iPad Pro The best product Apple has ever made.

[modernaccord]

I was skeptical, but I took the plunge anyways. I actually got rid of my rMB and got the iPad Pro instead and so far don't miss OSX.

If I ever need a USB, which is once in a blue moon, I have a 2011 macbook air that will do the trick. Figured it's better to hang onto that than sell it and buy a cheap PC for printing shipping labels.

 

[artfossil]

One of my coworkers pointed out that I could have done that with a pen and paper, until I pointed out to him that I was leaving without any papers to file or throw away. I also was able to erase and make changes to some of my notes as we went along (it was a planning meeting so somethings were changing as we talked), and my notes would be searchable at the end so it would be easier for me to find keywords later.

Key for me, as I have worked damn hard the last three years to make ALL of my archives digital.

 

[artfossil]

I couldn't find "Autodesk Graphic" in the app store. Is it maybe a different name?

Graphic - vector illustration and design

 

[Dicksyatt]

I have nothing to add. So great to see a positive review for once. I have not used my laptop since my Pro arrived. Just love the screen and sound and speed and feel. It is a class product. Thanks

 

[joscejrod]

"Holy $#!% - this is incredible!"

These words have come out of my mouth more times today than they have since I first used an iPhone. I am ASTOUNDED at how good this device is and wanted to tell you why.

I am a creative professional who has used Apple products for 30 years. So yes, I'm incredibly biased. Even if, say, the Microsoft Surface were empirically a better product, I would still never buy one. I love Apple, and the iPad Pro is the culmination of all the reasons why.

First and foremost, I feel like Marty McFly just showed up in a flying DeLorean and handed me a device out of its time. In one day, hours really, my entire view of "computers" is shifted into a place I always knew it would go. The iPad Pro is the most immersive, intimate, exciting computer I have ever used. It's just feels right, and I am excited to see where it's going to take me.

I think one of the biggest reasons why I've been so enamored is because I am NOT using a physical keyboard. I have the iPad attached to a regular Smart Cover at its flattened ~30° angle, and I'm using the device the way it wants to be used... By touching it. I simply cannot imagine interacting with this device propped up at a laptop-like angle. It isn't a laptop replacement... It's better. Everything is designed and laid out for a flowing series of on-screen interactions, which after getting used to become second nature and feel quicker and more direct than anything I'd do with a keyboard and mouse.

Of course the biggie is typing, which I am doing right now using the software keyboard, and after only one day I feel like I am just as fast on the software keyboard as I am on my laptop. And rather than cursing the shortfalls of a physical slab of buttons trying to interact with a touch based computer, I'm forced to learn all the needed interface tools and shortcuts that make this device so cool, (my favorite is the two finger pseudo-trackpad to move the cursor anywhere it needs to go... And two finger tap to select the current word, paragraph etc... Science f'ng fiction, baby!)

I had a realization a few weeks ago while watching my 4 year old son deftly navigate our various iOS devices (the only personal computers he's ever spent any real time with) - the coming generation is never going to need the same kind of input devices we've grown up using... Physical mice, keyboards... They aren't needed with a touched based device like this... one that gives you enough room for the screen to be both input and canvas. Any attempt to attach a clumsy physical keyboard to a device like this is a crutch... The magic of this devices is using it like freaking minority report.

Also, the multi tasking in iOS 9 is spot-on, and while I did have moments where I thought about how many windows and things I could have open and running in my view on OS X, when I actually jumped back to my Mac while setting up the pro, I was shocked at the clutter of a half dozen Windows all lying on top of each other and a thousand other notifications, menus and icons crammed absolutely everywhere. There are plenty of multitasking improvements the fledgling iPrOS could benefit from, but the potential to move to iOS as a creative workspace brings with it the promise to start fresh in sparkling clean, distraction free simplicity.

Also, the sound is phenomenal. Because using the iPad in the hands on why I described brings you face to face with the device, the sound utterly floods your awareness... I cannot wait to start creating art on this thing when my pencil arrives in god-knows-how-many-weeks...

The final frontier is of course the apps, but just as the original iPhone and iPad saw a steady process of building the ecosystem one app at a time, we at least have a great foundation to build on with the Pro. I have no doubt that I will be straddling this device and my old MacBook Pro as I currently cannot do without the big app suites I've grown to rely on. It will take time for developers to catch up with our dreams for a device like this, but that's exactly what makes these technologies so exciting.

