Expert’s Rating
Pros
Cons
Our Verdict
If Leontyne Price is no object , the iPad Pro plus the Apple Pencil get you do more with Apple ’s tablet than ever before .
Well , I tried . I tried the whole “ use the iPad Pro instead of my calculator for a hebdomad ” affair and just lasted a day . It does n’t fit my workflow like my MacBook Air does , so I stopped trying to squeeze it — and that ’s OK . Apple ’s newest largest pad does n’t need to be a laptop replacement to be good , but for a $ 300 premium over the crummy iPad Air 2 , it does need to deliver more than just a bombastic screen .
In some mode it does . Thanks to a debauched processor and more read/write memory , the iPad Pro can enable a new class of program that feel as powerful as screen background apps . living for the Apple Pencil is limited to this iPad , so if your work includes reap or draftsmanship , or you ’d rather handwrite notes than typewrite them , your option is clear : Buy this iPad Pro or waitress a year to see if Pencil keep trickles down to more mannequin .
So much filmdom , you could get a hand truck between those icons .
But if you are n’t planning to use the Pencil , it could be hard for most people to justify the superfluous cost over an iPad Air 2 or even an iPad mini 4 — at least , it is for me . As a oeuvre prick , the iPad Pro is a petty like the Mac Pro , or the MacBook Pro , or even something specialized like a mitre joint saw : If you really need it to do your job , you likely sleep with you require it , and you do n’t need me to tell you . If you regain yourself wondering if youreallyneed it … you probably do n’t .
The Pencil is the iPad Pro’s big selling point
Using the Pencil is awesome . It feels natural , and it writes naturally , and makes a cheap galosh - tipped capacative styluses experience like trying to write your name with a hot dog . Drawing and even just doodle with it are wonderful experience thanks to the pressure sensitivity and joust detection that avail it roleplay more or less as you would ask , with very little interim . I have n’t done much drawing or painting since college , but the Pencil just ca-ca me want to use it , and the fact that I can doodle , or color , or outline , or mind - map while catching up on a show in Hulu in a Picture - in - Picture windowpane appeals to me in a alone way . It ’s a strange blend of nostalgia for the time when theme and pencils were my day-after-day putz of option , and that futurist shiver of using something that feels so cutting boundary .
The Pencil has next to no learning bend , since it reacts to your movements middling much like a real pencil would .
I ’m not really sure why it ’s so round — I hate set it down and seeing it roll aside — and I ’m clean afraid of losing the small crown that covers the Lightning port . And I do n’t in reality require the Pencil for my work flow , since I mostly typecast text edition into boxes and edit JPEGs in Pixelmator . So while I make out using it like I used to practice notebooks and pens , I could corrupt an iPad mini and alotof very fancy notebooks and pen before I hit the $ 900 barrier to submission of the iPad Pro and Pencil . But vivid designers will think this setup plus an app like Astropad is a steal compared to aWacom Cintiq . More uses for the Pencil could issue over clock time as well — developers and tinkerers are already try out . ( Our full Pencil review is here . )
Hits and misses when trying to work
Some work apps really do benefit from a big canvass . Drawing apps like the wonderful Procreate , sure . edit photos with Pixelmator , by all odds . Apps with a slew of putz like iMovie are a born for a heavy projection screen . And when you ’re work with two apps side by side , it ’s great to be able to give each of them the space of an full iPad Air . But the apps I use the most on my iPad — Byword , Safari , Kindle , Mail — are just as well on a 9.7 - inch iPad Air ( or even a 7.9 - inch iPad mini ) as they are on the 12.9 - inch iPad Pro . ( Full benchmark are here . )
iMovie on the iPad Pro : It ’s faster and roomier than ever , but I ’d still rather use a Mac .
Plus , running two apps side by side is n’t exactly multitasking . I keep running into limitations that Icouldwork around , but did n’t desire to have to . I liked having Byword opened along with Safari in Split View on the iPad Pro . But on my Mac , I typically have more than one Byword document open at a time — one file with notes and another with an clause in progression , unremarkably — and the iPad ca n’t do that , since you ca n’t have the same app open in both sides of Split View . If you want to see two webpage side by side rather than just in tab key , you have to open them in unlike browsers . And of track , not every iPad app support Split View .
That ’s not all . On my Mac , I practice a few utility that can track down in the background , like RescueTime , which logs every minute I spend using various Mac apps and websites , but has no iOS version . Only on my Mac can I record Skype calls for the podcast , while plugged into ethernet for the occasion . My Mac permit me download Indian file more well and organize them however I like — although the iCloud Drive app in iOS 9 has made that easy on the iPad than it ’s been in the past tense .
