iPad Pro Reviews: Roundup Says Apple's Latest Tablet Excellent, But Could Benefit From iOS 11

At Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference last week, Apple spent much of the event showcasing its upcoming iOS 11 mobile operating system update. However, the company also spent a portion of the conference on the latest version of its iPad Pro. The 10.5-inch update to the high-end tablet PC features upgraded specifications and comes as Apple both tries to bolster a flagging tablet market and make the large-scale tablet a viable contender to hybrids like Microsoft’s Surface Pro.

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Internally, the iPad Pro is built around an updated A10X Fusion processor. As Ars Technica noted in its review, the tablet still has solid performance for creatives or professionals who want to use it for work. In benchmarking from Ars Technica, the tablet saw bumps in processing and graphics performance that put it ahead of much of the competition.

The 10.5-inch iPad Pro is also anchored around a 2,224 x 1,668-pixel display that provides ample room for onscreen content and remains stellar to use for browsing or drawing. In its review, the Verge singled out the new 120Hz refresh rate of the iPad’s screen for praise. When browsing text-heavy content or using the Apple Pencil stylus pen, lag time and delays were found to be virtually nonexistent.

But as with past iPad Pros, Apple’s push to make the tablet a laptop alternative is hindered by accessories. For starters, the iPad Pro starts at $649 and accessories like the keyboard and Apple Pencil are both sold separately. Because of the iPad Pro’s current reliance on iOS 10 and its Smart Keyboard accessory, the New York Times found typing for extended work sessions to be fairly uncomfortable. Repeated motions from the keyboard to the screen can become tiring over time and the New York Times found the keyboard's response to be lightweight and middling.

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However, Apple plans to address one of these issues. With the upcoming iOS 11 update this fall, the iPad will see improvements like drag and drop functionality and centralized file storage apps intended to make the tablet more viable as a primary work computer.

The problem speaks to Apple’s struggles in diversifying its iPad family and trying to make the iPad Pro a viable laptop replacement. With its internal and external updates, the iPad Pro remains a phenomenal tablet if you're a creative professional who needs to supplement an existing work setup, but if you want to replace your laptop with it, Engadget suggests waiting for iOS 11.