For a couple of weeks, I swapped the M2 MacBook Air in favor of the M2 iPad Pro. Not once did it feel like something was missing in terms of performance. Open as many tabs on Safari or have as many apps running in the background, the M2 iPad Pro doesn’t really break a sweat. Give a try to graphic-intensive games like Asphalt 9 and still it feels ridiculously smooth.
Stage Manager is a feature that Apple has been pitching for multitasking. And there you can have many apps running and the iPad Pro handles them like the absolute champ it is. Light work. Whether I was rotating a detailed 3D illustration in SketchUp, touching up intricate digital paintings in Procreate or juggling my usual mix of email, writing and chat apps, the iPad Pro M2 handled it all without a hiccup. Writing work, editing documents, using Safari/Chrome, and gaming — ‘routine’ work for most users — feels way too easy for this iPad Pro. This is why we tried to test its limits with some video editing — 4K content — and it still refused to show any strain. If you haven’t got the drift yet, then let me spell it out: the iPad Pro is absolutely the best tablet when it comes to performance.
Apple has a new trick up its sleeve for the M2 iPad Pro and it is related to the Apple Pencil. There’s a new hover feature which allows the iPad to detect the Pencil — 12mm above the screen — and you don’t have to touch the screen to use it. A lot of people who are into drawing, sketching and art will find this feature very useful. It’s a nice feature that makes the Apple Pencil more fun to use.
The pitch for the iPad Pro as a laptop replacement is quite perfect when it comes to performance. But it’s still not there and that’s because of two reasons: a) the cost; and b) multitasking is better but need to do more. Why cost? Because you will absolutely have to buy the Magic Keyboard for the iPad to do everything that the laptop does. And that brings the cost up by quite a bit.
Multitasking, it has come leaps and bounds on the iPad. With every upgrade of the iPadOS, Apple has made it better and features like Stage Manager will only hopefully improve it further. Speaking of Stage Manager, it is quite an interesting addition to the iPadOS. Until now, Apple offered the Split View mode, which allowed you to work on multiple apps together. Stage Manager is an upgrade on it and seems to have a lot of potential in improving multitasking. As of now, it seems to be slightly rough around the edges.
Multitasking on the iPad is still not there — and it’s not all down to Apple — as on some apps and programs, you do feel that a laptop could have done it without many hassles.
Apple iPad Pro (M2) comes with 12MP and 10MP ultra-wide cameras at the back. There’s a LiDAR sensor which is quite useful for augmented reality apps. I have yet to come across anyone who diligently uses the iPad as a ‘primary’ camera. Having said that, the images from the iPad camera are pleasing. What it does, however, is shoot videos in Apple ProRes, which is handy for those who are into apps like Final Cut Pro. The iPad in that sense is a do-it-all camera setup when it comes to videos — shoot and edit on it without any hassle.
The front camera has always been the most important camera on an iPad. And Apple continues to place it on the left side, which in landscape mode is a bit strange to use. However, there’s Center Stage, which solves that problem quite well.
The iPad Pro’s battery life is good enough to last close to eight to 10 hours on a single charge. Six episodes of Bad Sisters on the Apple TV+ and the iPad Pro still had more than 20% battery life remaining.
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