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Review: Two Weeks With the M4 iPad Pro
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It's been just over two weeks since the M4 iPad Pro launched, which means it's time for a longer term review of the updated OLED display, AI-focused processor, super thin design, and new accessories that include the Apple Pencil Pro and Magic Keyboard.
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The design of the new iPad Pro is probably the best overall feature, and the drop in weight and thickness makes a difference whether you're traveling or just using the iPad around the house. At 5.1mm, the 13-inch iPad Pro is Apple's thinnest device to date, and a tablet of this size and thickness continues to be impressive. Two weeks on, there's no hint of a "bendgate" thanks to the reinforced rib that Apple included under the hood. There's an argument to be made that some people would have preferred a bigger battery to a slimmer design, of course.
Apple moved the front camera to the landscape side of the iPad Pro, and it's a small but notable change. If you use your iPad with a keyboard in landscape orientation but have had to awkwardly turn it to portrait mode for a FaceTime call, this is a tweak you'll appreciate. It's much more natural than treating the iPad like a giant iPhone.
The iPad Pro's OLED display has no competition. It is by far the best display that Apple has introduced in an iPad, and you won't find a better tablet display available from competing products, either. Apple used tandem OLED technology (basically stacking two OLED displays on top of each other), and the brightness and contrast are unparalleled. Movies look amazing, the iPad does well in bright lighting, and the HDR makes images pop.
Compared to the prior-generation iPad Pro with mini-LED display, the OLED display is better, but not so much so that it's worth upgrading for that alone. Coming from an LCD, though, the difference is much more notable.
The last iPad Pro with an M2 chip is incredibly fast, and the M4 is even quicker, based on benchmarks. You're not going to find much that's going to max out the M4 processor in day to day usage, but you'll see bigger numbers on benchmarking tests comparing the M4 iPad Pro to the M2 iPad Pro. Editing videos and creating songs in Final Cut Pro and Logic Pro is super fast with the M4, but it was also super fast with the M2. Maybe the M4 chip will shine when iPadOS 18 is updated with a slew of new AI features, but for now, it's overkill.
Apple nixed both the Ultra Wide camera and mmWave 5G in this version of the iPad Pro, and most people probably won't miss these features. Whether a 13-inch tablet needs any kind of rear camera is up in the air, and mmWave 5G speeds are still fairly limited in availability. Sub 6GHz 5G remains, and that's plenty fast enough for downloads, watching streaming content, and playing games.
As for accessories, the Apple Pencil Pro is basically the same as the Apple Pencil 2 but with a couple new tricks. You can squeeze to bring up menus so you don't need to go hunting for settings to do things like change line thickness or color, and there's a barrel roll feature that basically does things like vary line thickness when tilting the Apple Pencil so it behaves more like a real writing or drawing tool. Find My might be the most useful addition so you can track down the Apple Pencil if it goes missing, and Haptic Feedback is also nice to have.
The Magic Keyboard is way more Mac like thanks to that larger glass trackpad and the aluminum palm rest. The trackpad is more pleasant to use than before, and the function keys are also a big plus for controlling media, changing screen brightness, and more without having to dig into the Settings app or Control Center.
Unsurprisingly, the iPad Pro is without a doubt Apple's best iPad, and it's probably the best tablet on the market. The major downside is the price, with the 11-inch model starting at $999 and the 13-inch model starting at $1299. Those are Mac prices, and while the iPad's hardware is worth it, it's a lot to pay for the limitations that you're stuck with when using iPadOS. There are workflows out there that work with a tablet, but many people aren't going to be able to replace a Mac with an iPad.
You also have to shell out for the 1TB+ iPad Pro if you want maximum performance, as the 1TB and 2TB models have an extra CPU core (10 cores vs. 9 cores) and 16GB RAM instead of 8GB.
Article Link: Review: Two Weeks With the M4 iPad Pro
"...and it's probably the best tablet on the market"
"...the limitations that you're stuck with when using iPadOS"
Weirdly conflicting statements like this bother me. Man this thing would have been a beast with MacOS.
You are supposed to remove the iPad from the Smart Keyboard when you want to use it as a tablet.
