iPad Pro 2021 (M1) Unboxing & Review By SuperSaf

(upbeat music) - What's up guys, SuperSaf here. And this is the new 2021 M1-powered iPad Pro. It's got a bunch of new features including center stage, which we're testing right now. Let's go ahead, get it on box and see what else there has to offer. (upbeat music) So inside the box, as well as the iPad Pro you do get some paperwork, a SIM card tool, if you do get the cellular version, a couple of Apple stickers, a USB type C two USB type C one meter needs a cable, as well as the 20 watt USB-C power adapter. Now we also do have the brand new white iPad Magic keyboard.

We'll be taking a look at that a little bit later, so stay tuned (upbeat music) And here it is. You'll see that the design is pretty much the same as what we had in the previous generation iPad. It's also still available in a silver and a space gray. We've got the silver version here. Now to give you a side-by-side comparison here is the previous generation space gray iPad Pro.

They are both made with 100% recycled aluminum and the dimensions are almost the same as well. The height and the width is the same. However, the new iPad is ever so slightly thicker around 0.5 millimeters. And there's a good reason for that. And that is at the front.

So although these look pretty much identical from the front in terms of the layout and the bezels, the new iPad Pro does now have a liquid retina XDR display. That's right, you heard correctly, liquid retina XDR display. It uses similar technology to what we've got on the Pro display XDR, but, obviously, at a much smaller scale. Now this is only available on this 12.9-inch version not the 11-inch version. And Apple have managed to achieve this by having over 10,000 mini LEDs, which are grouped into more than 2,500 local dimming zones.

Now, this gives you a full brightness level of 1000 nits and a peak brightness level, if you're watching compatible content of up to 1600 nits. Now, if we compare that to the previous generation iPad that was 600 nits, so that is a massive improvement. You still got promotion technology. So everything is super smooth. And you've got a 1 million to one contrast ratio.

I mean, this is clearly the best display on any tablet out there right now. And it's not even close, watching and creating content on here is an absolute pleasure. Now before we talk about the intels, the M1, chip and the performance, let's take a quick look around the iPad Pro. So we do have four speakers in total. There's two at the top and there's two at the bottom and these sound absolutely great.

There's a of five studio quality mics. There's a power button at the top. On the right-hand side we have the volume buttons. In the middle is a magnetic connector, which will allow you to snap the Apple Pencil gen 2 on and it also charge it wirelessly. And if you get the cellular version you will have a SIM card tray at the bottom of the right hand side.

Now the new iPad Pro M1 does have support for 5G. I got a SIM card from EE to test out. And I've only been testing it out around my house, which is not in the center of my city. And I've been able to get speeds of around 200 megabits a second, which is pretty insane. Now, the idea behind this, because this is a pro machine, if you are out and about, maybe you need to upload images, videos, you need to download lots of files, you're going to be able to do that on the go with 5G.

Now at the bottom, you do have a single USB type C port. Now this has support for Thunderbolt 3 and USB-4 with speeds of up to 40 gigabits a second, which is around four times faster than what we've had previously. So not only will you be able to connect like an external hard drive and get very fast data transfer speeds, you'll also be able to connect an external display up to 6K. So you can actually connect your iPad Pro to the pro display XDR and have 6K output. I mean, just, wow.

By the way if you're enjoying the video so far don't forget to subscribe and hit that bell icon. Now at the front, as well as the display we do have sensors for face ID and a brand new ultra wide camera with center stage. Now this is the first on any Apple product and it's really cool because essentially it's an ultra wide camera. So if you do want to take pictures you can take them at a standard angle, which is going to be cropped in or you can get an ultra wide shot. But the really interesting thing is when you're having video calls.

So as you saw from the introduction of this video what it's actually going to do is it's going to track you around when you're going from side to side. But also if more than one person comes into frame the AI will be able to recognize that and it will zoom out. That is so cool. Now, essentially the way this works is because you've got that ultra-wide camera it's actually cropping in a rectangle and then using AI to track your face as you're going from side to side. Now, considering we're taking lots more video calls this is going to be really cool if you don't want to necessarily stay static, you want to move around a little bit.

