“I’ve been asked several times to sum up what I think of the iPad Pro, and it’s something I’m still struggling to articulate. As a reviewer, I try to be fully conscious of the fact that my use cases (and even many of our readers’ use cases) aren’t everyone’s use cases,” Andrew Cunningham writes for Ars Technica. “The right product for me isn’t necessarily the right product for everybody. I don’t need or want a Mac Pro or a Linux laptop or a $4,200 gaming PC for myself nor would I recommend them for most people, but I can understand why others would want all of those things.”
“There are people who have stopped using Macs and other more traditional computers in favor of switching to the iPad full-time, and there are plenty of people out there who use iOS, not Windows or OS X, as their primary computing platform and aren’t bothered by its limitations,” Cunningham writes. “The (relative) simplicity that comes with these limitations can even be a bonus rather than a shortcoming. That’s just not true for me, and it’s not going to be true of a lot of happy Mac or Windows users.”
“It’s best to think of the iPad Pro as a starting point, especially for iOS 9. These multitasking features are still brand-new, and there’s a lot of low-hanging fruit to pick in future iOS 9 revisions and into iOS 10. My biggest gripes with the iPad Pro are with the software rather than the hardware, and that means that most of them can be fixed given enough time and enough feature requests,” Cunningham writes. “Given a couple of iOS updates the iPad Pro has room to grow into a more versatile laptop replacement without necessarily giving up the things that people like about iOS. For the rest of us, there’s still the Mac.”
Tons more, as usual, in the full review – recommended – here.
MacDailyNews Take: iPad Pro hardware and software is more than powerful enough for the vast majority of people.
SEE ALSO:
Wired reviews Apple’s iPad Pro: ‘The best tablet, and the best case for tablets, anyone’s ever made’ – November 11, 2015
Horace Dediu reviews Apple’s iPad Pro: Unlike anything we’ve ever seen before – November 11, 2015
Ben Bajarin reviews Apple’s iPad Pro: ‘The start of something new’ – November 11, 2015
Is Apple’s epic iPad Pro for you? – November 11, 2015
Gruber reviews Apple’s iPad Pro: A MacBook replacement for many
Wednesday, November 11, 2015
Mossberg reviews Apple’s iPad Pro: Graphics folks will love it, but I’m sticking with my iPad Air – November 11, 2015
The Verge reviews Apple’s iPad Pro: Could this replace my MacBook? – November 11, 2015
I’ve never had a complaint on iPad performance, so long as I was using the latest model. It’s the same OS. I don’t understand what all the fuss is about saying “oh it’s finally great”. For me it’s always been great. What, besides the pencil and enormous screen, exactly, has been missing before that this now has? If you say performance, but you were on the latest hardware, then what were you trying to do?
I can’t wait to get one. But I’m going to kill myself waiting for the iPad Pro 2 so that hopefully it’ll have 3D Touch, because I love that feature and use it every day on my iPhone. Not having it makes my iPad Air 2 feel dated (just like the lack of Touch ID did every time I had to annoyingly enter my passcode), and I don’t want a $1079 iPad Pro to feel dated.
I guess with respect to performance, the difference will be that more complex third party apps can be developed, but we’ve seen performance improvements and corresponding more complex apps year over year anyway.
To beat a dead horse: every iPad is “the best iPad ever”. That’s called progress. Obviously! Were you expecting Apple to just say “here’s an iPad that’s worse/same as last year’s iPad”?
The ipad mini has never been “the best iPad ever.” It usually has been last year’s ipad or the year before’s ipad with a smaller screen.
I was talking about real iPads, meaning flagship, highest capacity, and cellular. Why would anyone buy anything knowing its inferior and then complain about it being inferior? That’s like the people who buy an iPhone 5C 16 GB right now when they could buy an iPhone 6s Plus 128 GB instead. And if you don’t go cellular, then that would be like buying an iPod touch instead of an iPhone.
Why should i waste $130 for the “cellular” when there is wifi sharing? My iPad is literally never far from my iPhone, and the connecting them is practically a one-step process.
