Since the different-sized models perform almost identically, the only real difference for would-be buyers is the display size (and some added weight). The resolution of the display is different, but that’s essentially only to account for the extra screen real estate. And as a result of the switch, the bezels around the display are around a third of an inch, which looks slim and stylish on a tablet-sized device. Both models measure 0.23 inches deep, resulting in a device that feels like a pane of glass in your hand.
The larger device may offer a more immersive experience for entertainment like watching movies, but it verges on being unwieldy, and playing games in bed puts serious limits on how you can hold it. That said, the larger screen may the better choice for artists and graphic designers—especially those who plan on utilizing the Apple Pencil.
As Apple begins building ARM-based chips for its Macbook lineup, many expect the company to also port over software like Final Cut Pro and Logic Pro to the iPad, which could take a toll on performance. What’s easy to judge is the ease in which the 2020 iPad Pro handled heavy multitasking across a range of productivity apps. The device was easily able to handle games like Call of Duty: Mobile and Asphalt 9, retaining smooth performance and fast load times.
The iPad Pro’s battery life is pretty good, though it probably won’t break any records. Starting a particularly long workday at 7 a.m., by 5 p.m. the device still had 19% of its battery remaining with the screen set to 50% brightness. All of the iPad Pro models offer lovely displays, despite the fact that they retain the older LCD technology, instead of adopting the newer OLED technology found on modern iPhone models and high-end TVs.
The increase over the 60 Hz refresh rate of other iPads will be especially notable to sharp-eyed viewers, but anyone can appreciate the upgrade, offering smooth animations and buttery motion response. When watching movies, colors are bright and vivid, while black levels are nice and deep, despite the lack of OLED. That’s helpful for more than watching movies though—graphic designers, photographers, and other display-oriented professionals will love what the iPad Pro has to offer. It’s built from a pleasant, rubberized material that’s soft to the touch, yet strong enough to protect the device from scratches.
One of the best things about the keyboard design is that it’s super easy to attach and detach the tablet magnetically, which essentially acts as a snazzy case. It is a bit small, but it’s hard to imagine how Apple could have made it bigger without compromising key size—and that’s a trade-off I agree with.
I’m far from a graphic designer, but I still like to draw, and the second-generation Apple Pencil feels natural and responsive. The quick commands are super helpful, allowing you to do things like switch tools by simply double-tapping on the Pencil. As mentioned, the 2020 iPad Pro has a LiDAR sensor built right into it, and the result is that the device can detect objects in 3D.
The only downside to this is that developers really have yet to adopt the LiDAR sensor to its fullest, and the apps that do support it are very limited.
Rumors indicate that Apple will be adding the sensor to the iPhone in late 2020, and if that happens, expect a ton more apps. The iPad Pro is easily the best tablet on the market right now, and you’ll have to pay for that kind of performance.
For example, while the iPad Pro can handle the basics of blogging platform WordPress, any complicated setup will likely make you pull your hair out. This will probably improve over time, and may get a lot better in iPadOS 14, but you generally shouldn’t buy a device based on future software updates.
It’s more powerful than ever, has a beautifully modern design, works with some awesome accessories, and yes, could arguably replace your laptop. It doesn’t offer the same performance, design, or features, but it’s still great for browsing the web, using social media, and most mobile games.
You won’t get the same display or design, but for performance alone, it’s a great option at its lower $499 price point. There’s little competition on the Android side of things, but the Galaxy Tab S6 is probably your best bet if you’re firmly in Google’s ecosystem, though you won’t reach the same performance.
Alternatively, if a desktop operating system is important to you, then the Microsoft Surface Pro 7 is a great option, though neither the battery life nor the display match the iPad. All that said, if you want the complete package and can afford to spend $799+, you’ll fall instantly in love with the 2020 iPad Pro.
iPad Pro
So you can create photorealistic 3D designs, build intricate AR models and play games with console‑quality graphics at high frame rates faster than ever.
iPad Pro – Why iPad
Whether you’re working on a project, expressing your creativity, or playing an immersive game, iPad is a fun and powerful way to get it done.
iPad Pro (2022) vs. iPad (2022): Should you invest in the ‘Pro’?
