De Apple iPad Pro is de eerste iPad die ik aan verdacht weinig mensen kan aanraden. Je moet een heel specifiek takenpakket of beroep hebben waar dit eenduidig de beste optie op de markt is. Dit is een groot verschil met de andere iPads, producten die Apple ontwikkeld lijkt te hebben voor het grote publiek en dus voor de meeste mensen een goede optie zijn om te overwegen. Zonder dat dit negatief is blijft het wel een grote verandering van de insteek en communicatie rond de iPad. Dit is de iPad die het dichtste bij een laptopvervanger komt, qua formaat, toetsenbordopties en zelfs ook qua software. Maar tegelijkertijd blijf het een iOS-product en dat zich daar niet voor schaamt. Het is een OS dat in bepaalde opzichten beperkt en beperkend is, maar juist binnen die beperkingen zullen sommige gebruikers zich thuis voelen en hun creativiteit de vrije loop kunnen laten gaan.

De iPad Pro is flink groter dan voorgaande iPads en heeft een 12,9 inch-scherm. Het is daarmee geen tablet in conventionele zin. In combinatie met de Apple Pencil is het bijvoorbeeld een handige tablet voor ontwerpers. Daarnaast is het in combinatie met een los te kopen toetsenbord een potentiële laptopvervanger. Dat is hij zeker niet voor iedereen, aangezien iOS zo zijn beperkingen heeft. Wel is dit een bijzonder krachtige en mooie tablet met veel kwaliteiten, maar ook met een hoge prijs. Daardoor is de doelgroep naar ons idee wel wat beperkt.

De iPad Pro is de grootste, krachtigste en duurste tablet die Apple tot nu toe heeft gemaakt. Het is een krachtig apparaat met enkele toffe features, maar ook eentje met duidelijke nadelen. Door het formaat en gewicht is de iPad Pro niet handzaam en ongeschikt om langere tijd vast te houden. De tablet is prettiger in gebruik met de keyboardcase, die fijn typt, maar wel flink aan de prijs is. Zelfs met het keyboard erbij is de Pro echter geen productiviteitsmachine, wat is te wijten aan het gebrek aan geoptimaliseerde apps en iOS, dat niet écht gebruikmaakt van de extra schermruimte. Vooralsnog valt de iPad Pro daardoor tussen wal en schip; hij is te groot voor thuisgebruik en te beperkt als vervanger voor je (zakelijke) laptop.

The iPad Pro's biggest strength right now is for creative visual artists. For that Pencil, and for the potential of using larger-scale apps on that fantastic screen, this is a dream iPad canvas. It's expensive, but it's far better for those needs than any other iPad. It's big and beautiful, and its pressure-sensitive stylus support makes a huge difference.

A brilliant iPad that takes it into a new realm - I've loved using it, but just make sure you're ready for the larger size and weight.

The iPad Pro is so large that you can run two apps side by side, in split-screen view, in their full size (provided that the app supports full split-screen view). This means that I can run Slack and Gmail side by side, or Twitter and Safari, or Microsoft Word and Excel, and have optimal views of each. When I’m done with an app, I slide it over to the left-hand side of the display, and the app that was split off to the right goes into full-screen mode. IT'S NOT A LAPTOP REPLACEMENT, BUT A LARGE IPAD MEANS FEWER SACRIFICES It’s not quite like dragging windows around on a desktop, but it’s a mobile, touch-friendly representation of that behavior, and it might just be where we’re all headed, anyway. But even this split-screen mode isn’t enough for lots of the "laptop" things I need to do on a daily basis. This is still a mobile OS we’re talking about. It’s nice that it’s at least familiar feeling, unlike the foreign hybrid OS that Microsoft introduced with the first Surfaces. But I can’t manipulate more than two app windows at a time on the iPad Pro. I can’t control things with a trackpad. I can’t run Final Cut Pro on the iPad Pro. Entering data into cells in the Google Sheets app on the iPad Pro is still onerous. There’s no way to hand over the iPad to someone else and let them quickly log in as a "guest" user. And while I’ve managed to type away on the iPad Pro on the train or in the passenger seat of a car, there’s still an uncomfortable imbalance between the heavy iPad and the lightweight keyboard on my lap, just as there is with the Microsoft Surface.So fundamentally, I know that the iPad Pro can’t do all of the things my MacBook Pro can do. And, as of right now, the iPad is still not quite the computing savior that Steve Jobs predicted it would be five years ago. But I would still consider this a worthy runner-up to a laptop, or the one (non-smartphone) device I would take with me next time I travel — something I’ve never felt confident about before when it came to the iPad. This new iPad is powerful, it’s fast, it has a large display, and it never lagged when I was multitasking or switching between apps. It’s not better than my laptop, but makes far fewer sacrifices than I expected. Did I mention this is a very big iPad?

