“Apple’s recently released iPad Pro is a lot of things: It’s a really big iPad that does everything its predecessors have and then some. It’s an elegant piece of industrial design, which will come as a shock to absolutely no one. It’s a powerful computer with chips that eclipse most conventional laptops in speed. And it’s host to a range of new Apple accessories, some expected and some surprising,” Matt Vella writes for TIME Magazine. “But after using it consistently for work and play, I’m convinced it’s one thing in particular: The iPad Pro is the best computer Apple has ever made.”
“Not the fastest. Not the most portable. And certainly not right for everyone. But, considered as a whole, this version of the iPad achieves the best balance between traditional computing and the places mobile devices like smartphones and tablets seem to be inevitably taking us in the future,” Vella writes. “It’s a remarkable piece of technology anybody considering buying either a tablet or laptop computer should consider seriously.”
“Size matters, in this case, for what it allows you to do. Features called Slide Over and Split View allow you to run multiple applications at once, dividing the screen according to your needs. I found this worked particularly well when writing or editing a document in a main window while keeping track of conversations in Slack or Messages to the side,” Vella writes. “I also found I could do a lot more with it than versions past, namely work on it. I found I prefer the proximity and intimacy of a touchscreen paired with a keyboard, than a regular MacBook. (Because there is no trackpad, the iPad Pro ends up sitting three or four inches closer to you.) And, for my needs at least, I concluded that the iPad Pro is powerful and versatile enough to replace my laptop.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Well now, there’s a pretty unambiguous review!
Although we wouldn’t venture all the way into the “best computer Apple has ever made” hyperbole, considering the Apple II, the original Mac, the Macintosh SE/30, the Twentieth Anniversary Mac, the PowerBook, several iterations of the iMac, several PowerMacs, the Mac Pro, the Mac Pro again, several MacBook Pros, several MacBook Airs, the MacBook (Retina), the iPhone 6 Plus, and the iPhone 6s Plus, to name just a few of the highlights.
SEE ALSO:
Apple’s new iPad Pro debuts with forced reboots, missing Apple Pencils – November 16, 2015
Apple’s perplexingly incomplete launch of the iPad Pro – November 16, 2015
I’ve ditched my MacBook for an iPad Pro; here’s why – November 16, 2015
A designer’s take on the iPad Pro – November 13, 2015
iPad Pro: Day 2 and already making my work better, easier, and faster – November 13, 2015
Why Apple’s new iPad Pro makes Mac users feel weird – November 12, 2015
Apple’s new iPad Pro is faster and more affordable than beleaguered Microsoft’s Surface Pro 4 – November 12, 2015
Analyst: Apple’s iPad Pro and its powerful A9X CPU pose threat to Intel – November 12, 2015
Video: Apple Pencil for iPad Pro vs. Microsoft’s Surface Pro 4 stylus – November 12, 2015
Apple’s joyless iPad Pro launch: WTF are the Apple Pencils and Smart Keyboards? (4-5 weeks away) – November 12, 2015
Apple’s A9X-powered iPad Pro offers Mac-like speed – November 11, 2015
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
Hyperbole? If MDN wants to be polite I can think of a Colberism.
“Male bovine fecal matter, longitudinally extruded”!
Yeah, if you want a computer with a cell phone chip.
That cell phone chip outperforms all other entry-level laptops on the market, as well as some higher-end ones as well.
Price of iPad pro outperforms all other entry-level laptops on the market, as well as some higher-end ones as well.
MDN, and several others may have some reason for not wanting to like the iPad Pro. Maybe they just haven’t used it? What ever, I have been using Apple computing devices since the original 128k Mac, and I consider my new iPad Pro to be at the top of the stack, and I don’t even have my Pencil yet.
@ET
I’m not surprised you don’t have a pencil, as most Tim Cook supporters have already had their pencils surgically removed, or like fudge dipped pencils, or like gagging on them!
Highlights of the best Apple computer ever:
* Overpriced
* Lacking any resemblance of a ‘Pro’ feature
* Missing crucial accessories
* Forced Rebooting
* Relegated to running a mobile OS
* Unweildy in portrait mode
* Subpar storage
* Lacks ports
* Doesn’t support external storage
Great job little Timmy. Have fun playing with your Apple pencils, all you Tim Cook cheerleaders and apologists.
😜
Thanks, Onewhatever. one certainty in this world is that opinions from anonymous turds like you are worth absolutely nothing.
Do you want to know the best part? No matter what you say or think, the iPad Pro will outsell the Surface and every other full size tablet (combined) by a wide margin and take all of the profits.
Hear that? I am laughing so hard at you that it hurts.
There are either a lot of dedicated homophobes on this site or one or two who keep changing names…. …but who in either case keep bashing anything Apple does until Cook is gone, so their comments will always be colored by their antipathy……
…and I suspect the latter since I don’t find much of this a number of other Apple-centric forums, so likely a small tribe at best…..
