iPad Pro M2 (2022), analysis: Apple’s almighty tablet repeats itself

“How to criticize a product that we can never finish squeezing?” This was our thought when writing this review. It already happened to us with past iPads , and it is the feeling that overwhelms us every time we try an iPad, of this generation or previous ones. Perhaps we are not the target , the “ideal” user for a product that Apple never recognizes as “niche”. Could be. In our defense we will say that several other colleagues feel the same way. “Evil of many…”.

But here there is not much “bad” worth. The new iPad Pro with which Apple surprised us a week ago wants to be your new “work tool”, whether you are a journalist, doctor, architect or graphic designer. If you are the latter, then you will be in luck. If you work editing photos or videos, too. Does this mean that you will then put your MacBook Air or MacBook Pro aside, and start only using the new iPad Pro? Well no.

Chip power

The model we’ve been lucky enough to test is the one that comes with a beautiful 12.9-inch Liquid Retina XDR display, dazzling any way you look at it, though not always easy to manipulate when carried from one place to another. Be careful with this: the iPad Pro is thinner than an iPhone 13 or 14, and if it is already “dangerous” to handle an iPhone without a case, it is even more so with a 28 x 21.5-centimeter tablet. You’ll actually feel calmer when using it on a surface, or when docking it to the Magic Keyboard. From then on, the comparison with a MacBook Air or Pro is inevitable… But we’ll get there.

The M2 chip features an 8-core CPU, which is reportedly up to 15% faster than the previous generation M1 chip. The M2 chip also features 100 GB/s of unified memory bandwidth, 50% more than the M1 chip, and supports up to 16 GB of fast unified memory, making multitasking and working with large assets a breeze. even more fluid. We’d like to tell you here that we saw all these improvements when compared to the fifth-generation iPad Pro, but we’d be lying.

What does this increase in capacity translate into? That this iPad will easily handle the most demanding workflows, from photographers editing huge photo libraries and designers manipulating complex 3D objects, to healthcare professionals working with advanced imaging and analytics, and of course, gamers who hallucinate with graphics intensive games.

The new iPad Pro also boasts a new scrolling experience when using Apple Pencil (2nd Gen). The iPad detects the Apple Pencil 12mm above the screen (technology called Hover), allowing users to sort of preview their mark before it’s done. This also allows users to draw and illustrate with even greater precision, and makes everything users do with Apple Pencil even easier.

Do we use the Pen a lot? Less than Apple would like. Digital artists will enjoy it, but we doubt that a content creator, editor or journalist would leave aside the resources of their laptop or desktop computer. The Apple Pencil is something of a niche tool in a niche device , and you can certainly spend a few minutes drawing or scribbling notes, but if the art of drawing or design isn’t really your thing, go no further. .

The new iPad Pro supports the fastest Wi-Fi connections with support for Wi-Fi 6e, so users who need fast connections can take their workflows anywhere. Downloads are up to 2.4 Gb/s, 2 times faster than the previous generation. Wi-Fi + Cellular models with 5G (sub-6GHz and mmWave4) now support more 5G networks around the world, so users can access their files, communicate with colleagues, and back up their data in an instant while on the go.

 Oh: and you will find a Nano-SIM slot to put a cell phone card, this even though in the new iPhone 14 this slot has disappeared.

iPadOS 16 adds professional features

Apple emphasizes updates to the Messages app, new tools in Mail and Safari, the new Weather app, and other tools for editing your photos and videos (Live Text and Visual Look Up). The new version of the operating system also introduces productivity features that improve the iPad Pro experience… Or at least that’s what Apple wants.

One of these features is Stage Manager , (Visual Organizer) a completely new multitasking experience that automatically organizes your applications and keeps them in view so you can return to them at any time. We warn you: it is far from being the most intuitive tool in the world, and if you are quick to get frustrated, you will soon put it aside. This organizer requires you to seriously work with your iPad Pro, and until you do, you won’t see its full qualities.

And the cameras?

It is already a commonplace to say that absolutely no one buys a tablet –neither this one, nor those of the competition– because of its cameras, but not because it is repetitive does it stop making sense, especially when Apple exactly repeats the camera system of its iPad Pro 2021 in the new model with M2 chip. We are referring here to a 12 Mpx main camera with a 10 Mpx wide angle, LiDAR sensor and TrueTone Flash, added to a 12 Mpx wide angle on the front. But let’s not be ungrateful either: the M2 chip allows you to record ProRes video at up to 4K at 30 fps per second on models with more than 128 GB of capacity – otherwise you will be able to record “only” ProRes 1080p videos at 30 fps, since getting to filling the storage with 4K videos will not work for you.

 You need her?

A question that we always ask our readers to ask themselves (and answer) is as simple as it is revealing: “What do you really need?” If you don’t know how to answer, ask yourself these others: what are you looking for in a device? And even more: what are you willing to give up?

If what you are looking for is the best tablet that money can buy, then you have already found it. There is no other on the market that counterbalances it. Its Liquid Retina XDR screen has no competition on the Android sidewalk, and its M2 processor will respond to all tasks.

Now, if you don’t want a tablet “just to have it”, but a possible replacement or support for your desktop or laptop computer… well, it’s hard for us to recommend the iPad Pro right off the bat.

And it is that at this point we do not know if Apple has ever really wanted us to abandon our MacBook for an iPad. A few years ago we could imagine it. Today, faced with the sixth generation of the most powerful iPad from the manufacturer, we would almost bet that Apple wants to keep the ideal user of the iPad stuck in its niche.

 Some apps are used interchangeably on one device or another. But there is more than one tool that is in MacBook that is not in iPad (Automator, for example, or the infinity of gestures that we manage with the Mouse). Also, as easy as it is to pair with the Magic Keyboard, the result is never the same. In our case, we had to learn too many shortcuts, and also working with a roof that does not have an ESC key drove us crazy on more than one occasion. Let’s also say that the iPad with the keyboard is not as light as one might think.

And the issue of price…

The model we’ve been lucky enough to test costs $1,100, to which you’ll have to add $350 for the Magic Keyboard and $129 for the Pencil, if you want it. That comes to a total of $1,579 ($1,450 without the Pen), which makes it more expensive than the base MacBook Pro ($1,300), which also features an amazing display, excellent storage, and the M2 chip.

If you can take your MacBook Pro or MacBook Air everywhere, we see no reason to change those healthy habits for a 12.9 iPad Pro + its respective Keyboard. Now, if your work consists of the constant use of applications tested and optimized 100% for iPad, then the story changes. But once again: we’re talking about optimized applications, not just any workflow that you take from your desk to the coffee shop, and from there to the train or the office.

If you just want a tablet so you don’t spend all day with your laptop, or to read, check your email or a movie, perhaps paying $1,100 is too much. Apple has cheaper models – not cheap – that could justify the purchase of an iPad simply for the sake of buying it.

Outside of the latter, the sixth-generation iPad Pro is a powerful tool for a handful of professionals who will undoubtedly know how to squeeze the best technology available today. Powerful programs like OctaneX and DaVinci Resolve will arrive on iPadOS in the very near future, and perhaps it will be the time for the final – and justified – bifurcation between iPad users and Mac users.