Verdict
Is the iPad Pro M4 2024 the best tablet I have ever go over ? Yes , there ’s no question about it . Is it the one I would tell everyone to grease one’s palms ? believably not . If you do make the purchase though , you wo n’t be disappoint . This is Apple ’s ironware at its very skilful .
Pros
Cons
Key Features
Introduction
The iPad Pro M4 2024 is a fantastic piece of hardware . It ’s the first product power by the M4 chip , which will eventually signal Apple ’s march towards an AI computation future tense . It ’s also not for everyone .
After 2023 come up and work without barely a mention of the iPad compass , 2024 sure enough feels like the class for Apple ’s tablet to take a fantastic step forward .
The late iPad Pro , available in both 11 and 13 - column inch sizes , is the pinnacle of the iPad line and thebest tabletI have ever used . If money is no physical object , you do n’t need to read any further – just buy it .
With that said , the number of people who could splurge over $ 1000/£1000 or even over $ 2000/£2000 on a tablet is low . Especially when Apple sells theiPad 10for $ 349/£349 and the iPad Air ( which is now available in a 13 - in size ) for $ 599/£599 .
So , even if the iPad Pro is the good tablet , is it the one you should buy ? I ’ve spend the last three week putting it to the psychometric test , and the upshot might storm you .
Design
‘ The thinnest Apple mathematical product ever ’ – that ’s how the 13 - inch interlingual rendition of iPad Pro M4 was describe when it was unveiled . Thinner even than the iPod Nano . I am used to hear tech being described as sparse , and more often than not after a daytime or so of utilisation it becomes normal – that has n’t been the caseful here .
Apple has been able to make this iPad Pro so slight for several reasons . First off is the improved caloric carrying out of theM4chip , while the switch to an OLED panel removes the need for a backlight to sit down behind the blind .
I ’ve been using the 13 - column inch iPad Pro , which at just 5.1 mm is 1.3 millimeter thinner than the late model . It ’s so thin that when secure in , the USB - atomic number 6 cable juts out every so slightly .
While the thin organic structure certainly makes for a neat marketing dividing line , I found the immense weight reduction more noticeable while I was reviewing the gimmick . The iPad Pro M4 13 - inch weighs 579 g , 113 g light than the former 12.9 - inch model and so much easier to hold well for long periods . It does n’t consider down my bag as much either .
There ’s less departure with the M4 11 - inch iPad Pro however . It is slimly thick than the 13 - column inch at 5.3 mm , but still 0.6 mm thinner than the forthcoming 11 - column inch exemplar . It ’s also 22 g light .
There is something to be say about whether the weight unit reducing and the thinner body are worth it . or else , that space could have been used for a larger stamp battery to give this iPad a degree of endurance that could far transcend anything we ’ve seen in an iPad before .
Before I started using the iPad Pro M4 2024 I would have argued this point abundantly : I never once like for the iPad to be thinner , and while the 12.9 - inch was a little big , I seldom found it to be an issue . After a few workweek with this new iPad Pro , my mind completely changed .
The thinner , light consistency makes the tab a machine that I now carry everywhere , with it being barely noticeable in my bag . It ’s more well-to-do to utilise specially when paired with the Magic Keyboard , is balanced dead and it just feel like I ’m holding a huge display with nothing else attached . It ’s masterfully build , and every individual fourth dimension I picked the tablet up I was surprised .
When a piece of music of technical school arrest flimsy , there ’s always the chance it can become more fragile in the procedure . I did n’t have any number with the robustness of my iPad Pro during the multi - calendar week review mental process , but it is the sort of machine that ’ll need to be looked after . There ’s a lot of glass and metallic element here after all . Apple ’s Smart Folio is the best causa choice in my perspective , and its rejigged magnet allows for it to be prop up at multiple slant . There ’s a new Magic Keyboard too , which also acts as a way of protecting the tablet .
Visually , the iPad Pro M4 continue the overall spirit Apple inaugurate in 2018 . The slope and back are flat , with a slightly evoke camera bump housing a single 12MP sensor , LiDAR sensor and flash . There ’s a III of pins on the push button for easy accessory connectivity and conjugation , plus a unmarried USB - degree Celsius connector with USB 4 and bombshell support .
