Throw away your old Windows computers!?

The new iPad Pro 9.7 inch is a difficult product to review. On the one hand, it can be viewed by the standards of previous iPad’s and android tablets, but on the other hand, Apple is marketing this, as well as it’s larger 12.9 inch sibling, as something to replace your laptop.

In this first piece, I will give first impressions on the device itself as a tablet, as well as what the first impressions of one of the accessories, the Smart Keyboard.

The first thing you notice when unboxing the iPad Pro is just how thin and light the tablet is. Even as someone used to using the original iPad Air this feels thin and light. On the outside the tablet resembles the iPad Air 2 very closely, with the main differences being the antenna lines (for the 4g version) and the prominent camera bulge for the new 12mp camera.

The second thing you notice is the screen as you fire up the device, this screen is substantially better than the iPad Air and according to Apple has better colour reproduction and is 40% less reflective than the iPad Air 2. It also uses something called the true tone display, which adjusts the screen against ambient lighting to make colour seem more natural. From first glance this isn’t too noticeable unless you switch it on and off, but anything that makes a screen easier on the eyes is always welcome.

The third thing that hits you as a first impression of the tablet is just how powerful it is. Having two apps side by side or having to cycle through apps feels much faster than previous iPad’s of this size and although it only sports 2gb of RAM rather than the 4gb found in the larger iPad Pro it’s hard to tell in most day to day usage. I imagine professionals using the highest end of video editing software might benefit from more RAM but ultimately you aren’t going to feel like this device is slow out of the box

The Smart Keyboard that comes with the iPad is much smaller than your standard keyboard as it has to act as a Smart Cover for the tablet itself. This means that the keys are relatively small however having used the tablet with the keyboard to type all of this its surprisingly easy to use and typing got faster and faster as time went on.

First impressions so far I’ve fallen somewhat in love with the tablet, but it remains to be seen how much better it performs key tasks. This is the first impressions so far but in further posts I’ll continue to review the device first a tablet and also to ask whether this device can be a laptop replacement like apple claims.

I will use the tablet for a week before writing more to get to grips with some of the issues and foibles that the tablet has and to give a chance for the new toy feeling to dissipate, but for now, I’m in love.