5 Weird iPad Pro (M4) Decisions

all right so I've been using the new M4

iPad Pro for like 2 weeks now been doing

a lot of the same stuff I did with my M1

iPad Pro from 3 years ago watching

YouTube videos browsing the internet

answering emails listening to music and

spoiler alert it's almost exactly the

same experience the M1 iPad Pro was

already super overpowered and very

smooth and snappy and had great battery

life and this one now even more so of

all the same stuff

not a very helpful review I know but

I've also been thinking about some of

the really interesting decisions that

Apple made with this iPad specifically

some stuff that wasn't like even really

in the rumor Mills it kind of just came

up didn't even show up in the keynote

but is unusual and different so these

are five of the most interesting choices

that Apple made with the iPad Pro so

first of all the new iPad Pro is thinner

we all knew that it was already an

interesting decision because I kind of

felt like we were done with that a few

iterations ago like nobody was asking

for thinner iPads but maybe they saw all

the gushing over Samsung's Galaxy Tab

Ultra guilty that thing is also

ridiculously impossibly thin so iPad

goes from 6.4 mm which was slightly

thicker than Samsung's flagship to now

5.1 mm which just barely beats Samsung's

number now you know I'm not trying to

start any beef that doesn't already

exist you know I'm sure if you ask Apple

they'll just say look it's the thinnest

Apple product ever which is already nuts

it's crazy thin but I think it really

feels like apple was just looking for

something to make this different to make

it feel different from the last couple

of generations of iPad and now there's

rumors that they may also be doing this

to next year's iPhone just going with

thinness honestly it is noticeably

thinner and lighter to me someone who's

held the previous one quite a bit

definitely less of a difference when you

have a case on it but this is also going

to naturally mean there's less room

inside the iPad but weirdly somehow the

11-in iPad Pro M4 has a larger battery

than the last generation 11-in iPad Pro

and this new bigger 13in has like a tiny

bit slightly smaller battery almost the

same size battery as last year and so

what you end up with is a really good

battery life again awesome standby time

really good battery when you're actually

using it but what strikes me is Apple

could have made if they made this the

same thickness as last year they could

have made an iPad with an enormous

battery life with the efficiency of the

M4 chip it could have had some insane

long

battery or they could make something

strikingly thin and have the same Rock

Solid battery life as always but I would

have loved to have seen option one but

anyway there's also a few other things

missing from this tablet as well so they

avoided saying it during the keynote but

they got rid of the ultrawide camera not

a huge deal at all obviously they kind

of have a huge cutout for the light r on

the camera squares it's still kind of

looks like it's maybe a dual or triple

camera setup but nope single camera lar

and a Flash and I was also curious if

magnet paper could reveal anything new

about the insides of this iPad um this

was before Jerry everything like tore

his apart but I I know instinctively if

you make something thinner and smaller

and the speakers have to suffer right

that would be smaller and magnet paper

fun fact is a great way not only to see

the magnets inside of a device of which

there are many here but it also shows

the iPad Pro has these new much more

circular quad speaker drivers as opposed

to the more rectangular looking ones

from before I've listened to them back

to back this one versus the last

generation and this one is a little bit

less Bassy still loud still some of the

best speakers in any tablet and very

usable but physics so less room inside a

little bit less Bassy with these new

speakers now packaging wise not a lot

has changed I mean an iPad box is still

an iPad box but two things one uh no

stickers anymore so

sorry Apple Fanboys if you are hoping to

keep collecting uh environmental things

no more plastic they're trying not to

ship so much stuff but the thing is okay

they are still shipping these two things

with every iPad if you get a space gray

iPad you get a black cable so the USBC

cable but you also still get a brick

with every iPad fine but it's this white

20 wat charging brick which okay I know

they stopped shipping the brick with the

iPhone and they could use the same logic

and stop shipping a brick with the iPad

but they're still going to ship you a

brick and if you do with this $1500

$2,000 $2500 iPad could it at least be a

good brick could you at least give us

the fastest charging the iPad can

support and maybe even match the color

of the cable maybe but anyway maybe

that's nitpicking hopefully not though

but let's talk about let's talk about

this computer thing so the knock on the

iPad Pro for years now has been that

it's a ridiculously overpowered

amazing piece of Hardware but it's still

an iPad like it still does basically the

same set of things that an iPad Air does

there's a couple little things like

pencil hover and little stuff it's

basically the same so they're not going

to let this turn into a full-fledged

computer because Apple has Macs to

protect so it's kind of stuck as an

overpowered iPad and with this

generation well yeah it's still kind of

true again this is the first time apple

is unveiling the newest generation M4

chip and it's only in this iPad Pro for

now but it's even more powerful at its

peak it benchmarks extremely well it's a

second generation 3 NM process it has a

larger and more powerful neural engine

as well I mean this chip is great but as

far as things that actually take

advantage of that the list is very very

short and some of the stuff is even like

coming later this year like the new

Final Cut app it's just around the

corner so if you just do regular iPad

stuff watching Netflix web browsing all

the classics like this this is going to

feel exactly the same not just as the

last M1 iPad Pro but as an M1 iPad Air

you know if you get this M4 version here

you can you can play those one of the

like three games that support the new

