Introduction
In a world full of 6 inch phones encroaching upon tablet territory and many asking “Why would you need a tablet?”, larger touchscreen devices are struggling to find their place. Apple is still number one in terms of tablet sales, but it seems that the entire tablet market has come to a standstill. With Apple’s notebook sales rising and tablet sales falling, the iPad Pro is the company’s very large and expensive effort to reinvigorate the iPad. Apple aims for the iPad Pro to become some people’s main machines, eventually phasing out the personal notebook. And with a slew of accessories, Apple is gunning for the all-in-one package with the Pro. Even with all of this raw power, can the iPad Pro stand against the already established world of notebooks?
Design
The iPad Pro is massive, coming with a 12.9 inch touchscreen display with a ridiculously high resolution (the highest of any iOS device before). At 6.9mm, the iPad Pro remains very thin and surprisingly light at 1.5 lbs. The Pro is basically a big iPad Air 2 and although this device is very well made and beautiful to look at, it’s design is almost boring now.
Display
The iPad Pro’s display stands out from the rest of Apple’s devices for two reasons, its massive resolution and its compatibility with the Apple Pencil. With a 2732×2048 resolution (264 PPi), the iPad Pro has a very accurate and dense display. At 12.9 inches, the iPad Pro’s display is even larger than the MacBook’s 12 inch display, moving it into laptop territory.
Along with the resolution, Apple has built in technology to accept input from the Apple Pencil. When the Apple Pencil writes on the Pro’s display, it begins to listen for input up to 240 times per second, essentially eliminating lag from the stylus. Read more about the Apple Pencil.
Apple Pencil Review
Apple has also fully laminated the display, eliminating an air gap between the glass and the pixels behind it, greatly reducing glare and increasing clarity.
“At 12.9 inches, the iPad Pro’s display is even larger than the MacBook’s 12 inch display…”
The iPad Pro’s display is an incredibly beautiful screen to look at with pixels that just disappear and surprisingly inky blacks for a LCD panel. Movies, games, TV Shows, text, and webpages all look fantastic. You will have no issues with it.
Pros
Beautiful and high resolution display
Only weighs 1.5 lbs (Lighter than the Retina Macbook)
Can handle anything you want it to do (4K editing, etc.)
Extremely well built and substantial in the hand
Touch ID is still fast and reliable
Apple Pencil is great for creators (But not for everyone)
Smart Connector has potential
USB 3.0 is a nice future-proof
Speakers are really appreciated
Cons
Smart Connector has yet to be utilized fully
Battery is passable but it’s a let down for what was expected
Professional apps have yet to take root in the App Store
Manipulating multiple applications on the Pro is clunky
Design is almost too safe
It’s not a viable replacement for a laptop
People will always ask you why your iPad is so big
Apple tried really hard with the iPad Pro to show how capable the iPad could be and although the power is there, there aren’t enough pro apps available to fully take advantage of it. The App Store is so close to being the pro shop Apple wants, but they need less mobile apps and more desktop like apps. The Apple Pencil clearly shows that Apple wants creatives to take advantage of the iPad Pro and the Smart Connector suggests an interesting future for tablet accessories.
This iPad is so close to Apple’s vision of the “notebook-iPad,” but they need to enlist a few more developers to create real pro apps. The Pro is perfect for creative individuals and power users who wants a bigger, better, and more powerful iPad experience but many professionals will still need to rely on a full computer to get the job done.