Be excited people... This is the continuation of something remarkable.

Sorry, but I don't think so. It's not the most useful device (It's the Iphone at this moment), it's not the most technologically advanced (the apple pencil, its interaction with the input layer and the speaker configuration is pretty damn clever, but I could tell you for example that developing the new macbook has been a bigger challenge for engineers), it doesn't have the best and prettier design ever( maybe the "lamp" imac , new macbook again) and it's not the most revolutionary product to come to the market (with ios9 , it's only a bigger ipad with a magnificent pencil, but again, only a BIG ipad. It's less comfortable to used with ipad tasks as reading magazines, newspapers, books, watching movies... And it's less useful to used with pro tasks(editing office documents, dwg files, decodind video, using photoshop)... I could give you more reasons, but think about this: It's a niche product, only for very specific people. Someday, ipads and macbooks will converge in one product( yes, Tim!!!, you know that it' true) and it will be THE PRODUCT. Until that, it's only one step more to that way, but this time, a little step.

 

[submariner89]

Sorry, but I don't think so. It's not the most useful device

Of course. There's always at least one.

 

[joscejrod]

Of course. There's always at least one.

Congrats OP, I'm glad that you really like the iPad Pro. As with most things in life, one size does not fit all, but its nice to see a post where some loves the product instead of complaining about it

At least one...or two. Please, the best apple product ever??!!!

 

[Mcdevidr]

I love my iPad pro as well. One thing I can't get on the band wagon with is using the software keyboard all the time. Surely it is nice. But the ergonomics of staring downward into the iPad is going to have your neck really messed up. To use the device for any extended period of time lifting the screen to a decent viewing angle and keyboard would be preferred.

This is why the smart keyboard fails for me. The ergonomics are worse than a laptop. One angle. I'd rather have a straight back and sink to using the magic keyboard with mine propped up.

 

[adamtj11]

Couldn't agree more with the original post. I took it on a 3 day vacation just there and as I type this on the way home, on a crowded bus I've got to running in PIP mode, looking at the latest news on one side of the screen and typing up this post on the other side. It's still light enough and portable enough to be able to use in a tight space(like a bus with hardly any leg room) and get work done, or type a paragraph like this.

This is my favourite Apple product probably since my first iPhone, or at least the first one in a while that I've thought yep this is going to change things.

 

[ssls6]

I just wonder about a future where computers uses "drawn pictures, symbols, ideas" as input beyond just a pointer & typed characters. The computer world has changed before...cards, line input devices, full screen terminals, then GUI's. We have been stuck at the GUI stage for almost 30 years now. What is next?

Some would have you believe hand gestures, eye tracking, ...I tend to believe we are visual creatures with complex control of our hands, voice, & faces. Typing and mouse control only scratches the surface of what we can do.

 

[rwp]

Couldn't agree more with the original post. I took it on a 3 day vacation just there and as I type this on the way home, on a crowded bus I've got to running in PIP mode, looking at the latest news on one side of the screen and typing up this post on the other side. It's still light enough and portable enough to be able to use in a tight space(like a bus with hardly any leg room) and get work done, or type a paragraph like this.
This is my favourite Apple product probably since my first iPhone, or at least the first one in a while that I've thought yep this is going to change things.

Completely agree -- I took only my iPad Pro on my trip to visit family for Thanksgiving and haven't missed having a laptop at all. And also, I have never had as much fun performing otherwise mundane tasks (like typing this response). The iPad Pro has made computing fun again.

 

[c0nsilience]

100% agreed with the OP. The iPad Pro is pretty stellar, right out of the box; coupled with an  Pencil and it is easily a Wacom Cintiq killer. Every creative professional should have one, or at least try it out with their workflow.

For me, it's as revolutionary as when the first iPad came out. Because I had a laptop and a smart phone, I didn't think I'd find a use/need an iPad....until I got one and it opened an entirely new computing paradigm for me, which is what Apple is known for: innovation. They may not do it first, but they almost always do it right.

For the majority of the populace that seems conditioned for "bigger, better, faster, more", they won't ever be satisfied....you know, consumers consumed by consumption, braggarts, drones.

For the minority that are genuine creatives, the iPad Pro is a pretty damn good tool to use.

 

[Mystro]

I have done two video presentations already with my Pro. The clients were blown away. I also was asked alot about the Pro itself which everyone thought was stunning so I also get points for using the latest tech tool and came away with a positive image for my companies ability to use cutting edge equipment. Its a win-win.

