Steve Jobs’ vision of a “post-PC” future really resonated with me. As a dedicated Mac and iPhone user, I was a day one fan of the original iPad, and have spent countless hours enjoying every full-sized iPad released since then. When the iPad mini came out, I happily shifted over to the smaller form factor until buying an iPhone 6 Plus, which pushed me back to full-sized iPads. Like many people, I wouldn’t want to give up my iPad, and would be thrilled if it could replace my laptop.
If any iPad had laptop replacement potential, the 12.9″ iPad Pro was it. So I was the first person in line at the local Apple Store to buy one, hoping that it would supplant either my iPad Air 2 or Retina MacBook Pro. But after a week of daily use, I’m convinced that the iPad Pro won’t replace anything, and am still trying to decide whether to keep or return it. Below, I’ll explain why…
As foreign and “unnecessary” as they were to some people, the iPad and iPad mini form factors instantly made sense to me, and it didn’t take long for either of them to fit into my daily life. The original iPad became my preferred reading, web browsing, and video playing device, relegating my iPhone to a lesser role as… well, a phone, pocket-sized music player, and portable game console. When the iPad mini came out, I started to use it for basically everything “fun” except phone calls, and I’ve continued doing that with the iPad Air 2. At this point, I use my iPad for every leisure activity, and my Macs for all my work activities.
The iPad Pro is positioned directly at the intersection of “work” and “play,” so in theory, it could replace both a iPad and a MacBook — Apple CEO Tim Cook has suggested that he’s done just that with his iPad Pro. I would have been pleased if it had replaced either my iPad Air 2 or my MacBook Pro. But it doesn’t feel like a better alternative to either of them. For the time being, the iPad mini 4 and iPad Air 2 strike me as much better iPads for most people, and any MacBook at any price will deliver a better computing experience… unless something radically changes with the iPad Pro in 2016.
What’s Good
To start with the positives, the iPad Pro is just what I expected based on early reports. It looks and feels almost exactly like a giant iPad Air, has a gorgeous screen that feels more compelling than a typical 13″ Retina display because you can get closer to it, and somehow emits a sense of potential. Just as iPads really aren’t “just big iPod touches,” the iPad Pro isn’t “just a big iPad.” Screen size matters. CPU and GPU power matter. The hidden USB 3 controller matters. With better software and accessories, the iPad Pro will probably feel like something “new.”
Right now, the iPad Pro is able to do something that’s really exciting to me: display magazines at full size. I subscribe to a handful of digital magazines, and have found them pretty easy to read on the 9.7″ iPads, but a hint too small on iPad minis. On the iPad Pro, they’re awesome — pages look full-sized, and consequently, more engrossing. They’ll look even better if magazine app developers update their apps to support the iPad Pro’s higher screen resolution. (The same “engrossing” effect also applies to movies and games when you get closer, though perhaps not safely so, to the screen.)
Another widely overlooked positive will matter to some people: the iPad Pro’s Display Zoom feature, a setting that can be flipped on or off like the iPhone 6/6s/Plus, has the potential to be a game-changer for visually impaired users. For the first time in five years, the iPad’s icons (and text labels) have a way to physically grow in size, and not trivially: Display Zoom enlarges the entire 9.7″ iPad interface to fit the 12.9″ screen — a 33% jump that makes icons roughly four times the size of an adult fingertip, and more accessible to iOS users who have squinted at smaller displays.
Other tweaks to the iPad Pro are welcome, but not huge from my perspective. It has faster processing than prior iPads, clearer and more powerful speakers than a 13″ MacBook Pro, and new screen technology to support a regrettably expensive and hard-to-find stylus. In practice, none of these things have made much of a difference to me in daily use, though I might feel somewhat differently if the Apple Pencil was actually available for purchase.
What’s Not Good
Even though I’ve been actively trying to find a place for the iPad Pro in my daily life, it’s been very difficult. I can’t really use it for work because of the basic way iOS handles complex and multiple apps — both necessities for productivity. And I’ve found it awkward to use for fun because of its large size.
