There are many accessories that make the iPad experience more enjoyable. Whether you are
an artist, creator, a student or an office worker - there will be items out there to
help you make the most of your shiny new iPad Pro.
This is the first of a series of iPad Pro ACCESSORY videos and today we will be covering...
STORAGE options
Not just what INTERNAL storage options you should consider for the iPad Pro...but also
external SSD storage products.
We will also cover some of the docking and hubs that will be suitable for the iPad Pro.
Where a feature or product suits other tablets I will make sure to mention that too.
Let's crack on.
With the introduction of Thunderbolt Apple have opened quite a few doors for us when
it comes to storage.
And for connecting external monitors as well, but that will be another video.
External SSD hard drives I have two options here in terms of speed,
size and of course, the price range. There are many brands out there of course and I
will be testing them out soon... But we get a good variety here depending on your needs
and budget.
Starting with the Samsung T5 which is probably the budget option. These are USB 3.0 and come
in three sizes:
500GB, 1 and 2 Terabytes - all of these 3 models have the same advertised read and write
speed of 540 Megabytes per second
The 500GB at the time of recording sells for just under $100 bucks
The 1TB sells for about $110 and the 2TB for $200 bucks.
Now, it's important to pay attention to the write speed here.
Will you be able to do some crazy 4K video editing off of this product AT THIS speed?
Like most things in tech, it depends.
Sure, it will get the job done. But...I've experienced some stuttering on the timeline
especially if I am using effects and things like that. But if you're clever with your
workflow... using proxies to edit for example, this is absolutely fine.
I wouldn't downgrade this to being just a data backup device, but... it's not at the
high end of performance.
Which brings to the next level of speed, where we have the Samsung T7 and this guy right
here... the Sandisk Extreme. Both are USB 3.2 Gen
2
So now we jumped from 540 Megabytes per second to 1050 Megabytes per second... on both read
and write "advertised speeds".
I say advertised because, this will vary on the type of data you're transferring or accessing...
the heat management of the device itself and other variables...
But rest assured, I will be putting these bad boys to the test in a couple of weeks....
when I actually get my iPad Pro. I went for the 12 inch, 1TB 16GB RAM version which is
an absolute beast and I can't wait to put it to the test.
Hopefully!!! If all the stars align and DHL, Fedex, the boats in the Middle East - you
know, if all of those things work out well... you will be seeing a lot more content on the
iPad Pro on this channel.
Now, I don't want to be doing this by myself, as enjoyable as that sounds... It will be
a lot more fun with you guys here, so make sure to subscribe so you don't miss out.
And join the #bellgang. Very easy, just click the notification bell!!
On the Sandisk Extreme you're now more CAPABLE of running different workloads.
You're paying a bit more... the 2 Terabyte version is approximately $300.
But you are then set for a long time! With the 2TB or even 4TB it really means you don't
have to worry about running out of space so quickly.
And I will link up a video here for you for an option on how to optimise your workflow
even further by using external hard drives - old school, spinning disks.
This is from my buddy Kevin, and he did this great video on how to make the most of your
budget whilst giving yourself that nice peace of mind that you have your data secured but
not necessarily on expensive storage. You know, invest in these but try and keep this
for the data that you are always accessing.
For projects that you're not gonna use, I'd strongly recommend you go for external hard
drives.
And rather than tell you to wait for me to produce a video on that, I will point you
to Kevin because he's already done it!
Sandisk also have their Extreme PRO version which will give you 2000 Megabytes per seconds.
You're now getting REALLY close to the speed you'd get on the internal drive of something
like the Macbook Pro itself!
Which is incredible.
And for even faster performance, Samsung have the X5 which is their NVMe option with Thunderbolt
3.
But those are really quite an investment! With their advertised write speed of 2300
megabytes per second, and read speed of 2800 Megabytes per seconds, this is for serious
professionals.
And if there's enough interest, let me know in the comments and I will try and grab one
of those to do some benchmarking when I get the iPad Pro.
Now let's talk about the Thunderbolt options I am looking at. To really make the most
of the iPad Pro, we will need to give it some extra powers. That is what Apple is suggesting
we do right, this is meant to be our next computer so...
And I will preface this section with I haven't used any of these devices and the iPad hasn't
arrived here yet so it's a bit risky to buy any of these right now.
I will be taking that risk for you, and testing them out with multiple monitors, transferring
large amounts of data, connecting cameras to it, stress testing it... THE LOT!!
Ok? but for now treat this as research. These are the devices in order of preference that
I will be looking at... based on the specs that I've seen that look like will be GREAT
for the iPad Pro.
Starting with the OWC Thunderbolt Dock I was really excited to try this brand, I
heard some really good things. And this dock looks like the real deal guys, with 4 thunderbolt
ports, one of them with 90W Power Delivery, I think this will be the one to get.
Right now though...it looks like its quite popular, and it would take 44 days to arrive...
So after doing a bit of research of what would be good alternatives... I came up with two
options really.
The first is the Caldigit Thunderbolt 4 Element Hub.
Which also comes with 4 Thunderbolt 4 ports and all sorts of other goodies.
Another option is the Caldigit TS3 Plus - probably doesn't get any better than that at the moment,
because it is available and you could probably get it tomorrow.
To be honest, this is likely to be the safest bet for most people who are looking to buy
something BEFORE they get the iPad Pro and before you see any of my reviews. right? If
your work depends on you having a dock, as soon as you get the iPad, then this is probably
the safest bet - unless you can find the OWC or the element hub.
The only problem with the TS3 plus is that even though it's an amazing hub, it only has
two Thunderbolt ports, so like I said probably OK for most people but for a similar price
range you could future proof your setup by waiting a little longer until those newer
Thunderbolt 4 options are available again.
By the way guys.... Storage is great but Perhaps not the most important accessories for the
iPad.
Of course you have to consider a keyboard and the pencil AS WELL AS a protective case
and screen protector. Good news is, I am ALREADY in conversation with a few brands that you
might recognise from previous videos here on the channel.
They told me they're all rushing to produce their new iPad Pro accessories. So really
stay tuned guys, because I will be trying them out and doing videos on them right here.
Another decent looking option I found is the Anker PowerExpand Thunderbolt 4 Mini Dock.
But I'd definitely stay away from this one for now because there seems to be some confusion
in their product information. I actually bought the 5-1 mini dock because it said it was supporting
iPadOS but when I contacted support, they confirmed that it wouldn't - turns out they
had the wrong manual and the information was mixed up.
Buy they still didn't confirm whether it will work with the iPad Pro so the saga continues
and I will update you here when I find out more.
This comes with 85W port charging laptops, and also 15W for charging smartphones (not
the greatest charging ability for smartphones but that's not this little guy's main strength.
Where this will shine is in the number of Thunderbolt ports. It comes with 3 Thunderbolt
output ports which is fantastic for connecting other accessories.
If you're going to be video editing or music editing for example... or working with lots
of high quality imagery, then you're going to need a fairly decent access to storage.
In conclusion, if you are going to be taking advantage or your iPad Pro's new capabilities,
then these storage accessories are a must. But if you're not in a rush, don't forget....
You have storage on the iPad itself!! So its worth waiting for global supplies to be replenished
to REALLY get that variety of options and frankly.... more up to DATE options with Thunderbolt
4 and higher number of ports.
As I said earlier a protective case and screen protector will pribably come first ( and if
you skipped that bit, basically I will be reviewing lots of cases here too)
But storage for me comes pretty close to the top in terms of priority. Exciting times guys!
exciting times..
I will see you and your smiling faces, on the next one!