Why I spent $3600 on the iPad Pro M4.

so these are the 2024 iPad Pros they've

had a pretty big redesign they are

shockingly almost concerningly thin they

have a new chip they have new display

new accessories long story short these

are the highest end probably the most

expensive tablets in the world I just

specked mine out over here and it is

coming to £

2,877 which if you convert that to

dollars is like £ 3,600 which is just I

mean that is just an obscene amount to

pay for a tablet but I am sitting here

right now now hovering over the buy

button and I wanted to make a video

about this because when I woke up today

I did not expect to be in this position

I am not an iPad guy I use a smartphone

a smart watch a smart fridge a smart air

purifier hell I even use a Smart

toothbrush but the one thing that I've

really struggled to grasp is tablets cuz

when I first started this channel

tablets were awesome phones were tiny so

there was a real need for size tablets

had better quad core processors and

significantly more advanced software

compared to those simple phones but then

phones got good their screens doubled in

size they got a lot faster they could

handle multiple tasks at once and as

soon as that happened the whole appeal

of an iPad or an Android tablet

evaporated for me like why take around

something that does what a phone does

but needs a laptop's worth of space

without being able to do what a laptop

does that's the exact reason why in the

2015 2016 era there was a massive drop

off in general Tabler interest but then

why am I sitting here right now like the

world's biggest hypocrite about to spend

basically a small car's worth of money

on a tablet well that's what I want to

explain for starters I expected this

thing to be thin I mean watching the

Apple keynote they didn't exactly hide

the fact that the 11-in iPad Pro is just

5.3 mm and that the 13-in is just 5.1 mm

and therefore Apple's thinnest device

ever but even then when I picked it up

for the first time and I turned it

around in my own hands it still feels

absolutely insane that I'm holding a

full-on computer with an M4 laptop

quality chip inside because this thing

is 579 G okay to give you some

perspective I take this remarkable

Writing Tablet with me almost wherever I

go I found that no matter how much I do

love my laptop and my phone there's

times where you just want to write on a

big screen you know sometimes you want

to plan out a YouTube thumbnail before

you take it we've actually been planning

out what our future studio is going to

look like when we move home sometimes

you just want to sit in a coffee shop

and brainstorm ideas or Draw up concepts

for a product it all needs a pen and

this thing this black and white 10-in e

in tablet that does well basically one

thing this is just over 400 G so I'm

thinking damn I mean I don't even

normally care too much about the weight

of stuff I pretty much always buy the

plus the max the biggest Gadget you can

get and to be honest it is also so slim

that it is a bit concerning I feel like

we've been here with the iPhone 6 in

2014 and we all know how that turned out

but I do get it here I think for

something like this much more than on a

phone it's important to be this

weightless because this 13in iPad Pro is

just light enough and I say just because

it is on the line and after about 20

minutes I was feeling it but for me I

can just about comfortably hold it with

one hand and right with the other and so

this is starting to feel like it could

perfectly slot into my life instead of

this but just with the perks of being

able to do a lot more um like for

example potentially replace my laptop

too and I can't quite believe I'm saying

this because trust me when I say I love

my MacBook I take this thing even if I'm

leaving home for like 30 minutes my

family is mildly concerned that I will

still be using this in one arm while

walking up the aisle at my own wedding

can neither confirm nor deny but when I

use this new iPad and the new Pro pencil

and the new magic keyboard all together

this is the first time since like 2013

that it really felt to me like tablets

are not just big phones that their

capability feels like it has reached a

tipping point at which point I'm

actually sitting here questioning if I

even need this because well this this is

the new magic keyboard and while I know

it might look like one of those cheap

Amazon folio cases from the outside

using it is actually crazily similar to

using a Mac so on the inside there's a

metal finish now the trackpad is bigger

this is a charging port and then if you

want to plug in other things you can use

the other USB port on the iPad itself

but what was very cool to me is that the

second you snap the iPad into the case

it also controls like a Mac it's like

every bit of muscle memory that I've had

from years of using a Macbook it all

translates perfectly the swiping

gestures the quick shortcuts you can

also just hold the command key at any

time to see all the shortcuts available

within any app you're using but even the

quick functions like brightness control

volume control the search bar I was just

so surprised by how usable the iPad is

without even touching the screen also

the hinge now there's obviously no way

that you're going to be able to get a

laptop quality hinge like this fitted

into a thin iPad case but what's quite

cool is because the new iPad basically

weighs nothing you don't really need one

when you see the case it definitely

raises doubts about being usable in a

car or on your lap but my first

impression from actually typing on it is

actually that it's way more solid than

it looks it's not perfect though the

downside seemed to be that the trackpad

is still not quite full MacBook Pro size

and the hinge doesn't go all the way

back it locks around here and the main

one actually is that this thing's £350

here in the UK and it doesn't seem like

the iPad Pro works with any other magic

