The 2021 iPad Pro 12.9 M1 looks almost identical to its predecessor, but there are several key changes that make it an especially interesting upgrade for photo and video work. A workstation-class processor, an ultra-bright HDR screen, a Thunderbolt 4 port for rapid file transfer, and the option of 5G connectivity – all in a slim and light body – combine to make it one of the most desirable ways to view and quickly process your photos – and one of the best tablets for photo editing (opens in new tab) overall. It’s not just for photographers, though – it’s generally the best tablet overall, though it has a pro-level price to match its name, and the features that make it so expensive are totally overkill for most people. The other flashiest feature is the HDR display, which is capable of going much brighter than previous models, while also offering better control in dark areas.
There’s still a single USB Type-C port, but it’s now been upgraded to both USB 4 and Thunderbolt 4 – the latter makes it even more flexible for connecting to external storage, and when combined with internal storage that’s much faster, means big file transfers to and from the iPad are a cinch. The twin rear cameras haven’t been altered much, and you still get both a wide-angle and ultra-wide, but now with better processing from the more powerful M1 chip.
If you’re in an area with coverage, this makes shooting, transferring to iPad, quickly editing and uploading to the cloud an incredibly fast experience. You’re still talking 10 hours of battery life under normal use, though more intensive applications (and pushing the HDR screen to its limits) will certainly bring that down.
In normal use, the new iPad Pro’s screen hits 600 nits of brightness, just like the previous model, so in many apps, the difference is subtle. That applies to video you’ve recorded that you want to import to the iPad too – it might include enough information, but you’ll need to check if your workflow would actually support showing it all on the screen.
On top of this, you’ve got the same DCI P3 color gamut support and supreme out-of-the-box accuracy we’re used to from Apple, and the resolution of 2732×2048 (264 pixels per inch) looks beautifully sharp at usual viewing distances. There certainly are processes that the M1 could save you a lot of time on, such as speedier batch exports, but it will depend on your workflow whether the power here will actually improve things for you today.
The iPad Pro 2021 takes nice photos, with good dynamic range, pleasing detail that isn’t oversharpened, and the mercifully realistic colors that Apple currently favors in its processing. It’s certainly not up to what the iPhone 12 Pro Max (opens in new tab) can do, and it’s a real shame there’s no ProRaw option, since there’s certainly enough power and RAM to handle it, but if you find yourself faced with a great shot, you can do far worse.
It is the premium tablet for creative pros that you’d want, and its price is thoroughly reasonable when you look at what a separate display with these features or a computer of this power would cost. So if you’re using it mostly as a regular tablet, it remains the best in the business, but do consider whether the 10.9in iPad Air (2020) (opens in new tab) actually would do the work you need for a lot less.
The M1 iPad Pro Cameras – Lux
It’s a bit of a tradition here at Lux to take a deep dive into the latest iPhone camera hardware. The latest iPad Pro packs a new, faster M1 chip, a micro-LED screen on the 12.9 inch version, but most intriguing of all… a new front camera system and a feature called Center Stage.
In taking a quick look at what’s new, we’ll share a discovery: your iPad has a superpower that not even Apple has told you about. This is a similar ‘upgrade’ as last year, when I also did not see significant changes apart from the addition of a new ultra-wide angle lens on the rear.
Whether that is because the sensor isn’t up to snuff or Apple is ruthlessly prioritizing their engineering hours is something we don’t know. Outside of missing that Portrait and Night mode, you will find that compared to your iPhone the iPad rear cameras have slightly different fields of view. And no, we didn’t forget about last year’s newcomer: the LIDAR module, through some quick comparison testing, does not seem to have changed. If anything, iPads are probably used more for FaceTime and video calls than photography, and after the pandemic stay-home year of 2020 I’d argue prioritizing a device’s video-calling capabilities is quite understandable. The result is slightly less sharp, but exactly the kind of buttery smooth software-based solution that Apple would want for its Center Stage feature that tracks its subject across a room.
Even with the sensor being utterly tiny, Apple uses its usual computational magic to get a good image out of it, and adds some correction to deal with the distortion that such an ultra-wide lens brings.
This image of Marques Brownlee, aka MKBHD, was making the rounds on Twitter with the hashtag #ShotoniPad There were jokes aplenty about the ultra-wide distortion on the camera, but this is all a fairly cheap jab at what is really a very impressive bit of software.
