Just a calendar week after Apple ’s rent Loose result , the first reexamination of Apple ’s new flagship tablets have come . And as with all iPad Pros that came before , two thing are dead on target : The hardware is unbelievable , but the software package is lacking .

Design

write atThe Verge , David Pierce squall the M4 iPad Pro “ a real achievement in tablet design ” in the very first conviction . He remarks how the equipment “ feel like a piece of glass in your hand ” and it ’s so thin that “ the USB - coulomb hype I use to charge the 13 - inch Pro I ’ve been testing is already thick than the iPad itself . ”

Samuel Axon at Ars Technicawrites that the iPad Pro is “ a meridian deterrent example of Apple flexing its engineering and design muscles … with one of the best screens I ’ve ever seen , functioning that few other machines can touch , and a new , thin design that no one expected . ”

Engadget ’s Nathan Ingrahamcalls the iPad Pro “ an undeniable exploit of engineering ” with a thin conception that “ radically ” interchange the experience and score the 13 - inch iPad Pro easier to handle . Jason Snell at Six Colorsagrees , saying the 13 - column inch modeling is “ less sticky to hold in one mitt now . ”

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The iPad Pro’s display is richer and deeper than that of any tablet Apple has ever made.

Display

All reviewers praised the OLED screen , withCNET ’s Scott Steinsaying it is “ the video display I want in every Pro - level Apple computer , or just every Apple gimmick period . ” total darkness and HDR content were particularly praised , with Pierce pointing out that “ the letterboxes above and below a television just melt into the bezel , and picture look much more dynamic . ”

Snell write that watching movies on the M4 iPad Pro is “ uniformly great ” and “ a huge bound from a more traditionally backlit display . ” word like “ gorgeous , ” “ delightful , ” and “ vibrant ” peppered well-nigh every follow-up and it ’s clean that the display is the best reason to raise .

The iPad Pro ’s display is richer and deep than that of any pad of paper Apple has ever made .

Ipad Pro M4 med nya Magic Keyboard

The iPad Pro’s display is richer and deeper than that of any tablet Apple has ever made.

Petter Ahrnstedt

Processor and battery life

The M4 processor brings a big boost over the premature model ’s M2 and the current M3 in the tardy MacBook Airs , but reviewer fit in that it ’s overkill in an iPad . Stein sum it up best : “ It ’s hard for me to cypher out how to push the M4 in meaningful ways , and that ’s because a lot of apps optimize for it are n’t here yet . ”

Nevertheless , benchmark show the chip to be extremely degraded , with Geekbench 6 multicore scores of nearly 15,000 . That ’s better than all but the high - end M3 Macs on the market , a fact that several reviewers betoken out as more or less unusual , especially since iPadOS is optimise for older poker chip and does n’t have many apps to take vantage of such high - end Si .

Even with extra efficiency cores and an OLED exhibit , battery life for the new iPad Pro is still roughly the same as the M2 model , enough to last all daytime but less than a MacBook Air . harmonise toYouTuber Dave2D , it actually lasts slimly less than the M2 poser , but not enough where anyone would notice .

Apple iPad Pro 13-inch (M4, 2024)

Apple iPad Pro 13-inch (M4, 2024)

Conclusion

in the end , the biggest drawback to the raw iPad Pros are the same as with every previous model : the high price , and the underpowered software package . The new iPads be $ 200 more than the M2 fashion model across the board , which Axon and others call “ overkill ” when other iPads launch the same software as every other model which , as Pierce writes , “ has get its computer hardware down for days . ” Ourcolleagues at Macworld Swedenwere more compact , calling iPadOS “ halting ” and challenging Apple to summate feature and capableness to the operating system .

In the oddment , reviewers harmonize that the M4 iPad Pro is a stunning while of engineering science with cutting - edge ironware that in all probability wo n’t be matched for age . But unless money is no object , you ’re likely just off with an iPad Air .