We’ll go through the differences in specs, price, and features to help clear up this murky picture, and to ensure that you get the best tablet for your needs, without wasting cash on capabilities you’ll never use. iPad Pro (2022) iPad (2022) Display 10.9-inch or 12.9-inch IPS running at 2388 x 1668 10.9-inch IPS running at 2360 x 1640 Apple Pencil support Supports Apple Pencil (2nd gen) Supports Apple Pencil (1st gen) Processor M2 A14 Bionic Physical connectivity USB-4 (Thunderbolt) charging and data port, Nano-SIM tray (cellular models), magnetic connector USB-C charging and data port, Nano-SIM tray (cellular models) Storage options 128GB, 256GB, 512GB, 1TB, 2TB 64GB, 256GB Cameras 12MP wide and 10MP ultrawide rear cameras; 12MP ultra-wide front camera with TrueDepth support This is especially true for creatives that can exploit the Apple Pencil’s excellent stylus input, and take advantage of the complete viability of high-end video and image editing powered by the, let’s be honest, entirely overkill M2 core.
While both of these models feature similar resolution front-facing cameras and a 12MP rear wide-angle lens, the iPad Pro features a second 10MP ultrawide rear camera and a front-facing shooter that supports TrueDepth technology for FaceID unlocks and other capabilities. This streamlined workflow can save you time and enough cash to make up for the iPad Pro’s price difference. Not only does the iPad Pro offer the largest screen size in its 12.9-inch model but it also features the best resolution (2732 x 2048 at that size) and Apple’s ProMotion technology, which boosts the display’s refresh rate to provide much smoother movement when needed, or battery-saving lower refresh rates when the image is static or moving slowly. You might not notice the difference in video, but if you’re playing a ProMotion-supporting game, it’ll be instantly recognizable just how smooth the iPad Pro’s display can be. If basic streaming video and audio are your main concern, the iPad Pro is probably massive overkill.
There are folks who will actually make use of the Pro’s lighting-fast M2 core, its upgraded display, and its 2nd gen Apple Pencil support. Instead, put those funds towards accessories like the new Apple Magic Keyboard Folio, or a nice pair of Bluetooth headphones.
After all, it turns an already-great tablet into an incredible device for digital art, note taking, project planning, and more. While this change was great for just about everything else, it meant that the 1st-gen Apple Pencil’s built-in Lightning connector would now need a separate adapter cable to charge.
Apple could have added support for the second-generation pencil, but that would mean a magnetic charging connector would be required, likely raising the iPad’s $450 price point. Don’t expect to save cash by choosing the smaller option, but the extra room in your travel bag might be worth it.
Luckily our own June Wan did the work for you, testing out the available leaders to decide that the, the Galaxy Tab S8 Plus is the best Android tablet for most people.
Apple iPad Pro 11 (2020)
6 GB RAM Apple A12Z Bionic We can not guarantee that the information on this page is 100% correct.
iPad Pro (2020) top features and impressions
In terms of specs, it’s probably the most lukewarm upgrade we’ve had in an iPad Pro since the often-forgotten 9.7-inch model was released in early 2016. If you held off on the 2018 iPad Pro update, this latest 2020 model should make you happy, as it’s an overall better value thanks to increased RAM and flash storage in the base configuration. And thanks to the new embedded LiDAR Scanner, which ushers in impressive new AR capabilities, the 2020 iPad Pro also provides us with a sneak preview of what we might expect from Apple’s long-rumored augmented reality headset. Although very pricey at $299 for the 11-inch Magic Keyboard, and $50 more for the 12.9-inch version, this accessory looks like a must-have add-on for iPad Pro users.