Apple now has an iPad for everyone: The iPad Air 2 is the one for most people; the iPad Mini 4 is for the readers out there who don’t want a Kindle; and the Pro is for anyone who likes the Air but just needs more space to roam. It’s for the person who wants to sketch and manipulate images on a touchscreen, the person who loves watching Netflix in bed, or the person who wants to take work with them on the go without carting around a heavy laptop. The tablet is still in trouble, but the iPad Pro offer some hope. Our phones are already the size of small tablets, so it’s time for the tablet to grow and change. The Pro is closer to a laptop in terms of power, size, and its potential for productivity, but there are still two degrees of separation between the two: iOS and the lack of a keyboard in the box. With multitasking in iOS 9, the iPad moves closer to being truly productive, but it’s not there yet. The fact that you’ll have to shell out $170 for the keyboard cover to make it more like a laptop also stops it from being a true computing device. Of course, there will be third-party keyboards, so don’t fret – that price tag will get lower. For now, though, it’s high. If you’re going to buy an iPad Pro, you’re willing to shell out a lot of money. With that in mind, we recommend shelling out a bit more. Choose the $950 128GB version if you download a lot of apps, movies, and games. It’s only $150 more than the base 32GB model, which costs $800, and you’ll run out of that little storage in no time at all. The Pencil will appeal to artists and designers the most, and it’s $100, so it’s on the pricier end of the spectrum for a stylus. But from our short time trying it at Apple’s launch event, it might be the most accurate, best stylus on the market. Since we’ve only used it for a few days, and we’ve yet to get our hands on the keyboard or Pencil for testing outside of our initial hands-on time in September, we’ll reserve judgment on the performance of the accessories and the determination of whether the iPad Pro can take on the Surface Pro 4 or your laptop.

The iPad Pro is not for everyone. It’s simply too big for some customers which is why Apple will continue to offer the iPad Mini and the iPad Air 2.But anyone who likes to draw and paint or design and anyone who wants to use detailed apps and get even closer to what they’re designing or studying will find the iPad Pro hard to resist.For anyone else who has a “go big or go home” attitude will also relish the iPad Pro and how it allows everyone to enjoy their content and apps on a grander scale.It’s not cheap – it starts at $1249 for the 32GB model – but that’s still cheaper than the entry level Surface Pro 4 which is competing for the same audience.The iPad Pro easily shows that bigger can be better.

Das iPad Pro ist das derzeit größte und schnellste Apple Tablet im Test. Die Leistung des A9X-Chips deklassiert jedes andere Tablet und selbst leistungsstarke Notebooks vom Benchmark-Treppchen. Nur bei der Mobilität kann das iPad Pro nicht gänzlich überzeugen.

Like a Fender Stratocaster, a Daler-Rowney A3 sketchbook, or the World Wide Web, the iPad Pro will reward effort, focus and inspiration. But it presents no barriers to skill, either, and encourages experimentation and the taking of risks. Technically it is close-to-perfect, with a screen and power to match any equivalent device. But in concert with its software it transcends all competition; together the iPad Pro, the Pencil and the apps built to work with it are a transparent, inviting window into artistic, expressive play.

Apple has enjoyed, for several years now, how its iPad line cruised over the competition with ease – the iPad Air and iPad mini tablets were and remain among the best offerings in their respective categories. To broaden its presence, Apple is now giving us the iPad Pro – a productivity-oriented tablet, and one that's portable and powerful, one that creative and artistic individuals might have their attention drawn by. But for an iPad, it’s one expensive piece of tech goodness that makes for a tough sell with its starting cost of $799 for the base 32GB Wi-Fi model, while the 128 GB model retails for $949. This makes it $200 more expensive than a 32 GB iPad Air 2, which is a considerable price gap. And that's if you don't buy any of Apple's accessories. By itself, the main distinction between an iPad Pro and Apple’s existing line of iPads is its larger size, offering more screen real estate to work with. Sure, the iPad Pro makes some gains thanks to software additions, such as the enhanced multitasking features and picture in picture, but these are also available on the iPad Air 2. And as it currently stands, many of the apps have yet to be optimized to take advantage of these multitasking capabilities or the extra screen space the tablet offers. To be fair, the iPad Pro leverages its extra screen space with a couple of new accessories not available to the other iPads – the Apple Pencil or the Smart Keyboard – giving it more of that laptop-hybrid look and feel, but that puts its total price into the notebook range at around $1100. So yeah, the iPad Pro is, in a way, little more than a larger iPad. If you're looking for a laptop replacement, this probably isn't it. Investing in an iPad Pro is not worth it seeing that it can’t pull out the same level of utility and productivity we get from traditional laptops, ultrabooks, or hybrids. It makes more sense to view the iPad Pro as a niche product – one made for digital artists and drawing enthusiasts or for professionals who need a large, portable, and beautiful display to show off their projects. That's the kind of folks who would best appreciate and make use of what the iPad Pro has to offer. Apple isn’t afraid of taking chances, that’s for sure. In this particular case, however, they don’t have as much of a convincing tablet. As a standalone product, it’s expensive. With the included accessories, it’s even more expensive.

