M1 iPad Pro vs M1 MacBook Pro — Don't Pick WRONG! By Rene Ritchie

- M1 iPad Pro versus M1 MacBook Pro, which is the ultimate Apple ultra portable Pro for you? Sponsored by Brilliant. YouTube tells me 70% of you watching this video right now still haven't subscribed. So go ahead and hit that button and bell so we can build the best community in tech together. The modern MacBook Pro is like an un-wedged air, full-on unibody clamshell, with an ultra-thin display, perma hinged to the keyboard, under which are still stuffed, just all the computer guts. It's the laptop that's defined Pro laptops for a decade and still looks it. Unlike the MacBook Pro, the iPad Pro just got its big redesign a couple and a half years ago.

Home button, bleeped, bezels, fantasy snapped. The computer is still entirely behind the display and that means that it can fly solo as a tablet or just magnetically attached to a keyboard for more traditional fun. So if you prefer the traditional computer clamshell with heavy base, locked to a super light lid, you'll prefer the MacBook Pro. But if a traditional computer is just the last thing you want, then what you want is the iPad Pro. And if you do need to type occasionally, the iPad Pro with the Magic Keyboard.

The M1 MacBook Pro has a 13.3 inch LCD panel. You can get a 16 inch version as well, but that currently still has Intel inside. The display is retina density though, which in general means an average person from an average viewing angle, shouldn't be able to discern individual pixels and digital cinema P-3 gamut, which means the color space is wide enough for richer reds and deeper greens. It also has True Tone, so whites don't look too blue or too yellow, but nice and paper white. The iPad Pro comes in 11 and 12.9 inch versions, but I'm focusing on the 12.9 inch version for this because it's the closest in size. If you're interested in the 11 inch, just save some inches, contrast ratio, and hundreds of dollars off the top and you'll be all set.

That 12.9 inch iPad Pro though is way, way brighter though, thanks to its newfangled mini-LED display, also P3 and True Tune, and it works with multi-touch and the Apple Pencil, something the MacBook Pro just does not do. And if you're thinking that this means, when it comes to displays, that the iPad Pro just kicks the current MacBook Pro's ass, well hell's yeah. If display tech or HDR content is your thing, you're gonna wanna make the 12.9 inch iPad Pro, your thing. Where the MacBook Pro strikes back and hard is battery life. Apple's kept the iPad Pro at 10 hours of battery life, basically forever, but the MacBook Pro now, with its new Silicon and its voluminous capacity, can get up to 20 hours for optimized workloads.

So if you want to effectively potentially double the battery life, then you're gonna want the MacBook Pro. The 13 inch M1 MacBook Pro just doesn't have that masterpiece, that is a 16 inch MacBook Pro speakers or mics. But the iPad Pro, the iPad Pro comes close. It has four speakers, so you can turn it any which way you like and get full spatial audio soundstage. no matter which way it's turned, and thanks to the sensors in the iPad Pro, that goes double if you're wearing AirPods Pro or the AirPods Max as well, it is a personal cinematic experience.

Same goes for the mics. The M1 MacBook Pro has a good mic system, but the iPad Pro has what Apple's calling studio quality mics, basically the equivalent of plugging in a USB mic. The MacBook Pro also still has a tiny 720P potato of a camera, but with the M1 image signal processor equivalent to the ISP in the iPhone 12. So that potato is just fully baked, like fully loaded. The iPad Pro though has a much better camera, 108 P, with the same ISP, portrait mode and portrait lighting, and then you Center Stage feature that pans and scans and zooms in and out to keep you and several friends of yours, if need be, center stage in video calls.

The only downside is that it is still tragically mounted on the side of the iPad when you use it in landscape. And yes, that is the sound of the MacBook Pro laughing, just a little. So basically, if on-device audio video is of the utmost importance to you, you're gonna want the iPad Pro, unless you absolutely positively need a headphone jack, without a dongle, only then should you go with the M1 MacBook Pro. The M1 MacBook Pro has two full power, full speed USB 4 ports, which basically means USB-C with a side of Thunderbolt 3 just built right into it. So not only can you plug almost anything in, you can power and run it as fast as thunder.

The iPad Pro has the exact same USB 4 port, thanks to the exact same Thunderbolt controller on the M1. And yes, I would love, love an iPad Pro with two ports and I'm waiting on the MacBook Pro with four ports, but for now, one on the iPad or two on the MacBook, plus whatever docs or dongles you plug into them are the only options. So if you need, critically need, more than one on-device Thunderbolt port, you're gonna need the MacBook Pro. Beyond the FaceTime camera up front, the MacBook Pro has nothing and more nothing on the back. The iPad Pro though has an iPhone 11, 12 junior level camera system with a wide angle, an ultra-wide angle, the ability to shoot 4K video and all that smart HDR 3 image signal processing behind it, it's even got LIDAR like the iPhone's Pro, just no Dolby Vision.

And yes, that does make me better. So if you need cameras beyond your phone or a dedicated shooter for things like document scanning or augmented reality, you're gonna need to go with the iPad Pro. Both the new M1 MacBook Pro and the new keyboard for the iPad Pro are Magic. That's Apple's brand name for the all-new, all better, return of the blessed Scissors Switch keyboard for existing Max and the new iPad Dock. On the M1 MacBook Pro the Magic Keyboard is of course built right in, and it has a few things the iPad version does not.

