Apple’s iPad Pro 10.5 inch more likely to make people ditch their laptop

FOR years Apple has said the iPad was the device to make people ditch their laptop. The new iPad Pro makes that talk more convincing.

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FOR years Apple has talked about the iPad as being the device to make people ditch their laptop.

With the new iPad Pro, that talk has just got more convincing.

And the thing that makes this new sized iPad better than the rest is not really the size. It’s what you can do with it.

The iPad Pro 10.5-inch measures 250.6mm x 174.1mm — which makes it about 10mm taller and 5mm wider than the current iPad Pro 9.7-inch.

That’s not a lot of difference but for that extra centimetre (or a half, if you look at it the other way), you get a lot more screen for your buck. That’s because the bezel (the wasted space around the display of the iPad) has shrunk.

What differences does that extra display make? In terms of keyboard, it’s a little thing but it’s also a lot.

When you hit the keyboard on screen, of if you fork out for the Smart Keyboard, you will get a keyboard that is full size. That will make typing just that little bit easier — and that means fewer mistakes.

Invited journalists inspect the new iPad Pro 10.5 inch with the bezel clearly shrunk. Picture: Justin Sullivan

But the real difference with the iPad comes not with the shape, but with the power.

Not that we’re talking chip speed. I’ve never met anyone who wanted to talk chip speed about their iPhone or iPad. We either think of them as fast devices if they’re new, and slow devices if they’re old. And this, being new, will be very fast. It will also be faster than the laptop you’re probably using right now.

The processor for this new iPad Pro is 30 per cent faster than that for the old 9.7-inch iPad Pro, and the graphics performance in 40 per cent faster.

Does the iPad feel different in the hand than the current 9.7-inch model? Not a lot, although that bigger screen does make a big visual difference.

Apple CEO Tim Cook shows an iPad Pro during an announcement of new products at the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference. Picture: Marcio Jose Sanchez

There are all sorts of specs about the display that explain why it is better. A conversation about screen brightness is one of the few times you can be happy boasting you have more nits than the other guy. The iPad Pro has 600 nits brightness and the greens and reds are particularly better.

The key difference that defines the iPad Pro will be in productivity features of the iOS 11.

One of the complaints of the current iPad Pro as a productivity tool comes when you want to multitask.

You can only work on two apps at once up to a point, and you can’t drag and drop between applications. Well, at least you couldn’t.

With this iPad Pro, you touch a picture in your Photos app and drag it to your email. Or you click on the long awaited Files app and you’ll be able to drag and drop between your iPad Pro and cloud services like Dropbox.

There is a new dock across the bottom of the screen and you can drag and drop applications around in the screen in a much more fluid and natural way than the rigid restriction of multi-app view in iOS 10.

There are also improvements, particularly in the Notes app, that make the Pencil a much more useful device. I use a iPad Pro every day as my laptop alternative and I never, ever use the Apple Pencil. Maybe with the new iPad I will.

This iPad Pro is definitely a better device if it’s your only device. You can do more with it.

But the question remains, is that enough?

Prices for the new iPad Pro models are shown on stage during Apple's World Wide Developers Conference. Picture: Josh Edelson

Apple has watched the steady decline of the iPad for a few years. People love their iPads, but they love the one they have and don’t see a need to upgrade.

Eventually, that will change. When you compare the new iPad Pro with the iPad 2, which is still one of the most common tablets in Australia, then you are really comparing a tool too old for doing everything to a tool for consuming everything.

There are a lot of questions about the future of the iPad. Apple today has delivered many of the answers.

The 10.5 inch iPad Pro is available for order from today and delivery next week. It starts at $979 and the Smart Keyboard is $235. The Apple Pencil is $145.

* Rod Chester travelled to WWDC in San Jose as a guest of Apple