Bij Apples jaarlijkse onthullingen in het najaar werd de M1-soc geïntroduceerd voor MacBooks. Dat geldt vooral als je naar de ruwe processor- en gpu-snelheid kijkt. Dat is lang niet altijd het geval, waardoor de winsten bij de verschillende taken die een iPad Pro 2021 behaalt ten opzichte van een iPad Pro 2020, erg wisselend zijn. Zelfs grote ontwikkelaars horen bij Apple vaak pas een paar weken van tevoren wat eraan komt. Het duurt dan vaak nog even voordat apps geüpdatet zijn met de nieuwe hardware voor ogen. Daardoor heeft een app als Procreate bijvoorbeeld straks de mogelijkheid om meer dan 115 lagen te ondersteunen. Het apparaat moest dan bijvoorbeeld eerst opnieuw geformatteerd worden naar ExFat. Als de iPad Pro een MacBook moet vervangen, is dat zeker iets om rekening mee te houden. Als we onze stem opnemen, klinkt het geluid warm, helder en bepaald niet blikkerig, zoals we ook weleens hebben meegemaakt bij tablets. De luidsprekers lijken onveranderd ten opzichte van vorig jaar, hebben Dolby Atmos-ondersteuning en klinken erg goed. De tablets staan allemaal op dezelfde 250cd/m² helderheid en in vliegtuigmodus, behalve uiteraard dat wifi of mobiele data aanstaat. In de videotest zetten we tablets ook op vliegtuigmodus bij dezelfde helderheid en laten we ze een specifieke sdr-video herhaaldelijk afspelen.
Mocht dat niet samengaan, dan geven we voorrang aan de hoogste resolutie. De afstand tot dat stopcontact moet trouwens veel kleiner zijn dan bij een MacBook of andere laptop. Daarbij kijken we weinig naar video’s, laat staan in hdr, maar browsen we vooral veel.
Als we naar onze accutest van de MacBook Pro M1 kijken, zien we dat hij het op 180cd/m² 18,5 uur volhoudt met browsen.
iPad Pro (2021, M1) Review
The 2021 iPad Pro is powered by the same M1 chip as the 2020 MacBook Air and other recently released Macs, which is big news. I wrote articles, worked on this very review, edited photos, and only found myself absolutely needing to return to my Windows PC or iMac to play games that aren’t available on iPad OS. The model I tested features a massive 12.9-inch display that dominates the front of the unit, surrounded by a uniformly chunky bezel. Although it’s only nominally fingerprint-resistant, the oleophobic (oil-repellent) display feels nice and smooth whether operated by touch or Apple Pencil.
The camera array is in the upper left corner, and the familiar three dots of a Smart Connector are near the bottom edge. There is no thumbprint sensor, but the 2021 iPad Pro supports Face ID, which I found to work flawlessly regardless of glasses and messy hair in the morning. The bigger version of the 2021 iPad Pro comes equipped with what Apple refers to as a Liquid Retina XDR display. The sheer number of LEDs packed into the display allows for better contrast control, including absolutely abyssal blacks, right next to bright whites, and everything in between.
The smaller iPad Pro features the same True Tone display, wide color gamut, and great pixel density as the larger one, but it’s nowhere near as bright. Eager to see exactly what an M1 iPad is capable of, I immediately installed and ran benchmark apps after I finished unboxing. After successfully pairing an Xbox controller, I found the gameplay in Genshin to be every bit as buttery-smooth as I’m used to on my actual gaming rig. I ran through my Genshin dailies in no time at all and even killed my weekly world bosses, which is something I’ve never really enjoyed doing on mobile devices.
Unfortunately, despite the impressively powerful M1 chip, there’s no way the iPad Pro is going to take over as my main mobile gaming rig. While the iPad Pro feels a little clunky as a tablet with its big 12.9-inch display, I found it surprisingly competent as a laptop replacement.
The iPad Pro leaves a bit to be desired in a few areas, like file management, which makes me shy away from using it as a work machine full time. I still prefer macOS or Windows for many tasks, but the iPad Pro makes a strong case for itself when paired with a Magic Keyboard and Apple Pencil. The speakers are loud, clear, and more than high enough quality to stream music, play games, and watch TV and movies without plugging in a headset. It features 802.11ax Wi-Fi 6 with simultaneous dual-band, HT80 with MIMO, and Bluetooth 5.0, and the version I tested also supports 5G, LTE, and a handful of other wireless data standards.
