I swapped the M2 MacBook Air for the M2 iPad Pro for a couple of weeks. Not once did I feel like something was missing in terms of performance. Open so many tabs on Safari or leave so many apps running in the background, the M2 iPad Pro doesn’t really break a sweat. Try graphics-intensive games like Asphalt 9 and it still feels ridiculously smooth.
Stage Manager is a feature Apple has touted for multitasking. And there you can run a lot of apps and the iPad Pro treats them like the absolute champion that it is. Easy work. Whether I was shooting 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, editing documents, using Safari/Chrome, and gaming – “routine” work for most users – feels way too easy for this iPad Pro. Because of this, we tried to test its limits with some video editing – 4K content – and it still refused to show any strain. If you still don’t get it, let me get it straight: 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 that’s related to the Apple Pencil. There’s a new hover feature that allows iPad to recognize the stylus – 12mm above the screen – and you don’t have to touch the screen to use it. Many people who are into drawing, sketching and art will find this feature very useful. It’s a neat feature that makes using the Apple Pencil even more fun.
The prerequisites for the iPad Pro as a laptop replacement are pretty much perfect in terms of performance. But it’s still not there for two reasons: a) the cost; and b) multitasking is better but needs to do more. Why cost? Because you absolutely must buy the Magic Keyboard for iPad to do everything the laptop does. And that adds quite a bit to the cost.
Multitasking has come a long way on the iPad. With each upgrade of the iPadOS, Apple has made it better and features like Stage Manager will hopefully only improve it further. Speaking of Stage Manager, it’s a pretty interesting addition to iPadOS. Previously, Apple offered Split View mode, which allowed you to work on multiple apps together. Stage Manager is an upgrade on that and seems to have a lot of potential for improving multitasking. As of now, it seems to be a little rough around the edges.
Multitasking doesn’t work on the iPad yet there – and it’s not all Apple’s fault – as with some apps and programs, you feel like a laptop could have done it without many problems.
The Apple iPad Pro (M2) is equipped with 12 MP and 10 MP ultra wide cameras on the back. There is a LiDAR sensor that is very useful for augmented reality apps. I’ve yet to meet anyone diligently using the iPad as their “primary” camera. However, the images from the iPad camera are pleasing. What it does do, however, is record video in Apple ProRes, which is handy for those interested in apps like Final Cut Pro. The iPad, in that sense, is an all-around camera setup when it comes to video – record it and edit it with no hassle.
The front camera has always been the more important camera on an iPad. And Apple continues to place it on the left, which is a bit odd to use in landscape mode. However, there is Center Stage that solves this problem quite well.
The battery life of the iPad Pro is good enough to last almost eight to 10 hours on a single charge. Six episodes of Bad Sisters on Apple TV+ and iPad Pro still had more than 20% battery life.