Mario Bautista
Want to replace your laptop with an iPad completely? The latest and greatest iPad Pro, released in 2024, is the tablet that comes closest to fulfilling this vision for Apple. Coming in two different sizes (11in and 13in), it’s the thinnest product Apple’s ever made at just5.1mm thick for the 13in model (yes, thinner than the iPod nano, though still tough and durable.
The iPad Pro uses Face ID instead of touch ID, and the new Apple Pencil Pro easily snaps onto the magnetic pad on the side. The real highlight, however, is the display. Featuring an OLED panel for the first time, colours pop and blacks are darker than ever. Clever Apple engineering also ensures the screen stays bright. It’s also finished with a nano texture, waving away glare better than the iPad Air’s anti-reflective coating.
Lastly, this is a powerhouse of a machine. It runs Aple’s very own M4 chip, which is so powerful, it hasn’t even come to a MacBook laptop (yet). “Even if you’re not pushing the iPad Pro to its limits, you’ll still feel the benefits,” our tech critic said in his review. “Most apps won’t tap into the increased horsepower, but the added speed adds headroom in the coming months and years as developers create more demanding apps that really push the silicon.”
Where Apple has cut down a bit is on the camera array. It has removed the ultrawide camera has now gone, leaving it with just a wide camera, but it now has improved image signal processing and an improved flash to intelligently create better images and a neat AI feature that remove shadows from documents. There’s also a new LIDAR scanner, so it’s an AR-ready product.
Who should buy it?
If you’re one of those people who needs the very best, the iPad Pro M4 is absolutely it. Specs-wise, it’s better than a MacBook Pro, running on Apple’s most powerful silicon, and it boasts the best OLED screen Apple’s ever released on an iPad, while keeping in mind glare and brightness. Video editing, music creation, 4K games and image processing will work so smoothly, it won’t feel like you’ve just opened a RAM-intensive app.
Add on a Magic Keyboard and an Apple Pencil Pro, and it’ll feel like you’re using a MacBook Pro with an iPadOS user interface that also has a touch screen. If you want an iPad that will work well into the future, that could also replace your laptop, the iPad Pro M4 is for you.
