Here Comes The iPad Pro

Apple’s media event from the Bill Graham Civic Center was the site of the unveiling of the latest iPhone, and Apple TV, but there was a larger star of the show. After years of maybe and possibilities, we were finally treated to the official unveiling of the iPad Pro. It’s a 12.9” beast of an iPad geared for lovers of large screens and multitasking. But are those the only things it brings to the table? Or did Apple manage to create yet another “truly magical” device? Read on to find out:

One of the biggest question that comes to mind when hearing about a 12.9” iPad is, “Do I really need a screen this large?” After all, wasn’t the iPad developed solely for the purpose of breaking the monotony of larger screened devices to begin with? The answer to both of those questions, at least to me, is a resounding maybe. Bigger screen devices are becoming more and more popular due to the convenience they offer for things like multitasking and video consumption. The iPad does well with both of those things, and Apple is seeking to up the ante for the next generation of mobile devices.

The Apple A9X chip was created specially for the iPad Pro, and it gives users twice the CPU and graphical performance of the iPad Air 2. Thanks to the special storage controller inside the Pro, read and write speeds are enhanced so that creating, editing, or saving large or ultra hi-res files are a breeze. Doing tasks such as importing RAW image files from a digital camera will see their transfer time cut in half, and 4K videos will take even less time to render. Metal will also see a significant performance increase and gamers will be happy to hear that Metal has the ability to optimize both the CPU and GPU to ensure an unparalleled experience with graphics and effects. For those who are in to gaming or watching videos on your iPad, you’ll be excited at the addition of two extra speakers to really ramp up the sound quality on this device.

The iPad Pro will be the largest iPad to date not just because of the size of the screen, but it’ll also be the heaviest. Weighing in at 1.57 pounds, the iPad Pro will actually be heavier than the original iPad, while being thinner than the iPad Air. The 12.9” display on the pro packs a respectable 2732 x 2048 screen resolution, and a pixel density of 264 ppi. For those keeping tabs, that’s the same resolution as the iPad Air 2. This means that while we’ll be certainly gaining a bigger display, it won’t necessarily be better than previous models. Apple is also taking aim at the customer base of the Microsoft Surface with the invention of their “Apple Pencil” a pressure sensitive, ultra sleek advanced stylus looking to tackle the Surface pen. Apple’s Pencil gets the nod here though simply because they included a lightning connector for simple recharging to make sure you don’t run out of juice in the middle of  a project. There’s also the new Smart Keyboard that allows users to dock their iPad into an Apple designed case with a physical keyboard built-in to it, a la Microsoft Surface. In addition, the Smart Keyboard has a special connector port that simultaneously allows for the exchange of power and data, meaning there’s no bluetooth to hook up, and as long as your iPad has a charge, so will your keyboard.

The iPad Pro will hit shelves this November with a price tag of $799 or $949 for the WiFi only, 32 or 128GB models, respectively.

Strangely enough, there’s only been one LTE model of the iPad pro announced and it rocks a pretty pricey tag of $1079 for the 128GB model.