iPad Pro (2024) REVIEW for Artists and Writers

As someone who holds the iPad for extended periods of time, anything they can do to make it thinner and lighter is GREATLY appreciated. So please enough with the “who wants it thinner.” Lots of people.

Agreed. All these reviews are written by MacBook users who have established workflows rather than thinking wider. Few talk about that the ipad is a better productivity tool for many - it depends on what youre doing. Celebrate the differences and use the right tool for you 👍

I totally agree. I bought the very first iPad when it was launched, and had one ever since. While I would not mind a dual boot with MacOS, I would probably never use it. For computer only tasks I use my MacBook Pro or Air. The simplicity of the iPadOS is where the beauty lies. If you only do light tasks such as browsing, banking and email, you’ll get away easily with an iPad. I’ve done it for a decade when only choosing to bring my iPad and not my Mac.

Really good review! Thanks a lot for your insightful feedback!

I prefer the IPad experience to that of the mac. It makes writing to be way more hands-on and I do not feel as far removed from my own work using the tablet. It also helps you focus on your task because of the „worse“ window management

Great review!

I am using it with my Studio Display and is game changer. Specially bc Browsers are more Desktop than ever.

Agreed. We don’t need thar camera bump on iapd.

This update to the iPad is in no way significant, vital, important, impressive.. it’s an over powered device with a limiting OS. As a professional designer/developer the iPad won’t be pro until it has a OS that matches its power. Watching movies, checking emails and playing games is not a Pro feature of any device. Plus most art applications won’t put a dent in the memory or processing power. Until the iPad can run Docker, VMs, the ability to install Apache, node, php, go, rust .. etc locally this device is just a toy.

I love my iPad, but the other reviewers are right. We’re at the point of diminishing returns with the iPad and have been since the M1 was put in it. Look at any test that tests even this generation 8gb vs 16gb RAM options against each other. There is almost no difference in what the machines can do, they’re identical on every test, because iPadOS simply can’t utilize the hardware put into it.

The practical benefit of thinner includes making the magic keyboard balance better

You’ll never be able to please everyone..

Would love an iPad Ultra at 16”. Would also love to see an iPad Studio at 24”. Both of these could/should be thin and light, but the 24” obviously would focused on sitting on the desktop but is still thin & light enough to transport somewhere if traveling to meeting or conferences if need be, in a pinch. As for comments on touchscreen Mac vs. iPad with MacOS, if Apple is pushing the iPad as a “hybrid touch pad with basic laptop type device” with the now-better keyboard/trackpad with mouse support, Apple should either greatly beef up iPad OS with the full multi-tasking, file management AND External ports seen in MacOS/MacBooks OR give the s a dual-boot setup to allow running MacOS and full, robust apps on the keyboard-attached iPad. Otherwise, the actual user market for the iPad Pro (now that the cheaper iPad Air 13” is now available) grows smaller every day.

I'm new to tablets and digital drawing, but this new iPad Pro is what's getting me to give it a go. Haven't ordered it yet, and I was wondering if I should save for the 16GB RAM. Sounds like I should. Appreciate the review.

Thanks for your perspective here. My pro needs are much more simplistic than yours. I am an amateur photographer and an even more amateur videographer. But, over the last couple of years, my job is pushing me to get better at both. I've used Adobe Lightroom Classic on the PC side for years... and I've recently added the iPad and its version of Lightroom to my workflow. My 4th generation iPad Air is enough to get me started, but it's clear upgrading to the Pro iPad version will help. 64GB is not enough storage even relying mostly on the cloud. I'm most likely going to settle on the base model of the M4 11" since 256GB will be enough for some Lightroom editing and pretty simple DaVinci Resolve videos. The extra throughput via the USB-C port will help as well when I'm copying hundreds of RAW images from my camera's SSD to do my iPad Lightroom work.

I don’t think the MacBook should get a touchscreen. Honestly the screens get too many fingerprints and drawing on a folded laptop is quite the compromise considering desktop apps have crap touch shortcuts. An iMac with Apple Pencil support though. That will have me chuck my Cintiq out the window. But for what I like to do on the go, the iPad is more than what I need. I have a surface pro and 13” is way too small for desktop apps, and I’m just keeping the surface pro 8 for as long as it breathes, and the few windows apps I like still work. iPad OS really got developers designing for the form factor, and that’s why I hope none of the MacOS stuff comes here. There are plenty of options for people that don’t like the iPad.

Did you try out the Paperlike Screen Protector? Or that one from ESR which is magnetic?

What is the screen like after longer use? I use my ipad Pro 2020 11 inch, which is LCD for work and leisure. Emails, Teams, Excel, Word, movies, TV shows, procreate, and gaming. All combined, like 3 plus hours per day. Does the oled 1000 nits of brightness hurt tour eyes??

Kudos for making a video from someone that actually uses the capacity of iPad Pro, unlike some tech reviewers raging out of their Mac at why it isn't a Mac yet and "how dare they debuts M4 on a toilet reader". But seriously, I don't want MacOS on an iPad, hell no, it's so obviously a stupid idea if you know tech history, the irony and lack of self-awareness is amazing. iPadOS is not perfect and needs improvements, which it has been since 2021, but is it really bad for "pro users" that uses it to create and *consume*? "Power users" are really into advanced tinkering capacity of gadgets which is cool, but we should acknowledge that majority of "pro users" likely don't use 95% of those even on a Mac... Overheating into dimming and lagging was a daily nightmare on my M1 doing any loaded tasks or games, and boom it's just gone with the M4.... No nothing. I'm shocked that so few reviews mentioned it. I guess they don't even know it was a thing, which shows you perhaps they shouldn't be reviewing it to begin with. I think the thinness is huge if you use a Magic Keyboard. the old 12.9" combo was a brick to carry compared to MacBooks. Why iPad? I have my Mac workstation, but no peripherals does "putting the pen to paper" quite like the Apple Pencil. That connection is very important even for 3D modeling, which really is 3 dimensional drawing but with lots of math and numbers. Create on iPad, edit on the big screen. I've looked into Wacom on Mac but it's more like a mouse+keyboard emulator, it's not close. Fundamentally, it's up to what you do, don't get one if you lack a use for it, but people do need to drop the outdated conception that it's still the toilet reader that Jobs envisioned.

Writing this on my Gen 1 iPad Pro… I buy for longevity. I only use it to write and watch videos. Probably going to be stuck with the 512GB pro as a choice this year. Who needs that HD size tho? 😅 Still, I’ll get a decade of use out of it. 🤷🏾‍♂️