I’ll stick with my LTE Google Fi SIM for now since the network is stronger where I am, but the 5G compatibility will likely come in handy down the line. Since the iPad Pro has a 12MP front camera with a 122-degree depth of field, it’s able to grab just the relevant part of the shot without losing detail.
Snapping photos and taking videos with a 12.9-inch tablet is a little awkward, but the results come out great in a variety of lighting conditions, with excellent color and clarity. Even with the powerful M1 chip and massive Retina Display to feed, the battery can still keep the iPad Pro running all day. During heavier use, editing images, and other resource-intensive tasks, I still squeezed an entire eight-hour workday out of the iPad Pro battery. During heavier use, editing images and other resource-intensive tasks, I still squeezed a full eight-hour workday out of the iPad Pro battery.
Features that showed up a year earlier in iOS, like the App Drawer and Smart Widgets, are finally available, along with a number of other welcome changes and additions. You can access the menu by tapping an ellipses icon located at the top of compatible apps, and it’s pretty intuitive. While iPadOS still has a ways to go before I’d be comfortable using the iPad Pro as a full-time laptop replacement, the multitasking improvements in this latest iteration bring it closer than ever before.
While iPadOS still has a ways to go before I’d be comfortable using the iPad Pro as a full-time laptop replacement, the multitasking improvements in this latest iteration bring it closer than ever before. The elephant in the room here is that even though iPadOS 15 brings a lot to the table and helps showcase what the new iPad Pro is truly capable of, it still isn’t macOS. So while each new version of iPadOS brings welcome improvements, you’ll still need to break out an actual laptop for any task that requires an app that’s only available on macOS.
These accessories aren’t strictly necessary, as you can use any Bluetooth keyboard, but they do transform and elevate the experience of using an iPad Pro. It isn’t future-proof in the same way as the M1 iPad Pro, but it’s still a good deal if you don’t need a bigger display or the extra power.
M1 Apple iPad Pro (2021) review: A display of brilliance
Coupled with the advances that Apple has made to iOS, the latest iPad Pro more closely resembles a full-blown laptop alternative than it ever has before. The M1 chip isn’t the only big upgrade for the 2021 iPad Pro, either, despite the fact that it looks pretty much identical to the previous model. Next on the list of upgrades is the new “Liquid Retina XDR” display, which employs Mini-LED technology to boost its HDR capabilities, improving the visuals without the cost to peak brightness and battery life that OLED often brings with it.
There’s also 5G capability for those who can’t face the inconvenience of tethering, an ultrawide front camera that can follow you around the room, Thunderbolt 3 connectivity and a new 2TB storage option, although the price of that is heart-stoppingly expensive. You get two “Pro” cameras on the rear of the tablet – one 12MP main, one 12MP ultrawide – plus a LiDAR scanner for measuring things and using augmented reality (AR) apps. It doesn’t have a Mini-LED display, a touchscreen or stylus support but, with prices starting at £999 for the 7-core GPU model with 256GB of storage, it looks a better-value alternative.
In my opinion, macOS is a better fit for everyday work as well, with full support for second monitors, an area where iOS still suffers. As for Windows laptops, there’s a huge choice available at this price, from the ultralight Samsung Galaxy Book Pro from a very reasonable £1,099 to the luxurious and powerful Dell XPS 13, which starts at £1,249 for the latest 11th Gen Intel model (Core i5, 8GB RAM 256GB storage, non-touchscreen).
The Samsung Galaxy Tab S7 Plus offers competitive hardware but Android still lacks the polish of iOS when it comes to using a tablet-based OS for work.
You have a pair of cameras on the rear in the corner, in a square, raised housing like the one on Apple’s iPhone 12 range of smartphones. Also on the rear are three metal contacts for keyboard attachment, while around the edges you’ll find a single Thunderbolt 3 port, the volume and power buttons (in the upper left corner if you have the tablet in landscape orientation) plus four speaker grilles for the iPad Pro’s quad-speaker array. Colours look good and the camera’s HDR capabilities help it cope well with extremes of bright and dark in the frame, but there’s plenty of image noise, no doubt amplified by the fact that the Centre Stage tracking only makes use of part of the sensor at any particular time.
You can compensate for that indoors by drawing the curtains but you can’t do that when you’re out and about, and that generally makes OLED displays an inferior choice in bright environments. The contrast ratio isn’t perfect as it is on OLED screens – I was able to observe the black level rising up to 0.17cd/m² in some circumstances – but combined with a peak brightness of up to 1,600cd/m² with Dolby Vision HDR material and 1,000cd/m² at full-screen (that’s genuinely, blindingly bright, by the way), it delivers a contrast ratio that’s very nearly as good. It’s also good to see that improvements to the display don’t come at the expense of battery life, as they might have done had Apple chosen to go with OLED instead of Mini-LED. We already know from the MacBooks and Mac mini that the M1 is powerful enough to drive macOS and full-blown desktop software – a leap forward only seen once in a generation – and it’s the same here, although there’s no big switch in architecture.