 

[Dryasanne]

I have something in my lap. A Spyderco folding knife

The following might just be some daft words from a old and retired apple fanboy,
who got the first Apple product back in 2004.

I am to open a box. Writing these words in huge expectation on my beloved Air 2. In fact my fifth Ipad

Inside the box is a golden one. Since myr Air 2 is LTE and 128gb - my workhorse at hospitals and on shopping, I
settled for the entry optin on the big one.

This cool colour looks very similar to my phone. An Edge S6 pluss. I am not being a pro. I am just old, farsighted, prev alpineer, and have a dog.

Thats why I got it To watch all my thousands of photos from Norwegian mountaiins and from the metropolises in Southern Europe.

But most of all watch film. I have a wast library on the VUDU, most of the newest Holywood blockbusters lik Mision Imp Rogue Nation and Antman.

So the decision now, should I use Dropbox or Adobe Lightroom (which I subscr on) for the photos And use the vudu app for them downloaded movies, or something else.

My new Ipad Pro seems to be gigantic compared to my Air 2

As you all says, I might get a new life, that Air 2 is a bit to small for me

 

[T-Will]

I have done two video presentations already with my Pro. The clients were blown away. I also was asked alot about the Pro itself which everyone thought was stunning so I also get points for using the latest tech tool and came away with a positive image for my companies ability to use cutting edge equipment. Its a win-win.

Did you use iMovie or another video editor?

 

[Mystro]

IMovie. It's sooo easy to work with.

Did you use iMovie or another video editor?

 

[Piggie]

Can I chat to a friend on skype whilst watching a movie on YouTube with them, so we can both talk to each other whilst both watching the movie?
Multitask Skype (chat/video) on one side and be watching YouTube video on the other side of the screen?

 

[Thethousandfold]

After reading/watching every review I can find, and getting my hands on the devices themselves in the store, I feel the same way as the OP.

It's not just a large iPad. It's also not a laptop replacement (a faulty advertising strategy in my opinion). It's a different thing entirely.

It's certainly a Cintique killer.

This is the kind of device I have always wanted. The first true piece of tech I've touched that has the probability to replace my notepads and sketchbooks. For me, it bridges the gap between a computer and what I do with a physical medium.

The pencil is the best device of it's kind I have ever used. And despite any bugs or app issues I've read about, this gear is topnotch.

I'm not an early adopter, but in a mere few weeks I'm buying an iPad Pro. I'm that impressed.

The only question is the apps. If the devs jump on this opportunity and start/continue to push the quality and versatility of this platform, the sky is only the beginning.

I've heard the argument that devs won't be attracted to putting out apps that rival the full os versions of their products, for whatever reason, and they ring hollow for me.

If they and Apple work together to iron out any cost/profit/development issues this gear opens up a whole new world.

As a user, I have no problem paying for quality software. $1.99 is fine and acceptable for a frivilous game or a tiny app that does a handful of things. I would pay many, many times that for a full version of iOS software, or a suite of integrated apps that accomplish the same end, that compares with the OSX applications.

This device is not just an enhanced means for consuming media, it is the digital platform that creatives have been dreaming of.

Now, Apple & the Devs need to work together to see this seed sprout and blossom. I have faith that they already see the same potential and are hungry to realize it.

Get to work and take my money!

 

[GrindedDown]

I just wonder about a future where computers uses "drawn pictures, symbols, ideas" as input beyond just a pointer & typed characters. The computer world has changed before...cards, line input devices, full screen terminals, then GUI's. We have been stuck at the GUI stage for almost 30 years now. What is next?

Some would have you believe hand gestures, eye tracking, ...I tend to believe we are visual creatures with complex control of our hands, voice, & faces. Typing and mouse control only scratches the surface of what we can do.

Could you elaborate on what you mean by "a future where computers uses 'drawn pictures, symbols, ideas' as input"? What are, in your opinion, some examples and practical application of these visual input "devices"?

 

[VesselA]

the ipad pro has even greater potential, if the app developers create more powerful and sophisticated apps to take advantage of the greater screen real estate and power.

A more professional music production tool with authentic samples like logic pro would be fantastic. The conscern though is that because the pro is a relatively small share of the overall ipad sales that developers wont bother focusing on it, in preference to making mainstream apps for the regular size, leading to a continuation of just blown up versions for the pro.

Having said that, as an artist there are already some great apps optimised for the pencil and I think the pencil optimised apps will grow, so it is a fantastic device.