I guess the “awkwardness” of the experience depends a lot. Even if I’m a heavy Mac user, I’m used to the phone paradigm, where interaction is much more direct, and I find it much easier and enjoyable for everyday and creative tasks. Using an iPad is much more natural than a traditional PC to me.
Regarding the second paragraph: I think it’s much, much harder than it sounds. The iPad would need to run two OS, switch on the fly whenever you connect some accessory, reboot, and suddenly you end up loosing the context of what you were doing before. And now the touchscreen can’t be touched. What happens if you disconnect the MK by mistake, for example? There are many compromises made to end up with a bad experience, awkwardly switching between OS that look completely different on the same device, which is not designed for macOS in terms of battery, size, thermals, trackpad size, etc. I think it’s an idea that sounds good in theory but wouldn’t work in practice.
I think macOS on the iPad would limit the device because one thing is what you can do in theory, and something else is what you can really do. Some people extrapolate what they do on their Macs to what they could do on their iPads, without realising how different that device is, in terms of touchscreen, screen area, thinness, ports, cameras, etc. We have great examples of how people really use the Windows tablets.
The iPad resembles a giant phone, but is that a downside? Many people use their phone as their primary device (in some countries, most people even only have a smartphone). They prefer to use their phone over their computer for many tasks. So a giant phone will be better than a traditional computer, regardless of the price.
I bought the M4 iPad Pro 13 inch 1TB model because of the thinner/lighter form factor, the OLED screen, and most importantly, the fact that it definitely feels more responsive than my 2018 12.9 inch iPad Pro. Handwriting seems more responsive and so does the track pad. Handwriting response is good enough that I might actually be able to use it to take notes in real time, ideally in cursive (haven't been able to do that with any prior iPads).
Aside from those features, it doesn't do anything my 2018 model can't in my use-cases--I'm not an artist nor a video editor.
So, yes, I don't NEED it, but I WANT it. Typical Apple junkie. 🤪😎🤣.
But I really do think that for a device with tech this advanced and a price this stratospheric, Apple really does need to provide us with REAL windows management and a really intuitive file system--not Stage Manager and the Files app, both of which feel like cobbled-together messes.
Aside from those features, it doesn't do anything my 2018 model can't in my use-cases--I'm not an artist nor a video editor.
So, yes, I don't NEED it, but I WANT it. Typical Apple junkie. 🤪😎🤣.
But I really do think that for a device with tech this advanced and a price this stratospheric, Apple really does need to provide us with REAL windows management and a really intuitive file system--not Stage Manager and the Files app, both of which feel like cobbled-together messes.
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But why “less”? I think the root error of the analysis is thinking that iPadOS is objectively worse than macOS, and Apple is selling a worse product at a higher price. The reality is that both platforms are targeted at different customers, or the same customers with different tasks in mind. I have a MBP and an iPad, and no matter how cheap a MBA gets or how expensive an iPad gets, they will never overlap in my decision matrix. The iPad is a more capable machine than the Mac for the things I want the iPad for.
The Surface and other Windows tablets have been there for years, and have been way less successful than the iPad. They have simply shared the already-existing laptop market volume. The Surface is a traditional laptop, in terms of hardware or software. I don’t see any contrast here, they’re two completely different products.
Well… that is precisely the problem.
You don’t need to do that with the Smart Folio Keyboard.
For some the touch screen and portability offers serious advantages. It would be disingenuous though to not acknowledge the limitations imposed by iPadOS. Even if those limitations are less impactful to you directly.
Simple workflow realities are much harder. Such as hooking up and leveraging external storage or even a basic usage of countless peripherals. The files app is seriously the worse file manager I have ever used in all my years of computing.
Microsoft was flailing around for a long time. Windows wasn’t a good tablet or mobile OS. Microsoft flopped their initial movement into ARM. But since Microsoft has abandoned the smartphone market they’ve been focused on improving windows as an OS that brings powerful features to the tablet space.
Apple has a lead here in that they are better at ARM and have rebuilt macOS to properly run on ARM architecture. Including the challenges around performance and efficiency cores and thread management. Meaning Apple could aggressively compete with Microsoft, but they’ve yet to do so.
I am convinced Apple has to, but we’ll have to see what that looks like.
But we’ll see what happens at WWDC.