The main issue that would prevent me from using an iPad for work full time is that it still doesn’t have proper external monitor support. And the fact that the Sidecar feature in macOS allows MacBooks and iMacs to use an iPad as a second monitor simply rubs salt into the wound.
Putting that aside for one moment, however, it’s quite clear that the iPad Pro 12.9in is a fabulous piece of hardware and categorically the best tablet you can buy. If you buy both the tablet and keyboard, it’s considerably more expensive than the equivalent Apple MacBook Air, although the iPad admittedly has a touchscreen and a far nicer display.
iPad Pro 12.9 (2021) review
It isn’t for everyone though, on account of its large size and high price tag, and you may be better served by another more portable and affordable tablet, but make no mistake: this is the best of the best. The biggest caveats are that it’s incredibly expensive, and that it’s an overwhelmingly large device for those who don’t need a screen this big. This is slightly smaller and costs less than the 12.9-inch model, with a screen that measures just 11-inches across, but in terms of specs it’s an identical tablet. For those who can handle both the physical size and the price tag, though, the iPad Pro 2021 is an outstanding offering that boasts next-gen power, a fantastic display experience, and everything else we’ve come to love from Apple’s very best tablets. The new Liquid Retina XDR Mini LED display is gorgeous, with max brightness levels unseen on other tablets – this slate can compete with the likes of Samsung’s Galaxy Tab S7 Plus, which felt like a major upgrade for tablet screens just last year. Then there’s the power – much has been made of Apple’s M1 chipset, and this is the first time the company has included its new, own-brand silicon in an iPad.
Probably not, but if you want some truly impressive power that blows every other tablet out of the water, again the latest iPad Pro is a great choice. You likely won’t appreciate having this much power on tap unless you’re intensively gaming, using power-hungry apps, or pushing the tablet to its multi-tasking limits.
There’s a higher-capacity storage variant than ever before at 2TB, a new Center Stage camera feature that keeps you in the frame on video calls, and Thunderbolt 4 support in the USB-C slot.
Battery life is solid – in our testing we found that the tablet would last for around 10 hours on a full charge.
The iPad Pro 2021 is a phenomenal machine that’s a must-have if you’re an Apple evangelist, or if money is no object when you’re buying your next tablet. For a few weeks after launch, the iPad was pretty hard to buy due to supply shortages, but that’s long cleared up now.
The price for Apple’s top-specced 12.9-inch slate is remarkably high, and as we’ve mentioned, you’ll only want this tablet if you want the absolute best iPad on the market. The tablet has an aluminum rear and frame, and the front is glass with a scratch-resistant coating – but you’ll want to buy a case if you want to maximize protection against knocks and scrapes.
Both look attractive, but at a time when the company is expanding its color choices for the new iMac with some striking tones, it’s a shame it isn’t giving us the option of a pastel pink or purple iPad Pro. The iPad Pro 2021 12.9-inch measures 280.6 x 214.9 x 6.4mm, which means it’s a touch thicker than the last-gen tablet, although it isn’t a difference we particularly noticed in everyday use. Don’t expect a dramatically different looking iPad Pro here from Apple; instead the company has focused on improving the internals, along with the display. The display is one area where Apple has noticeably upped its game for the new iPad Pro 2021, with a top-end 12.9-inch screen.
If you’d prefer a smaller premium tablet you can buy the 2021 iPad Pro 11-inch, but the screen tech isn’t as impressive on that device. The 12.9-inch Pro’s display features new Mini LED technology that offers a crisp image as well as improved brightness. The company calls this a Liquid Retina XDR screen, and we’ve found it to provide a great viewing experience.
It’s especially effective when you’re scrolling through social media feeds, or playing an intense game and need the image on the screen to keep pace with the action.
The resolution is 2048 x 2732, which works out to 265 pixels per inch, which is similar to the quality you’d expect on a top Android tablet like the Samsung Galaxy Tab S7 Plus. This is one of the best visual experiences we’ve had on a tablet, and if display quality is an important factor in your choice of slate, the iPad Pro 2021 won’t disappoint.
