Full Review: 128GB iPad Pro

[asim1999]

Sorry if the review is 1 week late, i went to london and was busy.

Design:This thing is HUGE. It feels like someone ripped off a screen from a MacBook Pro. However, it is as light as a third gen iPad when holding in one hand, so weight is not an issue. I got mine in space grey and fingerprints do show up on the front and back easily. Got a couple of scratches on the edges that only catch the light at certain angles, and they can only be felt. Keep this in mind due to the edges being chamfered.

Screen: It is amazing, however the framerate might drop in iOS 9 when doing certain things. This is due to the variable refresh rate panel that Apple has used, it is not a performance fault.

Processor: now to the best part: the performance. It is very fast, and for its screen, i was impressed that it could go toe to toe with the 6S Plus with GPU performance due to its 12 core GPU.

Benchmarks:

Antutu: 185K, 71K for graphics

GFXBench 3.1 Manhattan: 21FPS

GFXBench T-Rex: 60FPS

GFXBench Manhattan 3.0: 35.2FPS

 

To put the GPU performance into perspective, these are what the Air 2 scores in the same tests.

Manhattan 3.1: 11.1FPS

Manhattan: 27FPS

T-Rex: 50FPS.

The 6S Plus scored 25. 37 and 60FPS in the respective tests

 

So Apple was right on the performance of this tablet, it is great for the size, and the fact it has no fan is great. It doesnt heat up at all. Dont even get me started on my iPad 3, that barely managed 4FPS on T-Rex, and could not run the other tests.

 

Speakers: These speakers are loud and clear, and offer a rich sound. The sound actually sounds like it is centred, not coming out in one direction like the previous iPads.

 

Camera: Average at best, but slo mo is fun. It is the same camera combo as the Air 2, so no surprises here.

 

Battery: lasts me all day, same as my iPad 3. Good considering that they have the same size batteries and the screen on the Pro is much bigger, brighter and higher res.

Other thoughts:

-too expensive for what you get, i got it cheaper so it was worth it

-If the Air 3 comes with the A9X chip, Apple will shoot themselves in the foot as it will perform better due to the lower screen resolution 

 

Conclusion: 

A great tablet, but i would wait for the Air 3 before picking up the Pro. Since the Air 3 is coming out in March, it is worth the wait. I only got this due to my iPad 3's screen peeling off after a screen repair and it being too slow for daily tasks (the A5X chip will be using a CPU that is 5 years old this year, so it was worth the upgrade). I only got this as i got it for £50 more than the equivalent Air 2.

 

[Mohenjo]

but... but why buy it over a surface? it would be almost 100 times better if it had full osx in a tablet layout but instead it has ios. thats the biggest thing for me. 

[Lord_Karango17]

I can definitely agree with your points on the ipad 3. Mine is pretty much a paper weight right now. Can't even use it for note taking because of the delay between you typing something, and it registering it.

[asim1999]

but... but why buy it over a surface? it would be almost 100 times better if it had full osx in a tablet layout but instead it has ios. thats the biggest thing for me. 

Well like i said, i only got it for £600, at least £250 cheaper than the base surface Pro 4 

[babadoctor]

might as well throw it out

 

jk

srsly you buy an ipad pro but not something of much greater value

*cough cough chromebook*

[Guest Generallee]

but... but why buy it over a surface? 

 

Cuz microsoft sucks yo

[Mohenjo]

i understand but in general. most people will be paying the full price (because apple). 

 

Well like i said, i only got it for £600, at least £250 cheaper than the base surface Pro 4 

[Mohenjo]

are you telling me apple is the best of companies? i mean dont get me wrong i use an iphone but apple are not the best either. i mean just look at there cases. they cost 45 dollars man when it looks like it only costs 10. same with there charging case. 

 

Cuz microsoft sucks yo

[asim1999]

If price wasnt a factor, i would buy a surface pro. I got this for cheaper and have 3 years worth of iOS Apps, many of them paid, so why not?

[asim1999]

are you telling me apple is the best of companies? i mean dont get me wrong i use an iphone but apple are not the best either. 

True, i only got the iPad Pro cos of the price and i have a lot of apps. Otherwise, Surface Pro 

[werto165]

Does it come with the pen? Because it charges in the most stupid way imaginable.. Personally don't see a use case of something that large without a keyboard, but that's just me.