So I'm convinced. I do feel this is enough of an upgrade that after 4 great years, I'm ready to upgrade my old 2020 iPad Pro 12.9" to this new 13" version. The OLED screen, nano-texture glass, 5G, WiFi 6E, 1TB storage and 16GB RAM alongside the M4 chip will make this a worthy investment from my end. Sure, the one I have now still works flawlessly and does what I need it to do and I'll never even tap into a quarter of the power that one has but this new one does look great and now that it's even thinner and lighter and probably have even better speakers and all the other stuff, I think it's worth the steep price.
The main reason is aside from the spec upgrades is simply that it will more than last for the next 5 years where as my 2020 while still amazing is sure to lose a step at some point over the same timeframe. It's the best iPad I've ever owned pound for pound and I'll be sad to see it go but it's served me adequately for long enough. I will find it a new home and then make the order for my new iPad Pro 13" over the next couple of weeks!
The main reason is aside from the spec upgrades is simply that it will more than last for the next 5 years where as my 2020 while still amazing is sure to lose a step at some point over the same timeframe. It's the best iPad I've ever owned pound for pound and I'll be sad to see it go but it's served me adequately for long enough. I will find it a new home and then make the order for my new iPad Pro 13" over the next couple of weeks!
I have the regular Smart Folio and I prefer to remove it from the case anytime I’m using the iPad on the couch or in bed. Apple isn’t going to make what you are asking for. There might be a 3rd party that makes them though.
I guess if more people return it after releasing it is not value for money, it will prompt Apple to do something about it.
In my area, you can pick up all versions easily anywhere on launch day. Sales are simply lacking. Even people who are checking it out at the stores is limited.
There is nothing much that it does, that my M1 12:9 can’t.
For me, I don’t need MacOS. I just want to run MacOS app so that I don’t have crippled Photoshop or Lightroom. I also want to run MacOS only DXO Photolab with a proper File app.
If they give me MacOS apps and a MacOS like file system, I will pick up the M4 iPad 1tb immediately, regardless of whether it has any of the AI hype. Without that, whatever AI stuff they give, will not be able to sway me 😆
Same. I told myself that I need MacOS apps to buy, but I still gave Apple the chance by going to the store with my money ready.
The new keyboard is really nice, but other than that, nothing really different from my 12.9 M1 with keyboard. After 1-2 mins, I lost interest and walked off, thanking Apple for coming out with underwhelming products to help me save money for more interesting buys💰😂
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UM, NO,ABSOLUTELY NONE! Come on will you, you don’t want to see, so you’ll just remain blind!
I run my business/payroll on my iPP M1,2TB, as well as a serious “Birding” collection of over 5000 photo’s, do quarterly tax reports, end of year employee receipts, W-2’s, as well as being the “recorder” for several, (3) Organizations. I WANT a Touch Screen,so I taught myself to use a Tablet. My M-1 is amazing for all my needs!
Maybe if you and others return it, it will force Apple to push out what we want. I am sure it is one scenario which Apple is working on. But they will want to delay it as much as possible to sell 2 products. But if sales tanked, they will have to activate their backup plan
OK, then what? So you can use safari and check email?
If you're talking Dev tools or any type of serious content creation, it still won't be powerful enough.
Or is it an argument that MacOS UI is better than iPad OS?
The fact that they just launched Final Cut for IPad Pro means that MacOS apps will not be available for iPad this year, no matter how much we wished
Am sure it is. I would appreciate that too.
But for the price difference, you can literally buy 10 or more pencils everywhere around your house and it is still cheaper
Still unsure about what accessory to use. I have the Folio Case, Magic Keyboard and Logitech Combo Touch. With the Magic Keyboard I can‘t use the Pencil Pro very good to write or draw, I would have to use it blank and am scared it gets scratched on raw surfaces. With the Logitech Combo Touch this problem would be solved. I like the quality, but in comparison to the Magic Keyboard…if you know you know..also the Control app still hasn‘t been updated in Switzerland. Now I‘m thinking about using the Magic Keyboard and keeping the Folio Case with me, in case I want to write/draw for longer, or if I should just use the Magic Keyboard at home or whatever else I could do.
I‘m curious about what others came up with, who have the same thoughts.
I‘m curious about what others came up with, who have the same thoughts.
It’s to make the Magic Keyboard lighter more than anything which was way too heavy.