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- Sloppy text formatting
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- Giant white spaces
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- Unnaturally wide columns
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- An entire screen full of gray
My biggest gripes with the iPad Pro are largely software-related, and all traceable to iOS 9. Apple did a truly half-assed job of readying iOS for the iPad Pro, leaving core apps sloppily formatted for the 12.9″ screen — uncharacteristically, there’s plenty of wasted space, poor text formatting, and an overall lack of design cohesiveness. Given that this is a “Pro” product, that it’s clearly been in the works for years, and that the underlying OS is now 9 (public) generations old, the overall user experience feels shockingly unpolished. (I’ll put aside issues with iOS 9’s split-screen multitasking, which deserves partial credit just for working at all, even though OS X does a much better job of using the same or less screen space.)
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- iPad Air 2 running Instagram at 2X
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- iPad Pro running Instagram at 2x
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- iPad Pro running Instagram at 1x
Similarly, most third-party iPad apps, including really important ones, currently run as upscaled 9.7″ iPad versions on the iPad Pro. In addition to revealing pixels in “Retina” apps, this creates obvious inconsistencies between text and graphic elements from app to app. Apps like Facebook and Reeder — mainstays on my iPad Air 2 — merely look “too big” on the iPad Pro, without settings to fix the issues, while other key third-party apps such as Twitter and Instagram appear to have never been thoughtfully reformatted for any iPad screen. Most apps will eventually be fixed for the iPad Pro, but what usage paradigm will UI designers consider “normal” for this tablet when picking font and graphic sizes: the three-foot screen distance of a laptop on a desk, or the two-foot distance of a tablet in a lap?
One particularly sore point is the iPad Pro typing experience. I like the 9.7″ iPad’s keyboard and love the 7.9″ iPad mini keyboard, but the iPad Pro’s on-screen keyboards are fatiguing. They’re big — a challenge when you’re trying to support the 12.9″ tablet — and bizarrely have half-height delete/backspace and number keys, which are easy to accidentally miss. Because Apple didn’t properly debug the keyboard for iOS 9.1 (or beta 9.2), it doesn’t work when you try to type symbols at the beginning of sentences. Every time I type on the Pro’s screen, I wish for a physical keyboard instead. But the iPad Pro keyboard accessories I’ve tested are also sort of iffy, and I’m reasonably convinced after using Logitech’s Create (reviewed here) that heavy keyboard cases aren’t well-suited to the iPad Pro. Zagg’s Messenger Universal (reviewed here) is more affordable and lighter, but a better alternative is needed.
The iPad Pro doesn’t fare much better as a non-work device, because it can’t slip effortlessly into any of the situations where the iPad Air or iPad Air 2 feel perfect for leisure use. Apart from reading magazines, which still feels a little weird given the Pro’s huge chassis, I’ve found the 12.9″ tablet too big for pretty much everything else. As shown in the photo above, it hangs off the edge of my nightstand when I set it up to play videos, feels precariously large when I walk with it from room to room, and all but demands to be supported with two legs, a bed, or a stand. I’ve had to force myself to keep using it instead of the iPad Air 2. Two of my colleagues have described it the iPad Pro as a “giant Netflix machine” or “the best entertainment iPad yet,” which I don’t discount, but wouldn’t spend $799 or more to purchase.
iPad Pro makes the iPad Air 2 look like an iPad mini
Keep It Or Ditch It?
Because I write for 9to5Mac, I’ll probably wind up keeping the iPad Pro despite the issues above — but I don’t think my decisions are typical. I’ve been so satisfied with my iPad Air 2 that I probably wouldn’t have bought the iPad Pro in the first place, and if I had, I would almost certainly have returned it after finding that it wasn’t a better substitute for either my iPad or MacBook. Right now, it occupies the particularly uneasy space between those two devices — a space that very few “pro” Mac users would even say exists. For this group, it’s going to take time, better software, and probably a new stand/dock of some sort before the iPad Pro really lives up to its name. To be clear, I’m optimistic that the software will improve over the next year, and that someone (maybe Apple, maybe not) will figure out the right iPad Pro keyboard-dock-stand combination.
