Expert’s Rating
Pros
Cons
Our Verdict
The 9.7 - inch iPad Pro more portable , takes better video , adjust your screen ’s colour temperature to match your environment , and generally does everything the bigger iPad Pro can do , only for less money .
Best Prices Today: 9.7-inch iPad Pro
A funny thing happen while I was survey the9.7 - in iPad Pro . I forgot my computer at house and only bring the iPad to work . This was n’t designed . I ’m not doing the “ Can the iPad Pro replace my laptop ? ” challenge . I tried thatbriefly with the 12.9 - inch iPad Pro , and did n’t have the in force results , constantly running into annoying little barrier and workarounds that slowed down my workflow .
The reason I did n’t notice that my laptop was n’t in my backpack that dawn is unsubdivided : I ’m carrying two iPads right now , both the 9.7 - column inch iPad Pro and its big sometime 12.9 - column inch sibling , and the larger iPad Pro is almost as bighearted as my laptop .
Yes , at 1.5 pounds , the big iPad Pro is light than my 2.4 - pound 13 - inch MacBook Air , but I did n’t feel those missing ounces in the linguistic context of the rest of the junk in my bag , and the footmark of the big iPad versus my laptop is about the same . I find the big iPad Pro unwieldy — I’d rather just bring my computer , thanks — but the new 9.7 - inch adaptation ( lead off at $ 599 at theApple Store ) is sized just mightily , and with nearly all the tycoon , it ’s emphatically the iPad for me . ( And , no , I did n’t notice the difference in RAM , but more about that later . )
Size matters
Even though the 12.9 - inch iPad Pro is the most powerful iPad I ’ve ever used , after I was done reviewing it , I did n’t take it anywhere . Most of the clock time , it just sit down on my desk . The 9.7 - inch iPad Pro ( can we call them Lil Pro and Big Pro , please ? ) is sized like an iPad Air 2 , and it weighs just a hair under a pound . Like the iPad mini and iPad Air 2 before it , the Lil Pro seems to disappear into my traveling bag , and I do n’t beware taking it everywhere , much to the pleasure of my iPad - loving 4 - year - old Logos .
Lil Pro is on the button the same sizing as the iPad Air 2 — most type should fit , but old cases might stymie the new iPad ’s extra loudspeaker system .
One of the advantages of the Big Pro ’s covert size is that you have quite a little of room to run two apps side by side in iOS 9 ’s splitscreen mood . Even with less substantial estate , side - by - side is great on the Lil Pro , too . With the Big Pro ’s 2732×2048 exhibit , each app ’s half of the screen wind up being almost as big as the 2048×1536 Lil Pro held in portraiture style . But one-half of the Lil Pro ’s screen still winds up being enough blank to go in , even using textbook - heavy apps like Mail and Safari .
I see a great deal more webpage ( including Macworld and even Apple.com ) nonpayment to tablet or mobile views in splitscreen Safari , even though they load as the full - sizing version when Safari has the integral silver screen . That ’s not a big deal , and even helps readability . Both sides of the screen delay active in splitscreen style — I was able to play a Macworld television in Safari on one one-half of my covert while writing this review in Byword on the other half .
True Tone
The Lil Pro has one feature its big brother does n’t , True Tone . This feature is enable by a novel ambient light-headed sensor imbed in the Lil Pro ’s video display . Every iOS gimmick has these ambient light sensors , which activate the Auto Brightness feature , but in the new Lil Pro , those sensor measure the color temperature of the lighting in the elbow room , not just its intensity . That means , iOS can adjust the coloration temperature of your display , in an attempt to match it up , so your showing does n’t look more downcast in some light and more yellowed in others .
you could ferment this off inSystem Preferences > Display , but it ’s a binary program on / off substitution . There ’s no slider to lessen the intensity of the impression — the whole melodic theme is that it ’s automatically adapt . The new Night Shift feature article iniOS 9.3 , on the other hired man , is n’t controlled by sensor , so it does have a slider to let you correct the intensity . ( I ca n’t stomach it at any more than about 25 percent , but your mileage may vary . ) Night Shift is n’t aimed at matching the color temperature of the room ; rather it just shifts the temperature of your screen from disconsolate to yellow at Nox , in case the boil down blue brightness helps you log Z’s better — althoughthe research is n’t so conclusivethat this special feature would help . you’re able to use both Night Shift and True Tone together on this Lil Pro , but it look painful , like your screen was suddenly submerge in a bucket of orchard apple tree succus .
This cover is right smart too squeamish to yellow it up by layering True Tone and Night Shift together .
I rest ambivalent about True Tone . I do n’t heed keep it on , but I care I could intone it down just a tiny bit . Still , after a couplet of days I stop comment it , until I had the Lil Pro side by side with a MacBook , and the MacBook screen door ’s blueish tint was more visible than ever . Anyone whodoesget nobble on True Tone may start jonesing for it on all their devices , and I would n’t be surprised if Apple starts building these new light sensor into more screens . In the interim , there ’s alwaysf.lux on the Mac .
Pro features at a value price
The Lil Pro joins the Big Pro in support theApple Pencil , which remains just delightful . In fact , it ’s even more so now , just because more apps support it . I like drawing and color with the Pencil to unwind , but I ’m even guide more meeting note with it lately , too , just because the “ infinite curl ” writing feature inGoodNotes 4is so sport . The Pencil is also good with the Lil Pro because it ’s sluttish to bind the smaller iPad in one hand while you run or write with the other . With the Big Pro , I felt like I had to be seat , preferably at a table , when I was going to do anything with the Pencil .