Like an escape key, a Touch ID enabled power key, and new fangled media keys for things like Spotlight Search and do not disturb. The iPad Pro version attaches magnetically and has no escape key, no media keys, but does have a dedicated emoji key. It's also sold separately for $350. The MacBook Pro track pad is much, much bigger, which some people don't like because of accidental touch events, but others love because of all the room for touch gestures. The iPad Pro track pad isn't as big and is mechanical rather than taptic and virtual like the one on the Mac, but the iPad Pro has that huge, totally touchable display anyway, so it's not a big deal.

Also the iPad Pro has an optional Apple Pencil that attaches magnetically to the casing, charges inductively and lets you do pretty much any drawing or handwriting you want to right on the display. So if you want a traditional computer experience, with a big track pad and a cursor that's precise because it absolutely needs to be, go with the MacBook Pro. But if you're fine with more of an optional occasional keyboard, that extends the touch first nature of the iPad, only when and if you need it to, then by all means go with the iPad Pro and the Magic Keyboard. Both the M1 MacBook Pro and the M1 iPad Pro come with, surprise, surprise M1, Apple's latest generation system on a chip. It's based on the same architecture as the A14 and the iPhone 12, and essentially replaces what would have been an A14X in the iPad Pro.

And more importantly, what previously would have been an Intel U series in the MacBook Pro. They both have options for eight gigabytes and 16 gigabytes which is the typical low-end for the Mac these days, but also just way, way more than any iPad has ever had access to before. You can get the MacBook Pro with 256 or 512 gigabytes or one or two terabytes of storage, and the iPad Pro with the same, but also a smaller, 128 gigabyte option. Both have Wi-Fi 6, but only the iPad Pro offers the option for 5G data built in. Both frequency range one for low band and mid band, and frequency range two for high band or MM wave.

So, Apple's two portable Pros are remarkably similar on the inside, but if you need cellular built-in, you're gonna need the iPad Pro. The MacBook Pro has Touch ID, which is Apple's biometric fingerprint identity scanner. The iPad Pro has Face ID, which is Apple's biometric facial geometry scanner. Touch ID requires a touch and doesn't work with gloves, or if your finger is wet, but it can register up to five fingers. Face ID requires a look and doesn't work with masks or IRL blocking sunglasses, but can also be used for things like Animoji and Memoji in augmented reality.

And yes, yes, I wish Face ID wasn't often on Max as well. The MacBook Pro runs Mac OS Big Sur which is a fully mature, fully traditional, mouse and pointer graphical user interface-based operating system. It can run all the native M1 versions of Mac apps and can translate the older Intel versions to run under Rosetta 2. The M1 apps run much much faster and better, the Rosetta 2 apps run actually pretty much the same as they do on Intel, better even if they lean heavily on Apple's Metal graphics engine. The MacBook Pro can also run virtual machines which is critical to a lot of people's workflows, and even iPad and iPhone apps, though it's up to the individual developers to allow it and to really optimize for it.

The iPad Pro currently runs iPad iOS 14, based on iOS 14, Apple's more modern multi-touch operating system. And it can run all of the hundreds of thousands of iPad iOS apps in the IPad App Store, which in some ways is far wider, but in others isn't quite yet as deep. Like it's still struggling with Photoshop and doesn't have the type of production software used by major studios or in science labs. Now that the iPad Pro has more RAM, that could change and could change soon, but never base a buying decision on what might happen in the future, only on what you absolutely are certain about right now. So if you want that traditional computer experience and you need to run specific Mac-only software, you're gonna want and need a MacBook Pro.

But if you prefer the direct manipulation of the iPad, all the iPad apps and the ability to use software design not just for a typing computer, but a tablet computer as well, you're gonna prefer the iPad Pro. The M1 MacBook Pro starts at 1299 for the eight gigabytes of RAM, 256 gigabytes of SSD version and goes up to 2299 for the 16 gigabytes of RAM and the two terabytes of SSD version. The 12.9 inch M1 iPad Pro starts at 1099 for eight gigabytes of RAM, 128 gigabytes of SSD, and goes up to 2399 for 16 gigabytes of RAM two terabytes of SSD with 5G. And you can add 350 bucks for the Magic Keyboard and 130 bucks for the Apple Pencil, if you want those as well. Now, before you decide, do you already have an iPad or a Mac? Is there an iMac on your desk, because then maybe you're better off with an iPad Pro in your hands.

Or if you have an iPad Mini or even an iPhone Pro Max, maybe a MacBook Pro is that you get more and different things done better. End the day you can get more bang for your buck with the iPad Pro, but only if it's exactly the kind of bang you really need to get done. And if this decision is still in any way frustrating for you and you wanna be part of the solution, learning everything from algorithms to neural networks, to machine learning, math, science and computer science, logic and deduction, physics, quantum mechanics, game theory, cryptocurrency, so you can fix all of it for all of us, check out Brilliant. It's a website and app built on learning while doing and solving real challenges in real time, with no memorizing long, messy formulas, or fact sheets, no tests or grades, all with instant feedback that coaches you bit by bit, so you can rapidly improve and learn fundamental concepts, literally before you even realize it. Just go to brilliant.

org/reneritchie, or click the link in the description, pick a course and get started today. That's brilliant. org/reneritchie, and clicking on that link really helps out the channel. Hit the playlist above for more, much more on both the new MacBook Pro and the new iPad Pro and all of Apple's new products for 2021. Just hit that playlist and I'll see you in the next video.

Source : Rene Ritchie