Apple iPad Pro 12.9 (2018) review

05 December 2018
The latest iPads are the best tablets Apple has ever made, of course. But now they are also highly advertised as fully-fledged computers and the maker wants you to think they can do everything. Do they really? We grabbed the latest iPad Pro 12.9 (2018) to find out just that.

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  • ?
  • Anonymous
  • UNy
  • 12 Dec 2018

A lot of PC guys here who are ready to throw a negative opinion on the iPad without having used one. In order to understand the iPad one should spend some time with it and needs to find all the necessary apps because what makes the iPad experience unique and unmatched is the apps.

    • ?
    • Anonymous
    • v3B
    • 11 Dec 2018

    Apple iPad Pro is great! (waiting to get my comment deleted)

      • D
      • Duel
      • Scq
      • 11 Dec 2018

      Fearghast, 10 Dec 2018I am happy for you, you certainly do not need much to be "p... moreI nowdays do all my photo editing with iPad, why? because Apple pencil experience is superior to compared what i could get from laptop or even from desktop. Drawing directly to the photo (screen) is so much better than using wacom etc.

      Also the screen is better than what i have on my PC.

        Anonymous, 10 Dec 2018I do all my productivity on an iPad Air 2 so for me this ve... moreI am happy for you, you certainly do not need much to be "productive".

          • ?
          • Anonymous
          • UNx
          • 10 Dec 2018

          I do all my productivity on an iPad Air 2 so for me this verdict is not valid. One should be open minded when coming to an iPad from a pc though. The iPad does things in an iPad style. Limitations? Yes, there are some but no platform is perfect. The pc has limitations, too. Writing a document on t

            Fearghast, 08 Dec 2018Yeah, you can do that on an iPad Pro, you just can do it on... moreI agree with you. Except that the Pencil and Procreate only exist in this platform. Fantastic for my drawing needs.

              7h3N319hb0r, 08 Dec 2018I use this to think, create, teach, communicate, and for en... moreYeah, you can do that on an iPad Pro, you just can do it on a laptop a LOT better because you can really, trully, multitask and use real software without limitations and not just apps made for iPod.
              Anything you can do on an iPad Pro, you can do on the cheapest Android tablet. Hardware is impressive, but software is laughably bad for anything but email reading, watching youtube, controlling Chromecast or basic drawing. Even typing on an iPad is a subpar experience due to lack of proper ways to be precise, fast or dare I even say PRO (even my basic documents I usualy write for work or reviews have a proper formated text - it's a nightmare to manage text on iPad - you know, no mouse, not a full version of word processor).

                Fearghast, 07 Dec 2018As an iPad Pro 12.9 owner (older model), I see no reason to... moreI use this to think, create, teach, communicate, and for entertainment. For someone who never had the previous 12.9", and coming from the iPad 2018, this is such an upgrade. Well with the wait.

                  boiii, 07 Dec 2018I also think Surface Pro 6 is a better buy but you're wrong... moreI have been using the 12.9" for 3 days. I got this for mainly for drawing and hand-writing for designing and thinking. I used to think having the Surface Pro was it as an architect and teacher. Having 10-11 hours of power is heaven-sent. I am never was an Apple consumer. The Pencil experience was why I got the iPad Pro instead.

                  I still need to use a Windows laptop with a dedicated GPU for CAD, Revit and 3DS Max.

                    • Moj
                    • 0p}
                    • 08 Dec 2018

                    boiii, 07 Dec 2018I also think Surface Pro 6 is a better buy but you're wrong... moreWell i hardly can find any thing that surpass 16GB RAM usage(please exclude server stuff and editing 4/8K footages) even 8GB would be enough for a lot of users so here i hardly can see any point for ipad.
                    "A12X being quite a bit faster than the ultra low voltage quad-core i7 in the Surface", i highly doubt it cause almost all benchmarks are made with Core i5 version and 8GB ram.
                    I can say the Core i7 version maybe become on par or slightly powerfuller(yet both need to be benchmarked until then really hard to predict)
                    Nope! There is no way it can go against H series cause they easily smash it!
                    About GPU the Intel UHD Graphics 620 can do 422.4–441.6 GFLOPS (FP32) while apple's GPU lets say it can do 40% better than last year one(700 GFLOPS (FP16) which would be 300-350 Gflops with FP32) so this year GPU wold be STH around 400-450 which is the same as surface.
                    I can't really talk about apple pen cause only used surface pen(also it had no latency) i do own a surface pro 5 aka 2017!
                    It is possible to have multiple OSs on surface(i do have win 10 + Arch Linux + android x86 8.1.2) and this is a big point!

                      • ?
                      • Anonymous
                      • p$u
                      • 07 Dec 2018

                      Anonymous, 07 Dec 2018The only thing I see holding back this device from replacin... moreThe "only" thing holding it back is iOS.

