, and has definitely improved in V2! 

[Print Monkey]

I haven't used Affinity 2 stuff much yet on the iPad (Just Affinity Photo 1), but I'm just using an iPad Air 3rd Gen and Apple Pencil 1.

Affinity Photo 2 is using 1.63GB right now with no "live docs" and some of the free "extras" downloaded. A "Serif Labs" storage container (shared by all affinity apps) is taking up 663MB (I think this is where the "extras" live).

If you're going to be doing stuff with photos, documentation, ebooks, etc then you're almost certainly going to need 128GB. Mine is slightly over that limit right now and I'm glad I got the 256GB, but I've also got Pages and Numbers stuff on here, reference doc PDFs, several large games, etc.

So it basically boils down to:

64GB - You better be doing nothing but one big app and its documents or you will run out of space. Even then you might run out of space if the docs are large and numerous enough.

128GB - You might be able to get away with this if you don't have large games, ebooks, or are willing to offload more stuff "to the cloud". (Store more data on cloud drive service, "offload unused apps" etc)

256GB - If you want to just do absolutely everything (Pages, Numbers, note taking app, Affinity apps, ebook collection, technical or other reference PDFs, etc) you're going to need more than 128GB at some point or you'll be using "offload to the cloud" options and storing more of your stuff on cloud drives.

And always get the Apple Pencil. It works with everything without hassle and works well. I actually went cheap and bought mine used on eBay because initially I wasn't sure I'd use it, but it has made things possible on the iPad that would otherwise not be possible so I've used it a lot.

[Print Monkey]

I should also add, you can get away with 64GB if you're primarily going to store all documents or almost all documents on cloud drives.

I did manage to get away with using less than 128GB for a long time (years) but I wasn't doing heavy work.

Largely how much local storage you need depends on how much cloud drive space you have to use. I don't really store much on cloud drives. 64GB is enough to hold all your apps unless you really have tons of 1-2GB apps. But I would have run out of 64GB rather fast because I don't offload much stuff.

[Ranpo]

@StudioJason @Print Monkey thanks so much for your thoughts! Glad to hear the pencil combo works great

Have taken the plunge and went with the 256GB version (Got an excellent deal) certainly will be better to have too much space than too little, beyond excited to start work on the go!