As we outlined in our hands-on video covering all of the new advanced cursor features in iPadOS, having a built-in trackpad that you can easily carry around with you is a game-changer for the iPad. The Magic Keyboard for iPad Pro comes with a new floating cantilever hinge design that allows you to achieve the perfect viewing angle.
Finally, the Magic Keyboard includes a USB-C port for pass-through charging the iPad Pro. Just like the 2020 MacBook Air, which featured double the storage in its entry-level model, the iPad Pro follows the same pattern. In addition to ditching the 64GB option on the iPad Pro for 2020, the new machine is also $50 cheaper for higher-specced storage configurations across the board.
Using direct time of flight to measure reflected light up to 16 feet away in an instant, it results in being able to map out environments quicker than a standalone camera in other iOS hardware. Scene geometry provides a detailed topological map of your environment, and onboarding is now quicker and more accurately detects surfaces. It can also quickly recognize and snap to straight angles, along with displaying an augmented ruler on-screen when up close to an object you’re measuring.
Third-party apps will need to be updated to fully take advantage of the LiDAR Scanner, which is something we hope to be able to explore more by the time of our full review of the 2020 iPad Pro. In the meantime, I highly recommend watching this 10 minute Apple Developer tech talk video, which provides an amazing overview of how the new LiDAR Scanner and ARKit 3.5 enhance augmented reality on iPad Pro.
Having this extra RAM will prove beneficial when working with professional apps like Affinity Designer, where you may have multiple art boards and tons of vector assets on screen at once.
In practice, this difference probably won’t be very noticeable, but it might yield benefits to gamers or those working with complex video editing or graphics applications that tax the GPU.
If you own a router that supports Wi-Fi 6, then you may be able to tap into the added performance benefits, which perhaps along with a slight speed boost, includes better efficiency when multiple devices are connected to a single network. As mentioned at the outset, one of the biggest new iPad Pro changes isn’t a new hardware feature, but a significant software enhancement.
iPad Pro
Watch apps and widgets expand on the Home Screen as you move over them.
Apple iPad Pro 12.9 (2020)
6 GB RAM Apple A12Z Bionic We can not guarantee that the information on this page is 100% correct.
Apple iPad Pro (2020) review: The definitive tablet
Apple iPad Pro (2020) review: The definitive tablet MSRP $800.00 Score Details DT Editors’ Choice “The iPad Pro 2020 is the best version of the best tablet you can buy, and won’t be fazed by any task you throw at it” Pros Amazing screen The back of the tablet is flat, as are the sides, punctuated only by perforations for the quad speakers, the USB Type-C charging port, and three buttons.
The ever-so-slightly chamfered edge ensures it’s comfortable, and the curved corners fit snugly in your palm, meaning you can hold the iPad Pro for hours without it digging into your hands. The matte finish metal body has plenty of grip and does not attract many fingerprints, something that does blight the screen, which gets in a terrible state.
The dual-lens camera bump on the back separates it from the 2018 model, and brings it closer in style to the iPhone 11. It adds some character to the tablet’s design, doesn’t stick out from the surface too much, and means the camera is more capable here than on any iPad before it.
The camera setup is housed inside the slim bezels, and when holding the tablet in landscape, they are easily covered up. Swapping to the 11-inch iPad Pro 2020 is like time traveling, as the tiny sacrifice of 1.9-inches of screen real estate is nothing compared to the benefits of the upgrade in design, reduction in weight, and slimmed-down overall footprint. It’s through a comparison like this where you understand just how svelte and usable the new iPad really is, and how far Apple has come with the design in a few short years. The iPad Pro’s Liquid Retina IPS screen measures 11 inches and has a 2388 x 1668 pixel resolution, Apple’s ProMotion 120Hz technology, True Tone colors, and 600 nits of brightness. The iPad Pro has been the ideal video partner, thanks not only to the wonderfully calibrated screen but also the wealth of media apps available. Colors are perfectly tuned — vibrant, bright, and dynamic in equal measure but never over the top or too saturated.