The colour options are muffle , especially compared to the pastel shades uncommitted on the Air . There ’s Space Black ( which is slightly benighted than the Space Grey used antecedently ) and Silver . These two colours match the ones usable on the MacBook Pro 14 and 16 - column inch .
One change I appreciate is that the front FaceTime camera now sit on the long landscape bound , rather than the shorter vertical one . This is a much better stead for video song when the tablet is sitting in the Magic Keyboard case .
Screen
The display on the iPad Pro M4 is a triumph . This is the first time we ’ve seen OLED panel on an iPad and the resultant role is a wonderful , HDR - capable canvas that fixes some of the issues with the Mini conduce tech used before and finally brings mirror symmetry to the whole Pro range . There ’s 120HzProMotiontoo , to keep everything still when scroll and swiping .
With the previous generation iPad Pro , you had to sacrifice concealment quality for a more portable simple machine . The 11 - column inch model , which was my ducky due to its smaller size and lighter exercising weight , had a good LCD but the higher - quality Mini LED screen was reserved for the heavy 12.9 - inch option . Now , whichever sizing you require you cognize you ’re getting an excellent OLED display .
The OLED video display used is a huge upgrade over the LCD of the 11 - inch . Blacks are deep rather than grey , colours are rich and the HDR support is far more detectable . The way the black bars on either side of a picture commingle absolutely into the tablet ’s bezel make for a deeply immersive experience .
Putting the newfangled OLED iPad Pro next to the Mini light-emitting diode exemplar is n’t quite a slam - dunk upgrade , but it is well overall . The boastful deviation is the lack of something called blooming , whereby brighter school text and picture on saturnine background would have an odd flush of bloodless around them . This was triggered by the amount of dimming zones on the Mini light-emitting diode panels but it is n’t an payoff here .
I fired up The Batman – a film with scores of thick , dark scenes and raft of contrast brilliant ones – inDolby Visionon both theOLEDiPad Pro and theMini LEDalternative . The very dark shot looked well on the organic light-emitting diode , as the want of obvious blooming is most detectable here . In SDR subject , so anything streamed from apps like BBC iPlayer and plenty of substance on Netflix , the newer iPad Pro pump out a much better figure with sharper fantasm details .
To offset any brightness issues because of the alteration in panel type , Apple has used two OLED displays layered over each other ( this is calledTandem organic light-emitting diode ) to push up the smartness levels as much as potential . SDR content can now come to 1000 nits , although you ’ll typically be comfortably at around 500 nit in normal use .
Performance and Software
Apple debut a new chipset for the latest generation iPad Pro , the M4 – a piece of silicon many would n’t have expected to arrive until late 2024 at the former . Apple only release the M3 in October 2023 , and it only made its way to the MacBook Air series in March 2024 .
Skipping the M3 entirely for this iPad felt odd at first , but it ’s clear why Apple did it . Performance is predictably grand , and I will delve profoundly into that further down , but it ’s not the central merchandising point . Instead , the better thermic carrying out of the M4 permit for the thinner chassis , while the improved GPU helped power the glorious video display .
The great advancement of all is the improved neuronic locomotive engine and the AI benefit that come with it . These benefits are n’t here yet but we ’ll be sure to test them wheniPadOS 18andApple Intelligenceare made available .
Just like with its MacBook range , Apple is selling dissimilar ‘ SKUs ’ of the iPad Pro . Choosing unlike storage options now comes with a few more alternative than just the amount of GB available . The ‘ lower - conclusion ’ 256 GB ( the new foundation repositing size , which is very welcome ) and 512 GB versions have 8 GB computer memory , a 9 - heart C.P.U. consisting of three public presentation gist and six efficiency cores , and a 10 - essence GPU .
Plump for the 1 TB or 2 TB versions and the processor get an extra core , taking it to 10 , and the retention is doubled to 16 G . you’re able to also choose a nano - texture glass display option on the 1 TB or 2 TB exemplar to supply a more matte covering over the concealment . Both poser have the same 16 - core neural engine and 120GB / s memory bandwidth .
Having these extra thing to think about when pluck an iPad might be puzzling , but for many the conclusion will be made by the high prices the 1 TB and 2 TB models deal for . The 13 - inch 1 TB iPad Pro costs £ 1899/$1899 ( £ 2099/$2099 for the cellular version ) , while the 2 TB starts at £ 2299/$2299 go up to £ 2499/$2499 for cellular . Switching to the nano - grain field glass adds another £ 100/$100 to the government note .