And it's also going to be open to third party apps not just restricted to FaceTime. So third party developers will be able to include center stage into their apps and it should just be a toggle. So yeah, the front facing camera, I really do like and I also do like face ID. But there's a couple of things that I do have to mention. One of the things that I've experienced when taking video calls on the iPad Pro is I generally don't have it in portrait mode, right? I usually have it in landscape mode.

So it kind of looks like your off to the side a little bit. I guess, having the camera here in this position, so it's more suitable for landscape mode would make more sense because I don't know about everybody else, but when I'm taking video calls I'm not generally holding the iPad. I kind of had it on say the Magic Keyboard or another folio. And also face ID, although it works great and it works in all orientations, one of the things I have found a few times is when I'm trying to unlock the iPad Pro and my hand is like this, I'm actually covering the camera, so it doesn't lock. And I'm like, oh, actually I'm covering it.

So then I'll have to move it out the way. Just a little thing. So I dunno, personally speaking I do think it would make more sense for the iPad Pro at least to have the camera here in landscape orientation. But that's just me. Let me know what you guys think.

Right, now what about the rear facing cameras? Well, we've got two cameras like we had on the previous generation iPad. The primary camera is 12 megapixels and then we've got a 10 megapixel ultra wide camera. Now personally speaking I don't use my iPad Pro much to actually take pictures and video although you can record 4K video. But I know there's a lot of people who do use their iPads for video production. For me, the LiDAR scanner is really what's very useful for the iPad Pro, which allows you to map depth information.

Now, perfect use case for this is if you are working in a 3D piece of software and you make a 3D object then you're going to be able to use AR with the LiDAR scanner to appreciate that 3D object in the real world. And this actually works really, really well. And that brings us on to the performance. So the iPad Pro 2021 is now powered by Apple's new M1 chip. So the M1 chip is what we have now on the MacBook Air, the 13 inch MacBook Pro, the Mac mini and now also the 24-inch iMac, which I covered yesterday.

That video will be linked in the cards and in the description. And the M1 chip, you've had lots of praises for it, is super, super powerful. And now this comes to the iPad Pro, which almost brings the level of performance that you have on the MacBooks and the iMac to the iPad Pro. Now obviously sustained performance is going to be different because those devices do have better cooling, but still having that level of performance here on the iPad Pro is absolutely insane. And it puts it miles ahead of any other tablet out there.

Now, if we compare this to the previous generation iPad, which has the A12Z, which by the way was so fast anyway. I really didn't have any issues with it whatsoever. The new iPad Pro has up to 50% faster CPU performance, up to 40% fast GPU performance. We've also got two times faster storage. So this is available up to two terabytes and if you do get the one or two terabyte versions they will come with 16 gigabytes of RAM.

You'll get eight gigabytes of RAM if you go for anything lower. But yeah, the performance on the iPad Pro with the M1 has been absolutely insane. And with iPad OS you do now have lots of apps, which can take advantage of the performance capabilities of the M1. So we do have Adobe Photoshop, for example, and I've been playing around with Adobe Photoshop on the iPad Pro and it is so, so smooth. And also having the precision of the Apple Pencil, which you're not going to get on a Mac makes this an awesome creative tool.

And the iPad Pro is now also even better for video editing. So LumaFusion, I'd say it's the go-to app right now for video editing on the iPad Pro. And it works absolutely great even with multiple 4K videos. Now, one of the things a lot of people have been wanting is Final Cut Pro X on the iPad Pro. And now that the iPad Pro is powered by the M1 chip I don't know, I'm hoping, and I have a feeling that we should be getting Final Cut Pro X sometime soon.

Now, although the iPad Pro has the M1 it's not just a case of, you know, taking Final Cut Pro X and putting it on here, the apps do have to be optimized for tablet use with a pen and touch. So although Adobe Photoshop works great here on the iPad it is the tablet iPad version of Photoshop not the full fledged desktop version. So Apple would have to develop Final Cut Pro X specifically for the iPad Pro. But yeah, I'm hoping it comes soon because for a lot of users if you do have something like Final Cut Pro X then that can easily make the iPad Pro their sole computer. They don't even necessarily have to have an additional PC or laptop.