If you’re a more typical iPad user, you may not notice this power jump in everyday tasks, but the new silicon is designed to make the iPad Pro a powerhouse device for those who need it, such as those who want to make music on their tablet, edit video, draw, or perform other power-intensive tasks. That’s a huge gap between the Samsung Galaxy Tab S7 Plus – which TechRadar currently ranks as the best Android tablet – that scored 2,846.
2TB of storage is the most we’ve ever seen on an iPad, and that’s impressively high if you want to be filling your slate full of video clips, audio and other files that take up a lot of space. 128GB does seem a touch limited if you’ll be filling your tablet with lots of apps, and media on top, so it’s something to be aware of before you make your purchase. There’s 5G connectivity on this tablet for the first time, which means you can make the most of next-gen internet speeds if you opt for a more expensive cellular version of the iPad Pro. This does prove a touch annoying when the product is in landscape, as the camera is no longer in the center of the display. Optional accessories are available for the iPad Pro, and the two main highlights are the existing Apple Pencil 2 as well as a new version of the company’s Magic Keyboard. We found that the iPad Pro was capable of lasting the full 10 hours that Apple claims, with us performing a variety of tasks including web browsing, streaming video, writing in a word processor, gaming, and bouncing around a variety of apps.
Unlike with Apple’s iPhone 12 series of smartphones, you do get a charger included in the box with the new iPad Pro 2021.
Fast-charging isn’t that remarkable on the iPad Pro 2021, which means it takes a little longer to charge than some Android tablets such as the Samsung Galaxy Tab S7 Plus.
If you’re looking for solid battery life that will last you a whole working day plus a bit extra, the iPad Pro 12.9-inch should suit you just fine. Your older tablet’s screen is looking tired One of the true highlights of the iPad Pro 12.9-inch is its gorgeous display.
If you just need a tablet that’s great for browsing the web, and can run a variety of apps and play most games, you probably won’t need the new iPad Pro. If this iPad Pro 12.9 (2021) review hasn’t helped you decide on which tablet to buy, perhaps these three alternatives might pique your interest.
Samsung’s Ultra-tab is a potent rival to the iPad Pro – it’s not quite as powerful but it has a bigger, better-looking screen and a stylus that you don’t have to buy separately.
Apple iPad Pro M1 & iPadOS 15 Review: 4 Months Later
About four months ago Apple released the 2021 generation of its iPad Pro lineup. Its biggest highlight is the Apple M1 chipset and the 12.9-inch tablet has gotten a new XDR display. Apple also released a beta of iPadOS 15 recently which works with all current iPads. Let’s start with the internal hardware and performance because that’s the biggest difference compared to last year.
Inside both iPad Pro’s sits the same Apple M1 chipset that also powers the newest MacBook Air and iMac. That Apple M1 chipset is crazy fast and beats the last generation and all current Android and Windows tablets by a huge margin. In my Adobe Premiere Rush render test, it’s faster than all competitors but beats the previous iPad Pro by a small amount only. All demanding games I tried like PUBG Mobile, Call Of Duty, Need For Speed, and Genshin Impact perform very smoothly.
And I’m sure this iPad Pro will be able to handle all demanding games for years to come since it’s so much more powerful than its predecessors and iPhones. But, to be honest, I didn’t notice any performance difference compared to last year’s tablets. Even when playing demanding games, you can go back right where you left the last time in Lightroom, Microsoft Office, Safari, and so on. It’s the best standard LCD I reviewed, is very sharp with a resolution of 2388 x 1668 pixels, and with 600 nits, it’s brighter than almost all competitors.
The screen is fully laminated, has coatings to prevent fingerprints, and just looks great. Especially when comparing it to a standard LCD directly, blacks of this XDR display do look much deeper, just like on an OLED.
Many users reported a kind of blooming effect that’s visible in some scenarios – when having white writing on a black background, for instance. You can see this blooming when setting the tablet to dark mode and writing in the notes app with a bright color, for instance.
But for that to be the case, you’ve got to watch a movie in the dark with the screen set to maximum brightness. On both screens, you can use the same Apple Pencil 2 which they introduced a couple of generations ago.
The newest version of iPadOS brings a couple of nice features to all iPads. In some apps like Apple Notes, you can also open a new window in the middle when using the split-screen view.
Inside every app, you can quickly start a new note by swiping with the Pencil from the bottom left corner. Both iPad Pro’s offer a modern design and a very premium-feeling built quality.
Sadly, there’s no headphone jack anymore and as usual, you can’t expand the storage using a microSD either. On a positive note, I love that Apple is using a USB C port on the iPad Pro because that means you can connect almost every accessory that works with a standard laptop.