It’s a classic story of Apple: they did a very clever thing that can only really be achieved when hardware and software work very tightly together. I loved putting the iPhone 12 Pro Max through its paces and seeing what you can get out of it without (most of) Apple’s smart computational photography tricks.
When it comes to squeezing the best possible shot out of a sensor with software, Apple must surely be leading the pack.
One final note: the ultra-wide camera combines a wider field of view with regular TrueDepth infrared coverage.
One of the reasons iPads might focus closer than your iPhone is that Apple doesn’t have to worry about the device fitting in your pocket. Interestingly, with the LIDAR sensor assisting autofocus it can sometimes be a bit hard to try this fun attribute of the camera — With Halide for iPad, you can drop into manual focus mode and to get ultra-close-ups of everyday things.
The new iPad Pro feels like the powerful tablet Apple always wanted to make, but creative professionals will definitely get the most out of its features
The iPad Pro has always been Apple’s most powerful tablet, but the company is taking that approach to the next level with its latest model. Compared to last year’s version, the 11-inch iPad Pro I’ve been testing also comes with optional 5G connectivity, a better webcam with Apple’s new Center Stage feature, Thunderbolt support, and choices for more storage capacity.
Apple iPad Pro Specifications Display 11 inches, 2,388 x 1,668 resolution, 120Hz refresh rate Processor Apple M1 with 8-core central processing unit, 8-core graphics processing unit Main Camera 12-megapixel wide, 10-megapixel ultra-wide Front Camera 12-megapixels with Center Stage Connectivity Wi-Fi 6, optional 5G, Bluetooth 5.0 Ports USB 4/Thunderbolt, Apple Smart Connector Battery Life Estimated up to 10 hours Storage 128GB, 256GB, 512GB, 1TB, or 2TB RAM 8GB or 16GB Authentication Face ID Colors Silver or Space Gray That’s important for a device like this, which Apple has been pitching towards photographers, video editors, artists, designers, architects, and really anyone who works with 3D renderings. Although I’ve always appreciated the iPad Pro for its speed, battery life, and compact design, I’ve never really understood Apple’s vision for it as a new type of computer. Computers that run on a desktop operating system like macOS or Windows are still much easier to navigate for juggling multiple workflows.
I’m able to get most of my work done (including writing this review) on the iPad Pro by displaying Google Docs and Slack in Split View and keeping my email handy in Slide Over. However, the minute I need to dig into another app or open a different Google Doc, I find myself missing my laptop.
That means the iPad Pro can get expensive pretty quickly, considering the newest Apple Pencil costs $129 and the Magic Keyboard starts at $299. Both the 11-inch and 12.9-inch models now support Thunderbolt, making it possible to connect the iPad to more peripherals, like high-resolution displays, USB-C hubs, and directly to dedicated cameras. During FaceTime calls, the camera automatically zooms in slowly to frame my face more evenly and follows me as I slide over to the left and right. Some other devices like Amazon’s newest Echo Show 10 and Logitech’s QuickCam webcam use motors to track subjects and keep them in frame, but having it built right into the iPad makes it feel more useful and ubiquitous.
Battery life is generally similar between all three tablets based on my testing, but the new 11-inch iPad Pro lasted the longest. When I played a 1080p video on YouTube with the screen set at its maximum brightness, the new 11-inch iPad Pro lasted for almost six hours. If you’re looking to spend around $1,000 for a work device and have a more traditional workflow that involves doing a lot of research in a web browser, managing spreadsheets, and writing papers, the MacBook Air is a better choice.
It still offers the long battery life and fast performance that comes with the M1 chip, but runs on Apple’s desktop software that’s better for multitasking. The Surface Pro 7 has a similarly compact and ultra-portable design, but runs on Windows instead of a mobile-first operating system. But it’s expensive, making it only really worth it for creative professionals that need top-notch performance and portability for working with large video and photo files in small offices or on the go. Pros: Great selfie camera that keeps you in frame, fast performance, long battery life
iPad Pro 2021 (11-inch) Review: M1 power, iPadOS drawbacks
Speaking of unlocking the tablet, it’s worth noting that unlike the 2020 iPad Air, there isn’t a fingerprint (Touch ID) option here. Thanks to the speaker placement, the stereo separation is great, meaning you can clearly hear which sounds are coming from the left and which – from the right. But don’t get tricked – iPadOS 14 is arguably still just a glorified smartphone operating system running resized iPhone apps. There’s no lag to be seen, and as mentioned earlier, students are particularly likely to enjoy the iPadOS experience over Windows or Android, as it’s smooth even on the cheapest iPad.
