2020-01-post01
iPad PRO
Edge-to-curved-edge Liquid Retina display in 12.9- or 11-inches, Face ID and True Depth Camera, A12X Bionic notebook-crushing processor, new Apple Pencil, and new Smart Keyboard Folio — this is the new iPad Pro.
Hear that? That was the sound of Apple snapping its fingers and killing half the bezels in its product universe. iPhone went first. Then, Apple Watch. Then, MacBook Air. Now, iPad Pro. (Somewhere out there, iMac is whispering, “I don’t feel so good…”)
We’ve always been at war with bezels. They’ve held the components we’ve needed to have the devices we’ve wanted, but they’ve also held back the displays we’ve dreamed of… the ones that would truly set our devices free.
We’ve waited for it. We’ve lusted after it. And now, insert finally, we have it.
But, as with all good plot twists, killing half the bezels on the iPad Pro is just part one.
Part two kicks off with Face ID and a TrueDepth camera, a monstrous A12X Bionic chipset, and updated speakers and mics, all in a design that both returns iPad to its roots and reboots it for the future. Including an all-new Smart Keyboard and, yeah, Apple Pencil No. 2.
But, as is increasingly evident with each new product Apple updates, the future demands a price. iPad Pro now starts at $799 for the screen-stretched 11-inch model and $999 for the casing-shaved 12.9-inch model.
That’s a grand slab for the bigger one, and before you add more storage or Gigabit LTE, a lot for anything that doesn’t deliver significant bang for every one of those bucks.
I’ve been using the 12.9-inch, 1 TB version of the new iPad Pro for almost a week, and I’ve got so many thoughts to share.
iPad Pro (2018) here in Thailand; Price:
Bottom line: If you just need or want an iPad, get an iPad. Apple has good ones, compatible with the original Pencil, going for just a few hundred bucks now. If you need more, something that combines raw power and absolute portability better than anything else on the market, then get an iPad Pro.
For people who want:
- Almost edge-to-edge 12.9- or 11-inch displays
- High density, wide gamut, high dynamic range, adaptive refresh and color temperature displays
- Some of the fastest processors in portables
- True Depth and Smart HDR cameras
- USB-C up to 10Gbps
- Access to all the tablet apps in the App Store
- Pro-level tablet computers
Not for people who want: - Smaller, sub-10-inch displays
- OLED displays
- x86 processors
- Mouse or trackpad support
- Lightning or USB-A ports
- Access to native Mac or Windows apps
- Cheap video and gaming tablets
Previously, on iPad…
The new iPads Pro build on the all the iPads that have come before. Rather than repeat material from any of those reviews, please find the most recent ones here:
- 9.7-inch iPad (6th Generation) review
- 10.5-inch iPad Pro review
- 9.7-inch iPad (5th generation) review
- 9.7-inch iPad Pro review
- 12.9-inch iPad Pro review
- iPad mini 4 review
- iPad Air 2 review
- iPad Air review
Liquid Retina started with the iPad Pro. Sure, iPhone XR, small, agile, and no doubt poised to be ludicrously profitable, managed to demo and ship first.
But the technology that lets Apple push LCD panels with their LED backlights edge to edge and rounded-corner-to-rounded-corner, with all the anti-aliasing and subpixel masking that that involves, feels even more at home here.
THAI-Retreats 