I think the concept of “best Apple computer of all time” has to be qualified by context – the era and the state of the art at the time it was created and sold. In my view, the list needs to include: the SE/30, the Macintosh IIfx, the Pismo G3 Powerbook, the original iPhone, the second MacBook Air and the Retina 27″ iMac. What is interesting to me about this list is that – with the exception of the iPhone – the all of the devices are iterations. That doesn’t mean the first wasn’t good, but with a bit more time, Apple made them near-perfect. At least one computer that does NOT belong on the list, but deserves mention, is the Power Mac G4 Cube. It was problematic, but it was also breathtaking in so many ways, particularly when surrounded by matching accessories. Sorta like its dad, Steve Jobs.
It’s about time someone called it a computer and not just a tablet.
While I love the iPhone (bought the first one and am now loving my 128GB 6s), I never really cared for the iPad all that much. I’ve owned a couple and never found them more useful than a large iPod Touch. I have a couple friends that tried to use them as their only computer and both gave up after a short while due to the lack of a user accessible file system.
iOS devices are appliances, very good appliances but just not real computers. If Apple decides to come out with an iPad that can hold its own against a Mac, it’ll need a user accessible file system (call it iOS+) with much better I/O. One of the great things about the Mac is that not only is it easy to backup, it can be booted from that backup. If Apple builds that functionality into the iPad I’d buy one in a flash.
When I was younger “real computers” were mainframes. In the 1970s HP came out with RPN calculators. They had a model 65, I believe it was, that was programmable. These were computers because they replaced the punchcard decks you used to submit to the geek in the basement hoping to pick up the printout the next day. They were so valuable they were placed in security cradles attached to restraint cables with padlocks.
These devices were, at the time, highly anomalous but so useful that they were pressed into service regardless of any shame at not being “real computers.”
In my lifetime the phrase “real computer” has gone through a maelstrom of distortions and permutations. Actually, I was never big on precise definitions that depend on social context anyway.
We come from the same era, but times change. Aside from raw power, a real computer these days contains the computing unit, Simple I/O (keyboard, monitor and network connection), a user accessible file system and ports for removable storage media. The iPad, regardless of its usefulness, is missing the last two ingredients. For a full backup it requires a computer to handle full backups and restores and a computer to handle file manipulation. Until it gets these, it will be nothing but a highly complex and useful peripheral.
To each, his own, but all you’ve described is what YOU need from a computer. I know many, many people that would be better off if their “real” computer did not give them access to the file system, they seem to constantly screw things up and can never find anything.
Everyone needs to have a reliable backup and restore regimen, not to mention simple ways of offloading data that is no longer needed. iOS devices can’t do this without the aid of a computer.
My definition of a real computer is one that is not tied to a desk. Everyone’s needs are different.
You don’t find the ability to backup and restore vitally important?
What you say about backup and restore is true and Apple agrees but their ultimate solution is the cloud, with no hardware ports required or supplied. They are treating the local sync option as a crutch for old-timers like us.
They have rethought the file system philosophically. According to them, it doesn’t sync with the human brain either, so out it goes.
The real computer is and always has been the human. The devices themselves have always been mere peripherals to our brains and agency.
That would preclude the use of I/O devices like optical disks. I rip every CD, DVD and Blu-ray disk I buy and store the music in iTunes and the videos on external drives. Apple *may* support having the music in iCloud (not everything is allowed) but not videos purchased outside of iTunes and audiobooks *must* be transferred using iTunes.
Just storing my videos in a cloud account would be far more expensive than storing them locally and thats before even mentioning the data caps getting popular with ISPs and forget cellular fees.
It’s fine for Apple to rethink the idea of a file system, but their solution is too confining, exclusionary and expensive, not to mention dangerous. I did an OTA update that left my device in DFU mode. I was able to fix it easily enough, but that’s because my computer was nearby. If I was on the road I could stop at an Apple store to get it functioning, but any restoration would be marginal at best and would have to wait until I got home for a full restore from the computer. Not fun if traveling any significant time or distance from home.
The infrastructure to do all this quickly or economically, or even technically isn’t in place yet and won’t be for years.
I’m not a believer in the cloud as a universal pacifier. Myself, I can’t trust it because I don’t undrstand the underlying technology well enough to gauge its reliability or permanence. Like you I’ve learnt to trust local physical media, over which we have exclusive control. Probably, I’ll never let go of that, and you won’t want to, either.
I’m just saying that Apple (and the rest of the industry) is pushing this new age tech vision that increasingly seems, sadly, autocratic and centralised. Disguising it all as “personalised” only conceals its lamprey-like data-mining origins.
I hope I don’t ruin your reputation by agreeing with you 100%.
True. The nice thing is that there are still choices in technology and we can vote with our wallets. The cloud is still far more expensive and far less secure.
When I retire my iPads, this will be the replacement. 😊
It’s amazing how few critics understand the basic fact that no computer can entirely satisfy all types of users.
Just like a hammer claimed to be theoretically ideal in all applications would also be impractical in most individual situations, a computer fit for all uses and users is an illusory concept.
I find it absurd to bash any computer simply because it does not fit one’s own needs.
Matt,
The new iPad PRO is not really much more expensive if you compare it’s price to that of a comparable desktop machine.
I still don’t want an iPad because it does not have at least 250 GB of internal storage space.