I got the original iPad when it came out in 2010. Its portability married with a large screen instantly made it my favorite connected device. Throughout the years, I've steadily upgraded my iPads and most recently had the iPad Air--that is until the iPad Pro was announced.
Yes, I was one of those people who woke up at 3am sharp to pre-order it. I've been using the iPad Pro for about 2 weeks. There's a lot to love about it. (And only a few things to hate). Let's start with things to love:
iPad Pro ❤️
The screen is a lot bigger than the iPad Air and it transforms the tablet reading experience into more of a true magazine feel as so much more content fits on the page at once without the need to scroll or zoom as frequently.
With a bigger screen comes the ability to have two windows open without a negative effect on the user experience. I'm finding that when doing research, I can keep a notes window on one side of the screen and a browswer on the other.
Switching back and forth is natural and fast. The pencil is, as advertised, almost like writing with a pen on a piece of paper. The responsiveness is pretty remarkable. I'm thinking this could end up replacing my reliance on paper to sketch things out (but we'll see in time).
The integrated keyboard is my favorite part of the iPad Pro. (In fact, I'm using it now to type this post.) It's built right into the smart cover and is as good as typing on a laptop. The way in which the screen snaps into the keyboard (using magnets) makes it incredibly sturdy and super easy to move around w/o it coming apart.
Will it replace my laptop?
In a two week period, I would have used my Macbook Air laptop at home at least twice a day. So far, I've only used it about 3 times. So my reliance on my laptop (which usually revolves around having to type out more than a few sentences) has been reduced. I'm not ready to give it up to do harder core content creation (presentations, etc.) just yet.
iPad Pro #fail
There are three things I don't like about the iPad Pro.
1. Weight: It's heavy--Quite heavy in fact, especially moving from an iPad Air. It's taking some getting used to and I'm not quite sure I've accepted it yet.
2. Holding/Typing: The large screen is a doubled edged sword. I talked about the benefits of it. The negatives are that it's awkward to hold and very difficult to type without the smart keyboard--using only the on-screen keypad. In fact, It's incredibly awkward and unnatural to type while holding it (and I have pretty long fingers).
3. Pencil Storage: There's no place to put the pencil when you're not using it--which means it's going to get lost sooner than later. I've already seen some third party solutions to address this but I'm surprised Apple hadn't thought of this out of the gate.
For me, the benefits outweight the costs and I'm glad I upgraded. I will miss the greater portability of my iPad Air (I already do) but I suspect that I'll continue to adjust to the heavier tablet and it'll end up just fine.
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