- Jun 12, 2008
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Today had my first hands on with the new iPad Pro at a Best Buy here in Los Angeles. My first impressions are that this tablet is indeed a game changer.
My main focus was the Apple pencil function- drawing is an absolute pleasure on these. Nothing I've used comes close- this is the pinnacle of pen input IMO. The feel of the pressure levels, flawless palm rejection and the fact you can lay the pencil on edge to do shading like a real world drawing tool- absolutely stunning. No lag what-so ever, and the feel of drawing/writing to me was as good as pen/paper.
The screen is gorgeous. The best viewing experience of any tablet, hands down.
Love the thin bezels. I personally never want a tablet again with anything around the edges thicker than this. Thank god for no notches or other lazy design elements- the look and feel is just clean and ultra- modern.
For media consumption- it's almost overkill. I'm guessing mobile gaming will advance a step or two on hardware this good.
Apple is so far out ahead with tablet technology with these- much as I prefer Android for phones, there's just *nothing* in the Android universe even playing in the same ballpark. I feel somewhat like I did the first time I saw an iPhone- love it or hate it, you just knew it was going to change everything, and everyone would be copying it as the new standard from that point on. Same deal IMO with the new iPad, as far as a 'pro' level tablet device.
I've generally liked Apple's iPad designs up to this point, but felt they were just really good devices that fit in the same tablet universe as everything else.
This new iPad to me feels like a device unto itself- there's NOTHING in the same arena, not even the Surface. To me it felt just THAT good. I could see it replacing a laptop for serious work (photo editing, drawing, illustration, desktop publishing, etc.) easily whereas every tablet before now has felt like it's lacking, feel and performance wise. Doesn't hurt that it's turning in amazing performance scores.
Of course there are things I dislike. The continued pretense that there's no file system. No headphone jack. All this amazing power and not a @$#*@ sd slot or reasonable removable storage option in an age when near endless amounts of storage are dirt cheap- just lame. I just wish Apple will move toward making the iPad more like a true laptop replacement, by letting it have laptop worthy features. But option-stinginess comes with the iOS territory.
The price: for what these tablets actually are- laptops in a different form factor, with potential to be a Cintiq-killing drawing experience and laptop-level performance- the prices seem fair. I balk a little of course at 'movie theatre popcorn pricing scheme' starting at a piddly 64GB. Still, $800 and $1000 for the base-level models of a device this good doesn't seem unreasonable to me.
Curious people's thoughts, or does anyone care? Maybe Apple is off the mark making an expensive prosumer-level tablet in an age where people just want cheap consumption devices? Maybe most needing this level of firepower (and price) would just prefer a traditional laptop? I dunno. For the prosumer markets that exist, I have to believe this is a new benchmark.
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