iPad Pro (2018) Review:

Laptop Alternative or Overpriced Tablet?

The iPad is a device that Apple has been marketing to the masses as a computer. A device that you can play, work, and create on. While the iPad is a device that you can do pretty much anything (except code) on, thanks to an awesome set of apps made available by the talented iOS’s developer community, along with great contributions by Apple as well.

The iPad Pro on the other hand, is the top-tier device in the lineup that Apple has been trying to push to the masses as THE laptop replacement. The laptop-benchmark-beating specs are present, and for the first time Apple has added the industry standard, future -proof USB-C in place of it’s proprietary lightning port as well. Is that enough to place the iPad Pro at the top, the apex of computing? Read on to find out.

The iPad Pro has an 11-inch LED Liquid Retina display with IPS (in-plane switching) has a pixel resolution that comes out to 2388-by-1668 at 264 pixels per inch, with ProMotion technology that boosts the frame rate to 120 from the standard 60 frames per second. Touch ID is absent, so the front is nearly all screen with just enough bezel to allow the iPad to be manageable for it’s size. It’s also (P3) Wide color display compliant.

The display is crisp and color accurate, definitely one of the best on the market. Photographers, Professionals working in industries where color accuracy is paramount, will have a blast working on the go on the latest iPad Pros.

The Bencharks

The Antutu scores are off the charts as well with the latter iPad Pro scoring nearly twice as much as the 2017 iPad Pro 5th generation. Apple’s A12X processor is a beast and a benchmark achievement (no pun intended) far as mobile processing is concerned, but the Intel Core i7 (8th gen) inside the Lenovo Legion Y740 gaming laptop scored 819612 (with 13 tabs open in the Edge Browser while Forza Street downloading in the background), so I wouldn’t say it’s time to take desktop level workloads mobile just yet.

This is in large due to limitations in iOS more than anything else, so let’s hope Apple has more iPad focused features come this fall when iOS 13 is released.

Conclusion

So who’s the newest model of the iPad Pro for? The mobile businessman (or woman) who wants the best Apple has to offer, the photographer, visual designer or CAD modeler who wants to make sure the device they use on the go has all the power that they would need. The videographer or musician, who would like to converge the best touchscreen tools into their traditional workflow and setup are the exact demographic that Apple made the iPad Pro for. Creative professionals who want access to the same power on the go as they have in their work environments. In fact, the iPad Pro is such a luxury tier model of the iPad family that it’s hard to justify its price without it being used for work in some capacity. The other, cheaper iPads serve as great media consumption device just fine.