                        • ?
                        • Anonymous
                        • v3B
                        • 07 Dec 2018

                        The only thing I see holding back this device from replacing most laptops are:
                        1. the lack of a proper file manager
                        2. Not having a full desktop web browser
                        3. Limiting the usb to connect with hard drives & mice

                          Sam4others, 07 Dec 2018GSM Arena, iPad Pro has never support any mouse input, It o... moreThank you!

                            As an iPad Pro 12.9 owner (older model), I see no reason to upgrade.
                            I mean hardware sure is nice and powerful, but seriously who cares if it still runs on iOS.
                            Sadly as it is common for Apple, the newer version is not automatically better, it has a lot of cons as well - can't quick charge stylus, can't use the grip for stylus (unless I take it off after every use), stylus is more expensive, but there is nothing new, it's the same response, same tilt, same accuracy like an older model.
                            You have to use gestures on a 12.9 device because of no home button? I know it's smaller and lighter than older 12.9, but it boggles my mind to release something so not user-friendly, swiping across the 13" screen while holding the tablet in another hand.

                            It's a nice device for drawing and casual fun, but it's not worth its price at all.
                            It's an expensive toy, nothing more than a limited tablet, a dying breed in 2018 ... dinosaur.

                              • S
                              • Soofi
                              • HBL
                              • 07 Dec 2018

                              Totally nonsense, iPad never ever near to Laptop. iPad is basically Gaming and Emailing tablet and Laptop is workable machine adopted for office environment remotely. Moreover, Removal of 3.5 phone jack with Bluetooth is simply a blunder. Bluetooth causes headache if used for longer time, but wired headset not.

                                GSM Arena, iPad Pro has never support any mouse input, It only supports touch and apple pencil. Pls amend the error, thanks.

                                  • ?
                                  • Anonymous
                                  • PE3
                                  • 07 Dec 2018

                                  DQ, 06 Dec 2018"Because average consumer won't bend their tablets intentio... moreYou don't say? Because average consumer will bend their iPad unintentionally .

                                    • b
                                    • boiii
                                    • stF
                                    • 07 Dec 2018

                                    Moj, 07 Dec 2018Good device if you just want STH to you know fiddling aroun... moreI also think Surface Pro 6 is a better buy but you're wrong in several points.

                                    1. iOS has better memory compression so that 6GB of RAM is plenty, even 4GB iPhone Xs multitasks much better than many 8GB Android phones.
                                    2. A12X is quite a bit faster than the ultra low voltage quad-core i7 in the Surface. It can go up against the 6 core 8th generation mobile H chips like the one in the iMac Pro. The GPU in the A12X destroys Intel's mobile GPU. The Surface Pro 6 has a SLOWER CPU not the other way around.
                                    3. Surface Pen is trash compared to Apple Pencil. Microsoft switched to shitty N-trig pens and Apple Pencil is comparable to Wacom's top of the line EMR styluses and has almost no latency. Sketching is much better on the iPad Pro than it is on the Surface Pro 6.

                                    But overall Surface Pro 6 is still better for actual use because of how limited iOS is - no file system, no real software, no nothing.
                                    Unless you only sketch, take notes, browse the web, don't need access to a real file system and don't need anything Adobe.

                                      • Moj
                                      • auI
                                      • 07 Dec 2018

                                      Good device if you just want STH to you know fiddling around with it!
                                      But, this 3 things are a lot of problem:
                                      1-No 3.5mm audio port
                                      2-Renders all old accessories obsolete
                                      3-Expensive, with even more expensive accessories
                                      and the final and maybe biggest flaw:
                                      Apple iOS 12 still isn't suited for power users or heavy work-flow

                                      here we go by price and spec:
                                      12.9-inch iPad Pro WiFi + Cellular -6GB RAM - 1TB - Space Gray $1,899.00
                                      (pros: Cellular + 1TB )(cons: Lower RAM + very limited OS)
                                      with type cover and pen and USB-C Digital AV Multiport Adapter and USB-C to SD Card Reader $2,335.00

                                      12.3-inch Surface Pro 6 Intel Core i7 / 16GB RAM - 512GB - Platinum $1,899.00
                                      (pros: More Powerful CPU + more RAM)(cons: Lower Storage + no Cellular)
                                      with type cover and pen and Surface USB-C to HDMI Adapter $2,198.97
                                      Still i can get surface 1TB version with all extra things for $2,398.97($63.97 more but way better)
                                      I'll Go for second one cause much more flexibility in OS and Performance and Price!

                                        • D
                                        • DD
                                        • Q0y
                                        • 07 Dec 2018

                                        DQ, 06 Dec 2018"Because average consumer won't bend their tablets intentio... moreNever heard of a bent iPad since 1st gen.

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