M4 iPad Pro Reviews: Incredible Speed and Display Hampered By Software

[eltoslightfoot]

Come talk to us when you see a 120-165hz screen for the first time. No, it doesn't make a difference when watching 24fps content. But it makes a massive difference everywhere else.

I have some screens (gaming monitor and Surface Pro 9) that are 165hz or 120hz, respectively. And others (iPhone 15 Plus) that are 60hz. I do not really care. I care more about resolution and sharpness than I do hz. So mileage may vary by personal preference...

 

[pdoherty]

the ‌iPad Pro‌ is able to "handle pretty much any task it's capable of executing,"
Isn't that a tautology?

"I can *do* whatever I can *do*! Don't you get it!?"

"I am's what I am's..."

-- Popeye the Sailor Man

 

[pdoherty]

This isn’t news to anyone who has been using a Mac and iPad. The iPad isn’t a Mac and at this point in time, isn’t meant to be a Mac replacement for the masses (as a whole).

What I think a lot of people miss in the whole "iPad should run MacOS" is that we don't necessarily need or want the entire GUI of MacOS. Just running MacOS apps with a virtualized filesystem to fake the app into thinking it's got a full MacOS underneath is all. Just remove all windowing (minimize/maximize gadgets, etc). Same as MacOS currently fakes iPad apps into running inside MacOS.

 

[pdoherty]

I really wish the next iPad Air comes with the gorgeous 120HZ refresh rate LCD display from the 11” iPad Pro, and an M4 SoC. And please don’t remove the 16GB of RAM option from the Air lineup! Even if it’s just in the 1TB configuration.

That’s the only way I’d update my M2 iPad Pro.

I agree, except I say miniLED display.

 

[Unregistered 4U]

Selecting text is SO much nicer now that you don’t have to actually press down HARD to set the insertion point before dragging. Just press until you feel the first “thunk” and start dragging. OH, and because it’s a smaller batter that still gets you 10 hours, charging it from zero is faster… well that’s two reasons. One, because the battery is smaller and two, because while it’s charging the OLED is sipping power compared to the OLED’s in the new ones.

Graphic intensive games with the screen on bright don’t cause the back to get very warm, either (and the screen doesn’t flit between superbright and dim in an attempt to wrangle the thermals).

UPDATE: Accessibility, Pointer Control, Double-Tap to Drag, another good option to have. Will try it out for a bit.

 

[Crowbot]

The magnets are in different locations, so it doesn't snap on properly.

Yes, I saw that elsewhere. Engineers just love to change things.

 

[hipnetic]

Can someone point me to some good images and videos that show off the new iPad Pro's HDR display? I just got the 11" model and I still have my 1st-gen 11" iPad Pro. I cranked both of them up to maximum brightness and don't see any obvious difference when just looking at the iPad OS desktop. I then fired up my iTunes movie library, scrolled through my list of HDR movies, and fired up "Spider Man: No Way Home" and the improvement was subtle, at best. I must be missing something, right?

BTW, I also bought the new Magic Keyboard and new Pencil Pro. I really liked the Magic Keyboard with my old iPad Pro, and the improvements with this new one are what have me most excited. That, and the big jump to an M-series CPU which will allow me to play around with extending my display with an external monitor (my 1st-gen 11" only supports mirroring).

One complaint I (still) have with the Magic Keyboard, though, is that it's too difficult to pry it open, and I'm always second-guessing whether I'm prying it apart at the right spot (i.e., sometimes accidentally pulling the iPad off of the magnetic back). I wish they had added an indentation below the trackpad.

Lastly, after doing much Googling on the subject before ordering mine, I decided to go with the Silver/White combo this time, and I've already got some dark smudges on the outside of my white Magic Keyboard casing. What are some recommendations for cleaning that?

 

[Jay-Jacob]

Display on my new iPad Pro 11 inch is amazing! So far better than my old iPad Pro 9.7. Difference is huge. I was like wow it like watching main living room TV (OLED). Images are clearer and no reflective thing appear (iPad Pro 9.7 reflective some angles and light), image are brighter too. I can see better in daylight than before.

 

[pdoherty]

Display on my new iPad Pro 11 inch is amazing! So far better than my old iPad Pro 9.7. Difference is huge. I was like wow it like watching main living room TV (OLED). Images are clearer and no reflective thing appear (iPad Pro 9.7 reflective some angles and light), image are brighter too. I can see better in daylight than before.

I guess you got the textured surface to not be seeing reflections?

 

[Unregistered 4U]

Yes, I saw that elsewhere. Engineers just love to change things.

Due to the thinness, they had to move and change the size of the speakers. I think that’s primarily what caused all the magnets to have to be moved.

 

[Unregistered 4U]

Can someone point me to some good images and videos that show off the new iPad Pro's HDR display? I just got the 11" model and I still have my 1st-gen 11" iPad Pro. I cranked both of them up to maximum brightness and don't see any obvious difference when just looking at the iPad OS desktop. I then fired up my iTunes movie library, scrolled through my list of HDR movies, and fired up "Spider Man: No Way Home" and the improvement was subtle, at best. I must be missing something, right?

I don’t think so. The upside for mini-LED was that it offered the blacks of OLED while offering extended brightness. The downside was, because mini-LED on the iPad used dimming regions (instead of per pixel) in a very dark environment with a very dark interface (like in Books), you could see the dimming zones lighting up around the content. As you moved your cursor, you’d see successive blocks of dimming zones lighting up.

While this can help see the “issue”, very few people actually use their systems that way. When you get to the use case of just watching video, since that content is in a rectangle anyway and nothing’s moving into the black bars, the difference between the two is really hard to see. I know I’d never be able to tell the difference.

 

[Crowbot]

Due to the thinness, they had to move and change the size of the speakers. I think that’s primarily what caused all the magnets to have to be moved.

Yeah, I get that. It would have been nice to be able to use the old folio case. Apple wanted $80 for the new one. Amazon had one for $25.