But there’s another audience that Apple appears to be targeting with the 12.9″ iPad — non-Pro PC users who have a desktop machine and an iPhone but not a laptop or a tablet. When Tim Cook asks “why would you buy a PC any more?,” this is exactly the customer he’s speaking to — someone who sees a $799 tablet as a better choice than a new PC laptop. The original iPad destroyed the market for netbooks; it’s possible that the iPad Pro could eat away at the market for budget Windows notebooks. If that happens, the iPad Pro will enjoy great success no matter what professionals think about it.
More From This Author
Check out more of my editorials, How-To guides and reviews for 9to5Mac here! In recent months, I published details new iPad Pro owners should know about, a holiday gift guide for Apple photographers, and a lot of different topics of interest to Mac, iPad, iPhone, iPod, Apple TV, and Apple Watch users.
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Yep.
I like your reviews. and from this review i will not buy iPad Pro, im happy with my iPad Air 2.
“But there’s another audience that Apple appears to be targeting with the 12.9″ iPad — non-Pro PC users who have a desktop machine and an iPhone but not a laptop or a tablet. When Tim Cook asks “why would you buy a PC any more?,” this is exactly the customer he’s speaking to — someone who sees a $799 tablet as a better choice than a new PC laptop.”
Exactly, and that’s a point nary a tech blogger has pointed out. And there’s nothing wrong with that. The iPad Pro, for the most part, is aimed at the user who would otherwise choose a laptop, not replace the laptop you already have or need. It is designed for those users for whom the mobile OS / ecosystem is good enough or for that matter prefer the iOS over OSX but need / want more computing capability than their smart phone can provide.
That’s why there’s choice – smartphone, tablet, PC / Mac
Exactly.
Both me and my wife don’t own laptops right now and don’t plan on owning one ever again. The ipad pro is the perfect device for us.
Again the review should be done by someone who DOES NOT own an Air2 or a Macbook.
This is like someone who already owns a 60 inch TV and he does a review about a 65 inch TV. No matter how good the 65 inch TV is it would be very hard for him to keep both. Same here. The review should be done by someone looking for a new device, not someone who already owns TWO similiar devices.
That ain’t innovation, thats refusing to think different…..All future iPads will be “just meh” until iOS and OSX have some form of convergence on them. And you actually believe Tim Cook when he says that isn’t in the cards….you have your head in the sand.
There is that untapped market for sure but why would someone who doesn’t have a laptop currently because either they don’t have a need for one or in-between laptops go for an iPad Pro? This particular market or at least a vast majority of it in my experience is very sensitive to price and specs. The base 32 GB Pro goes for $799 and in my opinion keyboard is a must-buy for the Pro. I think price and the OS limitations will drive that market towards a laptop Mac or otherwise.
When I was in the Apple Store a lot of folks seemed interested in the Pro but after fielding their questions the reps pointed them towards the laptop tables. This seems to be the more common response to the Pro. Enterprise/Professional market is a different story for which the Pro seems to be a good fit.
yeah, but it’s not better than anything else. It’s not better than the smaller ipads and it’s definitely not better than a laptop. I’m another early adopter who can tell you, this thing is visually and physically too big for its own good. The keyboard is a total deal breaker. The stylus/pencil should have been included for free, but even apps that SHOULD be ipad friendly drawing apps don’t even support the ipad form factor, so you end up with a stylus and nothing to use it on.
This same pitiful attempt to introduce new features can be seen in the new S series iPhones that give you no visual indicators that something is push/pop aware so you spend most of your time trying to discover which apps actually support the quick launch feature, and no apps with functionality within them. It’s a total novelty feature you mostly just ignore.