 

[bcaslis]

I'm not sure what you mean that the Pro can't uses tabs in split view. I'm doing that right now and it works the same as when not in split view.

 

[jazz1]

"Holy $#!% - this is incredible!"

These words have come out of my mouth more times today than they have since I first used an iPhone. I am ASTOUNDED at how good this device is and wanted to tell you why.

I am a creative professional who has used Apple products for 30 years. So yes, I'm incredibly biased. Even if, say, the Microsoft Surface were empirically a better product, I would still never buy one. I love Apple, and the iPad Pro is the culmination of all the reasons why.

First and foremost, I feel like Marty McFly just showed up in a flying DeLorean and handed me a device out of its time. In one day, hours really, my entire view of "computers" is shifted into a place I always knew it would go. The iPad Pro is the most immersive, intimate, exciting computer I have ever used. It's just feels right, and I am excited to see where it's going to take me.

I think one of the biggest reasons why I've been so enamored is because I am NOT using a physical keyboard. I have the iPad attached to a regular Smart Cover at its flattened ~30° angle, and I'm using the device the way it wants to be used... By touching it. I simply cannot imagine interacting with this device propped up at a laptop-like angle. It isn't a laptop replacement... It's better. Everything is designed and laid out for a flowing series of on-screen interactions, which after getting used to become second nature and feel quicker and more direct than anything I'd do with a keyboard and mouse.

Of course the biggie is typing, which I am doing right now using the software keyboard, and after only one day I feel like I am just as fast on the software keyboard as I am on my laptop. And rather than cursing the shortfalls of a physical slab of buttons trying to interact with a touch based computer, I'm forced to learn all the needed interface tools and shortcuts that make this device so cool, (my favorite is the two finger pseudo-trackpad to move the cursor anywhere it needs to go... And two finger tap to select the current word, paragraph etc... Science f'ng fiction, baby!)

I had a realization a few weeks ago while watching my 4 year old son deftly navigate our various iOS devices (the only personal computers he's ever spent any real time with) - the coming generation is never going to need the same kind of input devices we've grown up using... Physical mice, keyboards... They aren't needed with a touched based device like this... one that gives you enough room for the screen to be both input and canvas. Any attempt to attach a clumsy physical keyboard to a device like this is a crutch... The magic of this devices is using it like freaking minority report.

Also, the multi tasking in iOS 9 is spot-on, and while I did have moments where I thought about how many windows and things I could have open and running in my view on OS X, when I actually jumped back to my Mac while setting up the pro, I was shocked at the clutter of a half dozen Windows all lying on top of each other and a thousand other notifications, menus and icons crammed absolutely everywhere. There are plenty of multitasking improvements the fledgling iPrOS could benefit from, but the potential to move to iOS as a creative workspace brings with it the promise to start fresh in sparkling clean, distraction free simplicity.

Also, the sound is phenomenal. Because using the iPad in the hands on why I described brings you face to face with the device, the sound utterly floods your awareness... I cannot wait to start creating art on this thing when my pencil arrives in god-knows-how-many-weeks...

The final frontier is of course the apps, but just as the original iPhone and iPad saw a steady process of building the ecosystem one app at a time, we at least have a great foundation to build on with the Pro. I have no doubt that I will be straddling this device and my old MacBook Pro as I currently cannot do without the big app suites I've grown to rely on. It will take time for developers to catch up with our dreams for a device like this, but that's exactly what makes these technologies so exciting.

Be excited people... This is the continuation of something remarkable.

If only the iPP could act as a hover board. That said I'm loving mine m

 

[jazz1]

"Holy $#!% - this is incredible!"

These words have come out of my mouth more times today than they have since I first used an iPhone. I am ASTOUNDED at how good this device is and wanted to tell you why.

I am a creative professional who has used Apple products for 30 years. So yes, I'm incredibly biased. Even if, say, the Microsoft Surface were empirically a better product, I would still never buy one. I love Apple, and the iPad Pro is the culmination of all the reasons why.

First and foremost, I feel like Marty McFly just showed up in a flying DeLorean and handed me a device out of its time. In one day, hours really, my entire view of "computers" is shifted into a place I always knew it would go. The iPad Pro is the most immersive, intimate, exciting computer I have ever used. It's just feels right, and I am excited to see where it's going to take me.