keyboard so you have to buy the new one

and then there's also this new apple

pencil Pro which has its own perks

compared to the normal apple pencil I do

find it so funny the way they talk about

all their products like I'm pretty sure

they introduced this with it takes the

pencil experience to a whole new level

apple pencil Pro it takes the pencil

experience to a whole new level wow now

in my brief time with it I did find it a

little bit fiddly like there's quite a

few times where I

very interesting there's some new stuff

here that I'm not too bothered about

like barrel roll which thanks to new

gyro sensors can allow you to rotate

your pencil just like using a real

pencil and using different parts of the

nib for different thicknesses but then

on the other hand the fact that you can

now just squeeze it to bring up your

menu that's awesome that's going to save

you a lot of time because I mean the old

pencil didn't have any kind of buttons

so your thumb had nothing to do it was

like a lost function the fact that

there's now a vibration motor inside

which creates this satisfying little

snap when you're doing things and also

the fact that you can now add it to find

my in case you lose it that's pretty

important because I me I'm pretty sure

I'm going to lose it so it looks like a

laptop but does it run like a laptop

well Apple didn't actually just kit this

new iPad Pro out with the same M3 chip

that you get on the latest MacBook SS

they actually went one further and

announced a whole new generation M4 chip

that goes in here how much faster is it

than

M3 I couldn't really tell you to be

honest the way that Apple talks about

performance jumps is actually really

annoying because sometimes they compare

to M3 sometimes they compare to M2

sometimes they compare to M1 and they'll

always give you numbers based on really

Niche use cases as opposed to the more

general ones that would matter to all

users like app opening speeds but I

think the high L takeaway should be

probably not a massive jump from M3 but

because the iPad hasn't actually been

updated since the M2 Chip and because

this new iPad has better thermal design

that can keep temperatures more under

control actually pretty huge and it's

going to be a lot faster than like

Samsung current tablets they're still

using phone chips which is one of the

key reasons that I've been hesitating

moving to one of those we should get one

thing clear this is only about 50% as

powerful as my MacBook Pro and if you're

actually going to Kit it out with the

pencil and the keyboard and everything

then you're actually paying a lot more

per unit of performance than you do on

Mac and it isn't even going to do 100%

of what a Mac can do because iPad OS

which is based on iOS is designed to be

simpler but the way that I've started to

see this is I mean as soon as something

like this can do the things that

normally require this surely it's an

absolute no-brainer to be doing those

things on the iPad and for my uses I

feel like today might be the day where

we've just reached that level I mean if

I can swap both my massive very heavy

laptop and my remarkable tablet for just

one iPad in totality that would change

my life I would be cutting the weight

and the size of my tech by about five

times but also I feel like in a lot of

ways the iPad can actually do things

even better than the Mac can like I

think for the most part mobile apps are

a lot better designed than computer apps

like games I mean gaming on a Mac kind

of sucks and I genuinely think I would

get a lot more gaming utility from this

ironically less powerful device than I

do my current SPC to the max MacBook

just because iOS and iPad OS they're

built for games but also even bigger

picture I just feel like a lot of mobile

apps are way better designed than their

laptop Alternatives like mobile photo

editing is now so good that half the

time I actually sending stuff from my

laptop to my phone to make edits and

it's not just cute little phone apps on

the iPad I was literally today using the

exact same pixel meter app that I

currently use on my Mac it didn't seem

like any function was missing or cut

back and every single command that

instant on my Mac was also instant on

the iPad the only times I noticed a

difference were when there were super

intense things that required loading

bars and then those loading bars did

last about 50% longer on the iPad but

yeah like we're currently in the process

of planning out our smart future home

and everything is controlled by apps

it's all designed to work off well

basically iPads because because times

have changed 10 years ago we were living

in a PC first world and swapping your

laptop for an iPad it would be seen as a

move only filthy casuals would make but

I'm starting to feel pretty strongly

like that's not the case anymore I mean

now services are often designed

primarily with the app in mind first and

because the apps are designed around

phone touch screens and phone Hardware

more often than not I find them way more

intuitive and optimized uh tell me if

you feel the same but I always feel way

better when a product tells me to use

their app than when they direct me to a

website and so the iPad which is the

biggest most powerful form that you can

experience those optimized apps in is

becoming way more appealing to me so

then I'm thinking okay what else do I do

on my laptop that I might struggle with

here Google Docs but that's actually

better on iPad cuz you can actually

browse all your stuff even while offline

which you can't do on Mac I checked

draft videos before we post them using

this website called frame.io it makes it

really easy to leave comments at

different parts but then I looked it up

and there is a specifically made iPad

app for it and I also still sometimes

edit videos far less than I used to cuz

thankfully we have some really good

editors now but I still sometimes put

