The 2020 iPad Pro models are the last Pro iPads not to ship with the M chip. Specifically, this affects the models iPad Pro 12.9 inches (4th generation) and iPad Pro 11 inches (2nd generation). Overall, the performance is still okay, but no comparison to the subsequent iPads with an M1 chip. Depending on the application, an upgrade is therefore not absolutely necessary. If you are making a new purchase, you should only start with the 2021 Pro models.
The alternatives:
Both the iPad Pro 11 inch (3rd generation) (for testing) and the iPad Pro 12.9″ (5th generation) (for testing) run with the M1 chip. The difference to the current M2 chip can be verified using a benchmark, but the performance boost is actually irrelevant in practice. Only heavy users who do complex video editing, for example, should notice a difference in speed at all. The other innovations, such as the hover function of the pencil, are rather negligible.
