I have the 2021 11” pro (which is an upgrade from 3-yr-old $300 iPad basic). My hope was to do more on this Pro version with magic keyboard than I did on my old basic iPad. —And I do. Especially thanks to the magic keyboard. For entering text, the iPad-with-magic-keyboard feels as good as my MacBook Air, and is small and light for portability and single-hand consumption of media; that is, pulling it off the magic keyboard stand and reading a book in bed. SO much nicer to read a book on than any other Apple product, and thanks to having no added weight of a case when pulled off the stand, it is ridiculously light weight, making is much more pleasurable to use for such consumption.
But aside from email, responding to social media, or filling out minor e-forms, I don’t do any more input tasks on this iPad Pro. Certainly no creative work whatsoever. For years I have been restoring old photo scans using Photoshop Elements (healing and filters), and though I have tried such work on this wonderful iPad, it is not so good. I have tried using the Apple Pencil for fine healing, but it is harder to do when compared to using my Mac for same operations. And the great, easy programs I use on my Mac are not available on my iPad. (Look, they may be available in name, but not in similar capability.) I am a teacher who edits video to make short clips for use in my classes, and doing that on the iPad Pro is not good either (but I could forgive that, as a Mac should be better for an item or two). Lastly, the split screen routines are just horrible for me compared to windows. I hate the iPad split screen options!
For travel (looking up things in while in my hotel, emailing, and social media) the iPad Pro (11”) is all I need. I was able to try the 12.5” Pro for four days, and it is certainly too big for me and noticeably heavy when just wanting to read a book. The 11” was far better for simply reading and watching a video. To sum up: For me, the 11” iPad Pro is the most wonderful thing for media consumption; far better than my old, base iPad. THANKS TO THE MAGIC KEYBOARD it is great for simple text entry of social media and email. And that’s it. Not a laptop replacement.