It’s still placed on the side when holding it in landscape orientation which is not ideal for video chats. We get the same 12-megapixel main camera with a 10-megapixel ultra-wide shooter, a LED flash, and the LiDAR sensor. For both iPad Pro variants, Apple is selling two different kinds of keyboards. The Smart Keyboard Folio is the best choice if you want to work with your tablet occasionally only.
It’s a slim cover that protects the front and back of the tablet and is connected magnetically. That means that the USB C port of the iPad Pro is free to be used with other accessories when using this keyboard dock.
So, the Apple Magic Keyboard is a great choice if you often want to get some serious work done with your iPad Pro. In my standard battery test, both the 11-inch and 12.9-inch iPad Pro got a runtime of 6 hours.
The software is a great reason to get an iPad because developers continue to build better and more tablet-optimized apps for iPadOS. Both iPad Pro’s are very expensive, especially with the accessories, and unless you use it as a work device, it’s probably not worth it for you to spend that much on a tablet. Some of the premium features are missing but it has a great 10.9-inch screen and it too is faster than all Android tablets. They are the fastest Android tablets you can buy, the screens support 120Hz as well, and the fantastic S Pen stylus is included.
Usually, and especially when factoring in the pens, both Samsung tablets are quite a bit cheaper than the iPad Pro.
M1 iPad Pro Review: More Powerful, More Functional, Still Frustrating
The last few generations of iPad Pro were already powerful enough for serious photo editing, but the benefits of such a small and versatile device have never quite outweighed the cons of a tablet-based workflow. The 2021 iPad Pro — with its M1 SOC, up to 16GB of RAM, Thunderbolt support, and mind-blowing miniLED display — makes the best case yet for ditching your laptop. Even compared to last year’s blazing fast model with A12Z Bionic, the 2021 iPad Pro is 30 to 40 percent faster across the board and more capable than ever. Apple has given the guts of this iPad Pro a huge overhaul, making an already powerful device downright ridiculous for a tablet. There is still a little bit of blooming — which is somewhat unavoidable unless and until Apple makes the jump to OLED — but thanks to the 2,500-plus local dimming zones, it’s very minimal and not remotely noticeable in real-world use. We tested the color gamut of the display manually, using an i1Display Pro Plus to analyze two different test charts patch-by-patch and found the gamut coverage was ever-so-slightly improved over the 2020 iPad Pro, with blacks that did indeed hit true black: 0, 0, 0 in the CIE L*a*b color space according to our colorimeter. It’s rumored Apple will bring miniLED technology to the Mac with the release of the anticipated 14- and 16-inch MacBook Pros later this year, but honestly, I feel like this display makes more sense on the iPad — first and foremost a media consumption device — than on a laptop computer meant for productivity. Most photographers will rarely use the HDR capabilities as part of their editing workflow, but anybody can appreciate this incredible screen by using it to watch Dolby Vision content. Finally, it’s also worth mentioning that you can hook up the iPad Pro to an external display, just like last year’s model. But sadly, you’re limited to mirroring your iPad’s screen, making this feature (in my mind) totally useless for most applications.
There are a few apps that will let you take advantage of the full secondary display to make some part of the app full screen — Filmic Pro lets you view the video preview window this way — but for the most part, you’re limited to a weird, letterboxed mirror of your 4:3 aspect ratio iPad screen. The other major change from 2020 is the upgrade to the M1 chip, which is definitely overkill for a tablet that isn’t able to — and probably never will — run a desktop operating system.
This is particularly relevant for creatives, who may be uploading thousands of photos using an SD card reader or backing up high-res footage to an SSD. But as we found out in testing, that doesn’t mean the iPad Pro will perform on par with a proper M1 Mac. Of course, the tablet was using the iPad version of Lightroom CC while the Macs were using the desktop variant, but the two programs look and act very similarly and I don’t think this affected overall performance very much.
I wasn’t even able to benchmark performance, since heavy-duty tasks like Panorama Merge and most Adobe Sensei features haven’t yet been ported over.
There’s still no Pen tool, no smart sharpening, no RAW file support, most filters are AWOL, magnetic guides are missing, and you can’t even scale or crop images by choosing the size or aspect ratio. For now, using the M1 iPad Pro to edit the photos for this review felt like being given the keys a Porsche and then being told you couldn’t shift out of second gear. Whether it’s Adobe’s apps, Apple’s operating system, or some combination of the above, I couldn’t help but feel cheated, and more than a little frustrated, by the whole experience. Ever since the 2021 iPad Pro was announced, the tech world has been buzzing with hope for a “total overhaul” of iPadOS that would allow the new tablet to take full advantage of the new SOC.
