Sleeker and lighter iPad offers desktop power at a price
Device is first with M4 chip, has OLED screen and superb battery life. But accessories add to costs
The new Apple iPad Pro has been touted by the US tech giant as the biggest upgrade to the iPad series in its history.
While I would say that the 2018 iPad redesign was still the more groundbreaking update, the 2024 iPad Pro, along with accessories that are increasingly becoming not optional, do bring significant improvements across the board.
The new iPad Pro is easily the most powerful and capable tablet on the market, and the line between Apple’s tablets and laptops continues to blur.
Design and hardware
At first glance, the front of the new model may look similar to past iPad Pros, but there are many improvements.
Measuring 5.1mm and weighing 582 grams, compared with the previous model’s 6.4mm and 682 grams, the body is thinner and lighter, and the 100 grams of weight loss is immediately noticeable.
The dimensions of the 13-inch screen, and the bezels that wrap around it, are the same as before, but the new iPad Pro uses OLED display technology, which can produce true blacks and punchier reds than the MiniLED panels used in the last two iPad Pros. This new screen is also brighter and has the option to add an antiglare nano-texture matt coating, which this review unit has.
The biggest upgrade, at least on paper, is the new chip: the iPad Pro is the first Apple product to run on the newest M4 chip. This is the first time Apple has debuted a new M chip in a product that is not a Mac.
Even with the slimmer form, the 13-inch iPad Pro is still not really a device that is meant for handheld use.
Most people who buy this tablet will pair it with a keyboard, and Apple has also given its expensive, but excellent, Magic Keyboard an upgrade.
The case is thinner than the last generation thanks to a redesigned hinge and has an aluminium palm rest instead of a plastic one. It also has a row of F keys.
Apple says using this new keyboard feels just like using a MacBook, and I agree.
Software and features
The new iPad Pro brings several new software features, including a new taskbar for the stylus and updates for popular creative apps like Final Cut Pro.
The former, however, requires new hardware, specifically the new Apple Pencil Pro, which was announced alongside the new iPad.
Meanwhile, new app features are mostly reliant on the M4 chip, so older iPads running the same software do not have them.
Performance and battery life
The M3 chip was a breakthrough in silicon when it appeared in 2023.
It was the first chip to be constructed on 3-nanometre architecture, which brought major improvements in graphical prowess and efficiency.
The M4, still on 3nm, isn’t quite as big a generational jump. But the M3 chip never made it to the iPad: the last iPad Pro, from 2022, was powered by the M2.
This means that this upgrade represents a significant twogeneration jump in performance power.
But most casual users will not be able to see the difference other than in benchmark numbers.
For consuming media, such as scrolling through articles and social media, iPads were already very fast and smooth. What the new M4 chip does is enable the tablet to do video editing on Final Cut Pro, or create music on Logic Pro, with power and efficiency similar to the level of a desktop computer.
Final Cut Pro has the ability to connect to four iOS-device cameras, showing four real-time feeds that can be previewed and adjusted directly on the iPad. Once a user finishes filming, the cameras automatically sync to the iPad, allowing editing of four different video clips in one timeline.
As mentioned, you will want to have the improved Magic Keyboard to take full advantage of this iPad’s power, because this is essentially a full-fledged computer.
Battery life is the best I have seen on a tablet yet. For basic office productivity use, an hour’s worth of typing and website scrolling only drains about 6 per cent battery.
This upgrade represents a significant twogeneration jump in performance power
The battery will obviously drain much faster when it comes to more intensive tasks, but I could still get two to three hours of video-editing work done on one charge.
Conclusion
The 2024 iPad Pro, particularly this 13-inch model, is more a desk-bound computer than a tablet. And with all of Apple’s non-iPhone computing devices running on the same M-series silicon, it leads to redundancies.
If you have this iPad Pro with the keyboard, do you still need the M3 (or the eventual M4) MacBook Air?
More than ever, it feels like the divide between highest-tier iPads and entry-level MacBooks is arbitrary, with the two product lines overlapping much more than before. But the 2024 iPad Pro is a do-it-all machine, one for work and play.
It is, however, also very pricey. The 11-inch iPad Pro starts at HK$7,999 and the 13-inch model starts at HK$10,499.
If you get the 13-inch version, add the keyboard and the Apple Pencil Pro, and bump storage to a reasonable amount, the price rises to over HK$15,000. Maxed out, it goes to over HK$20,000.
But I think this machine is still going to be popular with creatives. For short work trips, I can see myself leaving the bulky 16-inch MacBook Pro at home in favour of this.