For years, the iPad Pro has been Apple’s attempt to give creative professionals a way to do the bulk of their work on a tablet rather than a laptop – but for the first time, the 2024 model actually features a more advanced CPU than a MacBook: The M4. While this may seem to be a spec bump like any other, the fact that Apple has prioritized its tablet over its MacBooks is another move in the company’s attempt to make the iPad into a true laptop alternative. But it’s just not there yet.

Don’t get me wrong, the 2024 iPad Pro is hands-down the best tablet I’ve ever used, but you shouldn’t be looking at this device as a true laptop alternative. However, if a powerful tablet built around creative workloads is specifically what you’re looking for, I can’t think of many other tablets that can do the job better than the new iPad Pro.

iPad Pro (2024) – Design and Features

I don’t need to tell you the iPad Pro is a beautiful device, but, well, it is. It’s incredibly thin, light and has a gorgeous display.

The big change here is how much Apple has shaved off the chassis, thinning it down to 0.21 inches, which also cuts the weight to under 1 pound for the first time. That’s all well and good, and for the most part I love holding this 11-inch iPad in my hands, but there’s only so much chassis you can shave off of a device before it starts impacting durability. In my one week with the new iPad Pro, I obviously didn’t break the thing, but I absolutely noticed that it is incredibly easy to flex the device, which simply makes me concerned about how well it will hold up in the long term.

You can obviously mitigate that risk by throwing it in a case, one of which Apple sent along with the review unit, but that’s an extra $79 that you need to throw into a shopping cart with an already-expensive tablet.

Still, it’s hard to stay mad about the device’s flexibility when it has one of the most beautiful displays I’ve ever had the pleasure of looking at.

iPad Pro (2024) – Camera

The iPad Pro, features two cameras, one in the front – which takes care of things like FaceID and selfies – and one around the back that takes care of everything else. You get a 12MP shooter on either end, but the specific features change depending on which of these cameras you’re looking at.

Around the back you get a wide-lens camera with a f/1.8 aperture, which is incredibly mid for mobile cameras in 2024. You do still get nice features like 5x digital zoom and image stabilization, but the lackluster image quality means you’re not going to be using the camera very often.

The front-facing camera, on the other hand, is also not especially great. Apple has to have a decent front-facing camera because of FaceID, which works extremely well on this device, but when you go to take a selfie, it’s extremely pixelated, even under bright lighting.

iPad Pro (2024) – Specs and Performance

The iPad Pro 2024 comes with Apple’s latest M4 chip, skipping over the M3 that currently powers the best MacBooks. This means it’s technically the newest laptop processor in Apple’s lineup – and it’s not even in a laptop, no matter how much Apple markets the iPad Pro as such. And the M4 is an incredibly powerful processor, thanks to at least a 9-core processor paired with a 10-core GPU and 8GB of RAM if you opt for a 256GB or 512GB configuration.

If you upgrade that to 1TB or 2TB of storage, Apple enables another CPU core (bringing it to 10 cores), and ups the RAM to 16GB. This is a significantly more powerful option, just by virtue of doubling the RAM on offer, so you need to be aware that if you don’t fork over the cash for more storage, you’re getting a slower tablet as a whole.

Luckily, no matter which model you get, you’re going to get the same 10-core GPU, and let me tell you: this thing is awesome for gaming.

Playing games on the iPad Pro is incredible. Even brand-new games like Wuthering Waves and AFK Journey run like a dream, and don’t seem to really push the M4 very hard. Even after hours of gameplay, the iPad Pro didn’t get too hot, making it probably the most comfortable gaming tablet on the market right now.

What Is a Computer?

Apple has put a lot of work into making the iPad Pro seem like a workstation, especially paired with the Magic Keyboard. The company claims that this tablet, when paired with its keyboard accessory – which requires an additional $299 – outclasses the best laptops as creative workstations. The thing is, with the M4 processor and the gorgeous display, it isn’t necessarily wrong.

Plenty of creative workflows can really take advantage of the unique form factor of the iPad Pro, though. Illustrators and photographers alike are going to love the new Apple Pencil Pro and how it works with this tablet. I can’t even think of a better device for professional artists.