L'iPad Pro est assurément une bête de course. Un iPad outrageusement performant, doté de 4 haut-parleurs surpuissants, d'une parfaite expression multimédia d'un très bel écran et d'une qualité de fabrication indéniable devenue crédo de la firme de Cupertino. La machine est belle, mais à qui s'adresse-t-elle ? Les créatifs désespérés de ne pas trouver dalle et stylet à leur goût sur iOS pourront sans aucun doute foncer sur le combo iPad Pro + Pencil, mais pour ce qui est du remplacement pur et simple d'une machine portable traditionnelle, il reste encore un bout de chemin à faire en matière de cohérence logicielle. Sans aucun doute le meilleur iPad jamais conçu, mais oserez-vous passer un si grand cap ?

The iPad Pro delivers a big and beautiful display, fast performance and long battery life, but it's best for creative pros.

Pros Slim and incredibly light Awesome screen and speakers Excellent performance Good on-the-go typing experience Cons Not as portable as other iPads Most will still need a proper computer No iOS optimisations for the big screen

The iPad Pro is powerful, flexible and has an amazing screen: if it does what you need it's a brilliant choice, but it won't suit everyone.

As an laptop replacement for around the house, the iPad Pro fits the bill. It is fast, quick, and easy to use. Whether working on the sofa (if there's a coffee table), watching Netflix or Sky Go in bed, or sitting at a desk working on annotations with the Pencil, that extra screen real-estate looks great.

We're big fans of the iPad Pro. Its larger, improved screen makes for a superb movie-watching experience, while its power boost means it’s as fast and smooth as you could ever want it to be. Add that to improved audio across the board, and some excellently considered accessories, and you have a superb tablet proposition – assuming you have the space and budget of course, because the iPad Pro is not cheap. Starting at £680 for 32GB with wi-fi and going up to £900 for the top spec (128GB + 3G), there are plenty of laptops you could get for less. But then you wouldn’t buy this if you wanted a laptop. The iPad Pro is very much a tablet, and quite possibly the best tablet on the market today. It proves that size most definitely matters. And when it comes to tablets, bigger is certainly better.

Big – Bigger – iPad Pro! The iPad Air is getting huge and gets the stylus functionality for the first time. The Apple Pencil is mainly designed for creative users. The Californians also equip the tablet with the fastest SoC you can currently get in a tablet. Our review will show what customer group the iPad Pro is designed for.

De Apple iPad Pro is niet alleen de grootste iPad met zijn 12,9 inch-display, hij is ook nog eens groots in gebruik. Een prachtig beeldscherm, een snelle processor en een toetsenbordaansluiting, maken een laptop overbodig. De mogelijkheid om met een stylus (pencil) te tekenen en schrijven kan een extra argument van aanschaf zijn.

THE GOOD The new iPad Pro delivers a fast processor; a bright, antireflective display; support for Apple Pencil and Smart Keyboard accessories; better, louder speakers and top-notch cameras, in the same exact body as the iPad Air 2. THE BAD A higher price, plus expensive accessories. Less RAM and a slightly slower processor than the 12.9-inch iPad Pro. iOS still limits overall flexibility of this iPad. THE BOTTOM LINE It's still not a full-fledged laptop killer, but the new 9.7-inch iPad Pro is the best iPad ever made -- a near-perfect balance of tablet power and portability.

To parse words, Tim Cook said this iPad Pro is an "expression" of the future of computing, and the difference between "being" and "expressing" is an important distinction. There’s a world in which all those traditional computer gripes are magicked away by the cloud and software innovation, but we don’t live in that world. We live in this world, with this iPad Pro. But just because the iPad Pro isn’t a great computer, that doesn’t mean that it isn’t a great iPad. In fact, the iPad Pro is a stupefyingly good iPad. But if you aren’t sure that you need all those "Pro" features, the iPad Air 2 is still a great iPad, too. And a lot cheaper.

The Apple iPad Pro is a stunning machine. It looks fantastic and, once you get over just how big it is, the size becomes a benefit, with its immersive screen and a giant playground of real estate for apps to exploit. Add the Smart Keyboard or a rival setup and you have a creditable laptop alternative, with decent battery life and Apple’s unparalleled choice of big-screen, touch-enabled apps. The Pencil adds a whole new dimension of usability and is a wholly enjoyable peripheral to use. It is expensive: add it all up and you’re spending more than £800 for the the full set of tablet, Pencil and Smart Keyboard. But despite this, the iPad Pro is not bad value at all. For your money you’re getting a fast, capable laptop running on iOS, and an eye-poppingly good tablet with ear-tingling audio to boot. The iPad Pro marks another major inflection point: it ends the whole "iPads are only for consumption" debate. The only people who can't use the iPad Pro as a creation tool are those who need really high-end performance: professional graphic designers, professional video editors, the kind of people for whom 16GB RAM is table stakes and think nothing of going a lot, lot higher. Most people don't fall into that category, and for most people the iPad Pro is more than enough creation tool. For some – anyone who sketches or loves using a stylus – it's actually a better creation tool than the average PC or laptop. Certainly, it’s worth checking out the size and weight to see if they suit you. If not, it may be worth waiting to see what Apple's March 21 announcement holds in store. It's rumoured the company will unleash a smaller 9.7in iPad Pro and that's a product that will undoubtedly be better suited to carrying around in your rucksack. But if the size of this 12.9in monster appeals, it's a tablet that's very hard not to like.