I blame Apple for putting a hardware guy in charge of software design. It’s painfully unpolished. Between this and the iTunes “redesign,” I’m totally at odds with the direction Apple have gone with respect to UX/UI.
Thanks for telling everyone that the iPad Pro isn’t for you. Here’s a news flash. Don’t buy it. Just don’t assume you speak for everyone.
All of the iPad Pro criticism, both on 9to5 and other sites, has surprised me. I love mine. I was already *this* close to ditching my MacBook Pro for a Chromebook, and this does more. For people (like me) who are willing to make small adjustments to their workflows to accommodate this device, it’s a joy to use. I can write an email or surf the web with a video PiP in the corner, and Tweetbot streaming tweets on the side. And for most people, that’s what they use their laptops for already anyways (yes, Jeremy, even you. You can write WordPress posts on an iPad Pro just fine). Having one device right in the middle of MacBook/Chromebook and iPad has been great for me, and I truly believe for a lot of other people, it will be great for them too.
If all I did with a Mac was write WordPress posts, the iPad Pro would be fine (with a keyboard). And the iPad Air would be better, as I don’t need a keyboard for it. But I typically move between multiple apps throughout my work day and need access to photo processing and editing tools that are just not as robust on iOS. So it’s not right for me, nor would be a Chromebook.
Well, or if the multitasking actually did support the apps you wanted it to… or was implemented in a way that was visually less janky… or gave you the ability to drag and drop items… or basically anything useful. The pop-out video/media player is a tiny nod to what users expect, but even that has a learning curve when you’re trying to figure out how to make it go away. Wiff.
Problem with “techies” like yourself, is you think your use case is the only use and applies to everyone. Expand your horizons and you’ll find that that’s not true.
All this talk about the iPad Pro being too big, having no purpose, and just a bigger iPad is stupid.
Its the same thing people said about the iPad when it first came out.
I don’t think anyone said it has no purpose. The argument is as of today the Pro is not a replacement for a laptop or the smaller iPads. The Pro is perfect for enterprise users and for drawing/sketching. But for a vast majority of folks a smaller iPad and laptop combination is the better alternative.
“The argument is as of today the Pro is not a replacement for a laptop or the smaller iPads.” : The caveat being, For You.
The promise of something like the iPad and the iPad Pro, is to empower the masses to do MORE than they can on their smartphones with a computin paradigm / ecosystem that focuses on simplicity but still yields sophisticated results.
If your workflow requires you have the “sophistication” of a desktop / laptop OS, then buy that. Here’s another perspective;
http://loumiranda.com/2015/11/17/literalists-the-ipad-pro-is-not-a-laptop-replacement-and-thats-a-good-thing/
Yes everyone here except you is stupid! You commented similarly to the Ben’s review… What would we do without people like you?
padOS would fix many of the problems with the iPad Pro and Air 2. iPad specific features and updates are becoming a must. I think software more then anything would help sell more iPads and help the declining sales.
Besides split screen and picture in picture they are really no iPad specific UI or software tweaks. iPad needs it own OS or at the least yearly software updates that is tailored for iPads. It’s time for iPad software to be more then a blown up version of the iPhone.
I agree that there should be more iPad specific OS tweaks but you don’t need a separate OS to do that. Apple can integrate that into iOS and “light” those features based on device. They already have watchOS, tvOS, iOS, OSX. Developers already have a lot of work to do.
I only say do padOS, because Apple has been neglecting the iPad software for a good while now.
Inwouldnlioe to keep iOS, but Apple does not what to change their ways and give the software on iPad the attention and optimationit deserves.
All of these opinion pieces from various websites about the iPad Pro possibly being a laptop/desktop replacement sounds a lot like a bunch of bloggers trying really, really hard to convince us that the iPad Pro is in fact a laptop/desktop replacement despite the fact that it’s not.
Oh, you mean like the piece above that says that it’s not a laptop or desktop replacement?