This is one of those situations where showing is much easier than telling, so check out this video from MacRumors for a great, speedy overview of the new multitasking features: The whole system feels much more like opening up virtual desktops in Mission Control on the Mac, and should make switching between apps or using them alongside one another a lot easier once iPadOS 15 is released. This is especially relevant for M1 iPad users because the additional RAM makes it possible to run many apps at the same time without ever pushing anything out of memory. In its current state, Files includes a few little annoyances that are particularly painful if you’re moving around large folders or switching between multiple machines.
It’s not a proper update to a full-blown “Finder” or “File Explorer,” but it should make life a little easier for professional workflows. Research, writing, editing photos in Lightroom, creating the header image in Photoshop, formatting the post inside our CMS—I tried to do it all on the iPad to see if it could replace my laptop in a pinch. The mobile version of Photoshop is missing basic features I rely on, the file management system needs a little work before it can be used for serious photo and video file management, and if the tasks get really heavy, there’s the frustrating limitation that no app is ever allowed to use more than 5GB of RAM, even though the 1TB and 2TB models put a whopping 16GB at your fingertips. In many ways, the M1 iPad Pro is just an M1 MacBook Air with a nicer screen, a touch-based operating system, and a bunch of limitations. It earns you a ton of performance, Thunderbolt support, more RAM (see above for limitations), and — if you go with the bigger screen — an incredible HDR display. If you do own last year’s model, I would only upgrade if you’re using your current iPad for lots of heavy-duty photo editing and even then, I don’t think it’s worth it unless you get the 12.9-inch with the Liquid Retina XDR display.
iPad Pro (2021) review: M1 processor, Mini LED screen, and more
It starts at $1,099 for a 128GB version, but increased storage and accessories like a keyboard or the Apple Pencil can shoot the price up fairly quickly. The benefit of OLED is that the black pixels are not lit at all, meaning you get superb contrast, but they are relatively expensive and don’t get as bright. Mini LED, the technology powering the 12.9-inch iPad Pro display, is designed to bring the LCD panel as close as possible to OLED’s contrast and black levels. (“Liquid Retina,” as far as Apple has ever told us, refers to the Apple-specific method of making round corners on an LCD.)
When you do that, the iPad Pro kicks into a different HDR mode (or in Apple’s parlance, XDR, for “Extreme Dynamic Range”) that really is stunning. The joke I’ve been telling people is that the display is so good that Tenet actually makes sense when you watch it on this iPad Pro.
I am not a display quality enthusiast, but this screen is functionally equivalent to a high-end OLED TV to my eyes, especially in a dark room. It just does a better job showing fine detail in situations where dark and light elements get mixed together, like with hair or a building reflecting sunlight.
Putting either the Kindle app or Apple Books into dark mode and viewing them in a near-pitch black room, I noticed a strange gray haze around all of the text blocks. For me, the quality of the display when watching video on the 12.9-inch iPad Pro is impressive, but it’s also not at the top of my list of priorities when picking a computer. Both the RAM and the M1 processor are specs that won’t make an appreciable difference to the vast majority of iPad users. On the Mac, I can easily change settings to let my computer know to play audio out of its own speakers since I don’t have anything hooked up to the dock for sound.
Seemingly every new iPad Pro inspires an admittedly exhausting but also necessary discussion about whether or not iPadOS is actually capable enough to justify the price of the hardware that runs it. To me, the biggest difference between the Mac and the iPad at this point isn’t the touchscreen, it’s Apple’s approach to the operating system. That’s noble, but it means the company has committed itself to reinventing a lot of wheels in computing: files, peripheral support, multi-window interfaces, and all the rest have to be re-thought and re-done. The iPad’s “windowing” system takes some getting used to and has its limitations, but it can be a joy to use and makes organizing your digital stuff a bit easier.
It works in any video conferencing app without the need for setup and it performs very well, better than similar features on smart displays like the Echo Show or Facebook Portal. I’d love it even more if the front-facing cameras on the iPad Pro weren’t still in the wrong spot when attached to a keyboard — off to the side instead of centered on top. One more note: Apple has said that the original 12.9-inch Magic Keyboard “may not precisely fit when closed” as the new iPad Pro is slightly thicker. The company clearly intends this to be a single-user device, despite the fact that it would theoretically make for an even more compelling family computer than the pastel-colored iMacs that share the same processor. But to give Apple the benefit of the doubt here, if you’re looking strictly at the iPad Pro as a work machine, you’re probably missing the point. It’s easy to take for granted, but the hardware in this tablet really is amazing: Face ID, dual rear cameras that are quite good and paired with LiDAR, quad speakers with superb sound and decent volume, excellent microphones, support for the Apple Pencil, the best screen you can get on a portable device, and on and on.