hardware accelerated rate tracing on

this iPad uh you can use the new stem

splitter feature in the New Logic Pro 2

app for iPad that actually looks

incredible if you use logic on the iPad

but the most interesting new thing to me

about M4 is something that they didn't

really talk about they kind of glossed

over it they didn't really dive into it

in the keynote and they don't show it on

their website very clearly but okay in

the past when you're buying an iPad all

you really pay more for in a single iPad

lineup is storage right that's just you

start with it'll be 128 gigs kind of a

joke but then you go up in price and you

just pay for more storage and you can

get different colors and then a few

years ago very sneakily we started

realizing okay you actually also get

more RAM in the highest end models so if

you buy more storage you'll also get

more RAM so 8 gigs of RAM on the basee

ones and 16 gigs of RAM on the 1 and 2

tbte iPad Pros but now on this latest

one the stratification goes even further

now it's also CPU course so first of all

the base iPad Pro is 256 gigs now

thankfully and you go from an 8 core CPU

to a n9ine core CPU with the M4 but

that's just with the base two versions

the top two versions get another

performance core so those are 10 core

CPUs instead of nine and then there's

also the the nanotexture display option

and this is that matte finish one that I

briefly got Hands-On time with at the

event I haven't gotten to see it since

but it does look pretty impressive even

though I do have my durability concerns

with it but that anti-reflective finish

is only available again on the top two

options the one and two terabyte iPad

Pros the expensive ones so now if you're

buying a more expensive iPad Pro you're

getting different amounts of ram

different CPU different storage options

and different display

options very computer-like if you ask me

now the tandem OLED display to me is the

most interesting thing about this new

iPad Pro under the hood but in practice

it's actually honestly just a bit of a

brighter more contrasty version of the

same thing we've been looking at for

years a perfect example of the iPad's

Hardware outpacing the software is

obviously a new OLED display would be

great if you had like an all black

background and maybe show just the time

maybe if you had an always on display it

could look super cool

but the iPad doesn't have an oon display

I don't want to bet money but I wouldn't

be shocked if the next version of iPad

OS did support an always on display with

just the pros because they have the

oleds now but it doesn't we got to wait

till WWDC and then maybe we'll see it

there but I mean aside from that it

still has less blooming for just like

the perfect HDR content with pitch black

blacks I love to see that if you're just

watching regular SDR content though or

just doing any number of regular tasks

watching Netflix browsing emails or web

stuff I mean you won't notice much of a

difference unless you're in direct sun

Max brightness that's a testament to how

good iPad Pro displays have been for

years in the past though now for your

artists out there they've also got this

sweet new pencil no the back still does

not act as an eraser as much as I wish

they would do that but the rest of this

thing is better than ever it supports

find my now it has a new squeeze sensor

inside for selecting different tools

super intuitive I started using it

immediately uh it also has a new haptic

motor inside so you can feel this little

click as you squeeze which is a nice

little confirmation kind of surprised I

didn't add this earlier and then it

supports Barrel rotation for a few tools

that specifically change when you rotate

the point and look it even has this fake

Shadow so this is not a real shadow of

the apple pencil this is a fake totally

unnecessary computer generated Shadow

that's shown on the iPad's display and

it actually matches the type of tool

you're using in real time with rotation

that's just ridiculous and instead of

just calling it the updated apple pencil

they're continuing to sell the old apple

pencil at the same price and they're

calling this one the new pencil

Pro and look I am not an artist I am

squarely outside of the Target

demographic for this thing but what I do

know is if this and its features are

tempting to you then you will need to

buy a whole new iPad to take advantage

of it

and that was on purpose see they moved

the camera to the landscape side of the

iPad now which is great that's where we

wanted it to be the whole time that's

where the face ID array is now it's

awesome it's an ultra wide camera for

FaceTime and all that but that's also

where the pencil has always magnetized

and charged so they actually had to

rearrange the components inside to be

slightly different to work with both now

in the same place so it still snaps on

the top like that but did they have to

do that couldn't they have put the

pencil on the top of the iPad or even

maybe offset it so that the pencil's on

one side and the camera's on the other

side but no they've got it just in the

Middle where it always is and I put some

magnet paper up to the back so I can see

that they did in fact change the magnet

layout inside like I tried pairing the

new Apple pencil Pro to my old iPad Pro

and it kind of stuck on sort of but

didn't pair do anything all right

convenient look I'm still personally not

going to be buying one of these new M4

iPad Pros because of what I do on the

iPad Pro and I already have a relatively

new M1 iPad so I don't need one but if

you don't have a relatively recent iPad

then yeah this thing is great it's

better than ever but I think we're all

on the same page that we're waiting for

WWDC later this year to see what's new

with the latest version of iPad OS to

see if there's anything actually

interesting that this will be capable of

that we don't already know about because

other than that it's kind of the same

story as the last few generations of the

iPad Pro speaking of things that are

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link is in the description either way

that's been it let me know what you

think thanks for watching catch you guys

in the next one peace

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