This post and pretty much everything on this site has been an honest assessment without bias. However most other reviews seemed to be trying too hard to fit a square peg in a round hole. Apple sells awesome portables so what is the point of trying really really hard and also making compromises to fit this device in a daily workflow?
This somehow reminds me of Google Glass. It has awesome potential in enterprise space and for certain niche use cases. However it failed because the initial push was towards the mass market and lot of folks wanted to check their email, send messages and view directions on it.
They need to make a new accessory that when docked its a touch display for OS X running off the internals within keyboard..when un-docked it’s an iPad running iOS. It would basically be the body of the new MacBook (without a screen) with a way to dock the iPad Pro to it in order to act as the screen.
That’s what would turn the iPad Pro into the vision they want it to be.
That would turn the iPad Pro into the vision millions of people want it to be. Apple, maybe not so much.
I mean, I get what he is saying. But, the thing is brand new. Any time there is something new, it takes time to fall into place. That is why I have decided to save $200 a month next year for the thing. Getting the best one I can, it will take me 5 months to save. This giving things time to get figured out. I have an iPad 2. I’ve been wanting to upgrade to a new one. I want the thing for the drawing. I see things and it gives me ideas for a cartoon series I am writing. The thing will be great for me. Yes it is large. If it is to large for this or that, use a smaller iPad or just use your phone. Seems simple enough to me.
Yeah, I get a new iPad now sooner than every 2 years. So if I were you I would wait. I had the money for the iPad Pro but found that my 13″ Macbook Pro couldn’t cut it for what I was doing so I had to sell it and get a fully tricked out 5K iMac. So the iPad Pro is going to have to wait. I did try it out and found the speakers to be shockingly good for that type of device, the Apple Pencil works everywhere as your finger even in legacy apps (and really shines in apps designed for it IF THE GLASS IS CLEAN), and Apple’s keyboard cover is acceptable but not exciting.
I want the iPad Pro for things I do that will make it my best device for doing those things. I read a lot of comic books, that will be awesome with the iPad Pro. And I do a lot of music along the lines of scoring music and using PDF sheet music and both of those would be amazing with the Apple Pencil for entering music symbols in Notion (which has already been optimized for this) and for annotating PDF sheet music. Lots of orchestral musicians want an iPad Pro on their music stands, and I want one on my piano. I don’t see using something like Garage Band, as the iMac I just bought is for music production and like I said, a 2015 13″ Macbook Pro was not up to the task for the way I work with lots of tracks of virtual instruments. Everything in its place.
Hi There,
I can’t agree with you more. I’m a windows to Apple convert since 2008. I have recently purchased and returned the Microsoft Surface Book. I wasnt sold. With all the bugs and issues, I returned it and so happy I did. I actually walked over to the Apple store and bought myself a new updated MacBook Pro 15. A few days later, I woke up at 3am and ordered the Ipad Pro and picked it up later that day. Yes, its true, its big. But it is gorgeous. I was able to purchase the Pencil on Friday and I love it. I don’t draw (wish I could), but have used the pencil many times for jotting notes and drawing diagrams and sharing thoughts that explained my things much more easily.
I have also used it to watch tv shows on the bus and multitask with the split screen (which I am doing now).
I am using the Logitech Create keyboard as it was cheaper and avaialble day one and covers the entire IPad Pro. It could use improvements and I am sure there will be plenty more styles coming out shortly.
I plan on keeping it. You just have to adapt and find the use cases as I am discovering and using.
I will however be upset if the IPad Air 3 takes the Pencil. As the Air’s are a perfect size.
Agree. I’ve tried the Surface and it was absolutely horrible. Its obvious a laptop that’s trying to moonlight as a tablet. It ends up being an overpriced laptop and an extremely heavy tablet with a horrible tablet interface.