Except for a slim minority of people, the justification for getting an iPad Pro isn’t its feature set, it’s the experience of using a well-made, high-end object.
Review: iPad Pro 2021 met M1-chip, sneller dan ooit
Apple heeft nog nooit zoveel iPads verkocht en thuiswerken is daarin een belangrijke factor geweest. De 2021-versie van de iPad Pro zorgt nog meer voor een desktop-ervaring: er zit zelfs een desktop-processor in, die zoveel power geeft dat veel mensen zich zullen afvragen of ze dat ooit nodig zullen hebben.
Wij hebben de 12,9-inch iPad Pro getest (verkrijgbaar vanaf €1.219), met het nieuwe Liquid Retina XDR-scherm, 5G en een verbeterde camera. We hebben de iPad Pro 2021 met M1-chip uitgebreid getest om te kijken hoe het bevalt.
De iPad Pro houdt ook in 2021 hetzelfde design met platte randen dat al sinds 2018 wordt gebruikt voor dit model. Maar als Apple doorgaat met steeds een klein beetje gewicht toevoegen kan het wel een probleem worden voor mensen die de iPad Pro met Magic Keyboard willen meenemen als laptopvervanger.
Ondanks de vrij hoge aanschafprijs is het Magic Keyboard toch echt wel een must is als je veel op deze iPad wil gaan typen. Eventueel zou je kunnen kiezen voor goedkopere alternatieven zoals die van Logitech en Brydge.
Daarvoor kun je beter het standaardmodel of de mini nemen, die qua gewicht ruim onder 1 kilo blijven. True Tone, P3 kleurenbereik en andere specs die we al op de eerdere modellen zagen Er is al veel over geschreven en we waren dan ook extra benieuwd hoe dit in de praktijk uitpakt. Dit is te danken aan meer dan 10.000 ledjes die achter het scherm zijn geplaatst.
De iPad Pro is duidelijk helderder qua scherm, maar in felle zon is het nog steeds niet moeiteloos af te lezen. Voor mensen die de iPad als belangrijkste videoscherm gebruiken en detailwerk met typografie, productdesign, fotografie of iets dergelijks willen doen, heeft het zeker zin om te upgraden. Het zal wel even duren voordat andere modellen uit de iPad-familie dit scherm krijgen. Eerste iPad met Center Stage (geldt ook voor 11-inch), waardoor je altijd in beeld bent
Dit is te danken aan de verbetrde 12-megapixel camera die een blikveld van 122 graden heeft. Hoofd en schouders zijn daarbij automatisch in beeld, op een manier die er nog flatteus uit ziet.
Deze functie komt op het juiste moment: videobellen is dagelijkse realiteit geworden voor veel mensen en beter in beeld blijven is een nuttige toevoeging. Zit je altijd stil op een bureaustoel met collega’s te bellen, dan voegt dit niet zoveel toe.
We zouden dan ook graag zien dat dit naar dé familietablet bij uitstek komt: de standaard iPad.
Dit is dezelfde chip die je in de iMac, MacBooks en Mac mini vindt. Met die wetenschap kun je alleen niet zoveel, aangezien er nog genoeg onduidelijkheden over blijven. Qua grafische performance ligt de Metal-core score met 71% ook flink hoger dan het vorige model.
Final Cut Pro is er nog niet voor de iPad, maar met deze processor kan dat zomaar eens realiteit worden. Het openen, bewerken en opslaan van grote bestanden leverde in de genoemde apps geen vertraging op.
Ook bekabeld internetten gaat sneller, want je haalt met Thunderbolt snelheden tot 10 Gbps via Ethernet. Bij veel providers kun je ook een duo-simkaart aanvragen (dus geen dualsim, maar twee simkaarten die op hetzelfde nummer staan geregistreerd).