The Grand Tour on Amazon Prime looked typically stunning — crisp, sharp, and packed with detail. If you’re like me and coming from a first-generation iPad Pro, or any other tablet without a high refresh rate screen, it’s astonishing to look at.
Also, unless you buy a case or stand for the tablet, you will have to hold it or prop it up against things to watch video for longer periods of time.
Under normal use, it feels just like the iOS on which it’s based, just better-suited to the larger screen with the slide-up Dock menu and other tweaks. I found using Pages to write an article, with a browser window open at the same time for research, sped up my workflow. However, I did find the hub — a multiport model from Vava — did pull a lot of power from the tablet, so be aware that leaving it in to work or play video will drain the battery faster.
To seriously use it for work, you’ll need a keyboard, but even without it, the pick-up-and-use-it-for-anything nature is appealing and convenient, helped by the slick software and that amazing screen. One of the headline changes from the 2018 version is the new Apple A12Z Bionic processor with octa-core graphics, which puts an emphasis on hardcore work tasks including 4K video editing. The most recent Samsung tablet, the Galaxy S6, doesn’t even come close to matching that score, and it underlines the incredible ability of the new iPad Pro. Perhaps the least enjoyable thing for me about iPad is gaming is that its a pain to hold the tablet compared to a phone or a console controller. There’s a dual camera on the back of the iPad Pro 2020, and it’s one of the main hardware updates over previous models. In addition, the iPad Pro has a lidar sensor for measuring distances that at the moment has limited functionality.
It’s fast to recognize basic shapes and items, and I love the way you can see more detailed measurement data the closer you move the camera. The color balance is pleasant, with blue skies appearing natural, good definition in overcast conditions, and strong detail in close-up pictures. However, don’t get too excited about the wide-angle camera, as the field of view is tighter than that on the iPhone 11 Pro, and only a little different from the main lens.
Like the last iPad Pro, the charging port is a USB Type-C connector, so the Lightning cable used for the iPhone won’t work.
The iPad Pro 2020 is available through Apple’s own online store and retailers like Best Buy, as well as through carriers with a cellular contract. If you already own the 2018 version, there is no real need to update to this one, which highlights the fact there isn’t anything drastically new here outside of more power, and the promise of augmented reality features enabled with the lidar sensor in the future. If you intend to use the iPad Pro for work, the need to replace it may come sooner depending on your demands. The iPad Pro 2020 is not water-resistant, and although it has a metal rear cover, the screen is still all glass, making it liable to break if you drop it.
As iPad tablets become more productivity-focused, they will spend more time outside, making a case and Apple’s extended warranty wise investments. It’s difficult to find a common entertainment or productivity task the iPad Pro 2020 doesn’t do extremely well, but you will have to buy a few accessories to take full advantage of its talents, and there’s little reason for owners of the last generation to upgrade to this one.
iPad Pro 2020 review (12.9 inch)
The iPad Pro 2020 (12.9 inch) is one of the best tablets you can buy, with blazing speed, long battery life, improved cameras and trackpad support. Why you can trust Tom’s Guide Our writers and editors spend hours analyzing and reviewing products, services, and apps to help find what’s best for you. Until now, the iPad Pro has been more like a tablet on steroids, beating a lot of laptops on speed and battery life but certainly not on computing comfort. iPadOS now fully supports cursor input, and there’s a (pricey) Magic Keyboard with a trackpad and satisfying scissor switches.
The iPad Pro 2020 also ups the ante in the performance department with a A12Z Bionic chip with an 8-core graphics engine, a dual-camera system that includes an ultra-wide lens and a LiDAR scanner that offers a more responsive augmented reality experience. The iPad Pro lasted over 10 hours no our web surfing battery test, which beats most Windows-powered 2-in-1s. When viewed from the front in landscape mode, there’s still a magnetic strip on the top edge for attaching the Apple Pencil. Like the 2018 model, the iPad Pro houses a TrueDepth camera up front, which enables Face ID for quickly unlocking the device.