For this review , I used the 13 - inch 1 TB good example with the standard glass – a £ 1899/$1899 tablet . You would get mostly the same performance from the , still admittedly expensive , crummy £ 999/$999 11 - in iPad Pro M4 though , so keep that in mind .
Considering the price and the sheer array of superpower on crack here , the iPad Pro M4 is overkill for anyone who wants an iPad just for reading , browse , a bit of Netflix binging on a commute and similar tasks . I ’d commend getting the wonderful iPad 10 rather , or the latest iPad Air M2 if you want more power . For most , the £ 349/$349 iPad 10 is the easiest good word .
Of naturally , there ’s more to tech for many than just corrupt the cheapest matter useable . The iPad Pro M4 is a luxury point – yes , the business leader on crack might be more than most will postulate , but there ’s a joy to using this equipment that is n’t found elsewhere .
In benchmark tests , the M4 chip outclasses the Android challenger with relief . It scores more than double the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 poweredSamsung Galaxy Tab S9 Ultrain 3DMark ’s Wildlife Extreme mental testing and not far off 3x the multi - core scores in Geekbench 6 . Comparing the two seems unjust , but then Samsung ’s top - tier choice retail for £ 1199 – more than the base iPad Pro M4 11 - inch .
The scores are n’t quite as drastically higher than those achieved by a 12.9 - column inch iPad Pro with its M2 chip , but there is an betterment in multi - core and GPU examination and I would wear we ’ll see big improvements in AI - focussed apps once those start roll out .
bench mark scores might show what a machine is capable of , however they do n’t show what something can in reality do . The iPad Pro M4 is still hamstrung by the iPadOS software program , which is virtually the same as the software on the iPad Air , and only missing a few multitasking features of the very base iPad .
Some apps , like Apple ’s euphony software system Logic , have some M4 - specific features and sure games – Resident Evil Village , for instance – require an M micro chip , but having moved from an M2 iPad it ’s hard to really blot anything that feels that different . The same 10 minute of arc 4 K video export from Final Cut slimly faster and a few of those intensive biz stretch up quicker – that was about it .
Of course , this can and hopefully will alter . I am not calling for MacOS to be port to the iPad , though I would love it if Apple had some sort of ‘ Pro Mode ’ choice that allowed certain Mac apps to work here and gave us an interface a little close to that of its laptop range .
As I have remark throughout this review , the sole welfare of the M4 is n’t just about performance – the capableness of this flake is what makes this tablet so light , thin and glorious to habituate , although I ’d be lying if I say I did n’t want some potent software to properly take advantage of its CPU and GPU .
There ’s now only one photographic camera on the back as the ultra - wide has been ditched , leaving just a 12MP independent camera that ’s excellent for conduct pictures of documents . It fritter 4 kilobyte video too , even in theProResformat . Cellular serve is useable for an additional fee , while there areWi - Fi 6EandBluetooth 5.3onboard . The speaker and microphone are also fantabulous , as anyone who used an iPad Pro before would expect .
Battery Life
Apple had a big determination to make with the iPad Pro M4 2024 . Use the extra quad gain ground from the improved chipset and thin show module for a larger bombardment , or give everyone a lean and lighter tablet . Apple pick out the latter .
That mean that while the 11 - in modeling has a marginally larger battery than its predecessor , the 13 - inch has a somewhat smaller cell . Do n’t concern too much about this though as Apple is wedge strictly to the classic ‘ 10 hour ’ battery claim that all the model seem to get .
I can easily get the iPad Pro M4 13 - column inch to last me a full workplace sidereal day when I am using it as a laptop replacing , and when used after study purely as an amusement twist for a number of browsing and streaming , it lasted it all week . On a 10 - time of day flight from London to Seattle I look out photographic film the intact way and had 20 % left over at the remainder .
The battery life does drain apace during intensive undertaking . An 60 minutes of Football Manager Touch 2024 from Apple Arcade ate through 19 % , while a twosome of hours of edit RAW photo data file inside Lightroom took it down another 20 % . An hour on Zoom also took off 15 % .
The charging situation here is a bit of a mess . bribe the pad of paper in the UK and there will be no battery charger in the loge , just a USB - C to USB - C cable , although that is n’t the same for all realm . Still , even in regions like the US where a charger does follow include it ’s only the same , dull 20W nag that fall with every iPad .