Mobiele dataverbindingen zijn tegenwoordig zo snel, dat je probleemloos buitenshuis verder kunt werken. Maar omdat in Nederland de snelheden van 4G en 5G dicht bij elkaar liggen heeft het nog niet zoveel zin om dan speciaal voor een iPad met 5G te kiezen. De verversingsfrequentie van 120 Hz (ProMotion) is ook hetzelfde, dus veel meer woorden hoeven we hier niet aan te besteden. De iPad Pro biedt fenomenale performance en wordt qua hardware elk jaar weer krachtiger, maar iPadOS maakt minder grote sprongen. Maar na ruim tien jaar tegen dezelfde gebruikersinterface met icoontjes te hebben aangekeken is het wel eens tijd voor iets radicaal nieuws. Widgets op je startscherm, meer mogelijkheden om in te delen en beter bestandsbeheer zouden daarbij al een sprong vooruit zijn. Maar toch ben je met veelvoorkomende taken net iets langer op de iPad bezig. Wisselen tussen apps gaat net iets lastiger, omdat je ze niet allemaal in beeld hebt (zoals op de Mac).
Twee Safari-pagina’s tegelijk geopend hebben kan wel, maar telkens merkte ik dat het op de MacBook nét iets vlotter en intuïtiever gaat. Zij maken de grootste sprong in performance en het beter afleesbare scherm is dan mooi meegenomen. Ook professionals die grafisch en ander visueel werk doen hebben veel aan het nieuwe scherm.
USB-C-poort biedt meer snelheid dankzij Thunderbolt Nadelen – iPadOS is nog steeds de grootste beperking
Wat hardware betreft is de iPad Pro met M1-chip perfect voorbereid op elke taak die je erop zou willen uitvoeren. Maar het wordt pas echt interessant als op beide platformen dezelfde software kan draaien, zonder beperkingen.
Ook dit jaar vormt iPadOS nog steeds de grootste rem op het geheel. Schrik je terug van de prijs, dan zullen veel mensen ook nog steeds tevreden zijn met de iPad Pro uit 2018 en 2020, die je momenteel met extra korting kunt kopen. 37 SHARES Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Telegram Linkedin Pocket Flipboard Print Mail Reddit Buffer Skype
Apple iPad Pro M1 review: The definitive showstopper
This time it has made a bold attempt to push it close to a MacBook by fitting in the M1 chip found in the flagship Apple computers. The iPad has been a superior tablet for years now but the M1 chip promises to — pardon the cliché — take it to the next level. The bezels are thin and Apple gets the rounded corners spot on to give it a sleek yet industrial look. If you don’t buy the Magic Keyboard then do opt for a cover just to protect the all-glass front.
If you are doing what ‘regular’ iPad users do, like say browsing the internet, streaming content, or even writing stuff, you won’t feel a dramatic difference. Take the case of editing a video in Affinity Designer and the iPad Pro despite it being a heavy-duty task hardly breaks into a sweat.
It’s not an easy feat to put a processor that’s found in a Mac into a tablet and replicate the same results. By putting the M1 processor, Apple has for the very first time — except for Macs — told people how much RAM the iPad has. As we said the last year’s iPad Pro was a remarkably fast tablet (we don’t know the RAM on it) but this one shines more especially when it comes to gaming. There’s an app called the Animation Desk which is designed for the iPad on which you can creatively edit images. A word of advice: the iPad Pro is a wonderful tablet but it’s worth buying only if you spring that extra cash on the Magic Keyboard. You may happily skip on the Apple Pencil — unless you’re an illustrator, photographer or an artist — but the Magic Keyboard is a must buy.
Apple hasn’t included the headphone jack so your choices are a dongle or AirPods and other wireless earbuds. It’s not their fault as Apple pushes the iPad as a computer and iPadOS isn’t a desktop operating system. iPadOS wasn’t designed to function as a desktop OS and a critique of Apple is that one can’t really use it as a 2-in-1 device like the Surface Pro. Even if you don’t buy the Magic Keyboard, iPadOS is designed to work seamless just using the touchscreen on the iPads.
There are multiple flaws with the iPadOS — file management still is a problem area — but with each passing year it will get close to macOS. Center Stage uses machine learning and relies on the M1 processor to frame the shot better for FaceTime calls.
The LidDAR scanner is a fun tool for AR-based apps and we hope more developers build on it to maximise the potential of the technology. For a device that’s being pitched as your “next computer”, the length of the cable is ridiculously small if you want to work and charge the iPad at the same time. And if you are an artist, video professional or even a hardcore gamer, then opt for the 12.9-inch iPad Pro M1 — better display and the bigger screen size is the clincher.
The 11-inch iPad Pro is suitable for most people though as its slightly easier to carry around and the screen size is sufficient. Just for your information, the iPad Pro’s top-end variant with all the bells and whistles costs a whopping Rs 2.5 lakh! It comes very close but the old school buyers are more likely to buy the MacBook than the iPad Pro, which is somewhat of a pity as this could really be your next computer.
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