The Smart Keyboard is n’t my favorite to type on , but I do like it as a slight protective covering , and its magnetic attachment is more convenient than a full showcase .
It ’s also deserving betoken out that the Lil Pro starts at $ 200 sleazy than the Big Pro , and the Pencil is $ 99 . The Lil Pro ’s Smart Keyboard is $ 20 less too , at $ 149 , compared to $ 169 for the Big Pro ’s Smart Keyboard . So a full apparatus of a 32 GB Wi - Fi - only iPad Pro , Smart Keyboard , and Pencil is $ 847 if you choose the small iPad Pro , and $ 1,067 if you choose the larger variation .
Oh , and if you use Microsoft Office , there ’s another piece of potential cost savings from take the small iPad . Microsoft requires an Office 365 subscription if you need to make Office document on a tablet large than 10.1 inches — sothat rule applies to the Big Pro but not the Lil Pro . If you do n’t already have Office 365 for your Mac , you could hold open $ 7 per month or $ 70 per class ( the price of Office 365 Personal ) by avoiding buying it for your iPad Pro .
The smaller Smart Keyboard provides almost the same typing experience as the Smart Keyboard made for the Big Pro . It has all the same key in precisely the same places ; they ’re just a little smaller . Both keyboard have a wasteweir - resistant fabric coating and low - travel headstone that I ca n’t seem to type on withoutslammingmy fingers down as hard as possible . ( It ’s like my fingers do n’t conceive the short - travel key are really going down , and I officially apologize to every coworker who has discreetly slid on his or her headphones when I depart up with my satanic cay - pounding again . )
The camera jut out just a flake , but the Lil Pro has a flash , for the first sentence on an iPad . ( The iPad here is show with the Smart Keyboard cover version . )
I really value the extra talker might on both iPad Pro models , since I check a luck of cyclosis moving picture and TV on my iPads . The four speakers allow enough oomph for an activity movie , and make euphony and podcasts fathom better when you ’re heed without headphones too .
The iSight photographic camera on the Lil Pro is even beneficial than the Big Pro ’s tv camera , because it has a True Tone flash and supports Live Photos , which the Big Pro does n’t . Plus , it records 4 special K television , while the Big Pro is stick on 1080p . Want to shoot slo - mo ? The Lil Pro lets you choose 1080p at 120fps or 720p at 240fps , while the Big Pro can only handle 720p at 120fps . Again , the Lil Pro ’s forcible size make me more likely to expend it to shoot stills or video , and even if you gibe at the very idea , do n’t bury that quite a little of apps use the photographic camera for things like augmented world or even … well , shooting picture . For example , an app calledHudl Techniquelets you film a baseball , lawn tennis , or golf game swing and then take apart it in slo - molybdenum for right form and proficiency . It ’s world-wide for iPhone and iPad , but the iPad ’s bigger concealment make it a lot easier to practice , and the camera captures enough point that you may whizz along right smart in on the way a articulatio radiocarpea or ankle turn during a swing music .
What about the RAM?
It ’s true that the Lil Pro has 2 GB of RAM , or half the RAM of the Big Pro , which has 4 GB . But magnanimous screens require more resource to power them , and in testing with GeekBench 3 , the Big Pro only scored about 6 pct well overall , so I do n’t recollect many people will mark a carrying out hit in most task . Memory - specific mental testing show more of a discrepancy , because as it turns out , it ’s not just the amount of RAM that ’s different , but the memory bandwidth too .
In Geekbench 3 ’s multi - core memory board benchmark , the Big Pro scored 4112 . On the Lil Pro , the same trial run produced 3203 , or about 28 percent worsened . In most tasks , you ’re unlikely to see the impact of a niggling less memory bandwidth . Where it ’s more likely to evidence itself is graphics - related chore such as gaming .
Is having half the RAM a dealbreaker ? I would say no .
In 3DMark ’s Sling Shot Extreme psychometric test , for example , the Lil Pro scored 3146 , about 20 percent worse than the Big Pro ’s score of 3787 . But when the same psychometric test was set to render offscreen , the Big Pro ’s 3794 only bested the Little Pro ’s 3528 by 7.5 percent . And in AnTuTu Benchmark app , the Lil Pro scored just 11 per centum bad than the Big Pro .
As a matter of policy , Apple does n’t get into the skunk on its selection for the amount of RAM or how it ’s configure . It could be that Apple selected slightly lower - swiftness RAM for the Lil Pro to hold open on superpower since the smaller social unit has a small-scale battery . Also , the smaller screen has a low-toned resolving , and Apple may have settle it did n’t need the gamey performance RAM .
Oh yeah , and as of right now , this is the only iPad that comes in Rose Gold .
For the most part , the amount of RAM is probably nothing to lose sleep over . There ’s nary a performance departure in the computing side of things and even on graphics tasks , when you view the settlement , the conflict is pretty little , as well . When buying a Mac with configurable RAM , I run to max it out at leverage as a way of “ next proofing ” the machine , hoping that the more RAM I have , the longer that Mac will last before it feels obsolete . If you ca n’t remain firm the thought of bribe an iPad with half the maximal RAM available , you could shell out an redundant $ 200 for the Big Pro , or hold back to see what Apple does with these iPads next year . But for me , the 9.7 - column inch iPad Pro ’s performance is worth its Mary Leontyne Price and then some .
Bottom line
If you ’re using an iPad Air or older , the 9.7 - inch iPad Pro is a worthy upgrade . If you ’re trying to resolve between a 12.9 - inch iPad Pro and the smaller version , I ’d go small because it ’s a more commodious size , and the $ 200 price difference is worth the minimum lessening in performance , specially if you design to expend that difference on Apple ’s accessory .