I think one of the biggest reasons why I've been so enamored is because I am NOT using a physical keyboard. I have the iPad attached to a regular Smart Cover at its flattened ~30° angle, and I'm using the device the way it wants to be used... By touching it. I simply cannot imagine interacting with this device propped up at a laptop-like angle. It isn't a laptop replacement... It's better. Everything is designed and laid out for a flowing series of on-screen interactions, which after getting used to become second nature and feel quicker and more direct than anything I'd do with a keyboard and mouse.

Of course the biggie is typing, which I am doing right now using the software keyboard, and after only one day I feel like I am just as fast on the software keyboard as I am on my laptop. And rather than cursing the shortfalls of a physical slab of buttons trying to interact with a touch based computer, I'm forced to learn all the needed interface tools and shortcuts that make this device so cool, (my favorite is the two finger pseudo-trackpad to move the cursor anywhere it needs to go... And two finger tap to select the current word, paragraph etc... Science f'ng fiction, baby!)

I had a realization a few weeks ago while watching my 4 year old son deftly navigate our various iOS devices (the only personal computers he's ever spent any real time with) - the coming generation is never going to need the same kind of input devices we've grown up using... Physical mice, keyboards... They aren't needed with a touched based device like this... one that gives you enough room for the screen to be both input and canvas. Any attempt to attach a clumsy physical keyboard to a device like this is a crutch... The magic of this devices is using it like freaking minority report.

Also, the multi tasking in iOS 9 is spot-on, and while I did have moments where I thought about how many windows and things I could have open and running in my view on OS X, when I actually jumped back to my Mac while setting up the pro, I was shocked at the clutter of a half dozen Windows all lying on top of each other and a thousand other notifications, menus and icons crammed absolutely everywhere. There are plenty of multitasking improvements the fledgling iPrOS could benefit from, but the potential to move to iOS as a creative workspace brings with it the promise to start fresh in sparkling clean, distraction free simplicity.

Also, the sound is phenomenal. Because using the iPad in the hands on why I described brings you face to face with the device, the sound utterly floods your awareness... I cannot wait to start creating art on this thing when my pencil arrives in god-knows-how-many-weeks...

The final frontier is of course the apps, but just as the original iPhone and iPad saw a steady process of building the ecosystem one app at a time, we at least have a great foundation to build on with the Pro. I have no doubt that I will be straddling this device and my old MacBook Pro as I currently cannot do without the big app suites I've grown to rely on. It will take time for developers to catch up with our dreams for a device like this, but that's exactly what makes these technologies so exciting.

Be excited people... This is the continuation of something remarkable.

If only the iPP could act as a hover board. That said I'm loving mine!

 

[sonicrobby]

It's definitely a doorway to the future, but a bigger iPad with a stylus isn't exactly revolutionary to me. But with actually decent internals, it definitely has potential.

 

[VesselA]

couple of rebuttals from a different perspective in underline

(with ios9 , it's only a bigger ipad with a magnificent pencil, but again, only a BIG iPad.

this thinking is contradictory, because it is the new addition of the stylus which means the pro is not simply "a big iPad". Personally I think it would be an extravagant waste of money if it were just a bigger iPad, but the stylus brings a whole new dimension if you are are artist, designer, its new territory for apple and at last they've created a stylus / tablet.


It's less comfortable to used with ipad tasks as reading magazines, newspapers, books, watching movies...

it may be slightly heavier, but these things you mention will be MUCH better on the pro - think about it, magazine, paper, comics at a real life size, much easier and nicer to read. If you look at the original iPad / air screen size objectively, it is a bit cramped when rendering a magazine or comic, to me this looks like an advantage for the pro not a disadvantage.

Also regarding holding - for prolonged things like a movie you would usually not hold the iPad, and holding even an air for 2 hours would not be comfortable, you usually stand it on a desk for a movie or tv, or have it resting on your lap partly or on your stomach in bed.

And it's less useful to used with pro tasks(editing office documents, dwg files, decodind video, using photoshop)...

it depends on your profession and interests. I mean for artists and designers this is going to be much more capable and intuitive a creative tool than one of those old tablets you plug into your mac or pc like a track pad, and have to draw down on the table while it appears on the screen in front, I hated that and could never get used to it.


I could give you more reasons, but think about this: It's a niche product, only for very specific people. Someday, ipads and macbooks will converge in one product( yes, Tim!!!, you know that it' true) and it will be THE PRODUCT. Until that, it's only one step more to that way, but this time, a little step.