I haven’t used one as I’m deeply invested in the Apple ecosystem, but I’ve seen people using them at work and they look far more polished and useful than the iPad does. To the original poster, you shouldn’t have to struggle to find a use for the 800-1100 tablet you just bought. You shouldn’t have to struggle to like anything Apple makes. The whole premise the company was built on was to avoid the struggles and fix the issues that plague other systems. Sad day to see the company fall so far from that mark with these recent releases.
@jeffrey
If you’re struggling to find a use for a device you just bought, regardless of price, you bought the wrong device for your needs.
This is the clearest, most honest, and best reasoned review of this new tool I’ve read yet. I’m not in the market for it for all the reasons you state: I have a 15″ retina MacBook Pro and an iPad Air 2 (and an iPhone 6s) that work very well for me. Thanks.
I wonder if the iPad Pro would have been better had Apple made it 10.5″ with a 326ppi display like the iPad mini 4. That way it wouldn’t be much larger than the iPad Air 2, but would have a lot more screen real estate. Perhaps the battery life would have been a concern, though. In any case, it does seem like Apple needs to put more thought into iOS 10, particularly on the iPad lineup.
This is probably the only apple product I hate the most.
I’m really enjoying the iPad Pro. The hardware is impressive. The screen size of perfect for many tasks that the reviewer has not considered. Anyone using research tools to study documents will love being able to have two apps side by side. The sound is great.
What holds it back right now is software. I’m happy to work within the bounds of iOS but developers need to take advantage of the iPad Pro and it’s still early days. The software will certainly improve.
In my opinion the Mac App Store it rather limited, some of the apps I need are simply not available for Mac. The Mac apps that I would like are not essential. I can live without OSX but I can’t live without iOS.
Actually, I’ve only used my aging McBook Pro a handful of times this year. The iPad Air already replaced the x86 machine for both me and my wife. What do we do? Read, study, stream a movie, play an occasional game, Email, write a document maybe once or twice a week, view and lightly edit images. I don’t expect to ever get another Mac. Any iPad and especially the Pro does all this with ease!
This review is very critical of the clunky case and keyboard that the reviewer paired with the device. However, Apple’s own keyboard accessory is completely different. It’s unfair to pass judgement based on a crappy third party accessory.
1) This is not a review — just my personal observations and opinions.
2) The hardware is nice, but every screen size can be said to be “perfect” for certain tasks, not great for others, depending on personal preferences. When I want to study documents side-by-side, I tend to do so on a much larger display (like an iMac), but different strokes for different folks.
3) Having apps side by side is nice – and can also be done on the iPad Air 2, iPad mini 4, and every Mac. They’re obviously larger on the Pro.
4) I’ve tried two iPad Pro keyboards, not one, and both were clearly linked in the article. I’d suggest you read what I actually said about the keyboard case, the non-case keyboard, and the value of external keyboards to the Pro. To summarize, I think that an external keyboard is virtually mandatory for this tablet, but I don’t think that permanently grafting the Pro to a keyboard and case is a wise idea. I’m not sure which judgment you believe is being passed.
I made the decision to wait for the second generation devices when Apple releases a new form factor…
iPad Pro 2 will allow time to have passed so the devs can actually rework their apps to use the new canvas size..
Apple hopefully will have woken up and make iOS 10 (X) actually capable of plugging an external drive… a mobile finder is really needed.. even if they call it the Documents app or something… they should take cues from Readdle’s great Documents 5 app.
iPad Pro can edit 4K streams (3 of them) but try uploading a 4K video to the iPAd for editing purposes and you will quickly wish you had a USB 3.0 port available..
iPad Pro 2 will hopefully have a USB-C port for charging and external storage support through multi AV adapter from Apple.. plus will allow to plug to HDMI screen through that same adapter..
So as you can see I am hopeful for the iPad Pro 2 and can’t wait for WWDC 2016 to see if iOS 10 will be worth the wait… Tim Cook might have waved off the idea of convergence but as we all know, Apple changes it’s view quite often.. IPad Mini, Pencil and iPhone 6 Plus are all great examples of contradiction.
