I am seriously considering picking one of these guys up. I do all of the heavy lifting on my built PC, but I'll need a tablet/laptop for typing up notes via PowerPoint, reading through emails, editing on Google Docs whilst browsing the web for research, etc. Seems like the iPad can do this quite well.
I have a MacBook Air, but the screen is definitely a hindrance nowadays. Has anyone had any experiences with the iPads in this respect? How is it?
Then you definitely want to buy an iPad Pro. I just got mine and I use it for everything, even for programming. I can connect to my desktop PC at home via the Jump Desktop RDP. It even provides mouse support (only Citrix X1) which is crucial for text editing. With the coming of iOS 11, iPad Pro is going to support multitasking and file management, which will make it more like a laptop.
The reason I chose iPad Pro over Surface Pro is the superb screen on iPad Pro. Apple claims it to have features like P3 wide color gamut, 600 nits brightness, 120 Hz refresh rate, etc. Maybe some of them may turn out to be just hypes, but at similar or even lower price, iPad Pro beats Surface Pro.
BTW, you don't need to pay for the ripping Apple accessories, expect probably the Apple Pencil. For the case and keyboard, just go to Amazon and you can get them combined under CA$50.
Forgot to mention, writing experience on an iPad Pro is unparalleled among electronic devices. With Apple Pencil, 120HZ refresh rate and fastest ever A10X CPU, I don't feel much difference from writing with an actual pen and paper.