In iPadOS 14.5 the homepage can consist of a Today View panel on the left – which shows your chosen widgets, such as the date and weather. Those include iMovie, for basic video editing, GarageBand, which is a really fun music-making app, Pages, for writing documents and more. If you’re a light user you’ll easily reach two or more days until needing to charge, as the standby power management on iPads is pretty solid. In any case, this is a great full-day tablet, and if you’re using it for school, you needn’t worry about bringing a charger, so long as you charge it overnight. Other than that, the iPad Air 4 features a nearly identical premium build, albeit with just a single camera, slightly thicker bezels around the display and of course, it is powered by the older Apple A14 processor. Thanks to the speaker placement, the stereo separation is great, meaning you can clearly hear which sounds are coming from the left and which – from the right.
Alternatively, you’ll need to do what Apple expects us to do and pick up some Bluetooth headphones such as the Cupertino company’s own AirPods This is where things get questionable. But don’t get tricked – iPadOS 14 is arguably still just a glorified smartphone operating system running resized iPhone apps.Very few programs, such as the LumaFusion video editor or the Procreate drawing app actually feel like desktop-grade software.
Those include iMovie, for basic video editing, GarageBand, which is a really fun music-making app, Pages, for writing documents and more. I’ve heard reports that the old Magic Keyboard for iPad fits on this 2021 model too, but surely there has to be a reason for Apple to release a new one. Numbers aside, the tablet feels solid, fairly lightweight and thin.Unlike the larger 12.9-inch 2021 iPad Pro, this 11-inch model has essentially the same Liquid Retina LCD display as last year’s version. The latter is just Apple’s way of saying that this screen goes up to a super smooth 120Hz refresh rate, meaning very smooth interface animations and seemingly quicker response times when interacting with the tablet, be it with your finger or an Apple Pencil.The faster refresh rate is something you don’t get on the base iPad and iPad Air models, and coming from the 2020 iPad Air, I can definitely notice and appreciate that this display is twice as smooth.In terms of display colors and sharpness – not a noticeable change from last year – but that’s not to say we don’t get nice and vivid colors (P3 Wide color gamut), reasonable sharpness and even respectable blacks when watching in the dark, which is particularly impressive for an LCD screen.However, we don’t get perfect pitch blacks as we do on OLED displays, of course.
In this aspect, the 12.9-inch iPad Pro with its XDR mini-LED screen should perform better.And as for brightness, this laminated display gets super bright (600 nits) so it should never be a problem to see it even in sunlight.On the back of the 2021 iPad Pro we have a familiar camera module holding a wide 12MP main camera and an ultra wide 10MP one with a 125° FOV (field of view). Under those two we have a LiDAR sensor, a flash and a microphone.The 12MP front camera has a 122° FOV and supports Portrait Mode, with blurred backgrounds and lighting effects that can be switched on the fly.
There’s even a “stage light” option, which attempts to remove your background instead of blurring it, but it’s not perfect, as it results in soft edges around your face and body. And you should be able to take photos of objects such as buildings or statues without having to step back much to fit the entire thing in the frame, if at all.Overall, although this camera setup can’t beat a flagship phone, photos can come out really nice and sharp in good lighting conditions.This 2021 iPad Pro can record videos at up to 4K resolution and 60 FPS (frames per second). I reckon that even some professional YouTubers will find it convenient and acceptable to film, edit and publish their videos entirely from this iPad Pro.
iPad Pro: Time to Buy? Reviews, Issues, More
The Magic Keyboard attaches to the iPad Pro through a magnetic connection, and it features cantilevered hinges that allow it to work on a desk or on a lap. A USB-C port is included on the Magic Keyboard for passthrough inductive USB-C charging capabilities, leaving the iPad Pro’s Thunderbolt port free for accessories like external drives and displays.
2021 iPad Pro models work with the second-generation Apple Pencil that was introduced in 2018. It features advanced palm rejection, extreme precision, and imperceptible lag for a paper-like writing experience that’s unmatched by third-party styluses.
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