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Apple's new iPad Pro is powered by a 64-bit A9X processor that delivers up to 1.6 times faster performance over the iPad Air 2, with up to twice as fast graphics. Apple also says the tablet is faster than 80% of portable PCs shipped in the last 12 months.
Apple's website notes the underlying technology behind the iPad Pro's desktop-class performance is a new storage controller that increases read and write speeds so that large files, such as 4K videos or RAW photos imported from an HD camera, can be opened much quicker (via AppleInsider).
The A9X chip is capable of processing data so quickly, it demanded a new memory architecture. iPad Pro features a revamped storage controller that helps deliver performance better than some desktop computers. This increases read and write speeds, so you can quickly open even the largest files. Like the big 4K movie you just edited or all the RAW images you imported from your HD camera.
iPad Pro launches in November in Silver, Space Gray and Gold, starting at $799 for a 32GB Wi-Fi only model. A 128GB Wi-Fi only model will cost $949 and a Wi-Fi + LTE 128GB model will cost $1,079. A new Apple Pencil and Smart Keyboard will launch alongside the tablet for $99 and $169 respectively.
Top Rated Comments
We've come to expect that bigger versions of iOS devices (e.g. iPhone Plus vs iPhone, iPad Air vs iPad mini) usually cost $100 more. And those even have a couple pros other than size over their smaller sibling too (iPhone Plus has OIS and longer battery life, iPad Air has more accurate colors, was thinner and faster until recently).
Now this is $300 more, and the biggest feature besides the larger screen is an active digitizer which can only be used if you buy the $100 Pencil, bringing it to a $400 premium over the iPad Air. Other than that, stuff like the A9X and other incremental hardware updates would have been expected on the $500 iPad Air 3, had it been released this fall as usual instead of the Pro.
Having a bigger iPad is worth an extra $100 IMO. The active stylus + digitizer is worth another $100. I think $69 would have been a reasonable price for the Smart Keyboard (same price as the Bluetooth Apple keyboard). That would have brought the total price to $768. In reality it's $1067, and that's completely nuts. It's a shame because the hardware itself is pretty attractive.
It may have the horsepower to edit it, but unless apple secretly upgraded the the Lightning connector to usb 3.0 or thunderbolt speeds, it's going to be painfully slow moving those files in/out of the iPad pro. And no, wifi Ac is nowhere near as fast. The sad 32gb base model is another insult to injury. Even the 128gb would be limiting to a real 'pro' working on multiple 4k recordings due to the lack of fast external storage. I edit 4k videos on my rmbp 15 while on the road and I use a combo of the built in 512gb ssd, an external 1 tb ssd in a thunderbolt enclosure and 2x2tb usb 3.0 hdd.
Some apps that I use daily that I can't run on iOS are:
Xcode
Photoshop
Lightroom
MySQL
SourceTree
Online dev tools such as C9.io (doesn't work with mobile safari)
Eclipse
As I said, I'm not the target audience for this device :)