Unless you don’t have a smartphone, an iPad with mobile network connectivity is a waste of perfectly good $130.
That works unless you have unlimited data, like I do, and don’t have access to wifi hotspot on your iPhone. I need the cellular so 1. The iPad is always online even when traveling, and 2. As a backup source of Internet for my laptop because I work from home.
You need a better carrier. Unlimited data and free wifi sharing here. Traveling or not, my iPad is always connected (via WiFi) to my iPhone. And my phone is my backup source of internet, when local WiFi fails.
There is no better carrier in the US than AT&T and Verizon. Both of which restrict wifi sharing on unlimited data plans. You’re an asshat misinformed fool if you think Sprint or T-Mobile are “better carriers”. You’re a cheap piece of sh!t if you can’t afford $130 for cellular on an iPad.
Where I live, T-Mobile is a better carrier. Coverage is complete and strong, and customer service is significantly better than Verizon and AT&T (which are notorious for nickle-and-diming their customers). I have spent plenty of time with all carriers except maybe Verizon, and from my experience, your statement is simply untrue.
You are of course always free to keep paying AT&T through the nose (or Verizon) and endure their customer service abuse. By doing that, however, you end up the ‘asshat misinformed fool’.
Well for anyone who doesn’t stick to their block where they happen to have a tower, and actually travels for work, T-Mobile is a complete joke. I’ve lived in 20 states and in only a couple can I even drive around the city and still have signal. With AT&T I have perfect signal almost everywhere I’ve been. Your opinion is due to inexperience.
I’ve also had no trouble with their support and feel they have fair prices for their much superior quality service.
And I know this because my iPad has a T-Mobile SIM with free 300MB of T-Mobile data, so I’ve checked.
What you are talking about is really irelevant to vast majority of people living in America, who drive 15 miles to work and back.
I have had nothing but trouble with AT&T’s support, and their service, both customer, as well as wireless, was crappy. T-Mobile provides much faster and consistent 4G speeds.
In the end, the best mobile service, all other things being equal, is the one that has coverage in places where you go. Of course, all other thing are not equal, and some operators are truly shitty. Verizon and AT&T have been carrying that flag for years (based on volumes of customer feedback). Not to mention obnoxiously overpriced.
I have had my share of travels with T-Mobile over the past year. I don’t know what was the extent of their coverage before, but I had coverage wherever I went. I’d be an idiot paying almost twice for AT&T for much crappier service.
As always, your mileage may vary.
The closest decent T-Mobile service you’ll get near me is 80 minutes away from where I live. Everywhere else is either no service or one bar when you’re lucky. However, AT&T has consistently 5-bar LTE and no dropped calls in the 2 years I’ve lived here.
It just depends on your area, but for the vast majority of America, this is still true. You’re the exception, not the rule. And since I travel often, I prefer a carrier I know will function everywhere I go, not one I have to pray to Jobs will work when my plane lands, or can’t hold a call on the highway.
Also, how often do you really need to call AT&T support anyway? I’ve called them once in two years, and they called me back to check up the following day and even helped me over SMS. How is that terrible service?
Except this year. It’s the same as the regular iPad.
For me iOS9 is a dream, I can’t put my finger on what the improvements are but it just feels so much more flexible, complete, sophisticated and usable than previous versions that just seemed to slow down my iPad for little apparent gain. And not only does this version feel more together it has actually rejuvenated my aging iPad back to true usability as it has regained most of its smoothness and speed from when I bought it, even if a few of the bells and whistles aren’t supported. Bad news for Apple is it’s probably given it at least an extra year of life.
Can anybody tell me why the Geekbench 3 single-core results for the A9X are on par with Intel core processors, but lacking when it comes to the multi-core results?
Thanks
I don’t need a 4,000 + pc, nor a 12 core over priced machine, or a iMac overpriced i7, but I want one, would buy one or two, but not at those prices. Apple is not lowering their prices and I’m not giving them my money in trade.
It’s a win win!
Intel is also charging too much for their processors too.
That’s okay, Apple’s pile of cash says there are plenty of people who will.