I ’d have like Apple to have go through some of the MagSafe technical school here , adding a wireless component like the iPhone range or a magnetic charger like the late MacBooks .
Accessories
The iPad Pro M4 works well as a big slab of screen used solo , but it comes into its own when paired with Apple ’s duette of accessory . These minimal brain damage - ons also help to set the Pro slate apart from the Air range , as this sentence they ’re both undivided to the high-pitched - close pad of paper .
The Apple Pencil Pro is the supererogatory I ’d recommend the most . The style is a joy to use , whether for bank bill or sketches and this ‘ Pro ’ model summate some extra smarting . There ’s now a tactile reaction when the Pencil is squeezed and this brings up a kitchen range of shortcuts on the projection screen , let you apace move between tools and colours .
There ’s a gyroscope inside too that enables a ‘ Barrel roll ’ feature , giving precise control when you ’re moving the pencil around , andFind Mysupport if it go missing .
This Apple Pencil Pro retails for the same $ 129/£129 as the Apple Pencil ( 2nd - gen ) which might sound off , but it ’s significant to note that that old style will not work here . The only other abide Apple Pencil is the USB - C version that administer with the insistence sensibility and feels a piece limited as a result . So , even if you are kick upstairs from a previous iPad , you ’ll postulate a novel Pencil .
You ’ll also need a new keyboard , as the older Magic Keyboard covers wo n’t work with the iPad Pro M4 2024 due to the rejigged magnet arrangement . Apple has , of grade , got a new version for those wanting to turn the tab into something penny-pinching to a laptop computer and it remains both very good and very expensive .
Big change this time let in a function row of shortcut key standardised to a MacBook , a larger touchpad with haptic response and an aluminium layer around the keys to give some superfluous rigidity . It ’s a welcome upgrade and the typing experience is fantastic .
The iPad Pro is more or less the same heaviness as a MacBook Air with the keyboard attached . You do lose that stunningly slight chassis , but it is a much more productive equipment as a result .
At £ 349/$349 for the 13 - in model and £ 299/$299 for the 11 - inch , it ’s far from cheap and unless you ’re break to be using the iPad for a lot of piece of writing , I think you’re able to skip this one .
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Should you buy it?
The projection screen is unmatchable , the build calibre is fantastic and the vigorously design accessory are a joy .
Some will disagree but for most people , the iPad Pro ( or any iPad for that matter ) ca n’t yet replace a laptop computer . task that require freeform multitasking , traditional apps and keeping an eye on multiple windows are still a bother on the tablet and until the computer software improves , the MacBook is promiscuous to urge in this regard .
Final Thoughts
come down on a firm verdict about the iPad Pro M4 is hard – it ’s wonderful in many areas , yet lacking in others . It leave behind Android tablet like theGalaxy Tab S9 Ultrain the junk with its performance , and it has the good screen door I have ever seen on an iPad .
It ’s glorious to use and wonderfully constructed to the point where I am still impressed at the hardware every single time I pick it up . No other piece of tech has made me feel this way in quite a foresighted time , but – and it ’s a big but – I am still not certain who this iPad Pro is for .
The whole bundle , especially the 13 - inch version , can hit £ 2000/$2000 before add-on are even considered . For the same toll , you may get a MacBook Pro . For the £ 999/$999 base iPad Pro 11 - inch , you could get aMacBook Air M3 – one of the verybest laptopson the market .
If you ’ve got the money to get both then go before , but if it ’s a choice between a MacBook or an iPad then I do n’t palpate the iPadOS software package is advanced enough to make the tab a smart option . It also has to be said that Apple ready a fantastic tablet for £ 349/$349 with theiPad 10 , which can achieve a set of what the Pro can .
Is the iPad Pro M4 2024 thebest tabletI have ever reviewed ? Yes , there ’s no question about it . Is it the one I would tell everyone to buy ? Probably not . If you do make the purchase though , you wo n’t be disappointed . This is Apple ’s ironware at its very best .
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FAQs
In the US , it get along with a 20W courser . In the UK it does not . check up on your local Apple Store page to see whether or not your realm includes the plug .
In a sense , yes you could . If you choose the 256 GB or 512 GB option , the memory is 8 gigabit . Choose the 1 TB or 2 TB sizes and the memory double to 16 GB .
