{"id":10984,"date":"2024-05-14T00:51:19","date_gmt":"2024-05-14T00:51:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/topat10.com\/?p=10984"},"modified":"2024-05-14T00:51:19","modified_gmt":"2024-05-14T00:51:19","slug":"apple-ipad-pro-m4-2024-review-powerful-yet-premature","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/topat10.com\/?p=10984","title":{"rendered":"Apple iPad Pro (M4, 2024) Review: Powerful Yet Premature"},"content":{"rendered":"


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it\u2019s no secret<\/span> that Apple has mastered the art of smoke and mirrors. When the company debuted the new iPad Pro<\/a>, the flashy livestreamed keynote\u2014and the hands-on event for media afterward\u2014made it seem as if the company had finally given its high-end tablet the biggest refresh in years. And this is technically true. But that\u2019s also because the bar is already set fairly low.<\/p>\n

The last two iPad Pros haven\u2019t been all that innovative. In 2021, Apple added an M1 chip<\/a> and a mini-LED display; in 2022, it came with an M2<\/a> and some new minor software features. The latest model, which becomes available May 15, comes with new OLED display technology, a larger 13-inch screen size, an all-new M4 chipset, and a few cosmetic tweaks. It\u2019s also thinner\u2014Apple\u2019s thinnest product ever, to be exact. It\u2019s compatible with new accessories too, including a redesigned Magic Keyboard case<\/a> and the first-ever Apple Pencil Pro<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s more than what we\u2019ve been given over the past two years. And I was genuinely excited about the enhancements. But hours after the event, when the adrenaline dropped, my editor looked at me and said: \u201cIf you think about it, the new changes to the iPad Pro aren\u2019t that<\/em> crazy.\u201d To prove him wrong, I started to list them out loud, only to realize he was right. In the grand scheme of things, the noteworthy updates to the iPad Pro are the external changes to its hardware, ones that were expected and necessary for such a high-end tablet\u2014except for the M4 chip. But with nothing to show for its new processor just yet, aside from a speedier CPU and GPU, this iPad Pro feels half-baked.<\/p>\n

Light \u2018n\u2019 Bright<\/h2>\n

Instead of recycling the same chassis as it has been doing for the past few years, Apple has finally ditched the old iPad Pro shell for an entirely new one. You\u2019ll now have the choice between the standard 11-inch display or a slightly larger 13-inch size. Apple sent me the latter to test for this review. It\u2019s not a dramatic difference. But as someone who stares at a monitor all day, I\u2019m all for any<\/em> extra screen real estate. (I use the 15-inch MacBook Air<\/a> as my daily driver.) If you plan on working off of the iPad Pro full-time, I\u2019d recommend the bigger size.<\/p>\n

Apple has also upgraded the new tablet from mini-LED to OLED panels on both sizes (it was only the 12.9-inch iPad Pro that received the mini-LED treatment on the sixth-generation version). Known as Ultra Retina XDR, it uses a new display technology called Tandem OLED, consisting of two fused OLED layers, resulting in a brighter screen.<\/p>\n

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