together the music for our videos or do

some editing for personal stuff like we

made this video invite for our wedding

it's very cute but the point is iPad has

Final Cut Pro as well now they actually

just announced Final Cut Pro 2 just for

the iPad I don't actually think it's a

Final Cut Pro successor like the name

might imply but it is very much a full

video editing experience I did find it

pretty fiddly when trying to use Final

Cut with the touchcreen it just feels

like a strange intersection that can

never really be as efficient as using a

precise trackpad but when I tried it

with a keyboard attached different story

in moments I actually forgot I was using

an iPad do you see what I'm saying it

almost feels like all the perks of a

laptop when you want one but combined

with all the perks of a mobile when that

suits you more you know everything being

a Sleek App instead of a clunky website

which is definitely the way to go for

most banking services social media Uber

deliveroo actually Netflix too movies is

a massive one to be honest because

almost all of these video streaming

platforms they are all infinitely better

on phones because they actually let you

download stuff offline it all feels a

bit silly to me but essentially because

computer OSS are more open it would be

easier to Pirate things if you could

download offline on there but on an iPad

well it kind of gets a free pass because

it's still running a mobile operating

system but a mobile operating system

with the media experience of a high-end

laptop oh we should probably talk about

this screen actually so this is an OLED

screen well technically actually it's

two OLED screens stacked on top of each

other to be able to get the Deep

contrast benefits of OLED but also the

ultra high brightness that Apple wants

for HDR apple is basically saying that

this is the best screen they've ever

made for a consumer device they're

calling it The Ultra Retina xdr Display

and it looks unsurprisingly very good

the contrast is the biggest thing that I

noticed like when you watching stuff

with blacks those blacks are so deep

it's like you're staring into a void and

again it feels so trippy there's such a

big disconnect because you don't expect

to screen this good on a device so thin

like if you ordered a monitor for your

computer and it was this thin you would

already be an awe and yet this isn't

just your monitor this is your full-on

computer it's your camera it's your

touchscreen it's kind of crazy now

they've also added in the option for a

nano texture screen which they're saying

scatters the ambient light to reduce

glare but also without any reduction in

brightness it definitely seems to work

as advertised and it might actually

solve the macbook's visibility issues

but this is also how the cost starts to

rack up this is how I got where I ended

up because you basically have to spend a

minimum of 2,000 to get a nano coating

on your 13-in iPad also one thing Apple

didn't mention battery life at all

during the presentation their site says

that the new one has about the same

battery life as the old one but given

that we've now got two panels firing at

the same time it's definitely something

that I want to keep a very close eye on

while I'm testing and then the final

sort of extra perks the cameras are

while not the priority definitely better

on the iPad than even the topend MacBook

Pros a because you actually get a camera

on the back which I mean you obviously

don't yeah although it is weird that

they've removed the secondary Ultra wide

camera that they used to give you on the

back on the last iPad pros and then B

for the front it's an ultra wide camera

that's now on the horizontal bezel so it

keeps you centralized and can also use

something called Center Stage when

you're on calls to keep you in the

middle even as you move around the room

I'm also just thinking iPads can have

cellular like what if instead of

worrying about Wi-Fi all the time my

main computer is permanently connected

with its own internet connection I'm not

particularly keen on paying a whole

extra monthly contract but it's a

tantalizing idea and then also just like

the Mac iPads can also hook up to SD

card readers SSD storage drives even

going into bigger monitors for when I'm

docked into my desk at home with a whole

system called stage manager that's kind

of designed for big screen multitasking

so honestly you could probably tell I'm

a very excited man right now like this

could be one of the most freeing Tech

decisions that I've ever made and it's

also making me quite excited for WWDC

cuz they talked a lot about AI during

this presentation but they didn't really

show a lot of AI things so I feel like

that'll be them but

this could also be a big mistake because

I mean is this going to be fast enough

to do all those things I normally do

without feeling sluggish or fiddly is

the iPad going to force me to switch my

phone over from a Samsung to an iPhone

because it doesn't have many ports and

I'm going to have to rely on more

Wireless proprietary airdrop stuff

there's the fact that let's be honest

Apple doesn't want you to buy an iPad

instead of a Mac they want you to buy

both so in what ways is the iPad

artificially limited so that it doesn't

cross over with the Mac too much the

file system system the one major

remaining advantage that I feel like PC

still has is that it's designed for

granular organization over files I need

to find out if I can actually have that

same control or find a way around it and

then finally what I'm going to do about

storage the iPad Pro goes up to 2

terabytes which is great but I'm an 8

terab kind of guy on my MacBook so am I

going to need to start subscribing to

iCloud become better at managing my

files or just keep a small storage drive

that I plug in every now and again I

have no idea yet but if you want to see

what my experience is like with the iPad

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