Top positive review
5.0 out of 5 starsdelighted with this tablet
Reviewed in the United States on October 12, 2017
iPad Pro 12.9, now with available iOS 11, is an EXCELLENT piece of equipment. It is NOT a general-purpose computer, but that's okay, as I have other computers which can do those jobs for which iOS is not well suited.
I prefer my Linux (Ubuntu Mate) systems for general computer work. For instance, I find Linux to be a much better word processing platform than iPad, a better interface to real-world devices such as oscilloscopes, RaspberryPi's, Arduino's, etc., than iPad, a much better platform for programming than iPad, and hands-down better for nearly anything requiring file manipulation. [iOS 11 now provides better "file" handling than previous iOS versions.]
Likewise I prefer my Windows systems for jobs like video editing for which both iPad and Linux are not well suited... also Windows does SketchUp editing rather well, an application which does not run so reliably in Linux and for which iPad is not suited at all.
iPad Pro, however, is an OUTSTANDING platform for a couple of graphics programs which make iPad, for me, worth having, in spite of any other shortcomings.
In particular, I find the mind-mapping program "SingleMind", alone, to be worth the, rather high, price of the iPad Pro 12.9. SingleMind, on a touch-screen platform is amazingly powerful. I use it constantly for analysis, planning, scripting, time management, etc. The creative applications are endless. For one interesting source on the subject of mind-mapping, refer to Tony Buzan's excellent books.
Originally, I used SingleMind on an iPad Pro 9.7 tablet. However, the extra screen "real estate" on the 12.9 iPad greatly improves one's ability to visualize mindmaps... the 12.9 screen is almost twice as large as the 9.7. SingleMind works well on Android tablets, also, but, in my opinion, the iPad touchscreen interface has a better "feel" to it... a subjective opinion but worth testing for yourself if you are interested in such things.
Combining mind-map software on iPad with desktop versions of this software on desktop computers permits passing such graphs between systems in order to do file manipulations that are not so convenient with iPad alone.
The other chief motivator for my own purchase of iPad Pro 12.9 was the ability to run the "Procreate" drawing system. Procreate truly is amazing... an artist's studio in one app. For a taste of what is possible with Procreate running on the iPad Pro 12.9 platform, search, for instance, for "Stayf Draws" videos on YouTube. [Stayf recently published what I consider an excellent e-book manual for Procreate running on iPad Pro 12.9] I have been using Procreate on both iPad Pro 9.7 and the new iPad Pro 12.9 version... again, the extra screen size on the 12.9" iPad really improves the experience of this phenomenal combination.
In my experience, so far, neither iPad or Linux is particularly good at video editing. iPad, though, makes a good quality video camera and recorder. [Image stabiliztion in the iPad Pro cameras is EXCELLENT, in my opinion.] Once video clips are recorded, they easily can be passed to a Windows system for editing. Actually I prefer to use my iPad Pro 9.7 as a video camera as it is smaller and easier to carry about than the 12.9. Again, these experiences reveal the importance of choosing appropriate platforms for the intended application.
With an iPad Pro 12.9, or other size iPads for that matter, use of the Apple Pencil, an added purchase, is highly to be recommended. This pencil is an excellent stylus for editing complex mind-maps, is very useful for highlighting text, and essential for drawing as with Procreate.
In my opinion, iPad Pro 12.9 GREATLY benefits by addition of a Bluetooth keyboard. In my experience it is worthwhile to look closely at which functions are available on particular keyboard models. I have tried several different brands and models of keyboards and have been happiest with Zagg keyboards: the Zagg keys match most closely unique iOS function keys. I most like the Zagg Slimbook keyboard/case, which, at present seems to be in limited availability.
Other accessories worth considering, in my opinion, are additional power cords of longer length. Such cords by some manufacturers other than Apple have shown serious defects according to reviews I have read and needs careful attention as a fire-safety issue, also in my opinion.
My purchase was of the iPad Pro 12.9 256 GB model. I did not purchase the larger memory model due to the added cost. Now that iPad Pro is running the new iOS version 11 with many new features, I might reconsider purchasing the extra memory. Occasionally, my iPad 256 GB seems to "clog up" slightly and slow down slightly a bit for a few seconds. I am inclined to think this behavior is due, at least in part, to some older apps not being tuned to match the new iOS version. Likewise this behavior may be due to my own tendency to load possibly too many apps at one time. Perhaps, though, additional memory space would allow smoother performance. Really this performance issue is a VERY minor one but deserves attention while reading the reviews for yourself.
iPad Pro 12.9 large screen also excels as a Kindle reader. Sometimes just having larger text is useful, of course, but I particularly like having the ability to scale up images within Kindle text to much larger sizes. Such images can then be captured and personal notes added directly onto drawings, graphs, or photos, again a feature of the new iOS 11.
Really the capabilities of iPad Pro 12.9 are amazing... what it does well, it does VERY well! Overall, I am absolutely delighted with this product!