[asim1999]

Does it come with the pen? Because it charges in the most stupid way imaginable.. Personally don't see a use case of something that large without a keyboard, but that's just me.

Even worse, no it doest. I use it for productivity and textbooks for school. And i have bad eyesight, so the screen is a big help

[Bob Jim]

As a tablet, this thing is amazing. But therein lies the problem; professionals likely do not want or need the benefits a tablet has over a standard laptop, and would hate the disadvantages. For £60 more than the 32GB WiFi model of this tablet, you can get the base mac book air, which has a keyboard and mouse already, runs a desktop OS - hence programs that come with that- and can be propped up easily, so it can be used as an entertainment system on your lap without you having to hold it. This fulfils what it is amazingly - it is a wonderful tablet, likely the best mobile OS device in its class. But it makes no sense.

[asim1999]

As a tablet, this thing is amazing. But therein lies the problem; professionals likely do not want or need the benefits a tablet has over a standard laptop, and would hate the disadvantages. For £60 more than the 32GB WiFi model of this tablet, you can get the base mac book air, which has a keyboard and mouse already, runs a desktop OS - hence programs that come with that- and can be propped up easily, so it can be used as an entertainment system on your lap without you having to hold it. This fulfils what it is amazingly - it is a wonderful tablet, likely the best mobile OS device in its class. But it makes no sense.

Completely agree. 

However, got mine off eBay new. It was in perfect condition, had thick wrapping and arrived on Saturday morning after ordering on Thursday night 

[Guest Generallee]

nvm

[Guest]

Cuz microsoft sucks yo

[Sauron]

It's a good tablet. The problem is that a 1100$ tablet doesn't make sense. In this case i would count the surface pro as an ultraportable laptop.

[asim1999]

It's a good tablet. The problem is that a 1100$ tablet doesn't make sense. In this case i would count the surface pro as an ultraportable laptop.

Well i only paid the equivalent of $800 for the 128GB Model so it was OK 

[Sauron]

Well i only paid the equivalent of $800 for the 128GB Model so it was OK 

 

It's still way too expensive for the functionality in my opinion, but to each their own.

[asim1999]

It's still way too expensive for the functionality in my opinion, but to each their own.

Fair enough, it was only $100 more than the Air 2 128GB. 

Even the Air 2 is expensive IMO

[Sauron]

Fair enough, it was only $100 more than the Air 2 128GB. 

Even the Air 2 is expensive IMO

 

Personally I wouldn't spend more than 300$ on a tablet because for 400 I got my laptop, that destroys any arm tablet in terms of functionality and productivity while still being light and small. I can only see arm tablets being useful as content consumption devices, and they hardly need much power for that.

[asim1999]

Personally I wouldn't spend more than 300$ on a tablet because for 400 I got my laptop, that destroys any arm tablet in terms of functionality and productivity while still being light and small. I can only see arm tablets being useful as content consumption devices, and they hardly need much power for that.

True, my iPad 3 was OK for youtube. It had terrible lag and refreshing when web browsing and bad keyboard lag 

Well i only need it for research and word processing in school. And Microsoft have finally patched OneDrive access for iWork so i am sorted 

[asim1999]

All to be outperformed more than 2 and a half times by the surface pro 4 i5 (in 3d mark ice storm unlimited), all for £50 less, and the ability to actually use that power with photo shop and other useful demanding applications.  

But the software optimisation in iOS means it outperforms in onscreen gaming. Also, the iPad outperforms the surface when it comes to video editiong and redering due to software optimisation. You seen the latest bideo by TLD doing 4K on a 12 inch MacBook which is 30% less poweful CPU-wise? 

And yes i did this review relative to pricing and i said that it is not worth the £800 price tag. But i got it for around £250 below the Surface Pro 

 

Not to mention the problems if Windows 10 goes wrong. If all is bad, you can just hook the iPad to iTunes to reinstall the software from scratch. There is no BIOS access for Windows install media on Surface Pro, so no direct clean install. And plus Windows 10 uses the registry which was used since Windows 3.1 as well as the viruses.

 

Not saying that one is better than the other, just saying for the price i paid it was worth it, and plus MS tried too hard to market the surface as a perfect 2 in 1 but Windows holds it back in terms of tablet optimisation. Apple and Google failed again by using the same formula but limited operating systems.