It’s bright, colorful and leverages ProMotion technology for automatically adjusting the refresh rate up to 120Hz. When watching the trailer for James Bond No Time to Die, the iPad Pro’s display rendered 007’s Aston Martin DB5 with exquisite detail as its twin machine guns popped out of the headlights.
In another scene, Daniel Craig’s stern and battle-worn face stood in stark contrast to a gorgeous bridge he was throwing himself off of. No longer relegated to being an accessibility feature, iPadOS now has a redesigned cursor that appears as a circle on the screen.
And in the Photos app, the circle highlighted the Share and Heart icons in a small box as I hovered over them. You can also pull up the dock by pushing the cursor past the bottom of the screen, activate Control Center by clicking the status bar in the upper right corner and pull up Notifications by clicking the status bar in the upper left corner. iPadOS’ Slide Over and Split View gestures are also fairly easy to activate when using a mouse or trackpad.
iPadOS’ recent cursor and trackpad optimizations came just at the right time, and we like how effortless it feels to swap between apps by swiping three fingers left and right on the touchpad.
You can adjust the iPad Pro between about 85 to 130 degrees, which beats the pair of positions the Smart Keyboard Folio allowed, but we still wish it moved a bit more. The iPad Pro 2020 includes an A12Z Bionic processor that offers an 8-core CPU and a new 8-core GPU that’s designed to provide a big boost in graphics performance. On Geekbench 5, which measures overall performance, the iPad Pro 12.9 scored 4,720 on the multi-core portion and 1,126 on the single-core test. By comparison, the Surface Pro 7 scored a lower 4,443 on the multi-core Geekbench 5 test and a higher 1,241 on single-core, and that’s with a 10th gen Intel Core i5 processor and 8GB of RAM.
The iPad Pro took only 34 seconds to export a 4K video to 1080p after applying a color filter and transition in the Adobe Rush app. In this shot of cherry blossoms in bloom, the white flowers in the center look clear but the left side of the frame looks somewhat blurry. I also snapped this photo of a birdhouse, and the iPad Pro did a fine job capturing the bright yellow roof, the pink ornamental flower and a yellow-and-blue butterfly decoration. Indoors, the iPad Pro captured a well-balanced pic of a candle, and it’s nice to see that the wick didn’t get blown out.
I shot a quick clip of a residential neighborhood, and the tablet did a fine job rendering little details, including a leaf blowing by and a small American flag waving in the wind. Thanks to this LiDAR scanner, which works in close concert with the A12Z Bionic chip and Apple’s Neural Engine, AR placement is now instantaneous. The iPad Pro continues to support the second-generation Apple Pencil ($129), which lets you draw, take notes and mark up documents.
We’re in the process of running our battery test, but in everyday use, the iPad Pro has delivered strong endurance. I have started my workday unplugging at 7 am and have used the tablet for streaming video, taking photos, word processing and checking email, and it was down to 39% by 4 pm, so the iPad Pro should be able to last you through most days. The new iPad Pro lasted 10 hours and 16 minutes on the Tom’s Guide Battery Test, which involves continuous web surfing over Wi-Fi on 150 nits of screen brightness.
I do think the iPad Pro 2020 can replace a laptop for some, especially those who want to travel very light and creative pros who want to do content creation and editing on the go. I spend a lot of time in Chrome on a daily basis, bouncing between email, real-time traffic reports and Google Docs, and not having a bookmarks bar that’s always visible is a dealbreaker for me.
To be fair, iPadOS has only been around as its own thing since September, but I would like to see developers start better optimizing their apps for cursor and keyboard support without sacrificing the iPad Pro’s touch-first approach. We especially Apple Pencil upgrades, like the new Scribble feature that automatically converts handwriting to text and Shape recognition. Other enhancements include pinned conversations in Messages, site translation in Safari and spatial audio support if you use AirPods Pro. You also get better cameras with the iPad Pro and the ability to run a new class of AR apps, two areas where the Surface Pros are far behind.
