The Apple iPad Pro Review
by Ryan Smith, Joshua Ho & Brandon Chester on January 22, 2016 8:10 AM ESTSystem Performance
While the iPad Pro is important for some of its tertiary features, without the performance to back it up the user experience will inevitably suffer. In order to try and get an idea for how the iPad Pro performs as a whole we turn to our suite of performance benchmarks that stress a number of different areas including the CPU, GPU, memory, and internal storage.
In the browser benchmarks, it's quite evident that the iPad Pro is far and away superior for browser performance compared to almost anything else on the market today, save the latest Surface Pros. This can be attributed to a few factors. One factor is that Safari has a number of optimizations that most Android browsers don't. The other factor is that the Twister CPU in A9X is just better suited for dealing with intense JavaScript, which is heavily reliant on single-thread performance. As the A9X only has two CPU cores that mostly rely on ILP to get acceptable levels of performance, the iPad Pro ends up doing impressively well in these benchmarks. I've found that this is also reflected in real world browsing performance, as the iPad Pro is less likely to choke on some popular JS-heavy tech websites than other devices with Chrome or an OEM-optimized browser. Quickly checking EmberJS performance tells pretty much the same story here as well.
In Basemark OS II 2.0, the iPad Pro pretty handily sets the record for performance by virtue of its GPU and CPU performance. For whatever reason there's some sort of hang-up in web browsing performance, which could be due to some sort of code path that doesn't respond very well to additional ILP. Whatever the case, performance isn't too far behind the iPad Air 2 here by virtue of higher IPC and clock speeds. Overall, the iPad Pro seems to be quite performant for everyday tasks.
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glenn.tx - Saturday, January 23, 2016 - link
I mean't CAN"T be ignored :0MaxIT - Saturday, February 13, 2016 - link
There is absolutely no way I could (or would) use a Surface Pro as my primary laptop (or even tablet)...digiguy - Saturday, January 23, 2016 - link
I don't think anyone is saying that ipad pro is the only game in town. At least not me. As you can see I am a "multi-device" guy. I don't believe in one device for everything. And all my devices and synced via dropbox + onedrive + sugarsync.I have several activities and a lot of what I do is done via a computer. No surface pro/book or other clone could replace my main device, the one I spend most time on and from which I am writing, a 17 inch quad core i7 with 16GB of RAM, 2 SSDs, 1 HHD, lots of ports etc. I am a heavy multi-tasker and 8GB or a dual core are sometimes not enough.
But my quad core stays at home and I also work on the go (teach at university, among other things) and travel, so I have my SP3 for when I work on the go and my 14 inch ultrabook for travelling (better on my lap and on a plane).
So each device has a role and I would never dream of replacing any laptop with the ipad pro... I think very few people buy the ipad pro with this objective. For what I use it for ipad pro beats SP3 on a lot of things (size, sound, weight, touch optimization) and that’s why I bought it.
Constructor - Saturday, January 23, 2016 - link
Yeah, when backward desktop compatibility is the primary thing you need.The whole point of contention her is that some people overgeneralize their own needs to apply to absolutely every professional user, which is simply not the case.
An iPad (Pro or otherwise) can very well be a professional tool, especially when flexibility of use, portability and ease of use are critical, but of course there will still be cases where other computers will be better suited. Just not exclusively any more by a long shot.
Murloc - Sunday, January 24, 2016 - link
you won't find that kind of people (pure office workers who only need the office ecosystem and sync everything to the cloud and have no need for other software or usb ports) commenting on this review.glenn.tx - Saturday, January 23, 2016 - link
"I didn’t really notice that it had gotten significantly harder to handle in the hands than an iPad Air 2"... Are you kidding me? Find me someone else that agrees with this opinion. Every other review of the Pro notes that it's a bit unwieldy. I wish I could find another quality technical source for reviews other than Anandtech because the bias for Apple is gushing.KPOM - Saturday, January 23, 2016 - link
Most sites have said that the weight balance is good.Constructor - Saturday, January 23, 2016 - link
Most people who have handled mine have remarked how light it is relative to what they expected at its size, and that reflects my own impression as well.Of course it's bigger and heavier than an iPad Air 2, but "harder to handle" is something I can't really get together with the actual device. It's just A4-sized like any ordinary paper magazine. If you can't cope with that, you must have major problems anyway.
digiguy - Saturday, January 23, 2016 - link
I would say that the air you can hold it from one side for as long as you like, the ipad pro you'll probably want to hold it like a pizza if for more that a few seconds, but if you hold it like that you can hold it for long without feeling tired. That's not a big issue IMO.Constructor - Saturday, January 23, 2016 - link
Even prolonged sessions playing Real Racing for several hours (where it's held free without support with both hands because it also acts as the steering wheel) have not been a major problem yet.Yes, holding it with one hand at one edge is not ideal, but it's just like a stiff A4 note pad in general. Not a big problem.
One great feature is that the microfiber back side of the Smart Cover sticks very firmly to any kind of fabric, so it's perfectly comfortable to cross my legs and put the iPad on my thigh, without touching it with my hands at all. It just stays there very securely (even on a train) as if glued in place.
Actually much more comfortable than any book or magazine I've ever read while sitting down (which you always have to keep from slipping away and from trying to close by itself).
It is also very useful when typing on my lap with the onscreen keyboard, where it also prevents the iPad from slipping all over the place.
I don't know if that was explicitly a design goal, but it's definitely a great advantage and one of the reasons why I can very much recommend the regular Smart Cover. (The one for my previous iPad 3 had survived four years of regular use with minimal wear already.)