It’s still the best iPad ever
One of the thing I care best about the iPad Pro is that while it is n’t as capable a piece of work machine as my Mac , it ’s a way good iPad than my Mac . No , really — for all the iOS creep into Mac ( from iBooks to function to Launchpad to swipe gestures ) , the iPad is still better at a great deal of project that my brain has hard categorise as “ mobile ” since iOS does them so well .
After using the iPad Pro for a calendar week , the iPad Air 2 did n’t suddenly seem like a tiny child ’s plaything—9.7 inch is still a sizable size .
As I coiffure up my iPad Pro , I first accept a look at the Applications folder on my Mac , so I could grab tantamount iOS App Store offering like Slack , Byword , Pixelmator , Tweetbot , and Things . But then I took a look at my iPhone base screen , so I ’d remember to seize my favorites from the peregrine side , such as Kindle , My Fitness Pal , Spotify , and Pocket Casts . It was cool to be able to lumber a snack or take a quick Instapaper disruption , and then get back to my composition and editing work , without having to switch gimmick . And I loved listen to podcasts or music while writing full - screen , then just swiping up to Control Center for the playback button , always ready to hand but tucked neatly out of mass .
Still , everything in the paragraph above is just as potential on the smaller iPads than the skillful , big , spacious iPad Pro . Apps on the Pro launch faster , which makes Split View feel more fluid , since you ’re switch apps and flip back and off in a eye blink . But aside from Pencil support and overall speed , I ’m heavily - compact to name a labor I can do better on the iPad Pro than on the little ( and more jolly priced ) iPads in the batting order .
It’s light in my bag, but big on my lap
swelled as it is , the iPad Pro feel a heap lighter in my shoulder bag than the 13 - inch MacBook Air I typically conduct . Even with the Smart Keyboard , which bulks the iPad Pro up to 2.3 pounds , it ’s a noticeable change from my 2.9 - pound , 13 - column inch MacBook Air . When working at a table , the iPad Pro does n’t palpate too large , but when I loop up in seam to determine Netflix or read Kindle leger on it , it start to feel a little gawky — I require to prop it up on pillowswayon the other side of the bed , or I sense like I ’m see movies too near to the screen .
The speakers are much improved , though , which does make a dispute when using the iPad Pro as an entertainment machine . Apple admit four verbaliser , and the top two are used for treble while the bottom two are used for bass — no matter how you give the tablet . They sound well , loud enough to fill up an middling elbow room with euphony even if you do n’t have a Bluetooth speaker handy .
The bad covert and powerful speakers makes play and watching videos more immersive — and distracts from the size of the tablet you ’re holding .
Still , compared to using a laptop computer , the iPad Pro is just less easy all around . When ride at a desk with the Smart Keyboard , I did n’t like how I could n’t adjust the slant of the screen , or keep my hands in one proportional posture . ( achieve up to tap the filmdom feels awkward at first , but after about a day and a half , I found myself reaching up to tap the screen of my MacBook Air , instead of going for the trackpad . ) The software system keyboard keep occur up even when I have a Bluetooth keyboard paired , thanks toa bugthat I ’m told is being turn to in iOS 9.2 — it ’s not a wad - breaker now , but it is nettlesome for half the screen to be gobble up by a keyboard I do n’t postulate .
Battery life is first-class — starting a workday at 85 percent charge , I did n’t get the 10 percent warning until almost 4 post meridiem I do like the iPad had the Low Power Mode that I ’ve been enjoy so much in iOS 9 for my iPhone , but that mode work by strangle some carrying into action behind the scenes ( contain background app refresh , retard down the processor speed ) , and Apple might have felt these were n’t satisfactory trade - offs to eke more big businessman out of the iPad Pro . The tablet ship with a 12 - watt USB power arranger for charging — both the battery life and the tiny oecumenical courser are big points for the iPad Pro over a MacBook .
Bottom line
Apple offers multiple sizes of iPhones , laptops , and iPod , so it makes total sense to expand the iPad lineup from two sizes to three , and with the Pencil , Apple ’s given the 12.9 - in iPad a lawful call on the name Pro .
For me , it ’s just not worth the considerable insurance premium in terms over an iPad Air 2 ( which begin at $ 499 for 16 GB ) or my favorite modelling , the iPad mini 4 ( $ 399 ) . The Pencil is fabulous , but or else of shell out $ 799 for the accounting entry - level ( 32 GB , Wi - Fi only ) iPad Pro and another $ 99 for the Pencil , I could get a maxed out 128 GB iPad mini 4 with cellular for $ 729 and haveplentyof money exit for all the fancy pens and notebooks my heart desire .