However, it’s clear that developers have not yet optimized their apps for the new cursor control powers in iPadOS, and Apple and its partners should push the platform even further to make the iPad more touchpad- and keyboard-friendly. I also wish Apple included a larger charging cable; yes, you get a lot of endurance from this tablet, but the length of this cord now looks like a joke given the bigger ambitions of this device.
Apple iPad Pro review 2020: small spec bump, big camera bump
The 11-inch iPad Pro starts at $799 and the 12.9-inch model starts at $999, but in both cases, a more realistic cost is at least a couple hundred dollars more: you should factor in the price of a storage bump over the anemic 128GB of base storage and the price of a keyboard case. Unfortunately, you can’t spend the extra $299 or $349 for the new Magic Keyboard case that Apple announced alongside these new iPads — they won’t arrive until May. Trackpad support might be the most important feature to come to the iPad this year — I say that not even knowing what Apple has planned at its digital-only Worldwide Developers Conference. Maybe the Magic Keyboard will change that calculus, but there will likely be plenty of trackpad options for less expensive iPads.
Anyway, the bright side of the iPad Pro changing so little from the previous generation is that there is a lot of stuff you don’t have to worry about. Battery life is all-day for me — though now that I’m using it full time for work, the eight to ten hours I can pull out of a charge really only does manage a single day for me instead of not worrying about it for several.
I use regular headphones on my laptop all the time because of their reliability: no lag, no awkwardly messing with Bluetooth settings at the start of a Zoom call while your colleagues patiently wait. Strangely enough, Apple isn’t using the same generation chip as what you’ll find on an iPhone 11 Pro. Apple says that should help with games that run at 120Hz, 4K rendering in video editing apps, and improved AR performance. Apple has put in a 12-megapixel main wide sensor with an f/1.8 aperture, which takes good photos but isn’t able to match the low-light performance of the iPhone 11 Pro. I don’t know why Apple maintains the weird legacy of putting the FaceID sensors and selfie camera on the “top” of the iPad Pro when it’s held in portrait. Apple added some augmented reality effects to fix your gaze in FaceTime, but that doesn’t help with work conference calls.
As long as I’m on the rant, the other problem with using the iPad Pro for conference calls is that in iPadOS, Apple doesn’t allow apps to use the camera unless they’re active in the foreground. The other immediate benefit you get is with something called “occlusion.” That’s when something gets in between your iPad and the virtual object you’ve set on the floor or table or whatever.
The 2020 iPad Pro with LIDAR can occlude objects like this drummer boy figurine quite well behind people.
LIDAR means this iPad Pro can — though it’s not quite able to draw a perfectly sharp line.
Apple’s new APIs also are supposed to be able to more accurately identify objects like chairs, windows, tables, and so on. In short, the LIDAR on the iPad Pro seems quite advanced but built for a software future that hasn’t arrived yet. But when you start trying to get the same sorts of capabilities out of the iPad that you’d expect from a high-end laptop, that curve hockeysticks. The addition of trackpad support doesn’t really change that dynamic much, though it does make it much easier to work with text.
It’s clear to me now why Apple changed the way the cursor and text selection works in iPadOS: it was designed with a mouse or trackpad in mind. I have a lot more to say about trackpad support on the iPad, but here’s the short version: I think Apple came as close to nailing it as possible. Scrolling feels natural and the way the mouse cursor changes shape to match buttons is weird at first but I think I like it. There is some intuitive strangeness in pushing the cursor up against the edge of the screen to bring up the dock, notification center, and Slide Over apps, though.
It’s a powerful and interesting sensor and Apple’s total control over software and hardware means that it “just works” to improve existing apps. The iPad Pro line has always featured incredibly powerful and beautiful hardware alongside software that has struggled to take advantage of it. But we’re going to start counting exactly how many times you have to hit “agree” to use devices when we review them since these are agreements most people don’t read and definitely can’t negotiate. Much like the iPhone, to use an iPad Pro, you have to agree to: The Apple terms of service agreement, which you can have sent to you by email
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