Actually, the iPad Pro has a USB 3.0 controller, hence the Lightning port can handle 5Gbps transfer speeds. You just have to wait for an adaptor that can handle those speeds. They are coming.
“As shown in the photo above, it hangs off the edge of my nightstand”
Someone put in the wrong photo in ‘photo above’.
No, the photo was and is in the right place. Perhaps your browser is broken.
Jeremy,
When I showed the giant white space on Mail to an Apple representative, he thought it was a bug in the demo model. Once he looked at three other machines, he realized that it wasn’t! Unfortunately, Apple goofed up big on this one!
For me Duet is the killer app. The iPad pro is a very expensive second screen for my MacBook but not one I would now willingly be without. I have yet to receive my pencil but hope to record whiteboard videos using explain everywhere for the classes I teach.
I purchased the Ipad Pro on December 12, as of today I’m really thinking on taking it back and either get an Ipad air 2 or get the surface 4, reason for this is the app support has take way to long, netflix, gmail, facebook, twitter, youtube, none of this apps offer support and to add salt to the wound, the type cover I got from logitech is a mess or defective ( skipped strokes, intermitent waking). I paid 1250 after taxes for this? Nah…
When u buy an ipad pro, u are expecting laptop capability. Which it has in terms of hardware, but is crap on software. Which in turn is surprising, remembering the fact that apple’s been always churning out good software. I would never buy something that’s new from apple as it usually has bugs or unknown defects like bendgate in iphone6 plus ( which many isheeps claim is false, but when i wager their phone i can bend them, then they say other phones do bend too, but other phones dont cost 1000++ bucks). Stop isheeping and start comparing.
We got these at my current school, I would say this review is spot on. We just traded our Air 2’s for these, and I also have a Surface pro 3.
The surface is definitely a more polished machine than the Pro, as it should be. It is much easier to use for most things work related. I noticed a few things right away:
1. Split screen is very clunky on the Pro compared the the surface. It’s much harder to deal with and is nowhere as convenient.
2. While the pencil feels good in the hand and slightly more authentic, the lack of buttons or an erase/select mechanism was a poor omission. It’s nowhere near as useful as the surface pen. For the cost, I expected more. Hoping future versions address this.
3. Office apps are far more useful on the Pro than I had expected. Of course they work great on the surface, but I am impressed with how well powerpoint works in presenter mode on the Pro. OneNote crashes upon opening, but it’s a software issue that’s going to get ironed out.
4. The inability to easily adjust the zoom on browser pages and on many apps on the Pro is maddening. Even without the zoom mode, everything is so big on the screen it looks like it is in VGA to me. It’s a waste of the beautiful resolution on the tablet.
5. Unlike many, I don’t think the Pro is too big. It’s noticeably lighter than the Surface, even though it’s bigger.
6. Side by side, performance is slower on the Pro than the Surface Pro 3, but nothing too crazy. The SP4 is on another level of performance, but with a substantially higher cost.
Overall I think the Pro is a really solid piece of hardware. Putting iOS on it, though, is like putting a Civic engine in a Corvette. I use both ecosystems so without bias I would say that if you truly need a laptop to do what you do now, the Pro isn’t going to do much for you. If you aren’t completely invested in Apple systems and want an all in one solution, the Surface Pro 4 is the way to go without question. Windows 10 is excellent on them, switching from desktop to tablet is seamless and easy. Split screen and productivity apps are far superior on the Surface. Unlike past Windows versions, the OS is very intuitive with a small learning curve.
If you don’t need full productivity apps such as office, photoshop, video editors, etc, I think the Pro outshines the Surface by a fair margin. Things like Office 365 are more than good enough for most simple word processing and spreadsheet work. You will be far happier with the lighter size and simpler OS of the tablet. The pencil is also fantastic if speed of editing isn’t a concern.
If the Pro had OSX, it would be a one device solution without question. I don’t think Apple is ready to watch their Macbook line go the way of the iPod just yet though, if indeed they ever will be.