Apple iPad Pro 12.9" Review: Not a Laptop Replacement, Not Just an iPad

Apple iPad Pro - 12.9" Display

The Apple iPad Pro is an amazing piece of technology and looks and quality have always been a staple with Apple and that is still what their products are all about here with the iPad pro. I almost feel like buying this would be a waste if you don't try and get your hands on an Apple Pencil as the two go so wonderfully together. Why the two do not come together really mind boggles me. They could still sell it stand alone for $100, but include it with the pro for no extra charge, but the pencils sell like hotcakes, so they're not going to change the business model.
There's a lot of confusion about this online at the moment, and things may not be any clearer if you try it out at the Apple Store.

The two prevailing views about it are that it's a larger iPad great for movies, surfing, and reading -- or that it's trying to be the Surface Pro and fails because it can't replace your laptop.

Neither view captures what is truly new and unique about it.

It's not trying to be a laptop replacement. It's certainly an iPad, but it's something no earlier iPad has been able to be.

It's a new kind of computer: it's iOS as a kind of desktop experience, one that makes the strongest case ever for the virtues of computing with one app at a time, and one that can make you more productive by affording you a much greater sense of clarity and focus. It declutters your space: mentally and physically. You have nothing in front of you but a keyboard and screen (closer to you than the screen on a laptop), and you're free from the busyness of juggling so many windows around a virtual desktop.

Put another way: it may be less functional than a Mac or Surface Pro *if your primary goal is to multi-task*, but if your goal is to get discrete things done -- create a doc in Word, write email, read a webpage or a pdf -- the iPad Pro is so much more elegant, cleaner, and more pleasant to work with.

Apple seems to be saying: keep your laptop for the more elaborate file manipulation stuff. But for the vast majority of the rest of it, set your laptop aside and enjoy the clarity and elegance of this.

I've had the benefit of using the Surface Pro 4 for the past two weeks and the iPad Pro for the past week. They're both incredible devices. The use cases for the SP4 are obvious, and I love using it (work paid for it, so I didn't have to choose). But if you love the design qualities of the iPad and iOS, you will find the iPP every bit as compelling to use for almost anything.

After all the carping online about the limited keyboard shortcuts in iOS (which will obviously change soon), the complaints about how often you need to raise your arm to touch the screen, the limits of multi-tasking on the iPad, and so on, I've been pleasantly surprised by how much I can do on it (or how little I can't) and how easily. Many tasks I wouldn't have bothered with on my smaller iPads are now worth the time on the larger one, because it's so much nicer to use at this size.

The iPad Pro is also noticeably larger than the Surface Pro 4. Because I use the iPP with the Magic (and not Smart) Keyboard, I prop up on a few books, making it more ergonomic. It's like a large laptop screen at the right height, and closer than I could bring a laptop, making it more intimate and immersive. I could do the same with the SP4, but I usually use it with the Type Cover, which means it's usually lower down, with its screen seeming smaller and slightly more cramped by comparison.

Is the iPP worth it if you can't do to much multi-tasking on it? Why would you buy it (plus accessories) when you could get a retina Macbook for almost the same price? This is the part that won't be obvious if you only try it out at the store.

Buy it. Bring it home. Give it a try. It won't come down to specs. It will defy your earlier assumptions about computers and iPads. It will either appeal or it won't.

I suspect it will. Either way, you'll see that there's really nothing else like it.

Anyways, back to the iPad. The screen is huge and the overall construction of the iPad Pro is super solid, which is typical of Apple but on a tablet of this size, you can really appreciate that Apple sturdiness. The display is the best I've seen on any phone or tablet displaying bright, sharp, and vibrant images that just seem more life like than ever before without any 3D utilization. Images just look amazing, but this was bought to be almost fully dedicated to artwork. Using this coupled with the Apple Pencil and some apps like Sketckbook Pro and Procreate, will grant you an amazing drawing and painting experience. Procreate's utilization of the Apple Pencil is by far some of the best I've seen for stylus's with pressure and tilt sensitivity. You will be amazed at the precise feedback of your inputs of attention to detail when working with the Apple pencil on this screen.
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