Now iPad OS is not perfect. There are still an apps which look really bad on the iPad Pro. Instagram is the perfect example, although I guess that is Instagram fault. However, with iPad iOS 14.5 you do get some new features such as the ability to use the latest gaming controllers, the PS5 controller or the Xbox Series X controller with haptics, as well as dual controller support. So you can play a multiplayer game on your iPad Pro with two controllers.

I'm not a huge gamer personally myself on a tablet, but if you are, I'm sure you're going to absolutely love this. Now we have just over a 40 watt hour battery here on the iPad Pro and in my usage over the past week this has been absolutely great. And I would say I'm getting similar battery life to my previous generation iPad Pro. And for pricing. Now the 11-inch iPad Pro does start at 750 pounds or $800.

However, the 12.9 inch iPad Pro with the liquid retina XDR display starts at 999 pounds or $999. Now you can get all the way up to two terabytes, which will be around 2000 pounds. And if you do the 5G cellular version then you will be paying around 150 pounds more. That is the iPad Pro 2021. Now, as I mentioned earlier on we do have the Magic white keyboard, the white Magic Keyboard.

So the unboxing experience is pretty straightforward. We get the Magic Keyboard with some paperwork, no Apple stickers. And the iPad Pro very easily snaps on with magnets that connects onto the smart connector. So I have covered the iPad Pro Magic Keyboard previously, but that was the black version. And it's something that I really do like, although it does add quite a bit of bulk and does make the iPad Pro quite heavy.

The floating design is very cool and the keys as well are very, very comfortable. They use the scissor mechanism with one millimeter of cradle. Now these are also backlit keys, and I got to say they do look pretty cool back lit on the white keyboard. And you also do get a USB type C port within the Magic Keyboard, which you'll be able to use in addition to the USB-C ports on the iPad Pro. Right, so what are my thoughts on the white Magic Keyboard? I mean, it looks really good, don't get me wrong.

And it's a very clean look. However, I have already got a mark on here. Now I'm not sure how I did this. It might've been my black Magic Keyboard on my previous iPad Pro, which I had together with this, but I've not been able to wipe this off. And I'm not sure how this will wear over the time and if it's going to start looking dirty, but you will be able to see marks on the white keyboard much more easily than on the black Magic Keyboard.

Another thing I'm sure a lot of you guys will be wondering is can you use your old Magic Keyboard with the new fifth generation iPad Pro? Well, I have it here, so let's find out. Okay, so it snaps into place pretty perfectly. Now that is slightly thicker. So is it going to fit? Okay, all right, that's not bad. That actually fits pretty okay.

And it's seems to work fine. Now, of course, if you do get the newer Magic Keyboard then that's going to be backwards compatible as well. But it seems like the older Magic Keyboard will still work with the new iPad. The Magic Keyboard starts at 280 pounds for the 11-inch version. And the 12.9-inch version is 330 pounds. iPad Pro 2021, what are my overall thoughts? Well, I'm definitely impressed.

As I said, in my opinion this is the best tablet that you can buy in the world and it's not even close. The liquid retina XDR display, the performance with the M1 chip, just how small, light, and compact this is, the center stage, Thunderbolt 4 and USB-4 support, Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.0. If you're a creative and especially if you appreciate the Apple Pencil I think now more than ever the iPad Pro really does replace a full computer. That's what I think anyway. What do you guys think? Do drop me a comment below and let me know your thoughts.

I hope you enjoyed this video and found useful. If you did this smashed that like button for me and if you haven't already be sure to subscribe and hit that bell icon so you don't miss any future coverage. YouTube will suggest a couple of videos that they think you might be interested in. So do go ahead and check those out. Thanks for watching.

This has Saf on SuperSaf TV and I'll see you next time.

Source : SuperSaf