Apple's Best All-in-One Machine: The M4 iPad Pro

The vision for the original iPad was to be a magical sheet of glass that we could connect to the internet through. I have a feeling that if Steve Jobs were to see the evolution of this tech over the past few years he would be nothing short of impressed. The new M4 iPad Pro is the most powerful iPad to ever exist and it blows all other tablets out the water. Today we're going to go over its major features and see if this truly is the laptop killer some are claiming it to be. To see the video version of this blog, visit my YouTube channel or click below.

Cutting Edge

The new iPad Pro debuted with the new M4 chip under the hood. This immediately boosted the tablet's performance and speed. I have the base 11-inch model which comes with 8GBs of RAM and 256GBs of storage (the same storage as my M4 Mac Mini which is somewhat laughable). While my model has the standard Tandem OLED Ultra Retina XDR display, you can upgrade to a new nano-texture display option at an extra cost. There are four speakers in the iPad Pro which provides a rich and immersive sound while consuming media. The front-facing camera has been moved to a landscape orientation that makes more sense for when the iPad is docked to a keyboard or case. On the back, there is a single 12MP Wide camera that hasn't been updated in quite some time, if anything the fact that they removed a camera is a downgrade. However, I think Apple knows that most people do not use their iPad Pros to capture content.

Accessorize

While the iPad Pro is powerful enough on its own, a few key accessories can take your productivity to a whole new level. The accessory that I think everyone needs no matter which iPad you go with is an Apple Pencil. With this model of iPad, there is a new Apple Pencil called the Apple Pencil Pro. This new pencil is packed with features like gesture controls, squeeze it and new menus and tools pop open in apps like GoodNotes, and tilt or turn your Apple Pencil Pro in a barrel roll and the tooltip will move with you! It's a major improvement for artists and those who like to write by hand.

Important for my workflow is a keyboard. In my opinion there is still no better keyboard for the iPad Pro than the Magic Keyboard by Apple. They've updated the Magic Keyboard to include a row of function keys and a larger trackpad. And don't worry, there still is the extra USB-C port on the Magic Keyboard for the pass-through charging that many have gotten used to. My only disappointment with the Magic Keyboard comes with its viewing angles. They seem very limited to me and makes it hard to draw while the iPad is docked. I take the iPad off the keyboard when I want to write or draw but then my device is exposed to whatever surface I place it on. I wish there were an option to keep it protected while I draw.

Laptop Killer?

Every once in a while someone will claim that the iPad Pro, or some other tablet, has become the "laptop killer". Are we finally there with the M4 iPad Pro? Well, I traded in my MacBook Pro for the M4 Mac Mini and the Magic Keyboard so that I could put this theory to the test, and... it's pretty close! The iPad Pro has been able to do some incredible things that I thought for sure it would struggle with. But it's not perfect. I'll be addressing some of my issues with the workflow in future content.

There's so much more that could be discussed about the M4 iPad Pro. If there is something else you'd like to know or see, let me know by sending me a message on one of my socials! Don't forget to check out my YouTube channel to see the iPad Pro and other tech in action and I'll see you next time!